clearcoat Archives - The Silicon Underground

Glue coming up between vinyl tiles

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 23 Mar 2017 11:00:42 +0000

If you have a problem with glue coming up between vinyl tiles when you lay them, I have a couple of solutions. And you will want to solve the problem. The glue discolors the tile, and doesn’t get any better

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Restoring lithographed train cars

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 15 Apr 2016 11:00:46 +0000

If you have vintage tin lithographed train cars made by American Flyer, Bing, Dorfan, Ives, Lionel, Marx, or another make I’m forgetting and some of them are worse for wear, there are a few things you can do to improve

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Spray painting tips to paint like a pro

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 05 Apr 2016 11:00:15 +0000

I’ve gathered a lot of spray painting tips over the years but I’ve never seen more than 10 collected in one place. Spray paint is a tool, and using it is a skill you can learn. With a bit of practice,

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How to disassemble a Marx 999 locomotive

Dave Farquhar — Sun, 13 Dec 2015 12:00:48 +0000

Disassembling a Marx 999 locomotive isn’t too difficult, and it’s easier than the Marx 666, but it helps to have some instructions. The nice thing about the 999 is that if you can disassemble it, there’s a long, long list of

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Lessons from my son’s first Pinewood Derby

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 11:00:29 +0000

One of my coworkers, a guy with an infectious laugh named Jamaal, organized a get-together on Friday. My boss asked me if I was going. “Sorry, it’s my son’s first Pinewood Derby,” I said. I had to explain to my

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Gesso: Brushable, non-toxic primer

Dave Farquhar — Wed, 31 Dec 2014 11:00:06 +0000

The best time to paint figures is when it’s over 50 degrees, because the first step is spraying them with a coat of primer, which requires a temperature of above 50 degrees. The problem is that when it’s that warm,

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Painting model figures in five easy steps

Dave Farquhar — Sun, 07 Dec 2014 11:00:39 +0000

Painting model figures for train layouts is a task that few toy train hobbyists relish, but we can borrow techniques from other hobbies to solve that problem. The model railroading and toy train hobbies have solved a lot of problems

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Waterslide decal tips and tricks

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 01:38:30 +0000

The one time I remember hurting my Dad's feelings was when we were building a model. We were applying decals, and we could never get them to stay on the model for long. I observed that when I built a model with my uncle, he didn't have that problem.

"He's better at it than I am," he said. I nodded. "You didn't have to agree with that, you know," he added.

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How to fight the City of St. Louis’ red-light scam

Dave Farquhar — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 22:35:28 +0000

I wrote a couple of weeks ago that I've never had a traffic ticket. I spoke too soon. Thanks to the City of St. Louis' new red-light camera scam, I have one.

It's too late for me to fight it. But since I want others to fight it, here's what I wish I'd known the day I got the ticket.

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How to assemble a plastic model kit

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 00:55:37 +0000

Several months ago I bought a plastic model kit for the first time in probably 20 years. This past week I started to put it together.

I'm doing things differently this time.

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