In Memoriam: Paul Dolkos

On August 10, 2024, Paul Dolkos passed away while in hospice care in Alexandria, VA. He was 85. Paul's family asked to post this news to the model railroad community.  They are planning a celebration of his life in the future. I will post the time and location as it becomes available. 

Working on my Soldier Summit layout

I don't remember exactly when we met for the first time.  I know it was sometime in the mid 1990's. Paul lived in Alexandria a few miles from where I lived. He took me under his wing. He helped me with my model railroad projects and introduced me to many of the model railroad publishers and operating groups. This photo is the earliest I have of him from 2001 when he was helping me build a N scale project layout for Model Railroader magazine in my old house.

As our relationship developed and my skills improved, I was honored to be asked to contribute work on his layout. I became Paul's custom decal printer. He would frequently visit my house and supervise me as I generated many custom decals for his layout using Photoshop on my computer.  Everything had to be just right for him. One day I was pleasantly surprised to see that he had created a vignette on his railroad of two men putting up a sign. Their truck was called "Kempinski and Son, Sign Painters."

"Ship Model?"

When he started his Baltimore Harbor Layout, I was excited to help build the pier side warehouse. Once it was built, I said to Paul," Now all you need is a nice ship model."

He looked at me with a slight smirk and said, "I'm a model railroader, not a ship modeler." 

Paul also contributed a lot of work on my various layouts. If you scan through this blog you will find dozens of examples.  I once said to Alicia that when Paul does work on my layout, there is no need to check it. You know it was done right. I would frequently ask his advice on various design or artistic questions. In just about every case, I did what he suggested. 

Paul taking background photos while on a
 road trip to Maryland

We shared a lot of other mutual interests especially photography. In addition, he and my wife Alicia would discuss finances and local Alexandria news when he visited. Speaking of Alicia, my all-time favorite Paul Dolkos story is when I took her to see his former B&M Layout. Alicia walked down the stairs, took a brief look around and blurted out, "Oh, so this is what they are supposed to look like."

Indeed. 

Paul's photo of Edna Mine

Paul was truly a train enthusiast.  He started rail-fanning as a young man and kept it up for seven decades. His slide collection was a gold mine of fantastic images. Whenever I started a new article or project, I first contacted Paul to see what images he might have. He did not disappoint. This photo of the Edna Mine in Colorado from the 1980s is a good case in point.  

One amusing anecdote I remember was when Paul got his first vehicle with GPS navigation.  He was so excited to learn that the navigation screens displayed the railroad tracks and not just the normal roads. 

At an ops session in NJ

I recall another time when Paul brought over his new digital camera, and we did a side-by-side comparison of his and my camera's capabilities. 

For some reason, he never wanted to buy a new computer. And he tried to run Photoshop Elements on the aging machine. So, over the past the last few years I made many trips to his house to act as tech support. Once I happened to be riding my bike and he called for tech support. I was two blocks from his  house. So, I said, "if you don't mind a sweaty biker coming in your house, I can be right over." 

Paul getting in the Porsche for fun ride in the snow

We made many road trips together to rail fan and operate on layouts. One thing about those trips, if Paul was with you, you were not going to eat at cheap fast-food joints. One time when we got caught in an early snowstorm in New Jersey in my Porsche with summer tires, and we were gingerly driving around. I was shocked when Paul said, "Let's stop at McDonalds to get breakfast." It should be noted that Paul once owned a Porsche too.

Paul had written multiple scores of articles for the model railroad press. He delivered dozens of clinics to local NMRA and RPM meets. Those inspired and instructed many model railroads. But he also was very generous with his time and advice for dozens of modelers. It is a wonderful tribute to him that many call him their mentor.

Paul's last year was tough on him and his family. I tried to visit him at his retirement home, hospital, and rehab as often as possible. I could see his health sliding downhill. Still, he enjoyed talking about trains and reading magazines that I brought him. He was a gentleman until the end. Rest in peace my friend. 

Happier times, Paul and his wife Linda (far right) are in this photo. 

