Happy New Years!

 

Happy New Years and all the best to you in the coming year!

 Peter Mumby and I have not been doing much modeling lately. We used to get together every Monday afternoon, but since Covid that has changed. We are hoping to maybe do a bit of modeling together once again on a sporadic basis and there just might be some narrow gauge projects in the mix. Maybe a good New Years resolution to bevmake...George Dutka

Merry Christmas 2023

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the Modeling in Narrow Gauge crew...Peter and George.   

Peter Leach - WW&F

A view from Pete Leach presentation. WW&F trains typically had 2-3 cars as seen here.

Pete Leach presented a clinic on his On30 WW&F operations. The presentation is very good and can be found on youtube. There is a nice amount of history of the line included with operation practices.  I have included the link here, enjoy...George Dutka

https://youtu.be/A1_toHCNQTs

On30 Annual

Bob Bennett wrote about his fleet of snow fighting equipment that he has built over the years. Cell phone photo of the lead-off page.

I normally do not purchase the On30 Annual but this years issue had a few articles that caught my attention. First off there was Bob Bennett's Maine snow fighting equipment which is nicely modeled along with a few articles on stains, roofing and tool storage. If you like using cardstock and cereal boxes in your modeling there are two article related to building and weathering structures with this material. An interesting issue in all.

With a price reduction for orders prior to publishing and free shipping here to Canada that seemed to be a great deal...George Dutka

Another Diner

I took this photo with my phone of a diner on a operating diorama at the Ontario Narrow Gauge Show this year. Simple but nice...George Dutka    

O Scale Water Tank

This structure was not all that hard to construct. I am using it currently on my On30" module.

I found this extra photo from when I built my Portland Locomotive works SR&RL White Birch water tank...George Dutka

Harrison Trestle - B&SR

 

B&SR Harrison trestle Engine #2 1895 Lawrence Walker...George Melvin Collection. Another one of the views I purchased and scanned recently.

Tool Car

Here is another look at my SR&RL wood flat car kit that I turned into a utility or tool car. The details included on the deck might be a bit of overkill but I like how they look...George Dutka

Weathers Larger Scale Models

At this years Ontario Narrow Gauge Show there was a modeler that did some really fine large scale models that had some of the best weathering I have seen. One of the photos I took was the last Wordless Wednesday. More photos of his modeling to come...George Dutka  

Wordless Wednesday No. 163

 

  

Narrow Gauge in the NMRA Magazine

Back in Maine currently on display at the railway museum in the Wiscasset Maine area. 

My October issue of the NMRA magazine arrived this week with a nice article on the back page about old No. 7...George Dutka

Wordless Wednesday No. 162

 

SR&RL 24

 

I have had a chance to scan a few more narrow gauge prints last month. We will start with a postcard viewing SR&RL No. 24 from a collection of prints I purchased from George Melvin. No data on the rear of the postcard.

Diner Interiors

The interior of a trolley body. The drive and trucks were used in another project.

The current Narrow Gauge Gazette editorial speaks about turning the shell of a trolley into a diner in O scale. Looking at what was done I think I can do it in my coach...George Dutka

Bob Brown's project.

Wordless Wednesday No. 161

   

  

BarMills - Ash Pit

This is what one gets in the package.

BarMills offers an ash pit as a resin kit. There is not a lot to it and goes together well. It is HO scale for standard gauge but I think it could work better narrowing the track gauge for HOn30. It clearly is an early era clean out location that might have hung around for years. Most of the work was painting the casting and weathering it. I should note the kit does not have enough bolt castings which is not a problem as I have lots on hand....George Dutka 

The model ready for paint and stain.

The model is intended for a yard ash pit but one could also turn it into a roundhouse inspection pit.

The finished model.

O Scale Details

The laser cut tools in O scale was very interesting although sold out.

At the Spring Ontario Narrow Gauge show Mt. Albert was selling some interesting details that are laser cut from fine wood. One sheet was door hinges for large doors and the other was tools. I did get a strip of door hinges but the tools were sold out before I got to their booth. I have not seen them on their web site but they said they will be readily available shortly...George Dutka  

I did get a strip of door hinges which are also cut from wood strips.

FOS - Diners and Dives

The structure on the left is a kit-of-the-month offering while the right structure is a free kit offering all from FOS.

This past spring and summer I have completed a few food hangouts. I have covered the lobster shack already but more on the other two from FOS in the future...George Dutka  

Huntsville & Lake of Bays Ry. - On30"

At this springs Ontario Narrow Gauge Meet Paul Jenner brought his On30" Huntsville & Lake of Bays Railroad equipment. Paul was setup right next to me so we had a lot of time to talk. Enjoy...George Dutka   

This was a painting Paul painted and was offering as prints for sale.

This is a great looking scratch-built representative of the lake boat.

One of two boxcars on display.

  

On30" Diner?

Peter Mumby's On30" coach that is missing it's end details. There are a lot of leftover passengers inside from the coaches last run...thinking they are hanging around to be first to order their meals. I will have to see how they fit into the build. as I could add a detailed interior.

