Modelling tricks.

[Bluemonkey presents....]

£3.50 per pint. In the pubs around here that is a good price.

[The Johnster]

£2.35 a pint at my local.  Not strong, doesn't have to be for my purposes, but goes down well and is, like all good beer, moorish.  It can't be real IPA, though, that has to mature in the bottle on the journey from Burton on Trent to the Khyber Pass, doesn't it?

 

Cardiff is a good place for cheap good quality beer, despite the inroads of the 'craft microbrewery' brigade.  Give the middle classes a working class pastime and they'll b*gger it up every time, expensive hoppy carp...

[The Johnster]

1 hour ago, Ray Von said:

I know one bit of kit that I could never get on with, the "Helping Hands" with magnifying glass! 

                   AVOID!!!

 

Couldn't get the hang of it, the crocodile clips were too vicious and would crush anything placed in them (even with silicone tube slipped over their nasty little nippers!) And whenever I tried to paint any detail on something that was on the other side of the magnifying lens, I lost all depth perception and coordination!! It was like a Generation Game challenge to me, so I think I Charity Shopped it...

Cheaper option, clothes peg - clip your chosen bit of model kit in, apply paint detail by eye and then leave the peg and bit of model somewhere warm to dry.

Vicious little so and so, little butterfly nuts that hurt your fingers and kept coming loose; got rid of mine years ago.  It's one of those wastes of money that seemed like a good idea at the time.  I now use a hand held lit magnifier to check what I've done, as you say, depth perception is ruined for actually doing anything under magnification, and given that I'm already in a state of confusion about right and left if a model is upside down...  A hand held magnifier prevents you attempting to do any 2 handed job with it, which is A Good Thing in my case.

[F-UnitMad]

Coffee stirrers? Yep, very useful - most of the ties (sleepers) on my O Scale American layout were cut from coffee stirrers...

[Steamport Southport]

2 hours ago, Ray Von said:

I know one bit of kit that I could never get on with, the "Helping Hands" with magnifying glass! 

                   AVOID!!!

 

Couldn't get the hang of it, the crocodile clips were too vicious and would crush anything placed in them (even with silicone tube slipped over their nasty little nippers!) And whenever I tried to paint any detail on something that was on the other side of the magnifying lens, I lost all depth perception and coordination!! It was like a Generation Game challenge to me, so I think I Charity Shopped it...

Cheaper option, clothes peg - clip your chosen bit of model kit in, apply paint detail by eye and then leave the peg and bit of model somewhere warm to dry.

 

They are meant for jewellers though. For doing jobs such as repairing claps on a chain. You do have four hands don't you?

 

It's a case of people criticising a tool because they are using it wrong....

[Ray Von]

24 minutes ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

They are meant for jewellers though. For doing jobs such as repairing claps on a chain. You do have four hands don't you?

 

It's a case of people criticising a tool because they are using it wrong....

?

I bought mine many years ago from a well known hobby shop, in the model making section - indeed it's still sold online on many sites and described as a modelling aid.  The point being made was, it's not good for modelling jobs despite claims that it is.  Maybe brass models and suchlike - I don't think I ever used it "wrong" it just didn't work for my discipline within the hobby.  Also, as Johnster said - they weren't particularly well made anyway, the wing nuts did loosen on their own and the actual usefulness was pretty limited.  Best to learn from experience and pass it on.  

Edited October 18, 2020 by Ray Von

[SM42]

I use my Helping Hands as a maginfier for things like cutting out small transfers (white printing on off white backing  is a nightmare) and the like.

 

The clips hold an an old wagon weight  at full extension to counter balance to the overhanging magnifier. 

 

Mine, I think, was £2 or so  from Aldi so it has paid for itself.

 

Andy

[Steamport Southport]

41 minutes ago, Ray Von said:

?

