Trackside Scenery

Building the Sea Port Model Works diorama and display

2011-07-18T06:56:00.001-07:00

It all started last year at a model RR show. I was showing Bruce Nickerson of Sea Port Model Works a little diorama I'd built. He asked how I made the water. I told him and explained that I had a DVD which showed all my water-building techniques. He needed to know because he was contemplating building several display bases for his ship models.

During our discussion we talked about building one large display to show-off his whole product line. This would be a waterfront display in HO scale and he asked me if I could build it for him. We settled on dimensions of 30" wide by 6' long and not over 1' high, a size that would fit in the back of a van or station wagon.

I went home pulled out all my waterfront pictures, studied them for a while, and created a ½" scale model of what I envisioned the display to look like.

The research part is important to me because it gets the juices flowing and gets me thinking about the "scenes" in the display. It also gives me a clue into the scope and number of structures that need to be built. I did end up using several modified kits but most of the building were scratch built using many uncommon materials. But I'm getting ahead of myself…

Going Whole Hog

2011-06-24T06:39:00.000-07:00

I love cooking whole hogs. It started over 30 years ago when Bob Hayden decided to host a pig roast for Kalmbach Publishing (publisher of Model Railroader and Trains magazines and my Scenery book) employees.

He bought a 125 pound pig and asked me to cook it. We mounted it on a pole and rented an electric rotisserie. We put the set-up about 2 feet off the ground and built a charcoal fire on either side of the pig. I sat and watched the pig for 7 hours until it was done. I was also done, I'd been drinking beer while watching the pig cook.

We carved it, sauced it and served it with a keg of beer and a dozen pot-luck sides people brought to the party. It was a grand time. The only thing left in the morning was the skull, stripped of meat, staring at me from the kitchen sink.

I've cooked many pigs since then using all types of contraptions and pits dug in the ground. They all worked out great.

This year I decided to get serious and bought a La Caja China or Chinese Pig Box. This is a plywood box lined with aluminum and has an aluminum lid to hold the charcoal. The pig bakes in the box. It's almost foolproof.

You season the pig (injecting the rubbing,) put it in the box, put the lid on, cover the lid with charcoal and let it cook for 3 or so hours. At that time you remove the lid and turn the pig, replace the lid and let the skin crisp for another hour. Easy Peasy!

The results are a perfectly cooked pig, ready to pull, sauce and eat.

Heki Wild Grass

2011-06-14T06:45:00.000-07:00

Scenic Express sells Heki Wildgrass for modeling perfect looking clumps of tall grass. It's sold in several colors and textures.

In the package there's a large sheet of standing grass on a plastic backing. This is the same type of grass you'd get from the Heki Flock Star static grass applicator only the Wildgrass is ready to use.

Just peel a clump of grass from the backing, put a drop of white glue on the back and push it into the scenery. After the glue dries you have a patch of grass that looks like it just grew there.

It's been a while...

2011-05-19T13:36:00.000-07:00

It's been a year since I posted anything new here. I'm sorry for you folks who were checking back periodically but my life got in the way. I've been really busy with model railroad, family and cooking projects.

Last fall I released a new DVD titled "EASY SCENERY from start to finish." It's available through this website.

The DVD shows building landform scenery from using cardboard strips, plaster cloth, and Sculptamold.

Doug Foscale shows you how to carve rocks in plaster and color them. I show you how to add cast plaster rocks, and then paint them using Poly Scale paints.

Next I add add ground cover and build trees. Hal Reynolds shows you how to use a wire twisting tool to build pine trees and weeds. I build a simple waterway using Woodland Scenics water products.

As a disclaimer I must say that some of the topics included in EASY SCENERY are also included in my Building Landforms DVD. Only in EASY SCENERY I use different materials, colors and methods to achieve similar results. EASY SCENERY takes you to the end of the scenery building process - finished scenery.

The 23 chapters include:

Building Mountains

Making rocks - two ways

Ballasting track - the easy way

Coloring rail

Cutting an shaping foam scenery

Painting rocks - two different ways

Modeling water

Adding scenic texture

Building a dirt road

Making weed trees

Making twisted wire trees

And, putting it all together to make a finished scene

Most of the tools and materials used in EASY SCENERY can be obtained from Micro Mark.

Please stayed tuned I'm going to do my best to post something informative and interesting every week. Thanks for checking back.

New DVD - Easy Scenery

2010-08-01T06:51:00.001-07:00

EASY SCENERY from start to finish

My latest DVD is 103 minutes and 23 chapters long. The price is $29.95 plus $4.95 shipping. Available now from my web site.

Learn how to build great looking scenery from start to finish. Using simple tools and materials I show you how to start with cardboard strips, plaster cloth and carved foam to build your base; add rocks and paint them; build a realistic waterway; make trees and finish with scenic details to create scenery for your layout. Doug Foscale and Hal Reynolds add their expertise to demonstrate carving plaster rocks and making bottle-brush trees. This DVD is packed with tips and ideas to help you build better looking scenery. Great for beginners and experts alike.

