The Train Fanatic!

Dec 20th Work Session & New Friends in Model Railroading

2011-12-21T18:57:00.002-05:00

Well, it's been almost a month since I updated the blog, mainly because of travel and lots of work happenings. Now, with our kids coming home for the holidays, it may even become more challenging to do some updating, so I thought I'd share a brief progress report and publicly thank some wonderfully selfless people.

Last Saturday, I had a work session with veteran modeler Michael Duggan, as well as new Model Railroader and co-worker Tim Lynch and a new friend in the hobby, Wayne Dennis. All three had great dedication and patience with me as we did some basic scenery work and installed five challenging Blue Point Turnout Controllers under the benchwork. If I had to do it all over, I'd still use these turnout controllers, but I'd have done a more thorough job of understanding how they get installed AND also not used a full plywood sheet for my sub-base; cleats & risers on the next layout!

Here's just a few photos of us hamming it up for the camera, toward the end of the session. Big progress was made & it was really fun for all involved (at least I HOPE it was fun - we all lingered around, chit-chatting and they left with smiles). I am probably going to work solo thru Christmas, then off on more work travel; hope to have another work session after the New Year begins. And, camera shy as always, my Lovely did an amazing job feeding us and when she wasn't doing eight other things in preps for Christmas, she came down, started doing some railroad-themed decorating in the basement and if that wasn't enough, did a little painting on the backdrop (pixes coming shortly)! I LOVE THIS WOMAN!

Again, a big thanks to "DA KREW" for bringing the layout that much closer to operating!

Turkey Day Progress

2011-11-24T21:27:00.002-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends, family, & blog followers! Hope you're enjoying this holiday weekend if you're in the states, or 'sympathy celebrating' if you're out of the country... my favorite holiday!

While still suffering from a Turkey-induced semi-conscious state, I went down to peek at my layout and was annoyed at the glaring flat pink expanse that will eventually become a pulwood yard for Westvaco (the Prototype/Inspiration is in No. Doswell, VA). So, seeing the container full of sifted baseball mound dirt, I decided to mix up a batch of brown-earth colored paint and "just do it!" as they say, coating the ground and sifting some find dirt over it. After letting it dry for about 15 minutes, I decided to spray with the 91% isopropyl alcohol and then drizzle on a good dose of diluted white (Elmers) glue all over it. Here's the results; the building & pulpwood pile (from Walthers) was placed in for the photo and quickly removed before the glue and dirt dried around them.

Click on photo to enlarge.

Click to Enlarge

I hope to get more done over the weekend, as I'll be on the road for work until the 17th, when I hope to have another work session with friends.

Modeling a prototype freight car for my RF&P layout

2011-11-05T18:54:00.000-04:00

I was looking through prototype photos of RF&P Rolling stock, to find one that would help me accurately model Accurail's recent kit, #5411, the 50' Db. Plug Dr. Boxcar, RF&P #2546.

It is a satisfactory kit, but (not surprisingly), it looks like they took the paint scheme for one type of car & applied it to another. The model has offset double doors and roof walks, whereas the prototype cars of that number series has doors were more centered on the sides and no roof walks. Below is pix of one that's supposedly close to the series (photographer, location, and date unknown).

So, looking for a more accurate prototype, I found the below pix (photographer, date, & location unknown) of #1202, which looks closer to what Accurail has provided. One big diff is the type of car - 1202 isn't plug door and the doors are a different style (what, I don't know - can anyone tell me?). Still, I've decided to model this series, and am looking for more information on it or one of its sister cars. Can anyone tell me when they were purchased and when no longer used by the railroad? How many & what series (i.e. 1201-????)? What revenue service were they used in, since they were DF/Cushion? Anyone have other pixes of this or another in the series?

So far, all I've done was remove the roof walk and the bottom stirrups. I glued the posts from the roofwalks into the holes, to start filling in.

Still need to remove the ladders on the sides (may leave the brakewheel and the end ladder high, as the RF&P did this on occasion). I need to get some number decals, some other doors (anyone have a good source for aftermarket, HO-scale boxcar doors?), ladders, and stirrups. Lots to do, but I'll try to stay focused on this project and see to completion.

Making a Mountain Out of a Molehill... well cardboard, really!

2011-09-02T22:55:00.000-04:00

That's right, even though the real location doesn't have mountains, and barely has hills west of it, we are putting a mountain up... whether it stays up, that's another story. We're trying Dave Frary's method of using a cardboard strip lattice, to make a lightweight mountain frame. Pixes below.

