Expert advice (hints and tips)
 

this would be good for tips to help make life easyier.if you have any good Hints or tips for modelling pass them on.

(1) when painting people glue them down to an old ruler this gives you something to hold on to.

(2) use wire wool for bushes and trees its cheep and looks good. tease out the wire wool, paint with a green spray paint, glue and cover with scatter.

Good idea this thread.

I'm about to embark on building my first model railway (N gauge), and I'd be grateful for any tips.

For a kick off, how the hell am I supposed to paint 2mm scale Langley model rabbits? I can barely see 'em!

But seriously, if anyone does have any hints and tips, I reckon there are a good few of us who would be quite pleased to read 'em.

For the record, I'll be using Setrack, as I don't feel happy about slicing my fingers with a razor saw.

He, he, I had a really good laugh out of that one... :D

Here are a couple of "how tos" I posted a while back. The first one is about making miniature trees using the stuff you normally toss out when you clean up the yard.

http://www.trainweb.org/tomfassett/models/trees101/

The second one is how I make a jig which allows me to quickly recreate identical sections for trestle support.

http://www.trainweb.org/tomfassett/models/trestle01/


I have become a jig "maniac." Before I put anything together any more, I see if it merits making a jig so I can make more. I just put one together for roof trusses for a car barn as well as the walls to a little yard shed.

Tom F

Any hints about putting balast down onto track? Hate seeing bare baseboard on people's model railways!

Sam

Balast
 

I put the balast down then i add glue (50% PVA and 50% water with a drop of washing up liguid). to apply the glue to the balast i use a syringe, the type you get from babies medicine, don,t drowned the balast, just a few drops.

How do you make sure that you don't get the moving bits of points al gummed up? This has been something which has always puzzled me. Do you not ballast around the points, or what?

balast
 

I glued the balast down on one of my point, well the wife glued down the balast on my point by mistake. whilst the glue was drying i kept opening and closing the point and this seem to do the trick. i am going to try this again and see if it works. i think that the fact i use 50% PVA & 50% water with a drop of washing up liquid helped. if you plan to try this i would try it on a old point to see if it works for you. :)

I stop the balast right before the moving sections and paint fake balast around these sections.

Tom F

Thanks for that, lads.

At least I don't have to worry about my missus ballasting track. She still persists in calling locomotives 'trains'. :mad: And this is after numerous visits to the NRM!

it doesn't matter how hard you try and tell the wife not to call them trains, you will fail!,

*one problem i have is with painting concrete. how do you make it look like concrete. it doesn't matter what shade of gray i use, it still doesn't look the part.*

I did ballast the points on my layout. I used teaspoon to apply the ballast to the points of my N gauge layout, then using a very soft brush (wife is still looking for her small blusher brush) I brushed away the over full making sure all the ballast was removed from the moving parts. Then like M.Levin I used a 50/50 mix of water and PVA with a few drops of washing up liquid. As long as the ballast is no higher than the sleepers, then the points move without any problems. The trains ran over the ballasted points and the whole line without any problems. Mind it did take for ever to do it.
DSY011

Had a similar problem with concrete lately. I finally settled on using a light gray primer and doing a heavy wash of aged concrete paint. Both paints were from Polyscale. I just lay the piece flat and do a number of final washes until I get the aging effect I want. For the wash, I use about 90% water to 10% paint. The great thing about this is you get a non-uniform distribution of light and dark areas which is more realistic. I'll see if I can remember to take a few photos.

Tom F

Trains
 

Its the same as trying to get the media, including the BBC to stop calling Railway Station as "Train Stations", I accept that this is what they are called in the US, which is fine, but again, we loose another bit of our English to Americanisms (please this is no slight on our American freinds).

Its like trying to tell my learned EMD colleagues that a bogie is a bogie and not a Truck!

Ringo:D

Thanks
 

i would like to see your photos Tom. i will try your way and see how it trys out it has got to be better then my boring flat atempt of concrete. yes concrete is flat and boring but my concrete is worst.
ps. ringo good comment and good point.:D

Alright, this get this English thing out of the way. :D

First off, a bogey is an enemy vehicle...
(ie: "Sir, we got a bogey at nine o'clock). Not to be confused with a boogie (something a schoolboy flicks at his chums) or the "Boogie Man." There is no "Bogey Man" that I know of. Of course, if he's flying an enemy aircraft, I suppose it would be easier to say, "Bogey Man at nine o'clock," than, "Boogie Man flicking a boogie in a bogey at nine o'clock..." Otherwise, saying there is a bogey flying at one from the nine o'clock position would mean that someone tossed a railroad truck at you. Effective maybe, but not practical...

