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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 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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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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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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Part 48: Finished my brass K-27

My brass Sunset models K-27 is finished. This has been a long road.... First I had to sort out the power pickups, and added phosphor bronze wipers. Then I replaced the worm with a new one from NWSL. The next was installation of a Econami decoder with stay alive and dual speakers. The worst problem was that the drive wheels were out of gauge (and so was the tender wheels...). I corrected that, and finally I could paint it! I used Scalecote 1 engine black and baked it in the oven. Then I painted t
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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 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 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 8: Some details

I got some nice stuff from my wife this Christmas, a bunch of laser-cut fire escapes and park benches from "Imagine That Laser Art" in Canada. They were not exactly hard to build, but a bit time-consuming   A little paint on it, then it will look good.   I just had to see how it looks when it´s in place.   The Fire escapes is very nicely designed. I have looked at some of the others on the market, but they are too ornamented to be suited in a more basic setting. One pack
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