The original objective, was to have a mountain fill up a big, open space at the back of the layout. The 'mountain' would somewhat flat plateau, to allow my wife to build and put n-scale structures up on the mountain. That didn't seem to work out very well. One problem, is that the backdrop is coved and I think that makes it sit funny. I think this will be redone, but the Boss needs to see it in person, before I do anything else. More to follow.

Op Test (of sorts)!

2011-08-31T20:37:00.001-04:00

Well, I hit a major milestone tonight. All the wiring on the layout is done. All or most all pieces of track and switches have feeers connected to the bus on both loops. After getting them connected an a quick cleaning of the track (where I was soldering leads), I fired up each & every loco and ran them on the layout. They worked with a drag of 5-6 cars each. Then, getting brave (because I was operating solo), I ran two trains, both on Track #2 & #3 of the RF&P loop. They also ran well, for about five minutes. So, getting really 'crazy' I decided that I'd run three trains, one on the C&O Single Track & the two on the RF&P double track. Here's a quick (2 minute clip):

While it's a basic video (and cheesy) using my Droid, I post this link now, for your viewing pleasure. This was awesome! At least for a newbie like me. Now I need to start cleaning up, finishing track ties and and getting ready to develop an operating scheme, so I can actually start operating the layout with several people. I have Throttles for four operators (one is the main controller and can handle two trains). The goal is 3-4 (max) operators, or three on the trains, with one as a dispatcher of some sorts. I have Car Cards & Waybills ready to go, but I've never set up operations. And, I would like to set up one or two pairs of locos, to see how that would work as well. Plenty to do, like installing bluepoint turnout controllers for staging track switches, but this was a major step in the right direction!

Getting Structured (Sort of)!

2011-08-15T07:45:00.000-04:00

With my work travel and work schedule, I have had little time or energy to get down to the basement and do work on the layout, or anything relating to it. The biggest time spent downstairs a couple of weeks ago, was to take the pile of MR and RMC mags down to the shelf, and grab a Scotty Mason DVD for as a sleep aid, er I mean some late night entertainment (just kidding Scott). And, I'm not sure if it was a case of the summer blahs, or what, but I didn't have the motivation to even pick up a tool or brush and work on anything; it was a struggle most days to even think about installing a Caboose Industries Ground Throw, let alone do it. It seems the "Train Fanatic" wasn't so fanatical. That's never happened to me before (at least not that I can recall), where I didn't watch a DVD, or want to get downstairs and model.

Thankfully, it didn't last too long, and I did get downstairs and install a G/T or six, then started weathering freight cars, and recently worked on my Milford Produce Supply (M.P.S.). Here's some pixes of my latest attempts at quality work. Note: Pixes were all taken with my 5MP Camera in my Droid2 - the wife has the Lumix, with the Leica lens on vacation out West.

An Atlas(?) Coal Hopper - I followed Scott's weathering technique: Dull Coat, A&I all over, then Rust-All; looks better in person.

Same methodology, on an old Athearn hopper, except this one is used in Ballast Service on my layout. I added the ACI, yellow dot, and Consolidated Stencil decals. I tried to use a prototype photo of a similar car.

Another in-progress car, with some grafitti added, as we ll as different consolidated stencils.

Milford Produce - out-building. Added some signs, and started weathering using Bragdon's Wx Powders. It is showing darker than actually is, in this photo.

New signage I created to make it my structure - after a request from a friend, I will explain how I did this in a later posting.

Mock-up of the three parts to the building: Main, connector (missing corrugated siding), and out-building.

Another view of the mock-up. It is slightly different than what the mfr's instructions suggest, to suit the space it will fit in.

The goal is to finish this structure and have it ready for the NNGC (Sept 8-10 in Hickory, NC), to show, possibly add lighting (with the help of MicroLumina - http://www.microlumina.com/) and get critqued, by some friends in the hobby. I also hope this will be the first of several posts in this near future; however, as you probably know, I have said/written that before. Let's hope I can break the streak.

Seattle Railfan Pictures

2011-07-08T09:02:00.002-04:00

Whew! Took me long enough to get settled back, after a three week trip out to Seattle, which followed only 10 days home and two weeks out there. I know have another two weeks before I head back out again, so I figured I'd post a few of my fave pix that I took while wandering around the Seattle area railfanning. Hope you enjoy. Click on the pictures, for a larger view.

Love the patchwork on this one.

This one had a replacement door as well. So, a little heritage poking thru.

This is just a few. As I clean up some of the plethora of pixes I took, I'll try to post some more.

