Craftsman Structure Convention 2011



This is the kit that we will be building. The wood base is not included.



On November 4th and 5th I will be at the Craftsman Structure Convention in Mansfield, MA. On Friday evening I will be conducting a hands-on  premium workshop on how to assemble brass kits. The kit we will be using is actually a mixed media kit that will depict a water tower in HO scale. The kit includes etched brass parts and laser cut wood to make a neat model of a 10,000 gallon water tank typically used on rooftops of buildings and factories. People that attend the workshop will get to assemble a kit and take it home with them. I designed this kit specifically as an introductory kit. It should be easy to assemble, yet demonstrates the incredible detail possible with etch metal kits.  The convention is free. The premium workshop costs $25, but you get a kit worth $25 to take home.  If you have any interest in learning more about brass kits, plan to attend the workshop. Bring your tools and a 15W soldering iron.



On Saturday, I will be presenting my Introduction to the Railroads of the Civil War. I don't have the exact time yet, but the convention folks will be posting it to their website soon, at http://www.csc11.net/  That talk will be free.

I have not had much time to work on the layout, but I did have a visitor from London, Ontario, George Dutka. He and Marty McGuirk stopped by Saturday for a quick look at the layout. Unfortunately, what they really got to see was me working on the paint and room trim.  George is a Central Vermont modeler who was passing through town to attend the boat show at Annapolis.

While they were there, they both got to take home goodies, as we are in purge mode as a result of the flood- I realized I just have too much stuff. George got an HO box car and some laser cut shingles, while Marty go to take home the pilot model of the CV concrete coal dock complete with its own diorama. I had begun the task of correcting the engraved CV logo on the pilot model. The original kit had "stretched" the tilted rectangle. They got to see the laser in action as it engraved a new logo on the puttied-over spot on the finished model. It worked and Marty is now the proud owner of a built-up coal dock. Now if he can just get a spot on his layout for it.