From My Workbench

this is a set of Photo's that of a FSM Kit I completed a few years back, I wanted to get some daylight shots of it for some time now. this diorama will be located in the urban location of my layout. the layout room is coming along, I had a sheetrock guy come out for a estimate the other day, but I have to pull up half of the floor to level it out. Anyway, here are the shots...

Image of the Month

Since this is the first Image of the Month for the year, I wanted to do something special. If you are a Southern Pacific Daylight Fan, this one is for you...

Released by the Southern Pacific RR CO in 1937 to promote the Daylight Lines on the Pacific Coast. One interesting thing I noted on the very last scene where the daylight in heading off to the sunset, notice the car diaphragm flapping in the wind, I am sure SP officials blushed over that shot...

From My Workbench

Well it is a new year, and I thought I would share my latest creation, the sawmill complex. This one took about 8 months to complete. it comprises of several BTS kits and the master creations sawmill I had earlier in this blog. It is now installed at the RR club I am a member of.

Shot of the rear of the sawmill and fire tower

The mill pond, note the water lilies and cat tails in front of the pump house.

The plaster cloth is being used to rebuild the area that I demo'ed to introduce this module.

Just some night shots because they look cool...

Well off to the workbench to see what I can come up with on convention in June in Houston....

Need a sign?

DO you need a sign for your layout, help yourself, just save these images to your computer and print them in color...

The secret to placing these on walls so they look like they were painted on is to sand the back of the printed sign so that it is almost transparent. Place the sign on the wall using a diluted white glue and using a stipple paint brush, gently push the sign into the bricks or surface of the wall. Then using a diluted paint color identical to the wall color "wash" the sign so that it blends in enough not to lose what the sign shows but makes it look like the wall surface is coming through the sign... Have fun...

Product Review - Troels Kirk DVD - Realistic color for Model Railroading

Greetings,
I just received Troels Kirk's new DVD on realistic color for Model Railroading.

I really enjoyed this video because it takes a different approach towards modeling in that Troels uses broad area painting techniques and an artist approach, which includes the use of basic colors to mimic weathering and realistic modeling. These techniques produce fantastic results.

For those who do not know Troels, he is a danish artist painter, living in southern Sweden. in my opinion, Troels has one of the finest model Railroads on the planet. To view this spectacular work of art go here...

Coast Line Railroad

If you want To view the trailer for his DVD....

You can order this DVD from his website.

For the quality of the DVD, his techniques, and overall fresh approach towards modeling I give this product 5 lanterns, great job Troels!

Image of the Month

As I continue to work on my layout room, (I will post pictures shortly) my modeling is at a standstill. So I post this video regarding railroad safety from the 50's. It is kind of Hokey but if you are a Southern Pacific Fan you are in for a treat. Among others there are shots of Daylight PA units, CabForwards, Black Widow F units, Halloween S units, Even a reefer string and a wigwag.... (lol only SP railroad fans would have the slightest inkling of what I am talking about) Enjoy...

Image of the Month

I thought it would be cool to post a 1903 film called "the Great Train Robbery"

Of particular interest is the way they transposed the train film onto the windows in the film sets, very clever for the age. Enjoy...

Busy Times

Its has been a while since the last posting, I have been neck deep into working on my layout room. Being that I live in a victorian home, nothing is easy. One major problem I have encountered is having to demo a 117 year old brick fireplace chimney. And it was massive but unfortunately it could not be saved due to cracks and such. so that is done, insulation, sheet rock, vapor barrier, and electrical (major overhaul). I will be painting this one room (of two) this weekend and then I am off to Houston for the great texas train show. Hope to see you there.

From My Workbench

I am working on my Locomotive AP and thought about taking a old blue box Athearn locomotive and super detailing it. I had 3 SD-45 units, one dummy and two power units and started with them. This first one will be the dummy unit. Thus far there are a total of 133 details.

 Thanks to Cannon and Company for his help in part selection...

 A lot of details west and detail associates parts

 This will be a Cotton Belt unit, the other two will be Southern Pacific units with elephant ears.

 This is the "practice" unit, learned a lot from this one...

 I will post updates as I go along.. until then..

Image of the Month

This really bizarre locomotive is a Chesapeake & Ohio M-1 steam turbine. Proof that reality is stranger than fiction some times.

 

Lionel Collectors Club of America National Convention

I was asked to give a clinic at the LCCA convention this week, it was really nice meeting the folks from all over the country and from other facet of the hobby. There were some really beautiful trains there as well as Lionel's traveling layout and set up.

 

The Lionel layouts were quite impressive.

In addition, I was invited to run some pre-war standard (reproduction) gauge trains, I had a blast, I can see the appeal of these trains were back in the early part of the last century.

I have been really busy of late with the clinics, working on my locomotive AP as well. Super detailing a couple of SD-45's has proven to be quite a challenge. I will post pictures once they are complete... until then....

3 Down 4 to Go

I just received two more National Model Railroad Association Achievement Program certificates towards my Master Model Railroader Certification.

The Master Builder Structures certificate is for building 12 structures, 6 have to be scratch built, the others super details, oh, also a bridge or trestle has to be one of the structures. 6 of the 12 have to merit during judging.

The second, Association Volunteer reflects over 2 years worth of volunteer time I put into the NMRA. To date the most difficult to obtain.

Above is my MMR matrix for those remotely interested lol... Like I said, I have 4 more certificates to go. The next 2 certifications for 2011 will be NMRA Author and Master Builder Locomotives.

My goal is be have my MMR by 2012...

Thanks for all that support and continued help in my now 3 year quest. As of this date there have been only 455 Master Model Railroaders awarded worldwide been since 1961.