Hi
I am scratchbuilding some windows that appear to have a horizontal and vertical muntin that is roughly 1/2" based on some window measrements. So in NScale, this is calculated as follows: Take .50/160=.003. Is that correct? Seems extremely small so I am just thinking of making the styrene wider. Most windows I’ve seen seem to use a much wider strip.
Beats me! N scale is too tiny for me to see. Try the MR forums.
-Brian
As I recall your formula is correct, however, on these pages your formul should look something like 0.5/20=0.02. In the garden, our stuff is about 8~10 times the size of your stuff. Drop over to MR forums and ask again.
Testors makes a clear liquid that is quite viscous and can be used to fill in very small windows like you are talking about. It will fill in the window frames and dries clear so light goes through it quite well. However, you can not see perfectly through it if you were trying to display an interior. Hmm, an N scale interior sounds like self flagellation.
Yes, I think you are correct. I believe in N scale it works out to about 1/32" which is too small a styrene strip for me to work with at my age. I have seen several articles where the author using a drawing pen or other fineline marker (purchased from art stores etc.) to draw these in on clear styrene or acetate. I bought some markers (in various colors) and acetate to try it on some scratchbuilt buildings but have not got around to actually trying it yet. If you decide to use fineline markers be sure and try them out before buying since some will not mark properly on styrene or acetate. I think the markers I bought were either .03 or .05 (don’t remember which) in width and came in many colors to match the paint sceme of the building. Of course, you will still need to build the outside framework of the window with styrene strips.
Good luck, Mike B.
Have you tried using commercial castings, such as Gloor Craft or Campbell? They’re available in a reasonable variety of styles and sizes, and they offer the fine detailing you’re looking for.
Standard window muntins (that’s the term for the dividers between the panes) is typically 7/8"
The other best option would be to have them etched in brass. That’s what I’m having done for this project.
Scratchbuilding all of that would drive me nuts!
Lee
Not really I use once the mech used to repair walls
the square is around 1/16.
I hope to help you.
Andre.
I’ve had success framing and trimming-out the opening with stripwood then painting thin chart tape the matching color and applying it onto the exterior side of the “glass” window (usually clear plastic) which is glued against the window frame on the inside wall. Mine was HO, colored/painted thread might work better for N.
Jim
Hardcoalcase has a good method,but I’d like to add that you can print window muntins on overhead projector plastic which works really well if you like black muntins. For white I think you’ll need to use ink on the same clear plastic material. I’ve alos used white light card for windows with the glass printed in blcak and the muntins left in white. I had a project where I needed a hundred ten buildings and used the printed windows and doors to good effect. Youcvould alaso use this last method and then cut out the black parts and apply clear plastic to the back using RC56 adhesive or Alleens. BILL
N scale window muntins are easy to scratchbuild: have a fresh blade in your Xacto knife. Take a human hair. Cut it in half, lengthwise. Cut that in half again. lengthwise. There’s your muntin.
And if you believe that …
Moral of the story is that even in HO most window muntins you see are oversize so I wouldn’t agonize over exact scale size. The point is for it to look small.
Dave Nelson
I do N-Scale muntins in a couple of different ways.
One method calls for scribing the muntin lines onto your glass–I don’t suppose it really matters whether these lines are scribed onto the interior side or exterior side, althought I, myself, have always done it onto the exterior side–and then smearing toothpaste onto which ever side of the glass you scribed your muntins. When you wipe your window glass clear the paste will stay adhered into your scribed lines.
Another method calls for getting one of those water-based-paint kits that kids use in school. I don’t know how much these things cost nowadays but the one I have cost me about a buck-thirty-nine at, I believe, a K-Mart. Scribe your muntin lines onto your glass and then brush on thick black paint–or whatever color you might like; I don’t remember ever seeing one of these paint kits with white in them but you might be able to find one. Again, when you wipe your glass clear–which should be done almost immediately–the (colored) paint will adhere to your scribed muntins.
One of my now-deceased friends used to make his N-Scale windows by starting off with a piece of .010" Plastruct®; he would paint this plastic black–assuming, of course, that he wanted his muttins to be black–and then scribe the window lines onto this painted surface. He would then drill pilot holes and, using a needle file–and I do mean a needle file, the kind you find at jeweler’s supply houses–he would laborously–and very carefully–file away the pane openings. He lived with an Optivisor® attached to his head and when he got done peering at his work through a flex-arm magnifier he was dealing with about a 12X magnification. When all his filing was done he used Krystal Klear to create the panes. His procedure always looked too much like a real pain