Wow!

This little beauty came into the shop today.

It's an O scale CPR Fowler stock car kit created by Chooch Enterprises a few years ago. Sadly, it seems to be out of production, along with all the other Chooch resin kits.
The master for this car were created by Bill Yancy. His work is stunning!
I mean look at this!

Tongue and groove in the floor boards! Who does this?
It's details like this that tempt me to change scales. That's so cool!
I'm going to enjoy this build, when it's turn comes

Fremo, not Free-Mo

There has been a thread on yahoo.com/group/Proto-Layouts, that has left me thinking that there are still people who don't fully get the point or potential of Free-Mo/Fremo. As I write in the following article, which was published in RMC back 09, the point is mainly to be able to get together and create "layouts" that wouldn't otherwise be possible. The Fremo events are not public events, but there solely for the pleasure of the members to be able to run trains and view each others work. It's not there as public "show" piece. "Hey Johnny look at the cute trains" is not the driving force.

The standards of workmanship are high and achieved, in large part to insure that nobody is disappointed because someone wouldn't follow the wiring standard, thus shutting down the entire setup while the source of factory smoke is located.

Hopefully these images can in part, give a sense of the scale of the setup.

Adventures in Freemo Part 3

Actually Fremo this time

Fremo Nordhorn2009

For 3 ½ days over the last weekend of May 2009, I had the pleasure and privilege to observe and participate in a large Fremo meet in Nordhorn, Germany.

Fremo, which stands for, Freundeskreis Europäischer Modellbahner, which roughly translates to Circle of friends of European Modelrailroaders,   is a 28 year old association of over 1200 modelers from Greece to Norway and Finland to Spain and is the forerunner to North America’s Freemo movement.

As well as setting standards for module design and construction, Fremo is responsible for organizing the setups and publishing a periodical magazine and a couple of very well executed promotional pamphlets. With the annual dues set at 37.50 Euro ($52.00 US approx.) I’d say it’s a good bargain.

Fremo maintains a website. http://www.fremo-net.eu/. On it you will find all of their standards as well as photos from many of the setups. It is mostly in German, but some pages are translated. The photos alone are worth looking at.

The meet setup design was created and plotted by Dirkjan Kaper, who using the Fremo design database, which has every members module plotted in CAD, spent almost 3 weeks generating the layout plan. The end result was a layout with some 300 metres (975’) of mainline formed from the 208 modules that were brought by 35 of the members of Fremo for this meet in the 21 metre x 36 metre (117’ x 68.25’) room. Dirkjan then spent another 2-3 weeks creating the timetable for governing the movement of the 160 trains that were run in 4 hour operating session.

I was told that this setup was of a modest size compared to past events and that for the 30^th anniversary in Oct 2010, over a kilometer of mainline is being planned for. I may have to return to Europe just to see that. I don’t think that the photos can properly portray the sheer scope of the setup. It has to be seen to be truly appreciated. In that regard it’s interesting that these setups are not generally open to the public. It is for the pleasure of the participants.

The system used is similar to the Timetable and Train Order system of controlling trains, with a little more authority for the station masters, patterned after German prototype practices as well as the familiar car card system for moving individual freight cars. Some 23 station operators were required to control the train movements of the 160 trains that were run during the session. All stations and towers were connected by telephone. Up to 15 trains were running at any one time. Using a 6-1 fast clock a 24 hour period was represented in a 4 hour operating session. 2 sessions a day were run on Saturday and Sunday and one session on the Monday.

Given that European homes tend to be smaller than the North American counterparts and basements as we know them are a rare thing as well, it is to be expected that group modular model railroading such as Fremo is as successful and popular as it is. I don’t know of too many home layouts that can offer the scale of operations that a Fremo setup can.

Control for the layout is based upon the Digitrax Loco-net protocol, with lots of either home built or small after market manufacturers components. One interesting feature of the control system used by Fremo is that there are individual handheld throttle units for every locomotive. With space being at a premium in the smaller European locomotives, hard programmed decoders make far more sense than the programmable units we use in North America.

Unlike North American Freemo standards, Fremo does not require a UP-5 type unit in every module or module set. But rather during setup a crew goes around the layout with plugin boxes that clamp to the layout and are then daisy chained together, with as many plugins as required then placed in key locations. A very sensible approach I feel.

