"Just what the doctor ordered... 500mg of Fukitol!"

If you read Marty McGuirk's Central Vermont Railway blog, then you already know about Randy Laframboise's Rutland Road presentation at the recent NERPM... and his reliance on 500mg of Fukitol in designing and building his very large multi-deck layout with Mike Sparks. (So, that's how they do it!)

But that was just one of the many humorous, yet insightful,  moments presented at this annual event. In that vein, Mike Rose detailed how he can delicately fine-tune benchwork with a reciprocating saw and Kip Grant showed his radio roots by imitating the sound of an RS-3 in start-up mode. And of course, there were no shortage of wife anecdotes from various presenters that gave support and comfort to a room full of basement-dwelling model railroaders.

Several hundred attendees had 3-4 clinics to choose from in each of the seven slots from early morning through late evening this past Friday and Saturday. Here Neil Schofield discusses his latest layout and some quick scenery techniques to a rapt audience.



Marty McGuirk presented a nice piece on his latest layout efforts focusing especially on fall scenery and backdrops. He recounted that several areas have been redone on multiple occasions. (Music to my ears!) Plus, I got to finally meet Marty face-to-face after several years of only  on-line communication.



Who knew there was such a story about those two nuns loitering in downtown Sonnyvale on Kip Grant's D&H branchline? In addition, he recounted a story of a modeler who had seen his GMR 2011 article and called to ask for a visit. "Hi Kip, you don't know me, but my name is Dick Elwell..." Good stuff!



Moving the meet from the senior citizen's center in Collinsville, CT to the Holiday Inn in Enfield, CT provided many advantages, not the least of which was a larger room for vendors and model displays. This photo captures about one half of the space which was filled with plenty to gawk at between clinics. Truth be told though, the lighting could have been better in this room. Or is that my age rearing it's ugly head?



A tremendous amount of motive power and rolling stock was on display illustrating various talents in building, modifying and weathering including Butch Eyler's graffiti-filled goodies. Fellow bloggers Ryan Mendall and Pierre Oliver, plus Jered Slusser, had similarly very nice displays which my terrible photos unfortunately do no justice.



This HO scale scratchbuilt structure was the unofficial fan favorite of the meet and builder Ron Poidomani's presentation explained his process from design to finishing details, including interior  LED lighting  and weathering techniques. It is breathtaking.



I regrettably missed this clinic in order to heckle Kip Grant in his, but heard that it was very well-done. Likewise, I had to attend Jersey buddy Ted Pamperin's C&O New River Division in lieu of Chris Adams' presentation on his New Haven branch line. Decisions, decisions!



And of course food was a highlight, although I did not expect braised short ribs, truffled mac and cheese and fresh asparagus washed down with some local IPAs. This certainly beat a burger and beer, four-fold, which was about the cost ratio.

A word of thanks and congratulations to Dave Owens and his crew at the NERPM. A great time and wonderful event! What I've presented is just a fraction of the weekend's events. So many other clinics and model displays could have been covered here, but I'm certain that they will be in other blogs, websites, etc. Click on the above for photo galleries.

 

And a sincere thanks to my roomie, Jim Dufour, who shared great banter and some real neat discussion about theory and philosophy in constructing his prototype. His presentation on detailing the B&M's Cheshire Branch was a highlight. The NERPM is just few miles down the road from the annual Springfield show. If you can get to this region for that, you should do the same for this event. You'll be happy that you did. Cheers!

 

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   BONUS:  JUST  ONE  MORE  THING  BEFORE  WE  GO...  

 

Although I'm not quite ready to pull a George Costanza and declare, "I'm back, baby," the NERPM was a needed shot in the arm for me and hopefully will get me going again. Just what the doctor ordered!

"One year anniversary... and the need for speed!"

Well, one full year with the blog, and my critically definitive review is, "Meh." My goal was to present well-written, entertaining and informative pieces on model railroading in an attractive format. But with an average of less than one comment per post, stagnant membership and declining viewership (except in France!), I have to be honest and acknowledge something less than success... although it was a good creative outlet and a fine way to document my missteps in attempting to build a layout. Stuff happens. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Blah, blah, blah.

I am fortunate however, that a really neat hobby shop is right here in my town specializing in slot car racing, which may be more my speed, so to speak. NJ Nostalgia Hobby is an institution in the slot car community and racing nights are not all that different from operating sessions. Just faster, friendlier and much more inclusive. The store's track is nice, but I am installing a more significant one at home, necessitating some big changes in the basement. We started this week.

