If God is in the Details, the Devil is in my Airbrush

...or maybe my airbrush has a bad case of kidney stones, maybe it just doesn't get enough fiber. Truth is I think it's possessed, clogged with hatred for me and my pursuit of model building. Now I remember why I hadn't picked up an airbrush in twenty years, I can't stand the things and the feeling is mutual. It's single, mean spirited goal is to rattle my nerves and put dark thoughts in my head as to what I'm going to do with it. Put it on the head of a rail and wait for a train to roll over it? Put it in the microwave oven? Toss it in the wood stove and watch it beg for forgiveness?

Then the compressor, evil's sidekick, who is lazy, loud and intolerable. Why would you be designed to vibrate so much and so freely that you could walk yourself across a table and throw yourself on the floor, taking all manner of paint bottles and cups with paint with you. If you want to hurt yourself, fine, just don't bring everyone else with you. Besides, I'm going to do some damage to you anyway, compressor. You're this close to being next summers boat anchor. I'll tie a cinder block to you just in case, to ensure you a muddy tomb amongst the dying kelp and rotting fish. Like I said, dark thoughts.

My intentions were utterly free of malice I'll have you know; I just wanted to paint some plastic walls white. I tried at first using a can of spray paint, but those buggers are just the airbrushes spiteful minions. Clogged spray tips. I even tried changing them out from other cans. Useless. Look at the photo above, that was taken in my workshop. Do you know how difficult it is to clean your layout of brimstone? And that sulfur smell?

So, I embarked on a painting session filled not with an even coat of Poly Scale Refer White, but a blood red event where growls and grunts became words I can't repeat here. The forces of darkness were against me. All I could recall was Hulk Smash!

But hey, it's Christmas Eve Day and I know that since before the dinosaurs, air brushes have worked fine, if you use them properly. I'm sure even the Geico cavemen can use an airbrush better than I. They must have read some cave painting wall that mentioned properly thinning paint. That's all it really takes and of course cleaning it properly after each use - never my strong point; you should see my paint brushes. Each one looks like they were used to scrub barnacles from an old boat hull or really bad teeth.

I could learn to respect the airbrush and all of its easily cloggable parts and passages. I could even grow enough, be mature enough not to beat my compressor with a crow bar. I might even evolve enough to bolt it to my work surface so it doesn't wander. I'll thin my paints until they're water thin. I'll take my airbrush apart after each use and clean it like a tiger leaves a carcas. But I'll always know that with every painting session, evil lurks and that I've made a deal with the devil.

Pizzeria Transplant

We've barely had a moment to rest here in our workshop, preparing and packing Christmas orders and getting out HT Gordon's. HT Gordon's begins shipping this week, it's a big crunch but we'll get it done.

I did manage a small break, and work on the small scene in the pic above. The pizzeria is from our sold out kit Harrington's Bar & Enzo's Pizza, released in 2003. Unfortunately I dropped the original diorama, face down..Harrington's Bar broke the fall, sparing the little pizza shop. So it's been sitting on a shelf collecting dust...since I haven't built any structures yet for my modern era layout, I figured I could make it work some how. It needs some more details, a proper road sign, figures...but so far I likes the sparseness of the scene and it's the tone I want to see through the entire layout. The empty lot across the street will be the site of a liquor store/cash checking joint, with lots of signage and a few folks up to no good. It'll have to wait until after the holidays...

In the meantime we'll continue with kit production and shipping. Somewhere in there, we'll be working on the next few kits, hopefully at least one new kit will be ready for Springfield. The next kit is going to be a gr- ...almost gave it away....stay tuned for some unique, new, easy to build kits in January and February!

Two Layouts...

