We’ve done a little housekeeping this week and finished updating a few things you might notice throughout the HO Scale Customs world.

From a new website design, podcast intro (might change this up from time-to-time still), new youtube video, and some upcoming changes to our Social “look and feel”, we’re trying to just add some fresh paint to our look. Not a big deal, but just in-case you notice some things looking a little “newer”, that’s what we’re doing!

Okay next, onto the topics this week…

We covered A LOT this week and let’s dig into it!

The first thing we talked about this week is the importance of making sure you’re using the correct gel medium when doing water the way we showed you in this video. The problem was Brett was in a hurry on Sunday night and he neglected to read the labels of two stacked containers of gel medium, accidentally picking the matte gel instead of the gloss version. Everything seemed hunky dory until the next day when he went into his basement, all excited to check out his newly created water on the layout only to notice that he had made foggy, matte waves… Needless to say Brett wasn’t happy and he had to rip it all out and start over. 

Lesson learned: ALWAYS DOUBLE CHECK YOUR MATERIALS!!!

Todd also talked about his “Stool Story” and how we’re going to update his stool back to the old one. Well, actually I guess that’s a downgrade, but it’s back to a better stool, so it’s like an upgrade undo of the upgrade that ended up being a downgrade… That makes sense, right? Well either way, he’ll be comfy again and that’s all we really care about.

Todd also talked about his technique and recipe for matching the Floquil Depot Buff paint called for by George Sellios on the Baxter’s Building Supply kit. We also talked a little bit about how cool it would be if there was a resource available for people looking to mix acrylic craft paints to achieve the colors of the old Floquil paints, so if it exists, we want to see the ENTIRE color chart made into a version to mix craft acrylics… If it doesn’t exist, we all need to work toward this goal. Might be fun if we all try to work together to make a bunch of recipe cards available on our website to use for anyone who wants them! Free of course!

Here is an existing Floquil Color Chart that points you to alternative paint manufacturers if you’re not into mixing acrylics to achieve what you need: Floquil Color Chart

Lastly we talked a little bit about what we’re working on currently and Brett dove into some of the changes that he wants to incorporate into the layout before we go building crazy and lost the opportunity to add storm water drainage systems into the city. If you’ve been in many cities in the East, you see them almost cut into the city, running beneath sidewalks, roads and buildings. Concrete waterways that direct streams and storm water through the city and into drainage areas or streams/bays. So he’ll be busy with that this weekend we’re sure. 

Contest Information: LAST WEEK’S WINNER - MATTHEW HANKINS

This week’s contest: We want to see your most heavily weathered item on your layout, diorama, model, whatever. It can be a heavily weathered or run down, deteriorated object or structure. You can submit a photo via our Facebook page on our pinned post or email it to [email protected]. All entries must be submitted by 11:59:59pm EST on Thursday 8/8/19. One winner will receive a free kit from RailroadKits.com and an HO Scale Customs koozie!

Make sure to visit our site any time for more great craftsman model railroading content: https://hoscalecustoms.com