1:32 (Gauge 1), Acrylics, Oils, Pastel Powder, Powders, Site seeing, Sites of interest, Weathering

Site seeing – August 26 – Weathered and downright dirty

1 Comment

If you’ve followed the blog for any length of time, or know me personally, you’ll know that I don’t like clean things (my personal hygiene excepted). Every model I touch ends up weathered to one degree or another. And so onto todays sites of interest.

Site 1: Dirty stuff by Martin Wellberg – A German Gmhs 53 Boxcar in scale 1 (1:32nd scale)

This is part 1 of Martin’s so far 3 part treatise on weathering this large railcar. Wait till you see the photos. That’s all I’m saying on the matter.

Site 2: This is part 2 of the weathering of said German boxcar

In part 2 there is a little more of what Martin has been up to. Drool people, just drool.

Site 3: Part 3 from above

More train eye candy as Martin gets on with the weathering on the Gmhs 53 boxcar.

Site 4: Freerails Forum posts by Martin on other large-scale rail subjects

You should not need to be a member to view the posts. Definitely to post or reply though. Lots more pictures in what is now a 6 page post by Martin and those of us following him. Not to be missed.

Here’s a taste of the work Martin is creating:

I hope you enjoy Martin’s work.

1. Small, HO Scale, Layout Design, Layouts, Site seeing, Sites of interest, Web

Site Seeing – August 23 – Wetterau Food Services

1 Comment

August is the month where year 12 high school focuses on getting elder children ready to complete their schooling and head off to life or to University. This month we’ve toured possible University campuses to see what is on offer and where she can look on planning to attend next year.

Last weekend was an out-of-town visit (120km away) next weekend there’s another University visit on (only 3km away this time). All too soon she’ll be moving out and living on Campus (but don’t tell her that). Finally I’ll get my half of the train room! Anyhow – on to today’s sites of interest.

Site 1:  Wetterau Food Services

Tom Conboy’s layout’s shown in all it’s glory on the Model Railroad Hobbyist site. Tom writes on the first page: “The Wetterau Food Services Micro Layout was completed in February of 2016.  Layout planning and construction began in 2014.  I am enjoying operations on the layout, and wanted to share the steps I followed in building this micro layout here on MRH.   I  have learned quite a bit in building it, and hope you will find it informative.”

Head over and take a look through his shared build log. It is very interesting and a great looking layout. What’s not to like – a 70 tonner runs through it.

Site 2: Tom’s Model Railroad Scrapbook

This is the second of Tom’s sites where he’s shared the building of the layout.

Site 3: The Micro Model Railroad Cartel

The third site providing more information on the build of the layout in nine parts.

All great sites full of information for those interested in building a small layout and for those interested building a layout using Fome-Cor.

1:48 (US O Scale 1/4"), Acrylics, My other sites, O Scale, Oils, Pastel Powder, Powders, Scales, Weathering, Web

Modelling diversions – and why they are needed

Leave a comment
Image courtesy of: http://www.airplaneboneyards.com

It’s been some time since I modelled anything other than railways or railway related stuff. A couple of years ago at the local scale modelling club’s Annual Show (full disclosure I am a board member there) I purchased a cheap and cheerful 1:48 scale F-111E for very little money from one of the club members who was looking to offload it.

It has been a frustrating, and yet a strangely enjoyable process to go through building an aircraft for the first time in over 30 years. That it happens to be in the same scale as my 0 scale railway endeavours doesn’t hurt.

Work on this has been one of the reasons why I’ve been so quiet here on the HVL and Andrew’s Trains. I got into a bit of a rut and realised that I needed a break away from modelling and making trains for a bit; the joy of modelling went stale.

If you’d like to follow along with that build process and all the frustrations and pitfalls I’ve met along the way head on over to my other modelling site for the build process and what I hope will be a unique model at the end of the Boneyard Build.

Here’s what I’m aiming for as a model and diorama (although not sure about the paint scheme yet).

Image courtesy of http://www.taringa.net/

There’s a lot of weathering on these aircraft that I’ve noticed as I researched. And that I am really looking forward to.

1:48 (US O Scale 1/4"), Atlas O & HO Scale, Information, O Scale

Atlas TrainMan releases O scale 20′ ISO Containers

Leave a comment

As of August 5, 2016 Atlas TrainMan are shipping 20′ ISO shipping containers in 0 scale (1:48) in four paint schemes. The containers are sold as a two pack for $24.95 US. Each container livery has eight numbers (four packs of two containers); theoretically that is 32 containers available with individual numbers. Reality may depend on your location and stocks available to non-US residents.

The details from the Atlas site are as follows:

  • Scale length, width and height
  • Prototypical paint schemes & lettering
  • Non-opening doors
  • 20’ based on corrugated design with logo panels
  • Accurate painting and lettering for steel 20-foot containers
  • Two containers will fit end-to-end in the Atlas O Gunderson Twin Stack cars.
  • Eight road numbers are available per road name. Each item number is a 2-pack, with two road numbers. Four 2-packs per case

You can visit the Atlas page by clicking this link.

1:43.5 (7mm Scale), 1:48 (US O Scale 1/4"), Design Updates, HO Scale, O Scale, OO Scale (4mm:Foot), S Scale, Scales, Site seeing, Site Updates, This Site, Web

Site update: New modelling page

Leave a comment
Ballarat - May 2013
Ballarat – May 2013

I’m slowly working to catalogue and curate all of my railway and modelling related images. I’m doing this in part so that I can share them all with you here; also to allow me to find the photos I need for modelling when I need them.

