Time to launch another project

As the wooden mineral wagon is drawing to a conclusion, it is time to launch another project.
The subject this time is a steel mineral wagon from our favorite meter gauge railway. These steel wagons are sort of the signature wagons for this railway and I sometimes wonder why I did not tackle them first.

Many years ago (note the yelllowing styrene!) I tried to scratchbuild one, but this is as far as I got:

The hopper is not too shabby, but the underframe leaves something to be desired. And a competely scratchbuilt wagon is not the way to go as I (the superoptimist as always) want an entire train of them. At least 10 wagons.

So I am contemplating a resing casting for the hopper. The underframe will be etched parts as for the wooden wagon, but I will design a few brass castings to speed up construction.

If anyone have opinions on how to make a kit for this wagon, please feel free to comment!

Almost done!

My main project for the last two years has been a wooden mineral wagon to go with my Westinghouse engines. Two of  the wagons are now about 95% ready except painting, lettering and final weathering. Here is one of them:

The underframe is mainly built from etched parts, with some brass castings for the leaf springs and  journal boxes:

I really dread the painting of the underframe, but I just have to muster the courage…

Bumping the blog

With no posts in nearly two years and seven views the last week, it might seem a bit pointless to try and relaunch the blog, but  here we go anyway!

The lack of postings doesn’t mean I have given up on modelling, far from it. But my time has been been divided between working on my 0m models and publishing the members magazine for the Norwegian society of model railroaders, MJ-Bladet.  I have also spent more time on forum postings instead of the blog. You just can’t beat the instant feedback of the forums, and I can really reccommend the RMweb forums  and the Narrow Gauge Modelling Online forums.

when it comes to Modelling I have divided my time between my meter-gauge models in 1/45 scale, and standard gauge models in H0. But it is more and more clear to me that it is the 0-scale models that are closests to my heart, and if it had not been for the camaraderie of the local model railway club, I would have dropped H0 scale entirely.

So be warned, what you are likely to encounter on this blog is scratchbuilt models of a rather obscure character. With the occasional digressions, of course!

Distant cousins

I feel that there is a kind of common denominator between all vintage railroad equipment running under overhead wire, regardless if the equipment operated in downtown Chicago or the middle of Norway.

I love all sorts of modeling, regardless of scale and prototype, but there is something special about 0-scale equipment with trolley poles or pantographs!

A very fine example is this scratchbuilt 4-truck articulated trolley freight locomotive. The model was built by William J. Clouser in the sixties. Clouser was a fine-scale pioneer, and the model is built to Proto:48 standards. It stands up to the best of today’s models, and it is a good reminder that even with all our high-tech tools, there is really no substitute for good craftsmanship.

(William J. Clouser photo, Eric Bronsky Collection.)

First cuts

In the last post I mentioned my first experiments in carving rocks for a TB diorama. Even if I am not entirely happy with the results, I thought it might be interesting to see the development of the scene. The rocks are first modelled in wet, but fairly firm plaster. When the plaster has set enough I change from spatulas to knives and chisels.

The rocks are not painted, I just mixed some black paint into plaster.

This work was done with rather little reference material, but I can not blame the results entirely on the lack of good pictures. But when you have the prototype within visiting distance, it is just stupid not to do some research.

Creating rocks this way is a rather subjective process with a certain artistic element. I think tou can compare it to drawing a landscape. You have to practise a lot, and trying to “paint by numbers” will just not cut it.

So I hope to share some better work with you in the not to distant future!

Field trip!

Those that have read most of the posts on this blog have probably discovered that I divide my modelling time between the freelanced H0 layout of the TMJK, and my efforts to produce some bits and pieces of the Thamshavn Railway (Thamshavnbanen).

Recently I decided to try my hand at carving some plaster cuttings for a TB-diorama. You would think that after several trips to the TB I would have plenty of images showing rock faces along the right of way. So did I, but after a long search through my not very well organized collection of images I found very little. I plunged ahead anyway, but the results were not what I had hoped for.

Trying to imagine what cut rock really looks like is not easy, so I decided it was time for a field trip.

One of the attractions of the TB is that it is just under a hours drive from where I live. If the mood strikes I can just grab my camera, notebook, yardstick and head out.
So last sunday I just left the lawn uncut and headed for the Orkla valley.

I really enjoy hiking along the old right of way, even if the the TB is an operating museum there is almost no activity along the track. So I could explore some of the cuttings undisturbed, except for a few very curious salmon fishermen!

A couple of hours later I could head home with more than 200 reference photos and a nice tan.
So now I have no excuses for not getting those rocks right!

Layouts vs. dioramas

I have always considered myself more of a diorama person than a layput person. But a layout can offer some great opportunities for dramatic depth in the scenes.

