Author: Rich Blake

This year 2019 has proven to be a very busy one for the Pacific Northwest On30 Modular Group.  In January we participated in the Great Train Show in Puyallup at the Washington State Fairgrounds and then in February at the United Northwest & Snohomish Count 4-H Foundation show in Monroe at the Evergreen State Fairgrounds.  These are both very large and heavily populated shows and provide an important connection between the public and our model railroad hobby.

A nice change of pace however was afforded to our group with an invitation to the 34^th Annual Sn3 Symposium at the Sheraton venue in Bellevue WA April 4-6 2019 from 4D Superintendent Russ Segner and Sn3 Symposium coordinators Robin Peel and Dale Kreutzer.  This is a niche event that is similar to the National Narrow Gauge Convention but mainly focused on “S” or 1/64^th scale.  Although the space was smaller than our usual huge open train show venues, PNWOn30 Superintendent and CAD expert Alan Murray managed to design a layout to fit in the space that allowed for a nice point to point configuration providing a lot of operating opportunities. 

Alan along with PNWOn30 members Jerry Barnes, Jon Bentz, Rich Blake and Mark Clemmens set up the layout on Thursday April 4^th in a well lit private space in the hotel.  Even though we are 1/48^th scale or O scale, the layout was a welcome attraction for the Sn3 Symposium participants and generated a lot of interesting discussion on modeling, construction of modules and DCC system control (we use NCE).

Something new for the symposium and our modular group, was that we opened up the layout to guest operators on a fixed time schedule throughout the open viewing periods of the show.  Normally we just operate with our own modular group members at shows but this time we opened up the layout as a bonus operating opportunity and ended up with twelve guest operators on the crew call list over the course of three days in five different sessions. Rich Blake ran the layout as Dispatcher/Trainmaster while the rest of the PNW On30 crew assumed yard and crew assistance duties for our guest operators.

We had several “old hats” as well as a few “noobs” to operations who learned a lot about this very intensely engaging aspect of model railroading.  Our operating schema utilizes Time Table and Train Order rules typical of the early 1900s.  We also use Java Model Railroad Interface (aka “JMRI”) Operations Pro to manage car inventory and generate switchlists for yards and industries.  The operating style is laid back and slow moving but every train has a purpose and work to do.  A typical job for a conductor/engineer two man crew would take about an hour to complete which was perfect for the time slots we had for guests.

Overall it was a great event and our group would especially like to thank all the enthusiastic operators who brought the layout to life as well as the coordinators of the Sn3 Symposium who provided the great space and support.  If you would like to see our layout or are interested in operations, stay tuned here on the Grab Iron for show announcements or contact us via the Module Programs section of the 4D website or the PNW On30 website.

A few more shots from the event:

Article and Photos by Rich Thom

The 3^rd annual joint Mt. Vernon – Skagit Valley & Whidbey (“Oak Harbor”) clinic held March 23^rd at the Mt. Vernon Senior Center was by all measures once again a great success.  At least 58 participated by one count but it might have been higher; a few may have slipped by the registration table.  Thanks are due the Mt. Vernon Clinic for organizing the event, for which logistics and venue were flawless.  Also many thanks to the “women’s auxiliary” of the Skagit Valley & Whidbey group to lay on a fine lunch, which allowed attendees to stay at the Center and socialize instead of scattering all over Mt. Vernon: well done ladies!

Eight clinicians conducted clinics in morning and afternoon sessions, each given twice offering participants more opportunity to not miss anything:

• Rich Blake – Hand Laid Turnouts and Soldering Basics
• Roger Johnson – Decoder Installation/General Soldering
• Don Jones – Passenger Car and Caboose Lighting Options
• Russ Segner – Layout Planning
• Ted Becker – Introduction to Arduinos
• Didrik Voss – Create Your Own Virtual RR with Trainz
• Jon Bentz – Updated L-Girder Benchwork Construction
• Al Carter – Pan Pastel Weathering

Several swap tables also overflowed with “I gotta have that” items and most sellers seemed to carry home less stuff than they arrived with, so we hope they had a successful day sales-wise—or just clearing out some of those boxes under the layout.  Other tables along one wall were filled with the annual contest entries—but more of that later.

