91% rubbing alcohol and the putty knife for removing the scenery, save the IPA for you. You should only have to remove the old stuff where you need a flat surface, the rest could be covered with new scenery and add a little more texture to the area. The mandatory safety comment: I don't recommend mixing the IPA usage with the power tools usage
All depends on the definition you attach to IPA IPA commonly refers to: India pale ale, a style of beer International Phonetic Alphabet, a system of phonetic notation Isopropyl alcohol, a chemical compound Yeah, yeah, I know, I'll go crawl back under my rock now
Thanks for that. I seriously never knew that IPA stood for anything but a type of beer. I thought @mtntrainman 's suggestion to use beer was a joke. Okay, I'm clear now.
International Parents Association Just made it up. I had no clue what everyone was talking about. I was like they want me to drink Isopropyl Alcohol. Thanks for the clarification, before I poured myself a glass. NOT! It's an OLD door and I am not spraying that much water. So far, so good, except my arm hurts from scrapping cause I am old and out of shape. But aren't most of us? Not like the model railroad hobby includes daily exercise So why Isopropyl Alcohol instead of water? Do you think I can get some of the roadbed off too, if I want to change the layout plan in places?
Isopropyl Alcohol will evaporate a lot faster then water. Water will soak into the HCD 'skin' if left on to long. JMO
George is right, water will be an issue if left too long. Depending on the glue, I'd say you should be able to get the roadbed up with the Isopropyl Alcohol. It may take a couple of tries if it is tough glue.
One idea is to replace the cork roadbed with the woodland scenics foam road/track bed. Looking at the earlier pics it doesn't look like the cork lines up well with the track or is that just because the track hasn't been tacked in to it's final places yet? The woodland scenics stuff is much easier to work with plus the elevation is less than the cork making it easier to blend the base scenery especially where you will have road crossings... you can avoid/minimize those abrupt road grades to get up to the rails. Also you can just muscle through scraping up the existing cork roadbed without having to worry about preserving it.
I recently changed my track plan in one area. I had glued the cork to the foam board with wood glue and caulked the track to the cork. I was surprised how easy and clean they both came up with a sharp putty knife. I can reuse the track and maybe could reuse the cork if I wanted to. I don't know how easy the cork would come up if it was glued to the wood door. Probably harder. Sumner
Turns out a lot of the left over scenery ( green grass I guess ) is actually coming up just using the scrapper, and not any liquid at all. So if I choose to continue with this project, A little paint or other types of scenery should cover those area's where a tiny bit is still left over. At least I got my outer loop and inner loop working which is really what I wanted for now. As far as the roadbed not lining up, there is definitely adjustments to me made. I never glue my track down cause I can never make up my mind. My 2'x4' bases I use track nails cause I can remove them and the track. Like I said basically just noticed it when cleaning up the garage and figured I would mess with it awhile. Who knows how long that means Yeah nothing lines up right now, roadbed, etc...
Ran out of paint had to go to Wally World and buy some more. Looks better then it did. Still working on it. Dang images, I give up Was stored at my brothers house in the country for years before they sold it and moved. Think I got a bird strike, if you know what I mean
Those craft paints I see in your photo are quite handy and are only $0.58 Ea at our Walmart. They can also be found at Hobby Lobby, Michaels and Joanne for somewhat more.
Yep they only had one Elephant Grey, and I ran out of it too, but I bought a Timeless Grey and for some reason it was a whole $1.07, almost broke me So I have to use it to complete the area I want. I have the WS Town & factory stencils cut out somewhere around here and I have always wanted that set for years, but would not fit on my 2'x4' bases. But now I think I am going to be good? If I find the stencils I cut out of paper I'll show you. Curious to see how different the Timeless Grey will be, but doesn't really matter as who knows what it will look like later. As I have to figure out roads, ponds, etc... Just having some fun. Heck it likes 15 years old, I can't hurt it with cheap Wally World paint Man I hope the N Scale Town & Factory fits, now that I have a Rechargeable Airbrush and such. Anyone know what the inside of the hollow core doors looks like for drilling holes for street lights, traffic light's, dcc power drops, etc...? Hey look the picture is right, something bad happened How the he** did I do that No cursing right? @Hardcoaler Guess I am not the first one to buy those cheap paints? Also, bird strike gone, if you know what I mean? Time to paint some corners. Maybe Hot Pink, naw, Black would be better Or more Timeless Grey, who knows. It all needs to Dry over night!
The inside of hollow core doors varies a lot. Some have simple bracing. Some have a beaded foam core. Some have hard paper honey comb layer, those I like the best. Less noise.
My fellow Richard is correct sir. Easiest way I found is to find some straws the same size or a tad smaller than your drill bit and stick them through the holes you drill for the wires. Two options at this point, either trim the straws flush to leave them in place or leave them alone and remove once the wires are pulled through. I usually remove them and reuse them unless of course you don't like sea turtles and then they are just one use and toss 'em
A crochet hook, or a mall loop of stiff wire with a long tail, or a small dowel with a cross-hole drilled near the business end, will work to fish wires through small holes in HCDs. I purchased a contact-insertion/removal tool for the connectors that are used on Kato Unitrack wiring, so I can remove the connector housing, and fish the wires through smaller holes in the HCD and/or foam subterrain. I posted about the tool somewhere on this board, but I don't recall where at the moment. Electricians sometimes use drill bits with a hole near the tip, for both drilling a hole in a wall, etc., and fishing a wire through the hole afterwards.
I like the water idea. Maybe use one of the corners as a lake with the tracks running on a bridge over it?
I'll be danged if I can think of why I like your layout: I am scenery-challenged, too. It's been this way for over ten years. Well, there IS some ballast on the tracks since this picture was taken but otherwise... And, I used up almost all of my 19" radius sectional track, too. Actually, I guess I did, Some of it is flex. Doug
