Ohio Valley Railroads

Last week on Wednesday I told the of everything I had learned from my bridge building experience. The more I learn about modeling it seems the less I really know. In a similar discussion I started on the trains.com model railroading forums there were many more tips that were discussed. Many of the members there are a lot more experienced than me and it shows. Here’s a list with some of the best advice I may have not known or remembered to mention last week.

Take Your Time

For many people this goes without saying. Some like to take care of every detail along the way. For others building a kit is more like a race to the finished product. Don’t let dreams of the future hurt the quality of your work. Some kits take more time than others. Don’t try to build the entire thing in one evening. You may come to regret your haste later.

Use A Sprue As A Handle

This is a tip of knew but forgot to bring up in my last article. Often it is a smart idea to paint a plastic part before you take it off the sprue. This allows you to use the sprue as a handle and avoid getting fingerprints on the part or paint on your hand. You might need to do a little touch-up when you finally do cut it off, but this is better than dealing with smudges all over your finished work.

Be Neat With Your Glue

This is another one of those things that is often learned through experience. No matter how much I would hear about using my glue sparingly I would always apply it in healthy amounts. Ending up with glue up and down the jeoints of my building soon ended that. Today I apply my glue in small dots up and down the part that I’m assembling. Then, I take an old paint brush and brush it out. The amount of surface that gets glued stays the same, but the amount of glue is far less.

Experience Counts

Don’t let a bad model get you down. Everyone has to deal with that one kit that just didn’t turn out right. Your skills will improve over time. Someday, you might even be able to go back and fix some kits that didn’t work right the first time around. Don’t get discouraged and move on to your next project. Remember this is suppose to be fun, and much of the fun is in the journey!

This post concludes my little series on kit building…at least until the next disaster hits my workbench. Have any more tips that haven’t been mentioned? Don’t be afraid to leave them in the comments below. And if you like these articles don’t forget to subscribe.

My week of Spring Break was a very productive week for my I&O layout. I made a number of improvements to the benchwork and even reached the point in some locations where the roadbed is ready for track.

Since this picture was taken I have finished painting the sky (thanks to help from my sister) and painted some clouds in the sky. In the coming weeks I have to put foam and cork down on the other side of the room. Soon I will be ready to start purchasing track, which brings up a whole new set of questions.

I’m still debating what to do about my track situation. My track plan is relatively simple, but even still my most generous estimates call for over $500 of track to finish the room. The experts aren’t kidding when they say that track is the most expensive part of layout construction. It’s not like you can even put if off like scenery. You have to have track to have a railroad.

Right now I’m leaning towards the Fast Tracks system for my turnouts. The majority of turnouts on my plan are all #5′s, and by purchasing the Fast Tracks jig I could greatly simplify their construction. This requires a large expense for the jig, but in the long run I calculate this would be cheaper than buying Shinohara turnouts. In addition it’s really my only option for Code 70.

For the two curved turnouts in my design I plan on using the Central Valley turnout system. They use injection molded tie strips as the foundation for their turnouts and include the ability to curve.

Originally I planned to connect everything using Micro Engineering’s Code 70 track. However, given how pricey track has turned out to be I’m reconsidering my options. Instead I may also purchase Central Valley tie strips for the straightaways and curves. These have the advantage of being self-gauging while still being cheaper then prefabricated flex track. I’m already going to have to be buying rail for the turnouts and my bridge, so it’s not much of a stretch to use my rail for the mainline too.

As always, this could still change. These ideas are just what I’m leaning towards. I have not really made up my mind. What do you think? Have you used any of these products on your own model railroad?

On a completely unrelated note, did you know that Ohio Valley Railroads has its own Facebook page? Through the magic of RSS you can actually view posts on Facebook as they appear on the main site. So if you have a Facebook profile, log on and become a fan of Ohio Valley Railroads today!

Recently I was visiting the Atlas forums and stopped to see what new products were being advertised on their main page. It turns out that Atlas is coming out with a new track cleaning car, and it looks to be an interesting and unique entry into the “cleaning car” market.

The model comes as a vaguely realistic maintenance of way car in four different pain schemes. It is pulled around by a locomotive but includes a motor in order to operate the small vacuum that pulls loose dirty particles up from the track. The car is long, I wouldn’t recommend using it on tight curves. In addition to the vacuum the car includes a reservoir for track cleaning fluid.

