Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Fare thee well, RMC!
Last Friday Carstens Publishing closed its doors. Along with that announcement came the notice that Railroad Model Craftsman would be suspending publication.*
Since then the model railroad inter webs have been buzzing with comments, posts about RMC and what it's demise means to the individual hobbyist and the hobby as a whole. I truly feel for the employees of Carstens Publishing, and for the Carstens family, many of whom I've known for a long time. This is a particularly emotional and difficult time for them all.
I've always had a soft spot for RMC. My first appearance in print in a model railroad magazine was in RMC. I have to thank RMC editor Bill Schamburg for recommending me to a headhunter who was searching for young editors for a "hobby publishing house in the upper Midwest." That turned out to be my entree into working on the MR staff - a time in my life of many professional and personal blessings.
I always enjoyed seeing the Carstens gang at various conventions and shows. Colonel Hal Carstens sat in a number of my clinics over the years - he had a real interest in the Central Vermont. One time, without realizing Hal had snuck in after the room was dark, I referenced one of Hal's photos - an overview of the White River engine terminal in Ed Beaudette's Central Vermont Railway (published by Carstens). I couldn't include the picture in the clinic but mentioned it was a great image and that it, and Ed's book, were well worth checking out.
At that point a deep voice in the back of the room quipped "All you have to do is ask…"
I returned home from to find an envelope from Hal with a beautiful 8 x 10 b&w copy print of that image and the note "Marty, Ask and you shall receive. Think you might be able to find a use for this in your next CV clinic?…." (remember, I worked for the 'competitor' at the time! I was thrilled to include Hal's photo in my clinic with the credit to "H. Carstens, Carstens Publishing!!")
I do feel that over the last few years, RMC had something, well, missing. But I still enjoyed reading it and continued to purchase every issue. It's just something about it didn't grab me like it once had.
Growing up, the highlight of the model railroad month was riding my bike to the hobby shop on a Saturday afternoon, walking into the store, and heading right for the magazine rack to see if the new issue of RMC was there. There was precious little I could afford to buy - but I could always scrape together enough to purchase the latest magazines. And, if I had only enough for one magazine and was forced to choose between Model Railroader and RMC, the Carstens product almost always won out.
I was going to blog on some of the great articles I remember reading in RMC "way back then." Then I realized I've already done that. In fact, it's one of the most popular posts on this blog. You can read it HERE
Fare thee well, RMC! Thanks for a great ride.
*There are rumors of one or two parties who are interested in acquiring the rights to RMC. Although I sincerely hope this is the case what I know about magazine publishing, and acquisitions of magazines, makes me less than optimistic.
Since then the model railroad inter webs have been buzzing with comments, posts about RMC and what it's demise means to the individual hobbyist and the hobby as a whole. I truly feel for the employees of Carstens Publishing, and for the Carstens family, many of whom I've known for a long time. This is a particularly emotional and difficult time for them all.
I've always had a soft spot for RMC. My first appearance in print in a model railroad magazine was in RMC. I have to thank RMC editor Bill Schamburg for recommending me to a headhunter who was searching for young editors for a "hobby publishing house in the upper Midwest." That turned out to be my entree into working on the MR staff - a time in my life of many professional and personal blessings.
I always enjoyed seeing the Carstens gang at various conventions and shows. Colonel Hal Carstens sat in a number of my clinics over the years - he had a real interest in the Central Vermont. One time, without realizing Hal had snuck in after the room was dark, I referenced one of Hal's photos - an overview of the White River engine terminal in Ed Beaudette's Central Vermont Railway (published by Carstens). I couldn't include the picture in the clinic but mentioned it was a great image and that it, and Ed's book, were well worth checking out.
At that point a deep voice in the back of the room quipped "All you have to do is ask…"
I returned home from to find an envelope from Hal with a beautiful 8 x 10 b&w copy print of that image and the note "Marty, Ask and you shall receive. Think you might be able to find a use for this in your next CV clinic?…." (remember, I worked for the 'competitor' at the time! I was thrilled to include Hal's photo in my clinic with the credit to "H. Carstens, Carstens Publishing!!")
I do feel that over the last few years, RMC had something, well, missing. But I still enjoyed reading it and continued to purchase every issue. It's just something about it didn't grab me like it once had.
Growing up, the highlight of the model railroad month was riding my bike to the hobby shop on a Saturday afternoon, walking into the store, and heading right for the magazine rack to see if the new issue of RMC was there. There was precious little I could afford to buy - but I could always scrape together enough to purchase the latest magazines. And, if I had only enough for one magazine and was forced to choose between Model Railroader and RMC, the Carstens product almost always won out.
