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 sub-roadbed 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 2026 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 a gold medal and best diorama for Fort Ticonderoga Artillery,    three silvers and a bronze medal. 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, 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 Jim Rice received Best of Show award for his figure of Napoleon. Zack Becker got the special Founding Fathers Award for his painted bust of Ben Franklin. Unfortunately, I can’t remember all the other awards. They did the award ceremony in a expedited way and it went very quickly and smoothly. 

Nice curve!

 I walked into the train room today and there was a long train parked at Stonemans left over from the last op session. It occurred to me that the curve there would be a nice scene if the foreground was actually sceniced. So using photo editing, I added scenery to the aisle area.  Below is what it looks like before scenery.

Now let's add a wagon and mule team to the right and animate it. I got the best results with Seedance. I tried Grok also, but it was not quite as good.

My layout really needs are more wagon teams.

Final Drawing 200-pound Parrot

 I finished the drawing of the 200-pound Parrot Rifle. Now to see if I can get it to print. I am successful, then I can proceed with the base.

This drawing shows how my existing 18 by 11 inch base has barely enough room to house the 15-Rodman and the 200-pound Parrot.  The dark tan rectangle is the size of the diorama base. The circle is the base of the 15-Rodman gun position. The 200-pound Parrot had a semicircular gun base. it would take about 8 feet to show the whole battery in 1/32nd scale. I will just show the northern portion (north is to the left in the drawing.)

Bring out the big guns

The portion of Battery Rodgers I will build a 8-inch Parrot in the front and a 15-inch Rodman in the rear. 

I am working on a diorama of Battery Rodgers in Alexandria in 1/32nd scale. This is a project I've been thinking about for a long time.  There are several photos of the Battery Rodgers and some plans  available. At least one of the guns survived and is now at Fort Foote, but on a different mount than what it had in Alexandria. 

I built the Verlinden 15-inch Rodman, a kit that has been in my stash for at least 10 years. It was a tricky kit with no locating pins and a rudimentary drawing for instructions. Some of the parts were broken as I purchased the kit used.  It took a bit of scratch building and lot of fitting and trial and error to get it to come out square.  It is impressive.

Next, I need the 8-inch Parrott on a front pintle carriage. No one makes a kit of this in 1/32 (Cottage Industries made the Swamp Angle Parrott but it has a different carriage) or 1/48 (for use onto Aquia Line). So I decided to draw it in Fusion and try printing them on my 3D printer.  It will fit on the printer in 1/32nd scale. I will probably print the barrel as a separate part, but the elevation screw will be tricky. I still need to add some details, but it's about 80 percent done. . 

Aquia Line Engine House in NMRA Magazine.

 From Sept 2026 NMRA Magazine. Photos by Cynthia Priest