HINTS AND TIPS - THE FOLLOW ON
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Using a Camera for Cross Referencing in building By Veronica Silverwood (South Africa)
When I take apart a locomotive, I have found that by taking a photo with my digital camera, the reassembly processes are a lot easier to follow. The camera also picks up different details aspects that were not apparent during the disassembly. I also use an ice cube maker to put the individual parts in so that they go in in their order.
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Cats and Layouts Pt 1 By Jon Walker (Ottawa)
I use plexi-glass. It doubles for 'crowd control' at exhibitions. Add an ample supply of 'cat-nip laced' lace knots at ground level, and the moggies will - generally - remain at ground level.
However; trains have been known to derail at the 'Cat-Hills Grade' when Maddie the Tabby takes up residence in the fiddle yard! J Diversions and 'shoe-flies' are then required to bypass 'Her Moggie-ness'.
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Cats and Layouts Pt 2 By Brian Clogg
The train room is now enclosed and I keep the door closed. Something else that worked a bit was to leave the DCC on all the time. It seemed to tingle their paws.
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Laying Straight Track By Mike Fraser
A straight edge is a great way to get straight track but do not underestimate the agility of your own eye. I still use it to sight down the rail, even after I have used a straight edge. Perfectly straight track does not always look the most realistic.
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PC Board Ties By Trevor Gibbs
A common item used in trackwork articles, especially building or modifying switches, is to use printed circuit board ties so the rail can be soldered directly to it. I have bought circuit board before but I also got a supply of offcuts from an electronics friend who made custom boards at the right price. The board quality viz the strength of the fibre board was generally better than I could have bought otherwise.
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Plexi-Glass and Layouts By Jon Walker (Ottawa)
One of the main reasons for the plexi-glass was to prevent little fingers from picking up the trains. Some parents just bring the little ones to the shows purely as a make-shift babysitting service.
I love having the kids around the layout – especially when the organizers provide tables for the kids to sit on for viewing.
The plexi-glass acts as a scenic break whenever the layout scenes drop below board level (canal, river) and it protects the display from probing fingers.
It also serves as a ‘first line of defense’ for the ‘five finger discount brigade’ who – from time to time – try to walk off with my trains. The plexi-glass makes their actions a little bit more obvious to me and the other operators. It has happened at the odd show, but the plexi-glass has proven itself before in both cases.
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Cats and Layouts Pt 3 By Andrew Chisolm (Canada)
I put a screen door on the train room so that the air could flow. Some Hardware stores have a special pet screen that their claws don't break. It workswell and I only have problems when someone leaves the door open.
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Using Bonded Ballast By Vic Elliot
If you use the bonded ballast method to secure ballast to your roadbed and track use rubbing alcohol as the wetting agent rather than soapy water. Since the alcohol evaporates much faster than water the ballast will be secure and dry in a few hours rather than at least a day. The alcohol breaks the surface tension of the thinned glue mixture just as well as soapy water. This works well for most any kind of ground cover too
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Making Dirt Roads Pt 1 By Terry Snowling
I first cut strips of cardboard in the width and shape of the road I want and, cover theses strips with sculptamold or plaster or that plaster-impregnated gauze. I let it dry, paint with earth colored paint, sprinkle on the dirt and while it is still wet I run a cheap model car or truck back and forth on it to make "ruts" and let dry. The ruts of course for you are optional!
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Curved Level Crossings By Rob Hurst
I made my level crossings with a piece of styrene between the rails. Cut the sides to match the curvature of your rails, allowing for flangeways, and cut the ends to line up with the road edges.
If you want a plank crossing, scribe the styrene with “straight†lines to emulate the planks. The styrene can be painted and weathered to look like wood, asphalt or concrete. I made mine look like wood planks and they look pretty good – well is looks good to my eye anyway, and that is really the only eye that matters.
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Cheap Lead Weighting Pt 1 By Peter Tuckey
I found a cheap source of weight for my rolling stock. A local gun shop got me some number 9 lead shot, 11 Kilos/ 25 pounds for about $20. The individual pieces of shot are about .080" in diameter. I have used PVA glue to secure them in plastic bodies or put them into tubing and then melted them.
