Hints & Tips No. 2593
Gluing Styrene to various surfaces Pt 1
by Nick Scalzo
 
I buy styrene signs at big box stores. They are the same material as "sheet styrene" and often less expensive on a cost per area basis. If you are going to paint the styrene anyway, it doesn't matter if "For Sale" is already painted on the signs.
I use Plastruct liquid glue for bonding plastic to plastic. I primarily like the glue because it bonds the PLA plastic I use for 3D printing. Few other plastic glues work with PLA. As long as I already have the Plastruct glue, it works great for styrene too.
To glue the styrene to other surfaces like wood, I "score" the back side using a wire brush to make it "rough". Glues that don't dissolve the plastic need a "tooth" to grip.  If you try to glue smooth plastic, it will eventually sheer free of the glue. Also, fingerprints on smooth plastic will prevent good bonds with glue. Even just setting a can on the plastic can break the glue joint with smooth plastic.

Hints & Tips No. 2594
Gluing Styrene to various surfaces Pt 2
by Wayne Toth
 
I use 4'x8' sheets of .060" thick styrene, and "prep" the styrene using lacquer thinner (usually applied with a 2" brush) then brush-on gelled contact cement - the lacquer thinner reacts with the plastic to make application of the contact cement much easier. 
After brushing the contact cement onto the plywood, I wait until the contact cement on both the plywood and the plastic is dry to the touch, then carefully bring the two surfaces together.  (If you're uncertain about getting the piece of plastic  properly positioned, cover the contact cement on the plywood using waxed paper, which will allow you to jockey the plastic into place, then carefully withdraw the waxed paper, pressing the plastic into place as the waxed paper is removed. 

Hints & Tips No. 2595
Jointing Large Sheets of Styrene
by Mark Pruitt
For seams of styrene for backdrops, roads etc, try using a small joining plate (which I call a doubler) on the back made of .010 styrene. Then you can fill the visible seam if you want using styrene putty (Squadron and Tamiya are two makes). After filling, sand the putty down and when painted the seam disappears.
I did this on my backdrops (though I used a .080 doubler for the joints between sections for strength - thickness of the reinforcing plate was not an issue) and the seams are invisible.

Hints & Tips No. 2596
Representing Limestone
By  Several Modellers
I use a layer of Dried Polyfilla smashed and broken up as my “go to” open wagon load (Adrian Blackwell)
I have used Vermiculite which is use in fish tanks (Paul Latty)
I have tried several brands of cat litter and while it is good in appearance when new, I have a problem with humidity (Francis Brewer)

I am having trouble finding more Hints and Tips that have not already been covered - so much so that after more than 13 years since I started doing them for Brian MacDermott and Pat Hammond in Model Railway Express, I have hit the proverbial brick wall.  
If I find anything further of a worthy variation or a new idea I will post it of course but I think that H&T's may have run their course… it happens!  If I don't find anything else there, I have had a good innings with it and thanks for your support and your reading.  If you have something to add, feel free to send me a PM with the hint so  that it does not become an argument forum and demean the usefulness of the section… not everything works for everybody!

Cheers

Trevor

I found an interesting link to a couple of tool suggestions…
Model railroad tools - Model railroad layouts plansModel railroad layouts plans

which could be useful to many of us,

Cheers

Trevor

Hints & Tips No. 2597
MAKING LEVEL CROSSINGS USING PLASTER  Pt 1
By Peter Wrench
 I used plaster with the base color paint mixed in. Troweled it on and over the rails. Then took an old truck with a set of modified pizza cutter wheels and ran it back and forth. After it was dry a bright boy did nicely. Lately I have been using the old white pen eraser with the wedge cut ends. They are not as course as a bright boy.
 The modified pizza cutter wheels are brass and I thinned the flanges using a Dremel and grinding bit on the back side of the wheels.
* And there will be one more in three days or so!!!  There is hope for 3000 yet!

Hints & Tips No. 2598
MAKING LEVEL CROSSINGS USING PLASTER  Pt 2
By Mark Pruitt
I use plaster to fill in between the rails, then simply carve out the flangeways with an Xacto. It only takes a few minutes. I had some debris in the flangeways, but after I cleaned it off trains cross smoothly.

Hints & Tips No. 2599
PREVENTING CHIPPING MARKS IN BALLAST
By Carl Halgren
After laying the cork roadbed, I paint it a shade darker than the ballast I will be using. That way, if ballast chips off, the roadbed will still look like old ballast on the bottom.

Hints & Tips No. 2600
BASEBOARD PAINTING
By Carl Halgren
I paint the entire surface grass green and dirt brown to quickly give the layout a finished look, and to visualize varying terrain. In my case, I painted the entire foam base a dirt brown – it looks a lot better than foam pink.

Hints & Tips No. 2601

PAINTING ASPHALT “CORRECTLY”

By John Newman

I am not very good at smoothing roads but I have a formula for weathering them that works for me. I start by painting them a medium to light gray depending on how aged I want the road to look. I then use A.I.M. weathering powders. I start by applying white to the road to mute the color. I do this with a 1/4" paint brush with the bristles worn down so it is very stiff. It looks just awful after this step. I then take a dry paper towel and rub it into the surface using circular motions. That gives be the shade of the base that I want. I then take grimy black powder and dab a thin streak down the center of each lane. When that's done, I use a soft bristled paint brush to wide it out, then finish again with the dry paper towel rubbing in a straight line down the lane.


 

Hints & Tips No. 2602

COVERING SCREW HEADS

By Dave Nelson

If you think you will need or want future access, and assuming you intend someday to scenic this area, I'd say cover them with some easily removable but plausible and realistic bit of detail.  A 55 gallon drum.  A shrub.  Old tires. 

 

Hints & Tips No. 2603

GLUING CORNERS OF PLASTIC STRUCTURES

By Kevin Beasley

I have built a number of plastic structure kits, which often have very thin walls and very little gluing surface to hold those corner walls together.  Before I even start gluing, I go out and get small balsa wood strip stock.  I glue that to the inside of the corners using CA glue, because it binds to both wood and plastic.  This gives me a much thicker glue surface that holds the joint firmly.  I also gives me a light-proof corner that will not leak, providing a more attractive model.