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Scale Modeling Tips & Tools Monthly, Issue #061-On The Move January 15, 2012 |
January 15, 2012On The Move, We'll Be BriefI apologize for the brevity of this issue, my wife and I are moving into our new condo and it happens to be the same week I go to press, so to speak, with Scale-Modelers Tools and Techniques Monthly. I have been working on my favorite part of any modeling job, researching. My next project after the move, is a diorama featuring my favorite WWII night fighter, the P-61 Black Widow. I found a picture of one caught in take off by another Widow landing. Gunfire couldn't do that much damage.
I want too set it in a repair scene being worked on at a Saipan workshop modeled after a 1944 photo. This is going to fit into a tight scene for a corner shelving unit in my new bedroom office. I am looking forward to starting the Revell/Monogram kit and have been rounding up aftermarket details. Incidentally, the landing Black Widow didn't look much better:
Stack Your Own StackEven in N Scale, a dowel makes a pretty ridiculous looking smokestack even after painting and weathering so when you find a ¼-inch dowel in a $65 fine scale structure kit is quite disappointing, but then again it is a chance to do it your way. A quick trip to the local hobby shop (even small plastic purchases helps in this economy) and I came away with Evergreen ¼-inch tubing and I also picked up some angle material for the corners of this building.
I replicated these using green floral wire wrapping it around the tube, pulling it tight and clipping with wire cutters at the joint. If you insert the wooden dowel into the tube it will hold the round shape. I then dabbed the ends with “Quick Grip” and setting it aside to dry. I masked these joints with a 1/16th tube which I saw on some smoke stacks. I fantasized mine was used to dispel inert gas used in the manufacturing process. This gas line was offset from the main stack by about 1/32nd of an inch. An added detail for my stack is a circular topper offset from the tube top with three wires. I have been unable to learn its purpose but it is clearly evident in some stack pictures. I just like the looks of it. For the stack’s base I used a cover from an old eyeglass cleaning solution bottle. I drilled a pilot hole in the center and enlarged it to a tight fit for the end of the dowel. Then I painted it inside and out with a coat of concrete paint. The stack and gas tube are painted asphalt grey and the inside of the tube top is blackened with pure black acrylic. When you set the stack alongside the building, its height will overpower the structure but these smokestacks were built so high to safely expel hot flue gases and smoke to make their disposal less hazardous to humans. Tape-a-Roof Gives New LookTape-A-RoofMimicking the appearance of an aging roof constructed from rolled roofing for me previously meant finding imprint-less toilet paper, cutting it into N Scale three-foot strips, ,gluing the strips to a roof surface and then painting it an appropriate color, most likely black, the color of my mood when trying to accomplish such nit-picking work. Then I discovered my wife’s green floral tape and I’ll never go back to the bathroom for scratch building supplies. This stuff comes in half-inch rolls in lengths of 40, 60 or 90 feet at a under ¾ of a cent per foot, or 67 cents per roll. You could probably cover your whole layout with 90 feet of half-inch tape. But for an N Scale roofing job this material is ideal.
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