I keep a old large vitamin bottle on the workbench full and refill it when as and if it gets empty. The bottle I use holds nearly a kilo of shot when full, so it will last quite a while. Just be careful, as it is lead with the usual precautions.
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Cheap Lead Weighting Pt 2 By Ken Rhodes
You could try a local sheet metal shop. They often have 3mm or 1/8 inch used sheet lead that you can get cheap or free. A 12" sq. can give you a lot of weight that is great for enclosed carriages and wagons.
Last edit: by xdford
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Cheap Weighting Pt 3 By Geoff Pearce
One of my train club friends works at a metal stamping and forming plant. They punch out little oval thingies of steel, which are perfectly smooth. The plant just throws them away, so my friend picked up a bag full of them and gave some to me (kept the rest for himself).
The little stampings are perfect for weighting carriages and wagons, as they are the right size, very heavy for their size, and superglue to almost any surface easily. And of course the are free! There is not the danger to health that lead provides. I do spray paint the weights a flat black to save any rusting
Last edit: by xdford
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Cheap Trees – all you have to do is find them! By Jeff Brewster
Most gardens are full of wonderful dried plant material, which is just waiting to be picked and used as scenic material on our layouts. Being effectively miniature trees, they are very realistic, and very inexpensive, the secret is to look for it.
I am not very good at identifying plant species, but I do know yarrow when I see it. I just happen to have some in my foundation plantings around my home, and harvest a new crop each spring. In the past however, I have found it in large patches along the side of the road.
There are a lot of different plants that have been used by model railroaders over the years. A trip to your local meadow, or roadside ditch will turn up all kinds of interesting plants, and may even give you modeling ideas in the process.
Look at branch structures, and try to imagine what they might look like covered with ground foam or poly fiber or both. Some plants lend themselves better to different scales. Others can be combined on a larger trunk for a completely different effect.
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Weathering Corrugated Steel By Frank Burford
Where you have structures with metal to look like corrugated steel, try a concentrated spray of vinegar. If you have a spray bottle, use that to cover the foil and then just wait a few minutes and wipe off the excess using a paper towel.
I would try it on a scrap piece of foil first to make sure it gives you the look you want. Make sure you time how long it takes to blacken. Once the vinegar has turned the foil black use a stiff plastic brush (old toothbrush) to remove the oxidation you do not want. Once you have the tone or color you are looking for, use a fine bristle brush and some rust colored paint to finish detailing at the proper locations.
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Texturing Sleepers
By Frank Burford
I had lots of Code 100 track sleepers but for one thing, they were only textured on some of the top and for another the texturing was very ordinary to be polite.
I decided to rough them up a little with a fine sanding drum on my Dremel type tool. Now they have really fine scratches that look a lot more like scale wood grain. A great way to make those plastic ties look more wooden.
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Painting Model Window Frames Black.
By Larry Murfett
Model Window Frames are difficult to paint. Something I tried and it worked pretty good. Assuming you are painting the frames black, get an inexpensive stamp pad. Wrap a piece of double sided tape around your finger, stick one of the windows on the tape and lightly touch it to the stamp pad. Since the frame is raised (assuming you're doing the correct side) only the frame gets the color. This worked well for me.
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Painting Model Window Frames White or any other colour.
By Brett Camay
To make a window frame any other colour, you could dampen a piece of felt with the desired color of paint and use double sided tape around your finger, stick one of the windows on the tape and touch it to the felt pad.
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Frosting White Windows
By Brett Camay
To get a window in a white colour, two ways I have used are…
- paint just the bathroom window on the inside with a small dab of dullcoat. When dry, paint with alcohol. The alcohol will "haze" the dullcoat, that is whiten it up some, which will haze the window quite a bit.
- Sand the inside of the bathroom window with 800 grit sandpaper or use crocus cloth to do the same.
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Correct Signage for your era
By Randy Rinker
If you want some period confirmation for signs etc for your chosen era, go to a large library and looking at some old microfilm of newspapers of the era or perhaps general circulation magazines such as Life, Look or Colliers. The library is always my first stop with such questions.
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