I thought that I had better start a new thread for this kitbash of the Bachmann Jackson Sharp passenger car combine #89292 “Big Hauler”.
I have moved all the pictures in my photobucket taken up until now ,from the General Album to the G Scale Trains Album.Moving pics will cause them to delete in the General thread but they are still available on my G scale album for those who may be interested.
John,
Earlier you posted a photo of the stripwood you applied to the top of one of the cars, I took that as some incredible work!!! One thing I would like to lear & become confident in is how to bend the wood as you did on the ends, to make it ‘roll’ as you did. I had a model aircradt mentor once that said to soak the wood in ammonia to make it flexible & plyable… I am wondering what you did.
Could you share that with us? (or at least consider clicking “Start Conversation” & tell me privately…)
Hi Chad ! none of my conversations are private ,what you sees is what you get.I have been sharing my ways of doing things on the net for ten years now,there really are no secrets.No sense changing now !
Bending wood is simple for a rectangular roof such as this,shipbuilding is another story.I just use plain old warm tap water and soak the area that I want to bend for a few minutes in this case.(The thicker the wood ,the longer the soak) .I then take an old stick type hair curler and put it in a holding devise,I use a clamp. I then let it warm up to hair curling temperature which seems to be just perfect for bending thin strip wood like this.I hold the dry end in one hand and with the other wet end I use a pencil with an eraser on the end and apply increasing amounts of pressure with the eraser until I get what I am looking for.
Why the eraser end ,well it helps as a tool for bending instead of your fingers and tends not to slip on the wet surface.Keep checking that you are getting the proper bend and re-soak and do it again if necessary.You will want to slightly over bend it as there is a certain amount of spring back when the pressure is remove.If the piece of wood you are working with keeps breaking turn it over and try to bend it the other way.Use only straight grained wood running lengthwise on the strip as cross grain simply won’t work without breaking.Most hobby woods bend without any problems.I used the thin long type coffee stir stiks used to stir the extra large double doubles.Your local coffee shop manager may sell you a box for a few bucks especially when you tell him what your using them for.He probably built models too in his younger days !
Most stiks and tongue depressors are birch wood ,which is in the hardwood category. So depending on the thickness they will require more soaking time in hotter water than say basswood , popular or pine.Have fun and good luck !
Thanks John that is an excellent idea, & way to do it!