HINTS AND TIPS - THE FOLLOW ON
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Making a Flight of outdoor stairs
By Doug Dickson (SW France)
I built the flight of steps down the side of my Lime Kiln model using a stack of 3mm foam card rectangles, chosen because they represent a rising of 9" in OO gauge or about 10 inches in HO. I have found that in this sort of job is cutting out a large number of identical pieces is a pain, so I made a small jig to cut the pieces to size.
Next fix a piece of strip wood onto your cutting board with Blu-tak to represent the height and distance you want your steps to span, e.g. 5cm x 5cm and using PVA start to stack up the pieces, keeping them pressed against the guiding wood strip.
If they are to slope sideways, lean them over a little as you join them together. Also be aware that when modelling any OH&S conscious age, there is a limit to the number and pitch of steps you may build before inserting a landing or fall barrier.
My steps have been painted with tube watercolour paints by putting a blob each of black, burnt sienna and white paint on a saucer and then swirling them together in a random fashion before applying them thickly to the card. When virtually completely dry I over-brushed them with clear matt acrylic varnish which when dry, giving a 'crackle' or aged effect.
Side pieces can be added as needed, or as in this case the side exposed to view disguised by scenic material.
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Better looking feeders to your rail Pt 1
By Bob Maxwell (South Carolina)
I prefer to do solder my feeders the old fashion way except that I strip the insulation back far enough that the bare wire goes into the hole. This makes it easier to cover the feeder with ballast.
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Better looking feeders to your rail Pt 2
From Charles Beckman (Nevada)
A sizeable percentage of mine are hidden in the solder joints of flangeways - frogs and guard rails of turnouts. Not only are they invisible, but they reinforce the joints.
The rest are simply soldered to the rail base on the side away from the viewing aisle. The only way to see them is by using a mirror.
Even running trains powered by two ancient open-frame motors per each, I have had minimal voltage loss at the tracks.
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Better looking feeders to your rail Pt 3
By Pete Robinson (South Australia)
I solder bare copper to the bottom of the track before laying it down. I drill holes away from the track and feed the wires to them. I have found that drilling directly underneath the rail can cause the track to distort as the feeders are pulled through. This method avoids that problem and the solder joints disappear when buried in ballast.
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Simple Flowers
By Ashley Young (Melbourne)
I make simple wild flowers by dipping the ends of some horse hair stems used for grass into paint. Different colours provide a very flowery effect.
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Foam Offcuts Using for cheap details etc
By Jim Church (California)
If you work with extruded styrofoam (blue/pink foam), SAVE your chunks! I keep mine in a box and cut them to size like a puzzle piece to fit with existing foam pieces.
I also save or make small pebble-sized bits of foam to use as background boulders/talus. I also use them as fill material for any large scenery gaps. I use diluted white glue/matte medium to secure them in place and cover with a layer of Sculptamold or spackling to surface them out.
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I do not want to put the wind in any one's sails but I am starting to run towards the end of the Hints and Tips as I have them saved and collated. Since late 2008, there have been 1224 but I am running down to my last 50 or so - viz less than two months. I am fairly pleased with what it has been so far and there may be a few hidden gems in the pages on this site or other sites you are aware of.
Without going into the semantics of it, I was very unwell for over 12 months back in late 09 and while things are a lot better, there are still some elements to be overcome but I have had a lot of support from quite a few of my modelling friends, if not necessarily quite what needed at the time … these things take time and H&T was very therapeutic as well getting me out of myself.
What I am asking is if you can, would you please PM me with any Hints and Tips you might be able to offer. Even if it is a variation on earlier ones, we all have someting we do that is "unique to us".
A friend suggested that I might start at #1 again and rebadge them, but I would rather at least try this to increase the bank and benefit us all, so please PM me if you can add a new hint or variation… I do need to edit them. Standard rules are your name and approximate location…
TIA
Trevor
Last edit: by xdford
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Sharpie Pens for Graffiti
by Vic Maclean (Melbourne)
Ultra fine tipped Sharpie Markers are great for creating gang and graffiti tagger-type markings on railway cars.
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White Glue Ratio
By Jim Bernier (Minnesota)
Most scenery gluing we use at the club uses either 1:4 ratio with white glue, or 1:2 with matte medium. I would not try to 'spray' it on(I know it is tempting). No matter how good you clean the sprayer, it will clog up and have to be thrown away! We 'paint' the glue on the area to have grass/turf applied - just use cheap 'throw away' brushes. We do 'spray' a 1:1 solution of 71% alcohol/water over the area first so that the glue seeps into all of the are evenly. With large turf, we 'dribble' the glue mixture on later to make sure everything is attached.
