"Mastering the Art of Crafting a Sharp Knife" is just the first of many how to vidoes on knife making and sharpening.
It is quite odd how when I first posted this there were several other knife making videos including on this page. Now there is just one. And I fear this one might one day be replaced. If that should happen try this one instead.
I have been adding and or updating some of my tools, especailly tools that I use for hobby constructions. I found these precision screwdrives at a good price and I also picked up a few other screwdrivers for my bench. The item that I was most fortunate finding was a two part epoxy contained in two small tubes. I cannot tell you how many tubes of expoxy and superglue I have purchased that have hardened before I had a chance to use them up. I am building more now and that could account for my having less waste, but I am also purhasing small tubes of these adhesives when I can find them.
I will let you know what I think of these new additions once I have had a chance to try them out.
I have been following this vlog for sometime and it has been quite an adventure where I have learned alot. Along the way I have witnessed the good, the bad and ugly.
At the moment, I am not sure what I will be using these balsa slabs; perhaps for an O-gauge structure of some sort? I paid 3.26 USD for ten 4 x 5.75 x 1/8 inch thick.
I have two thoughts. The first, structures and detail pieces for model railroading have always been expensive, but have gotten even more expensive over the years. Secondly, I have loads of left-over bits of polystyrene and wood from previous projects. Why not put these bits and pieces to use? The following list is just a start. These details can be built from polystyrene, wood, or even paper board. These are small projects and you could possibly pop-out several of these pieces in one afternoon.
I have a good or bad habit (it all depends on how you look at it) of saving bits of everything. I am far from being a hoarder, but I do collect the small bits left over from certain projects. These bits are stored in various containers waiting to be used in some new project.
One such collection is the small bits of polystyrene from projects and kits. These bits can used as bits of rubbish or debris around industrial sites and abandoned or demolished buildings.
Another use for these bits, especially the slithers of polystyrene can be used to fill gaps and irregularities in your models. Just plug in slithers in the holes and gaps and “paint” a liberal amount of liquid plastic cement on the piece to fuse it into the model.
I didn't make a post on the Trent's last project How To Make Flock In 15 Minutes, however you might find the video useful.
Some time ago I read an interesting treatise on how to build with polystyrene. It was a great read and offered many ideas and techniques when working with polystyrene. I need to look through my reference materials and locate my copy. At any rate, I just came upon this 21 slide online presentation that details how one can get started in Scratch-Building Rolling Stock with Styrene. I believe the presentation was created with O-gauge in mind; however these hints can be used in any scale.
I start by cutting thin shards of grey cardboard, the kind you might find in packaging. The thinner the better, but they don’t have to be too thin. Once you have several shards it is time to get a bottle of Elmer’s glue. Decide how tall you want the tree to be, I am making trees for N and HO gauge, so decide how many scale feet tall you want the tree to be.
I start with two shards of cardboard. I roll each of the strips between my fingers to round them out a bit. I then put them together and dip one end in some Elmer’s glue. I roll these together at the bottom to form the tree’s trunk, adding other strips at various lengths to create the tree’s limbs. Sometimes, for a more complex tree structure, I add these limbs to the center of the much.
Once you have the basic structure, it is time to add some leaf texture. I soak the whole tree in Matte Medium, (you could also use a diluted white glue, like Elmer’s), one to stiffen up the tree trunk and limbs and too supply some sort of adhesive for various textures and colors of ground foam and or poly fiber.
I am not trying to model any one species of a tree, except for the one evergreen tree. This was created by spearing bits of scotch bright pad on a round stained tooth pick. Foe the other trees, I just wanted to create set of random tree and used random colors and textures of ground foam.
Here is another installment from Trent. This time he is making a pentagram terrain piece. It looks simple enough. Just take a left over slab of foam board and follow Trent's instructions.
I just found this very informative treatise on “making model surfaces”. The authors methods are derived from real life surfaces. We need to study the less than pristine structures that are all around us for ideas and “instruction” on to apply realistic weathering to our model surfaces. The author takes us through the methods, supplies and tools to get the job done.
Miscast Terrain has released another DIY video. This one demonstrates how to build a Warhammer 40K bunker and a string of barbed-wire. The bunker is made out of foam core.
This is another post I am making to ensure that I don’t lose a useful resource. The article provides some straight forward instructions and illustrations. Although the instructions are for a “larger” scale than I would normally model, the techniques presented here can be modified fit any scale.
I am not sure the scale of this structure, but I am going to assume that it is built to the 1/87 scale. Great how to
At least that is what I know this packing foam as. Where it got its name, it’s anyone’s guess. I believe they would make a great base for a water fall or if they do get broken up I use them as a base for a rubbish pile of some sort.
Miscast Terrain has released another post. This one features the how-to of creating some science fiction terrain bits. It looks easy enough and once completed very convincing. Please support this author, as he is providing the war-gamer some invaluable terrain enhancements.
I recently watch Trent's latest tutorial. Trent made use of mis-matched materials and pieced together some very nice war-gaming terrain pieces.
This forty-two minute video will show you how the author created a bayou swamp scene diorama. Although this type of project is way out of my league the process toward completion is completely awe inspiring. You never know if the techniques presented here may be handy some day.
I recently watch this short video how-to. This video features the creation of four simple scenery pieces all made from materials that are readily available .
