Quite a few parts

When you lay them all out, ready for painting, 622 incorporates quite a few subassemblies! Thirty-seven, in this photo, but I’ve left out the cab windows, so that’s another seven. Forty-four subassemblies in total. While I had all the subassemblies in one place, I also took a few minutes to count all the parts. 513. […]

Evicting the anchor tenants

What’s on my workbench? Absolutely nothing for the first time in months! I finally banished those items that had been harbouring the mess. The pieces for 622 have been taped to some foamcore in preparation for painting, while the left-over etches have found a new home in the drawer with other model projects. The big […]

The Mary Street bridge disaster

For years, foamcore mockup buildings have helped tell the story of Pembroke; even though they’re plain white, lay visitors can immediately understand that this is a model of a town, and begin to appreciate what I’m aiming for. I’ve used them to understand and modify massing and composition, which should help to avoid waste down […]

A tiny switch boosts enjoyment

#622 and I have been working bugs out of the layout. After correcting a gauge issue with one of the engine truck axles, all the faults have been with the layout, and have been easily identified with a track gauge — a track gauge that Ed McCamey had EDM-cut from highly-conductive 18-gauge steel because he […]

Minding the gaps

The common wisdom says that you should put something insulating into the electrical gaps between rails. According to model railroad folklore, without insulators, those gaps will eventually close up with all the humidity and heat-induced rail cavorting, and the resulting short will be remarkably difficult to find. Now, Pembroke’s Presbyterian rails have never been inclined […]