HINTS AND TIPS - THE FOLLOW ON
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Reinforcing Steel (for Concrete) Loads
From Dallas Quaife (Brisbane)
A simple load for a gondola or open vehicle can be made from bits and pieces in the workshop or garage. Cut Several rectangles of old fly screen to size, place several pieces in a pile with timber dunnage between each piece.
This can represent the Reinforcing Steel used in concrete casting. Paint and rust to suit.
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Modern Light Rail & Bus Shelter Details
From Dallas Quaife (Brisbane)
Modern city trolley and bus stop shelters make interesting additions to any streetside scene. Whether a simple arrangement of benches lining the curb or more elaborate clear-walled enclosures, most have a few common elements. Typical details include bike racks with bicycles, garbage cans, a bus stop sign and benches. Other details vary depending on how busy the stop is. Sidewalk schedule boards, billboards, advertising kiosks, streetlights and occasionally sculptures or artwork embedded in the sidewalk make each stop unique.
Light rail lines may also have crowd control fencing, "Stand Behind Yellow Line" platform markings, ticket machines and vending machines. One thing missing at many modern stops is the public telephone, although a few larger stops still have them.
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Patched Paint Schemes
From Paul Wheeler (Adelaide)
"Patched" paint schemes have become increasingly common since the 1970s. As US freight cars or British franchises change
owners/lessors/operators, reporting marks, brands and numbers are usually painted out and new ones applied. Modelling patched cars
is quick and easy using alphabet decals and some grey paint or one-colour decal film.
Mask off a rectangle around the car reporting marks and roadnumbers on the sides and ends. Make sure that your paint area does not cover other car data because this will be retained. Paint over the lettering in medium-gray flat paint and let dry. If you don't like to paint, use solid gray decal film cut to fit. Apply the new reporting mark and roadnumber decals in the gray area. This is the most basic
restenciling job; some users also hastily paint out logos and spelled-out roadname lettering. Refer to prototype photos for guidance and ideas.
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Maintenance of Way Vehicle load suggestion
From Peter Sands
Every railway has a fleet of maintenance of way vehicles. They make interesting trains. Here is a simple load idea to add to your MOW fleet. The MOW crews quite often carry complete short sections of track on flat top carriages. These are used to replace whole sections of track. All you need to do is cut a couple of sections of old track and add to your flat wagon or car. Apply rust to the rails and dirt and grime to the sleepers.
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End of Siding details
From Joel Brown (Queensland)
Industrial Sidings attract attention on every layout because operators have to know where to spot goods wagons. At track end, a bumper, wheel stops, wedged or bolted ties or a simple pile of dirt usually keep cars from rolling off the end of the rail. Unless the track is new, spurs seldom have manicured crushed-rock ballast and shiny rail all the way to the end.
The last few feet before the bumper usually look a lot different than the working part of the siding. This area screams for additional detail because wagons seldom make it this far. Besides your choice of bumper, add pieces of broken pallets, paper and cardboard scraps and some grass.On older spurs, foul the ballast with mud or bury the ties in mud altogether. For really prominent scenes, add some standing water between the ties and/or rails. And don't forget weeds and small bushes. For a finishing touch, paint the tops of the last five or ten scale feet of rail a dark rust colour. If you are using a bumper with a striker plate, make sure to add some dark rust on the painted plate to simulate that it has been bumped by a coupler knuckle.
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Quick Colour for Clear lenses
From Trevor Gibbs (Melbourne)
A quick way to simulate coloured lenses on warning lights, marker lights and auto tail lights moulded in clear plastic or glass is to colour them with a permanent marker. Remove the clear lens from the model (if possible) and run the marker colour of your choice across it. If you cannot easily remove the lens, carefully colour it using a finetipped marker, masking the surrounding area if necessary.
Or you can use the translucent Tamiya or Aqueous brand paints for a degree more permanency for your lenses.
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Girder load suggestion
From Mike Fraser (Adelaide)
Looking for some thing different? How about a load that is longer then your carriage. The bridge girders used on your layout can also be used as a load on either a flat top or drop end gondola. These loads will over hang a little which happens in real life. When a load over hangs a carriage the railroad will add a flat top at each end of the load (they refer to the empty flat wagons as idler carriages). Please note that you will need to place the girder on some timber dunnage. This will raise the load and it will not catch on the idler carriages.
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Wood Chips as a load suggestion
From Paul Wheeler
Another common commodity transported by rail the world over is wood chips. The next time you cut some pine timber or ply wood, save the saw dust and you have wood chips to simply add to your open wagon or gondola.
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Get rid of that New Wagon Sheen
From Greg Egan (Arizona)
After a few weeks of operation, even the shiniest freight wagons begin to show signs of use. The most prominent change to a freshly painted car's exterior is the dulling down of the paint. To simulate a car that's been on the road for only a few months, apply a matte-finish clear coat over the entire car. This will remove any unprototypical shine and give your rolling stock an in-service appearance.
