Author: Al Lowe

Ed Liesse / Photos by Ed & Lee Marsh

Our “Beloved Host” JJ Johnston welcomed everyone to the Eastside Get-Together and, following the script for our meetings, introduced the members of the 4D Board of Directors and the MMRs in attendance. He then mentioned a new product from Chooch Enterprises, a peel-and-stick flexible cribbing wall similar to the flexible stone walls introduced a few years ago and thanked Mike O’Connell for personally bringing some as door prizes. JJ also mentioned the article by our own David Yadock in the April issue of Railroad Model Craftsman on “Modeling a Load of Corrugated Pipe.” David shared this very model with us a couple of months ago.

Ken Liesse’s cherry trees (Click to enlarge)

Announcements included Ken Liesse telling about Tacoma Trains celebrating 20 years in business this coming weekend with a big sale; Russ Segner commenting on the 4D Ballot being in the mail and be sure to vote and reminding those attendees not yet registered that the PNR Convention is drawing near (June 18 – 21) with several fine prototype tours available as well as clinics, layout tours and other activities; Rob Jones said the SPROG’s are back in stock at Eastside Trains and brought a number of items available for purchase with an additional 10% off the price; Alex Brikoff talked about new projects in development under the Education Committee and needing volunteers to help carry them out; and Di Voss mentioned that a group of 4D members in Alaska are putting together a bid to hold a NMRA Convention up there, possibly 2019.

David Yadock’s RMC article

The Model of the Month had three entries plus several display items. Ken Liesse brought in several cherry trees he built using what he called the “Jack Hamilton Method,” using dried flowers from Michael’s as the base; David Yadock had his RMC article; and Bob Rorabaugh had a diorama inspired by a photograph showing the vanishing rails and other materials reaching toward a vanishing point on the horizon (you really had to see it to understand the concept!).

Bob was the eventual winner of the Model of the Month. The display items were: Russ Segner’s photographs showing the tram that ran from Newcastle down to Lake Washington bringing coal to the docks and one showing the narrow gauge railroad that ran to Renton; and, John Morrison’s large 2-8-2 modified locomotive that he painted since he last showed it several meetings back.

Bob Rorabaugh’s vanishing point diorama

After our usual short break for refreshments and looking over the “goodies” Rob brought, we regathered for a presentation by Lee Marsh on Helicon Focus Lite, a computer program that makes your photography look marvelous! As you all know, trying to take a photo of a stationary train by standing at the front of the train and shooting toward the end, it’s impossible to keep a nice sharp focus over the full length.

Lee Marsh’s Helicon Focus demo (Click to enlarge)

Lee set up a display train on a table to demonstrate how this program solves that problem. You do need a manual digital camera, a tripod and a cable shutter release or timed release of the shutter. You don’t want the camera to move once you have it set for the angle you want on the subject. You then select the f-stop and exposure time you want and then take a series of photos with a different focus point for each shot. Lee took 12 photos of the train on display to demonstrate. You then transfer the photos to your computer, run the program and watch the screen “assemble” the twelve photos into one photo that’s completely in focus! It was fascinating to watch the Helicon Focus program do its thing, and all in a matter of seconds!

Bob Rorabaugh’s diorama after Lee Marsh’s Helicon Scan (click to enlarge)

You can probably get a better explanation of this whole presentation from Model Railroad Photography – April 2014, provided by Lee Marsh. Lee also used Bob Rorabaugh’s diorama as another example. If you enjoy taking photos, this was a clinic that, in effect, kept you on the edge of your seat watching the presentation and anticipating the outcome!

The next Eastside Get-Together will be on May 15. The clinic will be presented by Inside Gateway hobby store owner Steve Depolo and the subject of weathering. Come join us!

JJ Johnston

Following Lee Marsh’s fabulous home layout tour, Lee returns for a special clinic on using Helicon Focus to achieve incredible depth-of-field photographs. Lee will have an actual demonstration with his camera and computer. Everyone is invited to bring their camera and try it out. Camera must be able to manually focus to create focus stacking and be digital for computer downloading. We start at 7:30.

