Not again!

Current state of our dining room

Last week we had an unfortunate plumbing incident that resulted in water damage to our master bathroom and dining room downstairs. A toilet leak developed while we were sleeping. Because the water was from a toilet, the flood repair folks treated it as biohazard, so all the wet stuff had to be removed.

The short version is that we have to get new floors in the master bath, and new sheet rock in the dining room. The demolition and repair work is underway. Since some of the upstairs carpet had to be removed, we took this opportunity to install hardwood floors on the whole upstairs level.

Events like this are very disruptive. We have spent a large portion of our time moving and covering furniture, organizing  clean up crews, finding contractors, selecting materials, purchasing supplies, waiting for insurance adjusters, etc. I had to cancel an op session last weekend because the house is in disarray as furniture is either moved or covered to prevent dust.

The basement has proven to be the one place where we can find relative peace and a sense of normalcy. A small amount of water reached the basement, but did not cause any damage as it went to the drain in the utility space without touching anything that could be damaged. The layout was not damaged at all.

I am using the "free time" I have in this period to work on the large side wheel steam ship kit. I have discussed this kit before. As I have stated before, the kit is spectacularly bad. It is so bad, that each time I start work on it, I get demotivated, and I look for something else to do.  The kit is oriented toward building a pond model so the level of detail and construction techniques tend more to robust toy versus fine scale model. The instructions in particular are very poor, despite being voluminous. So I am discarding most of the kit and making my own parts to better match photos of paddle wheelers that were at Aquia Landing or in use in the ACW.  It remains to be seen how it all comes out.

I also built some new paint racks for my model work bench to try to get a handle on the myriad bottles of paint, washes and weathering powders I have accumulated.



Hopefully by next week, the house will be put back in normal operation and I can prepare for visitors for North East Interchange.

Building a model display case

I am gradually getting things knocked off my do list. Today I finished a small display cabinet to store and display the military miniatures I have been building over the past year.

I decided that the models deserved better treatment than to be stuffed in storage boxes in a closet. So I made a cherry wood display cabinet with acrylic shelves. I installed a battery powered LED light in the top. The LED lighting can display different colors to reflect the mood. The models are on display near my work shop and gaming room.

I added a seventh shelf since taking these pictures.












I used the display case as a sample project to learn Fusion 360. I recently downloaded the program and started to take some tutorials on it.  I drew the display cabinet as an exercise. This is in preparation for learning how to do 3D printing. That is another item on my do list.


Next, I want to build a larger display case that will organize and display my 1/43rd scale Porsche race car collection. The theme will be "The History of Porsche Racing."  I hope to use some of the lessons I learned from the first display cabinet to improve this larger one.

The frame glue-up

Mood lighting

Once the Porsche racing cabinet is done, I'll be able to start work on the shelving in my office including space for a small layout.

But before that happens, I have some op sessions on the Aquia Line to prepare for, and several projects for Alkem Scale Models.

Recycling The Cambrai Diorama

Night shot on the diorama 

A few weeks ago, Jonathan Goldman, the new curator of the B&O Museum, called me to say that their "First to Fight" WWI exhibit was being redone. They wanted to return the WWI diorama to me. I did not expect to get it back and I don't have any place to store it at my house. So I told them I would stop by the museum and take the diorama apart. I would keep the models, but discard the frame. Here is a brief video showing scenes from the diorama.

Museum crew lift the vitrine off the layout

That is what Alicia and I did last weekend. After golf lessons in Columbia, MD we stopped by the museum. The crew there helped remove the vitrine, which was very heavy. Then I stripped the figures, tanks, structures, railcars and some of the details. The rest of the diorama went in the trash.

L to R Amanda (museum designer), Alicia, and Ana (museum archivist) 

As I examined the models, I was reminded about how nice the W^D  Models WWI figures are. They are some of the nicest sculpted small scale figures I have seen. W^D also makes some great detail stuff for WWI era military modeling.

I don't have any immediate plans for the residual pieces from the WWI diorama. Last year Bachman UK announced the release of a 2-6-2T Baldwin steam engine in OO scale. That would be the correct engine for this era and locale. Perhaps I'll build  a new version of the diorama that is more portable and operates using that Bachman engine for motive power.

However, Bachman USA also announced the 2-6-2T in On30. I happen to have a bunch of On30 stuff that could be used in a WWI themed layout including  brass kit ion a Dick-Kerr gas electric and some military figures. So maybe an On30 layout will be the next WWI project.

Meanwhile, I am working on existing do-list. I have lots of stuff to get done before tackling a new layout.