The 23 chapters include:

Building Mountains

Making rocks - two ways

Ballasting track - the easy way

Coloring rail

Cutting an shaping foam scenery

Painting rocks - two different ways

Modeling water

Adding scenic texture

Building a dirt road

Making weed trees

Making twisted wire trees

And, putting it all together

As a disclaimer I must say that some of the topics included in Building Landforms part 1 & 2 are also included in this DVD. Only in Easy Scenery I use different products, colors and methods to achieve similar results. Easy Scenery takes you to the end of the scenery building process - finished scenery.

Most of the tools and materials used in Easy Scenery can be obtained from Micro Mark.

More competition BBQ

2010-06-07T08:31:00.000-07:00

It was a good weekend.

Our iQue BBQ team this weekend consisted of Chris Hart and myself. We cooked competition BBQ at the Massachusetts State Championship held at the Peter's Pond Campground in Sandwich, Mass. This was a sanctioned Kansas City BBQ Society event. There were 33 teams from the USA and Canada.

Tornado watches and squalls were all around New England but Cape Cod was warm, dry, and about 75 Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday.

We went "old school" cooking on a Backwoods Fat Boy (24 hours on a bag and a half of lump charcoal and a few lumps of apple wood.) We cooked this contest "light" - a table, several chairs, an EZ-Up, two coolers, and the cooker. This was the way we started cooking 15 years ago when we didn't have any money.

Chris's great cooking won the contest. iQue received a large check plus cash, trophies, a pallet of Wicked Good lump charcoal, and 200 pounds of cooking wood. We scored 6th in chicken, 2nd in Ribs, 1st in pork shoulder, and 10th in brisket and beat the second closest team by 21 points. A great weekend!

Bottle Brush Trees and Weeds

2010-05-31T11:18:00.000-07:00

Hal Reynolds and I have been experimenting making trees using the Micro Mark twister pliers. These are easy to use and make nice looking trees and weeds.

Micro Mark sells what you need to get started - the pliers, wire and 2.5" strands of fur-like fibers. The pine tree with foliage is made using the Micro Mark products.

It took a little practice and we experimented with other materials. In the photo at the top of the page you see the pliers, a length of sisal rope and some wire from the craft store. The tree I made from sisal rope is the one without the foliage. It needs to be painted and then have dark green scenic foam sprinkled on.

The weed experiment is shown in the bottom two photos. This is just short lengths of rope fiber twisted into the wire. The strand was painted and placed in the scene - bottom photo.

If you're looking for a train-related activity while you're watching TV, making trees is the way to go. I never watch a ballgame unless I make a few trees!

My next video

2010-05-31T11:07:00.001-07:00

It doesn't look like much but this is where I'm shooting my next how-to-do-it video. As you may have seen in other posts I painted the backdrop but found it too distracting for the early parts of the video. Later when there's some scenery on the model railroad I'll pull off the black cloth so the greenery of the foreground scenes will blend with the background.

Doug Foscale of Fos Scale Limited is carving rocks from plaster. He did a great demo.

These pictures were taken as a test of the video lighting.

The Jethro Coffin house

2010-04-30T06:20:00.001-07:00

When I was building the Nantucket RR display one of the structures I needed was a model of the oldest house on Nantucket.

The oldest building is the Jethro Coffin house and was built in 1686. It's still standing so I got a chance to measure and photograph it. I drew a rough plan on graph paper. I scaled the model to fit the space I had plus it had to look good with the doors and windows that were available.

I gave the photos, plans and materials to Brian Bollinger of BEST models. He built this model - a nice caricature of the real building.

Rock Molds

2010-04-26T07:31:00.000-07:00

I like using molds to model rocks. For many years I made and sold a line of over 20 molds. All were made from real rocks that looked good in miniature.

I still get requests from modelers who can't find the molds on my web site. I stopped making them over five years ago because they were very labor intensive and demand dwindled.

Nowadays when modelers ask about molds I send them to Sterling Models. They have a growing line of molds that are very realistic. Each mold is hand made using latex rubber and they're packaged to stay flat.

The larger molds are set in a cardboard "tray" for shipping. The tray is a handy holder when pouring plaster into the mold.

Check them out.

The Franklin & South Manchester model railroad

2010-04-17T09:45:00.000-07:00

I just uploaded another video. This one is about George Sellios' F&SM railroad.

Here's the official blurb:

In this rare video I show George Sellios' Franklin & South Manchester model railroad as it looked in 1987 and again in 2001 and 2002.

I start by showing the early construction of the F&SM and George running the trains, next we jump to 2001 and see George presenting his kits and the layout on a Boston morning news show.

Next in 2002, we follow several trains as they circle the layout as part of a monthly open house, and I finish by showing and explaining many of George's scenery building secrets.

This video is 23 minutes long, a high quality 140MB download and is priced at $5.95.

