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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.

Entries in this blog

Part 31: Kitbashed "Reading" Camelback in HO

As it was shown in another forum a scratchbuilt Camelback, I just felt like that was something I had to try! The one shown was a 0-6-0 type, but I don't have any suitable donors for that.... After looking in the Steam locomotive cyclopedia, I saw a Reading 2-8-0 Camelback. That meant we were in business!   To give some insight into the project we start by showing the donor for the conversion: A Bachmann Spectrum 2-8-0 Consolidation with a Soundtraxx decoder (retrofitted). It's a fantasti
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Part 19: A scratchbuilt Boxcab for my layout!

Hello in the summer heat I have always had a desire for a special locomotive for my layout. It all started when I read about the small port terminals in New York and the locomotives they were using. Central of New Jersey had an Ingersoll Rand locomotive that is one of the first commercially made diesel locomotives: A very beautiful locomotives in my opinion Then came Tim Warris with his Bronx Terminal in HO (an incredible layout). There he showed how to take a brass Boxcab and rebuild
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Part 6: Shay conversion

Hello in the cold . I took the opportunity while I'm still snowed in to address a couple of projects I have been keeping on the shelf. The first is my Shay locomotive. It is a H0 scale, 3 truck 80-ton Shay from Bachmann and their Spectrum series. The locomotive has led to many concerns, repairs and other headaches.... The first thing that happened was that the Tsunami sound decoder that I ordered did not fit .... So I had to build a new tender shell from brass to make it fit: Then the
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Part 13: Kitbashed steam engine for my railroad

And now for something completely different I've always been inspired by John Allen and his layout; The Gorre & Daphetid RR. What some do not realize is that he built almost everything himself, including the locomotives. Many of them had no direct prototype for the model, but was built to suit his fictional railroads requirements . I myself have had a project that has had the time to mature for a little while (about 20 years .....), but now the parts that I needed to do it miraculously h
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Part 39: HOn3 Bachmann Shay conversion.

Hello! I 've had a Bachmann three truck 80 ton Shay in HO in quite a few years now. The original:     The Shay has experienced quite a few revisions, among other things, the exchange of the cracked plastic gears with metal gears from NWSL . The largest revision was when I had gotten tired of the lousy tracking of the middle truck. That was when I rebuilt it to a two truck version:   (see http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/638/entry-5254-part-6-shay-conversion/ )   Now
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Part 3: Water and piers

I was getting ready to start on the Harbour, and I needed to add the various items on the quaysides that was going down into the water before proceeding. I was going to have a small fishing pier and a Carfloat apron, The pier was easy to make: I made the stonewall from balsa, and embossing the mortar lines with a pencil. I primed it with gesso and painted it. Ready! But the Apron was a whole different matter, I needed some hoist/balance structure to hold the wires that keeps the actual bri
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Part 4: Marine vessels

My layout is thought to be situated on the US eastern shore in the vicinity of Maine. It is a shortline with it´s major traffic generated through the Harbour and the Car float operation. I had already made the Car float apron so now I "only" had to make a Car float . Initially I had actually wanted to use the Walthers float, but the scarcity of it and the very high prices on it made me plan a build of my own instead. As I had some plans from Sylvan scale, and a lot of pictures from the Web
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Part 10: Downtown Deco kits

Hi all, since the last entry I have bought some kits from Downtown Deco, I thought it would be good to show how I painted them.   This entry will show how to paint and weather the Adams Ave #1, The owner of Downtown Deco, Randy Pepprock, had a thread at a big US Forum on how to paint it, but it was deleted as it was being called "advertising".....   I hope this will show the methods that can be used to paint and weather it. Sure, it´s not as elaborate as Randy´s was, but I think it wi
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Part 21: Jordan 1934 Bus

And now for something different:   I found a kit at a Trainshow here in Sweden this weekend: A 1934 Ford Bus. Just what I needed for my layout! As I understand it, it was very common during WW2 that these smaller types of buses were used in major cities in the U.S., in addition to trams and Subways. Jordan/Highway Miniatures makes really nice kits I think! The amount of detail is sufficient without making it tricky to assemble. I deviated from the manual however, as the description ad
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Part 7: Pimp my Multimaus!

