Wye Not!

 I began demolition of the wye at Aquia Landing tonight. Every time I rip out some track I am amazed at how strong it is. Two layers of aspen plywood with basswood ties glued on with yellow glue and the rail spiked four spikes per tie is very robust. I found it easiest to lift-out the subroadbed that is glued to the pink foam with a thin scrapper. Some of the foam lifts up, but the rest comes out in nice chucks. 

Now to figure out where everything will go. 

I put down one of my 30-inch curve templates to check the radius from the double slip switch on the wharf  to the turntable. That showed me that the curve will be more than 30" radius - that's good. 

The straight through track from the turntable is more than long enough to hold an engine.  I want the engine shop as close to the aisle as possible so the detail inside will be more easily visible.  

I have't fully decided what to do with the old wye turnout behind the shop . I initially thought I would spike it down and take it out of service. But it is also possible to have it feed the turntable. 

You will note the engine house is no longer on its diorama base. It came off, but was a bit more secure than I planned. The scenery glue did a pretty good job of holding the perimeter of the structure to the base which I did not anticipate. Nonetheless, I got it off with just very minor damage to some of the battens on the siding. 

What to do with the three warehouses? I like the look of three of them in a row.

Battery Rodgers

The Battery Rodgers Project is on hold. It took me most of a week to get a decent print of the gun in 1/32nd scale. Turns out the LCD on my printer is failing. Thanks to that delay, I had to put that project on hold until after MARPM, which is coming up in less than 2 weeks.

NCMSS Annual Show 2026

The National Capitol Model soldier Society show is over. It was a successful event. Most importantly, our club worked together and put on a great show. Special thanks to Darci and Dave Hoffman for doing a great job in organizing the hotel and myriad of other details. Bert Thompson and Bob Prokopf did a great job in setting up the show. Zack Becker and Bob Prokopf junior,  implemented a new automated judging system that seemed to me to work very well.  Although I wasn’t a judge, I was official photographer, so I can't comment from direct experience.  The rest of the club members all pitched in and volunteered to make a successful event. 

We had 305 models entered in the contest and perhaps another 75 to 100 on exhibit only.  
My brother and I did very well. He got the best diorama for Fort Ticonderoga Artillery, and a gold medal,   three silvers and a bronze medalI. I got two gold medals, five silvers and a bronze. Plus I got best bust (1st Va Inf at Valley Forge) and best Historical Open (for my collection of 75mn Hermann Haupt, 1/10th scale busts of John Hancock, Thaddeus Koscuisko, and Boudica -queen of the Iceni, and the Ahab and Moby Dick vignette). I was very surprised to get those as there were other many deserving models. 

Rob also got a Capital Palette award for his rendition of John Hancock in 1976  with sunglasses and the paisley jacket , and I got two of them l, one for my declaration of independence shadowbox diorama, and one for my Roman’s Avenging Varus diorama   Those were awarded by a judge from the Nova Open, which is a very prestigious show that takes place the week before our show.  

Grandmaster JimRice received best of Show award for his figure of Napoleon. Unfortunately, I can’t remember all the other awards.