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About this blog

The build of my former HOn3 layout (the M-K & Eastern RR), now an On30 layout and some excursions into the art of modeling.

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On30

Part 74: the San Miguel Herald build

I got this kit cheap from China. This is the box art: It's actually a very uncomplicated kit, but it has a lot of potential! The contents of the kit, it seems to be made of ABS. The walls are shiplap siding, but a bit plain and will be woodgrained. I added some wood grain on the planks. I used an Xacto blade to scribe the plastic. I scribe with the side of the blade, and when it makes nice corkscrews of plastic, you got the right technique. I adde
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On30

Part 73: The San Miguel Central RR!

"Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show." So, here I am. Born anew. My journey in model railroading is a continuous one, and after building a layout in HOn3 the last couple of years, I've now jumped headfirst into the dark side of model railroading; On30! As some may know, I live in Sweden and work as an artist/cultural heritage consultant. My former freelanced layout: the Minturn-Kings div
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Part 72: Why, oh why ....

Oops .... I do not get younger with age. In addition, most things get pretty small in HOn3, which has been my scale the last 5 years. Now it so happened that I jumped straight into the O-gauge swamp .... The track plan I have will be largely the same, but the tracks will be replaced with Peco On30 track. Geez how much bigger everything is in O scale! Today's purchases: MMI K-27 in On30 with sound, heavy!!!   Yorke's Bordello in O. I've built it before in HO.  
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Part 70: Water tank

Hi all. I just built this.  Limited edition kit #168. I've had it for a very long time, and each time I looked at the manual, I just put it away again... The big issue was the tapered tank and the bands. I just bit the bullet now and built it! The base was rather easy to build. To solve the tapering of the scale 8"x 2" planks, I made a fixture in my 3D printer. The planks was to be reduced by 1/64" on one end... So a good fixture was crucial. I tap
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Part 69: D&RGW 3000 series boxcar in HOn3

I really like the Rail line kits! Sure, they have a bunch of miniature parts to be fitted, but the results are so worth it!  I started on this D&RGW 3000 series boxcar the other night. I painted it with Testor DRGW freight car red and then Microscale gloss before adding the San Juan decals. It took a LOT of MicroSol to make the decals conform to the planking. I used my own designed/printed trucks with Kadee wheelsets. They are very suitable for this car, as the coupl
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Part 68: Control panel

Hi all, I've made a control panel for my layout. I used 10 mm thick MDF. It's 18" x 6.5" in size, which was the minimum I wanted. I drew the plan and then drilled all the holes for the LEDs and push buttons. I counter drilled the holes from the backside to make it possible to add the LED and the nuts for the push buttons. I primed it with cellulose first and then black Badger Stynylrez primer. I then airbrush painted white where the track lines were going to be.
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Part 67: New workshop

I built a new workshop next to my layout room. The layout is in the back of my big garage (1700 sq.foot), and I really needed a warm clean space to build models in.... This is how it looked on the 5th of January: I had new doors installed last year. Some of the lumber. New door to the workshop. I framed the walls with 2 x 4 lumber. The room will be 17' x 15'. OSB sheets over moisture barrier. Door installed and sheetrock finished.
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Part 66: trees

Spruce/fir trees 2.0 Faller's fir trees are really not at all good looking, but with a few minutes of work their appearance can be much improved. I use Polak model turf and some spray adhesive for this project. They are very coarse as they are... I trim the armatures to avoid the cone shape. Less is more... I applied some spray glue and two layers of turf. This group of five trees took me 10 minutes to do, a time that can be reduced severely if made in
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Part 65: Mountains!

I've started with the plaster work on the mountains. I use a mix of WS moulds, home made latex moulds and alu foil. The plaster is regular plaster of Paris. I prefer to cast in situ. I wait until the plaster shows small wrinkles in the mould before placing it on the mountain. I carve the surface with WS rock carving tools. May need some more plaster in places.   I test painted the mountain... I use regular acrylics and WS earth pigments.
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Part 64: Stone wall roller.

Hi all!  I made a tool for embossing stones in DAS clay. The tools and stuff needed. DAS clay, an empty sugar dispenser, rolling pin, knife, glue and a good supply of small pebbles. Roll out some clay with the rolling pin, it should be large enough to cover the plastic tube and be around 1/8" thick. Emboss the clay with the pebbles. Wrap it around the plastic tube, seal it together by pressing it. Then emboss stones at the seam. When dry, seal the clay w
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Part 63: The split station house

Hi all!   I'm building on my layout again after the summer months.  The town of Holy cross on my HOn3 layout is slowly taking shape.  But, I realised that the station took up too much real estate.  I therefore decided to move it to the aisle side of the rails.   The space was a bit narrow though. So, I decided to cut the building in half lengthwise.   That makes it possible to see the interior of it and make it a bit of a show point.   The starti
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Part 62: HOn3 Boxcar

Made a little more progress on my LaBelle boxcar. Only a few brake parts and coupler pockets remain to be mounted before painting.         I also finished a reefer marked for my railroad company.   Painted and decaled the boxcar. I had a little mishap... I was going to add the handbrake chain, and I took a piece out of the box and soldered it in place. Then I realized that it was the wrong kind of link! I had taken a piece of an
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Part 61: The Car shop

This is my latest build, a car shop I made from a Campbell Seebold and sons kit.             Just some lights left to install.
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Part 60: HOn3 coupler boxes

I've CAD designed a coupler box to suit the Sergent Sharon-couplers.     They will soon be available through my Shapeways shop.  
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Part 59: Tiffany reefer in HOn3

I have built one of these before, but that one got sold. This one is built more or less as it was out of the box, as the former one was heavily modified to match the original blueprints...   The kit contents.   The new parts added, turnbuckles, stirrups and couplers with boxes.   The frame started.   The subframe for the body and roof. Notice the paper strips glued to the frame sides to shim it to the correct width.  
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Part 58: Kemtron caboose kit

I got this very old Kemtron kit from a friend of mine. It is etched from very thick brass and had to be filed to shape.... I will use plastic trucks as the brass ones included wasn't of the caboose sort with leaf springs. The amount of heat needed to solder this kit was daunting....   The shape of the roof had to be shaped with a mallet over a wooden form due to the thickness of the brass.       Finished and ready for paint.
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Part 57: LaBelle HOn3 gondola

I built a LaBelle HOn3 gondola kit, and decided to make a honorary car for my late mother Yvonne who died last year of cancer. I have already a mine on my layout called the Ywon mine. So this became the Yvon/Ywon Gold mine Co. car number 47 (as in her birth year). Weathered to represent a well used car that has shipped a lot of gold ore.   The text are dry transfers. The boggies are 3D printed from Shapeways with Kadee wheels.   The couplers a
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Part 56: painting a brass C25

My Westside models C25 in HOn3 will be getting some upgrades. It already has new gears installed and will now get sound, lights and a good paint job. I will also improve the power pick-ups with added wipers on the tender and the locomotive.   The parts involved (well, at least some of them...).   Disassembly of the locomotive.   The main parts cleaned with soda and repaired. Some loose solder joints that had to be fixed.  
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Part 54: More track laying

https://youtu.be/FFFUjBlHnA0 The track laying continues, I have only 12' of dual gauge tracks left to do.... [youtube]FFFUjBlHnA0[/youtube] <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FFFUjBlHnA0" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Part 53: tracks, lots of tracks...

I made an updated trackplan that is more accurate. The track laying is progressing. The tracks around Holy Cross jct are getting closer to being finished.... (yes, the town is named to give me some bonus points with my resident priest. It's not easy being a priests "wife" )   
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Part 52: Bret's Brewery

Bret's Brewery in HO scale.   The band!   Loading dock   The rail side.   Boiler house   Front on.   Upper floor detail.   Water tank.
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Part 51: Pool Hall and Bordello

Thomas Yorke's kit of the "Pool Hall and Bordello" in HO scale. Finished!   Front   Primed the castings with grey and started the stone color.   I paint the stones with a light ochre.           The floor: I used the Vallejo wood paint set.   Looks nice when dry.   The fronts are very time consuming to build, as they need to be built to fit.     Interior wall for the stair well.   Most of the building assembled.   The rooms are lit up with SMD LEDs  
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Part 50: Benchwork!

So, finally part 50! I have started the benchwork.   It's 1/2" construction Plywood that I had the lumber yard rip for me in 5" widths.   I have glued and nailed the modules together.   The longest sections will be 8' and no one wider than 2'.   That will make it easier to move if needed.   This is the first two sections:  
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