Virtual Railroading - The USMRR City Point Depot

Chris Gerlach, Tim Muir, Steve Thompson, and help from several others are working on a most remarkable project. They are trying to create a virtual model of the USMRR supply depot at City Point, VA during the Civil War. They have been at this project for several years and their effort has resulted in a spectacular virtual railroad. It continues to improve as they add detail and more realistic features, such as moving steamships. 

The images are some screenshots from the virtual project that Chris has posted to the ACWRRHS at groups.io. Members of the groups.io  can see more images, but I believe you have to be a member that specific group. The fee is quite modest and it covers the cost that groups.io charges.

Link to Civil War Railroads at Groups.io

Here is how Chris describes the project, 

"City Point Army Line USMRR 1864-65
We have started a project to reconstruct the USMRR based at City Point Virginia in support of the final campaign of the Civil War, focused on the Siege of Petersburg. The Union Army restored an older rail line to supply the front lines and constructed over 280 new supply, housing and service structures including a large engine house, car repair shop, other shops and huge warehouses along the shore that supplied freight to the railroad. We also plan to detail out the battlefield, and the James River and all of the shipping and other items but have started with the rolling stock of the Railroad, being constructed by our Trainmaster Tim Muir, and the Route itself, land and scenery, structures and details by our Roadmaster Steve Thompson. This is all being done in digital format and will operate using a railroad simulation program called Microsoft Train Sim but updated in to a new upgraded forma called Open Rails. I am the Project Lead and am leading the part of our team making the structures and models of ships, equipment, figures and clutter. We plan for a development of two to three years. We have been fortunate to have been able to obtain high rez scans of relevant military maps, thanks to Mike Weigal, and various archives and also to obtain many very good high rez glass negative photos from both the US Military Archives and other..."

Chris Gerlach writes, "The fine model of the Mason Locomotive the USMRR Gen. J.C.Robinson which was built as the General Haupt and re named. This model took over a year of research and work to finish, and features a complete build of all operating parts, in historically accurate textures and paint schemes as best can be determined from the advice and references available and from Tim's own deep research and 20 years of modelling in great detail of many rail locomotives, and traction engines John Ott very kindly provided the template for the unique lettering on the tender, for which Tim and we all were very grateful."

Some more sample images.






Link to Civil War Railroads at Groups.io

An In-door/Out-Door Layout

The large size of G gauge cars and structures makes prototype layout planning difficult but not impossible 

I visited Fred and Helen Hutchison today to see Fred's work in progress on his new 1:22.5 scale model railroad.  I also got to meet their new grand daughter! He and his wife live in the Maryland suburbs northwest of Washington, DC. Fred is a fraternity brother from Kappa Sigma at MIT. Fred was class of 75, three years ahead of me at the 'tute. It turns out that there were several model railroaders  and one serious railfan in my fraternity. Along with Fred, Andy Zalewski, and Steve Semken are model railroaders. Steve was a member of the Tech Model railroad club while he was at school.  None of the rest of us were members of the club, as far as I knew. Steve claims he tried to recruit me to the club, but I wasn't interested at the time. The serious railfan was Larry Gross. He ended up making the railroad business his career. He was heavily involved in the development of the Roadrailer concept. Larry also has several by-lines in Trains magazine.

But back to Fred's layout. He is planning a G gauge (1:22.5) layout in his garage. His objective is to have an operating layout that also allows him to do build and showcase some fine scale modeling.  His concept is quite clever. He plans to use about one third of his two-car garage to create a switching layout based on the town of Black Hawk, CO on the Colorado and Southern narrow gauge railroad. His plan is not quite finished, but it is prototype based and depicts most to the railroad items of interest in the town including the station, turntable, beer distributors, ore mill, and two run-around tracks.

To fit this along one side of his garage and make it operational, he plans to add a temporary staging track at one end. That track will extend out of the garage. He will only set it up when he is operating. Thus, his layout has elements of both an indoor and outdoor layout.

The benchwork is about 21 feet long and 5 feet wide. He plans to  build large, rolling storage bins under the layout to keep various household items. To provide access to the rear of the layout, he plans to mount all of the baseboards on a rollers. When needed, he would be able to pull the layout benchwork away from the wall to access the rear without disturbing the 2x4 supporting framework.

Some of Fred's C&S Station decor

He has decorated the walls of the garage to look like the exterior of a Colorado and Southern Railroad Depot. He made a replica station sign and has several cool posters on the wall to set the era and mood.

Fred has some impressive motive power. It will be fun to watch the large scale rolling stock in action at nearly eye level.  The higher layout height will also allow one to see all the impressive detail that one can model in large scale.  This is going to be neat layout.

Fred posing by the framework that will support the baseboards.