I finally had a moment to work on my layout(s). It's been a while , probably since summer time...anyhow, this spurt was prompted by a couple things. First was a major cleanup of the layout room, wherein when I was done said to myself, "there's a layout in here, in fact there are two." The other was recieving two locomotives that I sent out for sound installations, once I powered them up, I was hooked again...If you haven't read previous blogs, one of the layouts features a modern day railroad, BNSF and CSX and the other a 1950's / New England / New Haven RR theme. Both are small, but satisfy my desire to model both eras. One of the best benefits is that when you get stuck on one, or are waiting for things to dry, you can jump on the other. In the photos above you can see I have been working on a muddy river scene in Iowa along a BNSF mainline, then jumped to some rock work on a New England harbor scene. If you've ever been in this dilema, where you've always modeled the steam/deisel era, and felt guilty when you felt like buying some Amtrak cars or an AC6000 locomotive, this is the answer. There are some compromises to be sure, but there always are in model railroading. My layout room is small to begin with, 11'x17'. The modern layout fits in the room like a U shape, while the 1950's era layout is only 2' x 10'. But my thinking was the modern layout would be sparse anyway, so easier to build lots of scenery. And the smaller layout more detailed but more manageable. I'll post some more pics soon, I have a feeling a lot will get done within the next few weeks.

Getting Ready for CSS09?

Yes. The days right after the show are the best time to brainstorm ideas on how to make the show better than before. So, Jimmy, Scott and I will be throwing around ideas this week about what worked and what did not, as well as suggestions from those who attended. Now with two shows behind us, we have a better sense of where the show needs to go.

For myself, my favorite part of the show was walking the aisles, pondering what I could do next on my layout. I poked in and out of some of the clinics when I could, and took a moment to watch Dave Revelia paint figures. I sat there only for about three minutes, but to me, that was the best three minutes of the show. With every model I build I always feel the next one needs to be better and I'm still learning.

Observing Dave work defines a benchmark for me, beyond just saying to myself I need to get better at it. It requires some discipline I still do not fully posses - firstly, more patience. My problem is I often spend time designing the next thing, while building a current model, so if it takes to long I start to rush things; resulting in sloppy modeling that's no different in techinque than the last one. Second, I need to remind myself what my mother always told me, if you have the right tools you can do anything - I need to purchase an optivisor, some more good brushes and paints. Then I just need to set aside some time and have at it. So those three minutes were worth all the effort it took in preparing for the show. Those three minutes will define all of the next efforts of my modeling and beyond. Hopefully it will show. We'll see.

In the meantime, some rest is in order. The last three months have been non stop production, show prep, etc...right now I'm in a bit of a zombie like state; dead tired, but still walking around trying to do something...

So thanks to all of you who attended the show and stopped by our table. Special thanks to Norm Wolf, Angela Reed and Danny Head for helping us breakdown our display. Hope to see you all next year.

Texting? Are You Kidding?

This photo was taken during our trip last spring, somewhere west of Albany, NY. I'm not sure when this wreck took place but it appears to be relatively new. Further down the tracks were several more cars and piles of wheel sets. I'm assuming it wasn't a big wreck regarding fatalities as I thought I would have heard about it in the news; not like the one recently in California where the engineer was, as confirmed today, text messaging while at the throttle. This is not only a terrifying idea, it's a tragic reality for the twenty five people who were killed and their families and friends. Firstly it's absurd to me that technology in 2008 could not have prevented this accident on one of our oldest inventions, the railroad. Even more perverse, is that modern technology, the ability to text message took part in the collision. Of course the cause itself is not the technology, but the person at the controls.

This is not the first time this has happened. Quite recently in the Boston area a few months ago, a commuter train collided with another; the engineer on her cell phone at the time. She did not survive.

So fine, people make mistakes and technology can't save us from everything. But what I'm also concerned with is the lack of outrage. Twenty five people lost their lives because someone was texting. No doubt it was trivial; "Hey what's up?" or "Do you want me to pick up some milk on the way home?" Whatever it was it could have waited. Nothing at that moment was more important than the job at hand; operating a train safely. I know we're all preoccupied with the economy, the election and so much more, but shouldn't this be a major concern?

