Gordon Garnhart

There were 30 people gathered at the Summer Hill Retirement Facility on Wednesday, October 10th. The program for the evening consisted of a series of mini-clinics on a variety of topics pertinent to model railroading. All of the presentations were enhanced by the use of a small television camera focused on the model being discussed and the hands of the presenter. The signal from the camera was fed into a laptop computer and from there to a digital slide projector which projected the action onto the wall. This arrangement enabled people in the back of the room to see the activity as well as those in the front row. Rich got the ball rolling with a demonstration on how to simulate a rusty surface on a model. The prototype surface would be iron or steel, of course. But the technique can be applied to any kind of surface on a model, such as the plastic body of an automobile.

Steve Jaffray explained how to apply special texture details to a model by using MicroMark’s rivet decals. Then Phil Gonzales covered several aspects of fine tuning freight car trucks. Rich Blake showed and discussed several kinds of switch stands.