OnShape vs SketchUp! – a model railroader’s view

Well, I’m a few weeks into my OnShape journey now, and I must say I’m impressed. After my experience with FreeCad and Blendr, I was almost ready huck my Linux machine out the window when Vince pointed me toward OnShape. I’m thankful he did. For several years I was a staunch advocate for SketchUp! but […]

Coming Shifts in the Hobby

After visiting the south shore of Nova Scotia, and a dip into New Brunswick to celebrate Grammie’s 100th birthday, we found ourself on PEI. We stayed with our friend Marshall Ouellet, who was Laura’s Katimavik parent before I’d ever considered moving to Vancouver. He also happens to be a model railroader. The only other person […]

Halifax Southwestern Railway Museum

Last week, we rented a cottage near Bridgewater Nova Scotia. The weather was largely perfect, and we had a beautiful quiet lake almost to ourselves. Every day, we went out to explore the south shore. In Lunenburg, we discovered the Halifax Southwestern Railway Museum. Now, I don’t enter into most railway museums with very high hopes. Restoring […]

Tender sketch for 622

There’s not been much modelling going on for a couple of weeks as summer catches up with us. You know, warm evenings, barbeques, etc. The good life. I did, however, manage to scrape out an hour to roughly sketch the tender. I’m considering buying the tank from a Bachmann tender, but this sketch is scaled […]

622’s Fall plate will be removable

On #10, due to a lack of foresight, the fall plate was simply an extension of the cab floor. This was never satisfactory as it meant that it hovered slightly above the tender deck, rather than, well, falling on it. I also feel that it is vulnerable, hanging off the back of the engine as […]

Fake suspension for 622

Parts for 622 continue to appear on the drawing board. It’s easy to get carried away when you’re modelling in CAD. The keys that retain the springs, for example, are really miniscule – about .01 x .01 x .02. Will the 3D printer be able to resolve them? I hope so. I’m wondering if I should […]

Brakes for 622

As in modelling, drawing follows the 90-90 rule. The first 90% takes 90% of the time. The last 10% also takes 90% of the time. I’m in to the last 10% of this drawing. The trouble with brakes on steam engines is you have to remove them before you can remove the wheels. My previous […]

Mark Dance’s figure painting

My friend Mark Dance is enjoying the sunshine at their cottage in Ontario this month (summer here in BC has been cool and wet). Before he left, he asked if he could take some of my A.C.Stadden figures to have a go at painting them. Knowing that before Mark got serious about model railroading, he […]

622: Backheads are harder to draft than make

It’s generally invisible except through the windows. So I don’t want to spend too much time on the cab interior and specifically the backhead. A modeller’s sketch is sufficient, I think. If I recall, the backhead for #10 took an enjoyable day of modelling. It was styrene plus a few pieces of lost wax jewelry representing […]

622’s pilot and the power of parametric CAD

I just finished drawing 622’s pilot. Actually, it is 623’s pilot as I don’t have any photograph showing 622 after she lost her link and pin. I think it’s a pretty good match to the photo. Perhaps the angle needs to be a little more acute. But here’s the thing: five minutes ago, it looked […]