It's bad enough NASA astronauts are flying the space shuttle drunk, but I don't drive a space shuttle, I drive a car. Every week there are a few occasions where I have to honk my horn to get the attention of someone not looking straight ahead, while they dial their cell phone. Recently in New York City, within the span of one week, there were three incidents where drivers drove up onto the sidewalks, mowing a few people down while talking on the phone. What's it going to take for something to be done? More enforcement? Public service announcements?

I'm sure there are many things that could be done, like mentioning it in this blog. The best thing an individual can do, is not dial and drive. It's possible this rant sounds like a lecture, preachy. Maybe. But I don't think so; if you were on a train, reading the newspaper after a long hard day at work and suddenly a freight train plowed into the car you were sitting in you'd think otherwise. If you were lucky enough to survive and witnessed, what I can only imagine as an absolute crushing horror, I think you would re-examine your driving habits if you found out that all of those people whom you chatted with on the train, sat next to; were maimed and killed because someone was texting a trivial message.

H.T.Gordon's...Nearly Finished

We're finally at that moment were a diorama comes together; where figures and detail add action and story. Scenery and vegetation "grow" and begin to define a place. Vehicles and signs will be added next, defining time and place. One thing we can tell you about the kit is that it is a singles structure, but does have a dual function. Maybe we'll get into that by the next blog...stay tuned. Back to work...

The Belt House

About a year and a half ago, Scott Mason took Anna Maria and I to see an abondaoned, but still standing nail factory in Wareham, MA. It consists of several out buildings, one of which is the shingled building above. I was immediately taken by the small structure on it's roof, a belt house. It's a small outcrop of the structure, built to accomodate belts to run machinery as well as access for maintenance and repairs. At some point I would have to use it in an upcoming kit and we were able to incorporate it into our new limited run kit, H.T. Gordon's, it's not a nail factory but a - hey, wait a minute, I'm not telling, I almost slipped there. The top photo is our version of the belt hosue on H.T. Gordon's....

H.T. Gordon's

Above is a very cropped, very unrevealing photo of our next limited run kit, H.T. Gordon's. For the moment it's top secret. We always prefer a little anticipation before releasing a kit, so in the vault it stays. (Also what you are seeing is the only part of the structure that's finished.) I can tell you it's a structure we've been sketching for a couple of years now and was just waiting for the right time and right industry that would suit it.

At one point it was going to be a Pine Tar Soap factory, but the design for Decker's was being drawn at the same time, and that was that. So I have been sitting on this for three years or so, modifying this wall, changing that window arrangement until it just looks right.

I recently built a mock up of the entire structure and ended up staring at it for three weeks, looking at angles, views, what worked and what didn't. Mostly proportion is what I look at the most; balancing elements like exterior stairs, building add-ons, roof pitch...and including a variety of building elements. At this time I'm also sketching the site plan, how the building is going to be arranged on the diorama, what kind of setting...water? Main Street? I still don't know.

As I move on to the next stage of building I'll post some more pics of H.T. Gordon's.

DCC, DC, DUH.

So, I've been quickly learning that HO locomotives are almost as hard to find as limited run structure kits. I thought I could just look on the Athearn or Atlas website and just order what I was looking for, only to find out that the runs are short, get sold out, discontinued and require reservations. I guess I haven't picked up many locomotives in the last couple of years and hadn't payed attention. I also have a habit of skimming text when I read ads, because this past week I acquired two new locomotives from Broadway Limited's Blue Line, a BNSF SD40-2 and a CSX AC6000, my seemingly walnut sized brain failed to read "DC Sound, DCC Ready". I was too excited by the fact that these locomotives were even available; I assumed they were DCC Ready with Sound. A slight distinction discovered when I tried to program them...anyhow, in the future I'll read more carefully., maybe take a Hooked on Phonics class... in the meantime I've sent them off to have decoders installed.

The above pic is from the layout, Photoshop background...once some more scenery is in, I'll take some wider shots. I'm also still trying to decide if I'm just modeling a region in Illinois were BNSF and CSX roam together, or model two areas, Illinois and New Mexico, even though they would be a few feet apart...

