Yes, it’s a little late confirming our attendance at the Lynden Lions Train Show this weekend October 5th and 6th. To be honest last week I thought we might have to cancel as the guys were dropping like flies in DDT*. We are however in recovery and are eager to go. The plan is for a 31′ x 43′ double track layout comprising a total of 33 modules complete with our eleven track yard. The show runs from 9 am until 5 pm on Saturday and 10 am until 4 pm on Sunday. Come and play trains!
* Do you remember those days prior to DDT being widely available? Flyswatters and rolled news paper were used to attack these pesky insects. Alternatively you could use fly paper hanging from lampshades that had a sticky surface and a fly attractant. These things after a few days would collect a good number of those bugs but usually over the dinner table as that’s where the lamp was. Not nice! Then in the early 1950’s DDT became available in a spray form. A couple of pumps in the air with this spray and any bug passing through the mist would meet with instant death. Ah vengeance! We knew not what we were doing.
For you N gauge guys we have available a nice layout roughly 4′ x 7′ looking for a new home. It does contain the basic scenery and is in need of a little TLC along with accessories as well as trains. It was found whilst going through the estate of one of our members and has been in storage for some years. Like an abandoned pet, we need to find a good home for this layout, or failing that it will be destroyed. The advantage with this is, no adoption fee required, no shots required, no license required, no need to take it for walks and we’ll consider free delivery in the greater Seattle area. This layout must go one way or another before the end of October.
There will be an open workshop for the 4D HO model railroad display at the Tacoma Lutheran Retirement Center, 1301 N Highlands Pkwy, Tacoma WA on Saturday, October 12 between noon and 4 PM. Anyone is welcome to come help improve the layout and get it ready for the next “train day” the following Tuesday. We are looking for people who can saw, ballast, add scenery, clean track, solve electrical mysteries, change out wheel sets and couplers and any other modeling skills you can think of. If you have extra scenery making stuff, it would be put to good use. We have some ground foam, plaster cloth, Arizona Rock & Mineral ballast, glue and paint.
If you have time and skills you are willing to donate to this very worthwhile project or you just want to drop by and see what we are doing, please contact Warren Kerr (warrenkerr@rocketmail.com) or Kurt Laidlaw (ananas99@klaidlaw.net) so they can get your name to the receptionist at the front door.
The layout just before it was delivered to the Tacoma Lutheran Retirement Center.
Kurt Laidlaw President, Pacific Northwest Region, NMRA
Clinic Chair Rich Blake welcomed 26 to the first SV&W NMRA Clinic of the season. This clinic was devoted to scratchbuilding; so without further ado, let’s get to it.
Fig 1. Cliff Aaker describes his scratchbuilding methods.
Area modelers were invited to bring in their scratchbuilding efforts, both completed and in progress, and most are on the table next to Cliff Aaker (Fig 1), who led off the evening with his presentation “Methods and Tools for Scratchbuilding Scale Models.” Cliff discussed his general approach, in which he either copies a commercial model—to improve upon it by adding details and “personality” for his own railroad—or more typically working from prototype photos. From photos he works out roof pitch and other dimensions using window, door and other features–for example, a standard door height of 6’10”. Often he builds a paper or art board mockup for a project if it’s complicated or must fit a precise space; his first such was building a road bridge for the Anacortes & Fidalgo Model Railroad Club, whose members are long-time clinic contributors.
Fig 2. One of Cliff’s scratchbuilt reefers (On30 scale).
Like most everyone, Cliff uses a mix of purchased and scratch detail parts. For his On30 reefer in Fig 2, brake wheels, roof hatches, turnbuckles—and of course couplers–are commercial parts. Other details, door hardware, latches, stirrups, and grab irons are scratch. Cliff passed around his grab iron bending and drilling jigs; the stirrups are fashioned from bent staples.
Fig 3. A boxcar by Cliff (On30 scale).
