HINTS AND TIPS - THE FOLLOW ON
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Gaps in Foam Board Pt 1
by Several Modellers
Foam Board is more popular as a base but Gaps can be a problem. One solution is to glue down a small piece of styrene over the gap and the other is to use plaster cloth. Once you ballast the track, you form a hard base and you should have no problem. If the gap is real large, cut slivers of foam and fill the gap.
Last edit: by xdford
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Gaps in Foam Board Pt 2
by Several Modellers
Caulk works well. Only worry about where the tracks run over the seam. In those places, make sure the roadbed is smooth and even. Everywhere else you can hide with scenery. I even turned one of my seams into a drainage stream!
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Gaps in Foam Board Pt 3
by Several Modellers
Lay a bead of Caulk right in the gap, and add another, until it rises above the surrounding surfaces. Then use a spatula to flatten it smooth . Let it harden, and when you do your painting and adding of ground foam, it will disappear.
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Cutting Foam for Scenery
by Thomas O'Shea
I use an electric knife to cut foam blocks to shape for scenery and track bases. It will even cut the beaded foam with a minimal mess. Thanks to my wife for this tip.
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Building a layout with foam
by James Hall
I have built two layouts with foam and I have learned to not worry about being too precise. Hack it down with a knife so that it is reasonably close to what you want, then use Plaster of Paris or Sculptamold to form the final slope. No need to bother with those hot carving knives/wires. As far as I am concerned, they are a waste of money.
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Powering 12 V LED's
by Neil Edwards
There are 12 Volt strings of LED's available but they need to be powered properly. I search throwaway tables at Electronics suppliers for old computer power packs that will deliver a steady 12 volt or whatever the rating of the transformer is.
Most model railway power packs are nominally 12 volts but the output can vary between 11-14 or 15volts which can provide an overload to the LED's and possibly blow them prematurely. The regulation of the power supply will help avoid this.
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Modelling Mortar
by Mike Looney
An old timer showed me this, many years ago. First you paint the whole building a flesh color, and let that dry, then come back. I use is Red zinc chrome primer and dry brush it on, but take your time, because you do not want to rush it, and if you make a mistake, then come back with some flesh color where you made the mistake.
This will give you the right color for mortar lines and if you really want it to look great, take a red sharpie and a black one and color each brick every now and then, because not all bricks are red. Now you can also use Tuscan, and other shades of red and some pale color for a white brick or what I call a painted brick.
Use a light touch when you dry brush and you will be happy with the way it come out, and then finish with a coat of Indian ink mixed with Isopropyl Alcohol and then put it all together.
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Using Dry Wall Tape for Modelling
by Neil Pearson
There is this paper tape they use for joining seams and finishing concave corners when doing drywall. You get around 500 feet for about $3 in the US at the home depot and it would be similarly cheap around the world. It is paper, but about twice the thickness of copier paper and much stronger. There is a slight bend-line in the middle, and the tape is about 2"/50mm wide. It also sticks really well with Elmer's glue or PVA.
Here are some of the uses I find for this:
- I cover seams between foam sheets. This has kept me from buying a new 2" foam which would have cost me $30 per sheet.
- as shims to elevate track or fill in gaps where a board has warped away from a building base for example
- as a wrapper for any surface which whose texture I am trying to hide such as plywood edge
- as a runner that is applied to the fascia board top edge to make the gap between the fascia board and foam disappear.
Dry Wall tape also holds latex paints well.
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If you use shelving to hold rollingstock… Pt 1
by Mike Lehman
If you plan to use the shelves to cycle individual cars on and off the layout, you need to ensure adequate clearance to reach your fingers in and pick up cars without disturbing their neighbors. Otherwise, you'll be knocking things around. 2" is probably too close and 2.5" might be barely enough. I'd test things first before cutting wood. You'll most likely only get either 3 or 4 shelves deep to work. Squeezing in 5 will be very tricky to use in practice, unless you will be using the shelves for display only and will start stacking them in from the back forward, then not disturbing them unless you reverse that stacking process.
I also would not make each level too much higher than the one in front. . If you knock another car, while reaching for one in back, you don't want to start a rolling stock avalanche.
