HO steampunk bead

My first design for the cylinders made the end caps too thick. Six inches felt good at the time, but when I finally dropped a cylinder to the Assembly view in OnShape, I found the steam chest would overlap the end caps. Sadly, I saved that little virtual test until after I had finished the […]

IPMS Vancouver Fall Show

The local chapter of the International Plastic Modelers Society held their big show on Thanksgiving Saturday, as they apparently have every year. I had never been to one of their events before, and finding myself in the unusual possession of not only a couple of hours of free time but also the knowledge that the […]

Frinspiration

We are just returning from a trip to England and France. As I was the chief planner and driver, it is perhaps surprising that there weren’t more railway visits along the road. Sadly, every such suggestion is met with universal eye rolling resistance. I did, however manage to “stumble upon” le Chemin de fer de […]

Roundhouse doors cut

I warmed up the Cricut for a little workout this evening, cutting out the doors for the roundhouse. The blade is not super-sharp, and two passes didn’t reliably cut through the 3-ply Strathmore on the “Iron On” setting. No matter, it was a few minutes’ work to chase all the cuts with an Olfa knife, […]

Roundhouse walls mostly done

Today, I coated the backs and edges of the wall sections with Weldbond, and left them under some weights to dry. This was an improvement over the test wall section because I could then cut out the windows without having to worry about the mullions beneath. As you can see from this terribly cruel photo, […]

Railway Modellers’ Meet

As I mentioned previously, I’m helping to organize the Railway Modellers’ Meet of British Columbia. This is the annual meet of the local NMRA division, but it is open to all (NMRA members get a discount). I also mentioned that it is perhaps higher quality than a lot of regional and divisional meets, although slightly […]

Bachmann’s tender trucks look good for 622

When I stopped in at Central Hobbies a couple of weeks ago to check out the Bachmann 4-4-0 tender, I failed to notice if the trucks would be a match as well. Of course, the Bachmann catalogue is useless for discerning detail. As with so many of the model railroad online and print catalogues, the […]

Muskrat River is Nearly Flat

I had truly expected to be finished that first pass on the scenery by the weekend. However, getting the Muskrat River to lose its semblance to plywood has taken more work than I had anticipated. We’re now at two layers of primer and two layers of paint, filling and sanding between each coat, as well […]

Turntable Crank

November is always a slow month for the trains in our house. It’s getting close to Christmas, and for the past eleven years, I’ve given photobooks that summarize the past year of the kids’ lives to all our family. I spend most of the month, therefore, editing and curating photos. Anyway, this morning, while the […]

Turntable details completed

Thanks to my masking tape plan, it didn’t take too long to get the walkways back onto the turntable. The masking tape kept the boards in order so all I had to do when I was ready to re-install them was peel them off the masking tape one at a time, scrape and sand off […]