D-Day and the Civil War

 

Merritt opens her B-Day present- Brio trains

I am back in Virginia and recovering from two weeks of visiting and babysitting my granddaughters.  It was a blast. The little ones are so full of energy and wonder. So much fun to be with them.  Some highlights included giving my granddaughter Merritt her first train Brio train set. She knew exactly what it was and immediately began to play with it. She sees a lot of trains in Birmingham, and she is fascinated by them. 

Ruka watching a metro train

When we returned to Virginia, my son and his family showed up. He and Mizuki had to attend the World Vaccine Conference in DC, so we got to watch Ruka. She has not seen as many trains as Merritt. However, the playground by our house is adjacent to the RF&P/CSX main line. She saw dozens of trains and they all caused her to stop and watch. She seemed especially interested in the Metro trains. We also ran some trains for her on  the Aquia Line much to her delight. 

While we were gone, RMC published an article I wrote about the Aquia Line in their April 2024 issue. They also used one of my photos on the cover. I received a lot of nice feedback from folks about this article.  Above is a set of possible cover photos that I submitted to RMC. Which one do you like the best?

BTW, Otto Vondrak came up with the title on the cover. I think it is a clever pun, definitely not something that I would have thought up. 

Before heading to Alabama, I went to the RPM East in Malvern, PA. It was a good meet and well attended. I had the chance to visit Ron Hoes and Greg Wiggins's layouts. I also presented a talk about the Aquia Line to a packed auditorium. 

Phase 1 of the D-Day dioramas is on exhibit at the Army Navy Club in Washington, DC. 

We plan to start work on Phase 2 of the D-Day dioramas next week. Meanwhile, check out this interesting article relating D-Day to the Civil War. 

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/great-tasks-great-crusades-d-day-and-shadows-civil-war

Merry Christmas 2023

  Have a happy holiday 

from the crew of the USMRR Aquia Line 

2023 - The Year of the Ship

This picture encapsulates the year with plenty of trains, planes, and automobiles.

Another year has ticked by. All in all it was a good one with lots of trains, planes, and automobiles.  Let's review the highlights.

1. Finished the expansion of the layout to the point where it is operational and about 50% sceniced. The expansion includes a new 5 foot long trestle over a meandering creek, a balloon camp and tracks that can house 10-car trains plus engine. 
2. 
   Hosted three official op-sessions including one each for the ACWRRHS and the NJ-DMV Interchange groups, and two open houses. One other op session was cancelled due to my contracting a case of COVID, which fortunately was very mild. 
3. The telegraph came into operation thanks to Amby, Steve, and Seth efforts. In particular, Amby was promoted to Chief Signal Officer of the USMRR Aquia Line for his meritorious service. 
   
4. Brion delivered the schooner he had been working on for me and it is beautiful. I added a tug boat to the fleet and started another schooner. 
5. 3D printed some highly detailed cannons, limber, and railroad trucks.
6. 
   Several road trips for model related events including riding the Autotrain to Florida for Modelfest 2022, a two-week road trip to Cincinnati and Indianapolis for back to back train meets and presentations, another long road trip to Omaha, NE for the IPMS national meet. Locally I participated in the National Capitol Model Soldier Society Annual Meet and I managed the Middle Atlantic Railroad Prototype Meet in Timonium. I and my brother received several awards for our models. The highlight being the Arsenal of Democracy Award for our Sherman Tank Factory Diorama. That diorama will be going to Florida in Feb 2023 to be donated to the Valiant Air Warbird Museum.  
   
7. It was a good year for museums. I visited that Valiant Air Warbird Museum, Titusville, FL,  the USMC Museum in Quantico, VA, National Museum of the US Army, Ft Belvoir, VA, USAF Museum in Wright Paterson AFB, OH, the Strategic Air Command Museum  and the Museum of the  West, both in Omaha, the Brevard County Veterans Museum, Merrit Island, FL , Freedom House Museum, Alexandria, VA,  Lexington Battlefield Museum in Lexington, MO, Palm Springs Air Museum, Palm Springs CA, Ft Eustis Transportation Museum and the Mariner's Museum both in New Port News, VA, Fort Monroe, Hampton, VA, American Sign Museum, and Entertainment, Cincinnati, OH., C&O Historical Society Museum, Clifton Forge, VA .  Not to mention several national and state park visitor centers and hikes in nature preserves, mountain top forests,  deserts, and wetlands.  
8. 
   Visited several layouts this year in Omaha, Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania,  Florida, Virginia, and Maryland. Hosted several dozen visitors to the Aquia Line and have been helping some friends with their layout projects as I have time. 
   
