Pallet knives serve a wide range of uses on our workbenches and that's what we're talking about this week! Todd and Brett dive into the different uses for our pallet knife sets (Todd has a stainless steel set & Brett has a cheap-o plastic set) though both of them use different types of pallet knives. Whether you're using metal or plastic, you can use your pallet knives for shaping scenery, working with detailing and scenery mediums, spreading spackle, and much more! Listen through to the ver...
Oct 04, 2019•17 min•Ep. 165
Hodge Podge: a confused mixture. Official definition here . Have you ever had a workbench disaster? We'll assume that the answer is yes. If you've worked as a scale model builder for any period of time, you have definitely had a disaster at your workbench and we talk about that this week! We also answer some Patron questions in the first part of the episode! Then we dive into our funniest and most disastrous workbench disasters. From shaking paint containers that were open, plaster disasters, in...
Sep 28, 2019•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 164
We dive into some waterside details that everyone can do if you have any water on your layout. Whether it be a river, lake, swamp, bay, ocean, or overflowing sewage pond. Who knows what your layout has?!?! But there is one thing for certain, if you have water, you can make these waterfront/waterside details! Some of the details we cover that you can use for your water scenes include: Ramps instead of steps Pilings Nets Chains Sunken barrels Tires Contest Information Contest Winner: Jeff Fleisher...
Sep 20, 2019•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 163
It's Toolbox Talk time and this week Todd is telling us bout his recent use of the Extreme Power THICK Instant Adhesive. This is a strong adhesive that he's had better luck with compare to other CA glues. From working with metal parts to plastics and other parts, this seems to be a stronger and less frustrating alternative to many hobby CA glues out there. it's available from Hobby Lobby and it seems to set much faster than many of the other CA glues out there. Check it out here: Thick Extreme P...
Sep 20, 2019•10 min•Ep. 162
We’re coming to the Craftsman Courtyard at the Great Scale Model Train Show in Timonium Maryland next month! We talk about coming to the show and a little bit about what we’re going to be doing there including some clinics, and building some stuff right at our table! So if you’re coming to the show be sure to swing by and say hi to us! Here are some of the show links: Craftsman Courtyard FB Page Great Scale Model Train Show site Before we hit a bunch of Patreon questions, we talk about the Patro...
Sep 13, 2019•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 161
Todd talks about making scale newspapers to scatter around your street scenes, structures and dioramas. These are super easy to create and they make a realistic real-city look. This is something that we can all do and the best part is... It's extremely affordable! Are there any other details like this that you've added to your diorama's or layout? Make sure to visit our site any time for more great craftsman model railroading content: https://hoscalecustoms.com...
Sep 12, 2019•8 min•Ep. 160
Fine Scale Freak shirts are available now! Enter code FREESHIP919c4799d at checkout for free shipping until 9/22/2019: https://hoscalecustoms.threadless.com/designs/fine-scale-freak Have you ever wondered if you REALLY need all of the media and mediums that we seem to collect? Now don't get us wrong, it's fun to get new stuff and we are in no way telling anyone that you shouldn't buy new materials and supplies. But sometimes I think we all get wrapped up in this brand, that brand, and "you HAVE ...
Sep 06, 2019•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 159
Excuse the lame and awkward introduction from Brett! This week Todd brings a flashlight to the toolbox talk and discusses how he uses one around his work area in the dark crevices and corners to find parts dropped around the workbench. Here's the scenario... You drop that little window or chimney, or even (gasp) a piece of cut-to-fit acetate. You know it hit the floor but you either have a dark floor or it's like Brett's, on a basement concrete floor. You look for a minute or two, frustrated and...
Sep 05, 2019•9 min•Ep. 158
Dave Yale from Dave’s Model Railway Stuff joins us on the show this week and we’ve been waiting for this interview for quite some time, so we were very excited to talk with him. Since my Dad and myself are very new and interested in the idea of 3D model printing and very unaware of the process this turned into a BIG Q&A session with Dave and fortunately he was extremely patient and willing to answer all of our questions. The 3D model making world has been around for quite some time, but we a...
Aug 30, 2019•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 157
We go over a bunch of awesome topics and questions from our Patrons this week and covered a lot of awesome areas and some new topics. We also cover some of the new benefits our existing and NEW patrons will receive including monthly contests for craftsman kits and model building contests! You can learn more about how to support our show and how to become a Patron here: https://patreon.com/hoscalecustoms We then dive into our weekly topics, this time covering how to add some weathering to storefr...