We hope to see you at our next Eastside Get-Together April 17. Don’t forget to file your income tax return before the 15^th!

REMEMBER:  Eastside Get-Together, Thursday, April 17, Bellevue Foursquare Church

Ed Liesse

JJ Johnston, our exuberant leader of the Eastside Get-Together, welcomed about 35 attendees for the March meeting. As usual, he did his introductions of the officers and committee chairs of the 4^th Division and the MMRs in attendance.

Asking for new attendees, he found three: Jerry Madsen who said he wasn’t new but hadn’t been there for awhile being busy as the VP of the Puget Sound Garden Railroad Society; Steve Kyle who is a “high-railer” came to see what we’re all about; Ben Wong who is looking for something to do after retiring! All were welcomed to the group and encouraged to join us again.

Announcements were made by JJ on the upcoming convention and the special building contest; Alex Brikoff, 4D Education Committee Chair, mentioned that the Video Library function was being moved to the Education Committee and looking for volunteers to help with the video library; Alex also hopes to create a database of clinicians and clinics; Rob Jones, 4D Membership Chair, said that membership was going okay so far; Ken Liesse mentioned that the Northwest Railroad Museum in Snoqualmie is looking for new volunteers for the conservation/restoration project they have going (both Ken and Russ Segner are volunteers at the Museum, Ken in Operations and Russ in Restoration); Rob mentioned that he could offer an additional discount on the items he brought from Eastside Trains.

Model of the Month had three entries: Mike Donnelly displayed pulpwood cars using real branches for loads; Rob Jones displayed fire trucks in N and HO using N’gineering Products for lighting; Bob Rorabaugh displayed a logging camp car kit with many details. The ultimate winner of the Model of the Month was Bob Rorabaugh.

After a short break for refreshments and voting on the Model of the Month and looking over the items Rob brought, it was time for our feature presentation.

We were privileged to hear from the 4D’s newest MMR, Glenn Farley. He actually had two different topics for presentation, one on Coal Loads and the other on Realistic Headlights. He had projected photos to show his methods and examples for us to see and, in some cases, handle.

For coal loads, he makes a base from blue foam to fit inside the car or tender. In his case, several years ago he happened on a sheet of thin blue foam which he claims he will never use up! He cuts a piece to fit the car then shapes the sides and the ends to look like the basic shape of a coal load. This shape goes back to before the days of the current flood-type coal loaders being used in the PowderRiver Basin in Wyoming and other locations. He then coats the load shape with an acrylic artist color to cover the blue foam. For coal, he finds a lump of coal (we won’t say where he finds it), puts it in a strong bag or several bags and proceeds to pound it to small pieces. He uses several plastic pipe end caps with holes drilled in the bottom to serve as filters for the coal, decreasing the hole size on each end cap until he has the size of coal he wants. When he has the right size of coal, he coats a small area of his shaped load base with Testor’s Gloss lacquer and sprinkles on the coal. Then he moves up a little on the load and repeats the lacquer and coal application and repeats this until the load is covered. After it has a chance to dry he comes back and repeats the process to fill in any holes.

For realistic headlights, he uses MV lenses and incandescent bulbs rather than LEDs. He finds the center of the lens on the back and drills hole just larger that the bulb size. He then checks the bulb for fit and glues it in place. This procedure works quite well for the diesels. For steam engines he turns down a Lucite rod to fit into the lens, uses a hot soldering iron to form a mushroom end on the rod (sort of a lens shape) and then places the bulb behind the mushroom end. All this goes inside the headlight housing! Luckily, with all the photos and the examples he brought, it was much clearer than trying to put it into words!

We hope to see you at our next Eastside Get-Together April 17. Don’t forget to file your income tax return before the 15^th!

Click images to enlarge