I was over to visit Peter Mumby this week and I received his On30" coach that has some damage. Well now to figure out how I can turn it into a diner similar to the one in Bob Jones book...George Dutka

Wordless Wednesday No. 160

   

Wordless Wednesday No. 159

    

Mt Albert Scale Lumber Co.

Mt. Albert Scale Lumber Co. had a nice selection of bundled stripwood at the Ontario Narrow Gauge show this spring.

If you see Mt. Albert at a show you might want to check out if they brought any bundles of stripwood. These bundles are a great way to pick up bracing, trim pieces and so on. I have two bundles which both have different sized lumber that I use all the time. These bundles are off-cuts and seconds which are a great value...George Dutka

Bridgton, Maine - A New Diner in Town

This combine was sold in May 1937 and became a diner.

I was flipping through my Bob Jones book about the B&SR Ry. the other day. I came across this photo of a diner made from an old narrow gauge coach. I thought this could make a great modeling project. If one has a part coach or one that is damaged and may not get onto the layout again it could be turned into an interesting diner. Peter Mumby had one damaged in On30" that I tried to sell for him at a couple of shows. I might just get this one from him for such a project...George Dutka  

This was B&H combine no. 25 which was moved to Upper Depot Street in Bridgton, Maine. Peter Cornwall Photos.

FOS - Hooper's

FOS display scene up in Maine during the narrow gauge convention.

I took this photo back in 2016 and I think it was at the Maine convention. I actually purchased this structure in HO scale...need to get working on building it. I now realize I have had the kit for 7 years. I hate to think how long I have had some of my others...George Dutka

BarMills - Lighthouse

I have to get back to planning my waterfront scene. Not sure if it will have narrow gauge on it, but it might be a nice choice to backdate it a bit to the 1930's.

The construction of the BarMills lighthouse was pretty easy to complete. As mentioned early I need to add some trim to the roof. The jewel used as the light when set in the housing sat to low. Having a hole through the center (it is a necklace jewel) I used an old mico brush, cutting it to length that would work when I placed the jewel on. I painted the brush black and used Walthers goo to attach it to the base...George Dutka   

I added a life jacket and oars to the boats interior. There is also a rope tied to the bow which is a fine piece of sting.

Another angle of the row boat.

A bit about My Book!

My narrow gauge tool-storage shed was covered in two chapters for different reasons.

Don't know if you read RMC but I currently write the column Craftsman Workshop and I also had a book released in January 2023 through White River Productions. I am covering a bit about how it came about and some unused photos in my White River Division blog (link on the sidebar). I thought I would cover a bit that pertained to narrow gauge modeling here. I was able to squeeze in a bit of my narrow gauge modeling in my book.

My narrow gauge tool-storage car was actually covered in two chapters for different reasons. First it is found in "Repurposed Boxcars" Chapter 5 and again in Chapter 9 "Weathering Wood". The weathering wood article was enlarged a bit by using more photos I had included in the original RMC Craftsman Workshop. Originally when I wrote the article I had thought it might have been a feature due to the length. It was reduced to fit the 5 page layout (with ads) for Workshop. I used the leftover text with a group of new photos in a CARM article some months later. So all was well. I thought they may expand that chapter with the additional text but I am assuming page count is always an issue.

Chapter 10  "Build Small Dioramas included my narrow gauge transfer yard. I had used my HOn30" modeling structures and equipment to build a few small dioramas. I did not want to part with my equipment so this was a good way to display what I had built almost 40 years ago...George Dutka

I had built a Maine freight house that looks worse for wear. This was not included in the weathered wood chapter.

I also included my O scale FOS gas station. It has a lot of weathered wood.

An overhead view of the transfer yard diorama. This one was actually used in the book but gives one a great view of what I built.

BarMills Lighthouse

An overhead view of my completed lighthouse model. I added a bit of detail to the row boat interior.

I recently competed my BarMills lighthouse. It is a smaller model than I thought it would be. I realized that when seeing the Christmas kit display at Springfield back in January. It will work well in the foreground of my waterfront scene. One does not want a huge structure out front off the shores. If it was on shore and midway back in the a display a larger model would work better.

One addition I made to the kit was adding 1 by 2 stripwood to the rooftop seams. They looked kind of messy without something added. Most of the painting was done with MIG colors while the roof and light structure is done with a spray can coat of Camo Coat dark brown followed by some AK rust steak then PanPastel raw umber shade. More on this structure shortly...George Dutka

The seams of the roof looked a bit rough so I added wood strips to the seams.

MIG Rail Center paints which is formulated for engines and rolling stock are used to paint most of the lighthouse and the rowboat. A bit of weathering is applied to the red and white using Bragdon soot. The soot has a bit of two different rust mixed in by mistake when I dropped by four color box. Even with the lid closed the colors do get into the other sections. The mix is kind of a neat mix that I have been using on a few of my models. The red on the row boat is left clean for now.