My Modelling Principles
1. The overall look of a model is most important. Having it the right shape and size and colour is more important than whether it has all the bolt and rivet heads and corners of precisely 90.000000000000000 degrees.
2. Good running is as important as appearance. We all love to see a superbly realistic model running superbly, but a less realistic model running well is better than a very wondrous looking model that jerks and stutters and runs at no less than 50mph.
3. The critical element of layout design for maintaining operational interest is not how much track there is but how many different operations can be performed on what track there is.
4. Let children have a go at running the trains. Most are even more careful than is necessary because they know to be careful with stuff that isn't theirs.
5. Scratchbuilding is easy if you can find which materials and techniques work best for you. For instance, I usually struggle with plasticard, but find wood and card easy to use.
6. Layouts focused on freight traffic are generally more interesting to build and operate than passenger-focused layouts.
7. Don't buy kits and bits just because you like the look of them or want them for 'the next project'. Buy only that which is sure to be of use and interest on the layout you have now.
2. Good running is as important as appearance. We all love to see a superbly realistic model running superbly, but a less realistic model running well is better than a very wondrous looking model that jerks and stutters and runs at no less than 50mph.
3. The critical element of layout design for maintaining operational interest is not how much track there is but how many different operations can be performed on what track there is.
4. Let children have a go at running the trains. Most are even more careful than is necessary because they know to be careful with stuff that isn't theirs.
5. Scratchbuilding is easy if you can find which materials and techniques work best for you. For instance, I usually struggle with plasticard, but find wood and card easy to use.
6. Layouts focused on freight traffic are generally more interesting to build and operate than passenger-focused layouts.
7. Don't buy kits and bits just because you like the look of them or want them for 'the next project'. Buy only that which is sure to be of use and interest on the layout you have now.
A few tips
1. There are lots of cheap and free sources of useful modelling material. Polystyrene is great for landscaping and comes in a lot of packaging. Egg boxes and mushroom boxes make good stonework. Plastic net bags for ultra-cheap toys can be used to make barbed wire and fence netting for large scales. A lot of card from packaging is useful for models. Drinking straws can be used to make all manner of pipework. The list goes on and on.
2. The internet is full of an amazing variety of cheap or free 'printies' which can be printed out on paper and backed onto card for making models. I have found and used concrete surfacing, roof tiles, a privy, small wagons, books, furniture, seed packets, sacks, and innumerable boxes.
3. After assembling a kit, run some beads of extra glue along the insides of all the joints to make the model more robust.
4. Don't cut the small bits of the kit out of the etch/sprue/sheet until its time to use them.
5. Floristry wire is very useful for lots of jobs, including handles, handrails, couplings, railings (in smaller scales), point linkages, and clearing blocked applicator nibs on glue bottles.
6. If you are a modeller under adult age then you will find it difficult to buy many things you need for modelling, such as modelling knife blades, glue and paint, solder, because the shopkeeper will think you're a thug or a druggie or something. However, I have never had this problem when buying these items at model railway exhibitions. The stallholders probably quite rightly think that thugs and druggies would never think of looking there and therefore any person under 18 buying stuff there probably wants it for safe and legitimate purposes.
2. The internet is full of an amazing variety of cheap or free 'printies' which can be printed out on paper and backed onto card for making models. I have found and used concrete surfacing, roof tiles, a privy, small wagons, books, furniture, seed packets, sacks, and innumerable boxes.
3. After assembling a kit, run some beads of extra glue along the insides of all the joints to make the model more robust.
4. Don't cut the small bits of the kit out of the etch/sprue/sheet until its time to use them.
5. Floristry wire is very useful for lots of jobs, including handles, handrails, couplings, railings (in smaller scales), point linkages, and clearing blocked applicator nibs on glue bottles.
6. If you are a modeller under adult age then you will find it difficult to buy many things you need for modelling, such as modelling knife blades, glue and paint, solder, because the shopkeeper will think you're a thug or a druggie or something. However, I have never had this problem when buying these items at model railway exhibitions. The stallholders probably quite rightly think that thugs and druggies would never think of looking there and therefore any person under 18 buying stuff there probably wants it for safe and legitimate purposes.