Modeling topic
Visual Balance or How Much is TOO Much ?
Lance Mindheim writes in his book " How to Design a Small Switching Layout ", he identifies a problem or a " common " pitfall. Lance points out :
" One of the most common design errors is to over reach. That is trying to include more track or elements than the square footage of the scene can support visually. "
Can gear oil "go bad"
I've been in the (agonizingly slow) process of "reactivating" in the hobby over the last several months. I set up a sectional track Inglenook on my kitchen table last week, and while everything ran pretty well, I figure I should probably give my locos a good clean and lube before using them more regularly. In the box of stuff I pulled out of storage is a bottle of gear oil (A-West Turbo Oil, in case anyone is familiar with the product). It was stored in a cool, dry, dark place, but is at least 10, possibly 15 years old.
Dirty Rails
Recently, I read a letter to the editor of a print magazine that questioned why a club layout suffered from dirty rails. The editor offered cleaning solutions, but no help regarding why the rails might be dirty. IMO, no help at all.
Poor conductivity or ‘dirty rails’ is caused by four sources: Rail Composition, Environment, Rolling Stock, and Maintenance.
Rail Composition
worn off paint in ore cars
I was messing around with Vallejo steel airbrush paint a few days back and thought I would try to fix something that always bugs me: hopper cars with painted interiors, particularly ore cars and ballast cars. Pretty much as soon as they are loaded for the first time the paint is gone from the interior of these cars.
Spackle Saturday
I think I just found what I dislike the most when building a layout. Today was Spackle the facia Saturday. 260 feet of sanding and spackling, and I am 2/3 done with coat #2 ( out of three ). I am white, the room is white, the dogs are white, and the wife wants to know why there is "smoke" coming from the basement. Despite my best rube-goldberg vacum set up that dust goes everywhere...!!!!
I just keep telling myself, you only have to do it once..........
An old logging film
The kind of video you stumble over while doing a random walk through the internet... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0K5XwmGmuw
Why that complicated?
(sorry for my poor English, I'm foreigner from non English speaking country)
I like read of model railroading magazines. The US one are good for me. Because I'm located in central europe, then magazines are for info only. Our real railroad world is little different.
I'm surprised, how complicated systems are used in US. I know, that you are not using multi layer layouts, then you can use "that big" switch machine as Tortoise is. But I'm surprised, that you not use DCC and if, then so complicated. I created very simple DCC decoder.
Acrylic on wood | York Industries pt 1
Recently I lost the drive to build for a week or two. I have a feeling it had something to do with work, it is a busy time of year for farmers. Thing is I use this hobby like a medicine and sometimes you need the discipline to stay healthy. And for me, the self-diagnosed needs a few hours in the shop every week.
Model a wooden shed with that beautiful silver gray aged look
Hi! This week I´ve been modelling a wooden shed with that beautiful silver gray aged look outside keeping the inside as naturally aged wood.
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