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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 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 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 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 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 49: ready to paint a brass K-27

Westside models K-27 #460 in HOn3 dismantled in preparation for painting. These engines are like Swiss watches in their build quality. A pure joy to work with. I have prepared it for LED lights in both the front and rear headlights. It will get a Soundtraxx DCC sound decoder with a sugar cube speaker. The D&RGW #460 is a very odd engine. It was never modernized to piston valves, neither did it get a shortened smokebox. The version I'm painting will represent how it looked in the mid -30's. I
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Part 44: 3D printing and model railroading.

My latest build: A Stamp mill in HO scale for my HOn3 layout. I've made it from plans in the "Old wood and stone buildings​" book. I CAD converted the drawn plans and as I have a 3D printer, I printed the timber frame, windows, doors, smoke stack and loading platform. I then covered the frame with Northeastern wood and the roof with cardboard covered with surgical tape. The stays for the smokestack are made of piano wire. The painting is acrylics on mineral spirits soaked wood...It makes it so
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Part 43: Sierra west Hotel.

Hi all! I just finished the build of Sierra wests Hotel in HO.   I made very few changes away from the manual. The peeling paint that is described in it was a bit too uncontrolled (sort of...). So I made the peeling paint by brushing on turpentine and then brush on Vallejo white paint.   I really like the way it turned out. Take a look at the pics and let me know what you think about it.                     I added a few figures.       Thanks for wa
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Part 29: Painting The M-K & Eastern RR's Harbour at night

Hi again, some news from the M-K & Eastern RR. I just finished a painting that I made that depicts the harbour of my layout at night. This one is acrylic on canvas and is 12" x 16". I just have to do some "regular" paintings sometimes.     Source: The M-K & Eastern RR Harbour branch
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Part 23: The finished SW 7

Hi all, I took some new pics of the SW today. It is always hard to photograph black locomotives, but outdoors with some reflector screens, it works quite nice:     The rust on the sideframes with the soaked in oil is something I think worked out really great.   The custom made heralds is very nice to work with, really good quality! (thanks Jack)   All in all, I´m really happy with the result!       I have bought some figures for the layout: It was some need for
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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 18: The Blacksmith´s

I have been busy building a little Blacksmith shop of parts I had in the scrap box I "needed" a blacksmith by the track, and also I had a place that was perfect for a small(ish) building. I was sorting through the drawers and found an old Athearn-boxcar shell. I searched a bit online and found some pictures showing that it was quite common to use the decommissioned cars for sheds etcc. I also found an old playing Birthday card of the simplest model, I cut the speaker off and put a red LE
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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 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 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 26: Loksound in the Boxcab

I just installed a ESU Loksound V4 micro in my Boxcab (see part 19 & 20), I used the OEM-speaker and I think it is just wonderful! There is noticeable improvement with this decoder compared with the 3.5. I bought the "empty" decoder and used my Lokprogrammer to install the sound. There is no soundfiles for a 1925 AGEIR Boxcab though.... But until I can find some nice sounds to make a soundproject of my own for it,I will use the sound that I installed as a "good enough" sound. The sound
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Part 28: More re-modeling of the layout.

I finally got hold of a kit that I've been "needing" for some time now It's the Heljan Brewery! Every time that it have been on the market, I have either felt no direct need for it, or haven't had the finances for it.... But now I took the plunge and bought it! When looking at the kit, I can see why it's so popular! So many parts and possibilitys.... I can not build it as it's intended to be (and why would I? ). I started with some "bulldozing" of the part of the layout that will be the
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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 41: The Minturn stn.

At the local narrow gauge convention, I bought a Detail associates kit for the "Foothill station". The kit is sold out since many years, so I guess it could be hard to find another one.... It is a mixed media, but mostly wood, kit with plastic windows and doors. The building is made for two levels of terrain which I will use to serve two railroads. A standard gauge railroad on the upper level, and a HOn3 narrow gauge on the lower. A bit like John Allen did with Corsa on the G&D. So, he
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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 14: Pics of the finished 2-6-4t

Here are some pics of it as it stands today: Still some small details left.... This is how it looks like with the warm white LED on: I will add some small details on it and maybe a brakeman on the pilot. This was a real satisfying project, and I will try to find more scrap locos to modify in the future, any known ones out there? B)
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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 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 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 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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