9. Other road trips included 5 visits to see my new grand daughters in Alabama and Kentucky. I rode twice on The Catalpa Falls Group private cars thanks to invites by Eric and George Payne. 
10. Wrote several articles for the model railroad press. MRP 2022 ran a nice piece of the expansion the Aquia Line. I did another article for MRP 2023 that is due out in Feb. O scale magazine is doing a piece on my railroad in the upcoming January/Feb 2023 issue that is due any day now. I also did a piece for hire for Kalmbach for Chris Moore's layout in the Philadelphia area. Kalmbach did a Meet the Modeler segment on me which was fun to help write.

Whew, seems like a lot when you do list it that way, but it also feels like I have a lot more to do. 

My objectives for 2023 include making some progress on Aquia Landing, especially the ships. I hope to tackle the big paddlewheel steamer this year. That kit has frustrated me quite a bit.  I also want to finish the scenery on the expansion.  I have several non-railroad projects in the works too,  but, for the most part, I think next year will be the ship. I have said that I saved Aquia Landing for last as I knew it was going to be the most fun. So now it's time to do it.  HAPYY NEW YEAR!

 

Model Railroader Magazine's Meet the Modeler Series.

Model Railroader magazine has published a brief profile on me as part of their "Meet the Modeler" series. You can find it here.

Meet the Modeler: Bernie Kempinski

Yes, that picture is a few years old. 

Bonsai Bernie

 

The repotted tree. 

We are back from Birmingham, AL where we were visiting with my daughter, son in law, and granddaughter.  We are so happy to have everyone healthy and adorable. 

This was probably the first trip to Alabama when we didn't bring a car load of tools for home repair projects.  We managed to play a little golf in between watching Merritt sleep. 

We came home to find spring in the air, though the weather was a tad chilly at times. That means it's time for lawn and garden care. This year I had a new task, repotting a Honeysuckle bonsai tree that I purchased last September in upstate New York.

At the nursery in NY

The photo on the right side is what it looked like at the nursery. It didn't look like much to me, but my brother Rob, who is the bonsai expert, said that this tree is probably close to 100 years old. The price was very reasonable probably because it looked like it was neglected. There were other trees at this nursery that were selling for $12-18K, so this was a "great deal." Rob said he should buy it, but it wouldn't grow in Florida as it needs colder weather. 

So I said I would buy it, keep it in Virginia and he can tell me how to take care of it.  I know honeysuckles grow here as I would smell their flowers as I walked by a large group of them near the Braddock Steet metro station.

As I carried it to the cash register several other bonsai customers admired it and said it was "great deal." I don't know if they were being honest or trying to comfort me on buying what appeared to be to be a dead bush.

In winter storage in my yard

So last winter I placed it against the house with the soil covered with mulch. I watered it a few times, but mostly I didn't do anything to it. It really didn't look like much. 

But this spring it started to bloom again. 

Yesterday Rob sent me a pot from Florida that his friend Bruce sold to us. Rob also sent me some high quality bonsai soil. Today I re-potted the tree while Rob watched me on FaceTime and advised me on what to do. 

Getting ready to repot

Removing the old soil

The old soil was some type of tiny marble gravel. None of the roots were growing in the white gravel. They all were root bound around the perimeter. Rob said to remove all that soil and trim off the roots. 

We would replace the soil with high quality bonsai soil that contains several types of inorganic rock including crushed lava. The new roots would grow into the soil. The micro roots would actually grow in the lava gravel. 

Trimming roots

Once I had the old soil removed, I put a layer of the new soil in the pot and installed the tree. Rob advised me to plant the tree off center according to the golden rule. That required that I trim some more roots.

Then I had to wire the tree into the pot to prevent it from pushing out as the tree grew. Final layer of soil, some Osmocote fertilizer and a light watering. Now to see if it survives.  At some point it will bloom with yellow fragrant flowers. 

Back to trains soon.

Can you see the ant checking out the new planting?

