HINTS AND TIPS - THE FOLLOW ON
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Realistic Angles for Streets and Backdrops
By James King
Streets that hit a backdrop at 90 degrees are not always the most convincing looking. Having them hit at an angle often provides a better way to hide the end of the street. But that requires angling your buildings a little which deepens their depth.
On the good side, it you can angle your buildings a little, you avoid a short sidewall that hits the backdrop at 90 degrees which often cast unrealistic shadows in photos.
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Backdrop Buildings Depths Pt 2 By John Bean
"Realistic" depth of a backdrop building has a lot to do with the railways height relative to the viewer. If the layout is high enough that you cannot see all of the building roof, then the structures can be made a lot thinner and still look realistic.
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Mistake to avoid when using Foam as a board
By Michael Medina
I made the mistake of using foam on top of plywood ONE time. When it came time to run feeders to the track, I ended up using a hole saw, “guess-timating†where the wire would come through. I built my bench work using 1x4's in sections 4' long x 2' wide, with cross members on 16" centers.
The next module I made, I glued the foam down with acrylic latex caulk, and since I was using 2" foam (you could stack 2 sheets of 1" to get the same result), it was plenty strong enough. I also used caulk to affix the track to the foam, since it will not hold nails. I made a tool, that looks like a sewing needle out of a wire hanger that works great for pulling the feeders down through the foam.
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Keeping the Warp out of laser kits Pt 1
By John Droste
Warping or cupping occurs because the moisture content on one side of the wood alters from the other side. So, a thin piece of wood facing the light will be prone to cupping towards the light, particularly direct sunlight. Timber shrinks as moisture leaves the wood. And it shrinks much more across the grain than along the grain. You can slow the emission rate of moisture by covering each side with equal coats of whatever.
You could try spraying a mist of water over the cupped side and the water will moisturize the wood. It will help but once it goes it has pretty much gone.
If you have already have a warped side etc, you may probably need to straighten the wood by gluing some stiff segments to the back side of the panel.
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Keeping the Warp out of laser kits Pt 2
By Ronald Lundy
If you paint both sides of your cut wood prior to assembly, you will keep warping to a minimum.
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Using Glue with wood kits
By Ronald Lundy
Try using a yellow carpenters glue, instead of white glue, to assemble your structures. It is tackier(helps hold parts better, especially tiny pieces), dries a lot quicker and is much much stronger than white glue(helps when gluing together those warped parts). The best way I have found to store the glue and apply it, is to put a little in a plastic bottle cap and apply it with a round toothpick, or better yet, a worn out micro brush. The glue builds up and has to be cleaned off. I keep all my worn out micro brushes and I grab another one. When the glue dries (in about 10 min.) you can just pull it off and you have a clean brush again.
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Using Caps as Paint/Glue Holders
By Ronald Lundy
When I paint or glue, I use bottle caps from bottled water to put glue, paint you name it. They hold just enough glue or paint to do just about any job. Just throw them away when they are dirty.
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Making Tinted Windows
By John Busby
If you go to your local car window tinter, they can give you off cuts that are more than big enough for model making purposes.
They can also tell you how to apply the stuff. If I remember correctly you only need soapy water to apply it.
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Making Tarps Pt 1
By John Hockley
I have used a cut-up plastic shopping bag wrapped around the load and painted the green color of the old canvas tarps. The material is easy to work with and once painted, I feel does a very good job of looking like the tarpaulin covers I have seen on trucks and railroad cars covering their loads. The lightness and thinness of the material allows it to fold and wrinkle like the old tarps did.
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Making Tarps Pt 2
By Steve Simmons
I take a normal facial tissue (the multi-ply works best in my opinion), trim it slightly larger then I need it for whatever it will be covering, and using wide ended tweezers slowly dip it into the glue/water mixture.
You do not have to submerge it as the tissue soaks up the glue/water solution. The idea is to make it sufficiently damp enough to stick and work with/shape/drape. If it's too wet, simply touch it to a dry paper towel to whisk away excess water before applying it to your desired area. Then you place it wherever it is needed. No need to rush as you have tons of time to place it, shape it (add creases and ridges as you see fit), or drape it. Once satisfied, take a dry paper towel and mop up any stray glue/water mixture.
Let it dry for 24 hours (or until it is no longer damp) and paint it whatever color you need.
Last edit: by xdford
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India Ink for Contrast
By Richard Cowman
It is common to use India ink washes which are usually used after the main color is in place to darken the crevices. If you paint with a dilute solution as a wash after painting, it will settle into the cracks and emphasise the depth. A good mixture is a few drops to about 500 mls of water.