Outdoor Modeling

We set up our outdoor modeling tent again this summer. It's great to be working outside. The only drawback is having to tote supplies back and forth. Still, it's nice to have canopy glue on windows drying in the sun in less than an hour and getting as much fresh air as possible when using paints and washes. We've even hooked up a 20 watt solar panel to run the laptop and lights. Here on the table you can see a few wall sections from our next Limited Run kit #140, due out in November, H.T. Gordon's...that's all we'll say about it for now. In the meantime, I'm headed back to the tent.

Rolling Stock Rules

I'm trying to set some new rules for myself, working on both my present day layout and my 1950's layout. One of them is that rolling stock only goes on the tracks if it's weathered. In the past I've had 95% of the cars and locomotives on the layout remain as they were out of the box. This will also address another issue which is rolling stock accumulation. I have way to many boxes of cars and locomotives that are unweathered and unused. While i do need to build a fleet of modern cars, I have more than enough freight cars for my '50's layout. So it's just a matter of weathering those. And no new modern cars will be purchased unless the previous purchases are weathered. I'm not trying to pigeon hole myself with strict rules though, just trying to take a more methodical, organized approach to my layout building. My most recent weathering attempts are the two cars and locomotive above.

Welcome to Modern Times....

So work's begun on my present day layout, some track is down; ballast too. I'm able to run my CSX MP15AC switcher around a bit. I started working in my first industry, a small scrap metal yard. I pretty much borrowed the idea from Lance Mindhiem's East Rail layout. It seemed like a quick, easy industry to model and it's placement fills an area between the track and the edge of the layout. I thought I had gathered enough scrap parts to make a decent pile, but clearly I probably need about 6 times what I have. I'll just keep adding more until it looks right.

Modeling the present seems, to me anyway, much more difficult then modeling the past. I suppose it because it's a language I have been working in. For instance, every time I begin to plan a building I'm thinking clapboard, beat up wooden fence, lots of details, etc...instead I need to be thinking sparse, metal siding, concrete block, some details...when I look at an empty space on my layout I can quickly visualize some ram shackle building crammed into whatever available shape I can. Fortunately all I need to do is leave the basement and go drive around and look at modern buildings and details for reference. I can't wing it like I would with the character driven, detailed buildings I'm used to. It's an interesting challenge for sure. There are times when I think this whole endeavor might be to boring, plain - but when I see examples like East Rail, I feel otherwise. More than anything I like the idea of doing something different in model railroading.

And when I get stuck, I'll get a jump on my 1950's layout just a few feet away. I'm looking forward to switching gears between each layout.

P.S. If you haven't checked out the new Craftsman Structure Show kit, visit www.css08.com.

And if you haven't seen our new video features on our site, check out http://www.foslimited.com/VIDEOS_ALL.htm It's new for us so bear with us with the shakey camera work...(we're getting a better tripod)....the quality will improve, hopefully.

Layout Changes...Again

I've gone and done it again, I ripped up whatever semblance of a layout I had; for several reasons...firstly I was not happy with either the track plan or the peninsula configuration. Mainly the fact that the peninsula had no back ground. Since it wasn't populated with tall buildings or scenery, it failed to convey any sense of distance.

Another reason is that in the last six months I've changed my mind about certain things regarding scenes and selective compression. It seems selective compression doesn't work for me, especially when modeling in a small space of 17'x11'. I think I'm better off modeling a scene that is the same town or idustry for 8' to 12'. I've been looking at the work of Lance Mindhiem and Pelle Soeborg. Both of these modelers have done so much in such small space, and the results are much more believeable.

Another quandry I've been facing for the last six months is the fact that I want to model present day equipment, especially since our trip out west....so what to do....well, tear up your layout, around 3:00 am , that was my choice. It all came apart in about an hour. All of the bench work was saved and doing so revealed the solution to my problem. The original plan looked like an "E" more or less, so I pulled the center peninsula away leaving a "U" shape...