I would consider some sort of low barrier or clear plastic shelf front, so if the front row does get knocked the next stop is not the floor.
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If you use shelving to hold rollingstock… Pt 2
by Charles Beasley
Instead of placing models on shelves one at a time, I run entire cuts, or short trains, into cassettes. Then I place the entire cassette collection onto wall brackets for storage.
The biggest advantage is that the rolling stock is untouched by (clumsy, arthritic) human hands, so fine detail and fancy paint/weathering are not at risk. Also, the process is a LOT faster than moving one unit at a time.
My cassettes are lengths of narrow steel stud material, with flex track secured to the inside (rain gutter style) Using latex caulk, it takes me about five minutes to cut a length of steel and caulk flex to the inside. Some have rerailers, most do not.
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Another Ballasting Approach Pt 1
by Mike Salfi
For methods to ballast, the coolest trick I have seen is to use double sided tape. The method involves placing double sided tape on the roadbed such that it will cover ¼ inch on either end of the ties. Next lay the track on the double sided tape, then apply the ballast using a medium
bristled brush, then pressing the ballast down with your fingers.
bristled brush, then pressing the ballast down with your fingers.
Since there is no glue on the ties, ballast will not stick to it. Once in place you can always add some liquid cement but in the demonstration I witnessed, this was not done.
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This is Ricahrd Johnson's method of ballasting.I use it all the time & it works very well.
Richard says the method is fully explained in the final few pages of the Cobalt manual available here.
http://www.dccconcepts.com/PDF_Downloads/cobalt_instructions.pdf
RICHARD JOHNSON BALLASTING.
*** Try it this way. Its really no big deal and can be relaxing if you take your time and put on a bit of good music. It takes hours to do a whole layout of course but they don't need to be unpleasant if you use the method below.
The glue:
mix 1 part glue with 2~3 parts water, then add about 2~3 parts meths and shake really well. 50/50 is often mentioned but its plain wrong… It is far too much glue / like making concrete!
DO add and mix in the water before the meths and if its really cold, wait until it isn't to ballast (or warm up the trackage / room for a couple of hours and warm the water mixed into the glue as well). Leave the heater on for at least 3 hours after spreading glue too.
Spread and tidy the ballast. stay 2 sleepers away from point tie bars (we can do that bit later). Tidy up the edges too. if you tidy up as well as you can the edge still looks "prototypically ragged" but if you don't it looks like a disaster.
Rather than too much, apply ballast steadily and sparingly a soup spoon at a time and spread with the fingers. When spread properly, tap the rail gently with the back of spoon (just letting it fall under its own weight when held between two fingers and it'll bounce particles away from the rail and settle the ballast between the sleepers.
Be fussy - 2 added minutes per foot to make it tidy is worth the effort. Don't use a brush - it always flicks ballast everywhere!.
squeeze a cotton bud really flat with pliers and put a wee bit of Vaseline (only a wee bit) on it. Rub that between the point blades and the stock rails for the last 30mm of the point blades. That will stop stray glue sticking them and can be left or wiped off later.
when its ready put meths in a window cleaning spray bottle and from far enough away to no blow the ballast give it a good wetting wit the meths. Just do a few feet at a time… don't try to do too much at once!
re-shake the glue (in a plastic sauce bottle with a small cut nozzle is good) drip on the glue. not too much is needed. It goes a long way and flows surprisingly far.
Most will just soak in to the "meths wet" ballast immediately!
when glue is spread, the re-mist with the meths - the rest will soak in.
Now, get a bit of pine off cut and dip the end into a bit of meths. rub along the rail tops and this will remove the worst of any glue accidentally dropped there. Be careful but press down slightly as you do it
Now…. walk away and don't touch until dry, even if you see a misplaced bit here and there… Be patient! It will dry quickly because of the meths, will not clump and will be nicely matt in look - and firmly held too.
When dry, run a fingernail along the inside of each rail and then rub any mischievous bits off sleepers or anywhere it shouldn't be.
Quietly and carefully vacuum up the excess.
Now. Those last bits by the point tie bars. Get a stiffish fine brush. dip in neat PVA and paint the area between those sleepers. Not too much!! Now add a pick of ballast and tap it down into the glue. Wait several hours and vacuum off excess…
Job done.