Secondly, a train is something that travels on wheels on a railroad. The railroad is a road made of rails. Trains arrive at a train station, railroads do not arrive at a railroad station, they are always there. Now, I admit that there is an argument for calling it a railroad station as one calls a petrol station a "petrol station" and not an "auto station." Still, Americans go to great lengths to reduce the size of words used to denote a thing as we have to fit more into a shorter space as we always have an awful lot to say--even when nobody else wants to hear it... :D

Now, lest all you Brits think the word hemorrhage goes one way, here are a few examples of words that are taking hold in America, despite our best efforts to stop them...

"Spot On." This is becoming popular for its brevity. We would normally say, "right on the money." As most of us in the middle class seem to have less and less of the stuff, we prefer to bring up money as little as possible. And keeping with the "pack as many words and concepts into a single sentence or thought," concept, "Spot On" is, well, spot on...

"Winge." Popular only because it sounds funny and Monty Python used it a lot.

"What's this then?" We usually use, "What the ____," (insert appropriate "personal favorite" swear word in the blank). Americans have started using the British phrase as we think it somehow makes us appear more cultured and smarter. Or course, it only works on each other--the rest of the world is not so easily fooled...

:D

(Signature withheld to protect the American...) :rolleyes:

Bogy at nine o clock...
 

We normally have the news at nine o clock......

please note the subtle spelling of Bogie...not as in bogy as in up the nose... the French also use the term Bogie too...only they put an accent on the "E".

so...its a war of words is it...I thought this might happen...didnt want it to though...

If we are not careful, we'll get the Aussie boys joining in, and they seem to abreviate everything right down..like Abbo , etc,,,

We all have our versions of "english" and its a shame that we are all loosing our respective heriatge and becoming "one " language, it seams that loads of kids and 20/30 year old in the UK are East End Innits, fine if your from the sounds of Bow but not if your from sunderland...or from my old neck of the woods, Birmingham!
We all have our own cultures (besides the cultures that grow round the average Karzee..lets keep them, makes it more fun when your abroard...

you know....things like rubber vs eraser, lift vs elevator etc.. railway station vs train station...
come to think of it what is a railway/ train station called in Oz?

Cheers

Ringo:p

Come on girls, no need to get the handbags out over a few words. the English language is the hardest language to learn. most of the world can speak English or know some words of English, Even tho some Speak it bad (like Birmingham lol) I am from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. This means i have the correct English language. I move to Leeds to pass on this correct language to the northerners, but found the cows and sheep have picked it up quicker.
Lets get back to the point of this Thread. lol

Tom F
You said 'Secondly, a train is something that travels on wheels on a railroad'. Sorry old chap but in Southern Africa and Aussie land there is a Train that travels on the road called a road train. The Aussie have much longer road trains than the ones in Africa. Just an Observation.
DSY011

What, did I say something? :p

:D

Tom F

While painting 2mm scale rabbits, I found that an ideal way to hold them was to stick them onto a piece of blu tack. There again, Play Doh is non toxic, so if you stick 'em into that and get a bit peckish.......:D

why am I painting tiny rabbits????????????

with a brush
 

Dear Trev
I have found the easiest way to paint rabbits is with a brush as spraying can be a little messy not to mention time consuming, by the time you mask off the areas you dont wish to paint:D Down here in New Zealand it's a railway station and trains travel on tracks (no road trains) the trains are pulled by locomotives and pushed by shunters. when you ballast track remember to keep the ballast just below the sleeper height around moving parts everything should still work after the glueing process. I also use a brush to move the ballast around after first placing with a teaspoon, it is surprising how little it takes to go a long way,and even more surprising how long it takes to do the smallest amount.:cool:

cheers for now
dave

Like it Dave, like it! :D

The only problem I have now is how to get the BR symbols on their ears. :D

he, he, he! :D

Tom F

Buy concrete coloured paint!
I 'm pretty sure Humbrol do it.

Humbrol concrete
 

Quite correct Dave55uk
Humbrol do make concrete colour it's # 95.
Now I must add that although I have a tin of the stuff myself that I'm not sure if it's still in production or not,but as I bought it within the last year I should think it was still available.It does quite a good job especially after a bit of weathering with a dry brush, hope this helps:)

cheers for now
Dave.

