Article & Photos by Syd Schofield

Don’t Forget: Starting in February 2020, the Eastside Clinic will be held on the 3rd WEDNESDAY of every month at least through June. (Time and location remain the same.)

The NMRA/PNR Fourth Division Redmond Clinic for February was held Wednesday evening at the Redmond Community Center, Alex Brikoff presiding.  The gathering was brought to order at 7:05 PM.  Notable and new attendees were introduced followed by upcoming events of interest being announced.  Refer to the Grab-Iron calendar for details.

There were numerous Show and Tell (Bring and Brag) items.  Several outstanding dioramas were presented.  A Sn3 caboose and a 2×5 foot blank/starter module were among those shown.  A showpiece for kids at the regional train shows, made up from foot square CNC milled “rails” panels in their own carrying case, was offered to get the young folks interested and occupied.  This was possibly the most relevant attraction for the future of the hobby to be seen at our shows.

The program for the evening were two modelling clinics presented by our counter parts at the Mt. Vernon Clinic.

The first was presented by Ted Becker as part of our Mini Clinic Event scheduled for March.  Ted showed us how he installs and utilizes small, inexpensive RC model servos to operate as switch machines for turnouts. Ted brought several items to show the details in adapting servos as switch machines.

The second clinic was a joint presentation by Nick Muff and Al Carter about creating and applying model railroad decals and graphics.  Nick first showed us how to create custom decals by researching the graphics online on Google.  He then showed how to import the graphics into a popular graphics program on your computer such as Auto Sketch and scale the graphic to the correct size along with how to edit the graphic to enhance the visual quality.  He then showed us how print the decal onto decal paper using an ALPS printer.  Al Carter then showed us the techniques and tools he used to apply the decal to the model after preparing the surface.  He also discussed the pros and cons of the various tools that he uses to apply the decals.

Please note that the Model/Photo of the Month Contests and Door Prize Give Aways have been suspended due to lack of donations for prizes.

Refreshments (coffee and cookies) were provided by C. J. Turner.

Syd Schofield