Hints & Tips No.1284


Making Wood Stain
By John Busby (Western Australia)


This will only work on some woods. but get some cheap vinegar and some steel wool.


Put some steel wool in a jar and pour the vinegar in the jar seal the jar leave it for a week or two. Then get an off cut of the wood you wish to stain and give it a coat of the vinegar and leave it to dry
If bass wood is one of the woods it works on and colors it will hopefully turn a weathered grey. If it does the bridge is best done out in the shed or out side the vinegar smell is quite overpoweringly strong.For some strange reason the domestic authorities do not like it stinking out the house.
   Once made the stain does not last long before it stops staining so do not leave it brewing too long. Once your wood project is done, if you have any other wood you want stained do it it straight away and after that… do not bother keeping the stain because next time you want it in all probability will be life expired and a fresh batch will have to be made.
Always do a test stain on a bit of scrap first as stated at the beginning it does not work on all woods.
  WARNING
   DO NOT SEAL THE JAR TIGHT !!!!! The reaction of the vinegar & the steel wool produces hydrogen gas that is highly flammable. punch a few small holes in the lid of the jar and leave the lid loose. put the jar in a spot it will not get tipped over that gets plenty of air circulation.

Hints & Tips No.1285
Making a “Stay Wet” Palette By Ken Church (North Devon)


Acrylics can be difficult to use other than for painting things the colour of the paint, certainly not weathering etc.Many people also seem to waste a lot, having squeezed a bit onto a saucer to mix with another colour it all seems to dry before they have got what they wanted, and if it is  diluted, it does not have the covering power. To boot, some are generally rubbish at painting plastic models with a paint brush,


Get an old metal baking tin and line it's base with a piece of blotting paper then cover this base with a piece of greaseproof paper. Add a small amount of water (enough to just make the greaseproof paper damp) then place your SMALL amounts - ie., enough for the job in hand - of acrylic paints around the greaseproof paper. I always leave a largish area in the middle for mixing.


If necessary, keep topping up the water as you go along and when you have finished painting cover the whole baking tin with clingfilm; always add a small amount of water before doing this and you will find you can keep the paint usable for weeks. When the paper becomes too paint messy just change it and you can go on like this indefinitely. You could also use a plastic bowl with a sealable lid such as a Tupperware container.

A Note from Trevor
Somehow or other I did not see the quote from 'someone else" nor can I find the source. I  have been in private correspondence with Ken for quite some time and somehow the quote bit when I saw it might not have shown on my screen as I would not have directly copied it in that way - it is not my usual bag to misquote and I mostly ask for and get permission to use each hint from the authors as I see them. As it is I remember thinking that I thought Ken was a painter but I was also a bit flu bound at the time so read it "as was"…  my mistake mate and a third person alteration to the text has now taken place! 

[user=374]xdford[/user] wrote:

Hints & Tips No.1285
Making a “Stay Wet” Palette By Ken Church (North Devon)


I find acrylics difficult to use other than for painting things the colour of the paint, certainly not weathering etc. I also seem to waste a lot, having squeezed a bit onto a saucer to mix with another colour it all seems to dry before I have got what I want, and if I dilute it, it does not have the covering power. I am generally rubbish at painting plastic models with a paint brush,

 

May I just point out that the first paragraph - shown above - wasn't written by me!   It was in response to that that I used my artistic knowledge to give an answer to it. :roll:

Ken.

It did have me worried Ken - I always thought you were an artist ..........:roll::roll::thumbs

Hints & Tips No.1286
Making Mortar Markings Pt 1 By Don Tanner (Canada)



I have a technique that works consistently well.

I use tile grout that you can obviously buy at any building centre like HD and Lowes. I buy a small container because a small quantity goes a long way.

I mix it with water to the consistency of, say, white glue of the container or maybe just a bit thicker. I add a fairly dark grey acrylic paint to try and mimic the colour of aged mortar.

I apply the 'mortar' using small squares of any type of sponge. Dip the sponge in the mortar and work it into the brick crevices working from top to bottom. Then take a clean piece of slightly moistened sponge and wipe the entire surface of the wall until there is mortar only between the bricks.