I was going to blog on some of the great articles I remember reading in RMC "way back then." Then I realized I've already done that. In fact, it's one of the most popular posts on this blog. You can read it HERE
Fare thee well, RMC! Thanks for a great ride.
*There are rumors of one or two parties who are interested in acquiring the rights to RMC. Although I sincerely hope this is the case what I know about magazine publishing, and acquisitions of magazines, makes me less than optimistic.
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Waterbury Freight House: 3 - Staining the "old" freight house walls
I decided to build this portion of the building from basswood clapboard (Albert Scale Lumber, 4" HO clapboards). I spent some time last night with Hunterline stains of various colors trying to match the overall appearance and coloration of the building in the prototype picture. I think I'm getting pretty close. I find the wood stains hard to control since the wood grain plays tricks with the coloration. I think using styrene with brush-painted colors would have been easier.
*The article indicates the location is "unknown" but it's pretty obvious to anyone who has been to Waterbury or looked at photos taken in the steam era that the photographer was standing between the station and the foundry building. You can see Frank looking out from one of the window openings!
Sunday, August 17, 2014
Waterbury Freight House: 2 - One story "new" freight house
I've gotten the basic styrene shell assembled for the one-story "new" freight house at Waterbury. The sub walls are .060" with .040" Evergreen clapboard siding on the exterior. Before installing the clapboard I run a piece of fine grit sandpaper over it in the direction of the clapboard. This "breaks" the surface, adds some fine "wood texture" and seems to make the paint adhere better since the surface has some tooth.
Here's a couple of pictures of progress. Next step is to get the first coat of paint on the styrene.
Here's a couple of pictures of progress. Next step is to get the first coat of paint on the styrene.
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| The freight house with the basic door and window openings in place on the layout. |
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| The building won't have a full interior, but I wanted to include a suggestion of the freight agent's office since it would be visible through the windows and the partially opened freight door. I also plan to add some simple interior lighting to this building. I attached the agent's office walls to the sub roof, added a door and some wainscoting. The interior detail here will be simple shapes to suggest a desk, file cabinet, and shelves, and perhaps a figure. |
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| The floor is scribed styrene sheet (scribing is on the other side in this view). The floor will not only be visible inside one or to of the open doors, it also acts as a brace, stiffening the entire structure. To get the floor at the correct level, and to further stiffen the floor, I used strips of .060" styrene. |
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Steam Era Freight Cars Blog
"This blog discusses all aspects of North American freight cars of the steam era, from the dawn of railroading through 1960.
it is designed to be a place where model railroaders who seek to produce the most prototypically accurate freight cars possible can come to view information pertinent to their pursuits.
Prototype modelers are encouraged to participate in this blog. Please consider sending photos of prototypes and your efforts to model them, reviews of kits, books and other products, “articles” about your modeling efforts – with or without photos. The nature of blogging means the material can be "real time," and in-process models can be shared. These are not only welcomed, but appreciated as we all love to see a model develop over time.
Also welcome is information about upcoming prototype meets, existing steam era freight cars (including where they are located), newly discovered photo collections, upcoming events, etc.
Information for this blog is considered to be submitted gratis. Also, all submissions must include your name and contact email."
A couple of years ago I created a blog intended to highlight steam era freight car modeling. Intended in no way to replace the STMFC Yahoo! Group I figured the blog format lent itself better than an email group to showing modeling and highlighting specific projects and techniques. After all, if you've ever tried to follow a modeling project on a chat list you know seeing the photos can be a frustrating experience.
My ultimate goal is for the blog to have numerous contributors - if someone wanted to contribute only one or two items they could send it to me and I'll post it (full credit will be given to the modeler of course!)
If someone wanted to share a lot of projects/photos and the like I would give them "Author" permission and they would be able to post away without any interference - or effort - on my part!
Although Charlie Duckworth did send me several contributions, the blog has languished in the internet waste land for more than a year - although it's had close to 10,000 views I haven't posted anything new in quite a while.
There was (and has been) talk of reviving the Steam Era Freightcars website - and some of my fellow modelers were concerned this blog would be seen as competing with that effort. But frankly that seems to be stuck in limbo.
So I thought I'd mention the blog here. I'm going to start by cross posting some of the freight car posts from here just to get some new content included. If I get little or no response I reserve the right pull the plug - but I will take a month or two and see if there's any life left in the thing.
If you're interested in sharing any of your steam era freight car modeling please email it to steamfreightcar@gmail.com!
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