Cliff’s box cars (Fig 3 shows one example) are built over a solid wood core, or plug. This automatically keeps all car sides and ends square and provides the needed weight. All car sheathing is Kappler Lumber scribed wood. Roofs are either wood planks or ribbed metal. Metal ribs are simulated with paper strips cut with a rotary cutter. The styrene door channels were glued to the carbody with “old” thick styrene glue, which Cliff found to adhere well to wood.
Fig 4. A flatcar by Cliff (On30 scale).
Flatcars (Fig 4) are difficult to weight properly without unsightly lead weights glued to the underbody, or weighted loads. Cliff solves this by using 1/16” lead sheet sandwiched under the decking. The stake pockets are commercial parts, the stirrups scratch.
Fig 5. Scratchbuilt skeleton car by Cliff (On30 scale).
The metal parts on the skeleton log car in Fig 5 were fabricated using concrete patch and latex rubber molds. (Cliff described multiple uses of two types of concrete patch at our March 2019 clinic.) The trucks on this car, available from Precision Vintage Classics (www.pvc-sn3.com), use 3D-printed sideframes. The cars in Figures 2 and 3 also use PVC trucks.
Fig 6. Cliff Aaker’s scratchbuilt copper smelter building in O-scale. (9 volt battery for lighting effects)
Cliff brought two of his scratchbuilt O-scale buildings to discuss some of the construction methods used. The copper smelter (partial view in Fig 6) was based on drawings of a smelter in Bodie, CA published in Narrow Gauge & Short Line Gazette. Quickcrete Concrete Crack Seal was used to make the furnace and chimney. The roofing is ordinary household aluminum foil cut with a rotary cutter and scissors, then shaped with a tool from Brunel Hobbies, their “Corrugated Iron Maker” (www.brunelhobbies.com.au). Cliff uses all three readily available thicknesses of aluminum foil in his models.
Fig 7. Scratchbuilt depot by Cliff.
The freelanced depot (Fig 7) was designed with a deliberately high-peaked roof, 12/12 pitch, to provide maximum elevation for an IR sensor which, in conjunction with a servo, battery and Arduino, operates a train order signal (not shown) using a TV remote. During assembly, walls were kept square using a fixture constructed of Lego pieces. The beautifully-executed roof is built with individual Western Red Cedar roofing shakes. Thin wood sheets of cedar were cut into strips with a rotary cutter, chopped, and applied one-by-one with double-sided tape. Fine work, Cliff, and a great clinic!
Fig 8. Alan Murray’s O-scale scratchbuilt oil tank.
Other scratchbuilders in the group had the opportunity to describe their show-and-tell items. Alan Murray brought two of his fine O-scale structures, including the oil tank in Fig 8. Alan has discussed his techniques in several of our previous clinics, which include sawing all of his scale boards from sheet—no purchased (expensive) stripwood for him! Note the N-B-W castings, essential for any model to qualify for an NMRA Achievement Program award.
Fig 9. Alan Murray’s Olympia station interior view.
Alan showed slides detailing the history of the train station in Olympia, and his remarkable reproduction of it in O-Scale. The single photo of it here (Fig 9) can’t possibly do it justice. It sits not on land, but a pier, and the pier (not shown) is just as well-crafted as the station. Alan has featured his Olympia station module construction in previous clinics.
Fig 10. Iver Johnson’s HO-scale scratchbuilt watertank car.Fig 11. Curt Johnson’s HO-scale tool shed.Fig 12. Jack Tingstad’s Tennessee Pass depot in HO-scale.Fig 13. Jon Bentz’ O-scale sawmill and freight house both scratchbuilt.
Iver
Johnson showed off his
water tank for a logging line, Fig 10. Curt Johnson got the idea for his
scratch shed, Fig 11, from a Walther’s Catalog.
Jack Tingstad built the
replica of the Tennessee Pass Station, Fig 12, from plans he was able to obtain
after he was unsuccessful in finding one of the original kits which had gone
out of production. Jon Bentz brought two of his O-scale structures, both freelance, a
sawmill and a work-in-progress freight house (Fig 13).
Thanks to all for bringing
in some fine models and describing some of their techniques.
