Cleaning Model Railroad Locomotive wheels:
This is a hint to with the cleaning of your locomotive wheel sets and works on any modern locomotive that has all wheel drive.
With a pair of scissors or a sharp knife and straight edge, cut some strong, absorbent paper towel or similar material into smaller squares. Use some non corrosive cleaner, such as mentholated spirits or track cleaning fluid (ensuring that it will not harm the plastic on your locomotive) and apply a little to the paper towel.
Once your cleaning solution is applied, place it on your track.
Using a spare powered track on your layout or test bench, hold the locomotive with one hand and gently place it so that one of the wheel sets is over the paper towel. Turn on your controller and allow the wheels to drive over the paper towel while you hold the locomotive from running away, cleaning the wheels in the process.
Turn the locomotive around and clean the other set.
Once this is complete, change the paper towel and complete for another cycle to ensure really clean wheel sets. I would suggest that you do this at least annually, but this depends on how often you run your locomotives and how often you clean your track.
For the purposes of this picture, I used a piece of photocopy paper, but you can still see the wheel marks on the paper.
Cheap Plaster Wrap:
Rather than using a commercial brand of plaster wrap, I use paper towel soaked in plaster solution to get the same results. First, I cut some paper towel into smaller strips. Then I mix a batch of wet plaster mix. The wetter the mix, the longer it will take to cure. The trick is to make smaller batches of plaster mix to allow enough time to work. The consistency I am looking for is about 3 tablespoons of casting plaster to 200 millilitres of water. You can play with the mix until you are happy. Mix the batch until you have a smooth consistency.
Once the mix is complete, soak your paper, a few pieces at a time and place them on your layout as required. I do suggest that you use between two and three layers for strength, with adequate time between layers to cure. Once hardened, they will be as strong as the commercial types of plaster wrap.
Modelling Concrete:
A hint which I found in a Model Railroading Magazine. As soon as you paint the base colour of your concrete, lightly dust some baking soda onto the wet paint. This gives the surface some additional texture and the weathering will have more depth. Start with Floquil's Antique White with a drop or two of Box Car Red for the base followed by dry brushing rust streaks as needed from attached iron parts, earth colours at the ground level, grimy streaks following water down the wall, and a bit of white where calcium would leach from cracks. A good collection of photos of concrete walls, sidewalks, and streets should be part of every research collection; along with examples of brick, stone, and wooden structures.
Abrasive Board:
When working on small plastic parts, I found that by employing a finger nail abrasive board, located in most beauty departments of various grits will help to neatly remove the small burrs from these parts.
Cardboard Base:
For fast construction of cardboard web scenery base, use a clamp-style staple-gun instead of glue and clothespins to connect the cardboard strips. While an office stapler may work, the industrial-strength staple gun will be easier to work with and can use larger staples.
Masking:
When you need to paint two colours on the same model, first paint the first colour, wait to dry at least 24 hours, then use any masking tape to make your line. Now, spray the area that is to be painted the new colour AT THE EDGE OF THE TAPE with Dullcote, sealing the tape. Let it dry for 30 min or more and then paint the second colour. What a great paint line this leaves. No bleeding, just a great line.
Antennas:
Use the leftover plastic 'trees' that other model parts are attached to. Break off one long piece about 4"-5" long. Hold this piece by both ends about 4 inches or so above a lighted candle or other heat source. (candle works best). As the plastic heats up and begins to soften, pull the ends in opposite directions. Be ready! The plastic gets to the soft stage all of a sudden, so it may take some practice to get good hairlike strands, but the end result is well worth the practice it takes. Once the plastic cools, simply trim the strand to the desired length. You will find that these new antennas even have a whip/spring like effect and are pretty sturdy.
Crystal Clear Windows:
Use Microscale Crystal Clear. Just use a small wooden toothpick. Put the end of it in Crystal Clear and then apply on the periphery of the window and then make a film using your toothpick horizontally ! That's makes fine 'glazing' windows.
Windshield Wiper Streaks:
A subtle yet effective detail are Windshield wiper streaks. These can be made by simply cutting a small piece of masking tape to the shape of a windshield wiper blade arc and placing it on the windshield in the area of the wiper. This will depict an area wiped clean by the windshield wiper blade. Later spray a light coat of "Dull Cote" across the entire windshield. When dry, remove the tape and presto you'll have a clean windshield that was just wiped by the windshield wiper blade. The "Dull Cote" will indicate a dusty or dirty windshield, except for the cleaned area that was just wiped clean.
Retaining Small Springs in Place:
I can't take credit for this as I saw it on another website. To keep those little bitty springs used for Kadee and Micro-Trains couplers from flying away, run a thread thru the spring until you get it placed. The thread can then be (carefully) pulled out.
Cast Your Own Abutments:
Noch or Chooch abutments arrive new in the shrink plastic. As I discovered, this wrap if you remove it carefully so not to rip it, can be used as a plaster mould, or even better, make a mould of the original package using latex rubber.
Tire Tracks:
You can make it look like a car has driven through the dirt or grass. After you have put down the grass, take an eraser and rub off some grass to look like tire tracks.
Uses for Wet & Dry Sandpaper:
- Can be cut into thin strips to simulate tar paper roofs.
- Can be used as a one piece for flat or sloped building roofs.
- Perfect for sanding balsa wood to remove the "furry stuff".
- The finest grade of wet & dry sandpaper can be used for roads and parking lots.
Uses for masking tape:
- Makes easy to model tarps covering loads, if extra holding power required then paint sticky side with CA Glue.
- Also good for different textured tar paper roofs - will accept paint easily.
- Wider tape can be used for roads - paint with desired colour.
Detailing Structure Roofs:
Most model railroads are viewed from a high vantage point. As a result, the roofs of most structures are clearly seen. Just as we add details to the various scenes that we create, the roofs of the structures are just as important. For peeked roofs, vent pipes and the like can be added for interest and or if you era allows, television antenna's strapped to the chimney. For flat roofs, I will add almost anything, such as, vent pipes of various designs and lengths, skylights, clothes lines filled with drying cloths and last but not least, I'll apply a generous amount of engine black paint and sprinkle black ballast on the wet paint to add texture. There are many things that can be added to the roofs of the structures on our layouts. It's only limited to your imagination.
Yard Office:
Railroads often build yard offices out of old cars, I've seen boxcar, refers, and cabooses converted into office space. Just remove the trucks, built up a foundation out of scale lumber (10x10's or 12x12's), add a stair case, doors and a window or two if necessary.
