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Damage-Free Decorating for Wooden Train Layouts

February 5, 2013 By Jessica Petersen 8 Comments

In my post about our Valentine’s Day in Vicarstown train layout yesterday, I promised I’d share my secret way to stick things to our wooden trains and buildings without worrying about ruining them.

Well, it’s not my secret, really. My husband showed me how to do it.

Originally, he came up with this solution back when we had only a small train set, almost two years ago.  We wanted to use blocks as bridge supports, but every time the Little Engineer — who was the Really Tiny Engineer at the time — bumped the tracks, the blocks would all fall down.  We wanted to keep our blocks nice for playing with in other ways, but we also wanted them to stay put.

Damage-free Decorating for Wooden Train Layouts from Play Trains!

This post was originally published on February 5th, 2013, when the Little Engineer was three years old. It contains links to Amazon.com. If you click on one, we will receive a small commission — at no additional cost to you — on anything you buy at Amazon for a certain length of time afterwards. Read our disclosure policy for more details.

 

So my husband started securing the blocks to the track and each other with small loops of No Residue Painter’s Duct Tape.  This is an absolutely brilliant product.  It’s stronger, thicker, and smoother than blue painter’s tape, and I feel it’s easier to remove as well.  And best of all, it really doesn’t leave any residue.  Since those early train layouts, we’ve used it in several more practical applications with our trains, and now to decorate the layout for Valentine’s Day.

The downside is you pay for what you get.  It’s not cheap.  But if you’re careful to use as small of pieces as you can, you can make it last. I cut tiny squares of it, stuck the stickers to the non-stick side of the duct tape, and then stuck the whole thing to the station.

See, easy to remove, no residue! And I was able to stick the tape and the sticker right back on.

Filed Under: Train Obsessed, Train Set Accessories, Train Tips & Tricks, Wooden Train Play Tagged With: decorating, train set scenery, Valentine's Day, wooden track layouts, wooden trains

« Painting with Trains on Canvas
Wooden Luke from Blue Mountain Mystery »

Comments

  1. Trisha @ Inspiration Laboratories says

    February 5, 2013 at 1:27 pm

    This is a great idea. It makes playing with trains even more special. I like the stacking block trick, too!

    Reply
    • Jessica says

      February 5, 2013 at 10:14 pm

      The one thing with the stacking the blocks trick is that the unit blocks aren’t the same unit as the supports for most of the train sets, so it’s always a little off. We’ve had better luck with Legos…but that’s another post. 🙂

      Reply
  2. Lorie says

    February 6, 2013 at 12:54 am

    What a great idea – we’ll use if for sure!

    Reply
    • Jessica says

      February 9, 2013 at 9:10 am

      Great!

      Reply
  3. Emma says

    February 7, 2013 at 5:36 am

    Cute idea!

    Reply
    • Jessica says

      February 9, 2013 at 9:10 am

      Thanks!

      Reply
  4. Carrie says

    February 15, 2013 at 5:27 pm

    What a great idea! We will have to check out that tape. Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday!

    Reply
    • Jessica says

      February 16, 2013 at 12:49 am

      It’s great stuff. 🙂

      Reply

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Jessica Petersen, author of Old Tracks, New Tricks
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