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Modelling tricks.


PMW
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On 20/10/2020 at 00:30, PMW said:

 

Personally I never realised that butterflies had nu ....... OK, I'll get my coat. 

Moths do as well, they're called mothballs.  So do crickets.  And feet. And golf.  Ok nurse, I'll take the nice medication now....

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On 20/10/2020 at 00:14, wasdavetheroad said:

used and washed plastic and metal ready meal containers are great for putting bits of a project in.


This is a good one.
I use the plastic ones on a per-project basis - all the bits in one place.

They're good to use as drawer organisers too!  I also use them to hold:

Stay alive components
Model people
Motors
Lights (LEDs and resistors)
Speakers
DCC Chips
Track cleaning things

Will add a photo later (if the editing limits permit me to).

Edited by Sir TophamHatt
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Talking of buildings, my tip is to keep all the buildings when you scrap/sell/skip a layout, store them away safely - and reuse them 5 years or more later on another layout, by which time people will forget they've seen them before:rolleyes:

 

I've got a station building and platform, goods shed and signal box that were used on a layout nearly 50 years ago and would readily be used now if I built another ex-GWR BLT.

 

My modelling standards appear not to have improved much over the intervening years......................

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When we lived in London I could not resist salvaging bits of scrap timber from skips. Up there skips were nearly always parked in the road, except in posh areas, where they had drives. Down here on the south coast a much larger proportion of houses have drives and skips are therefore parked on private property. So I haven't done much skip-diving recently, but I have managed to grab a couple of wooden venetian blinds, with slats of different sizes. The wood is exceptionally stable as you would expect for something suspended in windows from thin cords that are fairly widely spaced. The cords can make fine model ropes, although as they are usually nylon, it is difficult to colour them.

Other sources of tough and stable wood are bamboo barbeque skewers. The most common are the fairly thin round ones, but one of our local cheap shops has stocked more substantial ones. Bamboo is very tough and takes a time to saw through. Another cheap chain has had small stakes for use as plant supports. You can see the dimensions of the ones I am using below.

On a different theme, plasterers' mesh tape can be used for industrial or small domestic window glazing bars. If you want to keep them fairly crisp, stretch the tape across behind the window frame and then install the glazing sheet behind that. If you want a more utilitarian look or perhaps need to glaze a larger expanse, like a north-light window, where the mesh might sag, it can be attached to the 'glass' with Johnson's Kleer or some other non-yellowing varnish.

I have used plastic covered mesh from cheap bird-feeders for ships' rails, ladders and circular rails around a storage tank.
Off-cuts of textured wallpaper can be a cheap material for roofing. I have found some which can be used for corrugated sheet roofing and another that gives a fair impression of pantiles, for buildings to the back of scenes.

raw materials 2kpx.jpg

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7 hours ago, phil_sutters said:

When we lived in London I could not resist salvaging bits of scrap timber from skips. Up there skips were nearly always parked in the road, except in posh areas, where they had drives. Down here on the south coast a much larger proportion of houses have drives and skips are therefore parked on private property. So I haven't done much skip-diving recently,

 

 

Always worth a polite knock on the door and ask, stressing it'll all be kept tidy.  Many are all too pleased to free up a bit of space in their expensive skip, others try it on by playing the "you'll have to take it all game" (though not usually with skips but more often if there's a pile of wood at the end of the drive etc.) and a few are just ar*eholes.

Technically removing anything from a skip is theft unless you have the owner's pemission, so it pays to ask rather than a midnight raid (though that's usually reserved for filling someone else's skip....)

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  • 2 months later...
On 17/10/2020 at 17:54, doilum said:

Ferrero Rocher. The usual size make great drawers for sorting out your store of components and spares. The large flat presentation boxes are ideal for dismantling a loco in order to avoid losing tiny springs, screws and washers. This also helps if you need to clear the work bench quickly for another task, like feeding the child.

Expensive? Look in the £shop just after Christmas!

 

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  • 1 month later...

The man who makes exceedingly good cakes that come in vac formed rectangular shapes that hold 1 or 2 cakes plus the card container - storage of bits  I.e. cows, sheep, sacks, people, spare parts  and fit nicely into the drawer set that I bought from the Amazingly fast delivery site!

Cotton  buds with plastic centres ( no longer made - they are bamboo now )  make realistic sized pipes, hair clips of various types and bulldog clips when building card and plastic kits. Clear plastic sheet that covers open boxes that Santa’s cards come in and such like, plus the heat sealed covering that scissors come in that require scissors to open. Cut into suitable squares or rectangles to glue under people that have had feet left on but gert big stand removed. The background / ground shows through.  Self adhesive “ lead” weights from well known auction site to make rolling stock stay on the track, stop rattling and give realistic starting speed. I also use 3mm steel strip inside trucks, painted or covered in plastic sheet. Corrugated card or paper for ploughed field. Spru’s  from plastic kits make large steel loads, down pipes etc
did I miss something?

pete

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3 hours ago, Pete smith said:

Cotton  buds with plastic centres ( no longer made - they are bamboo now )  make realistic sized pipes, hair clips of various types and bulldog clips when building card and plastic kits. Clear plastic sheet that covers open boxes that Santa’s cards come in and such like, plus the heat sealed covering that scissors come in that require scissors to open. Cut into suitable squares or rectangles to glue under people that have had feet left on but gert big stand removed. The background / ground shows through.  Self adhesive “ lead” weights from well known auction site to make rolling stock stay on the track, stop rattling and give realistic starting speed. I also use 3mm steel strip inside trucks, painted or covered in plastic sheet. Corrugated card or paper for ploughed field. Spru’s  from plastic kits make large steel loads, down pipes etc
did I miss something?

pete

 

 

The cotton buds can be used for weathering or removing factory fitted numbers first. Soak the cottton off afterwards to avoid throwing away a bit of plastic with the wool.

 

Brace the sides of kit built vans with a piece of sprue glued across the width.

 

Old nails, nuts, bolts,  hinge halves  can be used inside a van / tank wagon to add weight. When out on your lockdown walk, look out for lost wheel weights or ask for your old ones back next time you change your tyres.  Got some old granite ballast that's too coarse and turns blue with glue? Glue that inside your vans with PVA. 

 

Use liquid lead the safe way by dropping into those nooks between the wagon frame members and trapping inside with some 10 thou sheet plastic glued over the top. No nasty expansive chemical reactions. 

 

Pringles tube are good for storing long items like rod, tubes and strip.

 

 

Andy

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On 18/10/2020 at 18:26, Ray Von said:

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(!)

IMG_20210128_144620301.jpg.b38833e3743a590661df83b39eedce28.jpgServes me right!

Edited by Ray Von
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