by John O’Connell

Ted Becker opened the Clinic with 15 attendees including a guest, Dale Bearden. Welcome Dale and we hope you will join us on a regular basis.

Announcements

Congratulations to Mark Malmkar for achieving the distinction of Master Model Railroader! He will carry the “MMR” designation in all future references! Well done, Mark!

Mark Malmkar presenting his Passenger Train Consist Clinic in 2017.

Al Frasch is moving to the warmer climes of Arizona and is planning the dismantling of his layout. Ted asked for the level of interest in a last and final visit to Al’s stellar layout before its demise. Stay tuned for date and time.

Ted’s announced the new NMRA program, called the NMRA Partnerships. It’s a member benefit that truly has a tangible payback. The NMRA has partnered with model railroad manufacturers of all sizes, giving them exposure on the NMRA website in return for providing generous discounts to NMRA members all year long. The link and a reminder will appear in future Newsletters in the Sponsorship section.

Looking ahead, the popular joint clinic with Skagit Valley / Whidbey Island is planned for Saturday, April 14. Rumor has it one table will have an enrolled agent from the IRS to pre-audit your valuation of charitable contributions of model railroadiana. Hold the date and stay tuned for more details.
Ted also floated the idea of a season ending field trip to Lake Whatcom Scenic Railroad in May. There was significant interest…details to follow.

Mike O’Brien has volunteered to take over as editor of the Newsletter and Clinic Report next year. Thank you, Mike!

Coming Events

February 8 Mt Vernon Clinic: Rich Blake, “Logging Speeder Evolution of the Pacific Northwest”
February 24, 25 WA State Model Train Show, Monroe
March 8 Mt Vernon Clinic: Dale Bearden, “Scratch Building Wood Structures”
April 12 NO MT VERNON CLINIC, SEE SATURDAY, APRIL 14
April 14 Joint Clinic, Mt Vernon Senior Center
April 15 4th Division Spring Meet, Bellevue
June 7 – 10 NMRA Pacific Northwest Region Convention, Spokane
September 15-19 Great Northern Railway Historical Society Convention, Bellingham

Show and Tell

Dale Bearden and his On30 interchange car frame for flat car decking and box and tank car bodies.


Paul Koren began with a ‘Walther’s Water Street Terminal’ and greatly reduced its dimensions to fit his need.


Paul added many scratchbuilt details, internal lighting and a ‘Model Tech Studios’ goose neck light.


Dave Falconer brought this beautiful N Scale UP 4-8-4 that he was given as a gift. It’s etched stainless steel and uses bent tabs to assemble – 12 hrs., no solder or glue.


David Laws models in Z scale and brought two of his efforts, a viaduct and a bunk house.


Martin Day’s ‘KaDee’ Spiker is the perfect tool for the hand laid track aficionado, but it comes at a hefty price, if you can find one.


Ted brought this ‘enhanced’ clothes pin holder with a vise-like gripping power.


Ted’s convex mirror for judging coupler heights (‘Dollar Tree’).

Ted also brought two other finds from the ‘Dollar Tree’: a tub of light weight spackling and chopping mats perfect for preserving ones desk top. Yes, both priced at $1!

Welcome back, Al Carter! Never to arrive empty handed, Al brought a small, very portable, vacuum, named Henry, and I don’t think it was meant as tongue in cheek, but only Al knows. Al also brought a sample of ‘Tamiya’ Pointed Q Tips but also reported that gun swabs work as well and at a fraction of the cost.

The Program

Tonight, the Clinic invited attendees to bring a project they were working on and share their techniques and challenges with others.

Mark Malmkar’s challenge is the evolution of his dream layout.

Begun as a 14X40 in Kearney, NB, his layout has spanned over 30 years and four houses. The current iteration must fit into a tighter space which requires redesigning the surviving components into the confined space and still leave room for operators.

When Mike O.Brien isn’t running Xtrains, he’s probably working on his N scale layout.


Mike’s father built these structures and they will figure prominently on his layout.

Al Carter carefully cuts out a vehicle. Good to see Al back!


Paul Koren’s challenge is getting an exact alignment of the DPM siding components.


The challenge is these sides have overlapping pilasters. He found using a square and starting in the lower right corner (with a steady hand) made for a good result by the end of the evening.

Ted is assembling his ‘Western Scale Models’ Blacksmith shop.


Note this is stick built and he used Promarker in Ice Grey #2 from Windsor and Newton for the stain effect.

Unfortunately, the photo didn’t turn out but Tom Buckingham brought his ‘McCabb Mill’ building to which he was putting the finishing touches on the LED lighting from ‘Woodland Scenic’s Just Plug’ system. He demo’ed the lighting effect with the Just Plug Hub with dimmers on all four outputs. Very dramatic!