LMRA Newsletter
Lubbock Model Railroad Association
Staying on Track - June 2006
Meetings at Highland Baptist Activity Center, Quaker Ave. and 34th St. - first Monday of each month at 7:30pm.
June 5: Regular meeting. Let Randel Bittick know if you would like to do a clinic this year.
Other events coming this year:
Old Mill Trade Days setup has been cancelled.
Dates not set: Playday, Home layout tour, Windsong, Cowboy Symposium, Santa Land
Our website is at railserve.com/lmra
Why I am a model railroader
I wrote this in April 1997 - Jack Seay
Everyone has their own reasons, here are some of mine. I like the fact that it doesn't take a lot of space, time or money, unless I want it to. It is a relaxing, slow-paced, nice change of pace. If I get too busy to keep up with the latest news, and come back in a few years, I can pick it up right where I left off (unlike some areas of modern life which undergo a revolution each night). It is a multifaceted hobby combining art, photography, wiring, scenery building, computers, operations, travel, architecture, landscaping, civil engineering, carpentry, model weathering, painting, and building, and a dozen or so other things in any combination that interests me. The aspects of it I enjoy best are scenery building and detailed small models. Although many of the components we build with are already assembled, they can be individually weathered and combined into an infinite variety of miniature worlds. Later I plan on getting into operations, a type of business simulation. I can practice a lot of the skills I learned somewhere else, and learn new ones as well. And Oh yes, I also like trains.
Etched metal structures
I was browsing on the railserve.com website and ran across this one you might want to look at: Billy Bob's Fly Bye Nite Operations at http://members.aol.com/Nscaleloco/ Here you can find communications towers, high voltage towers, windmills, and rotating radar towers. The communications towers include cellular, microwave, guyed antennatowers, and mono poles.
Then there is Micronart at http://www.micronart.com/ They make HO, N, and Z scale etched metal kits. They have water stations, watch towers, yard buildings, fire trucks, horse drawn carriages, trucks, and more.
Another maker of etched brass and stainless steel structures is Micro Structures at http://www.microstru.com/Microstru.html. I built an N-scale bank from them that had amazing detail.
If you have intricate detail on your rolling stock, why not try it in your structures too?