Hi all DCC fans! I use the Roco Multimaus digital system, and of course I do appreciate that they have done a very ergonomic handset. But the designer that chose the color ought to have been sent on retraining Sure, the red may well be neat, but not on a controller .... Looks almost a bit "so" .... I did this to mine today:   Dismantling it took about 5 minutes, of which three minutes were spent finding a suitable screwdriver ...   I cleaned the cover with soap and water, and mixed
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Part 11: Downtown Deco kits 2

I have built some more on my Downtown Deco buildings, and it's great to see them painted and detailed . I have started to paint my Adams Ave # 2:     And I made sure to get some variety on the brick color and concrete. Then I put some signs on them that I've printed out: Here is how it looks when placed on the layout:   Adams Ave # 1 is also being "finished"....   Adams Ave # 3 is also getting some work on it as well:   I have also renovated an old laser cut kit (JV model
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Part 22: Weathered SW diesel loco

This is how I do my model activities this time of the year : It does improve the visibility to work in the sunshine   I felt a bit inspired yesterday and began some much needed overhaul on my Broadway Limited SW-7.   It had been showing some poor power pick up in the leading bogie, so I disassembled the locomotive as best as I could . I washed out as much oil as I could from the gearboxes, as it seemed to be the probable reason for the problem. While it was disassembled, I took
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Part 36: Swedish class N3 locomotive brass build in HO

Hello fellow forumites! I'm starting a new project; the brass kit mfg HNJ's steam locomotive class N3! This is the contents of the kit:   Seems to me to be a good kit! :-)   This is the progress so far. The gearbox was a bit fiddly to get smooth, but after some fine adjusting, it is super nice! :-) The boiler is made from thick brass tubes and cast brass pieces. It was a job for the propane torch! Just going to add the smoke box overlay and the boiler bands before detailing it
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Part 40: The Minturn, Kings divide & Eastern RR

Hi all, I felt that it has become a lot of changes to my model world . So much so that it required a new layout thread . It all started with my Middletown, Kensington & Eastern RR that I built for the 2010 challenge. A layout that would depict a fictional New England in 1943. Thanks to a move to larger premises etc. I started to build on it, and add on to it a little, but felt that it did not really work ... : (   My good friend and museum owner Peter Haventon offered then to aquire the
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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 38: Pratt truss bridge.

Hello everyone! I have built a bridge that I've longed to build for many years! Namely the Central valley 150 foot Pratt truss bridge in HO! It may probably be one of the trickier bridge kits on the market .. I think it may have something to do with that it is built of loose beams that has to be cut to the right lengths and angles ..... But the end result more than outweigh the difficulties. I built it as a dual gauge bridge with both HO and HOn3 gauges. With a bit of painting and weathe
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Part 37: Miller and sons machine shop

My latest build that I made to incorporate in my new layout. A Woodland scenics machine shop that I made a diorama of. I named it Miller & sons after the great Glenn Miller. I listened to a lot of his music during the build....           I'm very satisfied with the build so far. I was honestly surprised at the value of this kit! It has a few issues though, as it is (as I have understood it) an old Alloy forms kit thar WS have re-released. The white metal is VERY hard, and
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Part 1: The story so far...

Hi all, I thought that it was time for me to start this blog as it is more easily read I think . I will on this Blog, show the build of my HO scale US prototype layout, and the various items that have to be constructed on it. I will also show a lot of Airbrush painting and weathering as well.   I will, in a few short captions bring you up to speed how far I have come on the HO scale M-K & E. It is meant to be set in the northeastern USA in the late 40´s, early 50´s sometime. It is a s
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Part 34: A new beginning :-)

This is how I have planned my new layout to look. There will be some changes along the way I think.... :-) I have designed it to include my current layout along the left side. The size is nice to fill with landscape. The room is 6.5 x 4.5 meters. The possibility to have a decent sized harbour is really exciting! Almost true to scale liberty ship maybe? :-)
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Part 2: Some tracks and grass

I started with a mockup with the finished houses to get a better view of how the track planning would work in real life. As it were I didn´t have to change more than a few small curves to make it fit. I use Peco code 75 rail as I think they are a good looking and well functioning alternative to the more pricey brands. I glued the rails to the foam with No Nails: I painted the ties and rails before ballasting. I used Vallejo Umber and grey: ballasted it with Chinchilla sand, it is a
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Part 5: Handpainted city backdrop

It was time to do something about the background as it had been neglected due to other activities, such as building houses and such . I didn´t like to sit at the layout doing all the details that are inevitable when making a city.... I bought some high quality artist poster board and went to work on it, sitting at my workplace.   I put the board on the backdrop to draw all the existing buildings. I then printed out some nice photos of houses along with some books I have for inspiration.
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Part 32: Relocating my world.... :-)

Evening all! Sometimes a lot of things happen at once..... After living and working near were we live for the last 12 years, we have now decided to relocate. We have just signed the deal for this house: Not so very far away though, only about 12 kilometers from were we live now, but it's a very much better accomodations for both me and my wife. Both the communications and the house is better suited for our current needs. My wife attends University for her theological candidacy, and I'
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Part 12: Background and Fascia

I have started to paint some of the clouds now on my backdrop, I sketched up the clouds with a thin white paint and made the shadows with a gray-blue hue: The clouds closest to the horizon have some Ochre in them to give them some warmth.   The clouds are piling up ....: I'm trying to make the clouds with as little planning as possible to make them realistic in shape and form.   Here I have begun to define the clouds with pure white and some Payne's Grey: It's important not to g
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