In a recent issue of RMC there was an article on airbrushing acrylic craft paints. I was skeptical. Last week a scenery project came up where doing so would be handy “if” it would work. Sure enough it did! I can’t be of much help in terms of mix ratios other than to say I […]
After the initial false start, I finally wrapped up the floating bench work construction. Often, the impact of our layout environment rarely reaches the level of conscious awareness. However, a clean execution of the bench work and room environment sets a tone that enhances the entire experience of interacting with a layout. It makes us want […]
In the July issue of Model Railroader, Tony Koester wrote what I’d consider to be one of his best Trains of Thought columns. In the piece he clearly communicates the notion that simply producing a model that is neatly constructed won’t bring you to the finish line if your goal is create a successful scene. […]
For the fascia I needed something that was both stiff and hard but also relatively light. Styrene is too dimensionally unstable, traditional molding or MDF was too heavy. A trip through The Home Depots molding aisle turned up what I needed, 2 1/2 inch by 1/4 inch thick “lattice”. After carefully cutting it to […]
Occam’s Law can be summed up with the adage K.I.S.S. In other words, the best solution is typically the simplest. Simple doesn’t mean easy to design. Often the opposite is the case. It takes a fair amount of thought to come up with the cleanest approach. Whenever I find myself using the proverbial duct […]