The U shape will become a modern day layout(CSX/Amtrak) and the 12 'peninsula will become a 1950's waterfront layout. This makes much more sense for me...The 1950's layout will feature more detailed structures and craftsman kits, smaller...it will take less time to complete and be more of a diorama. The modern day layout will be sparse, but larger and more operational.

I can't tell you enough how much of an influence Lance Mindhiem's CSX shelf layout http://www.lancemindheim.com/ and Pelle Soeborg's Danville and Donner Pass layout have become. http://www.soeeborg.dk/railroading.html Take a look at these, even if you don't model present day, look at the use of roads, how wide and expansive they are, they continue, on Pelle's layout, for ten feet or more. On Lance's layout look at the four foot long warehouse. The sparseness of it adds more realism without super detailing, which for me seems much more atainable as far as getting a layout(s) going.

Other than that we have a new kit out, the Mud Flap Cafe & Truck stop...this was fun to build, we hope you'll enjoy it too. The picture above is found on the internet, in case some of you want to get inspired and modfiy your truck stop kit.

Back from out West

We've returned from our vacation a few days ago, still adjusting to being back. Aside from a few glitches with Amtrak, the trip was great. we took the train to Denver, then rented a car, completing a 2000 mile loop through Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and back to Denver for two weeks. When we weren't driving we were hiking at a few National Parks; Bandelier, Grand Canyon, Bryce, Zion and Arches. All of which are amazing worlds unto themselves. We could have spent a week in each...we hiked several miles a day, several times ascending the equivelent of a 50 story building, except in 90 degree plus heat with 3 liters of water on our backs.

So the train trip. While I'm a big fan of train travel, Amtrak just doesn't have it togther and I understand it's not thier fault. They've been underfunded since inception in 1971...anyhow, 2 hours into our trip, in the Sunnyside Yards in Queens, just three minutes from Penn Station, the pantograph blew off the roof of the AEM-7 locomotive pulling us. The amazing part was that we got to see it as the twisted wreckage slammed into the side of our car right where we were sitting completely in flames. It poked a hole in the roof, resulting in a leak a few rows ahead of us, it was raining. The short versions is ,it took over 4 hours to untangle us from the over head wires, the repair crew only armed with a hacksaw. The irony was we were stopped right in the heart of Sunnyside Yards, next to the mechanical shops and this was the best they could do. Additionally there were dozens of idle locomotives a few tracks over. why not just cut the locomotive loose and get another one? I asked the same question..."only ten more minutes." 4 1/2 hours actually...so we missed our connecting train to Chicago, they put us up for the night in a hotel across from Penn Station, the Hotel Pennsylvannia. I wouldn't take a mutant goat with the bubonic plague to this hotel...I've slept under dumpsters behind Taco Bell on the Jersey Turnpike that were more comfortable and cleaner....alright, exagerating there but you get the idea....we got through it, caught our train the next day to Chicago, and then Denver.

Coming back, waiting at Denver's Union Station our train was delayed 4 hours, needless to say we missed our connection in Chicago this time...there was no way we were going to stay in another Amtrak issued hotel. Fortunately there was another train that would get us a s far as Penn, where a family member was kind enough to pick us up and drive us to Connecticut, saving us an entire day.

But I must add that once on the train, it's a great ride. I brought several books to read but didn't touch one, I just stared out the window, nearly the entire time...so much to see. I took some pics, though not too many are clear, as the windows aren't clean enough. And while on the trip found lots of structures that might end up as kits in the near future.

The amount of train action is astounding, every other mile it seemed a freight was going by. Mostly BNSF, Union Pacific...some old BN units and lots of old Santa Fe paint schemes flying by. The coal trains were endless. Now all I want to do is rip down my layout and model the BNSF...

Decker's...

Decker's Tar Soap has been on the layout for a couple of months now, and is in need of some more detail and clutter. Recently the road and fence where added, in the foreground will be a block of buildings that make up the bulk of the small town in this area. To teh right of Decker's you'll notice an empty spit of land that extends towards the track bumper. I plan on adding a small extension from decler's and an open loading dock. Right now it seems a bit sparse...once the town buildings start to sprout I'll feel better about the scene, right now it's a little anemic.

