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Modellings tips and answers - Can anybody scratch-build? - Videos

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Don't forget to read our latest modelling tips and unboxing videos located at the bottom of the newsletter.

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This week in history

On Friday 1st August 2008, the Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Railway opens in China. The line connecting the two cities is 100 miles in length and is serviced by 9 stations. Designed exclusively for passenger trains, the line is designed to accommodate trains operating at speeds up to 350 km/h (217 mph). During a test run in 2008, a locomotive reached a speed of 394.3 km/h (245 mph). On average a journey between the two cities will take 30 minutes.

Tool for thought

This week's tool for thought is a set of hardwire cutters by Expo. This set of double leverage heavy-duty pliers is designed for the effective cutting of wire and cabling of thicker cross-section and are configured to cut the equivalent of piano wires up to 2.5 mm in cross-section. The long handles offer better torque ensuring the pliers are reliable, effective and simple to use.

Can anybody scratch-build?

Scratch-building is a scary subject for most modellers who are not already scratch-builders, and often there's a preconception that there are modellers with the ability to scratch-build, and those without. But in most cases, that simply isn't true and many modellers who scratch-build have gently gained depth into modelling this way through a necessity to build something not readily available rather than any desires.

If you're on the fence about whether to scratch-build or not, apprehension shouldn't be a reason not to. Starting small is the key to becoming a confident scratch-builder and adding to or adapting existing models is a good place to begin. Evergreen may be able to help with this as they are a manufacturer who produces a large and comprehensive range of styrene building materials pre-shaped to portray virtually any real-life sheet, beam, pole or girder in every size a modeller is likely to require. The materials can be easily cut, bent or painted and a plastic cement is a clean and precise way of securely attaching parts together.

The most basic of building materials includes plain plastic strips, rods and sheets produced in sizes to suit virtually any project.

Probably the next most useful materials comes in the form of round tubing, half-round rods, quarter-round rods, square tubing (also available as rectangular), I beams and H columns.

Once suitable materials have been sourced to construct a frame, plastic sheets can be used to create anything from walls and sidings to roofs and flooring. Again, there are many designs to choose from, including clapboard, V groove, square tiling, corrugated, standing seam and board and batten to create the exact design you require.

Whatever it is you wish to create from scratch, using a mixture of ready-moulded building materials such as those produced by Evergreen can produce incredible effects with very little knowledge or experience. Some scratch builders like to take it one step further by using non-moulded materials such as those produced by Plastruct, but for the beginner, ready-moulded is an excellent choice.

Modelling tips

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

Or you can (re-)discover older ones:

You can read all the articles sorted by categories or from the most recent published one on our website.

Unboxing videos

You want to know what is inside the boxes of modelling products? We open them for you! Subscribe to our YouTube channel to be notified before everyone else or simply click on this selection. Please note that videos are at the bottom of each page.

You can access all the unboxing videos by visiting this page or simply click on the link called "videos" on our websit e.

Events and exhibitions

Find all the latest events and exhibitions for the model railway world, on the UK Model Shop Events directory. Hopefully, 2022 will give us plenty of opportunities to attend events all over the country.

Do you need to order?

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. So no excuse not to come and visit us!

Upstairs Downstairs is open Tuesday to Saturday 10am till 4.30pm. Obviously, our website is open 24h a day and we can post to most locations, including Europe, USA and Australia.

Upstairs Downstairs
3 Pier Street
Sandown, PO36 8JR
Isle of Wight
Tel: 01983 406 616
http://www.trainshop.co.uk or find us on Facebook

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