On the Road Again (and Still!)

2011-06-15T22:50:00.000-04:00

Well, it's been another while since posting, but I have a bit of an excuse - no, really! I've been traveling for work, out West (specifically Seattle, WA). Last Saturday, I went out sightseeing AND railfanning. I took loads & loads of piccies, along with a few videos. Unfortunately, most of the vids didn't come out as good a quality as I'd have liked, but one from downtown wasn't bad, so here it is! Hope you enjoy it. I'll post some pictures here shortly, to show how awesome and chock-a-block full of trains Seattle is.

Progress on the Layout!

2011-05-01T21:10:00.000-04:00

I have been lax in writing much of anything about my goings-on down in the "Man Cave". Life has once again kept me pretty busy. However, we did manage to hold a work session two Saturdays past. WE being the operative word (me: the COO, Chief Procurment Officer & Chief Engineer, Daylene: CEO & CFO as well as lead painter; Bob Sprague: Senior Architect, Rail planner, & Chief Consultant; and Special Guest Star Michael "Paw of A Bear" Duggan, mechanical worker and artistic consultant/painter).

From L-R: Daylene, Michael, and Bob

We worked on some basic railroad tie installs, two Blue Point Turnout Controller installs, and Michael was key in getting my Lovely down to start painting on the backdrop. So far, two iterations into it, and it keeps getting better & better.

Trying to prove actual work is getting done - as if the amazing backdrop isn't enough! ;o)

Early last week, Daylene worked on the backdrop again, as she felt she could "do better".

Daylene is still insisting she can 'do better' and is planning on redoing the trees and include some depth, such as the rolling hills "towards the back", as in prototype photos taken recently.

Also recently, I started on installing some valences, to help 'focus' the lighting I put up on the layout and make it easier for pixes... and, I have cleared the "west" side of the layout, to allow for an install of a small backdrop, to conceal the staging tracks. I'll try to be more diligent on updating.

Doswell Tower Takes Shape (and Scale!)

2011-03-10T20:55:00.003-05:00

Quite a while ago (back when I had only pink foam & plywood), I made a feeble attempt at creating a mock-up of the Doswell Switch Tower (HN Cabin), using a cutout from an article I received, gluded to a piece of used photocard. For whatever reason, this first attempt to make a scale mock-up was essentially an epic failure, but it was better than a folded-up index card with "HN Cabin" written on it.

HN Cabin Mock-up, during early construction of Doswell Junction.

Not to be put off, I found that my friend and talented modeler, Bernie Kempinski, owner of Alkem Scale Models (http://www.alkemscalemodels.com/ and see the link to his MR Layout Blog, on my list of favorite blogs, to right of this page), has a kit for a standard C&O Style Cabin (aka Tower). I asked him if he could modify the kit slightly, to meet the differences of the existing HN Cabin (shown below, earlier this year)

Doswell (HN) Cabin, at Doswell Junction, 08JAN11

So, Bernie did the deed, and made quite a bit of progress on it. Here's where it is in the assembly process:

HN Cabin next to Bernie's kit Pilot Model

Closeup of HN Cabin Kit

So, now I have to complete it, and get it on the layout, for an in-progress shot. Needless to say, I'm pretty psyched and will post photos when I do so.

After this is done, I would like to get a scaled version of the Doswell Station (shown in my page header with the tower & below) custom built; the reason I say "get it built" is because my crossing is a stock Atlas Crossing, so the angle is slightly off and the inset of where the station would go is smaller, so I will have to work with a custom structure builder to scratchbuild this so it will a) Fit & b) look like it belongs.. more to follow on that epic saga, when I start in on it.

Doswell Station, now Buckingham Branch Railroad HQ, Sep 2007.
Note HN Cabin in the back. Behind the station, the old C&O Piedmont Subdivision crosses over the old RF&P's Double Track mainline.

A couple of in-progress photos.

2011-02-21T20:59:00.000-05:00

Rather than put a lot of blather, here's some photos from my progress over the weekend...

Penned in some ideas for my gravel plant.

The mess that's my layout, with new lighting in each corner.

More to follow. Still much to do, but a little progress is better than no progress. I am looking for some help with my removable bridge/duckunder, regarding alignment, as well as roughing in the scenery for scenery breaks. If anyone is up for a visit, to assist, please let me know.

A Holiday, A New Book and a Wing & a Prayer

2011-02-18T18:28:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been quite a while since I was on here. I make no excuses of "because I was too busy workin' on my layout"! :o) Life, in general, has seen fit to throw some curve balls and keep me occupied for a good portion of the time, since the Christmas/New Year's break. However, Model Railroading and Trains has never been far from my thoughts.

