Happy New Year

It has been one month since my last post...too long. The trifecto of my birthday, Christmas, and New Years always robs me of some good modeling time. Still, I picked up some quality time with my dad studying NKP car #5 in Lima. My favorite gift was definitely Sundance's Colorado Central book which has been on my list the past couple of years...a tremendous book which goes mile-by-mile on the line documenting everything with photos, statistics, and maps...almost all of it from before 1890!

For the NMRA meeting, I managed to get my stock car part of the way done. I didn't finish the interior detailing/weathering or really even touch the underframe...but she still looked nice enough to draw some compliments. More importantly, it and my steam locomotive slides were conversation starters to get to know some of the NMRA members.

Here's the roof sheathing ready for installation. The sub-roof is at the lower right.


Being an open car, and being a fan of prototypical construction, the roof has appropriately sized car lines and joists (I can't recall if it has an appropriate number of car lines). The sub roof is made of sheet styrene due to the difficulty of doing the entire thing in board-by-board in a timely manner. Here it is, hurriedly painted and awaiting touch-ups:


Here's what the car looks like today:

I haven't sealed the decals as of yet. I don't quite like the spacing of the & P, so I might see about moving them if I can. Currently, the trucks are attached in the prototypical fashion with a pin...a time saver that will be replaced with a screw in the future.


My Oahu Railway coach patterns are coming along. I'm currently working on cutting the inside contours to the car lines.

I've decided to leave the clerestory car lines flat on the bottoms to improve their structural strength. I'm not that far from a completed roof. The car still needs the window patterns and an underframe. Of the cars I'm planning, I'll probably keep more of these OR&L coaches than any other cars due to the shear volume of these cars on the Oahu Railway and also due to their relative length (2-5 cars was normal Colorado narrow gauge trains, the Oahu Railway ran 4-20 car passenger trains).

NMRA meeting this Sunday

Last year, I attended my first NMRA meeting. It wasn't a particularly enjoyable time...in part because the table where I sat was filled with people whom were unwilling to engage in conversation. But this week, I will go back for my second meeting as I met enough interesting people through the Mini-Bunch to have a better time.

The monthly contests are stock cars and photos of steam. I'll be entering my favorite photo from Jenbach, AT into the photo contest...and I'm working on completing my DSP&P stock car for that contest.

Accordingly, I've started two pair of early DSP&P trucks. One pair will be for this car, and the other will go under one of my other cars. Since this is a nicely executed car, I'm making a point to detail the trucks. The wooden transoms are scribed on all four sides as well as the ends. I'll add the NBWs once I have the side frames together; journal lids after it is complete. I'll design some sort of faux spring plank so that it looks right, but isn't fully functional. This type of truck is the most difficult freight car trucks that I've built...with at least 35 pieces per truck, excluding the bolster pad and augmentables.


These are what I did last night. They are the transoms and spacers. They are a scale 12" tall and 16" wide, with a transom length of 5'2" IIRC...these correspond to 1/4" x 1/3" x ~1 1/6".

A lettered waycar

Today was the Mini-Bunch fall meet. It was my first Mini-Bunch event. I had a good time and greatly enjoyed chatting with numerous likewise "narrow" minded individuals. Last year, I just missed the fall meet and couldn't make the spring meet.

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera. There were several nice models in the contest room, as well as some cool layouts. I had debated which car I ought to paint/letter and bring, and I settled on the incomplete baggage car and waycar. I was really almost too embarrassed by the waycar to take it...its execution is now well below my modeling level. Regardless,I hurriedly painted her white on Friday morning and then hit the underside with a wood shade and black on friday evening...single coats of each. I cut squares of silk span approx 2'x 2' and applied them to a coat of gray on the roof to depict a canvas roof. I finished applying the first layer of dry transfers and sealing them after 3am. I then woke up at 9am and applied the second layer and sealing them. I would never dream of doing this with one of my "good" models, but hey, I'm already disappointed with this car...so all I could ruin was a good pair of dry transfers! At the last minute, I tossed the lime car into the box as a space holder to keep the way car from rolling around...and I ended up setting it up on the table as well. After the event, we visited a fabulous HO Southern layout.

