In earlier posts, I have mentioned that I like to use real glass for the window glazing in my buildings. The more typical approach is to use a clear plastic of some type, either a sheet material that is cut to shape or a hard plastic part that is cut from a sprue, normally found in a plastic building kit. I grew frustrated with all types of plastic glazing for four reasons:
- The surface is very easy to scratch, even from a simple cleaning.
- Clear plastic windows cut from a sprue are not completely transparent.
- Whenever you see a window in the real world, there is almost always some sort of reflection in the glass. Even though your mind normally ignores the reflection, it is still there. Many plastic windows produce no reflection at all, which is not prototypical.
- If you accidentally get adhesive where you don't want it on plastic it normally means that the window is ruined as the adhesive has either etched the surface of the plastic or its removal creates scratches.
My solution to all of the above is to use real glass. For this, you need three things:
- A sheet of real glass.
- A reliable method of cutting the glass.
- A reliable method of gluing the glass to the inside of the window frame.
My source of real glass is eBay and the product is microscope slide covers. NOTE: this is microscope slide COVER glass, not microscope slide glass. When using a microscope, the specimen is placed on the microscope slide and then a piece of slide COVER glass is placed on top of the specimen - I am speaking about the COVER glass. Here is a picture:
These come in various sizes but I prefer those that are 24 mm x 50 mm because these are large enough to cover the entire area of most HO scale windows. I paid $4.88 (Canadian dollars) with free shipping for a package of 100 slide covers. At less than 5 cents per slide, the handful ruined by either clumsiness or the learning curve is not an issue.
Cutting the glass is easy. If you have used the wheel-style of glass cutter, you won't be able to use it for this application as it will simply crush the very thin microscope slide cover glass. What you need is a diamond tip glass cutter which is available from eBay, Amazon or other sources for less than $20 or even less than $10. The alternative, borrowing your wife's engagement ring, is probably not a good idea!
To cut the glass, place it (or the object is fastened to - read on and you will see what I mean) on a very clean rigid surface because you don't want the glass to flex. Then, using a straight edge placed on top of the glass where you want to cut it, lightly run the diamond tip cutter across the glass surface. This will create a very fine scoreline. Finally, snap the glass along the scoreline. A few practice attempts are needed at first. I have found that practice makes "almost" perfect.
My go-to adhesive is the following product which I purchase from Michaels. Canopy glue works just as well. These products dry quickly, stick to practically anything, are permanent, dry clear and are odourless.
For many buildings, I simply glue the entire slide or part of a slide to the inside walls of the building so the entire inside of a window is covered. However, if the walls of the building are fairly deep this would produce an unrealistic effect.
The following step-by-step process allows the glass to be cut and secured very precisely. The windows am using in this example are made by Tichy and are HO scale.
- First, paint the exterior of the window frame the trim colour of the building.
- Carefully clean both sides of the microscope slide cover with your favourite cleaning solution.
- Using a fine tip tool such as a toothpick place very small dots of adhesive at several places around the perimeter of the interior of the window frame.
- Very carefully place the glass on the window frame (I like to do this with the window frame placed on a black surface under good lighting as the glass can be hard to see).
- Wait for the adhesive to dry.
- Using a straight-edge, very gently score the glass along one edge of the window (note my diamond tip glass cutting tool in the above photograph). Snap off the glass by pressing down gently on its loose edge. Repeat for the second edge.
If you find that the glass was cut a little too wide it can be filed down by VERY gently using a fine emery board or extra-fine sandpaper.
Here is a close-up picture of one of these windows installed in a structure.
Safety Comment
I have never cut myself on these slide covers but would be possible to do so - be careful. Also, while I have never experienced broken glass flicking anywhere, eye protection is a good idea.