I am hoping to use this President's Day Weekend to spend some time down in the man cave, as well as some reading... and, if I'm lucky, Bob Sprague may join me for a little work on some track problems (shrink & swell has caused some misalignments and kinks to form), install some ground throws, and plot out the roads, scenery, etc. I am hoping to take some new photos of the layout, so commence your hoping, crossing of fingers, and drooling if you'd care to check back again... in a day or three.

On a good note, I just received my copy of Virginia Railroads, Volume 1: Railroading in the Old Dominion, authored by veteran RF&PRR Employee William E. Griffin, Jr. and Thomas W. Dixon, Jr. It's a first in a series of books about Railroads in Virginia and from my first cursory look-through, it's a good 'un! It covers several aspects of the L&N, N&W, C&O, B&O, RF&P, PRR, SAL, ACL, SR, Virginian, Atlantic & Danville, and Clinchfield, from the unique perspective of how they operated in the Old Dominion state. It's put out by TLC Publishing, Inc. for $29.95; I got my copy for a bit less through Amazon.com (link is to the left side, hopefully).

Hope this may help some of you VA "Old Dominion" Modelers and Railfans.

Happy New Year! And, A New Door!

2011-01-01T18:52:00.001-05:00

Well, 2010 is in the books, and 2011 starts out with warmer weather than we've had the entire month of December. Even though it's been cold, I haven't spent nearly as much time in the layout room, or at the work bench as I'd have liked. I am making a resolution to spend more time on TRAINS! Okay, enough of that.

Today, a good friend (Terrell H) and I worked on finishing a door and small segment of wall that we've started. It includes a small exhaust fan above the door, to keep the 'man cave' and our food storage area cooler and less stuffy. The new construction looks great, is very functional (we now have a Finished Basement and unfinished store room, versus a unfinished basement), and is just a little caulk and paint shy of being 100% done. A big thanks to Terrell and his lovely wife for loaning him out. A great way to start out the New Year.

In-between the work on the door, I've been busy on a few things. One is cleaning off my work bench (it's been about a YEAR!)

It was nice to see the table top again, as it was so 'polluted' with construction stuff, scenery materials, etc. that I decided to get a table out and work out in the finished portion of the basement (you've seen pixes in previous posts of my table in front of the boob tube). Once I did this, I found an unfinished structure kit, Plewak's Provisions, by BEST Trains, and renamed it to Day Dreams (for my wife Daylene). It called to me, so I started working on that again.

I'm working on the roofs (finally) and will post more pixes as I progress. I also started a Proto 2000 fast-kit, of a 53' flat car (with Generator Loads), but haven't taken pixes of it. Finally, I've been working on the layout - probably not in a smart sequence of tasks, but oh well! I put up all my fascia, Car Card boxes, and throttle plug-ins and pockets. I also labeled all the pockets and filled-out Car Cards for all my rolling stock (minus the new flat car).

Just prior to adding the Car Card boxes & throttle 'junque'.

So, progress, but not the most progress I had hoped for. Oh well, it's a hobby, and I'll get further along, now that the door is in place AND the controllers are up and working... as always, more to follow.

Photo - Finally

2010-12-23T15:00:00.000-05:00

Here's a photo of where I'm at as of last week. I've done some more since then, but I wanted to get a photo up, for those who don't check the Railroad-Lines Forum.

More to follow...

Feeling Pretty WIRED!

2010-12-16T23:24:00.000-05:00

A short post to say that I'm still working on the layout and while the track is 99.99% down (only the Engine terminal to do and that won't get done until I paint the fueling station base), I've got lots and LOTS of WIRING to do. There's plenty of 22Ga feeders that need to be cut, tips tinned, installed on the rails, and finally connected to the bus wires (14Ga). It's color coded, so it's not difficult, but working under the layout is slow, hot, and (sometimes painful) soldering and IDC installation work. While the title of this post may say one thing I'm more TIRED than wired. Add to that the occasional glitch where locos or an entire 'loop' of track doesn't want to work, and you add the tracing and troubleshooting to the mix.

I promised many times to post pixes, and have been lax at bringing the camera down to the basement. No mas - it waits for me to return from having my stitches out from my 2nd foot surgery, tomorrow. So, stand by to be - unimpressed. :o) It still looks pretty blank, but after Christmas, it will really start to perk up, as the wife wants to paint that backdrop (at least a portion of it), and I have to get two scenes done by February 1, 2011 for a possible presentation.