The tree has some incredible burls that can only come from long life. The star pattern in the center is the remains of a dead branch that Rob carved last Fall while he was here. 

New and New

 

Let me introduce you to my new granddaughter, Merritt Marie Willberger.  She was born on 12 March at 11PM in Birmingham, Alabama. She, mom, and dad are all doing well. We plan to visit them this week. 

Doing the laser cutter shuffle

In between pacing the floor waiting for Merritt to arrive, I took delivery of a new laser cutter. The new machine is a Epilog Fusion Edge with 50W of power. It is a much more advanced machine than the previous Epilog Zing. It has 20 percent more laser power, has better air assist to stop charring, autofocus, improved print driver software that can use both Corel Draw and Adobe Illustrator, wifi and camera optics for precise placement of the materials on the bed.  

Old Zing laser boxed up and going back to the manufacturer 

The old machine went back to the manufacturer via freight shipping. It took me a few days to get the new machine set up and the old one packed up and ready for freight pickup. 

 The new machine is just slightly larger than the old.

So far the first test cuts I have made have been excellent.

New Images of, and more visitors to the Aquia Line

 

I am working on a new article that will be an overview of my layout. I decided to shoot some new photos for the article.  Despite working on the railroad and photographing it for 13 years I still can find some new photo angles. This one is a sample of what you might see in the article. The composition is difficult to shoot due to the low ceiling above it. But using some photoshop to replace the sky yields this interesting image. This is one of the deepest scenes on the layout and highlights the use of forced perspective.

Sunday evening, Gary White and his girlfriend, Dru, stopped by to visit the layout.  Gary is a narrow gauge modeler with several narrow gauge model projects in the works. He purchased from me many of the WWI models I built for my book on military railroads. I hope he puts them to good use.  Dru is a farmer from Pennsylvania and brought us a dozen eggs from her farm. 

In Memoriam Don Ball

 

I was saddened to learn of the sudden passing of my friend Don Ball last week.  I don't know the cause of death, but he was not ill from COVID at the time his passing. 

I became friends with Don via our mutual interest in early rail modeling railroading as we frequently met at traveling operating sessions.  I enjoyed his company as we had much in common. It might be strange to say, but I liked to listen to the sound of his voice that combined a midwest and California patois.

In 2017, Don had a chance to operate on the Aquia Line. In 2019 I had a chance to visit and stay with Don and his wife Becky in their home. While we didn't operate his layout, I did get a nice long look at it while he demonstrated the operation of some of his finely build HO scale early rail engines. You can see examples of his fine modeling at his blog, which is listed at the right of this post, The Copperopolis  and Stockton Railroad, C&CRR.

In addition to model railroads, Don had many other interests. He was a true Renaissance man. He was current the president of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad Historical Society. He wrote on book on the history of the Billerica and Bedford Railroad.  He also liked to tinker with machines. He had a restored steam car in his garage. He also dabbled in 3D printing and computer aided quilting.

Don and I also shared an interest in wargaming. In 2020 during the pandemic lockdown. Don participated in a Civil War play by email game that I developed.  He helped set up the VASSAl implementation of the game so we could all play it better. 

Don was also a member of the ACWRRHS. He, Becky and I spent a long weekend in the Memphis area driving around to see several civil war historical sites.

He is survived by his wife Becky, son, and step children and grandchildren. Here is a link to his official obit.

Why do you think we find scaled down miniature things so appealing?

Adam Savage, former co-host of "Mythbusters" and now host of "Tested" on Youtube, was recently asked the question, "Why do you think we find scaled down miniature things so appealing?" You can watch the first 2 minutes of the video below to see his answer. Spoiler alert, he really doesn't answer the question. So I ask the same questions here. Why do we find scaled down miniatures so appealing?

In my case, I have enjoyed model building as long as I can remember. I recall the GM Exhibit at the New York Worlds Fair had a big effect on me.  But I don't know if that was result of my existing interest in modeling or if it inspired it. My dad built a train layout for my brother and I as kids, but I never was that interested in trains very much after that. I was more into cars, armor, ships, rockets, and airplanes as a young teen.  It was only after my son was born that I became interested in model railroads. 

