Material choices The right modeling material can make all the difference/Bob Walker
“Paper or plastic what?” I responded. The conversation almost degraded into the who’s on first scenario when I caught on. I chose paper simply be- cause of its potential model railroad scenery applications rather than the environmental impact. I guess I don’t grocery shop much, and, before I get politically incorrect here, I had best get on with this month’s column. Whenever one sits down at the bench to start a new project and, knowing what it is going to be, the second impor- tant consideration should be what to make it out of. The first should be where it is going to live, and exactly what size it will be. Like the paper or plastic ques- tion, I guess what goes through our heads is “wood, styrene, plaster, or card- stock?” There is a bit more to that deci- sion than meets the eye, and there are more factors to consider than you might imagine. While there is much to think about, the decisions are for the most part simple ones that can be made in a matter of minutes.
“P
I often complete an entire complicat- ed scratchbuilt structure in my head in the five minutes it takes me to get to sleep at night. There is a lot of “down time” in our lives where most of these decisions can be made without impact-
aper or plastic?” the cute lit- tle checkout girl asked as she rang up my order.
Scratchbuilder’s Corner
ing our limited time at the workbench. I won’t blather on too much about this, but sitting at a red light or at the croaker’s office come readily to mind. I’m sure you can think of many other situations equally appropriate. Your favorite material, while obvi- ously of some importance, should not be your only consideration. Sometimes the styrene guru has to fess up and go with wood, and vice versa. Consider the overall effect you are gunning for here, where is it in relation to the view- er, and the general condition of the edi- fice. A well maintained foreground building is probably easiest to bring off in styrene, while a dilapidated, paint- less wood barn near the backdrop will be more appropriately rendered in sim- ple cardstock or wood. With a lot of effort, styrene can be made to look like weathered old wood. Over the years, I have come to question why. I used to do that kind of thing just
to impress myself. I would spend hours trying to make white Evergreen Scale Models styrene look like a piece of Northeastern scribed wood stained with some india ink and alcohol. While I often succeeded in such endeavors, the styrene wall took a lot of time, and the wood one took minutes. The re- sults? The same. In 20/20 hindsight, it was a waste of valuable hobby time. I’m not coaching to rush a job here,
folks, just advocating spending your time where it will do the most good. Time itself should be way down on our list of priorities, but it is a considera- tion, none the less. For example, choos- ing styrene just because it bonds faster may require some additional thought. It might be a better bet to choose mate- rials on their construction merits and appropriateness, rather than the de- gree of comfort in their use.
A good starting point is the proto-
type’s construction material. Wood? Of- ten well replicated with wood, often better represented by scribed styrene. Well maintained (meaning with a nice paint job) wood buildings are easily done in styrene, where showing the grain of the wood is neither needed nor wanted. Paint usually covers grain
Depending on the location on the layout and how much time a modeler wants to spend on a project, any of several materials might be the best choice for a model. If a structure is unpainted
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wood, then wood is probably a good choice. If it is right up front on the layout or has a speciality siding such as cut stone (right), then embossed styrene siding or plaster might be best.
MAY 2012
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