This video was assembled from video I'd shot over the years. The presentation was made for the 2002 NMRA Sunshine Region Convention. That was it's only showing until until this week when I discovered I still had a copy of the tape.

Lobster Pot Pie

2010-04-12T14:36:00.000-07:00

This is not a recipe blog although sometimes I wish it were. I have hundreds that are mine and they're good! But today I'm posting a link to a YouTube video of the IQUE BBQ team preparing lobster pot pie for their Chef's Choice entry at the Jack Daniels BBQ Championship in 2005.

Here's the link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9jPDFLsJIQ

I put together this video to show the team in action. Andy Husbands brought his video camera and everybody took a turn at recording the events of the day. I assembled this 5-year old video into this short presentation to show one of our typical non-BBQ entries.

Enjoy.

Garden time

2010-04-06T06:18:00.000-07:00

Spring has sprung here in New England. We've had almost a week of pleasant weather after two weeks of heavy rains.

At the beginning of March I started my seeds in my cellar. I have an old 25 gallon aquarium that's perfect for seed cultivation. I added a cheap heating pad from Walmart, several blocks of one inch thick Styrofoam and two 4' fluorescent light fixtures. I also put a remote thermometer inside next to the plants to make sure it's warm enough.

The foam blocks are stacked to hold the trays of seeding close to the lights and the heating pad is placed under the starter tray to keep the soil warm for fast germination. The lights just fit on top of the aquarium and are connected to a timer to turn them on and off on a 12 hour cycle. Most of the seeds are up and doing well.

I took time outside yesterday to survey my vegetable garden. The soil is now dry enough to work it a little. It was a real chore to turn sand into garden soil. I've turned truck loads of manure, compost and seaweed into the garden to help make the soil rich and productive. It's working. Last year even after six weeks of rain and colder than normal conditions everything grew as planned.

It's time expand the garden. I've decided to make the flat, rectangular area into four 16' long raised beds about 4' wide. I plan on adding two foot wide walkways between the beds. I bought the lumber yesterday. I'll post photos after I start the process.

Two new videos are ready for download

2010-04-03T08:50:00.000-07:00

Two years ago this month I went to the Netherlands and to Germany with Jim Elster, the owner of Scenic Express. We visited the farm where all the SuperTrees are grown (along with a lot of the potatoes that Frito Lay uses for their "crisps.") and then headed south to Munich, Germany to visit Albert Rademacher, the man who invented Silflor and owns Mini Natur. We also went to the Noch factory to see how their scenery products are produced.

During our visit with Albert he demonstrated his techniques for building dioramas using Styrofoam, craft paints and his Silflor products. I recorded a lot of what happened on video tape. It's been sitting on my hard drive just waiting to be edited.

Well this week I taught myself Final Cut Express HD for the Mac. This is video editing software that treats video like Photoshop handles still images. You can do about anything to video, do it fast, and produce professional looking video.

I started by assembling my European video and before I knew it I had three programs with more video still on the drive. I've uploaded two of the videos and the third is still being edited. The two videos are ready for download through the downloads page on my web site.

The first video is called Building a Foam Diorama Base. It's an eight an a half minute video that features Albert demonstrating his techniques for building a diorama base using Styrofoam. He show how he plans the diorama, cuts the pieces, and then disassemblies it, so each piece can be shaped separately. A good teaching tool for any scenery builder, beginner or expert. Price $5.95, 48.6MB download.

The second video is Carving & Painting Foam Rocks. It's a 14-minute video where Albert shows his techniques for carving rock faces in Styrofoam blocks and then painting them to get realistic results. He also shows how he "carves" stonework in flat foam surfaces. This video will help anyone who is building scenery on their model railroad, military display or structure diorama. For beginners or experts. Price is $5.95 - 14-minutes, a 77MB download.

Check them out.

Painting a background

2010-03-27T12:25:00.000-07:00

I have a 30' cycloramic backdrop around the area of my workshop I use for building models. It makes photographing models a lot easier because I can just point and shoot.

The backdrop is painted with a sky-blue color in the top half graduating to white at the bottom. It was really a quick and dirty paint job done when I installed the backdrop.

In the next few months I'll be building a sugar train railroad based in the Caribbean. It'll be on some fictional island surrounded by lush jungle with evidence of past volcanic activity. The display will only be about 8' long so I built a frame in front of the backdrop to set it on. My plan is to make the train display 2-sided, with equal amounts of detail on both sides. It can be turned on the frame so both sides can be viewed and photographed.

I wanted a "south seas" backdrop behind the display. Something simple, showing high clouds and steep volcanic peaks. I started by repainting the sky blue areas at the top of the backdrop and worked down to white at the bottom.

1 - I added the distant hills using the sky blue color mixed with a lot of white and a little hookers green.

2 - For the second and subsequent layers I added more hookers green to the palette.

3 - Between each background hill layer I sprayed flat white auto primer to dull the colors and add a haze effect.

