Hello I have two
1 when putting rail joiners on get a thimble from a sewing kit that will save your finger.
2 when trying to keep your walls squire I use a L shape block and old saw blade and some weak magnets so they wont crush but will hold your wall in place.
hope this helps Frank
The metal weight from an Athearn Blue Box kit makes a good metal straightedge for tasks like cutting out decals with a hobby knife.
When using isopropyl alcohol to strip paint, use a disposable foil baking dish (I look for modeling supplies at the grocery store - is that wrong?) to soak the model. When finished, transfer the alcohol into a large-size McDonald's drink cup, put on the lid, and set aside. The stripped paint will precipitate to the bottom of the cup in a few days and it's ready to use again.
"I am lapidary but not eristic when I use big words." - William F. Buckley
I haven't been sleeping. I'm afraid I'll dream I'm in a coma and then wake up unconscious. -Stephen Wright
I just discovered something cool-- maybe everybody else knows, but its new to me...If you're making something out of plastic (styrene) and using MEK to hold it together-- I've been making some speaker enclosures, for instance-- and you need something to fill a small gap, try a small sliver slice of pink foam. Cut a chunk about the size / length you need and about twice as thick as the gap to fill and position it over / near where you need it to go. Then brush on some MEK and it will instantly disolve and fill the gap. I find that doing several thinner pieces and building it up in layers works good too. I was pleasantlly surprised at how well it worked.
John
tomikawaTT Putting a thread through those lovely little springs , then tying it into a large loose loop with one end anchored to something solid, helps to keep their launches sub-orbital. Learned that one while assembling the old Kadee K couplers, which had longitudinally sprung draft gear like the present-day MKD #4. Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Putting a thread through those lovely little springs , then tying it into a large loose loop with one end anchored to something solid, helps to keep their launches sub-orbital. Learned that one while assembling the old Kadee K couplers, which had longitudinally sprung draft gear like the present-day MKD #4.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
I use round waxed dental floss.
From the far, far reaches of the wild, wild west I am: rtpoteet
Push Pins are tools to include for track laying. I keep them handy in the little condiment containers mentioned earlier. I use common flex track and factory made turnouts
I solder rail ends after inserting rails in joiners snuggly. Put the track on the road bed. Flex track will natually find its proper curvature after ends of two pieces are soldered together while placing on road bed.. This will reduce kinking at joints.
When track is properly positioned, use push pins to hold it down. Carefully adjust position of track by removing push pins and then putting push pins back through ties. When track is exactly where you want it, replace push pins with track nails.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
jwhittenIRONROOSTERI cut rail joiners in half for soldered joints. I think this provides a smoother curve. Also, this usually means I don't need a filler tie under the joint. That sounds like a good tip. I was thinking about this one this morning though while I was working on couplers... what / how do you go about cutting the joiners in half without flattening them out? Or else, if you do flatten them, do you have a technique for un-flattening them that doesn't involve jabbing yourself in the thumbs with sharp implements??? John
IRONROOSTERI cut rail joiners in half for soldered joints. I think this provides a smoother curve. Also, this usually means I don't need a filler tie under the joint.
That sounds like a good tip. I was thinking about this one this morning though while I was working on couplers... what / how do you go about cutting the joiners in half without flattening them out? Or else, if you do flatten them, do you have a technique for un-flattening them that doesn't involve jabbing yourself in the thumbs with sharp implements???
I use a Dremel motor tool with cutoff disk. There isn't too much flattening. I then force the half joiners all the way down a piece of rail starting with the uncut end of each piece. This ensures that the cut end can go on a rail.
Paul
jwhitten BATMAN Cut into the foam and lower the cork into it instead of grinding down the cork. Works great if you use foam. That's an interesting idea. I'll have to try that one out, thanks!
BATMAN Cut into the foam and lower the cork into it instead of grinding down the cork. Works great if you use foam.
That's an interesting idea. I'll have to try that one out, thanks!
There are more pictures of a similar technique in David Popps article in the September 2008 MR.
When putting kadee springs in, put a dab of glue (not CA or anything that will wick into the coupler, I use elmer's glue-all) on one end of the spring.
Vincent
Wants: 1. high-quality, sound equipped, SD40-2s, C636s, C30-7s, and F-units in BN. As for ones that don't cost an arm and a leg, that's out of the question....
2. An end to the limited-production and other crap that makes models harder to get and more expensive.
The simplest derailment discourager I know is to take the sharp corner off the top inside of the railhead at EVERY rail joint - including the heels of the points and the point ends of the closure rails of turnouts. Don't remove much metal. A barely visible facet will assure that wheel flanges have nothing to pick.
When wiring ANYTHING:
When you have to go back and troubleshoot, you'll be very glad you did.
Used dryer sheets will wipe up foam dust from cutting or sanding or planing.
