New DVD Coming Soon

Our newest and 10th DVD will be available around October 1st. This latest DVD, Robert Seckler's Dutchess & Hudson Valley Railroads, features the layout of an accomplished modeler and a good friend. Rob's approach to modeling is fairly straight forward - just have fun. Ultimately, that's the goal of any hobby - we're dedicating our time and effort for sheer enjoyment. Sure there are plenty of other motivating factors for spending hours and dollars building models but it's all rather useless if what you are doing doesn't bring you happiness.

Rob builds much of the layout with a group of his friends. Along the way his family has gotten involved as well. In the end it's been something friends and family can be a part of, share ideas, measure progress, sharpen skills and laugh their way through it.

Hopefully all of us can extract that kind of satisfaction from our modeling. If you feel you're falling short in that department, this DVD might inspire you get to your workbench and have a good time building and creating.

New Fos Work Shop

It's taken a while but the new Fos Scale Models workshop is nearing completion. Stay tuned for more updates...

Watch The Closing Doors

As I'm in between layouts right now, the theme, era and subject matter for a new layout are all up for grabs. Concurrently my basement is about to be available as our new workshop nears completion; a stand alone structure converted from a garage will house Fos Scale Models -leaving the basement wide open for a number of uses; one of which could be a large model railroad.

The dilemma as always is what to model as my interests vary from Brooklyn waterfront circa 1955 to modern day BNSF across Iowa to the NYC Subway. In fact my ideal layout is one that would be less than half a foot deep and only feature a cutaway view of the subway tunnels, perhaps with the occasional street level entrances to stations. Additionally a section of elevated subway would be on the list as well.

Of all the choices the NYC subway is at the top of my list for numerous reasons. One of which is that it's seldom modeled. Even with all the new subway cars available from Life Like; I've yet to see a subway layout grace the pages of the RMC or MR. Second to that, is that for me, the subway represents a home away from home; I've spent most of my life using the subway for one reason or another - from one of my first childhood memories at the age of three, on a street that was completely dug up as they built the subway in the open, to be covered when completed by the street to my high school years on Second Avenue & 57th and then later in life at various city jobs.

Of late, living in Connecticut for the last 6 years, my trips to NY are sporadic, about every three weeks, so I'm not using the subway as much - but it's even more apparent when I'm back on the Downtown 6 or the cross town shuttle, I feel right at home. It's like a good friend who even if you don't see in a while, you pick up right where you left off.

And I like modeling things that have meaning to me. The modeling becomes an extension of my life; a three dimensional, sentimental photo album. So, the more substantive the meaning, the more likely I'll be motivated to work on it.

But as usual my modeling habits can turn on a dime, subject to change. In the meantime, I'll be considering how I might make HO scale turnstiles and token booths.

New Kit Coming Soon

Some door detail from our next kit due out in mid-June; stay tuned...

Almost there...

The final details are being added to the diorama of our next kit...The _____ ______. We should have some more finished pics ready by the weekend, stay tuned...

New Kit In Progress

The pilot model for our next kit is nearly complete. This kit features 4 individual businesses all in one structure to form a small mini block, about 4" x 9". We're looking at a mid-March release and will post more photos soon.

Also in the works for April, 2 new DVD's from our Model Railroad Masters series...stay tuned.

The Curse

As it is with many established towns and cities, there are always a few structures worthy of inspiration that you can take back to your modeling workbench. Living here in New England provides frequent opportunities to discover some great old building that would make a great structure or at the very least a part of the structure could find it's way into my modeling or into a new kit.

Other treasures include simply a nicely weathered brick wall or cobblestone street. But once a discovery like this has been made, I somehow curse these finds with my ambition, " I should get a picture of this."

Invariably I will tell myself that I've found a really interesting building, maybe it's sitting precariously on the waters edge, clapboards peeling, shingles all askew...or maybe it's an old gas station, closed years ago but completely left as it was ten or even 30 years ago. All that I ask of myself is to take a simple picture. Easy enough; if I remember to bring my camera - which I almost never have.

