Sharing

 Hi Folks. Last week, the Model Railroader association that I belong to had an online Zoom meeting in which several members gave 5-10 minute presentations. I volunteered to give one on my method of ballasting. I explained how I do all my scenery first as well as tracking weathering, before ballasting. I passed along some methods that have worked well ( and I feel look pretty good) for me. I initially use a cinder type ballast along the margins of the N scale cork ( that I used on my On30 switching layout) and  glued this down ( and let dry) before proceeding to add the Woodland Scenics Medium Grey Blend between and along side the ties. I think the medium size from a size perspective works very well for On30 track ( doesn't look too big or too small) - if I was doing HO scale , I think I would use a N scale sized ballast. I work in 12-18 inch long sections, as using my method of ensuring ALL the ballast is off the surface of the ties and the web of the rail can be tedious and time consuming. The benefit is that once it is done, it looks great to me (neat and tidy!!). Once the ballast is down and ready to secure, I first use eye droppers to apply alcohol followed by Woodland Scenics scenary cement. I never spray with spray bottles as this will just blow the loose ballast away if too much force is used. Some folks use the "wet water: technique first , but I find that by using alcohol, it dries things out much quicker - left overnight , things will be dry in the morning unlike the wet water method which may stay wet for several days. I find the key to adding the alcohol or glue is to have the nozzle of the eyedropper facing the web of the rail, so when the liquid comes out it is not flowing directly on the ballast disturbing it - also using a slow steady squeeze of the eyedropper bulb is important. Here are some pictures that I used during my presentation. Till next time...

Freight Car Friday

 Happy New Year folks! I am sure we can all agree that we are hoping for a much better 2021 and that the world ends up in a much better place than it was during most of last year. Todays freight car spot light is on converted Bachmann On30 18 foot flat cars. These flat cars were released by Bachmann several years ago and it wasn't long afterwards that several manufactures started developing and releasing conversion kits in various formats. I decide to convert a couple that I had into side dump hoppers using a kit by  Train Troll   The kit comes with all the laser cut pieces to convert 2 of the Bachmann flats - (the flats come as a 2 pack as well). It took me a week of evenings to complete the models from start to finish. I followed the well explained instructions and prior to assembly, I lightly stained the laser cut wood parts using a mixture of India ink and alcohol. The hardware parts (hinges, levers, etc) are all of the peel and stick variety  - I used flat black camo type paint to paint these prior to assembly as well. Even though the hardware parts are peel and stick, I used a small amount of white craft glue to ensure that they would stay in place.  The flatcars themselves were weathered by a friend of mine prior to mounting the hopper bodies to them. I liked the end result and ended up buying 2 more packs of both the flatcars and the hoppers so I could have a small unit train to be pulled by one of my small Whitcomb diesels. I often take these cars to run at Train shows as part of the On30 modular group that I belong to. One of the things I like about On30 is that the smaller manufacturers' have been good to bring out kits to modify existing On30 rolling stock into something unique - fun stuff!!. Till next time....

Side dump Hoppers

Close up