Beyond the vacuum the track cleaning car includes a spot for a removable cleaning head. Both a soft brush and a more abrasive head come with the car. It also includes an 8-pin hookup for DCC but no decoder. Atlas doesn’t recommend using it on a DCC layout without a decoder.

But what about the price? That’s the kicker. It retails for $109.95, far more than similar entries in the category, and just about as much as track cleaning cars made entirely of brass. At over a hundred dollars (plus decoder) it is certainly out of my price range and seemingly outside of Atlas’s normal “transet” demographic. I do, however, think this car is a unique product and could have its uses. Are any readers considering this car for cleaning their larger layouts?

This weekend I spent the most of my time working on a Central Valley Pratt Truss Bridge. This is a typical plastic styrine kit based of a prototype from 1902. I’m attempting to kitbash it into an okay representation of the former CL&N off-set truss bridge. The title of this photo is a view of the bridge from nearby US-42.

The Central Valley kit is of very good quality, though it is far more complex than anything I have build before. That’s not a bad thing, however, as it is far time I learn how to build kits that are more complex than the latest Atlas or Walthers offering. A more detailed view of this will be forthcoming when I finished the kit. Right now I just wanted to share the list of things I have learned from my bridge construction. These may seem like obvious tips to veteran modelers, but hopefully they will be of some use to those who like me are still hovering in the beginner zone.

5. Read the Directions

This is common advice, but it goes without saying. Read the directions completely before construction. Read them again before and during every subassembly. This was advice I had taken seriously before, but it is not good enough to just read the directions. It is important that they are completely understood. I thought it would be fine to just build a subassembly and then figure out what it does. If I had instead realized what the subassembly was for from the beginning, it would have helped me avoid some mistakes in construction.

4. Have the Necessary Tools

Many times I have attempted to build a model with just my trusty (often dull) Xacto Knife and Testors Glue. This was a bad idea. Having all the necessary clamps, drills, files, and saws not only makes things easier on you but also improves your modeling. When a wall is securely clamped you can focus on making it look good as opposed to damage control from all the glue that’s oozing out.

Often a kit will list the required and recommended tools to build it on the instructions (you did read the instructions right?). At the very least I would recommend adding a file and a small saw to your basics. This helps with separating parts off the plastic sprues and filing away some of the flash.

3. When In Doubt, Paint It

Someone who is a beginner modeler is often surprised when they see the improvements that can be made from painting a plastic kit. Plastic, even if colored to appropriate shades, still has an unrealistic “shine”. When painted not only does the kit look better but painting allows for more subtle variations of shade. Investing in a quality airbrush will often pay dividends in the long run. If that’s too complicated, don’t underestimate the power of the simple paintbrush, especially useful for doing small detail work. If even this is too hard, a simple coat of Testors dullcote will help cover up the plastic shine.

When I finish constructing my bridge I intend to give it a once-over in a rusty brown. Hopefully this should help cover up glue that has spilled out of joints and some of the rougher mistakes I made in construction.

2. Layout Your Parts

When constructing a subassembly, first cut all yours parts off the sprue and then lay them out on your work area. Be sure you have all the parts you need. This can be helpful for two reasons. First, on the off-hand chance the manufacturer forgot apart you would realize it before halfway through assembly. The other benefit would be if you misinterpreted the directions (like I did) you would be more likely to realize it. If you don’t have enough parts to complete the kit as the instructions indicate, there’s a good chance you have misread the instructions.

1. Be Careful with the Knife

While working on the bridge, I was frustrated to find that I had glued some joint-plates on a side that didn’t need them. Worse yet, to complete the kit I needed to take them off and use them elsewhere (see above). Frustrated, I went to work with my hobby knife to cut the misglued plates off so I could put them where they need to be. I knew that working the knife towards my hand was a bad idea, but in my annoyed state I did it anyway. A few minutes later I wondered why there was this red stuff all over my desk.

No matter how skillful you think yourself to be don’t think you are good enough to cut corners with a knife. Always keep a sharp blade and cut away from your hands and body. That way you won’t end up with a bloody thumb like me.

I’ll continue to chronicle my bridge building experience in future posts. Hopefully by then I’ll have more modeling wisdom to report and less modeling injuries.