Black Friday - and the Holiday Model Train Show!

2010-11-26T08:49:00.000-05:00

Happy(??) Black Friday everyone! This is the day, where everyone loses their minds, and reverts to their basic, primeval state and fights over the latest gizmos, gadgets and fads, from 4am this morning thru the early evening. Thankfully, I am avoiding that, by coming in to work today, as well as shopping for my family's gifts online!

Yesterday was another great feast prepared by my lovely wife, with all the trimmings, and she did not disappoint! After a wonderful early dinner with my folks, I went down to the layout, to lay in the last of the staging for the C&O 'loop'. Now, it's only two paper mill siding tracks and two engine service terminal siding tracks, and then I'm done. There may be some rework, in a spot or two, but I hope it will be easy fixes, to get rid of some dips, or rough spots, where derailments are popping up. I also got about 4 pair of feeder wires connected to the RF&P bus. Stuff still runs, but I had a weird hiccup when a car's wheelset straddled the insulated gaps between loops. At least I think that's what caused me to stay down hard. I will have to keep looking at what's causing that.

After about 90 minutes on the layout, I was glad to take the ladies to see the latest Harry Potter Flick - worth seeing in the theater, if you're on the fence about it. Dark, ominous and so entertaining.

That's about it for now. Work, then off to help ScottyMason.com at Howard Zane's Winter Holiday Model Train Show, at the Turf Valley Resort, in Ellicott City, MD. Looking forward to some time with a good friend, as well as seeing what's out there. Have a great weekend and we'll be posting pixes soon (yeah, I know I keep promising, but the lighting issues need to be resolved, so I can get my photos to pass muster).

CSS 2010 IS IN THE BOOKS, MAKE WAY FOR CSC 2011!

2010-11-20T12:18:00.004-05:00

Well, the wife, my daughter and I had a great time working as volunteers at the fourth (and unforunately final) Craftsman Structure Show (http://www.css2010.com/). I have posted our pixes at

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2093895&id=1267063737&l=b51f82179a , so you can see them (It's a public album). We all learned a lot, had a great time doing little things here & there for vendors, clinicians, and show attendees, while working with the other volunteers. We couldn't have had more fun - even Ida started her own structure, while ably working/running the registration table - awesome for a not-quite 15-year old! The contest room was once again full of amazing dioramas, structures, and photos, the vendor room was filled to capacity, and all the tips, techniques, and methods for making your structures and layouts better, were passed along by amazing clinicians! It was great to see old friends, make new ones, and get to know more about this amazing aspect of the hobby.

Ida, me, and Daylene at the registration table.

Day's new steam loco, in front of the backdrop she learned how to paint!

One of recent Hall-of-Fame Inductee, Ken Hamilton's amazing dioramas

Regarding the CSS show's unfortunate demise, it seems there were some creative differences between the founders, so Jimmy Deignan & Doug Foscale are heading off in their own direction. Scott Mason (http://www.scottymason.com/) and several new sponsors will be continuing the tradition of a high-quality Craftsman Structure & Scenery show, holding the new and improved Craftsman Structure Conference 2011 at the Holiday Inn Resort & Conference Center, in Mansfield, MA on November 2nd through the 5th, 2011. Details & website to follow. We hope to be attending and even volunteering again, next year.

In the meant time, I'm back to working on the layout and have the last of the switches and track I need to finish my trackwork and finish up the wiring. Pixes forthcoming. Also, I'll be helping Scott at his tables at the new, Winter Holiday Model Train Show, the weekend right after Thanksgiving, 27 and 28 November, at the Turf Valley Resort, Ellicott City, MD. Check out http://www.tvmts.com/ for details! Have a great "Turkey Day" everyone!

Timonium, Anyone? Check out the Great Scale Model Train Show!

