Thanks everyone.
Special tanks to Guy (Trainnut1250) for the WorkingWithWood 101. Very complete.
Guy
Modeling CNR in the 50's
More tips on working with wood:
Wood: Use fine grained basswood, many kits of old days use big grain pine. This looks bad when stained as the grain is grossly out of scale. Balsa can have the same issues. Northeastern scale and Kappler are two good suppliers. Think in terms of scale dimensions when using wood I.e. 2 X12s for planking, 2 x 4 studs, 4 x 4 posts etc. If you plan to do lots of wood construction, buy an NWSL chopper – one of my most used tools. Tasks like cutting out 150 identical size planks are a piece of cake with this tool.
Cut wood before gluing as mentioned above. Assemble before staining and you run the risk of the glue not absorbing the stain and you will have paint or resort to other methods to cover up bare spots – best to avoid if you can.
Alcohol shoe dye solutions: India Ink gives a slight blue cast to the stained wood, Kiwi shoe dye is more charcoal black, Lincoln dye is nasty but is very potent and gives a very dark jet black. Some modeler’s prefer premixed products such as driftwood stain or Silverwood stain. Micro mark’s sells a premixed shoe dye solution and another option is a product called weather it. All these methods and mixes work well, all have a different look…Refresh the dye in the bottle every so often.
Staining Process: Dyeing wood is messy and the dye solution is nuclear. It will ruin surfaces. God help you if drop your jar or spill it anywhere. Your dye bottle needs to be big if you are making large structures. Parts must be submerged completely for best results. Shake the bottle to insure an even coat (carefully). Get a fork (thrift store) to fish the parts out of the solution.
Drying: After dyeing the wood I will put the pieces in a paper bag with some paper towels and shake the bag a bit. This absorbs the excess dye and gives a nice even coat on the pieces. They are they laid out on paper towels to dry. To keep from sticking, I’ll turn em’ over once as they dry.
Glues: Elmer’s white glue has the advantage of being able to use water to soften the glue and reposition the part or take the model apart. Yellow wood glue dries water proof (can’t take the joint apart with water) but is easier to use in assembly than Elmer’s because it sets faster and “grabs” better. Aileen’s Tacky glue can be a good choice as it remains slightly pliable after drying allowing for minute adjustments and a little “give” in things. I am not as fond of working with it as it dries too quickly for my taste.
Glue technique: Get a coffee can plastic lid and pour out a button size dot of glue to use in construction. As the glue dries add another button. Glues can be diluted with water for certain applications as well. Glue bottle tips will dry out and the current tips are a hassle to clean…Keep the cap closed while using your dot…
Construction of models: I use glass as the construction surface and 1,2,3, Blocks. I will often draw up a plan and put it under glass and then use the blocks, tape and small rulers to keep things square and true to the plan as they are glued up. Learning to freehand things against a template will make this much faster when there are lots of sub-assemblies to make. However, I also use fixtures to make identical copies when accuracy is critical
To keep from warping - use a solid substructure and when possible use weight to get things flat and solid. After they are dry you shouldn’t have any problems.
I love the look of wood and have many structures, decks, trestles, flat car decks and water tanks made from weathered wood.
see stuff at: the Willoughby Line Site
I use a mixture of black shoe dye and 91% isopropyl alcohol to stain wood. The lowered water content of the 91% vs. 70% isopropyl makes warping less of an issue. Also, staining both sides of the wood helps prevent warpage.
rrebell Used to use CA when you could get the wood type easily but switched to white glue. As far as warping, if properly braced it is a non issue. I like to stain wood with an India ink and alcohol mixture.
Used to use CA when you could get the wood type easily but switched to white glue. As far as warping, if properly braced it is a non issue. I like to stain wood with an India ink and alcohol mixture.
For a project where I wanted the look of aged but unpainted wood, I used charcoal (actually bits of charred wood from the fireplace) rubbed on the wood and then spread around with a mascara brush and tooth brush. It darkens the wood and does not need to be sealed with DullCote or other fixitive. It does not seem to inhibit the action of white or yellow glues either.
Dave Nelson
Hi Guy:
Lots of good advice so far. One suggestion I would add is to use individual planks for the decking. I made the mistake of using some small pine slabs (about the size of a business card but a bit thicker) for the deck of an icing platform. I used a black pen to draw the boards. The grain of the wood runs side to side on the platform.
The result was a disaster! When the weather is dry the ends of the 22" platform are about 1 1/2" above the bench. Makes a great barometer!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Hello all,
As far as adhesive I use yellow carpenters glue when working with wood.
I bought a 16-ounce bottle, for it's applicator tip, and then I refill it from a one-gallon jug. I purchased these at a home improvement center with the brand name of Titebond.
As far as preventing warping I would weight as many items as you can.
I learned that if you cover your work area with wax paper the carpenters glue will set. Any over spill from gluing will peel away from the wax paper.
If I'm using spring clamps I'll cover the clamp faces with green masking tape that resists the glue from sticking to it.
As far as staining I agree that it should be done before assembly. I use a one-gallon zip top freezer bag (thicker than the standard zip top bag), put the items to be stained in and add as much stain as I want.
Shake thoroughly to achieve the desired result and then with Nitrile gloves I remove the pieces to several layers of newspaper to dry.
If the stain is too thick you can always wipe off the excess with a gloved hand.
As far as references on the internet I'm sure there are hundreds if not thousands.
You might try searching for "model staining", "model building techniques" just to name a few.
Hope this helps.
"Uhh...I didn’t know it was 'impossible' I just made it work...sorry"
Guy,
I have used Northeastern scale lumber on many projects, along with Mt. Albert scale lumber and without a doubt...the best adhesive I have found is the glue they sell.. Flamingo Glue. Extremely strong, most joints do not require to be clamped, drys in 5 min., goes on pink, but drys clear. I also use Zap-A-Gap Medium CA+ for more instant gluing of plastic's to wood, or brass to plastic's, wood etc.
The side porch is Northeastern lumber, built with the Flamingo glue, Plastic railings, just flat stock from Evergreen, glued with ZAP. The grey looking piece to the side, is the lighting for the building...it just slides into the back....mixture of SMD's, LED's and incandesants...that whole structure was built with the Flamingo glue....Mat board and white pine.
For any wood that I want to stain....I have found in most cases, I can assemble it and then stain with Tester's Createfx Enamel Stain and have not encountered any warping......I also found using water based paints will warp wood parts quicker than solvents.....but that is My Opinion Only!
The overpass side foundations and many other parts, are 1/16'' Ilusstration board and white pine wood cut on My table saw....all glued together with the Flamingo glue. I used spring loaded wood clothes pins to hold (laminate) the wood and mat board together.
The Glue:
https://northeasternscalelumber.com/shop/glue.html
Take Care!
Frank
Along with everything Mel said,I'll add; I use Elmer,s white or wood glue. I also at times have used super glue. If staining doso before glueing, braceing helps advoid warping.
If glue squeeges out of joint, wipe befor it drys, you can not glue wood end to end
I enjoy working with it, try it
I recently bought some scale lumber from Northeastern Scale Lumber Co. to build a small (5' x 32' scale) loading dock for a DPM building kit. As it is my first attempt to scratchbuilding with strip wood I have some questions: