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Grab Iron Posts

Day Out With Thomas Returns to Snoqualmie in July, Tickets on Sale March 6th

Written by Cliff Green
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Peggy Barchi, Marketing/Events Manager

Thomas The Tank Engine™ To Visit Snoqualmie, WA on July 14-16 and July 21-23!

Thomas the Tank Engine at the Northwest Railway Museum

All aboard! Thomas the Tank Engine invites little engineers to join him for a day of friendship and family fun at “Day Out with Thomas: The Friendship Tour 2017”. Children everywhere can spend the day with their friend Thomas when the #1 Engine pulls into the Northwest Railway Museum on July 14-16 and July 21-23. “Day Out with Thomas: The Friendship Tour 2017” is presented by Mattel.

This fun-filled event offers children and their families the opportunity to take a ride with Thomas the Tank Engine, star of the popular Thomas & Friends™ series. In addition, they will meet Sir Topham Hatt, Controller of the Railway and enjoy a day of Thomas-themed activities. The tour, now in its 22nd year, will make 42 stops across the U.S. and Canada and is expected to welcome nearly one million passengers in 2017.

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Northwest Railway Museum

Skagit Valley and Whidbey Clinic February Meeting 2017

Written by Chip Van Gilder
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12 Inch Square Diorama Contest

Article and Photos by Rich Thom

 

The SV&W NMRA Clinic’s February meeting topic was the long-anticipated (well, since September anyway) diorama contest, this year shepherded by Phil and Susan Gonzales. The rules were simple: Build a small diorama, not to exceed 12 inches square [ed.], that tells a story. The mini-scenes could be any scale, and any height or depth so long as their footprints did not exceed the specified area. Entry categories were: scratch; kit; kit bash; and humorous.

Attendance on the night was lower than usual due to threatening weather, and we’re sure that several more dioramas were intended to be entered. (Those modelers are invited to bring in their work to the March meeting.) But the ones brought in on this evening were both clever and beautifully-constructed. Awards were presented using “Peoples’ Choice” voting, rather than any formal scoring system. Without further ado, let’s show the dioramas and say a few words about how each was constructed.

 

Fig 1- Cliff Aaker’s Station Scene, Platform Side

Fig 1 shows Cliff Aaker’s O-scale scratch-built station scene. The story: A boy is tempted to pet a frisky dog, left, but his mother, center, is unsure about it. Another pair of passengers, apparently more sure about their petting, awaits the train on the right. Note the stationmaster visible in the window; to see his other side, just turn Cliff’s diorama around …

 

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Skagit Valley and Whidbey Island Clinic

4D HO Modular Group Meeting on Saturday, Mar 11, 2017

Written by Cliff Green
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Pete Gulick

The 4D HO Modular Group will hold its next regular member no host breakfast meeting on March 11, 2017 at 8:00 to 10:00 am at Mitzels American Kitchen in Kent. The meeting is open to anyone interested. Larry Sloan will present a program titled “Modern Layout Lighting”. For further information, contact information is on our web site 4dho.com.

(Editor’s note: The HO Modular Group has an excellent series of presentations at their monthly meetings and are well worth attending.)

HO Modular Group

Report from East Side Get Together, Redmond, Feb. 2017

Written by Chip Van Gilder
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Article and photos by Syd Schofield

 

Dave Cook presided, calling the group to order at 7:00pm for the evening’s clinic and general model railroad items if interest. Recollections of recent model train shows were discussed, as well as similar upcoming events.

Russ Segner gave an outstanding video show of his Sn3 scale model railroad, “Building the Coal Creek Lumber Company.” Similar portions of the presentation were shown on a recent local afternoon TV show. The layout occupies a “spare” upstairs room in his house with the associated comforts. Many of the structures on the point-to-point layout were adaptations of real world examples and constructed from raw modeling materials. Much of the track was hand-laid, the scenery was custom fabricated, and the backdrop was hand-painted. With the addition of a DCC system, Russ was able to create a unique miniature world for realistic multiple train operation.

 

A fine group met together for the February meeting, with Russ Segner presenting the clinic.

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Eastside Get-Together (Redmond) Clinic

Westside Clinic in Bremerton on Tuesday, Feb 14th, Steve Hauff Presentation

Written by Cliff Green
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Bill Hupé

Steve Hauff from Port Angeles has volunteered another one of his presentations on trains he has ridden. I thank him for all his sharing. It may be the only way we see these trains.

We are still in need of volunteers for clinic presentations.

What would you like to see in our Clinics? Would a local layout tour be of interest? Or how about we bring a project and tools, getting help on the project from other members? I would love for someone to show me how to upgrade my cars by installing stirrups and ladders.

As usual there will be a “Show and Tell” and “Model of the Month”. Bring your family or a friend who is interested in model railroading. Refreshments will be provided.

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Westside Local Clinic

Air Eraser, Tacoma N Scalers Clinic Report, Feb. 2017

Written by Chip Van Gilder
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by Chip Van Gilder

The group met at the Fircrest Recreation Center on February 2, 2017 with 11 attendees. There was at least one new visitor and several regulars were noticeably missing.

The first order of business was to review new products available. Then each person around the table shared their recent and current activities in the hobby. A couple of the samples brought to the meeting are shown in the photos below.

After a brief break, Mike Stepner gave a clinic on how he uses an “air eraser” in his modeling and some of the techniques he uses.

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Tacoma N Scalers Clinic

Mt Vernon Clinic Report – February 2017

Written by John O'Connell
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by Al Carter, Bob Stafford and John O’Connell

Ex-Great Northern Station, Bellingham

Nineteen hearty souls braved the worst weather of the winter to attend the Clinic. Ted Becker opened the meeting by welcoming our honored guest, Bob Stafford.

Announcements

The idea of having a Saturday clinic in May was suggested and the proposal was well received. This would be a joint operation with our sister clinic in Oak Harbor. Three possible formats were discussed and Multiple Demonstrations won hands down, or I should say hands up. Several people volunteered to do demonstrations. Details to follow, but reserve the day.

Feb 25/26          United Northwest Model RR Club Swap Meet, Monroe. Click here.
Mar 9                  Mt Vernon Clinic, Bring a project, materials, and tools and work on it and get your questions answered by the local experts. Well, not experts, but experienced modelers……
Apr 13                 Mt Vernon Clinic, Mini-Clinics. Watch this space for details.
May 11                No Thursday evening Clinic!
May 13                Multiple Demonstration, all day event at the Mt Vernon Senior Center. Details coming soon.
Jun 7-10              Pacific Northwest Region Convention, Spokane. Click here for details.

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Mt Vernon Clinic

Better Buildings, Tacoma Clinic Report, February 2017

Written by Dale Kraus
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Dale Kraus, Photos by Author

 

Twenty-two modelers were on hand Thursday evening for the Tacoma Clinic, hosted by Al Babinski. The topic for the evening was “Kitbashing/Building Better Buildings”, presented by Greg Price. Greg’s approach is simple and effective. It consists of:

  1. Choose a kit to fit your purpose. Modify it if necessary.
  2. Build a mock-up and see if it fits.
  3. Paint everything before assembling the walls. Use muted colors outside and black inside.
  4. If not lit, use a black view block. If lit seal light leaks.
  5. Put lots of detail on the roof.
  6. Weather everything.

Greg giving the clinic.

Greg has graciously allowed us online access to his presentation, click here to view the PDF (warning – large file, 28 MB in size).
 

The modeler’s showcase had five entries.

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Tacoma Clinic

Eastside Get Together, Redmond Clinic, on Feb 16

Written by Russ Segner
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by Russ Segner

We meet Thursday evening, February 16, at the Redmond Old Schoolhouse Community Center (Map) beginning at 6:45 PM.

Our program will be a description of the planning and construction of my layout, the Coal Creek Lumber Company, which was recently featured on KOMO TV. Here is the link:

http://seattlerefined.com/lifestyle/we-took-a-ride-on-a-tiny-train-and-loved-it-all-aboard/

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Eastside Get-Together (Redmond) Clinic