Page 18 - January February 2000

height of the mountains and woods (I’m forever in the Rockies) with blocks of styrofoam terracing or whatever. I use water paints as they are subtle, and easy for us amateurs. Your local art shop will put you right but, I must emphasise, use top quality brushes.
I experimented with 2mm scale packing case corrugated cardboard cut-outs - very light and cheap - on the top terrace. We modellers always have the edge on artists as we can use 3 dimensions. Stand back and move the cut-outs about until it looks right to you. Painting these tiny houses in 2mm scale was a bit of a pain though! The next street was half way between 2mm and 3.5mm, a terrace of shops just showing the top halves, again moving them about till it looks right. In retrospect, John Ahern did it all about 60 years ago! Norvo Street is 3.5mm scale. Being a 1/4” scale man to my bootstraps I was unaware of the excellent DPM modular kits. Mine is #353 in a large plastic bag. I stretched this to nearly 4 ft. by using cardstock at the backs!
From the Editor
Spotted...
...another version of Loctite Superglue in Homebase. Though the glue (in both gel and thin version) is much like any other good quality CA, the new bottle is excellent, and instead of directly squeezing the glue-containing bottle, this is fitted in a kind of outer covering with “Control” buttons on each side. Pressing the buttons produces a finely controlled dot of gel at the end of the long slim applicator. The container also has a neat ring lock for the cap, to prevent unwanted opening. This is one of the better products in this field.
Another Tip...
...concerns those annoying lines of brass rivets seen on locos when the paint rubs off high spots! I had in a quite nicely painted tender (from a CB&Q Mike) but the appearance was spoiled by the aforementioned rivets - a common complaint on brass. What to do?
It seemed a shame to strip the tender and repaint it. Also I didn’t really fancy the idea of retouching each rivet with a dot of black - anyway it would probably have ended up the same. So I dug out an old bottle of Hobby Black - I’m not too keen on it for most jobs, and it is rather poisonous so I don’t put it in my tea. But I painted a little on to the rivets and after a few minutes they were, of course, blackened.
When it had dried, I gently polished the residue off the tender side with a damp tissue, and when that had dried it looked fine. The Hobby Black (available in jet black or brownish weathered black finishes) appears to have no ill effect on existing paint. It works pretty well on axles and wheelsets too, but all surfaces should be thoroughly degreased with a solvent like acetone or alcohol...
See ya’ in Part V.
...mine’s a double - hic!
CONSTRUCTOR’S CORNER...
N Scale Autoracks
Roger Beech
Further to Robert Varley’s August 1999 Roundhouse article, and the problems of fitting Micro Trains couplers to Con Cor 89 ft. autoracks, my initial method of installing MT long extension trucks produced, in my opinion (like Robert’s) too large a space between cars. I also identified two other problems; compared with the prototype, the cars sit too high on their trucks, and the truck centres are too near the ends of the cars.
My idea was to reposition the underframe bolster hole further inboard and higher up in the body, to correct all three errors in one go. After removing the trucks, car roof and internal weights, I carefully cut away a 25mm long section of floor from each end, keeping the cuts as close to the sides as possible, and finishing at the start of the central spine. The cross member at this point is trimmed to allow free movement of the wheels when the car is reassembled.
Fig. 1... This part of the floor includes the underframe bolster, and when repositioned will achieve the object of the exercise. Next I trimmed just over 1 mm. off the bottom edges of each car door so they are level with the top of the side frames.
Fig. 2... This allows free movement of the Micro Trains coupler draft gear box.
Next I cleaned the cut out floor sections and the car floor itself so that the cut section can be turned through 180 degrees
and cemented to main part of the floor. Ensure that the bolster hole is 20 mm from the car doors and, of course, on the car’s centre line. To help strengthen the repositioned floor section, I glued a piece of polystyrene to it and across the width of the inside of the body.
Fig. 3... Then the weights and roof are refitted. Finally, after the glue has set I added the MT long extension trucks, using the spacer washer to ensure adequate clearance for the wheelsets. Replaced on the track, the revamped autorack definitely looks better than the original model, with the trucks positioned closer to the centre of the car, and the car noticeably lower. When coupled to another similar car, they are of course realistically spaced. All in all, the effort spent modifying the car was worthwhile, giving a much more authentic appearance to an already impressive piece of rolling stock.
Base Units
I have known -
Part 4
Ken O’Shea
Using either my own, or Dick Ganderton’s, system of lightweight base unit construction I pressed on from the June 1999 Part III phase - this has rounded out to a sort of completion of one diorama. To scenic enclosed units, paint the backscene first!! It will be impossible later. Judge the
18 ROUNDHOUSE