Before the lunch break, Greg Wright and Ted Becker, prior recipients of the 4^th Division PNR NMRA Golden Grab Iron Service Award, presented this year’s award to Jack Tingstad (Fig 3).  Jack has actively promoted the hobby for over four decades, participating in national, regional and 4^th Division NMRA events, volunteering and opening his oft-published layout for many open houses.  A founding member of his local area’s modeling group (now the SV&W NMRA Clinic), Jack has conducted dozens of clinics himself.  Jack’s skills have earned him MMR 591.  Jack was at the forefront of modelers keen on operations, and has also brought model railroading and the NMRA into the community.  For fifteen years he opened his layout to the general public every Thanksgiving weekend, with extensive newspaper coverage, often welcoming over 400 people at each event, attracting many new people into the hobby.  For good reason, Jack is known as the “train guy” on Whidbey Island.  He’s well earned that title as well as the Golden Grab Iron Service Award.

Next up, after the lunch break and judging of entries, the results of this year’s model contest were announced by contest organizer Mike O’Brien.  Mike’s model railroad supply business also generously provided an entire tableful of prizes from which winners could select their choices.  There were all together 17 entries in 4 different categories.

First Place in the Scratch-built Structure Category was awarded to a magnificent reproduction in HO-scale (Fig 4) of Mount Vernon Radiator Service, located on S. 2^nd Street in that Skagit County town.  It was a team effort by Al Carter and Nick Muff who utilized CAD plans, laser cut wood and styrene, and finishing and weathering entirely as the original.  It is one of those structures for which a single photo cannot do justice to the model.  The model also won First Place in the Photo Match Category for most closely replicating prototype photographs.

First Place in the Kit or Kit-Bashed Structure Category went to Jack Tingstad for his B.T.S. laser-cut generic warehouse, Master Creations kit #27106, again in HO-scale (Fig 5).  Jack used Bragdon Chalks for weathering.  Instead of etchants sometimes used to create “rust” on the corrugated porch roof panels, Jack used a combo of paint and chalk to create an equally-convincing result.

First Place kudos in the Rolling Stock Category (scratch or kit) went to John O’Connell for his 82-foot Santa Fe Observation Car No. 407 (Fig 6).  It is an HO-scale kit by Bachmann.  John added a fully-lighted, painted interior; working marker lights; wall art; and owners and guests enjoying their posh ride.  

No, not every contest entry was HO-scale—to wit, see Fig 7.  It’s the Second Place winner of the Scratch-Built Structure Category and was built by Doug Palm.  Your reporter had to switch his camera from macro-mode to the distant scenery setting to capture this G-Scale behemoth.  It’s a model of a water tower at the Gare d’Annot, France.  The tank on top of the “water castle” has a capacity of 120 cubic meters, Doug wrote in his description of the model.  Curious readers can do the conversion to U.S. gallons themselves—your reporter is tired.     

Second Place in the Kit or Kit-Bashed Structure Category was earned by Mike O’Brien for his Old Abandoned Sawmill located in the Oregon Cascades (Fig 8).  Mike kit-bashed the N-Scale model, individually cutting, distressing, and weathering all of the boards.  Another example where the photo can’t capture the detail of this impressive model.

Last but definitely not least, Fig 9 illustrates the Second Place winner in the Rolling Stock Category (scratch or kit) entered by Alan Murray.  It’s a Keystone Model Works O-Scale log car with brass core, Protocraft trucks, and Kadee couplers.

All the contest entries including others we didn’t have space to show were excellent, and well-illustrated the skill resident in both Mt. Vernon and Skagit Valley & Whidbey Clinic modelers.  We all look forward to a repeat event in 2020!

Rich Thom

Article and Photos by Rich Thom

It wasn’t necessary for Clinic Chair Rich Blake to fire up enthusiasm.  A St. Patrick’s Day mood was already in the air (Fig 1) at our March meeting, with green tablecloth, plates, hats and delectable cake (with green icing) laid out, all carried in by some of our keen members.  Susan Gonzales (pictured, at end of table) announced our upcoming Lake Whatcom Railway outing (May 18^th) as well as her work on recruiting.  Susan created a small flyer for members to post in their towns to potentially attract new (younger?) members.  Thanks, Susan; although our attendance is strong, we would be pleased to welcome more!  Rich reminded all of the upcoming annual joint clinic with the Mt. Vernon NMRA Clinic on March 23^rd, which will feature multiple clinics, swap tables, our annual model contest, NMRA achievement award judging, and more.  Info is on the Grab Iron.

Alan Murray kicked off the evening by demonstrating a clever and simple way to add needed weight to Bachmann On30 flat cars.  These are well-detailed, popularly-priced models but too light; Alan and his On30 modular group (https://www.pnwon30.org) endeavor to weight their cars to S-scale standards since no standards specific to On30 exist. 

