Tools, tips and tricks
How to handlay a switch
I just published a You Tube video on how I handlay a switch. I demonstrate handlaying a #5 switch on my layout in code 70 rail.
A practical use for Fidget spinners
Hello there
Greenstar is back
i found a very unique way to use fidget spinners on a model railway
I ran into the unique issue while planning out an armoured railcar in HO scale, that I need the three turrets to be able to rotate, and I realized that the ball barrings on Fidget spinners could work to allow the turrets to rotate
i will post photos when I get to the construction phase as well
Railroad Magazine Index
After Kalmbach Publishing's Train Magazine Index went permanently offline a few weeks back, we started this little project on the side. It's now to a state where we wanted to open it up to a wider audience for some real "stress testing":
ArmorAll Glass Cleaner and the MRH Acrylic Painting Guide
So I spilled my last batch of "High Performance Thinner" mixed up from the "MRH Guide to Acrylic Painting" and set about to make another batch.
550ml Distilled water
200ml butyl cellosolve
200ml ArmorAll Auto Glass Cleaner
50ml acrylic retarder
Paint recommendation requested
I'm looking for what would be the best paint to repaint some Walthers AMTRAK cars from the early silver paint to a realistic metal paint like they're selling them with now.
Any recommendations?
Thanks in advance.
What's on Your Workbench - April 2021
All the sudden it's a new month! I hope you have been busy making progress. Let's see the latest from your workbench and layout!
Eric
Eric Hansmann
Contributing Editor, Model Railroad Hobbyist
Follow along with my railroad modeling:
http://designbuildop.hansmanns.org/
Experimenting with Stonework
Experimenting with colours and washes to create the look of limestone and fieldstone walls. Read the techniques I used to get this finish.
Tomalco craftsman kit sealant.
The question is how to seal all the the wood parts to prevent warping. Resins are too hard to sand and they obscure the wood look and feel. Water based glues allow warping right away. Whatever sealant you use may react with the finish paint you use. These questions go on and on and on. Feel free to augment or change the title to correctly ask this question. My ultimate goal is to be able to use a combination of paints, powders and pan pastels after assembling the kit using any combination of adhesives to do the assembly.
How do you paint a car with details that you can't remove for painting?
Back in the day, I purchased a number of Thrall All Door Boxcars from Walthers. Since I'm trying to model relatively contemporary, many of those cars are no longer usable in their current form. So either I sell them (limited market for them) or do something with them. Modifying them to what some of them became is beyond my current skillset. But painting them in a still in use paint scheme might be possible. NOKL has a number of them still in service for specialized wood products. Their paint scheme is a basic brown (box car red?) solid color. Nominal data on the cars.
Scratch Building Material Question
Good morning,
I am laying out the next project which is going to require scratch building several mill structures at my steel plant.
I am looking to make a long cast house foundation, foundation for stoves and gas cleaning, and also the forms for the walls and roof over the cast house.
I was thinking 3/4 MDF, but am aware that MDF can have issues with moisture and possible problems related to adhesives when joining styrene siding and roofing material to the MDF itself.
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