The first Seattle North clinic of the 2019-20 year is this coming Thursday, September 5, at 7:00pm.
PLEASE NOTE: We are meeting in a NEW location. The new location is a bit south of our other meeting place. It is at:
United Church 1420 NW 80th Street Seattle, WA 98117
The building is at the corner of 80th and Mary Ave in the north Ballard area of Seattle. It is one block east of 15th Avenue. There is a parking lot accessible from Mary Ave. There will be signage around the building to let you know what doors to enter. I am excited about our new meeting place since we will have a lot more space. And, since I attend the church, I know where things are located.
The program for Thursday is Train Adventures of Summer 2019. Some of us went to the national NMRA convention in SLC in July (it was amazing!) and/or did other train-related things this summer. Please bring photos and/or souvenirs from your adventures to share with the crowd. Think of this as one big show-and-tell session! We will have tables set up for displays/show and tell, as well as for the marketplace.
Time to get busy. Remember that our contest to build a diorama is for display at the Pacific Science Center Show next January. Here are the guidelines: 12” x 24” maximum footprint – use a 12” x 24” piece of ¾ inch pink foam or equivalent. Home Depot has 24” x24” pieces which can be cut in half with the balance used for the terrain you want to add.
The rules are very simple:
Any scale
Must have a railroad theme
Should exhibit skills and techniques common to model railroading.
May be animated and/or lighted. No external power will be available.
“Write a piece for the Grab Iron on the construction of layout modules”, they said, like there was only one. Each modular group in 4D have their own module standards and there is at last count five modular groups in 4D; two N gauge; one HO, one On30 and the O gauge Hi-Railer’s. I’m with the latter.
Why modular? – Modular layouts are a way of attending events, in plain view of the public, displaying our craft and hopefully encouraging new membership. This is something your very fine layout in the basement has difficulty doing. Within as little as four weeks you could have a basic module suitable for using at the next train show. The module can be transported in the trunk of the average car or the back of an SUV with plenty of room to bring you favorite trains to run. The added benefit is you’ll make friends both within your group and between groups. It can be a very social activity.
The ‘basic’ Hi-Rail module is a table 50 inches wide, 30 inches deep and a nominal 36 inches height with +/- 1″ adjustment. The table top is made of 1 x 4’s on edge for all four sides. The top is plywood 5 mm thick or upwards. Remember the thicker the plywood, the heavier this thing gets. The table sits on four legs, one close to each corner. The legs, either 1 x 2 or 2 x 2 wood may be permanently attached with locking hinges or removeable set in sockets. I prefer the former as you can’t get the, ‘Oh Gosh’ moment on set up at a show realizing that you brought the module and left the legs at home. This would not have been the first time for this to happen. The aim is that any module may connect to any other module using standard ‘C’ clamps.
Track – We use the O gauge tubular (not O27) or Gargrave’s flex track set on cork roadbed 4 inches and 7 1/2 inches in from the front edge in the table for a double track. The track and roadbed to terminate 5 inches in from each end. Ballasting the track is a teaser. One can use the commercial packets of O gaugeballast and buy several packets or an alternative. We use the latter; roofing grit, the stuff they use on wet tar roofing. It comes in a variety of colors. I bought some grey which in the event was more blue than grey. The ‘group’ was highly critical of this ‘grey’ so I have the best part of 100 pounds of this stuff to lose, somewhere. The second choice was builder’s sand, not play sand, screened using an old flour sieve. This yields a nice quantity of suitable gravel but makes for a heavy module. Remember, these modules are mobile and have to be lifted and carried. The last try is to use ground walnut shells as used for grit blasting paint removal. The color and size is good but the drawback is the minimum quantity to buy is 100 pounds. I’ve used this stuff for a good fifteen years and still have three quarters of it left. If you speak to me nicely I’ll let you have some.