Fig 2 shows the underside of a weighted flat car using Alan’s method; two strips of lead are visible imbedded between longitudinal frame members.  To fashion these, Alan starts with strips of ¼” diameter lead fishing weight; it’s available in rolls in the fishing department at Sebo’s Hardware stores or similar outlets.  It turns out to be just the right diameter that—when hammered into the frame as shown—fills the spaces between the frame members perfectly.  (Trucks are obviously removed beforehand.)  Following initial shaping with an ordinary hammer, the job is finished off with a steel block and gentler hammering.

Cliff Aaker was up next for the main clinic of the evening, fashioning Roads from Concrete Patch and Rocks (and other things) from Concrete Crack Seal.  The selection of the right materials is the key here, and Cliff tried several, so his trial and error will save you a lot of time.  He was led down the right track by a video by Ken Paterson on making roads, which you can view at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEhBYa9P-EA&t=1358s.

First, roads.  Of many similar products, use only Ready-Mixed Concrete Patch by DAP.  Other latex-based products may work, but acrylic-based will not.  Cliff applies this product up to 1/8^th” thick per layer and allows 24 hours to harden.  It applies somewhat like drywall mud but you have to keep wetting your trowel (use wet water i.e. with a couple of drops of detergent) often to keep the compound from sticking to it.  Also, keep the trowel as nearly parallel to the surface as possible and go slowly.  See Figure 3.  In this example Cliff is using a simple form of plywood and cork roadbed.   

The concrete patch will shrink and crack on the first application.  Applying a second coat is usually sufficient.  After it dries, Cliff then sands first with #60 grit sandpaper followed by #120 and #400.  Coloring and weathering are a matter of taste. One of the features of the patch is—well—it looks like concrete, so not too much effort is needed, as would be for, say, plaster or Sculptamold.  Cliff uses India ink and Pan Pastel powders to age the pavement, and to add centerlines, joints and cracks.  Potholes can be carved in later with a knife if desired.  Fig 4 shows a section of finished road at the bottom, made from the same form.  Another feature of the cured latex is that it is flexible, so you can easily create vertical curves in your roads.

Moving on to rocks, a different concrete patch is used: Concrete Crack Seal by Quickcrete.  In essence Cliff uses this material to make latex rock castings, using latex molds, in a similar way that plaster rock castings are made using these same molds.  The end products are similar to—but far cheaper than–the so-called “rubber rocks” commercially available. The Crack Seal is much thinner than the patch material described earlier as it’s made to flow into cracks.  That also means it flows into and conforms to tiny details of latex molds.  In Fig 5, Cliff begins filling a mold with the crack seal material.

Perhaps surprisingly the Quickcrete material, despite being latex-based, doesn’t seem to stick to some latex molds, even without any mold release agent being used.  Cliff has successfully used both home-made molds (such as the one he is filling in Fig 5) and Bragdon molds (bottom, Fig 5).  However some have had trouble trying this material with Woodland Scenics molds, so experimenting with small pieces is recommended.  If you run into an incompatibility, the crack seal material dissolves in alcohol before it cures.

Fig 6 shows a small display piece with both a concrete patch road and some rock outcroppings made with concrete crack seal as above.  The crack seal rock pieces can be trimmed with tin snips to fit neatly onto hillsides or into cuts and are glued into place with hot glue (high heat type).  Crack seal doesn’t stain the way plaster does: you must paint it.  Cliff uses acrylic craft paints diluted 1 part paint to 4 water applied with a squirt bottle.  He does black first and allows it to settle into the cracks and dry completely.

Cliff discovered other uses for the Quickcrete material.  One example is shown in Fig 7: a tunnel lining for one of Cliff’s On30 modules.  The module contains a small length of On18 ore track with ore cars shuttling back and forth using an automated reversing circuit.  Train Show attendees would peer into the tunnel, Cliff said, and remark that it had no walls or ceiling.  Easily fixed by using the crack seal to create a lining.  The “mold” for the lining is at the bottom in Fig 7 and the lining produced at the top.   

Speaking of molds, Cliff makes his own (Fig 8).  He uses Castin’Craft Mold Builder liquid latex rubber sold at Michael’s and similar craft stores.

Cliff has also used Quickcrete Concrete Crack Seal for creation of structural details.  In Fig 9, a portion of a larger O-scale model of a copper smelter, Cliff used it to produce the furnace and chimney: beautifully done.  The material accepts common acrylic craft paint—Cliff used Black Cherry to create the brick tones here.  He earned a well-deserved NMRA Achievement Award for his copper smelter.

Rich Thom

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE:

Other NOTES:

We will have some limited snacks and coffee available but it will probably go fast so plan ahead.

Entrance is through the rear doors (southwest side) not the main entrance on the street. Parking available next to the building and along adjacent streets.

Googly map

IMPORTANT: Lunch IS NOT included.

