It took four or five hours of shaping Monashee Laser Engineering shingles into trapezoids, peeling tiny scraps of backing, and sticking the tiny trapezoidal pieces of paper in concentric circles, which I had, with a level of foresight for which I am still congratulating myself, inscribed in the 3D printed core of the roof, but […]

With masses of tape and whatever I had lying around on the modelling desk, I rigged up a prototype of the sheaves and spout to see if I can make the spout raise and lower. The real spout would been connected to counterweights to hold it up when not in use, with the connection being […]

We just returned from an impromptu visit to Seattle’s Museum of Popular Culture, where the temporary exhibit is a collection of puppets, props and sets from Laika Studios, the people who brought us movies such as Coraline and Box Trolls. The movies (the ones I’ve seen anyway) are amazing, but when you can take your […]

I had an opportunity to demonstrate at the Craftsman’s Corner of Vancouver Train Expo yesterday. Despite having organized the predecessor of this meet for several years in my twenties, I’m not really into train shows. Sure, I love seeing all my hobby friends, but there is little to buy from the trade tables here at […]

Except for cattle, the pasture is as finished as it is going to get. They’re getting painted with oils, and those will take a week or so to dry completely, so in the interest of tidying up, I’ve put the pasture in place for now. Depending on how herd installation goes, it may be in […]

I’ve put the static grass away for now. I still have the bit next to the backdrop to finish up, but otherwise, I think it’s time to stop and consider before it gets worse. Some techniques are worth mentioning so I can remember them for when I get to work on the near side of […]

Something bugged me when I posted that photo on the weekend of the four different backgrounds for the pasture: why had the barn turned out so much smaller than the aluminum version? As I thought about it, I realized the fence in the foreground had needed a lot of shaping to match the ground profile. […]

It’s time to conclude my Cricut printed car sides experiments. In the end, I’ve not been able to replicate the beaded siding that graced most Canada Atlantic house cars. However, the single-score method might be good enough to represent passenger car siding. In photographs, the freight car siding looks like alternating deep and shallow grooves. […]