As one would expect the overall quality of the modeling is very good. Modules were there in varying levels of completion, which allows one to see different work methods and material choices. Always a bit of a learning experience viewing other peoples efforts.

The lighting conditions in the hall made some of the photography difficult, but I hope that the images printed will give an idea of the quality of the work being done. A couple of module sets, I believe warrant special mention.

The station set of Rothenburg, built by Michael Baensch, Stefan Tilke, and Gordon Bickner, is a set of modules about 12 metres (39 feet)long representing a medium sized station on a double tracked main line. It is fully signaled, following German practices, with lots of urban structures flanking the station building itself. The platform is fully illuminated and I neglected to count the number of figures waiting on the platforms(hundreds I’m sure).

The station set of Truedelburg, built by Thorsten and Dieter Petschailles, is a medium sized station and junction built on a 100 degree curve. It is designed to receive traffic from both the double track mainline as well as 2-3 single track branch lines.

Both of these sets can be well seen on the track plan.

The best rural scenery on the layout had to be Steiles Eck. Gordon Bickner has done an excellent job on this long curved cut through the German forest. Hundreds of commercial trees have gone into this beautiful set of modules and the little human touches help bring it to life. The 2 hunters on the fire break chatting before continuing the hunt. The shepherd in the shade under the bridge watching his flock grazer on the floodplain.

I mention these three not to take anything away from the rest, but more as examples of the overall high level of execution all the modules shown.

Mean while in the other room.

A smaller Fremo setup and operation was underway. N scale finescale. This layout showed some of the most impressive workmanship I’ve ever seen.

These fellows have developed a functioning scale European style coupler. There’s a photo-etched stainless steel item which represents the loops and turnbuckle as seen on the prototype and they use a hand held magnet to lift the item and drop it on the hook of the adjacent car. It works very well and looks right.

The trackwork by Henk Oversloot, is some of the best trackwork I’ve ever seen. It’s all done by hand, no filing jigs or tools. Hard to believe that it’s N scale. When you look at the photos, remember it is indeed N scale.

I knew that when I decided to accept the invitation to travel to Germany and take part in this event I was going to see some very fine modeling. What impressed me even more was the gracious reception I as an overseas visitor received and willingness to accommodate my lack of language skills in their native tongues. Equally impressive was the high level of mutual respect shown by all. At one point during an operation session there was an electrical equipment failure in a station, resulting in a shutdown of a key junction point. Trains very quickly started to back up. While the owner of the modules tried to establish the exact nature of the problem and repair it, the train crews all waited quietly and patiently for the problem to be resolved. No smart comments, ribbing or heckling. Just a collective confidence that the problem will be resolved as soon as possible. Nice to see.

I’d like to again thank all of the Fremo members who attended Nordhorn for their hospitality and the warm reception I received while there. There are no borders when we share the love of trains.

Postscript

As part of the fallout of my blogging about how unhappy I was with some of the castings that I had received recently, the kit maker took me to task a little for airing my concerns on my blog.
So let's understand a few things.
I deliberately avoided naming names. I feel that would have been going to far.
I also did state that the kit maker was taking immediate steps to address the problem. And I'm very satisfied with the new parts.
There seems to be a major reticence these days to say anything negative about the products we pay good money for. See this editorial by Ben Hom from Jan, 04.
 http://www.steamerafreightcars.com/editorial/edjan04main.html
I completely concur with Ben's position.
When I started my other business, Yarmouth Model Works, I was asked what credentials I had as a resin kit manufacturer. My response was, " I've now built hundreds of resin kits over the years. In many scales, with a large variety of kit quality. I know what I want to see when I open a kit box and that is what I'm putting in my kit boxes."
And there are times when it's not easy to maintain the standards I desire. But I persevere and I will push others in the same direction.
The technology exists to produce very good kits and models, and the consumer is entitled to demand it. There is no excuse for poor work.

I feel no regrets for showing unacceptable parts online. It gives modelers a chance to see potential pitfalls and it gives me a chance to compliment the kit maker when they make good on a problem.

Rub a Dub

Spent the morning creating Popeye forearms.At least the right arm.