4 - For the closer hills I used black, hookers green, unbleached titanium white, and green gold - as you can see on my palette.

5 - My brush is a 1.5" China bristle, sold for $.49 at paint stores. The older the better because the bristles soften after repeated washings and are perfect for painting trees.

6 - My technique is really nothing special. I mix the colors on the palette and apply them to the backdrop in a stabbing motion. I try to get a mixture of all the colors on the brush to get an interesting light and shadow effect.

7 - For the closest trees I put medium green, burnt sienna and the titanium white on the palette and applied them with a fan brush.

8 - The last step was to mist-on more flat white spray paint to bring everything together and to dull the colors slightly for the illusion of distance.

Turbo Tree Demo

2010-03-15T07:49:00.000-07:00

At the Amherst Railway Society train show in Springfield, Mass. Hal Reynolds of Atlantic Scale Modelers was at the table next to me. All day he would demonstrate making trees with his new tree-making devise, the Turbo Tree. Here's a video of his demo. Check it out.

2010-03-14T07:56:00.000-07:00

When we delivered the Nantucket Railroad Display to the Whaling Museum on the island of Nantucket, Mass. Hal Reynolds set-up his Canon digital camera to record the assembly process.

The camera is sold with software that allowed us to take over 14,000 still pictures at 12 second intervals. These were loaded into iMovie. I edited the stop motion video to almost 6-minutes, added titles and music, and saved it in Quicktime format.

Here it is, enjoy!

The new Elk River Ry. & T.I. too!

2010-03-07T14:47:00.000-08:00

Many years ago Bob Hayden and I built the HOn30 Elk River Ry. It was featured in eight articles in Railroad Model Craftsman magazine. The little railroad was a test bed for the new (at the time) Mini Trix trains. These were HO scale trains that ran on N scale tracks making them "narrow gauge."

The layout was very popular and got us thinking about what other HOn30 projects we could build. I like the waterfront and Bob likes the 2-foot narrow gauge railroads that ran in the state of Maine. So we combined our interests and created Thatcher's Inlet, an HOn30 waterfront railroad, with a Maine 2-foot theme. It was also featured in a series of articles in RMC.

These two little railroads launched us into bigger and better HOn30 model railroads. But times changed...

Jump ahead 30 years. Bob decides it's time for an O-gauge version of the Elk River with a waterfront section similar to Thatcher's Inlet. I travel to his workshop to help build the frame and to paint the backdrop. The next year, while in Bob's workshop to make a video, help him build and paint the waterfront. Bob rebuilt many pieces of Bachmann rolling stock to look more like the Maine 2-foot trains.

So here we are today. A new model railroad based upon the old.

Photo by Bob Hayden with his new 12mm lens.

The Parker Grain Company

2010-02-22T05:53:00.001-08:00

When I was a kid I was always on the lookout for interesting structures. I always carried a camera and took the time to photograph the buildings that caught my eye.

The structures didn't have to have a run-down appearance just different roof lines, additions and shapes. I also favored structures that served a railroad or were on the water.

This building was the Parker Grain Company and located on a river in Danversport, Massachusetts. It was way past it's prime when I photographed it in 1963.

I've built three models of the Parker Grain Company, all in HO scale. The first model was built from Strathmore card stock using the Jack Work techniques that were described in Model Railroader magazine. The second was from basswood sheets and strips using plastic windows and doors.

My last model was this one, shown in the photo. It's made from Evergreen styrene sheets and trim, Grandt Line doors and windows, and roof details from several plastic kits.

All the models are gone, either sold or destroyed, so it might be time to build it again.

My new DVD

2010-02-05T11:58:00.000-08:00

My latest DVD Building Landform parts 1 & 2 arrived via UPS last evening. Just in time for Springfield. This is a full length, 80-minute version showing all my tips and tricks to build a realistic base for your scenery. It'll be on my web site soon.

I demonstrate installing tunnel portals, using cardboard strips, applying plaster wrap, cutting, stacking and shaping urethane foam, using hot wire tools, using both Gypsolite and Sculptamold, adding both foam and plaster rocks castings, carving rocks directly into foam using a kitchen knife, and then I finish with a rock painting tutorial, the colors you need, and how to dry brush the rocks for best effect. This is two videos in one. Price is $29.95.

Creating peeling paint on wood structures.

2010-01-25T06:44:00.000-08:00

Here's a close-up showing peeling paint on an HO waterfront structure. Sorry about the photo quality.

I use art masking fluid to mask the wall where the peeling paint will be. Art masking fluid is like rubber cement only thinner. It's mostly sold in art stores, but I've seen it in craft stores also. Art masking fluid is used by water color painters to mask areas they whant to remain white. You'll also need a soft rubber erasure like the one in the photo.

Here's what to do:

• On a wood structure paint the raw wood a weathered wood color. I like a thinned gray color.

• Where you want the peeling paint apply art masking fluid with a toothpick - a little is better than a lot.