In other news...we'll be briefly closing shop for vacation, from May 5th to May 22nd. Any orders placed on line during this time will be shipped after we return...

Happy Birthday Jimmy!

This past Sunday I had the privilege of taking part in a birthday celebration for Jimmy Deignan of craftsmankits.com. The plan was to "lower" Jimmy in his wheelchair, down into Dick Elwell's basement to see his amazing Hoosac Valley RR layout. Along for the ride were Scott Mason, Dick Elwell, Bob Van Gelder & Carl Lasky. Additonally my wife Anna Maria, as well as Pat Mason, Jacynta Deignan, Elaine Van Gelder, Sandy Lasky and Sandy Elwell were there as well. Thanks to Carl and his expert rigging, a few hundred feet of rope and two jeeps to which all was tied to, the operation went smoothly. Not only did Jimmy get to see Dick's great layout, Dick was kind enough to host a full operating session , with everone participating. For the most part all went well, save for one head on collision...

We've been both busy and not busy here, after dealing with two weeks of bronchitis. All is well now, but if you can avoid bronchitis, do so, it's a real bummer. But during that time we solidified designs for some of our upcoming kits and also announced our latest kit, the Ludlow Building.

Please take note also that will be breifly closing our shop for vacation from May 5th to May 22nd. Any orders placed during this time will ship after May 22nd.

New Kits for Late March

Two new HO kits will be available within the next two weeks or so. The one above, Eleanor's Quick Lunch Diner and Calamus Milling. We'll be posting pics and information once the kit is stocked on the shelves and we'll send out an email letting you know when. The diner also includes an outhouse, fencing and a roadside sign. Calamus Milling is a background flat.

More later this week...

Department of Docks Progress

The Department of Docks scene is coming along.I've added some waves, thoough they still need to be drybrushed white. I've also applied some more scenery and a small utility shed, that you might recognize as our recent free kit offer. I'll be adding more details here as well as another structure where the empty lot is, it'll be a maintenance building that will house a shipsmith as well as a carpenter. I have the walls for this structure complete, at the moment I'm waiting for some canopy glue to dry...in between this structure and the little shed I have to come up with some sort of crane/ hoist to get buoys in and out of the water. Dave Revelia's boat repair diorama keeps coming to mind. In it he modeled a hoist at the edge of a dock built from wood pilings and steel I - Beams. It might have to be something like that as opposed to a crane that swings out like the Tichy jib crane, ; there's just not enough room.

I've also installed Decker's Tar Soap. I carefully ripped it off it's diorama base and have transplanted it on the water's edge.

A finished track plan is in the works which I'll post soon, so you can get an idea of what's what. By the next post I should have that new Docks building together.

A Building Boom, Sort of...

I've commited myself to finishing or starting a new structure for my layout each week. So far I've been able to keep up with that promise. At the same time we've been working on new kit designs, shuffling and reshuffling which kits will get made during the rest of the year. In the meantime, look for a new kit mid-March. We've also been working on Scott Mason's Direct Buy layout here and there.

The layout is finally beginning to define itself, I've only been working on the pennisula which will be a fictitous branch line of the New Haven RR located between Mystic , CT and Westerly, RI. Dubbed the Salt Neck Branch, it consists of three small islands connected by fill, all of which serve the seafood industry, mainly oysters. It's much easier to proceed on the layout once it has a name and a purpose. I think my current rate of progress may be in large part to this decision making. Now I know what the major industries are and what minor businesses would be needed to serve those industries. It takes the guessing out of what this or that should be and narrows it down. Being that I've chosen oysters, I'll include at least three major oyster processing structures. Oyster middens( piles of shucked oyster shells) will be a focus of several detail scenes, like coal piles on a coal branch. This will aid in underlining the branch's purpose.