For me the fun is in the creating. Once I have the object, it's time to move on and build another.  That is why I often sell, dismantle, discard or give away many of my completed projects. 

Why miniatures versus full scale objects? That I don't know for sure. Perhaps because it's easier to work on a wider variety of things. 

Miniatures have been with us for a long time. In the Getty Villa Museum in Malibu, CA I saw an exhibit of miniature figurines that Roman citizens collected. So the hobby is over 2000 years old. 

But, now I have come to realize that model railroading is a fantastic, if not the best, miniatures hobby. I find the multifaceted nature of it most rewarding. Historical research, carpentry, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, electronics including the software side of computers, artist work, photography, and videography are all aspects that I find interesting and rewarding.  Plus, a model railroad is not a static thing. It actually comes life when the trains move and even more when the crews operate it.

Modeling a military railroad combines several of my interests such as military history, figure modeling, warships, on top of the railroad subjects. That makes it more satisfying for me. Civil war era railroad modeling has the advantage of smaller rolling stock, so the space claim is less for any given scale subject.

The social side of model railroading is also rewarding. My wife is no longer amazed that no matter what town we visit, there is usually a model railroader I can visit and go in their house. My layout visit log says I have visited over 300 different layouts since 1992. How many  hobbies have that level of personal interaction?

So what do you think? 

15th Annual 24 Hour Build Finished

 

I finished the 24 Hour build. The kit was simple in terms of number of parts. But, the parts did not fit very well.  I know it wasn't entirely my lack of build skill as even the sample photos with the kit show large gaps, especially in the rear clip. Tamiya designed this kit so that the doors and rear clip could open. That might explain the large gaps

A nice looking engine was included in the kit, but the rest of the rear clip was not very well detailed or missing. The kit did not include the inner wheel wheels or even a whiff of the tubular suspension. I started adding some fuel lines and wires to the engine, when I realized that the the rest of the engine bay was not worth looking at. So I glued down the rear clip sealing the engine inside. The photo at the left is the last look at the engine before I sealed it up. 

It was a fun project. Having to rush to build it was both exciting and frustrating as this model would have benefited from a more careful build. 

Some lessons learned if I do this next year.

1. Pick a model type that you have more experience in building. I think a 1/56th scale armored vehicle is a good type of kit for this challenge as I know I can build and paint one in less than 24 hours.

2. I used acrylic paints for the finish. It dries fast and I had a lot of it on hand.  But acrylic paint is very hard to sand when dry and impossible to wet sand. If you need a glossy, flawless finish acrylics are probably not the way to go.

3. Pick a simple paint scheme. I did that in this case and it helped a lot. Especially when at the 22 hour mark, I had to sand and putty major gaps.

4. Car models are fun to build, but the finish can be very tricky. This was the first car model I have built since 1978 when I was living in Detroit and built some F1 race car kits.  It reminds me why I like railroad and military models. In railroad or military models if you make a mistake in the finish or have a glue glob, you can usually weather around it, add some battle damage,  or add some stowage to hide the error. That is much harder to do on on car models.

15th Annual 24 Hour Model Build

 My brother convinced me to try this challenge. This challenge is organized by a Facebook Group. Their "About" statement  says, 

This group is for those builders (and spectators) who participate in our annual 24 hour build. The object is to get together with a friend or friends or go it alone and build a model of any kind in a straight 24 hour period of time! 

Rules:

Start at noon on Sat and end at noon on Sunday during the weekend of the 24 Hours of Daytona race.

New or unstarted kit. (You may wash the parts and strip chrome ahead of time)

You are allowed to glue up to 4 pieces to body ahead of time.

You must paint your model during the build.

Please post pics during the build here on Facebook as you go along.

The #1 most important thing is to have fun.

Here is the Fotki photo site that Gary Kulchock put up where all photos of the finished builds will go... 

https://public.fotki.com/gkulchock/13th-annual-24-hour/

 

You can build whatever you want. Since this is an event based on a automobile endurance race, I decided to build a model of a Porsche 910. This kit was given to me by my brother. He got it from a guy who started to build it, made some mistakes and gave up. It looks like the errors will be easy to fix and all the parts are present. So I should be able to build it.

