Modellings tips and answers - adding people to your layout - useful tools to know

It has been a busy week for birthdays, Mallard first entered traffic on 3rd March 1938, the Forth Bridge was opened by the Duke of Rothesay on the 4th March 1890 and the Baker Street & Waterloo Railway later to become the Bakerloo line opened its doors for the first time on the 10th March 1906. So Happy Birthday to you all.

In this weeks newsletter, we are going to be people watching. We are going to show you how to give the little people that we love to place on our layouts a bit of purpose. We will also be taking a look at some modelling tools in an effort to make our modelling lives just a little bit easier.

When we get our first layout, we are usually aware that we need people in our cameo scenes to bring them to life, but how often do we put that much thought into what they are up to. Sure we have hard-working and dedicated workers in our goods yards and signal boxes, but what about the little people that we put on our platforms and high streets? Surely they should have places to go and role to fulfil too.

 

By just asking yourself what people would have been up to in a typical scene during whatever era you are modelling, you can start to build a realistic cameo that really brings a scene to life (much more than 100 "men with briefcase" standing on the platform). In real life there would be people shopping with bags, school trips, buskers, people offering out flyers, traffic wardens, police officers, tourists and in a railway scene people with cameras. There is such a big industry out there manufacturing models of people going about their daily tasks that you can now choose pretty much whatever scenario you can think of.

 

Those are just a few of the hundreds of different activities your little people could be getting up to, and yes, you can even get people up to no good but as this is a family newsletter, we'll let you discover those yourselves!

 

In 00 gauge, to get your imagination going, we have selected some photographers, a platform dispatcher, some traffic wardens, a modern street scene, some police officers and some unpainted school children, great if you want to customise them to suit your scene.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In N gauge, here are some stable workers, police officers and even a rock band which could be playing in a pub garden or busking in a town square!

 

 

 

 

 

In the next section, we are going to be looking at some tools. There has never been a better time to be a modeller, there are gadgets, widgets, whats-its, thingy's and gizmos for just about every modelling job. But some of them you will never of heard of, and never will. So here are just a few time/headache savers.

 

If you have ever had that awkward truck or engine keep derailing and need to weight it down but have trouble concealing the weights, try using liquid gravity. It is a really fine dense material (looks a bit like really fine ballast but heavier) and it is great because you can glue a thin layer just about anywhere.

 

 

 

 

 

What about getting a third pair of hands? As this may not be possible, here is the next best thing. If you build your own kits or indeed scratch build then you will be accustomed to the awkwardness we sometimes encounter trying to hold two pieces of the kit at the same time as gluing. If this sounds familiar, try using magnetic clamps or mini vice. Don't worry if you are not modelling in metal, the magnetic clamps stick to themselves, not the material you are working on. Another good idea for holding material in place would be a mini vice. These are big enough to be useful but small enough to be a great space saver on your work station.

Another sticky situation where a third pair of hands would be beneficial is when we are laying track, particularly flexible track. The best way to lay flexitrack is to have a friend help you as they can make little adjustments whilst you stand back to see if it all looks good before nailing into place. However, if your best mate has gone down the pub then you could try using a flexible track holding tool, it does the same job as your mate, but you don't have to buy it a pint afterwards.

 

 

Do you need help whilst attaching decals to your models? The right tool for the right job can make all the difference. Avoiding unnecessary contact with the decals when removing them from their backing and applying them to the model is crucial if you are to avoid them folding over on to themselves and leaving you with the painstaking task of rescuing the decals especially the smaller more fiddly ones. Our top tip would be to use a decal tray and a microbrush.

 

Decal trays allow you to remove the decals from your softening solution (warm water) and drain without touching them at all. The shelf the decals sit in has little recesses that keep them separated from each other so you can even tackle more than one at a time. The microbrush then allows you to move the decal around on your model with pinpoint accuracy with its fine but not sharp head.

 

 

We keep on adding modelling tips to our website. Here are the latest ones:

• What to ask yourself before starting a layout
• What is a fiddle yard?
• What model railway gauge is best for children?
• What model railway gauges are available?
• What is the difference between 00 and H0?
  

You can also access all the articles by visiting this page or simply click the link called "tips" on our website.

Send us an email or give us a call to check availability or to reserve anything, whatever scale you model in. As usual, if we do not have in stock what you are looking for, we will order it for you and you will get it fast (usually within a week if the manufacturer has it in stock). We place weekly orders with most suppliers.

Remember, you can park for free for one hour on the High Street and for as long as you want on the Esplanade. So no excuse not to come and visit us!

Upstairs Downstairs is open Tuesday to Saturday 10am till 4.30pm. We are closed only on Monday and Sunday.

Upstairs Downstairs
3 Pier Street
Sandown, PO36 8JR
Isle of Wight
Tel: 01983 406 616
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