I completed my NMRA Contest build and taught Alix how to build a wood kit, whilst building the G Marshall Shipping Kit from Railroadkits.com
These are both affordable and great kits to learn your skills.
here are the construction images
Here are the completed models
I spent 4 hours at Model Rail Scotland, getting some inspiration and also meeting with other NMRA members from Scotland and neighbouring divisions. Hopefully we can have an NMRABR presence at Model Rail Scotland 2019.
I have started my kit contstruction with some nail holes added with the point of my tweezers.
I want to add a faded wood effect to my model so I painted an undercoat of light grey enamel paint onto the wall sections. Making sure the coat was light enough not to fill in the nail holes.
Once that coat had dried i sprayed the wall sections with hair spray which is part two of this fading effect. Once this drys i will add a top coat of acrylic paint, i suppose i best get to my paint draw and choose a suitable colour for my building.
So here is the post I know you have all been waiting for, my photos from Springfield. Well I can tell you it was a great show, I have come away with some detail parts and new projects that no doubt you will see in the next few months appear on my blog. I met fellow model railroaders, bloggers and Podcasters. I have a whole raft of new business cards that I need to probably get a file or digital record of and was inspired to do so much I think I will be busy for about 5 years getting them all done.
Anyway enough waffle here are the photos, thanks to Alix for wandering round the show with me while I said hey that’s cool snap that or, snap this layout I just need to shop.
So i am taking part in the NMRA social media contest #NMRAContest
The contest incolves building the Railroadkits Dannen feeds kit and doing anything you want with it but posting progress on social media.
Here is what you get in the basic kit. The instructions can be found on the manufacturers website, now to decide what colour to paint the model before moving further.
As you’ll all know I host the NMRABR podcast, creating a podcast is easy if i can do it with my limited knowledge of audio editing anyone can. The hardest part of hosting a podcast is arranging interviews with people, aligning diaries and also helping them familiarise themselves with Skype is challenge. I have taken to carrying a pair of microphones that plug into my iphone for recording anytime I have the chance and on the way back to Heathrow from the NMRABR winter meet in Benson i interviewed Peter Bochards about the show and his wonderful Rochelle Intermodal layout, which we also broke the interview to go and visit.
Look out for this episode soon from either AML or NMRABR podcasts.
If you haven’t listened to a podcast before check out the NMRABR Podcast here or the a modelers life (AML) podcast here
Another hour down to record and soon another hour of editing & production tasks.
I picked up 2 Atlas GP38-2 in WSOR livery for my N scale layout, at the NMRABR convention there was a huge N scale modular set up and all the locos on the modules had sound and i was really impressed with how well these sounded given the space issues within N scale models for speakers and chips.
I chose to fit digitrax SDN144A0 decoders and speakers, the atlas models need full dissassembly and then the DC circuit board is removed and the chip & speaker is fitted. A little bit of filing is required to the rear light fixture to get the body back on the chassis but after the first one i did the second in under an hour. I have just one more locomotive to Chip and then thats the roster complete for my layout. A rewarding 2 hours and some of the least painful DCC installs I have ever done.
So remember that SD40-2 in BN livery that I picked up at Benson, a nice model it is too but it won’t stay nice for long. Whilst not quite the correct livery to model a patch of WAMX4181 at the price i couldn’t say no. Here is the model before I did anything with it.
Here is an image of WAMX 4181
I disassembled the model and then started the conversion by repainting the nose, on the real WAMX4181 the nose has white stripes but my doner is a different BN livery. I can live with the subtle differences as no one in the UK will have seen the prototype, but i decided to remove the BN logo on the nose. I also didn’t have any Cascade green paint so I use as close a color as i had lying around the workshop and once its weathered it should blend well.
My next change was to patch the BN numbers & logos and apply the WAMX 4181 decals from Circus Decals.
When I came to change the number boards i noticed they were missing from the rear of locomotive so I have ordered some replacements from kato and will then start the weathering.
At the passing of one year into the next we reflect on the past year and plan for the next. Many people set goals or decide to break some habit, sometime those goals/habits are still going in February but for most people the goals for the new year are quickly forgotten.
So looking back at 2017, for me it certainly had some high points and definatley finished better than it started. I visited Canada for the first time, gave my first clinic, had my first article posted, attended my first NMRA Convention, started a Podcast, achieved two AP Certs, scratchbuilt my first freight car and got to make lots more friends around the world.
So what Goals to set myself for 2018, well here are my modelling goals:
So with 13 Days into the Year lets see where I am at:
So heres to 2018, lets make the most of it and make everyday a step towards your goals.
One of the jobs i have as Division Rep for Scotland is raising awareness of the NMRA across the country. One of the ways we do this is by attending train shows. This past weekend i was at the Elgin Model Railway club show who invited us to come all the way to Elgin about 40miles from Inverness so its the most northly train show we have attended in many years.
What i normally do is set up a table with NMRA leaflets and models, but and also sit work on my own models during the show. This is great because people which come, watch me work and then usually start a conversation where we can talk about the NMRA. So yesterday i managed to make contact with two members we had lost touch with locally as well as handing out a number of membership leaflets. There was even an NMRA member from Austrailia at this little show in Elgin.
Just to show how much i managed to get done here are my models from Saturday:
First i built and weathered this Scale Trains boxcar Kit.
Then i went on to build this N Scale laser sub shop kit
Then i weathered these two micro trains N scale bulkhead flat cars.
Then i finished my modelling for saturday by starting another N scale Laser kit for a warehouse.
Well see how far i can progress with this on Sunday.
Sunday started with completing the warehousr and painting it, took about 3 hours to get it painted.
Then i weathered the warehouse with rust deposits on the exposed metal work and then used a grimey wash to tone down the model.
And while i had my stuff to hand, i weathered the sub store i built yesterday.
Gordy's | Model Railroads 