Some local options available but our lunch break is only an hour. Highly recommend brown bag lunch for all participants.

Read on for more details on our clinics this year.

Ted Becker – Introduction to Arduino – What is Arduino?  What can it do for me as a model railroader?  How does it work?  How do I get started?  How do I learn more?  There will be several projects on display and working.  Some of these projects you can do with off-the-shelf components and canned software.  Many model railroad functions can be done with more flexibility and less cost with Arduino compared to other products.  Bring your questions.  Bring a thumb drive so you can take home a lot of (hopefully) useful information.

Jon Bentz – Updated L Girder Benchwork Construction – A different take on classic L girder design. This will consist of Planning and layout of benchwork, photos of benchwork constructed to date on my home layout, and full size samples of benchwork to share with the group.

Didrik Voss – Create Your Own Virtual Railroad with Trainz – This clinic will explain how to get started creating your own virtual railroad in Trainz. Didrik will show how he downloaded the topographic maps for the Everett & Monte Cristo Ry, laid the track and is currently creating buildings and structures based on photographs and Sanborn maps.

Roger Johnson – Decoder Installations & General Soldering – Roger Johnson will demonstrate decoder installations for pre-screened projects.  Prerequisite:  If you would like to have a decoder installed in one of your locomotives, email details to Roger at skagitrailbird@gmail.com no later than March 15^th. Please include locomotive (scale, maker, model, approximate year made) and decoder (make & model #, if already purchased).  Note: Depending upon time and the complexity of the project walk up requests may (or may not) be accepted.

As time allows he will also demonstrate general soldering of such things as LEDs and resistors, track and power bus, control panels, multiple and other components and brass stock for framing signs.

Al Carter – Weathering With Pan Pastels – How to use Pan Pastels to apply weathering finishes and touches to both rolling stock and structures.  We will also look at how Pan Pastels can be used instead of paint to color structures.  You will have an opportunity to try your hand with this technique, and if you want, bring a car to weather – Prequisite:  Please first spray your car with Dullcoat or a similar flat finish.  This is approximately a half hour clinic, followed by:

Al Carter – Improving The Appearance Of Flex Track – How to take that shiny plastic flex track and improve its appearance by applying a base coat of acrylic paint (thanks, Martha Stewart!), then weathering the ties with water based oil paints, then the rails, and finally the ballast.  Sample track will be provided so you can try your hand at this technique.  This clinic is also approximately a half hour long.

Russ Segner – Layout Planning – My clinic will focus on some basic ideas helpful in planning a home layout.  I will use several layouts as examples with photos and track plans.  It will be a Power Point presentation with handouts.  Questions will be welcomed.  My home layout, The Coal Creek Lumber Company, is point to point Sn3 lumber and mining and is built around the perimeter of a 19 foot by 16 foot bonus room.

Rich Blake – Handlaid Turnouts and Soldering Basics – This clinic we will explore track soldering jigs (i.e. Fasttracks) and how to properly solder track and other electrical doo dads.  Soldering is a craft that when done properly will last for many years, when done improperly will cause many headaches.  This clinic will show you some best practices when using soldering equipment for model railroading.  PREREQUISITES: If you want some real solder practice please bring a 40Watt or lower soldering iron and iron holder/stand if you have it.  We will have solder/flux and other materials available for practice.

Don Jones – Passenger Car and Caboose Lighting Options, using  LEDs,  super capacitors, pickups and light boards – Included will be “cheapo home made” wire and tube pickups  for Athearn passenger cars with modified Rapido light boards using LED’s and super capacitors.

Also to be shown will be Streamline Back Shop pickups and light boards for Rivarossi passenger cars and clones. Included will be examples of Voltscooter Electronics light boards.

I will bring examples of the Voltscooter and Streamline Back Shop boards installed in Rapido and Walthers passenger cars.  For the Walthers passenger cars I will bring and example which uses the Owl Mountain pickup lug kit used to improve the passage of current from the car trucks to the light board.

I will show examples of the space saving KSQ2 miniature board which eliminates the need for a separate resistor and diode rectifier when lighting DCC passenger cars.

Caboose lighting with marker lights will be demonstrated using the Light It board from NCE.

Consultation services will be available for hard to light cars.

The Skagit Valley and Whidbey’s first 2019 clinic was an excellent event presented by Susan Gonzales. 

Our objective was to show various types of open car loads and explore different techniques for making loads using common materials found at box stores.  We started out the clinic with a display of various clinic members cars and loads and some show and tell on each.

Mike Garcia brought two HO flat cars with a nicely detailed logging donkey and the other with diesel engine loads.  All loads were tied down properly. 