So my curse is one of three scenarios; the building in question is simply demolished before I can take a photo. Or, the building, with it's peeling paint and sagging walls, is fixed up and repainted or it's stripped of any details like trim and corbels and smothered in vinyl siding.

Many an awesome structure have been condemned, destroyed or disfigured and I will take the blame simply because I uttered, " I should take a picture of that."

Case in point: the Mystic River Drawbridge. If you know Mystic, CT, you know the bridge. It's paint has been peeling for a longtime, often more rust than paint covers the bridge. I've been meaning to photograph it in it's deteriorating state. For one thing, a rusty bridge makes for a nice photo subject. For another, it's got some great examples of what rust and peeling paint should look like.

The town of Mystic has been planning to rehabilitate the bridge for some time, and now that time has come. One lane has now been closed as repairs have begun. I suspect they are interested in the bridge not falling into the river. Damn them and their safety concerns. Who wants to take pictures of a clean, well maintained bridge?

I'm kidding of course, as both a driver and boater who goes over and under the bridge I'd prefer it didn't fall on my head or fall into the murky river. And since my phone takes better pictures than my point and shoot camera, that I never remember to take with me, I now have a few photos of the rusty bridge. And if I discover any old relics that look like they'd make a good structure or kit, I won't hesitate to take out the phone and snap away.

Space Train

As a both a big fan of trains and the space shuttle, it's a thrill to see them converge. The pic above is NASA's railroad carrying segments of the solid rocket boosters - the only way to move 150 ton pieces of rockets. It's interesting to see one of our oldest technologies come to the aid of one of the most modern. The trip starts out in Utah where they're manufactured and traverses more than a few rights of way to get to Florida, including Union Pacific and CSX. Track speeds are kept at a minimum, due to the fact that they are towing 5 million pounds of explosives. If you're interested in more details about this, read about it here:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/flyout/railroad.html

Scouring Pad

I've been wanting to try a scenery trick from an article by Lance Mindhiem, where he used grey scouring pads as a last layer of scenery. Per his technique I cut some contour shaped strips and placed them at the very back of my scene. These pads are about 3/8" thick and provide just a small amount of implied distant scenery; extra depth in such a short distance. I think I could have tugged at the fibers a bit to make for a more ragged edge. I'll try that next time I use it. I found these pads in the sandpaper section at the Home Depot. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

River Progress

The rocks have been colored and a first pass with scenery/vegetation has been applied. I'll be adding more trees. I've also added some gravel for the river bed. Next up deciding if I'll pour some Envirotex or just brush on gloss medium - I'm leaning towards pouring.

In order for this scene to blend in further, I think some rock work needs to be made towards the background, to tie in more naturally. As they are now, the ridge seems to be on its own. Just adding a small bit of rock at the end of the freight house helped visually, so a small section at the background could help some more.

New River

Now that my layout no longer represents present day Iowa, but instead 1950's New England, I can freely add more rock work to the landscape. I extended the edge of the layout 4" to accommodate a small river with a fall. My intention was to give rock molds a try thinking it would make things go faster. After using just one, which I ended up burying, it just seemed easier for me to carve the whole length of the river in plaster. This way I could get the shape and mass I was looking for. The only thing I'm not happy with is that right now it looks tacked on - but I think it's mostly due to the fact that it's stark white; once it's colored and covered with vegetation it should blend in nicely.

Background...

Have started working on some background flats...trying to work the opposite way I usually do. Most often I'll start the foreground scene first, which is a terrible idea, then get stuck as to what to do with the background and never get to completing it. This was a wall from a Downtown Deco kit. It's not the final placement and needs some wall details and some parapet capping.

Coal Bin In Progress...

Added the covered coal bin to Palmer Ice...need to add some corrugated roofing and details.

Layout Expansion...

Ever since I decided to change era's on my layout; I've been plagued with the fact that I didn't have space for a waterfront scene. I'd wanted to keep the middle of the room open, but finally gave in and added some bench work in the center. There's still enough room to get around. I just have to decide if I'll add a backdrop to the inside corner or just use structures and scenery as a view block....

