I’m in the process of building a small module that has to be portable to tie in with the clubs larger setup, and I want to use some HO scale little folks on it BUT be able to use them on my home layout when the module isn’t being shown. What’s a good way to semi-permanently attach HO scale folks in a way they stand up good, but can be easily removed later? I thought about using small pieces of double sided scotch tape , putting the people in position and using a little ground cover to hide the tape. Maybe some type of glue?
Epoxy or glue, or CA a tiny metal spike to one or both feet, something in the 1/2" range for good leverage control, and shove the pikes into your foam…you are using foam?
I saw an item in a magazine or here on the web a couple of years ago about drilling holes in the legs of figures and gluing a cut-off straight pin into them; then just pushing the pin into the scenery to hold them up. This makes them easily removable for cleaning or moving.
The members of the modular club I belong to use different glues. These include hard fixed glue, (Elmers, CA, etc.) for perminant figures (just get duplicates for your home layout). Some are more temporary or flexable - such as Woodland Scenics Accent. Y:ou can clean the “mud” off the feet as you move them. I have used Rubber cement - with variable results - often too flexable. Several old-timers with the club have used mustache wax with excelent results. I haven’t tried that one yet.
I’ve had some good experience with WS Hobby Tack. It’s, well, tacky, so you can move things around a little and still have some grab. Another tacky glue might work, but somehow I’ve had better luck with the WS stuff.
It works best when you;re sticking to perfectly clean surfaces. Stick it on the ground foam and it becomes too mucked up to re-stick.
I use what are called Silk Pins for standing up little plastic folk. These pins are smaller in dia. and about 1/16 inch of the pointed end is at the end of a leg. I like this method because the figures are moved around on the layout a lot and leaves no holes in the layout surface.
Woodland Sceinics Accent glue is nice because its flexible and is easy to clean off when removed, but holds good for scale figures. Smaller details that need to be added on can be tidious with this glue because you do have to try and hold it for a few minutes so it will stand on its own. Just my [2c]
I’ve been using the WS ‘Accent glue’ which seems to work quite nicely. Although some of the WS ‘little people’ I’ve gotten have VERY uneven feet, LOL! Especially a cop who has just pulled over a speeder. No matter how much I position him, I go out the next day, and he’s leaning away from the car at a weird angle, like the guy in the car has the world’s WORST breath!
But largely, the Accent Glue seems to work just fine, and it’s possible to re-position my population without losing the tackiness on the soles of their shoes.
Now if someone could help me find the WS kitty-cats I placed on my layout but forgot where!!
Thanks for all the suggestions. I’m sorry that I neglected to say that these particular little people will be standing/sitting on a hard surface and not foam. I wish it was foam, then I’d go the pin-glued-to-the-bottom-of a-foot route. I’ll just have to experiment with different glues and see what works best.
I have been using Microscale Liquitape , it stays sticky , you can move and replace the people many times and they still stay. It is completely un-noticeable, just a little dot on the feet or butt and they stick, your supposed to wait till it dries before sticking them down.