Hotel Modelling – Turntable Sides

I’m attending training in Kingston for a few weeks, and because I checked my bag, I could bring some tools and glues on a business trip for the first time I can remember. The goal for the three weeks is to find enough time to complete the cosmetic parts for the turntable, and while I […]

Serendipity at Wakefield

I’m in Ontario attending some training right now, and had a little free time to pop up to Ottawa on the weekend to visit my mum. Being naturally adventurous and used to going on research field trips, she quickly agreed to join me for a trip to the end of the line at Wakefield QC […]

The Models of our Youth

I’m in Ottawa this weekend, on my way to an educational program at Queens for the next three weeks. My mum has changed around the house in the past few months, and came across a couple of boxes of models. “What,” she asked, “should I do with them? They can’t take up room on my shelves forever.” […]

Turntable Do-Over

Sometimes it’s hard to concede that perhaps one of your best ideas ever didn’t work. I had been fooling myself for about a week, and finally had to accept the fact that the turntable ends were not aligning perfectly. I believe the error crept in when I didn’t clamp the little tongues down to the […]

Tie Length

I picked up a package of bridge ties from Central Hobbies a little while back, thinking that they would be right for the turntable. When I got them home, I started wondering if they might be too short to allow for the crew to jump down and get to the ends of the turntable to […]

Turntable Bridge Core

If you’re thinking of following along and using my method to build your own turntable, may I recommend that you make friends with someone with a lathe instead. I’m sure the whole thing is much easier if you have decent tools. Making the bridge itself is probably a doddle if you have a lathe. I […]

Turntable Drive Module

The trickiest aspect of the drive module was fixing it to the bottom of the turntable without interfering with any of the frame members. Recall that the lazy susan base is actually too large to fit the originally-planned site, and I had to route away some of the benchwork frame members to accommodate it. They’re […]

The First Signature in the Guest Book

It’s fitting that the first person to sign the Pembroke guest book is Brian Rudko. He is actually the first person I ever met from the Vancouver model railroad scene, so long ago that he doesn’t even remember it. Yes, Brian, we met at the National Narrow Gauge Convention in Seattle in 1991, two dozen […]