In the paint shop are 10 S scale Canadian grain hoppers, which I'm painting, decaling and weathering for a client.
The client supplied me with dry transfer decals for the cars. They are the only thing available in S for the cars he desired.
Now I really don't care for dry transfers. They're like contact cement. You get one shot to get things in the right place. And if the transfer is a little old the adhesive doesn't grab well onto the model surface. Also, I'm not fond of putting a lot of pressure on the sides and ends of models, continual rubbing can produce some very undesired results in model surfaces.
In this case the transfers were a good 10 years old. Even though sealed in envelopes some of the markings were being cranky about transferring.
My preferred approach in this case is to transfer onto clear decal film and then apply the lettering in the conventional wet slide manner. But it does involve a lot of prep.
The decal sheet has to sprayed with a flat finish to insure that the transfers adhere. Once all the markings are in place the sheet has to be again sprayed, with gloss, to seal and protect. And then the decals can be applied to the model.
So the preparation of 10 sets of decals has actually taken 6 hours of spraying, rubbing and more spraying. My right arm is at this point a little out of sorts. So we rest the arm until tomorrow and then proceed.

Much better

This morning a box arrived in the mail with 2 sets of replacement sides for the reefers I'm working on and blogged about earlier.
The replacements are as close to perfect as one can expect. The kit maker is to be praised indeed for his quick resolution of the problem I had with the first set of sides.
In spite of my earlier complaints about the castings I received, I am very much looking forward to building these 5 cars. The Canadian 8 hatch reefer is a signature car and has received much attention over the years.
S scalers are indeed fortunate to have these cars available to them now and I know that other variations of the basic design are coming in the future.
2 of the cars I'm building will be finished for the Newfoundland Railway, which will be different in of it self.
The kit design shows a lot of thought and the level of detail should please most modelers easily.
More when the cars are done.

Isn't it Ironic?

So a thread seems to have ended recently on the STMFC Yahoo Group. It covered many of the trials and tribulations of resin casting. The apparent end of the dialogue, which was very informative, coincided with my preparing to build 5 S scale reefer kits that have recently come on to the market.
The dialogue covered many facets of the difficult art of resin casting. It's easy to do, just very hard to do well. I know this from my all to frequent experiences with poorly cast kits. And I know how hard it is to find a caster who is really competent. Which in part was the cause of the delays with the CPR car release.
So when I started inspecting the casting from the kits my heart went out to the distributor of the these new reefer kits. I know that he's using a third party for his casting, since we've discussed caster options more than once, so I can't blame the distributor too much for what you're about to see.

First the sides. The top of the sides in the photo are flush. As you can see, the side casting to the rear is taller on one end than the other. By 0.040"! And only on the one end. I don't know what the caster has been doing to the molds, but that is brutal. And I can't fix it with sanding. 2 of the 5 sets of car sides are like this. And no I can't mix the screwed up sides to get a better match, I tried it.
The ends have their own special deal going.

Look closely. You'll see that the face of the part is not parallel to the back. I'm not sure how this was achieved, but I'm not impressed. About half of the 10 ends are like this. At least I can fix this, I just won't enjoy it.
To his credit the distributor is replacing the 2 sets of bad sides straight away. And I know he's at his wits end trying to figure out what to do. Like me, he's not inclined to try and learn the craft of casting. And I know he paid a good deal of money for this casting work.
Perhaps the caster should have read all the good advice that was just on STMFC on the craft of casting.

Full Circle? Well almost

Remember back in 1991 when Intermountain Railway Co released the Canadian design cylindrical covered grain hoppers? That would be the firm beginnings of my custom building and finishing career. That summer I built, painted and decaled at least 100 of those kits for the local hobby shop, in a whole variety of paint schemes. Needless to say I became very proficient at building those kits and wholeheartedly sick of them as well.
Fast forward 22 years and I'm at it again, sort of. I have 10 S scale grain hoppers to paint for a client. He assembled the Kaslo Shops resin kits and I've agreed to paint, decal and weather them.
Enough time as passed now I'm no longer scarred by the never ending parade of Canadian grain hoppers.
The challenge now is to match the paint mixes to what paints I have now. My supply of Floquil, like everyone else's is limited.
And in case you're wondering, I've been basically away from home since the 5th of July. We had Pearl Jam in the arena where I work part time rehearsing and teching their 2013 tour. 2 weeks of very long days and nights. No time for trains. We sent them on their way last Tuesday, which meant that I got home Wednesday morning at 4:00 am. Spent 2 days recovering and then the last 3 days have been focused on packing boxes of the CPR boxcar kit and tweaking the new kit. We have more work this week and then it'll be back to normal for August.