Curt Johnson had two HO cars for work train support.  One car contained sets of ties all blocked and staked together and the other with sets of rail segments with blocking in between. 

Curt’s dad Iver brought a couple HO logging support cars with a steam donkey load and a camp cabin load complete with outhouse. 

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Article by Rich Thom; Photos by Mark Malmkar

Our November meeting opened by finding ourselves rudderless—Chair Rich Blake was out-of-state on business—and room-less as well.  Due to an overbooking our usual large meeting room at the Summerhill facility in Oak Harbor was well-filled by another group, who—possession being nine-tenths of the law–were not inclined to share.  Some quick footwork by Susan Gonzales and others got us relocated into two smaller rooms, where a (covered) pool table in one soon found use as swap and snack table, and chairs moved into the second got us set up for the evening’s program.  Cliff Aaker had brought the A/V equipment so were ready to go with Mark Malmkar giving an interesting and entertaining talk on the Railways of Russia.  Mark had given this talk the week before at the Mt. Vernon Clinic to rave reviews, so we were pleased he was able to repeat it for our group.

Mark and his family had a great opportunity to visit Russia for two weeks in May of this year, which included a railroad-themed tour of several stations, museums, subways and other facilities in both Moscow and St. Petersburg, as well as an overnight journey by train between those two cities.  He showed over a hundred photos and we can’t reproduce them or the whole story that went with them here, but a handful are included below to give readers an idea.

The Russian rail system of today, although contracted somewhat from its Soviet-era size, is 53,100 miles in length, most of which is built to the curious gauge of 5 feet.  (For purists, it’s actually 1.520 meters or 4 ft 11 and 27/32 inches!)  This wider than standard gauge was useful during both world wars by making it more difficult for Germany and its allies to run its trains into the Soviet Union, but it actually originated way back in 1841 with the construction of the Moscow-St. Petersburg route.  Mark’s photos clearly showed the pride that the Russians have in both their current railway and its history.  Stations are immaculate, with Moscow’s subway system being particularly famous for the ornateness of and artwork in its stations.  Mark’s photos showed immense escalators in some of the stations; the longest is 413 feet long accessing a station 275 feet below ground.  High speed trains have entered service on the mainline network as well.

Rail history is well preserved in several museums.  One relatively new one, dating from only 2009, in St. Petersburg would take a full day or more to see properly, Mark said.  Interpretation is presented in several languages so foreign visitors can read about the full history and use of displayed locomotives and rolling stock.  Mark was surprised to find some remaining steam locomotives in apparent ordinary use, although most, as elsewhere, are found on excursions.  Russian steam was famous not only for its variety but the large numbers (by European standards) of locomotives built of single wheel arrangements.  Ten-coupled locos, 0-10-0’s, 2-10-0’s, and 2-10-2’s predominated; a staggering 17,400 2-10-0’s were built in several classes (this total included over 2,000 decapods from Alco and Baldwin, the Amerikanskiis).

Mark’s visit happened to coincide with a May 6^th military parade, which he and his family were able to view comfortably from their hotel room window—a seemingly endless procession of rocket launchers and other hardware, including remotely-piloted tanks and helicopters enlarging on the drone concept.  Many thanks to Mark for a fine program about the railways of Russia, a place that not many of us may get to.

 

By Rich Thom

Photos By Rich Thom Unless Noted

Clinic Chair Rich Blake got a good laugh introducing the evening’s program: “Short Attention Span Theater” he dubbed it, aka the now-customary October program of mini-clinics.  Despite Rich’s humor, no-one exhibited short attention span–as far as we know–and interest was high.

Rich showed how he treats RTR On30 plastic freight cars, such as those produced by Bachmann, to upgrade them from shiny plastic models to realistic, weathered rolling stock.  He described these steps:

• Apply a basecoat of grey or brown to represent raw wood, using any type paint OK for plastics
• Weather the basecoat using standard wash techniques
• After all paint is thoroughly dry, coat with hairspray and allow to dry for at least 10 minutes.  Rich’s preferred hairspray is Aquanet or TRESemme.  The hairspray provides a water soluble layer between the topcoat and basecoat.
• Following the hairspray, apply acrylic topcoat.  Rich prefers airbrush but rattle cans are OK.  Brush-on may be an option but Rich has not tried it
• Revealing the basecoat: After paint has dried, using Q-tips, toothpicks and/or stiff brush with water gently remove top coat to reveal basecoat “bare wood” in areas of your choice; you can go light or heavy (this step illustrated in Fig 1)
• After removing the desired amount of top coat, weather per usual with powders, washes, and a no. 2 pencil to highlight worn “metal” edges
• Apply dullcoat to seal finish

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