• Allow the art masking fluid to dry.

• Then paint the whole structure another color - white, barn red, gray, light green, whatever you like.

• Allow the paint to dry for several days

• Then with the soft rubber art eraser gently rub it over the structure surface. The eraser will lift the paint and the art masking fluid under it to reveal the weathered wood.

Planning models

2010-01-13T06:18:00.000-08:00

In my scenery book I devote a good deal of space to planning your scenery. This is an important first step if you have a large or complicated track plan.

With some track plans it's very hard to visualize if there's enough clearance between the tracks, especially when one track is above another, or how steep or flat the scenery has to be in another part of the plan, or where you need a rock face or retaining wall.

This is where a 3-D model of the trackplan comes in handy. The scale of the 3-D model is not important. It has to be large enough so you can build the grades to scale. I like one-inch equals one-foot scale. This means drawing a track plan on a grid that's 1"=1' scale.

I make several copies of the plan and glue these copies to cardboard or poster board. I cut out the track outline with a sharp knife, leaving about 1/8" on either side of the line. You'll need several copies of some areas on the plan especially where one track crosses over another.

Square pieces of scrap wood make the risers. These are glued under the cut-out track plan. It's important to estimate the grades so you can determine if there's clearance when one track passes over another.

I like to add scenery using Sculptamold, bit of colored texture, and small buildings made from blocks of wood. It brings the planning model to life.

Did you ever wonder how lobsters are caught?

2010-01-11T06:53:00.000-08:00

In 1997 I was filmed hauling my lobster traps on Massachusetts’ North Shore. The video shows a typical day at sea.

You’ll learn about lobster’s habits, how the trap works, the differences between “old” and “new” lobsters, and other interesting facts.

This video was shot as part of a presentation for the Gloucester Seafood Festival. The purpose was to feature lobstermen (and fishermen), those small, one-man operations were threatened by changing Federal and State laws and the economics of scale.

The law changes worked. They forced myself and most of the other small fishermen I knew out of business. Nowadays, it’s mostly the large, heavily capitalized, corporation-owned, fishing businesses that remain.

Download this video to get a close-up look at my typical day at sea. This is a 23-minute, 131MB, mp4 file. The cost is only $8.95. You’ll enjoy it.

The Cactus Valley

2010-01-03T08:06:00.001-08:00

Many years ago I was asked by the staff at Model Railroader magazine to build a 4' by 8' HO project railroad. The purpose of a project railroad is to document the building process. This helps a newcomer, or seasoned veteran, to build the railroad.

I documented the process in 2 how-to-do-it articles. These were published about 15 years ago in Model Railroader. The story has all the information you'll need to build this small layout or a larger railroad, based on a Southwest theme. Check it out, it's a free PDF download at www.mrscenery.com.

I also put up a link to a 9:31 mp4 video about building landforms using cardboard strips and plaster wrap. This is basic scenery building information. The download costs $5.95.

Thanks to everyone...

2009-12-29T07:25:00.000-08:00

As 2009 rolls to the end I want to say THANK YOU to all my on-line friends. Thanks to all for visiting this site, buying books and DVDs, and asking many scenery questions. It's been a wonderful year!

In 2010 I hope to improve the quantity and quality of information provided here. Stay tuned, it's going to be another great year!

The Harbor Master's Office

2009-12-26T08:27:00.000-08:00

For almost 41 years I had a part time lobster business on the coast of Massachusetts just north of Boston. During that period I owned four lobster boats. My last boat was custom-built for me by General Marine in Biddeford, Maine.

In my travels looking at other boats and builders I spent several weeks in Nova Scotia. I took this photo of a Harbor Master's Office about 1979. I don't remember where. The picture was placed in a box of other waterfront photos until I discovered it again last October when I showed it to Hal Reynolds of Atlantic Scale Modelers .

He liked the photo, so I drew the "plans" on graph paper. The plans were really just a sketch showing the length and width. The size and proportions were determined by using a know window size, and by counting the rows of 5" by 5" cedar shingles on the building sides. This was the system we used very effectively when we built the Nantucket Railroad display for the Nantucket Historical Association at the Whaling Museum in Nantucket, Massachusetts.

Hal took my sketches and laser-cut the office in O scale. He used the windows we created for the Nantucket structures. They were a bit large but looked good.

Hal sent me the first cutting for comment. The photo, with my hand in it, was the first trial run of the kit. Hal cut a second kit, built it, and put it on a waterfront display as seen in the next photo. I put a light in the Harbor Master's office as you can see in the close-up photo. I used printed nautical maps to decorate in interior walls.

Hal decided to go ahead and produce a kit of this structure. It's cut from Northeastern Scale basswood and has a footprint of 5.5” x 3.5” and is 5” tall. The shingles on the sides and roof are laser cut into the bass wood. The look real! All you have to do is paint them. The doors and windows are laser cut and have window glazing included. The chimney and life saving rings are included, and there's illustrated instructions.