The store's track is about 5' x 16'. I'm installing one that will fill my 15' x 35' 'finished' area where my lounge, office and workspace had been. They have all been moved to an empty bedroom upstairs. The current train room will remain as is, at least for the time being.



Anyone who has ever visited, knows the 6'-3" ceiling height is problematic. So to negate that and add overall resale value to our home, we are replacing the existing slab floor with one that is 14" lower. I took a day to gut the room and then had a crew come in to begin excavation. In this shot, some wall framing and the baseboard heating units sit in dust awaiting removal to the dumpster. Several neighbors will be using much of the crushed concrete for dry well's in their backyards saving me considerably in disposal costs. Nice!



It's a noisy, dusty job, so my wife and the pups visited the in-laws on eastern Long Island for a few days. I am reminded that a client of mine did this in his old Victorian to create a nice basement play area for his kids. It came out great! But the real genesis for this came from a casual comment from a buddy about an issue I had detailed in an earlier post here.



The trickiest part of the entire job is the initial chipping away of the slab that sits atop the foundation footing. Once that is done, excavating commences and a new footing is poured to undercut the original one. I am fortunate that we have a bulk head exit so all materials and debris could easily be transported, relatively speaking. The sunken 14"  area will be accessed by two 7" steps. Can't wait to frame and sheetrock the walls!

 

So, that be that. The railroad was probably a tough ask for a first-timer like me, with no right-hand man, no experienced wing man, or go-to guy to help with the myriad of questions that I had at every step. Not sure what will happen in the train room, but right now I want to race... and I definitely won't be blogging about it. Well, probably about time to hand in the ol' NMRA card and save a few bucks. RPM has a whole new meaning now. Be well everyone. It's been real.

 

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   BONUS:  JUST  ONE  MORE  THING  BEFORE  WE  GO...  

 

 

Sweeeeet, and no PanPastels needed!... BTW, look out for fools who may prank you this April day. Don't you just hate those guys? Cheers!

"Damn it, get up!... You can sleep on the beach!"

The ladies of the household dragged me to Mexico's Riviera Maya last week so I could reprise my role in, "You're so annoying." Far be it for me to say, but I don't understand the logic of waking at dawn to secure a prime beach chair under a hut out of the sun, then slathering on sun block from head to toe for protection from said sun, before dozing off for much of the day. I could achieve the same result staying in my air conditioned room, with a lot less fuss and a lot more ESPN. 


Whatever the case, I reluctantly experienced the beach ambience with my wife and daughter while a favorite RPM commenced in Malvern, PA. No clinics, no models, no layouts, no nothing. Just a bunch of topless European women on holiday with, and I'm guessing here, no interest whatsoever in model railroading. But I did get a hobby fix via an email thread that I will unabashedly share here. 


Jim Dufour enlisted the help of the visiting Randy Laframboise to complete some river scenes on his B&M Cheshire Branch. Due to the river's slope, they  chose Golden Polymer Medium to pour into the previously  modeled river beds, per Glenn Glasstetter's advice.



Tony Koester commented that New England's cleaner waterways present more of a modeling challenge than the Midwest or central Appalachian regions which merely require that modelers fill the undetailed basins with plaster and paint them  pea-soup green, before building up layers of gloss medium.



While the acrylic gel was easy to work with for Jim and Randy, Bernie Kempinski reminded all of the anxiety of dealing with the alternative two-part resin option. He suggests that the most reliable and most foolproof is Magic Water from Unreal Details.

 

Jim referred to Randy as "ever fearless." in his email. Kip Grant beat everyone else to the quip, "It's easy to be fearless when it's someone else's layout!"  Truth is, we all recognize Randy's talent and his willingness to help, not to mention his ability to throw good-natured verbal jabs of his own when he spots an opening. For today, we'll just say that Dairy Boy done good here, real good.

Well, this is post numero 75 for this blog and it seems like a good number to finish up with as the one year anniversary is a week away. I'll be back on that special day with one more entry. Thanks everyone. We'll see you then.

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   BONUS:  JUST  ONE  MORE  THING  BEFORE  WE  GO...  

 

My daughter, Senorita Wise-Ass, suggested that I post this photo from the local OTC farmacia as a public service to all modelers.