The Humbrol is a better match than the Polyscale in my opinion. Tamiya is pretty good as well, although I prefer the Humbrol. Only problem I have is finding it in the States. I find that the Polyscale "Concrete" is a bit too blue-gray and the "Aged Concrete" is a bit too yellow. I get a better approximation by buying both and mixing them together.
One little secret I saw a long time ago was to use a salt wash on the surface before the paint completely dried. I saw an "old codger" do this when I was--well, not yet a codger myself... :p He mixed regular table salt with water and washed it unevenly over the surface. It mixed a bit with the still tacky paint and created a great "mineral stain" look when it all dried. Adding the wash before the paint dried completely created a softer "edge" between the lighter stained areas. I tried this a few times myself with mixed results. It is something I always intended to go back to for experimenting.
Another wash that I use for mineral stains is finely powdered white pastel chalk in alcohol. I add very little chalk to a 35mm film can of denatured alcohol. As the alcohol dries, it creates uneven areas of lighter stain.

Tom F

Humbrol concrete
 

Just a little imformation on the whole concrete colour saga,I was in my local model shop yesterday and thouoght I should check to see if you can indeed still get #95 and wouldn't you know it humbrol don't make it anymore.However it's not all bad news as humrol have published a booklet showing how to mix it ourselves so I copied the recipie down and here it is.
28 parts #103
34 parts #17
1 part #101
with a bit of weathering it looks pretty good
hope this helps some one
cheers Dave.:)

too much talk of concrete paint here.Best option is to mix it yourself.Everytime a builder mixes real concrete it always comes out a different colour from the last time they mixed it anyway,and then it gets all sorts of muck on it.

oh! and Dave do Kiwi rabbits have the big or small ears.

Trev .If you do bite the bullitt and try flexy track try using a mini drill with a small disc cutter on it, it makes life much easier,but wear goggles!I Model in N-Gauge to and am about to try it with Digital Command and Control.How to get a decoder into an 08 shunter is my problem.Oh and what colour do I paint the pigeons?

In 2mm scale, and assuming you want to be able to see them, I'd go for day-glo yellow! :)

Ha ha :D I shouldn't worry about painting the pigeons as you will have shooed them away before they can make a mess of your muticoloured concrete (obviousely not mixed by a trades qualified builder)
cheers
Dave.

Has enybody tried using ready ballasted foam underlay???

Denis,
Yes I have used Gaugemaster ready ballasted foam underlay. I found it easy to use and had no problems with turnouts. I just ran the underlay to follow the straight run then cut the turnout to fit. Don't pin the track down to hard as it will distrought the ballast. The trains run a lot quieter than on the hand ballasted track If you look at the photos of my layout in my gallery, there is a shot of the track all fitted with the Gaugemaster ready ballasted foam underlay. Pick up any photo by DSY011 and view mbr's gallery.
Syd

When ballasting track the most common method is to use loose stone-like material from one of the many scenic material manufacturers held together with diluted PVA glue. The problem with this method is that it dries like concrete and tends to increase the noise levels.
Syd's successful solution to the noise problem was to use Gaugemaster ready-ballasted foam underlay.
Has anyone tried ballasting their track using the loose stone method but with diluted Latex glue (such as Copydex) instead of the PVA?
I believe that the latex glue stays semi-flexible and helps to reduce the noise.

Neither. I'm still terrified of gluing up the point blades! :D

I do think that a latex glue would remain a bit more pliable though. I can still remember rolling latex glue into little balls and throwing them around the classroom in my schooldays. It would be an interesting experiment on a small section of track. Anything to reduce the noise. :)

Me too. :D

I am going to give it a try on some spare pieces of board/track. If it looks OK I will take the plunge and ballast a section on my actual layout to test for noise reduction.:)

I've seen cork sheet strips in the adverts. Is this to go under the track as an alternative to foam, with the ballast chippings poured and glued over them?

Yes, most modellers used cork until the various foams came along. As well as providing a good base for the track the cork (with the edges chamfered) also gives "depth" to the ballast which, as you say, is glued over it.

When using modeling plaster, put some food coloring in the water before wetting the plaster. A green or mix a brown and it will save you having to cover all those little white spots. Saves a lot of time. Poster paint watered down also gives a good covering. It also helps when a hill is damaged as there is no white showing from either the top or the exposed under side
Syd