Life in the fast lane
I've been thinking that railway modelling needs a better public image. People seem to think the hobby is a bit weird and nerdy, when really we’re a bunch of smooth adrenaline junkies. Here are some examples from my own awesome life.
Firstly, we railway modellers have really cool gear. These DIY tamping and scribing tools were made from coffee stirrers and my wife’s discarded sock knitting needles. Max bling! The top three are for smoothing DAS between sleepers and under rails.
I use Latex gloves to help seal glue containers. After years of doing this, I’m now wondering if they are in fact permeable. But never mind, it adds a bit of style. I keep the bottles on the back stairs where our neighbours can admire them.
Recycled kitchen sponge, used as a stop block. Works quite well I find. If you’re lucky, there are old bits of food left in there.
"So what do you in your spare time?”. Oh, I like to put on latex gloves and scrub things with a toothbrush.
The stuff I use for paint stripping is some serious sh*t. Not sure what the proper English term is, it's called "brown soap" in Danish. Used for cleaning floors. Wild, man.
At weekends, I really let my hair down. In one recent highlight, I spent an hour painting sewing thread.
Then there’s our risk-taking mindset. For example, I recently sorted the kitchen cupboards.
This revealed more spices than we’ll never need, so I decided to experiment: Would spices work as weathering powders? For improved adhesion, I mixed in some baby powder.
Feeling reckless, I also tried ground ginger.
The verdict? Well it works OK in a pinch, but proper weathering powders are better. The layout smells great though. Makes for a good pick-up line.
Speaking of pick-up lines, I like to experiment with dung.
These are lumps of weathering powder on PVA. I think it could work for horse droppings, though more testing is needed.
It also seems to work when brushed into setts. Horse dung would be trampled and distributed pretty much like that, I reckon. Ordinary people don’t reflect on such things. I guess they just lack vision.
So there’s railway modelling for you: Living on the edge, every day. Anyway, I‘m off to grab a Red Bull before I tackle those couplings. Hang loose, dudes.
Edited by Mikkel
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