Aug 23, 2019•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 156
We're talking about how we both use wooden clothespins to hang instructions, reference materials, photos, and really whatever we need to from our workbench this week. Todd has a metal workbench, so he tells us how he easily and quickly glued some small magnets to the back of the clothespins and just pops them onto the metal bar at the top of his work area. Brett has a home-made wood workbench so he just adds a small drop of wood glue (that's literally the only glue he uses as we all know) to glu...
Aug 22, 2019•9 min•Ep. 155
This week we had a very awesome guest on the show! A first for our show of this type, a model railroading hobby shop owner and a hobby shop that LOVE! Todd's been to Mainline Hobby Supply a bunch the past couple years and Brett has made a few of these trips down to the shop with him. Every time we visit Mainline Hobby Supply we end up spending wayyyy too much time there and our wives definitely end up finding ways to pass the time while we wander around the endless detail parts, scenery parts, a...
Aug 16, 2019•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 154
Brett talks about using a lighter (can be replaced with other heat sources like heat gun) to heat up the plastic body of the Ford pickup truck that he's working on right now. This is a simple way to add some body dents to vehicle models and can certainly be used on all scales for adding dents, dings, and gouges to models! Please take extreme caution and wear all proper protection and work in a well ventilated area if you attempt this. Safety is the most important issue when working with heat. Th...
Aug 15, 2019•10 min•Ep. 153
It's nearing the end of summer here in our world and we take some time in this episode to talk about what we did this Summer both on the layout, with our projects and what we did that wasn't model building or sitting around the layout. That's right, we talk a little bit about what we did this fine Summer that didn't deal with building models and trains. We also go a little into the importance of getting away from the workbench or layout and doing something else either by yourself, with your frie...
Aug 09, 2019•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 152
This week we have TWO tips for you and we let Todd run with his toolbox tip first. Todd goes into the importance of having a spare roll of paper towels stored around the workbench but placed in a location that doesn't get in the way. Now Todd isn't a Bounty or Brawny man, but even when he's using the discount or store-brand, there are a multitude of uses of a couple rolls of paper towels for around the workbench or work area. Here's the paper towel holder tutorial from our listener Dan Pugatch, ...
Aug 09, 2019•11 min•Ep. 151
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… W...
Aug 02, 2019•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 150
Have you ever used a wire brush to distress or add wood grain to a piece of lumber on your builds? If you started out using the old-school wire brushes that look like toothbrushes (and that Brett apparently thinks really is a toothbrush), then you know the frustration with fraying and bent wire bristles. Well, Todd talks this week about the ease of distressing with the use of a file card instead of the typical wire brushes we've always used. Todd even got Brett one of these to replace his own wi...
Aug 02, 2019•7 min•Ep. 149
This week we jump into a wide range of topics including some VERY good questions from our Patrons including topics such as: Use of airbrushes Cleaning models and layout without breaking Here's a link to the Micro Shop Vac nozzle set Brett was talking about Our views on model building now that we're eyeball deep into these old-school builds Color selection and painting techniques for Brick Brett also goes into some detail on the work he's in the middle of on the far left end of the layout with th...
Jul 26, 2019•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 148
We're talking junk this week on the Model Building Toolbox Talk! Here's a simple way to add some seaside, waterside, pond, river alleyway, "wherever-way" junk to your model railroad and diorama scenes. The best part about this tip is that if you've built a kit or two, you definitely have some scrap scale lumber laying around. So you're halfway there just hoarding these extra scrap lumber pieces. It's this easy, are you ready? Take your scrap scale lumber and break it, snap it, weather it, splint...
Jul 26, 2019•10 min•Ep. 147
This week we were pumped to have Dave Meek & Jake Johnson from Crescent Creek Models to tell us all about the new Walt Disney's Carolwood Barn O Scale kit that they've just released. As you both know from their previous appearances on our show, both Jake & Dave have impressive modeling backgrounds and have built a career around their art and craftsmanship. So it is only fitting that they've turned to manufacturing some kits for the model railroading and craftsman model building communiti...