Several paint manufacturers make airbrush or aerosol matte finishes; make sure to choose one that’s plastic compatible.
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Painting Grab Irons
From Graham Ross (Adelaide)
Many rolling stock models include preformed wire grab irons and handrails. For authenticity they should be painted once they're installed. Because typical factory model paints are not suitable (or economical) for bottling as hobby colours, modellers must often choose colours to match manufacturer paint. Luckily, handrails are small and a slight mismatch won't be easily noticed. There's no such
thing as a perfect paint match, but here are a few things to consider when painting grab irons and handrails:
Modelling Era For visibility, locomotive grab irons, especially after the 1970s, are painted a colour that contrasts with the body.
Car Type Freight car grabs are usually the colour of the car and become weathered with time. Passenger car grabs and
handrails may be the car colour or stainless steel depending on the railroad and body style. Check prototype photos to match your favourite car.
Weathering
If the equipment is old, grabs and ladders usually weather to a dark brown rust. Occasionally, if a car has been repainted, the old colour might show through in the grip area.
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My apologies if anyone has put this up before.
— Holders for glue pots. —-
Here is a photo of a couple of my holders for various glues.
The one on the left is for holding Superglue - the pot is removable as it norm,ally lives in the fridge; but when needed this holds it safe and stops tipping of the dangerous stuff! Its made from scrap, Corroflute for the base and PVC solid foam for the rest.
Another little thing about superglue, the inner cap can be stopped from gluing itself closed by a smear of Vaseline around the thread - that stops the superglue getting a hold.
The much older one (which is why its filthy!) on the right is for Mek or your favourite plasticard (styrene) glue - this has an old bottle as a result. I usually decant the refill using a pipette when needed. the brushes I use and wear out are in a holder on the left, and an empty one is on the right - it has in it various things at various times, for gluing up small parts; there is a cocktail stick a piece of 1.5mm wire tapered off at each end, and a piece of thinner wire.
Yours Peter.
Last edit: by peterbunce
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Mileposts
From Peter Short
Trackside milepost markers measure the distance to or from a designated point such as a major terminal or a junction. On your layout, mileposts can make your railroad seem larger. While you may not have room for an actual scale mile (about 60.5 feet in HO or 33 feet in N) of track, adding a mile marker at every 1/8 or 1/4 scale mile will make a run seem longer.
Railways use all kinds of weatherproof materials for mileposts, ranging from simple painted wood signs to cast concrete or cut stone. Wood and metal markers can bemounted on small posts, or on trackside telegraph poles. Partial mile markers (such as M.P. 308.25) are sometimes painted on bridges, culverts, tunnels, signals, level crossings and trackside relay boxes so field personnel can identify them quickly.
These neat trackside details make any right-of-way more realistic and are easy to model. Several manufacturers make ready-to-use plastic or etched-metal mileposts, or you can make our own using styrene strips, paint and decal numbers.
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Grain Hopper Unloading Bins
From Peter Short
Every customer who receives grain in covered hoppers needs a dump bin for unloading the cars. The bin feeds incoming grain from the hopper wagons into the facility's system of augers and conveyors. There is an easy way to simulate a closed between-the-rails dump bin on your grain elevator spur. Except when cars are actively being unloaded, the dump bin grating is usually covered with a sheet-metal door.
Luckily for modellers, the bin is barely visible when a hopper is spotted over the opening. To add the bin cover, cut a piece of .010" sheet styrene to fit between the rails. It should be about as long as it is wide, so cut a square or slightly longer piece (5' or 6' long is common). Paint it dull silver-gray to represent galvanized metal and weather it with rust- and dirt-coloured chalks. Place the bin cover between the rails on top of the ties at your chosen location (typically next to the elevator or near the dry conveyor leg) and make sure it lays flat and does not affect cars rolling over it; you may have to trim it to create flangeways along the inside of the rails. Once you are satisfied with the fit, cement it in place and it is good to go!
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Leave Enough Room!
From Bruce Walton (Wisconsin)
On most model railways, space is at a premium—we all want as much detail in as little space as possible. But, all the detail in the world will not help if you cannot clean the track.
Real railways have distinct rights-of-way. Keep this in mind when placing structures, scenery or details along the tracks. If you use abrasive blocks to clean your track, leave room for your hand AND the width of the cleaning block EVERYWHERE along the line. Make sure you can reach completely through tunnels without damaging portals and trackside details, or have access holes under the scenery.
Keep buildings at least an inch away from both edges of the roadbed. At crossings, avoid damage by making sure your street surface is slightly lower than the top of the railhead. If you're using liquid cleaners, make sure your scenery materials, building details and wiring won't be stained by, or chemically react with the cleaner.
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Car-End Weathering
From Brian Wedding
Weathered rolling stock adds character to any train or layout. Beyond applying a basic coat of dust and grime to the cars and wagons, you can further increase the authenticity by simulating wheel splatter on the ends. Examples of splatter include mud, dirt, road salt from
grade crossings and grease. The wheels kick the dirt relatively high and create two dark streaks in line with the wheels and rails.
