I have used microscope slide covers as window glass on models almost all my life. I first found out about using them from an amazing model builder that was a friend of dear old Dad. The first model I used it on was a fishing boat by Revell when I was about 8 years old. I think the look it gives a window is much better than any plastic that usually comes with the kit. With a little patience you can break one to show a cracked piece of glass as you might find in an old trackside structure.
I have recently been working on the Walthers roundhouse and I must be going senile as I totally forgot about using microscope slide covers in all those windows. Wanting to have a realistic interior, the plastic windows just looked awful as they were so thick. While I was wondering how to hide these thick monsters I remembered the slide covers. Problem solved.
I have the good fortune of having a Veterinarian for a wife and as a result she has an abundance of slide covers in all sizes in her desk.[:-^] If you order unsterilized ones from China they are really cheap, even the big ones. I have requested she get me some with her next order. As I start to add structures to the layout by building all those kits sitting on my shelves I am sure I will be going through a lot of them.
Here is the difference in thickness between glass and slide covers. The slide covers will not need extra frames built around them to hide how thick they are. Here they are sitting on the window frames.
I think they may come in different thicknesses. The ones I’ve used are .005" thick. Which is about 1/2" in HO. Pretty darn close.
Kupla comments:
To “cut” them, you use a scribe (carbide or diamond) to score, and then snap. The “snap” works about half the time. For me. So be sure to get plenty.
“Cutting” cover slides is very dangerous to your eyes. Little bits of glass fly off. WEAR SAFETY GLASSES! I’d also recommend giving thought to where else the bits go to. And to vacuum the cutting area later.
For attaching the glass, I use little dabs of epoxy. It tends not to wick all over the place.
I believe you can sand the edges with carbide paper. I haven’t tried to, yet. It’ll certainly be tricky/delicate, and looks like something to be avoided.
I am also told, in talking to some of my fellow MRR’s that are in the NMRA achievement program, that if you’re going to build a structure under that program, that you must use glass for the windows. One of these guys, a Master model Rairoader (MMR) himself, has been using mocroscope cover slips for many years for that purpose.
I used slide covers (which I bought very cheap) in a scratchbuilt apartment building. They are indeed quite thin and look like – well, like what they are: glass. But here is a story on myself - not only did the slide covers look very thin but I learned that inadvertently two had stuck together so I had double thickness for some windows, and they still looked thin.