Here are some photos of the lettered way car and the 34' roofs: 2 good resin roofs, the warped roof, and the master. The resin copies are actually stiffer and heavier than the styrene master.




Yep, I smudged the paint a little and I had poor color separation.


What an ugly paint job underneath! It matches the crooked truss rods! I am thoroughly looking forward to my next way car...I'll do that one right. This one will be just fine as a filler car on my future roster.


Roofs lined up!


I also got around to installing all of the door guides.



It was really a lot of fun to take models to the show. Sure, winning would have been great, but the models were great conversation starters. I definitely will take models to all future conventions and events...even if I don't have a competitive piece, because it made the event more fun than had I not brought any.

Here's the Mini-Bunch page: http://www.narrowtracks.com/minibunch/

Returning to work

I've been quite busy over the past month with defending my MS thesis. I've reached the land of 10,000 corrections...having passed the defense. Therefore, I haven't gotten around to posting. I've done a few things here and there:

-patterns for the sides of an Oahu Railway coach
-experimenting with painting techniques for simulating unpainted wood (using $0.50 acrylics)
-researching South Park passenger cars
-researching the Oahu Railway freight roster

My big project the today was finishing up the mold for, and casting my first, resin roof. I've not bothered to start any of the other roofs, for if there are any lessons I need to incorporate into them...it is best to learn them before starting.

The next two roofs are for the OR&L clerestory roofed cars and the 40'6" Barney & Smith roof for coaches #3 & #5, as well as the cars that served on the Carson & Colorado, SPng, Nevada County Narrow Gauge, as well as another road in Pennsylvania. It is important to note that while coaches #3 & #5 both made it onto the C&S roster, they were extensively rebuilt and so the 1920's version of the C&S cars would require a special roof.

In my experience, the first casting reveals any problems that I have with either a) the mold or b) my technique. Accordingly, I didn't wait long enough for it to harden since I wanted to see if it worked (this caused it to be warped). I adjusted my technique and another has been hardening for an hour.



Comparison shots with the master:





That roof will probably be used as part of a wreck or abandoned car scene.

Finished roof

I've been really busy with work/school. Things will continue to move slowly for around a month...until school ends...forever!

The roof for #40 has been sitting for a couple weeks. It needs just a few touch ups. I'm trying to decide if I'll texture it or not prior to creating the mold (probably not).



The holes at the ends are for ventilation. They probably weren't there on the baggage cars, but I'd bet they were on the chair cars...which will use a lengthened version of this roof. I'm close to settled on relationship of the windows, window posts, and blind end space on #6 and #7-8. Once I've settled it, I'll start on the masters for their sides/ends.


This is a 23' Colorado Central flat car. I got around to adding a few more details to it...the stake pockets in particular. I've toyed with adding the couplers now for some test runs.


Not only did they only cost me a fraction of commercial parts, but they are more accurate for these cars. I still need to add the u-bolts to them. This model doesn't have intermediate sills as I'll be stuffing weights into their place. This car and my 24' lime car account for 2 of my 4 pairs of Colorado Central trucks. I'm currently leaning towards the metal sheathed powder car and an excursion car for the others. I'll also have to decide if these will have hand or air brakes...the powder car definitely gets hand brakes with dual staffs.

I have two additional projects that I've started, but since I plan to publish them, I won't be showing them here until after they are either published or turned down.

Complete roof frame for #40

The holes in the end are for ventilation...not for the model, but on real cars. I don't know if this baggage car had such a feature (it wouldn't have been as necessary), but I've added it so that I'll have it for the combines and coaches that'll use this roof.

I'll remove the two cross braces once the sheathing is in place.

Roof, #40, step 4

Here are the end profile pieces, shaped:


Here they are laid out for orientation:


And here's the clerestory with its carlines installed.

It is currently 33'4" long. The additional 8" of body length and 4'2" of overhangs will come from the end profile pieces.

Next, I'll be attaching the rafters...and it will start to look pretty. I'd really love to use as many carlines as the prototype, but that is wayyyy too much work.