HINTS AND TIPS - THE FOLLOW ON
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Selecting Scenery and Foliage Colours Pt 4
By Various Modellers
Scenery is a big task, but it can and should be done in small patches. I generally work in 2' squares.
You really do need a mix of materials, even to model spring or summer. There are countless shades of greens in nature particularly in forests and woodlands. To simulate this, paint an area with straight, undiluted matte medium, then sprinkle on WS blended turf and a little earth. This gives the area a good base covering. When this is dry, mist it with 35% rubbing alcohol, then sprinkle more blended turf (unevenly), and 2-3 different shades of green.
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Selecting Scenery and Foliage Colours Pt 5
By Various Modellers
Only perfectly manicured areas, like parks and the occasional suburban lawn, do not get this treatment. For a more rugged look, drop on some coarse turf in a couple different colors. Then, using a pipette, dribble diluted matte medium (4:1) on top to lock everything down. For bushes, use clump foliage pressed in while the matte medium is still wet.
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Sealing Card Stock buildings
By Lon Wall
Usually the safe course is to seal all sides of the card stock with something like Dullcote or Matt Finish spray. I use a spray that I bought from a local art supply used in sealing chalk or charcoal artworks.
Doing this will avoid future warping but does make it harder to paint the material only because you have essentially sealed it. Treat the sealed surface more like you would plastic or metal -
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Using Acrylic Paints
By Dave Nelson
I use distilled water to thin my water based paints and I suspect the gallon I bought will last a lifetime. I also use it as a first "cleanout" of the airbrush.
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Using Acrylic Paints Pt 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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Using Acrylic Paints Pt 3
By Will Stapleton
Acrylics are water-based paints, so normally would be thinned with water. A little alcohol can be used but a lot can have a negative effect on the paint. Keep in mind too that unlike solvent-based paints, most acrylics come pretty much ready to spray, but sometimes may require a tiny bit of thinning with water.
It is generally a good idea to always primer anything you're going to paint. I like to use Tamiya gray primer from a spray can. It has a very fine spray and goes on just as smoothly as air brushing, with a lot less work.
For what it is worth, I generally paint a brick building's walls (before building the kit) in primer gray inside and out, and then color the raised bricks with a dark red or brown art marker.
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Painted signs on old buildings
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 through your laser or ink jet manually.
If you use an ink jet, you will 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 mat 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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An alternative to Cardstock
By Scott Geare
As an alternative to cardstock particularly avoiding warping wen being painted, consider the material that is used for juice and milk cartons. It has a very light coating of plastic (not wax) which won't warp. Worth a shot.
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Ballasting
By Roger Dennison (Ontario)
To ballast large areas of yards and achieve a dirty mottled look, spread regular fine builder's sand evenly between the tracks till it's even with the top of the roadbed. Use a small wide brush to even out any "humps" or "holes." When everything is smoothed out to your satisfaction, wet the sand with a spray bottle which has water and a small amount of dishwasher detergent added. When the area is thoroughly wet, dribble on Elmer's glue diluted 3 parts water to 1 part glue and dyed to a dark charcoal grey with India ink. use a large Elmer's glue bottle to distribute the dyed glue evenly and let the sand absorb it as you go. To help it spread into the sand spray occasionally with your "wetted water" solution. After the sand is colored and glued, leave it to dry at least a day. To achieve a more "grungy" appearance, use washes of thinned waterbase paints in "dirty" colors to make the area look more "used".
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Removing Track Nails Pt 1
By Crandell Overton (Vancouver Island)
For a super tough pull where the nail just won't budge, you have two choices, and both promise damage. First, get two leveraged thin metal wedges or blades that will take some leveraging shoved into the nail from opposite sides and use a small fulcrum to hoist it all up, pushing down on the free ends of the shims. If you are lucky, and keep the forward edges of the shims tight up against the shank of the nail, it will pop up, or it will pull through the tie but the tie will not part.
A more draconian method is to cut through the tie tight to the nail and lift the track free. You can always patch the gap in the tie later.