Palmer Ice

I'd been perplexed by this site on the layout for a while. If you're familiar with pics of my layouts previous incarnation, this was the location of the quonset hut pawnshop. I was thinking of filling it with a large structure, essentially shaped like the footprint of the lot. More than likely though it would have made the area seem smaller. With the addition of some coal bins to the right of the ice building and the freight house, I can make up several mini scenes. I'll save the larger structures in this area for the background...

TGD - New Limited Run Kit

We've started our diorama for our upcoming large limited run kit for release this fall.For now we'll just refer to the kit as TGD. While we're including some waterfront scenery, it's not a waterfront kit. It's just what we prefer to model...in this diorama and others I've been using more and more oil paints to color scenery. Usually I would stain rock work with alcohol and ink and dry brush using acrylic browns and grays. But I've come to prefer oil colors as they just appear richer in depth and blend more naturally with each other. I've also use it to paint the darker areas of the water surface blending it in with the green acrylic latex paint.

The track has also been colored with oils. Primer is sprayed first, then the sides of the rails are painted rust - then raw umber for the ties. Once that's done a wash of thinner blends it all together.

The kit will be a multi-structure kit, with a theme related to some previously released kits...stay tuned.

Brian Nolan

The passing of Brian Nolan has come to a shock to everyone in this hobby who knew him; I only knew him through meeting him at the shows, in particular CSS. I'd seen his work in the magazines as well and like most of us, was in awe of his talent.

Upon returning from a show one of the more lingering thoughts was that the next time I sit down at the workbench, I want to make something that looked as good as Brian's modeling. It hasn't happened yet, but as Brian would tell me in the few conversations we had about the subject, " Just keep doing it."

It's so important in any endeavor, no matter the category to find encouragement. Either from friends or family; positive reinforcement is vital to everything we do. It underlines our reason for being, our reason for doing whatever it is the heck we are doing in life. Encouragement helps answer the What's-the-Point question.

And here is Brain, who barely knew me at all, taking the time to tell me to keep at it and not just modeling. I'd share with him a couple of thoughts about how hard it is to make a living selling kits, his reply was the same, " Just keep doing it."

I've known people for years, friends or family, who've never offered that kind of reinforcement that Brain, essentially a stranger to me, offered in 15 minutes. It's a rare thing. He was a rare person; there are few like him. Which is why this is such dreadful news. We all need more people like him- we could all aspire to be more like him.

Flush

Lately when I've been bracing walls I've been shoving a machine square against the edge of a wall and bracing. While it can certainly done by eye, it's not always a sure thing. Using teh machine square ensures less hassle later when the walls go up. I even run the square up and down the edge as if it were a tool, to push the bracing in place, nice and flush.

The walls in the pic above are part of our next big limited run kit due out this fall. Similar to Canal Street, but different. It will be a multi structure kit based on a single theme. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, we are working on a few DVD's. We've just finished Model Railroad Masters Volume 2. You can see a couple of mini teaser videos on our Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fos-Scale-Limited-Model-Railroad-Structures/113363023728?ref=ts

We're in pre-production on two additional DVD's that we are shooting this month; be sure you are signed up on our Email newsletter to get updates on these new projects.

No Excuse Structures

I've been working on this section of steep streets, that cut across the layout at two angles. Visually it works well because it appears large than it is and it's easier to terminate and hide a street that hits the backdrop. But, the best part is that most of the buildings will only need two wall sections. Given the angle, there's no way to see one side and the second side is against another building. So I have no excuses for not completing this area in a short amount of time ( though I'm sure I'll think of one). Further back there are buildings that only need a complete front facade; even easier. The building in the photo is a small, nondescript wedge shaped building that sits above the rock cut I've been working on. More pics to follow.

Some New Roads

This area towards the rear of the layout always bothered me on account of it being too flat. I had just planned to elevate the section via one flat plane; but that didn't seem to take advantage of the space. Since I already had a hill(left side) I started from there with a road leading up towards the background. From there another road, at an angle, back down. I also covered the existing road that went straight into the background.

This will provide a variety of opportunities for skewed, angled structures; a nice contrast for the straight road in the foreground. It also sets the stage for a nice rock cut trackside.