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Recycling old Badger Bottles for airbrush spares
By Jerry Leonard
I picked up some discarded badger spray bottles with dried acrylic paint inside. Tried soaking them in 91% alcohol for a week with not any success. I filled them with water & dishwashing soap, put them in a larger container with more water & microwaved them for 3 min. (depends on the size of your containers). I then removed them when they were still warm & the paint came right out. Now I have 5 more clean spray bottles for my airbrush.
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Gluing Aluminium and Styrene
By Wayne Hobbs
I have made a lot of structures using Corrugated Aluminium for my roofing which I glue onto the base structure using contact cement.
I no longer use wood for structure building, as I find styrene easier with which to work and more permanent. To ensure a good bond for the contact cement, I first brush-on lacquer thinner to any styrene sub-wall or -roof, then follow-up with a coat of contact cement. This "prepping" seems to prevent the solvent in the contact cement from being drawn out and into the styrene, and ensures a more secure bond. If you require them, use a pencil to draw alignment marks on the styrene before applying the lacquer thinner or the contact cement.
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Simulating Corrugated Iron with Styrene
By David Hall
The problem with styrene is that it is way to thick to simulate a seam by overlapping two sheets. I have used styrene in HO scale and to suggest seams I simply scribed lines across the corrugations with a #11 blade. The joints are subtle but quite visible if you do not overdo the paint.
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When weighting an engine
By Several Modellers
There is a temptation to place weights in model locos so they pull more vehicles. If you do go down this path, check that when you have put your extra weight in that you are still able to slip the wheels of the locomotive at higher voltages. You do not want to create the problem of having a motor burn out because it could not slip, then have too much current go through it and cause it to over heat.
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Painting a Sandy Tan colour for rocks
By Ken Pearce
If you need a sandy tan colored wash for your plastered rocks, paint them with a tiny amount of coffee very diluted.
Hints & Tips No.1478
A very cheap Ridge of Conifer Trees
By Bob Hahn
Here is another idea for creating a canopy of conifer trees on a narrow ridge. I cut black packaging sponge into 1/8" sheets and then cut it into a zig-zag pattern. I then sprayed with varied colored green and layered them on the backdrop. The effect is that of tree canopy in a row on top of a ridge or hill.
Hints & Tips No.1479
Bringing a layout to life… with weeds!
By Several Modellers
If you have ever stepped back and looked at your layout and wondered why it does not look quite right – it is sometimes the lack of weeds. Look at any real railway and you see weeds everywhere.
They are easy to make. Any twine, string or carpet fibres or small blob of ground foam can be painted and roughed up and easily placed in the ballast between the track and it does bring your railroad/way to life.
Last edit: by xdford
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Mounting Signs
By Mike Lehmann
For signs that are supposed to be on some form of wood, I typically glue a printed paper sign to 0.010" white styrene. Done right by cutting just larger than the paper sign, the white can form a nice border for the sign,
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Slipping wheel on Axle and no spare parts
By Several Modellers
In response to a driving wheel on a limited run locomotive unit slipping on its axle and no spare parts available…
- You can remove the wheels and axles, clean thoroughly, and apply epoxy (or superglue) and reassemble and let sit for a day to thoroughly dry before trying it out. Ensure that driving wheels are quartered correctly
- Make sure the axle has good serrations to provide an interference fir, if not you can add them. Hold one file in a vice and the other in your hands. Put an axle end between the two files(using the files edge only) and run the file in your hand back and forth. This will add serrations to the axle, I have done this several times.
- Adding serrations to the axle should work. If you need a bit more "tooth" in the serration, gently use a serrated jaw pliers. before doing this, try to dry fit parts and take some measurements for axle placement (quartering as well).
- You may have only one decent shot of pressing the parts into place and won't stand too much adjusting. Another hint is to use Loctite Red for final placement.
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Creating Distance by muting colours
By Peter Irving
From an artist friend of mine…
When painting a structure, (especially in N scale which I work in), the color should be muted from the desired color because of the "distance effect." The theory is that when we look something in the distance, the colors are very muted by the distance. Since the structures are already in the distance by the very nature of being 1:160 scale, the color should be muted. He said to always add a little grey to desired colour will help with this effect.
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Fixing Discoloured Brass By Mark Lehmann
If your brass locomotive is discoloured then try a bath of denatured alcohol. It will take the resin flux off, presuming that may be a large part of the discoloration. If discolouration is caused by heat, then you may have no other option than to paint it a brass colour… just like happens with Brass Model Locomotives!
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