I bought mine many years ago from a well known hobby shop, in the model making section - indeed it's still sold online on many sites and described as a modelling aid.  The point being made was, it's not good for modelling jobs despite claims that it is.  Maybe brass models and suchlike - I don't think I ever used it "wrong" it just didn't work for my discipline within the hobby.  Also, as Johnster said - they weren't particularly well made anyway, the wing nuts did loosen on their own and the actual usefulness was pretty limited.  Best to learn from experience and pass it on.  

 

They might be selling them. How many tools were specifically made for modellers? Not many, they are tools that have been invented for another purpose. Most are medical. All those craft knives, tweezers, saws, drills, etc. in your toolbox were made for gruesome medical procedures. Even superglue was made for gluing people together. 

 

A bit like having a hacksaw that isn't very good for cutting through plastic. But it's fantastic for cutting someone's leg off.

 

These were originally made for jewellers, just that people buy them thinking they are useful. Most of the time you would be better off with a decent vice.

 

You are meant to put the chain between the two clips and then you have your hands free to do work on the piece of jewellery. Such as fitting a clasp. That's why there is a magnifying glass so you can see tiny chain links and such.

 

[Ray Von]

13 minutes ago, SM42 said:

£2 or so  from Aldi

Eep! Mine was a lot more, I think I got it before we had an Aldi round these here parts though....

I loved the principal of the thing, it was just that in practice the parts didn't fit the task. 

[F-UnitMad]

11 minutes ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

A bit like having a hacksaw that isn't very good for cutting through plastic. But it's fantastic for cutting someone's leg off.

Wow your modelling sessions sound positively dangerous!!!

[Il Grifone]

5 hours ago, Ray Von said:

I know one bit of kit that I could never get on with, the "Helping Hands" with magnifying glass! 

                   AVOID!!!

 

Couldn't get the hang of it, the crocodile clips were too vicious and would crush anything placed in them (even with silicone tube slipped over their nasty little nippers!) And whenever I tried to paint any detail on something that was on the other side of the magnifying lens, I lost all depth perception and coordination!! It was like a Generation Game challenge to me, so I think I Charity Shopped it...

Cheaper option, clothes peg - clip your chosen bit of model kit in, apply paint detail by eye and then leave the peg and bit of model somewhere warm to dry.

 

The lens on mine is rubbish too and the clips always shift out of position. Whenever I try to use the wretched thing I end up. giving up.

[Il Grifone]

2 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

They might be selling them. How many tools were specifically made for modellers? Not many, they are tools that have been invented for another purpose. Most are medical. All those craft knives, tweezers, saws, drills, etc. in your toolbox were made for gruesome medical procedures. Even superglue was made for gluing people together. 

 

A bit like having a hacksaw that isn't very good for cutting through plastic. But it's fantastic for cutting someone's leg off.

 

These were originally made for jewellers, just that people buy them thinking they are useful. Most of the time you would be better off with a decent vice.

 

You are meant to put the chain between the two clips and then you have your hands free to do work on the piece of jewellery. Such as fitting a clasp. That's why there is a magnifying glass so you can see tiny chain links and such.

 

 

Agreed, but even to do that you need clips that stay put and don't damage the workpiece and a lens that actually magnifies without distortion. Perhaps I was unlucky with mine?

[phil_sutters]

5 hours ago, The Johnster said:

£2.35 a pint at my local.  Not strong, doesn't have to be for my purposes, but goes down well and is, like all good beer, moorish.  It can't be real IPA, though, that has to mature in the bottle on the journey from Burton on Trent to the Khyber Pass, doesn't it?

 

Cardiff is a good place for cheap good quality beer, despite the inroads of the 'craft microbrewery' brigade.  Give the middle classes a working class pastime and they'll b*gger it up every time, expensive hoppy carp...

I do like a bit of beer-battered fish!

[Ray Von]

2 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

A bit like having a hacksaw that isn't very good for cutting through plastic. But it's fantastic for cutting someone's leg off.

 

My day job is working in operating theatres with a background in surgical instrument processing, repair and maintenance.  Please be reassured if you are about to undergo an operation, "hacksaws" are rarely used(!)