Beyond the pennisula, the layout travels around the walls and will depict, so far( I change my mind often in this regard) Brooklyn and Queens NY where the New Haven met with car floats at the East River and New York Harbor. Of course I am compressing this into 11'x17', so every choice affects another.

I recently came to terms with the fact that the Brooklyn portion could not accomodate a car float operation, whic was important in defining another aspect of the layout, which was the handling of NY City subways cars that were delivered by car float. This was my way of using all those great new subway cars by Lifelike/Walthers , without having to model the subway. The cars were taken off the floats and delivered to the SBK, South Brooklyn Railway, which interchanged with the subway lines to deliver the cars. But I'll manage to include it somehow, by extending the layout to operate just above my work bench in a section, 12" deep; essentially a shelf that will have only the car float operation. This works out even better, as it will create more distance between the float and the yard. But this is months away, maybe longer.

The Hoosac Tunnel and the Perfect Scene

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to take part in an operating session on Dick Elwell's amazing Hoosac Valley RR. I met up with Scott Mason and a group of some of Dicks regular operators. I'd seen the layout over the years in magazines, and recently in Great Model Railroads, so I was familiar with certain scenes and towns. But I wasn't prepared for how vast a landscape he'd created, something you can only realize in person. Dick has a talent for creating scenes that are virtually uncompromised, uncompressed where there's nothing for nearly 15 feet except for the track winding through the landscape. His most recent work is in the photo above, a single structure, a small but very detailed, character rich depot stands alone along a stretch of track 10 feet or longer. Many of us, especially with limited space, are often tempted to fill every inch of space with track and buildings, giving up a real sense of distance. Dick is disciplined this way, letting the landscape roll as it would. One of my tasks during the session was taking a thru freight through the entire layout, from Essex to Pittsfield. By the time I was done, I'd felt I'd been to new places and towns; it was like a convinicing movie where you get so wrapped up in the characters, you think you experienced what happened on screen. Needless to say, on the long ride home all I could think about was how I could apply this to my own layout. While my layout is probably 1/12th the size of the Hoosac Valley, I think I can proceed with the idea in mind not to cram as much as possible into a scene.

After visiting with Dick, Scott took me on a small tour only Scott could give, to see one of the portals of the Hoosac Tunnel. First we endured a ride up a mountain as snow was coming down and I couldn't see much over the guardrail. When visbility did come, all it revealed was that we were hundreds of feet up. It was worth the ride however. It's a an awesome sight to see, especially when Scott fills you in on the history of it's construction, it's probably one of the greatest engineering feets given the time it was built. If you're ever in the area, take a ride up to see it.

Waves and Walls

I recently had the opportunity to get away for the weekend; a quick overnight to Newport, RI. While there we took a ride down Ocean Drive, a scenic road that brushes up against the Atlantic. On this particular day, winds were at 40 mph and the temperature below zero, painfully below zero. But, I had to get some pictures-I'm trying to build a reference for rocks and water. The more I am confronted with modeling challenges, I find the real thing to be the best source. I had previously tried my hand at some wave work on my Dept. of Docks diorama. While satisfactory, something was missing - action, real wave action. Waves, especially those hitting surfaces like rock, are a dynamic explosion of energy. While I wasn't out to model a 40mph day, my wave work was timid in comparison to a calm day.

The trick I think was, as with most things and modeling, not to be afraid; not to be afraid of screwing it up as well as using broader strokes. As I was in fact using a brush to apply the GE Clear Silicon to create the waves, I let my hand be looser, less rigid. Most of the time miniature work demands precise, controlled movements, but these are waves. I wasn't applying decals or adding those lightbulbs from hell to one of those little lampshades. Waves, they were, and they should crash and break at the shore, on the rocks. I first drew a bead of silicon, mostly at an angle to the shore, then poke and shaped the wave with a small 1/4" brush, drawing out peaks. Some of the peaks came to too fine a point, wispy. These were cut off once the silicon dried. Then I dry brushed the waves with white paint. Lastly I brushed on a coat of clear gloss medium, to give it a wetter look than bare silicon.

