Progress Report

So my little village is coming along nicely. Yesterday i found information on a local model club which i might join. The Central Okanagan Railway Company (CORC) is the model club which “is a casual, yet dedicated, collection of 12 to 20 model railroaders who built and operate a lengthy HO scale characterization of the Kettle Valley Railway as in existed during the mid 1960’s.”

Here is a current photo of what i am working on. The houses aren’t completely finished yet but you can get an idea of what i am planning. I am concentrating most of my effort on the landscape at the moment.

My New Scene

So for a little bit i have been working on a new scene. Here are a couple of pictures of how its going.

Note : The Roof isnt completed and the small shed has just been built.

Modeling Tools

 

So on my shopping trip today to Walmart for food and Groceries for the next month, I was able to buy some chalk for weathering. I have been looking for colored chalk for a while but the Walmart i frequent has been out of stock for a while. The above picture shows two boxes of chalk. The one on the left is from my local Dollar store and the one on the right is the box that i purchased today. The orange, reds and the brown will make good rust colors and the greens will be handy too.

I also decided to try some heavy duty foil which of course i will compare to the normal foil for making my car bodies.

Junk Yard Cars

While searching around the internet, i found an article on how to replicate car bodies perfect for a junk yard scene. The article can be found here on the HO Railroad.com website.

I thought it was a wonderful idea and would fit into a scene of mine. You can see my attempt i made above. I however just used normal aluminum foil as i just wanted to give it a try and didn’t have any heavy duty  foil. Once i can find some or acquire some, the quality of the body may improve but I’m still quite happy with the end effect.  Just need to add some dull paint and it should be complete.

In other news, I seem to have found a model store that will be my source for all my modeling needs. It is situated in downtown Penticton and prices seem reasonable. The store named “Finescale Models” stocks nearly everything i need for modeling. My big dilemma at the moment is “To Train or not to Train” That is the question. Should i get into rail modeling and build my cities around the trains or continue doing what I’m doing and scratch build just houses how i want it.
I am doing as much research as i can to see whether or not i will be interested in doing it. Other questions raised are, How do i go about running trains in a small space? Research has so far found this website, (Carendt Micro/Small Layouts), with over 1500 small layouts to look at.

Modeling

Since i last made an entry, i have ventured into the world of Modeling. There are no catwalks involved in this modeling though and I’m not too sexy for my shirt. I keep my shirt on for this type of modeling.
I have finally found a hobby that i am quite interested in and keeps me entertained for hours on end. It started with scratch building a small house from ice cream sticks. As i write this, i now have the original house and 4 other buildings i have built from scratch and a mountain side.

What i like most about this type of modeling is the ability to do what i want. I can take a photograph or an image in my head and turn it into my own little world. I can make it as detailed or give it as little detail. In my world though, i like to give it as much detail as possible.

Doing research on modeling i have seen that i have a lot to learn in this hobby of mine. There are some very skilled craftsmen out there and i would love to get to half of there skills. As for me right now, i will keep plugging away and learning as much as i can. Only today did i learn a good use for my used coffee grounds that i just throw away. I can use the old coffee grounds as dark earth for my landscapes if prepared correctly. Perfect. Cheap earth! You will find that advice here.

Modeling Links

Tutorials

- Simple Scratch Built Building A Tutorial On a Scratch Build

- Sierra West Scale Models Examples of some really nice Model Dioramas

- Aging Wood How to Make Styrene look like aged wood

- More Advanced Scratch Build A More Advanced Scratch Build

- New Railroad Modelers Forum

- All Model Railroading Forum

- Junk Yard Cars How to make cars ready for the Junk Yard

- Foam-core Structure How to scratch-build with foam-core

 

Modeling Tools

- Scale Rulers Downloadable Scale Rulers in Various Scales

- Xtrkcad XTrackCAD is a CAD program for designing model railroad layouts

 

Model Art

- Graffiti Printable Graffiti for all your Graffiti needs

- Billboards Printable Billboards and Signs

- Scale Models from Paper Two free Models can be found here

- New Railway Modelers Printable Signs, Brick and Miscellaneous

- Railway Scenics Free Brick paper

- Railway Scenics Brick Built Lock Up Garage