Here is a shot of the warehouse in the far background. In the foreground you can see the abutment for a road bridge.

With the bridge in place over the cutting it should be possible to frame the warehouse. Focus stacking will be a must!

Still at it! Progress on the big red one

Almost exactly a year ago I wrote that progress on the big red one is going nowhere fast. How true…

But more work has been carried out than a quick glance might reveal. 

The roof took a lot of work, not to mention the gutters and drainpipes! And those emergency stairs took quite a few hours to get right. 

Also worth mentioning (in my opinion at least) are the plaster parts. Those are abutments for the annex in the back and the drywall front of the loading dock. 

Ok, enough talk, show us the images! Here goes: 

 

Closeup of gutter and downpipe. The gutter is from Teknobygg of Sweden, the downpipe is a 1mm brass rod: 

 

 

 

I also built a little bumper for the siding serving the building. I would have prefered a finer track for the siding, but thee building is to be palced on a club layout where we use Peco code 75 for all track, so thats what I used. 

 

 

 

The warehouse at its future location: 

 

 

Ok, lets hope for more posts & better progress in 2014!

 

 

More modelling than blogging

My ambition to update this blog on a regular basis have failed miserably. Those few people that have visited from time to time have probably given up a long time ago.

Fortunately, at least some of the time not spent on the blog have been spent on modelling.

Since finishing my Om engines (see below) I have focused more on H0 scale. I am  a member of the local model railroad club here in Trondheim (Norway), and we are in the process off building a fairly large layout. My main interest is the buildings, and this autumn I have been working on a modl of large warehouse/tramway terminal.

As usual, I underestimated the amount of work it would take to finish this building. The model has a substructure of lasercut plywood clad with board-by-board panelling.

And it is of course the panelling that takes time… I have used more than 150 12″ lengths of Kappler 2″X6″ so far, and in additon some walls have a board and batten cladding made from scribed siding with 1″X4″ battens.  But I am quite happy with the results, and hope to find some time during the holidays to finish the woodwork, at least. A photographic essay follows.

Lasercut plywood substructure

Etched windows with lasercut framing. (Later substituted with stripwood framing)

Finished window

Bored by battens…

Main facade, temporarily erected for the photo.

The whole complex

Bob B vs. Bob B

There seems to be an awful lot of Bobs in the field of model railroad publishing. Today we will compare the efforts of Bob the American editor and Bob the English. Bob Brown is the grand old man of Narrow gauge and Shortline Gazette, and probably the longest serving editor of a model railroading publication. Bob Barlow of the Narrow Gauge & Industrial Modelling Review is probably better known for his work as an editor for the Model Railway Journal. The current isse of NG&IMR is only hos second as an editor.

I have been reading NG&SLG on and off since the early eighties, and I have a lot of respect for the effort Bob Brown has put into creating this very beautiful magazine.
But as my interest in actual modelling drifted from American prototypes to Norwegian ones, I expanded my search for good modelling information.
Only a couple of months ago I discovered the NG&IMR. I really do not understand how I could have missed this magazine for so long. As I have said, I am a magazine junkie, and I discovered the Model Railway Journal years ago. I have also been mostly interest in Narrow Gauge modelling, so the NG&IMR is really up my alley. But better late than never, I have now been a subscriber for the last two issues, and I have also bought all the issues back to no. 70.

So how do those magazines compare?
Both are high quality publications with excellent print and paper quality. Maybe NG&SLG is a notch better, even if they have compromised a little bit on the paper quality lately.

I might be a bit unfair in comparing the two magazines. Reading the NG&SLG for so many years have given me an overdose of everything Colorado related, but I have not seen enough of the NG&IMR to feel the same about the Welsh slate haulers. But I have a sneaking feeling that if I get my hands on all the back issues, that could happen!

But the magazines are quite different in important aspects.
Bob the American Editor is very hesistant to print any “foreign” material, while Bob the English Editor is quite interested in printing material on non-GB material.

I think this say more about the readership of NG&SLG than Bob Brown. I think that Bob personally would have loved to print more material based on non-US railroads. But for me as a reader, the reason is not important.

To me, the prototype for the modelling is of far less importance than the quality of the modelling. And a magazine that is open to all kinds of prototypes has a much richer vein to tap into.
Not only does the NG&IMR embrace a wider variety of prototypes, it is very clear that the editors look to other fields of modelling than just model railways for inspiration. A lot of the techniques are clearly inspired by the military modellers. This is a type of cross-pollination that very probably will propel NG&IMR even more ahead of the NG&SLG in the future.

But don’t take my word for it. Pick up both the magazines and head for the armchair. And then let us know what you think!