2010-10-29T22:26:00.005-04:00

Sorry for the long pause on my postings here - I've been focused on a lot for my job and my recent calling as an Assistant Scoutmaster for our church's BSA Troop, with only small bits of time for my layout, with not a lot of pictures taken in the interim. I've been reading Brian Solomon's great book on early EMD Geeps (see link and pix on the side - I got mine used but excellent condition for under $2+ shipping, so don't be discouraged by the prices listed! Check back often), on my train rides in and out of DC; also decaling and dullcoting several freight cars, in preps for weathering, and laid track with Bob Sprague on the layout (in two sessions, we got quite a bit done & we're almost finished with trackwork - about six more pieces of Atlas Code 83 flextrack and one curved turnout to procure). Hence my desire to go to Howard Zane's Great Scale Model Train Show, held about four times a year, at the Maryland Fairgrounds in Timonium. It's a pretty big show, with several friends that are Model Railroad companies, like ScottyMason.com, Railroadkits.com, BEST Trains, Marty McGuirk (signing and selling his two Books on N-scale modeling and Engine Terminals), and many others. As well, a lot of MRRForum friends and lunch buddies will either be selling stuff, buying stuff, or just wanting to see what's out there will be in attendance. Looking forward to the gathering of all these fun, friendly and talented folks. So, if you get a chance, head on up there & look forward to seeing you there - pixes to follow, I promise!

Making A Scene - with Ground Goop, that is!

2010-09-06T20:30:00.001-04:00

Today, Bob Sprague came over to help with several things to get my layout a little less pink and more scenic. First thing we did was start making trees using Sedum plants (also known as Stonecrop), and some very neat products from Noch... leaf foliage. Here's a few pixes of what we were doing:

Normally, you remove the dried out buds, but we experimented and left some on, to see the results.

So far, Sedum painted a brown-grey and left to dry.

Day took over the tree making and did some experimenting with both the Noch products Bob brought as well as some the fine flock we had on hand. Some neat results.

In the mean time, Bob & I were on the layout - Bob doing some amazing trackwork, while I was carving pink insulation foam and getting some Ground Goop on the layout, to say I've got some scenery.

Poor Bob getting an earful from me about how much I like Ground Goop.

Here's a later photo, showing added scenic materials, such as sifted dirt, fine flock, some Flock & Turf, tea leaves, some tallus, and some sedum "trunks" as dead fall.

Lookin' good so far... a neat little treat, to change my pink and plywood Railroad into a scenicked little world. To celebrate, I ran a train for my Dad, who's 83 and has a challenge dealing with stairs, and made a big sacrifice going up and down stairs to see our handywork (Thanks much Dad!).

A view of a 40' Athearn Modernized Boxcar, decaled and weathered by me,
based on a Prototype Photo.

Another view of the Chessie Boxcar I recently finished weathering and decaling.

Life-Like Proto 2000 U30B Loco, ACL #976, recently out of the box and grumbling along the rails.

More to come, as I finally get closer to done with track and move on to detailing the layout. Stay tuned!

Maintenance of Way Shed by Fos Scale Models

2010-08-29T20:28:00.001-04:00

Had a little time to get working on one of the four Fos Scale Models (http://www.foslimited.com/) kits I've got in progress. The little MoW Shed is just about done. Here's some photos:

Front view.

I think it needs a little more work, such as some more subtle weathering, and I have ordered some "little people" (aka Woodland Scenics figure sets), and I should be able to add a figure or two, along with a ladder to the side of the dock. Same goes for the Elanor's/Daisy's Diner kit. And, I'd like to either get these ready for layout placement or on a dio. Possibly this MoW will go on a Mini-Mo Module for the Craftsman Structure Show.
I also was fortunate enough to have a little chat with Ryan Andersen, host of the Model Railcast Show (http://www.modelrailcast.com/) and that's out now as #119. Hope you'll listen to it and give Ryan some feedback.
Still trying to recover our basement from the flood and get to the layout... that should be this week and weekend (long live Holiday weekends!). Hope to post some progress shots of that.

Ice House update

2010-08-15T14:53:00.000-04:00

While I'm no Michelangelo, or other famous artisan, I am getting pretty pleased with my slow, but steady improvements in building craftsman structures. Here's a couple of photos of one of them that I've been slowly building, the Fos Scale Structures' Palmer Ice House. I got it assembled and working on the roof, trim work, and final weathering.

Weighing down the roof...

Front view (no doors installed yet), showing front "billboard" and extra signage.

Tried to do a "painted on" billboard advertisement - it seems to have shrunk a little.

Another corner view - This time from the office.

Hope to get this done by the time the Missus & youngest come back from their almost month-long trip to Utah & Idaho. Then, I'd like to finish the other two small kits I'm working on more seriously, and create either a diorama that I can bring to the Craftsman Structure Show, OR get them set for placement on the layout. I haven't attempted "real" scenery, except for once and I need some serious help, learning how to compose a decent scene. New challenges, new opportunity to grow in the "World's Greatest Hobby"! More to follow.