 

In principle though, it is quite correct that a lot of instruments for modelling do at least resemble their surgical cousins from which they do undoubtedly stem. 

 

Most forceps (the fancy name for tweezers) though, are designed to have more "give" in them than the ones in your modelling tool box - this is due to their intended purpose being to handle tissues, veins etc without damaging them.  Almost all tissue scalpels (save for size 11's) have a rounded cutting side - not to be too graphic, but this aids the bearer to make a more fluid "sweeping" cut into the flesh, the depth of which depends on the blade size.  Sharp ended blades like the 11's are for (delicate) "stabbing" incisions, usually for laparoscopic or "keyhole" surgery.  Round ended craft knifes would be too likely to slip and cause severe injury if used on plastic sheet etc.  Indeed even straight edged scalpel blades are prone to snapping if excess pressure is applied, hence they're not really modelling tools - I still use one though, but with great care(!)

So, at first glance a lot of surgical instruments might look like they'd make fantastic modelling tools, the materials of which they're made and subtle differences in design and tensile strength, render most of them unfit for anything but their intended purpose.

 

PS. One set of surgical instruments does contain an everyday stainless steel dessert spoon, I'll leave it's use to your imagination...

 

 

[polybear]

23 hours ago, AY Mod said:

On the workbench I use an A2-sized non-slip washable silicone mat with an edging lip when dealing with small parts.

 

It's a dog feeding mat.

 

My next-door neighbour's dog ate the mat....

One vet plus surgery later to remove the bits.

[SM42]

2 hours ago, Ray Von said:

 

 

 

PS. One set of surgical instruments does contain an everyday stainless steel dessert spoon, I'll leave it's use to your imagination...

 

 

 

Juts in case you get hungry and fancy some apple crumble mid procedure, perchance

 

Andy

[Tony Davis]

24 minutes ago, SM42 said:

 

Juts in case you get hungry and fancy some apple crumble mid procedure, perchance

 

Andy

Adam's apple?

[Ray Von]

Back "on topic" - I find that if you are intending to construct a scratch built structure, then making a card "prototype" first can be a great help. 

 

I use any sort I can find, usually cereal packet or teabag box sort of thickness is sufficient, I tend to secure the joining edges with masking tape. 

 

Then plonk it in situ, if something needs altering - you can simply mark, deconstruct and trim it down with your craft knife until you are happy with it, the card building can then be used as your template for cutting out your structure from plastic sheet.  

[doilum]

1 hour ago, Ray Von said:

Back "on topic" - I find that if you are intending to construct a scratch built structure, then making a card "prototype" first can be a great help. 

 

I use any sort I can find, usually cereal packet or teabag box sort of thickness is sufficient, I tend to secure the joining edges with masking tape. 

 

Then plonk it in situ, if something needs altering - you can simply mark, deconstruct and trim it down with your craft knife until you are happy with it, the card building can then be used as your template for cutting out your structure from plastic sheet.  

When building a fully designed layout, scratch build the buildings first and box them away carefully. If they are 95% finished and detailed they will allow the yet to be built layout to be finished in a fairly short period of time. This has two advantages: firstly you might actually finish it, and secondly, it will be finished to a consistent standard.

[Ray Von]

42 minutes ago, doilum said:

When building a fully designed layout, scratch build the buildings first and box them away carefully. If they are 95% finished and detailed they will allow the yet to be built layout to be finished in a fairly short period of time. This has two advantages: firstly you might actually finish it, and secondly, it will be finished to a consistent standard.

 

That's a very disciplined approach, I applaud you for it.  I'm trying to be more like that as I "mature" - I've always been a bit of a one for making a start on summer hols homework on the first day of term on the bus journey into school etc...

 

[doilum]

47 minutes ago, Ray Von said:

 

That's a very disciplined approach, I applaud you for it.  I'm trying to be more like that as I "mature" - I've always been a bit of a one for making a start on summer hols homework on the first day of term on the bus journey into school etc...

