Tarpaulin

Freight Car Loads for Model Train Layouts (Any scale)

We are going to make a Tarpaulin to cover a "turbine".

Place an in scale plastic object on an 
old redundant CD...

Cover the object with a single layer square 
piece of non textured tissue paper to 
resemble the "Tarpaulin"

Carefully wet the tissue paper with 50:50 
ratio PVC glue and water mixture.

Arrange the "Tarpaulin"

Too much glue !! Dab up the excess 
glue with odd bits of tissue paper.

Add a second and a third layer of 
non textured tissue paper to soak 
up the excess glue mixture.

Arrange the "Tarpaulin"

Leave it to dry overnight. The painting 
to be done after 12 to 24 hours.
The painting steps will be described 
towards the end of this post.

I trimmed off the edges of the tarpaulin...

The outcome, not too bad - one dirty SAR 

tarpaulin covered "turbine" load on the 

U13 Abnormal Load Wagon.

(Painted the tarpaulin with a base coat Payne's 

Grey Matt Acrylic and Dry Brushed it with 

Revell Earth Brown Aqua Paint - to give it 

that grimy weathered look) 

Matt Acrylic Paints were used in this exercise.

A weathered SAR U13 Abnormal Load wagon.

LINK TO: AK INTERACTIVE WEBSITE

Weathering goodies!!!

Let's make another Tarpaulin covered load

Leave it to dry overnight. The painting 

to be done after 12 to 24 hours.

Removed the plastic object and
painting the tarpaulin cover with 
a matte acrylic paint.

Added the second base coat and 
dry brushed with Burnt Umber.

Added some lighter shades and dry 
brushed the edges with Payne's Grey.

The finished tarpaulin covered load. And the 
mystery load is indeed a V12 Rolls-Royce 
Griffon engine.

A tarpaulin covered Morris Minor.

Dremel®

My Dremel® Rotary tool collection; with this toolkit it was possible for me to construct my entire layout. Track laying, scratch building, kitbashing, etc.

Dremel® 300 kit - purchased this toolkit
way back in 2009.

Dremel® 300 kit - still going strong. 

Using this rotary tool on a daily basis for 

any kind of job in and around the house. 

PRICELESS !!!!

I service this rotary tool once in a while - DIY

Dremel® kit 704 (200 piece)

Accessories...

More accessories...

Handcrafted "see through" safety guard

Dremel® SpeedClic™ Mandrel 
and Metal cutting disc.

Dremel® 200 - acquired recently - to be used 
for cutting and sanding stock. (The workhorse)

This Dremel 300 series is priceless -
serviced and cleaned. 

Precious - still part of my daily life. 

Vehicle Branding

How to make your own custom Vehicle Branding for HO scale vehicles

Cut out this print from the shrink wrap of a 
Clover® Flavoured Milk bottle and pasted it 
to the side of this van.

Examples

Cut out this print from the foil wrap of a Bakers
Mini Cheddars® Snack Pack and pasted it
to the side of this van.

Laser printed on sticky label, 
resembles a Magnetic Sign...

Laser printed on sticky label, 

resembles a Magnetic Sign...

Laser printed on sticky label, 

resembles a Magnetic Sign...

Laser printed on sticky label, 

resembles a Magnetic Sign...

Cut out this print from a Jungle Oats® 
cereal box and pasted it to the side of 
this curtain trailer.

Cut out these prints from a Jungle Oats® 

cereal box and pasted it to the sides 
of this curtain trailer.

Cut out these prints from a Kellogg's 

Corn Flakes® cereal box and pasted it 
to the sides of this curtain trailer.

Cut out this print from the shrink wrap 
of a Clover® Crush® fruit juice bottle and 
pasted it to the side of this curtain trailer.

Cut out this print from the shrink wrap 
of a Clover® Crush® fruit juice bottle 
and pasted it to the side of this trailer.

Examples

Cut out this print from a Bokomo 
Weatbix® cereal box and pasted it 
to the side of this curtain trailer.