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Recycling Water Filter Cartridges – as Ballast!!!
By Steve Redford
If you use those water filter cartridges, when you have finished with the cartridge I have found that the purification material inside is great for track ballasting. Sort of makes the cost of the cartridge more reasonable!!
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Anchoring and planting buildings non-destructively Pt 1
By Edward Traxler
Wrap the building in plastic wrap, add your scenery around it and let dry. That creates a 'socket' in the scenery that the building fits exactly when it us dry and expanded.
About the Hints & Tips…
Hints minus 59 and counting!!! PLEASE if you have ANYTHING that is relevant, even a variation on earlier ones, please forward them… you'll even see your own name in print in two months time … plus if I am inundated … and a few years down the track when Phil gets around to publish them!
Thanks in Anticipation
Trevor
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In Favour of LED Headlights and Ditch Lights
By Various Modellers
I would go with micro LEDs as they last longer than bulbs, draw less current, and fit better in the ditch light casting… I used micro LEDs on my GP9RM with great results. -Jeff Keddy
Go with LED's as it is truly frustrating to have to tear a model apart to replace a blown bulb. A well installed LED will outlast everything else on the locomotive, and may even outlast you depending on how much it is used. Soldering them however is a pain. Railflyer and Ulrich Models among others sell pre-wired LED's so that you don't have to worry about that. If you're the type who likes to do things yourself, get some double sided tape, put the LED on it, then tin your wires and the solder pads on the led, and then put them together and solder. Flux would probably help, but I've done it without. I haven't worked with the 0402 size led, but the 0603 size fit my ditchlights and were not too much of a problem to deal with. - Timothy Dineen
I'd suggest you stay consistent with whatever you're using for your headlight. A bulb headlight & LED ditch lights look kinda strange. I too prefer LEDs for ditch lights, but I'd change the headlight to LED if it isn't already. Also, if using LEDs, they should have similar color temperature, as do the prototypes. - Steve Lowens
Last edit: by xdford
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Tissue Paper for thin signs
By Gary Hanson
We have been using tissue paper, the type used in gift wrapping. Iron it smooth, if wrinkled. tape it to a carrier sheet of paper with clear tape on the top edge and maybe sides .. . .no wrinkles. Feed it thru your laser or ink jet manually. If you use ink jet you have to spray a finish to prevent water damage to the ink dyes.
Laser is great in full color. Just wet the building with diluted white glue or matte medium and apply. trim to the edge and stipple in with a small brush to get set to the surface of the building.
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Stabilising a Cutting-board
By Adam Weise (Melton MRC Melbourne Australia)
Most basic cutting boards do not come with any kind of rubbery surface on the bottom to prevent them from sliding around, but with a couple of rubber bands, you can stabilize your cutting board and prevent future accidents from occurring. Just slap on two rubber bands at each end of the cutting board and you are good to go. Just make sure that the rubber bands are laying flat and are not twisted when you put them on.
Last edit: by xdford
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Concrete Silo Construction
By Bill Winans
A good source for heavy cardboard tube is carpet rolls. Usually the tubes become part of a landfill when the carpet is pulled off, so if you find a carpet business and ask for a tube in good condition, they will probably give you several for free (they are usually 10 or 12 feet long). A hacksaw or other fine toothed saw can cut the stuff pretty nicely.
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Using Acrylic Paints on Buildings Part 1
By Dave Nelson
I use distilled water to thin my water based paints and I suspect the gallon (or 4 litre) I bought will last a lifetime. I also use it as a first "cleanout" of the airbrush.
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Using Acrylic Paints on Buildings Part 2
By Bob Sitch
When Painting Bricks I use a number of colors in the same tones as bricks are seldom all one color. They mainly vary as to where they were in the pile when fired.
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Coffee Cup Sleeves
By Dave Alter
I use the coffee cup sleeves to make corrugated roofs and fences. I cut the sleeve into scale 8' long strips. I then glue the strips to a piece of card board overlapping each strip. Once the glue dries, I paint the strips with a aluminum color paint and use weathering powders to weather it.
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Damaged Roofing Simulation
By Steve Juranics (Cambridge Ontario)
My son makes his war models look like they've taken some serious damage. He used a BBQ Lighter and pushed in the melting plastic. I would think you could take a flame to the inside of the roof and push down on it as it gets soft.
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Make your Own Gap Filling Superglue
By Khris Robinson
I use Superglue on joins with Bi-carb soda that can then be filed down. The bicarb appears to set off the superglue and also acts as a filler.
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