Jul 19, 2019•1 hr 40 min•Ep. 146
I was looking around for a free resource to uncover old ads and print samples of the time period in which my dad and I model, and I discovered the world of archived newspapers in Google! If you head over to books.google.com , you'll not only be able to find some really current books to read, but you'll be able to search through the archives of old newspapers and magazines that they've worked to archive for your research purposes! We think this is such a cool way to be able to see the different t...
Jul 19, 2019•7 min•Ep. 145
Are you excited? Because this episode we get to talk to Doug Foscale of FOS Scale models about his annual release of his limited run kit. And this year's limited run is pretty spectacular! Rust Rock Falls is the 2019 limited release HO Scale kit from FOS Scale models and its only available for a short time, because once he sells 200 of them, they'll be "sold out" and your only chance of getting one will be on eBay for like double the price. Enough of trying to excite you about it, because Doug's...
Jul 12, 2019•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 144
We were fortunate enough to have Doug Foscale of FOS Scale Models on this week's mid-week model building toolbox talk to tell us about how we can all use taskboard to create streets, sidewalks, walkways, docks and more. We've already know about the use of taskboard and actually have started to use it within out city for sidewalks and such, but Doug took the idea and added to it on this episode by giving us some ideas on how we can add more detail by adding simple real-life wear and tear to the t...
Jul 11, 2019•12 min•Ep. 143
This week we were very excited to bring Lance Mindheim onto the show! We have had many listeners request us to get Lance on and we finally were able to schedule some time to get together with him and chat modeling with him. Lance provides a lot of great information on his blog at LanceMindheim.com and from his books over at his bookstore (links are on his site for all books). He also has another great site for his business site over at ShelfLayouts.com , so go over there too and check out more o...
Jul 05, 2019•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 142
This week for our mid-week episode we talk about the use of the American Flag (and other international flags) in your models and model railroads. There is also an importance to make sure you're using the right American Flag for the era that you're modeling! For more on the different versions of the flag that our nation has used you can check out this site on the American Flag historical timeline . There's some really wildly different versions from the 50 star version we're used to today! For us ...
Jul 04, 2019•16 min•Ep. 141
Last weekend was a VERY special weekend for us and a lot of other great modelers that we met. We got to tour George Sellios' Franklin & South Manchester layout and meet & talk with George! On-top of that, we also got the chance to visit Doug Foscale and hang out with him for a while on Friday afternoon. Doug showed us his shop where all the work behind the FOS Scale Models kits are created and it was a really cool stop that just added even more to the whole experience we had all weekend....
Jun 28, 2019•1 hr 42 min•Ep. 140
Our recent visit to see George Sellios' Franklin & South Manchester brought a TON and I mean a TON of ideas into my sights that I want to attempt on our own layout. Now, I am realistic and I know that it will never look like what we saw this weekend and any attempt to do so will either end up looking like a blatant copy OR will never be what his layout is. But what I can do is take his techniques and apply them to our own layout in our own way to make our personal layout better. So my first ...
Jun 28, 2019•7 min•Ep. 139
We're VERY excited to finally see the Franklin & South Manchester layout and we discuss how much it means to us to be able to get to see this layout for the first time. This is such an iconic layout and myself and Todd have drawn so much inspiration from it, and to be able to finally see it, it's going to be AWESOME! We're also very excited to meet up with some of our listeners up in Massachusetts and look forward to the stories and company we'll share this weekend. Also we get into a little...
Jun 21, 2019•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 138
Mid-week we're talking about how we save parts from other kits we build and how the parts we save are better off when they're organized in a way that we can easily find them later, when we actually need them. It's so easy to save things that we'll "use for later" but the hard part is actually remembering you have them for that later time when you intended to use them. We're sure this is a problem that many of us have run into into as modelers and part-time hoarders, so this week's mid-week episo...
Jun 20, 2019•11 min•Ep. 137
This is the last episode of the Bench Time Podcast of the Spring of 2019, because next week will be the first day of SUMMER! We dive into a very wide range of topics on this week's show and cover a few of our Patron questions as well. One of the questions was so good and we knew was FULL of content to talk about that we picked it as the main topic for this week's episode! Quick housekeeping points: If you enjoy our content and want access to be able to get your questions/topics on the show, you ...
Jun 15, 2019•1 hr 49 min•Ep. 136