The Little Things

2010-07-31T16:58:00.001-04:00

I use that title for this installment, because of two things: 1) I have been laid up with this bum foot, but working on the little things and 2) my family took my middle daughter out to the University of Utah, to get all ready to start in August and I miss the "little things" such as her piano playing when she's waiting for her sister to get ready for a trip to the mall, or when she comes home tired and frustrated from school; also, her "make good choices" slogan being repeated throughout the house. It's been a rough 2010, with our son leaving for two years in early January and now Sissy, and I'm slowly coming out of it.
In the past week or so, I've been trying to get stuff done on the layout as well as with some of the "little things". In this case, it was my Fos Scale Structures FK#8 - the Luncheonette. Pixes are below.

Front view - been adding weathering and signs on the roof.

Rear View of the Luncheonette - added some vents.

I have also been slowly getting another kit done, Fos Scale Structures' Crafty - Palmer Ice. This one has been while I'm sitting on the couch with my foot up... slow progress, but it's a nice start.

Palmer Ice

Finally, I've been working on two other Fos Scale kits, so it's been getting those boxes/bags off the shelf and their contents started to look like what they were intended.

Two other kits are started - the MoW Shed and Elanor's Diner (now known as Daisy's Doswell Diner).

I have been doing this mainly to try techniques from the Fos Scale Structures DVD, from the Scotty Mason.com DVDs, and gain some experience, for the larger kits I still have on the shelf. And I am trying to remember, it's the little things that become big things... like a scenicked layout, with a whole bunch of structures; hopefully, more progress throughout the coming week.

A Few Ramblings and Thoughts

2010-07-17T20:56:00.007-04:00

Like in Baseball, I've recently been put on the 'Disabled List', with some minor surgery (athough when is getting cut open really 'minor'?) this past Thursday. It's the left foot, along the nerves to the big toe, making it painful and will take about 7-8 weeks for a "full recovery"; with that, the doc gave me some fun drugs and told to pretty much stay home, put my foot up and rest. Hardly likely, but I have tried. And, I have had some time (and some sweeeeet 'trips') to sit and cogitate on things. Nothing too deep, especially when you consider it's me I am talking about, but figured I'd share my thoughts about a couple of things I was able to get my hands on.

Wednesday, I received the book shown at left, Freight Train Graffiti. What it has, is some history of Graffiti's "humble beginnings" in the 60's, a few narratives on several of the "writers" (I always knew them as "taggers", but I guess they don't like to be called that anymore), their 'works of art' and plenty (over 1,000!) of large and small hi-res images, of what they have been painting on subway & freight cars over the past 40 or so years. There is some discussion about the origins of it, the good and the bad (the successes & troubled lives writers have had, the railroads' fight to stop graffiti, and its continued practice & climb to mainstream "art"), the risks involved, and all that is a part of the Graffiti sub-culture. Since I'm modeling the 1970's, graffiti is inexorably a part of the railroad rolling stock, and I thought I'd get not only some insight, but some good images on how cars have been weathered, painted, and damaged over time. I'm not too interested in reading about these so-called artists (to me, it's willful destruction of railroad property and trespassing each time it happens), I'm more interested in the pixes and how I can best and realistically model my freight cars. If you're modeling the post-steam era I recommend you get a copy, but only if you can get it below its cover price ($29.95), then it's worth it. I see Amazon's got it for quite a low price & I got it new. Here's a sample of my early weathering & graffiti decaling.

I'd like to get a hold of some of the Microscale and Blair Line Decal sets that are all graffiti - with the books knowledge, I hope to pick stuff that is appropriate to the 70's.

Today, I received Fos Scale Models' latest DVD, Build A Wood Structure Kit From Start to Finish - DVD Volume 4. A very nice tutorial for anyone who's always wanted to build a wood/craftsman structure kit. This is Fos' fourth DVD, the first three covering a myriad of topics in model railroad scenery construction and some kit building. In this one, Doug and his wife, Annamaria, really delve in to all the basics - tools you'll need, materials besides the kit, and the steps - to make your first craftsman kit build, or diorama build, a good experience. As I consider myself still a novice in building kits (less than six completed and NO dioramas yet), I learned plenty watching my first time. What's nice about it, is there's plenty to watch again and again. How to best brace your kit? Check out that section. How to make realistic roofing? It's in there. Need help with rock carving for the dio? Watch that chapter. Things go a little quick, but that's the beauty of a DVD tutorial - if you don't catch it the first time around, rewatch that chapter.