 

I should have added that, being a mostly clean form of modelling, it can be done in a nice warm corner of the house surrounded by creature comforts whilst making a token effort to appear sociable.

[The Johnster]

Disciplined approaches were for many years in my case evidence of a sick mind and anal retention, but even I learned in the end.  Cwmdimbath was build very quickly by my standards and was designed to keep my enthusiasm going while I built it so that it would be completed in a reasonable time, and was operating as a scenic layout in less than a year from the genesis moment of finding 'Lack' baseboards in a skip.  This is psychology as much as a 'trick' but it worked for me.

 

Don't build your layout from one end to the other, build it from the baseboards up in the following order; baseboard support, baseboard, paint baseboard dark mucky background colour, lay track loosely pinned and play around for best position, when you are satisfied, test it by pushing stock around on it, then pva it to baseboard (I don't use underlay).    Clip wires and a controller to it and thoroughly and extensively test run with all locos and stock.  Unclip, and do full wiring, repeat full test, seriously, spend 3 or 4 days testing, paint rails track colour and clean the top railhead surface, and turnout electrical contact positions (closure to stock rail), full test again, then ballast.  Clean excess ballast out of flangeways, and fully test again. Obviously snag and repair as you go along with the tests and have a known performer loco as control.

 

Then, when you are happy, you can start on buildings, scenery, signals, ground formation and cover.

 

KISS, Keep It Simple, Stupid.  I use insulfrog turnouts and a standard coupling bar height above the rail, so running (DC) is pretty reliable, and the current goes where I switch it to with the turnout, the aim being simplicity and electrical reliability.  As the layout has developed, an electrofrog turnout has appeared and there are now two, count them, two, isolating switches.  The track plan is a more or less conventional BLT with kickback sidings, and I can work it quite satisfactorily with the insulfrog switching and the two isolators, being able to replicate any move that could have been performed on a prototype with this track plan.

 

It will very probably be my last layout, as I am on the home straight age wise, so I am happy to report that in 4 years of operating it I am nowhere near getting bored with it and enjoy the operating challenges to run a real time timetable that it presents me.  There is still loads of detailing work to be done, and while I have the core of locos and stock needed to run the WTT, a bit of variety is always welcome, so there's plenty to do yet!  It is a layout ideally suited to my needs, budget, and space, which now has working lit Dapol signals, and station/yard lighting.  It works very well, the first of my layouts I can honestly say that about.  

[Ray Von]

17 minutes ago, The Johnster said:

Cwmdimbath

Show us a picture, Johnster!

[The Johnster]

I refer you to Layout Topics 'South Wales Valleys in the 1950s', young sir!

[doilum]

Houghton Street started as a 3metre length of lining paper laid out on an old worktop in the garage. Second hand points were used to help draw the track work full size and a full day spent pushing short trains to check that the basic idea worked. I already had some crude sketches of the buildings I wanted and once the track was finalised I knocked up cardboard outline models to get the grouping right. I am of the generation that invented the open top construction method and remain a zealous advocate.

It took about nine months to produce the buildings, some with full interiors and I made no attempt to build baseboards until they were complete. During this time my wife ( figure painter in chief) and I sourced the thirty or so figures and created the little cameos that would eventually make the layout. I spent several weeks working out how to do the backscene and perspective modelling using cardboard mock-ups keeping my enthusiasm up by getting the finished buildings out and setting them up on the plan.

Once the birch plywood had been sourced board construction took two days plus another two for legs and lighting pelmet. There isn't a lot of track so three days to lay, fit point motors and wire. The rest took around three months to finish helped by having already solved the problems of the level crossing,  stream and prefabricating the sewer pipe ( a dozen 18ba nuts and bolts on each flange) allowed rapid progress in the final stages.

Maybe if/ when get another lockdown I will get the garage tidied and set it back up again!