Give the rails a bit of a clean and play trains
"The only stupid question is the one you don't ask"
Regards.
Tony.
Regards.
Tony.
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Another Ballasting Approach Pt 2
by Steve Lowens
What happens after the brushing ballast in is critical. At our club, after the brushing step, we soak the ballast with Windex, and soak it really, really well. Spray from some distance away so as to avoid stirring up the granules. Then, when you apply a glue mixture (we use 40% white glue, 40% 70% alcohol, and 20% water), the ballast will stay in place as you apply the glue.
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Recycling your scalpel and exacto blades
by Several Modelers
I used a fine oil stone ( the same one I use to sharpen plane irons and wood chisels) and some 3 in 1 oil for lubricant. Normally I have bought new sharp Xacto blades, but I needed a chisel blade for which I lacked spares. A dozen strokes on the beveled edge and some flattening of the back brought back the edge sharp enough to shave off molded on handrails cleanly.
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Working with Putty Pt 1
by Jay Anderson
It does sometime take more than one application of putty/drying/sanding to get the desired results. Putty should be applied in thin layers, even if it takes a few putty/drying/sanding cycles. For larger gaps, I often use plumber's epoxy putty. When hard enough, (about 30-60 mins), it can be carved, drilled and sanded like styrene.
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Working with Putty Pt 2
by Rob Spangler
I treat putty a lot like drywall mud, applying it with something like a dull X-Acto chisel blade or a scrap of styrene in place of a taping knife. When first applied, the putty extends beyond the spot I'm working on just like mud typically ends up occupying a larger area at first than when it's finished. S I start sanding with fairly coarse 150 or 220 grit, and work down to finer grits only once most of the putty has been smoothed. Using a sanding block helps to keep the sandpaper aligned with the surface area surrounding the putty so everything ends up flush.
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A Cheap and Easy Deck Girder Bridge
by Ray Barnes
While replacing some blinds in my house, someone distracted me. After resolving that, I looked at the blinds in my hands- but for a moment thought I was about to throw out a very long deck-girder bridge!
Upon closer examination, it appeared that the enclosure part you hang on the wall had the following qualities:
- All-metal construction
- Correct approx. height and width
- Already primered
- Proper indentation on the sides
- An indentation in the top, which you could use to hide your bus and feeder wires in below track level.
- You can easily add the flat decking section if you want it ballasted.
- I found cheap blinds on sale for $4, and you can use every piece for different projects!
Do not waste the blinds themselves (or the mechanism), look at them very carefully-there are many versions, all with unique uses.
Last edit: by xdford
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Modelling Dirty Windows Pt 1
by Marlon Medina
I have used the "disappearing or invisible" gift wrap tape to model dirty windows with success. Cut a piece of tape that's double the size of the window opening, then fold it in half so that the sticky sides stick together. Brush a thin layer of white glue around the window opening and press the tape into place.
You can also use regular tape. But instead of using the folded in half technique, just stick it to the inside of the window opening. Then, apply some white or very light gray weathering powder with a makeup brush. This does two things. First, it gives you the dirty window effect you want. Secondly, it covers the adhesive so bigger things will not stick to the window.
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Modelling Dirty Windows Pt 2
by Brent Mays
Microscope slide covers work great. First they look like real glass, second you can smudged them up enough with just your own greasy fingers to make them look like they haven't been washed in a while. Just try to install them if you want that clean and shinny look, no matter how many times you wash your hands they still get dirty
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Realistic Placement of Farm Animals
by Terry Lockhart
Cattle and other common farm animals tend to herd together. There will typically be a fairly close clump of them somewhere in the pasture with a few further out from the group here and there. The herd should not be laid out on a grid system! If you live near farms, pay attention to the animals in the fields and you will see what I mean.
If you want a natural looking pasture, pick a random spot and assign five or six cows to that spot, most of them facing basically the same direction. Move out an inch or two in a random direction and add two or three more. Then add a few loners a few inches beyond that. Most of them will be facing the same general direction because they tend to move together.
If you do this, you will get a much more realistic looking pasture.
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