REVISED SCHEDULEThere has been a change in the clinic schedule. Homer Morrow presents his clinic "Working on the Burlington Narrow Gauge" in August and Jan Kutch presents her clinic "Detailing from A to Z" in September.LAYOUT TOURS
At the last board of directors meeting we discussed the possibility of having another layout tour this fall, probably in August. So far we have not officially lined up any layouts for said tours. If you would like to volunteer your layout for the fall tour, please either let me know or contact Bob Anconetani. A tour is a great motivator to get your railroad back on track!
The annual ice cream social will be held at the July 3 meeting. The club will provide the ice cream, toppings, and soft drinks. Garon Cagle is scheduled to present his clinic "Researching a Prototype." These should not conflict in any way, just don't slurp your ice cream while Garon is speaking.
True to their promise, the NMRA has made things easier for its members. Their new dues form now has a place to sign up for the NMRA and the LSR at the same time. One can pay for one year, two years, or five years at a time. They take check, cash, money order or credit card. If you need a copy of the form, or if you are not yet a member of the NMRA or the LSR and want to join, let me know.
Ron Kutch received another notice (e-mail actually) regarding the Tucumcari Mountain Modular Railroad Club Second Annual Train Show. The show is July 22-23 at the convention center in Tucumcari, NM. Set up is Friday the 21. It will run from 10:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. both days. They are hosting a show dinner on Saturday the 22. The cost will be $11.00 per person and is all inclusive, i.e., dinner, dessert, drink and tip. They have invited any of our members to bring their module if they wish. They will be running straight DC. Most of the modules have 44 inch legs, but some of the Clovis modules have 40 inch legs. They have the use of the entire convention center so space will not be a problem. Vendors will be at the show. For more information call Christine Crubb at 505 461-1797 or Richard Raff at 806 655-3901. Their Internet address is http://tuc-trains.tripod.com,.
I received an e-mail from William Jensen. He says, "I am in Irving if you are in town I will give you the nickel tour."
The National O Scale Convention will be held in New Orleans from June 28 to July 1, 2000 immediately following the Lone Star Region Annual Convention.The Baton Rouge O Scalers are hosting the event.
The Southwest O Scale Meet will be held this Fall. This meet was originated by Larry Muir.
As has been my practice in past issues, I will paraphrase Nancy's excellent article in The Marker Lamp for benefit of those who are not members of LSR (so go ahead and join - it is not expensive!)
The Lubbock Model Railroad Association was busy setting up around town this spring. In March, they used the old "demonstration pike" at the Godeke branch of the city library. This pike is in HO scale and has remarkably withstood the test of time. Because we use it only once or twice a year, it is always a treat to see. In April, the LMRA set up the club members' own modules for the annual citywide Arts Festival at the Fairgrounds. Everyone had a great time and we generated a lot of interest in model railroading from the public.
The LMRA is also getting ready to issue decals to the old "McIlhaney Creamery Company" of Lubbock, Texas, whose motto was "real butter from the cool breezy plains of Texas." If club members can get some reefers decaled in time, look for these at the next LSR convention. The creamery operated five cars for the distribution of butter, cream, and eggs. Their cars were reefer yellow with black lettering and the butter package above the name was white with red trim.
The Lubbock club has a new web address. Look for us on the internet at:
The Amarillo Model Railroad Association is celebrating its 10th anniversary in May. They are now part of the Amarillo Railroad Museum and growing! The sales of their reefer kits are going well. Look in the March 2000 Model Railroader for the ads and information on how to order some for your layout.
Upcoming programs they will be featuring include "Plaster Molds and Castings" in July with Tom Jones and "Railway Travel in Europe" by Jerry Michels in August. You can get more information about these programs and the club in general from Jerry Michels at mailto:asychis@aol.com,
If you are in the mood for a little heavy reading, you might want to check out this recently published article and, if you are interested, you may need to order a copy of it through an interlibrary loan if you do not have a large library nearby: "Ancient Rut Roads and Their Modern Descendants," Ancient World XXX (1999): 155-161. The Texas Tech University Library does carry this publication. I wrote this to put an end to the so-called urban legends on the internet about the gauge of railroad tracks, Roman chariots, and the widths of horses' rear ends! It contains lots of information about ancient rut roads and the variation of gauges of ancient wagons and roadbeds as well as a discussion about George Stephenson and the establishment of 4ft 8 1/2 inch modern gauge in the 19th century. A reference to ancient Latin authors is also discussed.
From Nancy B. Reed, Division (5) Report, The Marker Lamp. Vol. 46, No. 2, Summer 2000. pg. 4.
Bob has a loco set of Kato N scale E8/9 diesels in the shop. They feature dual headlights and freight pilots. They are lettered for the AT&SF.
We are now on the mailing list for the TCMDEs. They were formally the Midessa Model Railroad Club. Their meetings are usually held every Tuesday night at 7:00 P.M. at the Parker Heights Christian Church (second floor) on the corner of University and Maple in Odessa. Please call 915 550-5448 or 915 368-0971 for more information.
(The first part appeared in the May 2000 issue of the newsletter.)WEATHERING COLORS WITH CHALK
Pastel chalks are versatile weathering tools. Not only can you really "grunge up" a model using the blacks, grays, and browns, but you can add shades to colored wood structures. Say you have a green wood wall and you want to age it a little. By selecting different shades of green from the chalk box, you can give the effect of fading paint from sun. I use a box of 36 pastel chalks. Sets much smaller or much larger are available from art supply stores. The chalk can be used as a stick, applying it vertically or horizontally along the painted boards, and then blend in with your finger. Or, you can make a powder of it with sandpaper and apply it with a brush.
Many people "set" the chalk powder with a flat spray such as Testers Dullcote to protect it from handling. There is nothing wrong with this, but the spray really lessens the color effect of the chalk. Of course, you can always go back and reapply more chalk. Since I don't touch my structures once they are set on the layout, this step is not really required. On the other hand, it might be reasonable for rolling stock.
MULTILAYER PAINTING
This is a time consuming weathering technique, but very striking if done well. It may be worth it for contest models. This is much easier to do prior to final assembly of the walls and ends. If the boxcar is going to be boxcar red, then the method goes like this: paint the entire model with a red color, not boxcar red (perhaps caboose red). Let the paint dry. With a fiberglass eraser, rub most of the paint off. Paint it again with grimy black. Rub most of it off. Paint the model again with another red color, not boxcar red. When dry, rub most of the paint off. Repeat with some more reds if desired.
Paint it again with boxcar red. Rub some of it off. Although time consuming, the effects from this are really impressive. One gets an essentially infinitely variable coloring of the wood boards that is hard to duplicate with other techniques.