Once dry, there will be a glaze on the brick —- exactly the same thing that happens when you do grouting of tile. Take another slightly moistened piece of sponge and wipe the surface lightly to remove the glaze — this may take a couple of passes.   

If the plastic is of a brick colour I just use very fine 'wet and dry' glass paper to 'sand' off the glaze. You can then pick out some individual bricks in subtle colour variations. I think in HO/OO it is ok just to use enamel paints for the mortar but always use a grey and not bright white!

Simon

Hints & Tips No.1287
Making Mortar Markings Pt 2 By Trevor Gibbs (Australia)


I used some Tamiya or some other acrylic paint and wipe a dab of off white or concrete grey on with a tissue then wiped the excess off the bricks in very short order If some smears the bricks after drying, you can get it off by dampening the tissue and wiping it off when it is dry and the paint in the grooves would have enough bite to stay. 
Alternatively you could use a cotton bud to wipe it off the tiny sections and with a little age it will mellow anyway.

Hints & Tips No.1288
 Making Mortar Markings Pt 3 By Lou Santello (Illinois)
 

 I scrubbed a white crayon to fill in the joints and it actually came out nice, but I have found it very messy and time consuming.

Hints & Tips No.1289
Making Mortar Markings Pt 4 By Darryl Huffman


I lay the building flat and then use a whitish-gray wash—– but I do not apply the wash over the whole building. I just touch a thin brush to a point where the bricks meet and allow the wash to flow into the cracks and let it spread out.

I then do this in another area. This gives a good variation in the mortar lines. I use Testor's Brush Cleaner and Testor's Flat White and Flat Gray for my paints for the mortar line.

A second, more involved approach is to paint the whole brick surface with a very thin coat of Plaster of Paris. Let dry over night and then using the latex gloves sold for washing dishes that have a textured "grip" surface on the fingers, actually "scrub" the Plaster of Paris with your fingers to remove as much of the Plaster as you like. The scrubbing is done when the Plaster is very dry. Not moist at all.

You can refine this step a little bit further by putting a small amount of gray finger paint or water color paint in the Plaster of Paris before you mix it.

You can even add shades of gray using water color paints after the Plaster is dry on the model but before you scrub it. Again, let this dry thoroughly before scrubbing with the latex gloves.

This will actually give you the most realistic looking finish on your brick.

Hints & Tips No.1290
 Making Mortar Markings Pt 5 By Rob Weaver (California)
 

 I use a white or gray wash, but let it sit a couple of minutes before wiping any off. It seems ok if it alters the base color because it shouldn't be uniform anyway. Once weathered, it looks good. I use water base for the white or gray wash. Apply some water to the model first and then apply the wash. Another way is to apply the wash, let it sit for a minute, then follow with water on a stiff brush and swirl it. That will cause it settle in the crevices.
 
Just experiment. Mortar washes are part of weathering and nothing is incorrect. If the base color gets faded or spotted from it, it just looks like older bricks.

Hints & Tips No.1291
Making Mortar Markings Pt 6 By Gordon Fewster (North Carolina)


To get the mortar lines to show, I airbrush the wall sections with Floquil Tuscan Red (I like that as a brick color)

With the walls flat, I apply a wash of Polyscale concrete. (I like Floquil for most painting, but if I use it here it will take the first layer off)Either dilute the concrete (a lot!), or dip the brush in a little concrete, apply it, then dip the brush in water and spread the concrete around. The surface of the brick can then be wiped with a paper towel to make the red show better.

Many older buildings have an uneven whitish color, apparently from something leaching or washing from the mortar. You can simulate this by not being too uniform with the concrete wash. If you try this with an assembled building and the walls vertical, all of the wash will end up on the bottom. Not the effect you want.

Practice on scrap material is a good idea.

An alternative that I have read but not tried is to spray the building with the concrete color and then dry brush the brick color onto the top surface of the bricks. I suspect that the depth of the mortar lines would affect the results, so other kits may behave differently.