Electrically we use two power busses, one for each track. Color coding the wiring is imperative. Since we use three rail track, a red 14 AWG feeder wire is used for the center rail of the outside track; yellow 14 AWG wire for the center rail of the inside track and all running rails to have white 14 AWG feeder wires. Power drops from the rails to the feeder to also be color coded the same as the feeders and be 16 AWG. All wiring to be stranded. Modules are electrically connected together using rectangular six pin trailer plugs.
Hi-Railer Modules on display
Scenery is your choice and shall be complete within your module or modules if you produce more than one.
NOW THE WARNING LABEL – Belonging to a module group is addictive (and fun).
Like most things module building can get out of hand. I started with one locomotive and ten freight cars with a need to run someplace other than on track on the living room floor. I could easily transport this all in a cardboard box. I started with one module carried in the trunk of the car, then needing a truck, then a trailer behind the truck, then a full size van to pull the trailer. All this because I now have at last count 26 mostly customized modules for specific use, more in various stages of build and of course numerous trains.
We will be “Baby sitting” the layouts Monday the 19th
and Tuesday the 20th from 8:00 a.m. until about 10:00 p.m. During this time, we will be making small tweaks
and repairs to the layout and running some long trains which, we don’t normally
operate during a show. Feel free to visit us then.
The Fair’s daily hours of operation are:
Wednesday Aug 21st – 12 p.m. – 10 p.m.
Thursday Aug 22nd – Saturday Aug 24th – 10 a.m. – 10 p.m.
Sunday Aug 25th – 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Bremerton Northern Model Railroad has entered into an agreement with the Kitsap Mall for a one-year lease for a store. The store front is next door to Kohl’s. We are hoping to have the lease in place so we can move in right after the Kitsap County Fair.
We are excited to have a permanent home where we can setup, work on and display our layouts to the public. We will be displaying at least 3 layouts. HO Kitsap Western, N-TRAK, and HO junior engineers’ layout. Plans include: Expansion our HO Kitsap Western layout and creating attachments to run operation/switching exercises. Finishing existing and building new N-TRAK modules. And refurbishing several other donated layouts.
Currently we plan be open to the public for operations most Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. We will be maintaining our current show schedule so we will miss a few Saturdays. One advantage to this arrangement is work parties may occur every day. Our agreement with the Mall allows us to work on the layouts without being open to the public.
Every year the National Model Railroad Association presents several different types of awards. This year, as announced at the NMRA National Convention in Salt Lake City, the Fourth Division had three winners!
The President’s Award for Division Service was awarded to Gene Swanson, MMR. This Award is awarded by the NMRA President to one individual in a Division in each Region per year, who had done outstanding “beyond-the-call-of-duty” work to make his or her local division effective, engaging, and welcoming to Members. As we already know, Gene was presented with his award at the Spring Meet.
President’s Award for Division Service awarded to Gene Swanson (left). Photo by Ken Liesse.
The President’s Award was awarded to Di Voss, MMR, for service as the Manager of the Standards & Conformance Department. This award is given by the NMRA President for outstanding service to the NMRA. Di was in this position for about 10 or 12 years.
The Meritorious Service Award was awarded to Ken Liesse by the NMRA Marketing Department in recognition of the work he has done and continues to do administering the NMRA Facebook presence on the Internet. Ken has been doing this function for 10 years.
Di Voss (left) with President’s Award, and Ken Liesse (right) with Meritorious Service Award. Photo by BLiessePhoto.
Congratulations on your well-deserved awards Gene, Di, and Ken!
Have you looked at the 4D website lately? On the right side of the menu is a drop-down titled “Get Inspired”. I hadn’t looked in there for some time and when I did recently, I discovered that there is some really helpful material there. The Articles & Presentations are written by many of our members you will recognize as very active and talented model railroaders. I had read some of the topics when they were first presented and recognize some of them as a write up of presentations at clinics. There is some really good stuff there!
So recently when Larry Sloan showed me his new corner modules he had made for his modular club, I asked him if he would write an article describing what he did and how others could use his techniques to make two very clever corner modules. They are not your typical corner. Take a look here. It’s the one titled “45 Degree Free-mo Module”. Great job, Larry. Thanks for sharing.