Using an airbrush or chalks, add a couple of dirty streaks in line with the wheels to simulate splatter. Each line of grime should be darkest in the middle, fading out a scale foot to either side.
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Company Colours
From Brian Wedding
In order to save on engineering and design costs, and to take advantage of economies of scale, railways (and other companies) have traditionally used standardized plans and materials. One area that is most obvious along the rails is "company" colour schemes for wood buildings. Colours used were typically cheap, plentiful and fade-resistant with Oxide/Box Car Red very common. If the structures were
brick, their window sash usually matched that of wooden buildings and the brick was left unpainted.
An easy way to add realism along your right-of-way is to apply a standard company colour scheme to your railways trackside buildings. Here are a few common colour combinations used by the prototype:
• Yellow and Oxide Brown
• Cream/Off White and Green
• Two-Tone Gray
• Oxide Brown and White
• Red and White
Into the 1970s, company colour schemes for structures were still fairly common, but since then railroads have merged and many structures have been razed or sold and restored by outside concerns. Today, however, a few roads still paint remaining structures in uniform schemes.
(A Note from Trevor – The most recent example of this some time ago now I have seen was a Green and Yellow Signal Box in North Geelong Victoria painted Green and Gold to reflect Freight Australia (now defunct) corporate colours painted circa 2005. At last look, it was still Green and Gold although the FA paint scheme was well and truly on the way out on locos at the time of writing!
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When the Dust Has Settled
From Brian Wedding
Dirt roads are everywhere, but they can be tricky to model. Take a look at the prototype; when they’re dry they usually have a “dust zone†along their edges. Creating a believable dust zone is easy thanks to weathering chalks and airbrushes.
Unless a road is beaten into red or dark brown clay, its surface will likely appear light tan or almost white because the surface rocks and gravel are continually being crushed under car tires. The road will not usually appear the same colour as surrounding dirt areas unless it’s wet.
Powdered dirt kicks up in the wake of passing vehicles and drifts down onto plants and anything else lining the edges. Using a light overspray of a weathering paint mix will help blend the road surface into its surroundings. The easiest way to do this is to mix up a batch of nonopaque paint using 75% clear flat finish and 15 to 25% light dust-coloured paint (use white if you’re modelling a limestone road, light flesh colour if for red clay, or tan for dark clay). Airbrush a light fine spray to your road surface and extend the coverage about a half-inch out from the edge on a typical model road. Along the edges, don’t apply a thick coat with full coverage; you want it to look like dust has settled on the vegetation.
If you don’t have an airbrush, you can achieve a similar look using weathering chalks. Choose powdered chalk that’s close to the colours mentioned above and apply it liberally to the road surface and its dust zone. This won’t be entirely permanent unless you can overspray it with a fixative like clear flat finish or hairspray; but keep in mind you might have to make several applications of chalks to achieve a realistic effect as the oversprays will darken the colour of the chalk.
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Make Those Lichen Trees and Bushes Look Better
From Brian Wedding
Lichen is an excellent modelling material. As a natural plant, it's easily preserved to retain its flexibility and resilience so small bits don't break off. It also provides natural-looking branches when used as scale trees and bushes. What lichen is lacking, however, is realistic leaves for a finescale appearance.
One way to remedy this is to apply a light dusting of finetextured ground foam to its surface. For best results, use brown lichen to simulate branches. If you already have green lichen on your layout, simply paint it brown with an airbrush or spray can; use masking to keep the paint off the surrounding scenery. Make sure to work in an area with adequate ventilation.
The quickest way to apply the foam "leaves" is to spray the lichen with a 25% white glue/75% water solution using a pump spray bottle. There's no need to saturate the lichen, but make sure the surface is wet when you add the ground foam. Sprinkle on a generous dusting of fine ground foam; use shades of green for spring and summer plants or muted red, yellow or orange for fall colours. Once dry, remove the excess foam and overspray the entire plant with hairspray or a little more diluted white glue as a fixative.
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See-Through Structures?
From Trevor Luckman
There are few prototype buildings that allow you to look into a window and see out the windows on the other side so why allow them on your layout?
One solution for this problem is to add interior detail. Structures with large banks of multi-paned windows beg for at least a few details inside. Several manufacturers make machinery, tools and other interior components you can add inside.
Another solution is to keep light from passing through the structure. This works best in buildings with smaller windows that make it hard to see interior details, especially in smaller scales. For these structures, simply cut a piece of black or dark gray construction paper to match the interior height and width and place it inside. It will block light from the other side of the structure and that empty look will vanish.
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Applying Static Grass #1
From Tony Burzio (Brisbane)
I found a tip for static grass on a web site, and it works great. Instead of using white glue or scenic cement, get a spray can of adhesive (like the 3M kind) at an art store. Spray a small patch (it dries quick) and sprinkle on some static grass. When it dries, just vacuum off the excess. Looks great!
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