Hal says he expects to have the kits ready to ship by early January 2010. The price is $79.95 plus postage - a bargain and a fine addition to your O scale waterfront!

2009-12-24T06:40:00.000-08:00

The future is now.

The more I look around the Internet and see how model railroaders are embracing the podcast and video technologies the more I think this is going to be the greatest informational, teaching and entertainment tool ever devised. You can already download movies and TV shows and watch them when it's convenient so why not model railroad information?

It started with the Scotty Mason Show. This was the first model railroad/structure kit show on the Internet. Jimmy Deignan put the show on iTunes as a free download and the number of listeners just exploded.

If the Scotty Mason Show could afford the band width we could make a video podcast. The one I always mention as the one we should emulate is TWiT - This Week in Technology. It is polished, professional and informative. The band width is still expensive without a willing sponsor.

Our podcast was followed by Ryan Andersen's weekly Model Railcast Show. I was interviewed for this show last week. Show #91. Ryan does an interesting show because it's main thrust is how to get started in model railroading. A topic that's often overlooked by experienced modelers.

Joe Fugate was the pioneer in how-to-do-it video downloads at his Siskiyou Line web site. On this site you can download his instructional videos or buy his DV's. He offers them in several formats, they're inexpensive and the site is very user-friendly.

Joe is also responsible for the free, quarterly Model Railroad Hobbyist eZine. This a a real model railroad magazine that's free to download from the web site. The best part is the great video segments showing you how to perform a particular task. Good stuff, and did I say it's free!

Stay tuned. Things are happening fast.

Lobster Cove

2009-12-23T06:39:00.000-08:00

I just uncovered these photos from the "Lobster Cove" project I built for the folks who owned the Franklin Mint back in the mid 1990's. This is a 3' by 5' HO model railroad. A loop of track and two sidings with a bridge, tunnel, waterfront, and a New England village.

It was sold through the American Express credit card mailing list. You could own a ready-built HO Lobster Cove for eight credit card payments. The White Glove folks would deliver it, set it up and run the trains to make sure it worked.

My job was to build the layout for the brochure photography and then build casting masters so all the pieces could be sent to China and duplicated. I did it. They duplicated the layout in China I was told. The project was dropped before it really got started because not enough of these layouts were sold.

The Lobster Cove layout eventually became the basis for the model railroad that appeared in the movie The Love Letter. Same dimensions, scenery and track plan, only the structures were different.

This would be a nice little HO model railroad project for someone who wants a small, highly detailed railroad. I don't have plans or other photos, so you're on your own...

eBooks - Classics revisited!

2009-12-19T06:30:00.000-08:00

I hope you noticed the eBooks for sale on the my main page. I've taken my two TIPS books and the Toy Train Scenery book and scanned every page. The information in the books is as valid today as it was ten years ago when they were published.

I chose a resolution high enough so that the photos look good and the text can be enlarged several times and still be readable. It was a big challenge and I experimented with dozens of scans to get the dpi just right.

I also needed a file size that was small enough so that modelers with a high speed connection could download the eBooks in a matter of minutes. If you still have a dial-up connection I recommend ordering your book or books on CD. The instructions are included with each book.

The TIPS books are an accumulation of 50 years of craftsman structure and scenery building. Realistic Scenery for Toy Train Layouts explains the simple steps for making good looking scenery. You'll love this eBook when you pull out the train set at Christmas or want a simple set-up for the kids to enjoy. Whether you're a beginner or an expert you'll benefit from reading these classics.

Download a book and check it out. There's a lot of good information here and I've micro-priced the ebooks so that everyone can enjoy them.

2009-12-17T09:46:00.000-08:00

On October 24th the iQue BBQ team won Grand Champion at the Jack Daniels Invitational BBQ Competition in Lynchburg Tennessee. Eighty teams were invited from around the world to see who cooks the best BBQ. iQue has been invited for the past 8 years. Here's how the team did:

2002: 4th Ribs, 5th Chicken, 10th Pork, 10th Overall

2003: Shut out

2004: 3rd Chicken

2005: 2nd Place Pork, 3rd Place Chefs Choice

2006: 1st Place Chefs Choice, 1st Jack Grilling

2007: Shut Out

2008: 1st Chefs Choice, 10th Dessert

2009: 2nd Pork, 8th Chicken, 2nd Dessert, Grand Champ

I've only been with the team since 2005 and have been to the Jack every year except this one. It figures I'd miss the Grand Champion award.

The team was started by Andy Husbands owner of Tremont 647, a restaurant in Boston, in 1998. The BBQ chef is Chris Hart. There are also five or six other team members and their families who attend contests as their schedules' allow.

It's been a while...

2009-12-16T05:40:00.000-08:00

I have good intentions. I plan to post something interesting here on a regular basis. Then I forget, and go off to do something else. So I'm turning over a new leaf. My New Year's resolution is to add photos and stories on a weekly basis.

