Modellings tips and answers - Drilling tools for modelling - Minitrains narrow gauge

This week in history

On the 22nd of May 1941, the Canadian Pacific Railway's east-end locomotive shops in Montreal produced its first Valentine tank as part of WWII war efforts. In total 1.420 Valentine tanks were built by the railway's workshop.

Tools for thought

For a lot of modellers, tools are often as precious as models with most hobbyists' tool boxes possessing at the very least, a hammer, screwdrivers, saw and pliers which they use to undertake the majority of everyday modelling tasks, however, for more intricate work there are many tools specifically designed with the modeller in mind that can really make a difference when a precision result is required.

Drilling fine holes in a model is one example where a general-purpose power drill should definitely not be used and such precision should only really be tackled using a hand-operated drill. There are three main types of hand drill favoured by modellers that accept bits small enough for modelling purposes, these are: A mini wheel brace drill which has a handle you turn to generate the drill bit's rotation, an Archimedean drill (often referred to as a push drill) which operates using a vertical pumping action to turn the bit and a pin vice which has no mechanism and is used much the same way as a bradawl but has the facility to attach various sized drill bits to the end. These are the best methods to provide you with the pace and accuracy you need to create a neat, correctly sized hole but more importantly one that will be where you want it.

Another common frustration for a lot of modellers is creating neat and accurate mitre cuts to model parts or building materials such as plastic strips (especially if they're an irregular shape or profile). Even the slightest imperfection in a freehand cut will be amplified when the time comes to attach sections together. This problem can be easily rectified using a mitre box or a mitre guillotine, both use a fine blade and a selection of predetermined angles to provide accurate and consistently angled cuts every time.

Click on any of the pictures for more details.

If you are considering installing a narrow-gauge line on your layout you may be pondering what kind of rolling stock you would like to run on it. Traditionally, most narrow-gauge lines have a mainly industrial heritage with many passenger-carrying tourist attractions making an appearance in more recent times.

Minitrains is a German company that produces a wide range of locomotives and rolling stock in HOe scale (009 in the UK). If you are not familiar with the scale it is the representation of a narrow-gauge railway in 00/HO gauge meaning the rolling stock is 1:87 scale (HO) but runs on N gauge size track. Minitrains' models have a reputation for smooth running and capturing the atmosphere of a variety of narrow gauge prototypes from 0-2-0 steam locomotives and trams to industrial types of diesel making them a good place to start when considering rolling stock for your narrow-gauge railway.

Modelling tips

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

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.

Upstairs Downstairs is open Tuesday to Saturday 10am till 4.30pm. If you are further afield, you can place your order on our website as usual as we are still dispatching daily.  

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