If you've never built a kit from wood, this is a great way to get you started. Doug and Annmaria make it look even easier than a plastic model, and it doesn't matter how big the kit is. You can get your copy at http://www.foslimited.com/, for $29.95 (plus S&H). As well, the kit they show in this DVD is available for you to purchase from Jimmy Deignan's http://www.railroadkits.com/. A neat little kit to try out! Fos Scale Structure's DVD series goes right up there with Scott Mason's "How To" DVD series (check out http://www.scottymason.com)/ and certainly shows you there's more than one way to get great results on your structues and model railroad scenery.

After several (unintended) naps, I started a Branchline Blueprint Series AAR 50' Boxcar Kit. Check out http://www.branchline-trains.com/blueprint_series/passengercars/pass_main.html, for a list of all the different models. I'm building a 50' Double Door Boxcar, for the Penn Central. I have one other (Western Maryland) and three C&O Single Door models that have been caling my name for over a year. It's a nice, mid-skill level kit, that requires some patience, good lighting, and a delicate touch. Unfortunately, I did not get very far, with the fact that using a very sharp X-acto knife with the way I'm "feeling" didn't go over too well - a near miss with the sharps and my bandaged foot scared me enough to pack it in for the day. And, I had enough presence of mind to realize I didn't want any more stitches than I already have...

Finally, as I said, I had some time to think and my main topic was of course, model railroading. And, I realized that while I barely started in to model trains as an adult back in 1991 before quickly putting it aside, to help my wife raise a family; I came back in around Christmas 2006 when I (eagerly) gave up table-top miniature wargaming for my real passion. The net result was I realized I wouldn't be where I am in my enjoyment, my skill level and experience, as well as involvement, if it wasn't for the love & support of my wonderful bride, as well as the great friendship and fellowship I've received from my many "partners in crime" on the Model Railroad Forum (http://www.mrrforums.com/), Model Railcast Show forum, Model Railroad Hobbyist Magazine's forum, and all those friends I've made in the Facebook Model Railroad community. So, a thanks go out to you (You Know Who You Are!), for reading this and egging me on. Yeah, this sounds a little cheesy, but if nothing else, I can blame it on the meds I'm taking! ;o) Hope to get back to "working on the railroad" soon, but I think a couple of days off for some Rest & Recovery would be in order... stay tuned!

Mission (One of Several) Accomplished!

2010-07-10T22:32:00.001-04:00

Well, it's been a while since I got on here to post an update. Today was a motivating day. I got to attend an Op-Session at Steve Williams B&O/FM&P layout at his home. It was a nice layout, using an older Digitrax DCC System. He had it running pretty smoothly and it was all on one booster! I have been loathe to do this, but I finally moved my Digitrax Super Chief, from the end of my RF&P Bus (about 42' long), to somewhere in the middle of the run. I kept putting it off & putting it off, but after seeing his big layout in such a small space, running pretty well, I just got home, and grabbed the controller and built a shelf for it! Here's a photo of the end result - it's from three pieces of scrap wood & some leftover Sheetrock screws. I also used 16ga stranded leads (the red & yellow wires) from the 14 Ga main bus wires, connected with 3M Suitcase Connectors, to make sure it was getting powered.

I also put some 22ga leads at the very end of the bus, to feed the tracks that go on the "bridge". Once I cleaned the solder & flux off the rails, I fired up the system & gave it a test run, with a Proto 2000 U28B and about ten cars. Success! It ran all the way 'round on RF&P Track 2 twice! I will have to attempt some video at some point, but here's some progress photos in the mean time.

Soon, I hope to get the backdrop painted blue and the fascia up and painted green. I think a little color, other than pink is in order.

Another Layout Update (before the Missus gets home!)

2010-06-26T09:49:00.000-04:00

Finally, another work session under the belt! Bob Sprague braved the Friday evening traffic on I-95 to make a quick work session productive. Here's a few photos:

Bob's little Sedum Tree Display/Demo at its temporary resting spot. Yay! Finally some scenery on my layout! :o)

I was playing around with my Lumix Fz18 and the depth of focus, so I shot a pix "thru" the trees, at my on-layout staging for the RF&P.

Another shot, just to see how the camera would act.

I was working on the removable "bridge" and the track. I put back the two pieces of fascia and it fit nice & snug again. So, I decided to try seeing how the track would go.

Bob's working on the right side of the RF&P #2 & #3 tracks, so we can get a complete loop done before I head off for some extrended business travel, next month. In the foreground, you can se the flex track being set down on the "bridge". Hope it won't shift while drying overnight.

I'll try to take some more pictures, but no promises. Plenty of Honey-Dos I didn't get to while the wife was gone, so it's time for me to shake a leg!