I have a lot of material. By my count I've either worked on or built 31 model railroads to date - in all scales and gauges.

I'm going to start by playing catch-up. I never finished the story of the podcast layout. If you read back through my posts you'll see that it was a 4' by 8' layout built for display at the Craftsman Structure Show in November 2009, and then presented to a lucky ticket buyer at the show. The money raised from the ticket sales, over $4,000.0, went to the Avon Breast Cancer Walk.

Fos Scale limited kits

2009-09-29T11:36:00.000-07:00

Work continues on the podcast layout. I've finished three new Fos Scale Limited structure kits - www.foslimited.com/.

Here's Fos's HO Hooper Oyster Company kit. I've changed the sign on the front to make it The Golden Lobster. The plastic lobster on the sign came from the top of a swizzle stick I picked up at the bar at Anthony's Pier 4 in Boston. The large oyster sign is included with the kit. I've set the building half on and half off the pilings - the front half will be on the street.

The little barge kit comes with Hooper's Oyster. I built it per the instruction but set a model cannon on the deck just for fun. Several folks wrote and said "that's not prototypical!" You think? I told them the barge uses the cannon to go in reverse...

2009-09-22T09:44:00.000-07:00

Our BBQ team, iQue, had a great weekend. We're now the Massachusetts State Champions having prevailed over 41 other teams, one from as far away as Chicago. The win came out of the blue. We had a couple of calls in ribs and pork shoulder but nothing that would lead us to believe we had enough points to beat several other strong contenders. We had the points and won, and it was great! A nice trophy and even nicer cash made for a great contest.

Now the team is off to Kansas City to cook the American Royal. Over 600 teams compete to see who's got the best BBQ on the planet. If you'd like to check out how we prepare our pork shoulders for Royal competition click this link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XMjN0I7wD8 - there's 2 parts to this video. Check out part 2 to see how we did.

This link shows our brisket win at the Royal, against 500 teams - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OiTlhlqNJY

At the end of October we travel to Lynchburg, TN for the Jack Daniels Invitational. It's the world series of BBQ - the 50 best teams in America go head to head. We've had very good luck at both contests and hope to continue.

My thanks to the Harpoon Brewery in Boston for providing sponsorship and great beer - http://www.harpoonbrewery.com/

2009-09-17T07:31:00.000-07:00

Wow! It's been way too many weeks since I added anything new to this blog. I took a summer hiatus and now with fall rapidly approaching it's time to get back work.

The Narrow Gauge Convention is going strong in Colorado Springs and this year I decided to stay home. I did get a chance to participate in a small way by building a display for Jimmy Deignan to show off his new line of laser cut kits - www.craftsmankits.com

Jimmy gave me all these built-up kits on small diorama bases. I removed the bases and saved all the little details. The buildings were arranged on a 30" by 32" sheet of reinforced foam core board (the dimensions were determined by the size of the available floor space in Jimmy's van.) I mounted the structures on 1" pink Styrofoam and scenicked around them. It's kind of crowded but I got everything to fit in a small space.

Harpoon BBQ weekend.

2009-07-23T07:41:00.000-07:00

I compete in BBQ contests as a hobby. It's more than a hobby but you folks who compete in any sport know what I mean.

Our team, iQue, is again this year competing at the Harpoon Brewery in Windsor, VT, at the New England BBQ Championship. This is by far the best contest on the east coast of the USA. Harpoon is a great host providing lots of fresh beer and prize money for the best BBQ. They'll be 50 teams from all over the country - some of the best BBQ cooks in America competing.

Here Chris Hart, the BBQ master of our team, preps the chicken entry just before turn-in.

Wish us luck!

2009-07-16T05:52:00.000-07:00

I just finished building this nice little laser-cut kit from Stevens Creek Models. It's called Thatcher's Outlet.

I mentioned it in this blog several weeks ago. It's a new kit that'll could find a place on almost any model railroad.

I added the little bicycle to the front porch. It's a pewter casting that comes all painted. I don't remember who makes it - I bought it at a hobby shop in Amsterdam.

2009-07-15T06:30:00.000-07:00

When a customer asked me to put a "village Green" on his O scale, high rail layout I said okay (without knowing what I was going to do.) He wanted something like the green he remembered as a boy growing up in western Massachusetts.

I had a large space in the middle of the O scale village. We had scratchbuilt about a dozen structures that ran down either side of the village. By placing a "green" in the middle, it split the center of town into two main streets and visually looked more realistic.

I started by cutting an oval from a sheet of 1/4" thick Foam Core board and cutout the pond area in the middle. I glued the foam core down to the road surface and held it in place with weights until the glue dried.

I cut several rows of stones from a Scenic Express urethane foam wall and glued them to the edge of the Foam Core.

The whole green was painted with earth colored paint and finely sifted sand and scenic foam were sprinkled into the wet paint. After the paint dried I sprayed the whole area with dilute matte medium adhesive and added more grass and fine sand.

