Today was the setup day for the National Train Show, so I didn't make it to any clincs at all. On the other hand, I got to see many hobby manufacturers and retailers as they set up their displays and also many of the modular layouts being assembled - there are two very large FREEMO layouts as well as a huge N-Trak layout.

 I did promise part two didn't I, so here it is, sorry I got sidetracked!

While the leaders in our hobby have long moved on to "Supertrees" to create their verdant hills, I still find it expedient to use "puff ball trees" that is balls of polyfibre coated with coarse ground foam.  I used to glue them in place with either hot melt glue  or "tacky glue". Both certainly work.

 Fellow hobbyist and train fans,

Take two: I was almost done with this entry, when apparently I hit the wrong "mouse" button on my laptop... and goodbye it went. Sigh. It's been a long day.... a fun one, but a long one nonetheless. Also, I popped a Nyquil a little over a half hour ago, so I expect to be unconcious before long.

Welcome back to my experiences at the NMRA convention - and it was a pretty busy day.

The  first clinic I went to this morning was by Donald Harbin, titled "The Roots of Making Trees." Donald has discovered that the root structure of a 1 to 2 year old Ash sapling (grows in most states) makes a fine armature for building deciduous trees on. His layout is in the Fall time period, so he ends up with some pretty colorful trees:

Time to visit Grande Pacific and see the scenery taking shape.  You can do this too. http://www.grandepacificmodelrr.org/html/silverville_project.html   View step by step creation. Silverville Ind. area.

  Some time ago I've scratch build a 25-ton. This gave me the idea how
to change the Grandt Line kit to get a good runner. Here's my HowTo.
 

Attending Jeff Hanke's clinic on selectively compressing a prototype scene ... Here's the steps he recommends:

- Acquire prototype track plans and photos
- Define modeling space, dimensions and operational desires
- Collect prototype details - track names, old photos, old railroaders' knowledge/memories
- Determine the essence of the scene, the signature elements
- Determine haves and wants for the scene - haves are MUSTS
- Eliminate everything else
- Draw the plan - rework until essence is captured
- Build it and compare to model photos