I will be making it car 17 from the 1967 Nurburgring. This car is somewhat historic as it was the first overall winner that Porsche had at the Nurburgring. The actual car is in a museum in Naples, Florida. It is still in operable condition having been fully restored. 

However, given that I am a model railroader and military modeler, my car will have be weathered as if it just finished the race. See the bottom photo. Note the weathering on the  car and the black tape holding down the frunk (i.e. bonnet). 

Check back in 24 hours to see if I was successful.

From the Porsche Legends website

After the race: Udo Schütz and his winning No. 17 car.

Six hundred twenty-one miles forever

While Formula One is going through a rough patch in Germany six years after the death of Graf Berghe von  Trips and twelve years after the withdrawal of Mercedes-Benz, a great age of sports-car races is beginning— with  Porsche leading the way. TV cameras are on hand to broadcast the 621.4-mile race to the world, as well as its historic result: for the first time, a race car from Zuffenhausen takes overall victory. During the race, the Nürburgring provides the requisite drama: holding a sizable lead, Lucien Bianchi and Gerhard Mitter are forced to abandon the race on the final lap with a broken alternator. Nevertheless,  sweeps the top four places. Leading the charge: Udo Schütz / Joe Buzzetta. How quickly the drama of motor racing can turn to tragedy is seen during the 1969 season two years later: Bianchi dies at Le Mans in the spring and Mitter on the Nürburgring in August.

Date: May 28, 1967

Winners: Udo Schütz, Joe Buzzetta 

Car:  910 

Distance: Forty-four laps of 14.173 miles (Nordschleife)

Winners’ average speed: 90.4 mph

What are you?

My niece asked me to explain what a "Train Goober" was after I used that phrase in a sentence. The best way I could explain it was in a flow chart, but even this isn't 100% accurate. So where do you fit in?

The Year in Review and What's Next

Farewell 2020

2020 was the kind of year that is better off forgetting. It started off well, but then the pandemic hit and went downhill from there. We had floods that forced us to seek a solution that works (so far so good!), then hip surgery, which thankfully was successful. In November, my mom fell ill and passed away, which was a heavy, if not unexpected blow.  The holidays were quiet as we all stayed home. But among the sadness and pain, there were some positive developments.  Let's look at the highlights.

I started the expansion of the Aquia Line into the TV room. The initial section, the Belle Air  farm and Division HQ scene, came out nice, and the new track arrangement operates  much better than the previous one. 

I presented two talks about model railroading to groups that are not traditional model railroaders. One was a 6 minute Pecha Kucha talk,  and the other a longer, more detailed talk on civil war era railroads to the Union League of Philadelphia. I also received an encouraging note from a 6th grade social studies class in Wilmington, Delaware that were inspired by my blog to build a portable model railroad of the construction of the Panama Canal. That was great news. 

In April I officially became a NMRA Master Model Railroader. Beyond that, I checked off two retirement bucket list items, learning how to do 3-D drafting/ making a 3-D print. I am still a neophyte in both areas, but I am well on the way to learning more and getting better results.  Armed with those skills and inspired by Eric Gate's HO scratch build, I also started scratch building a locomotive, another one of my retirement bucket list items.

A few days ago I ripped all the plywood I need to finish the layout expansion. Hopefully, the next few months will see the gandy dancers laying track to the new sections. At some point I have to decide if I want to keep Aquia Landing as is, or do the more radical expansion. We'll see how the situation evolves.  I am due to write an article about it with a deadline approaching, so I need to decide soon.

The pandemic seems to have caused a spike in business for Alkem Scale Models. I had my busiest year ever. It helps that some of my products got excellent reviews on other websites.

In between the train projects, I have been doing a lot of other non-model railroader related things. So I have not been idle.

 I have been doing some woodworking projects, working on getting my  "History of Porsche Racing" display built, and some wargaming. With regard to the latter, I am working on a battle board for a new game based on the battles on the Eastern front between the Soviets and the Germans.  The idea of those battle boards is that they will stack up and store in a very small volume. The game scale is smaller, so less room is needed compared to the larger scale gaming I had been doing. So, there has been a lot of stuff going on.

 2021 will mark my 13th year of blogging. Thanks for sticking with me.