The statue is off the top of a bottle of Jack Daniels. I painted him and put him on a wood base. He's got a pigeon sitting on his hat.

The benches are store bought. The fence posts are made from 3/16th square stripwood with a map pin stuck in the top. Holes were drilled in the sides of the stripwood to hold the brass rods.

The "lake" is a painted bottom with Magic Water poured on top. Several ducks were placed in the pond.

This was an easy project that adds a lot of life to the little village.

2009-07-14T06:08:00.000-07:00

We recorded our July podcast yesterday. A little late in the month but if Scott gets his interviews done it'll be out soon. We talked quite a bit about building the podcast layout. Doug Foscale, Scott and myself worked on it. Jimmy Deignan supplied the materials.

We're building the layout for charity and any profit will be donated to the Avon Breast Cancer Walk.

The track is down and next week we place the structures and start the scenery. I'll post pictures here.

2009-07-10T12:57:00.000-07:00

We just acquired our second dog from Yankee Golden Retriever Rescue. He's on the left and his name is Bailey. He's six years old and gets along with three year old Buddy, on the right, very nicely. Two dogs are nice.

2009-07-08T06:56:00.000-07:00

Here's a photos of the completed 28' display in the Museum. It's interactive. The green buttons, one on each end of the display, start the train and the sound effects.

All 32 structures were built using photos from the 1900-era as a guide.

2009-07-08T06:32:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I have the pleasure of presenting a clinic at the NMRA Convention in Hartford, CT. It'll be about how I researched and built an On30 display for the Nantucket Historical Association's Whaling Museum on the island of Nantucket, MA. The display depicts the Nantucket Railroad as it looked in 1900.

The railroad was 3-foot gauge and operated from 1881 until 1917. It's reason for being was to haul tourists and their baggage from the ferry dock to the hotels in Surfside, Tom Nevers Head and Sconset. The railroad was 11.5 miles long.

It had an American 4-4-0 type engine and a Mason-Bogie type engine. They had a passenger car, a baggage combine, a home-built baggage car, and several open air coaches.

More information can be found on my home page by clicking on the Nantucket Display link.

Thatcher's Outlet

2009-07-01T09:36:00.000-07:00

Many of you may remember the Thatcher's Inlet series of articles that ran in Railroad Model Craftsman in the 1970's. Thatcher's Inlet was a small HOn30 layout that Bob Hayden and I built. It featured a New England village set on the edge of the ocean.

Well Thatcher's Inlet lives on. Ken Lunders of Stevens Creek Models has produced this HO laser cut store kit which he's calling Thatcher's Outlet (a little play on words there...)

This is a nice little store which I'm in the process of building now. Go to Ken's web site and check it out. I'll be posting pictures of my model when I complete it.

Podcast Layout Structures

2009-07-01T07:26:00.001-07:00

These are a few of the quick and dirty (weathered) plastic structures I built for the podcast layout. They may or may not be used, we'll see. The consensus of the group is that we feature built-up kits from the builders, Fos Scale Limited, ScottyMason.com and Jimmy Deignan.

If they don't end up on the podcast layout I'll put them in my own city scene.

More on the Podcast layout

2009-06-30T10:08:00.000-07:00

Scotty Mason, Doug Foscale (in photo), Jimmy Deignan (in top photo), and myself worked all day Monday, June 29th., building the podcast layout. We completed the frame, put down Masonite, one-inch blue foam and got all the track in place.

We used Walther's code 83 HO track and turnouts. The next step is to build the structures.

We'll resume construction after the NMRA convention in July.

The Podcast Layout

2009-06-27T08:17:00.000-07:00

If you haven't listened to our podcast yet you're missing three hours of fun every month. Scotty Mason, Jimmy Deignan, Doug Foscale, and I talk about model railroading, model structure kits, kit building, new products, the Craftsman Structure Show, and our new sponsor The Model Railroad Hobbyist e-zine. Scotty interviews the leading model railroader's every month. These have included, Tony Koester, George Sellios, Dick Elwell, Lou Sassi, Bob Hayden, John Olson, and many others.

We all decided to build a four foot by eight foot HO scale layout and have it ready for the Craftsman Structure Show in November. The trackplan is based upon one that appeared in print several years ago. Scotty has the construction materials, Jimmy has ordered the track and turnouts, and Doug and I are building structures.

When we actually start construction next week I'll post photos.

Thanks for visiting my Blog.

2009-06-13T15:51:00.000-07:00

Welcome.

I'm Dave Frary and in this blog I will try to share with you my continuing model railroad and scenery building adventures. I will try to keep the material interesting and current, and I promise to update it in a timely manner. I'll show you what I'm working on and the materials I'm using. I'll explain most techniques especially if they're not included in my book "How to Build Realistic model Railroad Scenery" or in any of my DVD's.

If you have questions or comments, or would like to share information I'll do my best to answer the questions and to post reader's information.