Modeling general discussion
Painting Trains
Early on in my modeling life, there wasn't a box car or a locomotive on my layout that I did not personally paint and decal. I thought it looked more realistic, and it was something i could do in one evening or when i didn't have a layout. Its been some time since i looked for paint - decals (and dry transfers) I have more than i will ever use - but paint i find now is so very hard to find. Floquil is gone, and i don't know where Scalecoat is now.
Tehachapi Tangent Tools
Tehachapi has a lot of curves and grades as it crosses the mountain range, but it also has noticeable tangents in the valley and desert. The La Mesa Club’s layout includes several, 2 of which are shown below:
.jpg)
Stephan Cavanaugh WP Mushroom layout -questions
Stephan Cavanuagh's (Tracy, Calif.) Western Pacific MUSHROOM layout was shown in the January 2011 MRH. I just learned that Steve passed away in early January 2018. Does anybody know what happened to his layout? Was it dismantled or portions (Keddie Wye) sold or donated to a MR club or Museum. It was large layout (~20'x!30' with four levels). He built it in his 3 car garage.
Maybe other Western Pacific layout builders may know the situation. These are modelers like Jim Dias, Jim Providenza, Tommy Holt, etc.
Has anyone purchased an actual CNC Machine that is for Polystyrene?
I know there are some inexpensive alternatives to an actual CNC Machine, I'm just curious if anyone actually has purchased one? I have a Laser Cutter and 3D Printer, but as I look at all the projects I will have I'm wondering if I should also have an CNC Machine to cut ABS and Polystyrene sheets.
Thoughts?
Ken L.
Skills and Tools
There has been quite a bit of discussion recently about the skills needed by a person in the hobby and the possible demise of some of these skills over time. I think that there is another aspect of this issue that could stand some examination, and that is the area of the tools needed for participating in the hobby and the impact of their cost and availability.
"What are the Original skills"
I figured I'd start a thread on this for the sake of not hijacking.
Joe asked here: http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/33211?page=1
Have the original hobby skills of yesteryear become extinct (totally dead), or are they still around?
Can anyone define what these are?
Has the evolving hobby dumbed down our skills?
It has been pointed out that as the hobby has evolved to more available products as ready-to-run and moved away from the need to scratchbuild lots of things as in the early days, the skills needed to do the hobby are being dumbed down.
For example, being able to get ready-to-run rolling stock means the modeler is no longer familiar with how things track like they were when THEY built the rolling stock from scratch. That means if something doesn’t run right, they’re clueless in knowing how to fix it.
DEDICATE TO THE N SCALERS - Share your N scale model structure - N scale is a fine scale !
I'm modeling in Nscale.
I would dedicate this topic to N scale and especialy fine structures in N scale.
It's also a show case to illustrate how fun and interesting this scale could be.
Most of the topics on MRH are in HO or bigger scale, but don't forget N scale is the second or third scale used by trains modelers.
It's also because I often see no good reasons or really good arguments against N Scale.
Hot Metal/Bottle/Torpedo car question
Ok, I have a question about hot metal torpedo railcars. I am building a fleet of 8 axle cars for the L&KV museum’s Bethlehem Steel and trying to make them museum quality as well. I am in need of detailed information/photos on these cars, specifically the Bottle rotation mechanism and air brake details. Some of the Beth Steel cars didn’t have the cowling over the mechanism and I want to model this in the open as well. I do know for a fact that the cars that they used at the Bethlehem, PA facility did have air brakes, and would like info/pics on that as well.
>> Posts index
Navigation
Journals/Blogs
Recent Blog posts: