Cricut shingles

Perhaps there is no harder problem for railway modellers than shingles. First of all, because we tend to have a bird’s eye view, they are right up front and centre. Secondly, it takes a team of workers about a week to re-roof even a modest house. So, while you could install individual shingles, it will drive you […]

Cricut board and batten

It is so nice when a plan works on the first attempt. Frequent readers of this blog know it’s rare for me, and so, I’m taking a moment to savour the victory. The battens went on today, pretty much as planned. I was amazed at how well they lined up with the board joints beneath […]

Roundhouse shed cut and coloured

The Cricut got quite a workout today. Between soccer games and making dinners and lunches for the younger crowd, I had it going almost all day. I actually cut out two copies of the roundhouse shed patterns as The Boy has asked for a set for his own use. They look pretty good, if I […]

Roundhouse shed designed

There was a small shed on the east side of the roundhouse. In later years, according to Del Rosamond, it contained ice. It doesn’t actually appear on the 1908 B&B listing, but then, the roundhouse is barely described in that book. So, I’ve decided to include it. Based on a sketchy distant half-view and a […]

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, […]

Near miss on the Boundary Sub

On Wednesday evening, I had an opportunity to dispatch on my friend Scott Calvert’s layout. His is a timetable and train order operation, just as the real Boundary was. If you’ve never had an opportunity to participate in a TT&TO operation, I encourage you to come to Vancouver for the annual Railway Modellers’ Meet. This […]

First layer of colour for the roundhouse

You can tell you’re working on a large project when all the pieces don’t fit on your workbench and they have to dry on the floor. The first layer is a mix of yellow ochre and raw sienna. I picked out I ndividual boards on the exterior, but the interior is simply roughly washed with […]

Roundhouse saved by the cloud

I had been lamenting the loss of my roundhouse designs. For some reason, one back wall and a side wall were cut and sitting on my desk for a couple of months while I worked on 622. Then, as I was riding home the other day, I remembered that if I had already cut the […]

Scribed and cut lines on the Cricut

Up to now, when I’ve wanted some lines scribed and others cut, I’ve simply run the whole pattern on the Cricut with a lighter touch. Then I have chased the scribed lines with a knife to cut them through. It’s simple, but tedious. Tonight, as I was cutting out the inside layer of the rear […]

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 […]