Hints & Tips No.1292
Colouring Bricks  By Fred Monsimer (Pennsylvania)


I take assorted "near-brick-color" art markers, and touch random bricks to simulate variations in brick colors.  This can be tedious, so I do not do it on every building.  It also is more appropriate on the backs of buildings than on the fronts, since the bricklayers would select better and consistent-colored bricks for the public side of the building, and use the discolored or burned ones around the back.  

Hints & Tips No.1293
Making Mortar Markings Pt 7 By Dave Emery (Virginia)


Lots of tricks for mortar colors… Here's a couple to consider:

1. Get some wallboard compound and thin it to the consistency of milk. Wash it over the building. When it's almost dry, use a damp paper towel to remove the white color from the bricks, leaving the white in the mortar.

2. I personally have had good luck with artist gouache paints. This is an opaque watercolor, so you can get more colors than just white. Same idea as above, cover the walls, and then wipe it off from the bricks.

3. Several people have reported good luck with flour, rubbing the flour into the cracks of the brick. 

Hints & Tips No.1294
Making Mortar Markings Pt 8 By Mike Sloane (California)


Take a look at brick and stone buildings around you. Until you get very close to them, you cannot see the mortar at all. So using a thinned out whitewash technique is probably the best one.


I buy cheap interior flat latex white and add some water and a little flat black to cut the brightness. I slop it on the model using a broad brush and then immediately wipe it off with a piece of paper towel using downward strokes. This leaves the "mortar" in between the bricks/stones.)

Hints & Tips No.1295
Baseboard and Framework Painting  By David Bromage (New South Wales)


If you use exterior or marine ply it should not need to be painted. However I have always painted the top of the baseboard a neutral earth colour before putting down any track. If any scenery comes off it looks like dirt. 

Hints & Tips No.1296


By Elmer McKay (Virginia)




When airbrushing, use a hair dryer to dry the paint. You can then put a second coat on right away.

Hints & Tips No.1297
 Using Rock Moulds (Molds) with pre tinted plaster By Richard Cowman
 You can tint the plaster before pouring it in your moulds if you like. I did some both ways, but when I do more castings, I think I will color after. It's not a strong preference, both worked, I just felt that the untinted plaster took future washes better. There is a wide variety in the colors of rock in my area, so they get many different colors. If your rocks are pretty much a consistant color, color the plaster a little short of the color you want (a little experimenting here), then finish them with washes to vary the surfaces slightly.
 

Hints & Tips No.1298
 Attaching Ground Cover Pt 1. By Crandell Overton
 

 For scenic foams, I pre-wet, then spray liberally with a glue/water/soap mix, sprinkle at least two different blends of finer foam, spray, sprinkle a sparse dusting of flocking, spray, and then individually pull apart to size and glue small clumps of 'bushes' foam to the scenery. I dip the clumps into straight wood glue.

Hints & Tips No.1299
Attaching Ground Cover Pt 2. By Owen Drew (Geelong Australia) ….


For Shrugs and Puff Ball Trees I use clear Latex Caulking - Holds great when wet so the Clump Foliage can be applied to hillsides. It goes on white and dries clear.
   I use a Caulking Gun and apply a glob to the Clump and then stick onto the scenery base. It works great on to stick onto Plaster, Foam, Ceiling Tile Rocks, Homasote and Paint. Everyone says how great it is for Track and Cork so I figured it should work for Scenery too - which it does!

Hints & Tips No.1300
 Credit Card Recycling into something useful… By Colin Snowdon (UK) ….
 

 A good use I've found for expired credit/debit/id cards is loco to tender coupling bars. Anyone who has tried to destroy such a card by bending it back and forward will know that it takes a lot of effort, and that is just the sort of stresses a tender coupling is under. A slice off a card driled both ends makes a great insulated tender coupling which is almost indestructable. Those of you who use different polarity tender/loco pickup may find this useful. The same strip from a card can be used as a mild return spring for mechanical signal operating systems.