Site update 1: Modelling Page: High Cube Shipping Containers

There are several useful resources available on the above link. These include:

  • A gallery of detail images of a 40′ HC container taken in 2013
  • A downloadable PDF for all HC containers sizes in metric and imperial should you wish to make your own (especially for the 3D printer)
  • Details of suppliers in most of the popular scales including some free through more paid resources

I hope that you find this useful for your modelling purposes. Drop me a line if you make use of any of the resources.

About, Acrylics, Ballarat Tramway, Museums, Oils, Pastel Powder, Powders, Site Updates, This Site, Weathering, Web

Site Update – 17 July 2016

Leave a comment

I’ve been quiet the last month; too much work and not enough time to focus on more enjoyable things in life such as modelling. Additionally the weather in Ballarat has been amazingly cold and that has put the brakes on any outdoor activities including spraying and other painting tasks that I have waiting to be done.

In the meantime I’ve been working on a couple of models and updating the site; adding several new pages and a new section and a gallery. Enough of the blather and let’s move onto what’s new on site.

Update 1: New section – Weathering

BLI Trackmobile weathering
BLI Trackmobile weathering

I’ve been asked by several people to show how I weather my railway models (at my local model club, and online) and I’ll be building up the information here about how I weather using weathering powders, pastel powders, graphite and acrylic and oil paints. For now there is a gallery of some of my HO cars fleet. There are other cars (in HO and O scale) not yet complete that I’ll add over time.

Update 2: New subsections in Ballarat Trams

IMG_1674_2&3 Road_Bergonia's Monday_In the morning LightAs a volunteer conductor on the Ballarat Tramway Museum I have unprecedented access to the trams, and the infrastructure of the tramway museum. Slowly but surely I am collecting tram and infrastructure photos of the tramway. Each tram and the tramway infrastructure have their own page. While mostly empty I’ll be filling each page with images taken over the last several years. Mostly my images were taken in the last 9 months and are representative of the current state of the museum fleet, grounds and infrastructure..

As always use the links on the menu at the page top to get around.

SUFE, This Site, Web

The Happy 18th (Big Girl) Birthday Post

Leave a comment

18 years ago today, we were lucky to be gifted with a wonderful little girl.

Southern Pacific NW-2E No. 1303
Southern Pacific NW-2E No. 1303 – Copyright Andrew Martin 2005

She’s not as little and has accomplished so much in her life this far. I am proud of her for the strength shown and the growth she has achieved. I am humbled by her achievements and resilience. Great way for a dad to feel.

So despite teenage angst, and troubles with tribbles, she’s still as much of a gift today as she was 18 years ago. Happy Birthday Bella!

(Note the obligatory railway content)

Site seeing, Sites of interest, Web, YouTube

Site seeing – June 19, 2016 – The big city edition

Leave a comment

Today’s site is a masterpiece. No more hyperbole, so let’s get straight to it.

Site 1: Industrial switching layout – City Limits

While the site is in French, using Google translate allowed me to get a better understanding of the content. Visually I find this layout a stunning, well thought out and executed ISL. I hope that you enjoy it too.

Site 2: YouTube – City Limits

Site 3: YouTube – City Limits 2

Site seeing, Sites of interest, Web

Site Seeing – June 17, 2016 – The Tutorials edition

Leave a comment

My son Ewan got into Warhammer 40K 3 years ago, and while he has been slow to pick the game up we’ve worked together to complete the models and getting them ready for paint.

Among the things I’ve noticed is that gamers are great scratchbuilders. So today I have four outstanding tutorials for you to look at – all from the same site.

Site 1: Rob Hawkins’ Hobby Blog – Making Crates

A highly creative way to make light and sturdy crates of just about any size, using pink foam (or any foam you can get your hands on). A great tutorial on how to and why to make crates Rob’s way.

Site 2: Rob Hawkins’ Hobby Blog – Pipes

It is amazing what Rob can come up with. I’d not thought to use this technique to model the pipes so often associated with our model railroads. Another great tutorial  and relatively cheap to boot compared to some of the pipe kits I’ve seen available.

Site 3: Rob Hawkins’ Hobby Blog – Stairs

Another simple to do, but hard to imagine (at least for me) tutorial on how to make stairs. With a full step by step style Rob takes you through a start to finish on how to custom make and fit the stairs for the model.

Site 4: Rob Hawkins’ Hobby Blog – Flagstone Street

An innovative use for what normally I’d struggle to use, thick cardboard. What a great idea it turns out to be. I’m looking forward to using this on some new dioramas I have in mind and for a new layout idea I have in mind.

Site 5: Rob Hawkins’ Hobby Blog – Cornfield

This tutorial is a two-for, that is you get to learn how to make stone walls and assorted stone wall pieces and you get to model the corn field. Once again some really interesting techniques and outcomes. Highly useful for those of us modelling anywhere in the midwest, or even Texas.

Liked off site, Site seeing, Site Updates, Sites of interest, Web

Site seeing – Tueday 14 June 2016

Leave a comment

As you tool around the web you come across some interesting and useful sites. I’ve found it hard to have a simple to find and use repository since the end of basic HTML coding. I’ve bookmarked and so on but I wanted to have a better place to go.

So today I’ve added a new section for these resources.  I’ll add site links when I find them; adding information about the sites so that you decide their value before you visit them.

Visit the following two pages:

Enjoy

Small Layouts Designed to Work since 2003

Proto48 Modeler

Proto48 Modelers brings you the best resources, news and information about our hobby.

Prince Street

The Little Aviation Museum

Leigh Edmonds little box of stuff

Writing History - Making Models - Other Stuff

apassion4books

For people who love to Read & Share

Albion Yard

The Model Railway Show

A journey through the hobby, by Trevor Marshall

A Library Companion

It's about the books I'm reading or have just read

Timboon Branchline History

roundtree sidings

the development of a model railway