Category: Useful Tools
Quick Model Train Asphalt Roads
In need of some quick and easy asphalt roads for a retail project I have upcoming, I spent a little time poking around and seeing what others were doing for their asphalt. I tend to model more rural scenes that include dirt roads or old and chewed-up blacktop, but here I wanted to go with […]
Real Soil or Ground Foam?
When building small scenes that will be photographed close-up, I’ve always used real soil as a base layer. I have coffee grinder for milling any real soil I collect down to dust but this can be a bit messy (think clouds of dust when you open the grinder!), and not always convenient or 100% consistent, […]
Kato Unitrack Ballast For HO, N & Z Scale
I recently needed to build several small scenes in HO, N and Z scale. For ballast on my custom pieces, I tend to use natural materials such as soils and sands, often grinding and sifting it myself. For these pieces however, I wanted to go with a readily available commercial option instead. As I may […]
OrthoTape Plaster Cloth For Scenery Building
I recently built a handful of small scenes to use as “sets” in order to photograph some of our upcoming products here at Raildig and I decided to go with plaster cloth for creating the terrain. I was just about to order some of the hobby-branded plaster cloth but at the last minute looked in […]
Model Parts Holder For Airbrushing
Holding small, and not so small, parts in place when you’re airbrushing a model can be a delicate operation. You want to get a good even coat of paint and as important, you don’t want to ruin that coat of paint by leaving any smudges or worse, a partial fingerprint. There are several commercial part-holding […]
Soldering Torch For White Metal Kits
As I begin to work on more white metal kits like the PECO Nn3 tram kit, I’ve been thinking of changing my white metal construction tools from epoxies and CAs to low temperature solders on the larger parts of my kits. The trick to soldering white metal is in the metal itself, generally a tin […]
DIY Files For Flash Removal
As I began work on my PECO white metal tram kit I realized I’ve need to do some flash removal on the body halves. Since this is a white metal kit, I was hesitant to use a regular hobby flat file, or jeweler’s file, as these can take off too much metal with one errant […]
Plastic Pipettes For Model Railroading
I’ve recently been trying out new brands of paints for airbrush use but unfortunately my local hobby stores don’t stock a wide variety so it’s been online ordering for me. An average price for a small bottle isn’t too bad at all, ranging from $3 – $4 each. Add a few bucks for shipping and […]
Badger Paint Mixer
I recently ordered paint from Tamiya and some replacement accessories for my Paasche H airbrush in preparation for a couple of upcoming projects. Having never used Tamiya before I read up on it and saw on some forums, modelers stating that stirring is preferred over shaking paint when using an airbrush. Ok, I’ll bite. Normally […]
Paasche H Airbrush Parts
What I like in particular about the Paasche H airbrush is its ease of use and as important, the ease of cleaning an external mix airbrush. This brush is about as simple as they come but it’s long been considered something of a workhorse in hobby painting. When using a Paasche H airbrush, you really […]