A steel stud makes a good rip fence of straight edge for cutting/marking plywood or sheet goods.
Use modeling clay to hold screws in holes until you can get the driver bit seated in the head.
Photocopy all building kit walls and then usethem to build mock up of the building to test size and arrangement. If you want to kitbashe the building, cut up the paper wall sections first to test the arrangement.
Photocopy switches and use copies of the switches to test track arrangements.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
.
dehusman Darn, I read "Hop Springs Eternal" and thought it was about beer.
Darn, I read "Hop Springs Eternal" and thought it was about beer.
Aye, great minds think alike. Even philosophers. Zum Wohl, meine Freunde!
A simple one - when running wires through 2-inch foam, run the hole through with an awl and then insert a thin plastic coffee stirrer. You can pull the tube out again from the bottom and re-use it, or just leave it there. If you need a thicker hole, widen it with the old #2 pencil. (Remember what the constipated mathemetician did - he worked it out with a pencil.) Then use a common drinking straw to hold the hole open while you run the wires.
Scotsman's Corner: Take extra coffee stirrers. Today, I got some of those small plastic containers they use for ketchup and stuff at restaurants. Mickey D's might charge you for ketchup packets, but take as many of the little cups as you want. Great for mixing paint. I use the plastic ones for Envirotex. I can fit a whole lake inside one of those things.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I use very fine sand paper to smooth axle ends (except for those from NWSL, they come pretty smooth).
I cut rail joiners in half for soldered joints. I think this provides a smoother curve. Also, this usually means I don't need a filler tie under the joint.
I use a suraform plane to smooth cork road bed, especially the joints.
Enjoy
dehusmanDarn, I read "Hop Springs Eternal" and thought it was about beer.
We accept beer tips too.
That's a great idea you should send it in to MRR for their tips section in the magazine.
If you cannot fix it with a hammer;
You have an electrical problem!
For extremely free rolling HO freight trucks, I put Intermountain wheelsets in Kadee sprung metal self centering trucks, with a very small drop of light oil in each journal.
This combo tracks exceptionally well and is as, or more, free rolling than any rigid plastic truck out there.
It has effectively increased the pulling power of my locos by 30%.
I install these on almost all of my freight cars.
Sheldon
When I ballast I use a paint stir stick (free at Home Depot) to keep the ballast an even distance from the track and straight even if my pouring is not even.
When wanting to go from a cork roadbed down to your foam as lowering to a yard situation. Cut into the foam and lower the cork into it instead of grinding down the cork. Works great if you use foam.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Mine is for holding people while I paint them.
I glue their little feet to a hunk of 1X2 using white glue - I usually paint 6 to 8 at a time. The block of wood makes a nice handle and the glue holds well enough to paint them and even hit them with dull coat. When they are done, they pop right off the board. I use white glue to fasten them to the layout, too. It makes it easy to relocate them when I want.
Phil, I'm not a rocket scientist; they are my students.
"Hop Springs Eternal"
Howdy-
Over the last couple of days I've been busy replacing the old H2F (Horn-Hook) couplers on my cars with Kadee style (Walther's Proto) knuckle couplers. Of course you know how that usually goes... about every third one you pick up, the spring in the darned thing goes flying! So you have to fumble around for it-- or maybe you have some spare springs-- and then about three or four more flyaways, you *finally* manage to get it back in. It doesn't take very long at all for the whole thing to become very tedious and exasperating. And that got me to thinking... today, let's all share some tips with each other. I'm going to show you an easier way of installing those pesky coupler springs (See on down below). Maybe you already know it, maybe you don't.
My Question For Today is:
Would you share with us a tip-- or two or three, however many you like-- about some aspect of Model Railroading. It doesn't have to be hardware, it could be a paint tip, or weathering, or installing track, or painting bricks-- whatever, its up to you. Feel free to post LOTS of pictures!!!
As always, I'm looking forward for your comments and suggestions-- and your TIPS!!!
Helpful Tip: How to Install Those Pesky Coupler Springs
1. Coupler Springs - These things are really tiny!
2. Our tools - A sharp Xacto Knife and a Bent Sewing Pin
3. Our Volunteer - We have a coupler with a missing spring...
4. Use the Pin to slide through the spring and pick it up.
5. While holding the spring on the pin, carefully position it over one of the nubs. There are two. In my opinion, the one closest to the shank is the easiest to start with.
6. Once you have it in position, use the Xacto knife to hold it in place. I put it about a few coils back from the end and that way I can just slide the pin out a little bit, hold the spring with the knife and line up the other end of the spring with the other nub, on the edge of the knuckle itself. Go slow and have some patience, but its really pretty easy this way.
7. See? We're all done. Ready to run some trains (or fix the next one).
Hope this helps!