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Removing Track Nails Pt 2
By Greg Gorman
I usually use a 2' wide putty knife. get it under the track near the nail and wiggle up and down and sideways some, till the head of the nail starts to pry up, then i use a small set of pliers to pull up the nail the rest of the way out.
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Removing Track Nails Pt 3
By Several Modellers
I use a pair of 6 inch side cutters, if I hold my mouth right I can minimise the damage to the
ties.
My track nails go through the ties and Woodland Scenics Foam Track Bed into the plywood surface.
I use a pair of snip nose pliers to remove nails and that has never failed to remove the nail without damage to the tie.
Last edit: by xdford
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Removing Track Nails Pt 4
By Several Modellers
I use my Xuron rail cutter for nails that are too tight to grab with wire cutters / side cutters. Once I raise the nail head enough I then use my wire cutters / side cutters. O.P. please note that removing tightly nailed track is pretty common and by working carefully you should be able to salvage most if not all of the track without damage. When using the cutters simply come in from the side, grasp the nail with the tip and let the cutters rest on the rail. Push down slowly and steadily and the nails should come up straight without inflicting any damage. The rail will act as a fulcrum and this makes it easier to bring up the nail. In most cases you can probably reuse the nail as well.
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Transition of Gradients from incline to flat surfaces Pt 1
By Crandell Overton
Fix the track over the middle part of the grade and let the end do what it wants. This might be a time when you join and solder two or more lengths together, depending on the length of the grade, and make sure the middle part that should conform to the steady part of the grade is well adhered. Then watch what the end at the bottom does. It may need a little help with a couple of ounces of weight midway along what you see is the transition to impart a proper vertical curve until level. What I do is to fill below the ties with ballast and then glue the ballast once it is groomed properly and supporting the vertically curved rails. There is your nice transition.
Failing that, fill that area with some spackle (repair plaster), maybe some clay or drywall mud, and try to make it curved so that the rails adhered to that surface is very close to a natural vertical curve. Once the material is dry, use acrylic latex caulk to adhere the tracks to the curved surface, maybe some weights to keep it all in place during the curing, and then ballast.
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Transition of Gradients from incline to flat surfaces Pt 2
By Charles Beckman (Nevada)
With Woodland Scenics grade formers (and, presumably, equivalent foam on the plateau) you can form the necessary transition with a sur-form tool or wood rasp. Mark the grade the length of the longest car you expect to run from the break point. Mark the flat the same distance from the break point. Then gently form a parabolic transition. Remove material slowly, and check with a bent batten to get the right contour.
I personally prefer to form transitions with cookie-cut plywood. Less mess.
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Transition of Gradients from incline to flat surfaces Pt 3
By Bill Dimenna
I lay piece of flex track with half on either Side of transition to grade. I then screw the flex track to a thin strip of either Luan or mdf. The first third is screwed to base, then I use a piece of foam to adjust the transition. After testing engines I lock it in place with foam and use insulation in a can material to fill the gaps.
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Straightening Bent Plastic pieces
By James Donaldson (Texas)
I have bought a few an old kits at discount prices only to find some of the major, or even minor parts warped. Place the part in boiling water, being careful not to let the parts touch the sides of the pan. Remove the parts, place them on paper towel on a flat surface and weigh it down with something. I like using sand bags made from and old t-shirt filled with sand. Let it cool down completely.
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A Makeshift Surface Plate
By Trevor Gibbs
A surface plate would be a great modelling tool IF you happened to have one given to you or you have ready access to one especially for scratchbuilders. However a piece of MDF or particle board up to about 12â€/300mm square is flat enough for our purposes and dimensionally stable enough to last in a workshop.
You could also use it as a suitable flat base for placing warped pieces on in the previous hint Number 1223
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Simulating Cracked Glass Pt 1
By Charles Winzar
A completely safe technique that I have seen give a half reasonable impression, was acrylic plastic given a few scratches to represent the cracks and given a matt or smokey black patch painted on where there was to be a broken pane, representing the 'dark hole' typical of looking into an unlit building interior from outside on a bright day
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