Martin Tärnrot

Creating Sacks for a Layout with Martin Tärnrot

Martin Tärnrot
Duration:   3  mins

Description

Modeler Martin Tärnrot welcomes you to another Model Railroad Academy video. One method for adding depth with model railroad accessories is adding sacks on pallets. Sacks like these are commonly used to store onions, seeds, and other goods. Martin shows an example of how these sacks of seed look when placed on a model. The base material in the sacks will be clay, specifically a variety that drives at room temperature without need for heating. Martin rips off a single piece from the clay and begins forming it into long strips, about a quarter of an inch in diameter, or 6 millimeters. Then he places the clay in the center of a nylon cloth strip, folds it in half, and squeezes the clay flat between his fingers. A knife is used to make depressions at half-inch lengths across the cloth and clay. After unwrapping the clay from the cloth, Martin allows it to dry overnight.

Once dry, it is easy to peel off each piece of clay, which will become the model sacks. Next it is time for painting. Martin uses two different colors, a mix of burnt umber and ivory black. He thins the paint with water, spraying it onto the paint until he has a 50:50 mix of water to paint. The paint is simply brushed on to color the sacks. If a modeler is making hundreds of sacks at a time, Martin suggests just dipping them in a paint mixture. While the sacks dry, he moves onto making a new blend of paint. This will be used for a dry-brush finish to highlight the texture of the sacks made from the clay being pressed against the cloth. Finally, he finishes by gluing them down to a pallet. To find more tips for planning your layout, visit the Model Railroad Academy archives.

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One Response to “Creating Sacks for a Layout with Martin Tärnrot”

  1. Kim

    Does anyone make locomotives with a slow scale speed. My biggest beef with model railroading is Locos that will top 90mph scaled scaled speed. Only children with toys run a loco like that . I want loco that goes 20mph max and slows to 3mph, 2, 1, 1/2 to minute hand speed. The train coming to an abrupt stop tells the truth that there is little inertia behind that massive train and always gives the realism away.

Hello, and welcome to a Model Railroad Academy video tutorial. Today, we're going to model sacks on pallets. Sacks is commonly used to store like onions, seeds, and stuff. Here are the sacks with seed we're gonna model. The base material in the sacks will be clay. This is a type of clay which dries in room temperature, so no need for oven heating. I just rip a piece apart from the big chunk of clay, and I form it into a long worm with a quarter of an inch in diameter, or six millimeter, if you like. Then, we need a piece of nylon cloth. I have this in my stores since previously when I did some kites for the kids. Put the clay worm onto the nylon cloth. Fold the cloth around the clay worm and squeeze it with your fingers, then take a knife and cut in half-inch lengths out. Shouldn't cut through the cloth. Just so the clay gets all flattened out. Leave this to dry now overnight so the clay gets hard. Once hard, it's easy to just peel off one sack after the other, then it's time for painting. I use two colors to paint this. I mix burnt umber brown with ivory black. I thin the paint with water until I have a 50-50 mix of water and paint. I then paint all of the sacks using this blend of color. If you're making many, like hundreds, it's probably easier just to dip-paint them. Now, leave those sacks to dry, and meanwhile, we'll making a new blend of paint. This one consists from white, black, and burnt umber. With this paint, we'll make a so-called dry brush meaning we're wiping off most of the paint from the brush, and then we're just gently swiping the paint brush back and forth. It leaves enough paint to highlight the texture of the sack. As a last acton, we will glue these as piles onto wooden pallets. This one was found in a set from Walthers. I apply drops of fast-set glue, then I place the first layer of sacks using tweezers on to the pallet. Then, I add another round with fast-set glue on top of these sacks, and another layer of sacks. The good thing now is that the sacks are not entirely hard, so they're forming from where they're put like this. Looks really nice. I like working with clay. It's a good material. I hope you liked this free video tutorial. If you did, please level up and gain access to the premium videos here on Model Railroad Academy. See you there!
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