Reagrding the photo with the wall, that water could use some work, while it won't be as rough as the other scene as it's a cove, it just needs a little more action. I have some more stone walls to install, which are from Russ Greene at New England Brownstone, which have some of the the best stonework around. If you haven't already been to his site or tried his products, take a look at http://www.nebrownstone.com/ .

Mock Ups, A New Home for the Department of Docks

The Department of Docks has found a home atop a rocky outcrop. This is how we had originally imagined the setting for our DOD diorama, but somehow ended up with a flatter scene at the time. There's still much work to be done. At the moment the diorama is not attached, and will have to be blended into the layout. A second building will be added as well, to the left; you can see a cardboard footprint marking it's location. It'll be a workshop and maintenance building, tending to small repairs for docks and aids to navigation. So, I'll have to come up with some kind of crane and dock in the small cove to the left.

The third pic is a mock up of a block of buildings, just to get a sense of how wide and tall the structures can be. I'll start those buildings soon.

At the top is a pic of our Brewer's Coaling Platform(discontinued)installed on the layout. The water column is from Tichy, the stone building in the back is an Ed Fulasz kit, still to be finished.

Unbuilding the Department of Docks; Springfield

It's the day after the big train show in Springfield and I couldn't be happier, for several reasons.

I, as are many in the business of model railroading, am always concerned about its future and prosperity. Many believe the hobby is dying. With decreasing numbers in magazine subscriptions for example and dwindling hobby shops, that could appear to be the case. Additionally the economy is shaky to say the least and prices are increasing everywhere. With that in mind, it was with a watchfull eye that we attended Springfield. Fortunately turnout for the show was exceptional and there seemed to be little, if any hesitation on the behalf of product hungry modelers. And with the addition of a fourth building to the Springfield experience, the outlook looks promising. That said, we couldn't keep our new Bikini Car Wash kit on the table! I'd like to chalk it up to good kit design, but I think everyone was too caught up in staring at those partially clad Prieser figures. I think at one point we had to wipe some drool of the diorama! Come on guys, they're less than an inch tall...

Anyhow, it was a fantastic show and good to see so many of the modelers who build our kits. It's great speaking with everyone, getting lots of input and feedback as well.

Speaking of kits, another reason I'm glad the show's over, other than having some time to take a break, is that we can undo our Department of Docks diorama. I've been waiting for this all year. Since the kit will most likely be sold out by the time we do our next show (CSS in November), we no longer need the pilot model diorama as a selling tool. So, we can install it on our layout. I've already removed the main building, surgically cutting under the walls until it broke free. Fortunately I only applied glue in just a few spots, just for this occassion. The reason for this unbuilding is that I was unable to just drop in the diorama. There just didn't seem to be the right spot and I didn't want to compromise on forcing it. And, I'd like to make some improvments and additions to the scene. In the pics above you can see the removal and relocation of the main building. I haven't yet settled on final placement; that'll take a few hours of just staring at it and moving it around, like a dog looking for a place to sit. I'll keep you posted.

Two Structures

Two new structures have made it on our layout. Though not quite finished, it's nice to see some actual buildings. With just two structures, they quickly begin defining the setting and era. Both are freelanced. The larger building, Water Street Marine Supply is missing roof detail. Eventually a billboard and roof access shed will be added. The smaller building is missing signage and details, but will also be a maritime business. In the foreground, the seawall will eventually be hidden by the next structure on the list; it will sit out on the water on pilings. It'll have to wait until after the Springfield Show.

Speaking of Springfield, we'll be previewing two new kits one is, sort of, a gas station, the other a small retail shop. Both are HO, much to the shigrin of N, S, and O Scalers who have patiently waited for some kind of release from us in those scales. Hopefully within the next few months we'll have something. We've been trying to catch up and keep up with the last few shows and finally Springfield. Now with break in shows we can focus on many new kit ideas for 2008.

We'll post pics of these two new kits very soon, or come and see them at Springfield where we'll have a few on hand for sale.