Cut out this print from a Bokomo 
ProNutro® cereal box and pasted it 
to the side of this trailer.

I use this product for pasting these prints on the 
vehicles. It is a non permanent solution and 
when the need arises to remove a print, 
you only loosen it with some water.

FREE advertising for the different brands on my Aliwal North SAR Layout. 

Reed Switches

A Link to Frequently Asked Questions on Reed Switches:

Reed switches are vital, simple and very tiny little components 

for the Automation and general sensing and controlling 

of Model Railroad Layouts.

http://www.rre.in/general_reed_switch_faq/

Normally open contacts.

NOTE: You cannot use these Reed Switches as standalone units to switch Point Motors and to reverse polarity on Model Train Tracks without Relay Interface Printed Circuit Boards as featured elsewhere on my Blog due to the fact that these switches cannot withstand currents of more than a few milliamperes and will thus burn out. I use it to trigger my PCB's. The PCB's will do the hard work !  (Click on Menu tab: Printed Circuit Boards)

When a magnetic force is generated parallel to the reed switch, the reeds become flux carriers in the magnetic circuit. The overlapping ends of the reeds become opposite magnetic poles, which attract each other. If the magnetic force between the poles is strong enough to overcome the restoring force of the reeds, the reeds will be drawn together to close the circuit. (A magnetic switch in Layman's terms.)

Wildlife - Reworked

South African Wildlife in HO scale on Aliwal North SAR Layout.

Hand painted animals:
Four of the BIG FIVE being represented here at the "Dys Strydom Private Nature Reserve" on the farm "Hoog Waterval".
When you think of ‘The Big 5’, the animals in question are immediately recognized worldwide. The term originated as a way of describing these five species as the most difficult for hunters to capture or kill, due to their ferocity and their likelihood to stand their ground and retaliate. Here is a look at four of the five animals known wide as Africa’s Big Five, and some other wild animals.

(Highlighted in the picture captions below)

Giraffe, Antelope, Plains Zebra, Cape Buffalo,
Black Rhinoceros and African Elephant.

Giraffe, Antelope, Plains Zebra, Cape Buffalo,
Black Rhinoceros and African Elephant.

Giraffe, Antelope, Plains Zebra, Cape Buffalo,
Black Rhinoceros & African Elephant.

Cape Buffalo, Black Rhinoceros, 
African Elephant and African Lion.

African Elephant and African Lion.

Some Wikipedia information:

The giraffe is an African even-toed ungulate mammal, the tallest living terrestrial animal and the largest ruminant. Its species name refers to its camel-like appearance and the patches of color on its fur.

The plains zebra, also known as the common zebra or Burchell's zebra, is the most common and geographically widespread species of zebra. It ranges from the south of Ethiopia through East Africa to as far south as Botswana and eastern South Africa.

The African buffalo or Cape buffalo, is a large African bovine. It is not closely related to the slightly larger wild Asian water buffalo, and its ancestry remains unclear.

The black rhinoceros or hook-lipped rhinoceros is a species of rhinoceros, native to eastern and central Africa including Kenya, Tanzania, Cameroon, South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Angola.

African elephants are elephants of the genus Loxodonta. The genus consists of two extant species: the African bush elephant and the smaller African forest elephant. Loxodonta is one of two existing genera of the family, Elephantidae.

The lion (Panthera leo) is one of the five big cats in the genus Panthera and a member of the family Felidae. The commonly used term African lion collectively denotes the several subspecies found in Africa.

African leopard, (Panthera pardus) is a large, carnivorous feline having either tawny fur with dark rosette-like markings or black fur. The leopard is solitary by nature, and is most active between sunset and sunrise, although it may hunt during the day in some areas. Leopards can be found in the savanna grasslands, brush land and forested areas in Africa.

JANUARY 25, 2021 - Spruced up the Dys Strydom Nature Reserve.

Expanded the wetland area, added water and static grass.