Ripon Area Model RR Club - continued

 Two short videos of the club layout.

Ripon Area Model Railroad Club -- Ripon, WI

The club is located in the basement of a church, in a building that was originally built as a medical clinic. My wife Christal actually practiced there for 20+ years. The club occupies the entire basement, about 2700 square feet. The HO layout has a 400-foot mainline on two levels. It's a continuous loop with two helixes and two branch lines. There are several local yards on the main line, a large roundhouse and car shop area, and a separate large staging yard. The club also has a large Lionel 3-rail layout fully sceniced, and a small "museum" of old and new models from N to G scales.

The 18-foot staging yard (below) is in a small room off the main layout room. The track on the left is the programming track for our Digitrax® DCC. All controllers are "D" (radio) models. The entrance to the layout is at top left where the green signal is indicating a clear track ahead.

A Bachmann S4 emerges from the staging yard at

the city of Davis on the lower level of the layout.

The train on the bridge at Davis is a static model fully lit. Most of the buildings on the layout are lit, and many are scratch built. Ahead around the corner is the Davis Yard, the largest yard on the main line. From here, a non-stop trip around the main looping back to Davis will take 20-25 minutes.

The majority of the layout is scenicked, but much remains to be done or enhanced.

This farm is on the upper level, a large part of which is open country. The lower level is more urban and industrial.

The grain elevators on the upper level are served by a small yard.

This lumbering operation sits atop one of the helixes. Maximum grade on the layout is two percent. Minimum curve radius is 36 inches. All switches are hand-thrown Peco turnouts.

An Athearn Alco 2-6-0 coasts downgrade from a helix. Both helixes are mostly visible and fully scenicked. The lumber operation and the helix high-line are up to the left. The mine at right is on a branch line that wraps around the base of the helix. Its junction is at the upper right, leading into two track a tunnel. The 2-6-0 will emerge from the same tunnel and head around the corner to Davis.

The same branch line emerges from a tunnel at the upper right to reach this ore dock. The line branches to right of the photo to skirt the bluff and reach the mine. At the top of the photo, the line goes left to reach a paper mill complex.

The ore dock is from Walthers. The ore boat is a scratchbuilt paper model that I built for the club. The stacks of the paper mill are visible just over the hill.

Stay tuned. More photos to come.

Paradigm Shift - Model Railroading

 After several years of a stunning lack of progress on my home layout, I have decided to scrap the Ceresco & Wolf River RR and join the Ripon (WI) Area Model RR club. It makes a lot of sense for me. What I enjoy most is building structures and scenery. I could probably be happy building a room-size diorama in HO scale with a single loop of track. Joining the club means I can run trains during their twice-a-week operating sessions and build structures and scenery for the layout. They have given me two corners of the layout to remodel with a small industrial district. Most of the buildings I have already built will go on the club layout. I'm selling off most of my Peco Electrofrog switches and all of my DC-powered locomotives. I've purchased an Alco 2-6-0 with DCC and sound and a Digitrax controller. And one of my 0-6-0 tank engine switchers had DCC on board. I'll be the only club member running steam alongside modern diesels. I don't care, and neither do the other club members.

We are still working out a proper operating system for moving freight and passengers, and it will be fun to be part of that. The home layout had become a millstone around my neck, making me feel guilty for the lack of progress. Tearing out half of it one day last week, I felt a sense of relief. I also now have room in our basement for a proper shop area for woodworking and building large dioramas. I'll post photos of the club layout soon.

I was actually a co-founder of the club years ago when it was a modular club with no permanent home. I dropped out for a long time, but now it has a large home in the basement of a church and a permanent layout, and I'm excited to be part of it again. I'm also happy that there are a number of youngsters in the club who are getting addicted early.

UPDATE: 17 March 2024

I'm working on a simple operating system for the club, one that can be expanded later if we choose. My Spectrum 2-6-0 is weathered and running well. It's not the only steam on the club layout; I was passed by a UP Challenger this afternoon and went into the hole for a NYC 4-8-2 coming the other way. I also bought an Athearn GP9 in MILW Road colors -- nice engine, great sound, plenty of oomph. 

The layout has 2 levels, two helixes, and 50-odd places for spotting freight cars, two small yards (not counting the huge fiddle yard in another room), and 400 feet of mainline in a continuous loop that can be operated out-&-back or point-to-point. Most of it is scenicked, but there is room for lots more detail. 

I have decided to keep a few feet of track, and one of my DC 2-6-0s. I have several FSM kits and a bunch of scenery ideas that won't fit on the club layout, so I will begin planning a small British-style layout -- single track, point-to-point, a couple of switches, with lots of scenery and kitbashed and scratchbuilt structures -- more of a diorama than a model railroad. I have a space 2 ft x 16 ft to play with, and I might build it as three or four distinct modules with a small fiddle yard. That would give me the most flexibility.

House & Sign Painting Co. -- HO Scale (1:87) Scratchbuilt Paper & Wood Model

This House & Sign Painting Co. is scratchbuilt based on Bar Mills Models' "Oakleaf Shipping & Storage" kit. The deck and stairs are basswood. The deck is individual planks laid on Fos Scale Models' Waterfront Pier System, which makes spacing and gluing pilings a snap. If you're doing a waterfront scene with lots of piers, I highly recomment the FosScale Pier System.

 The buildings on this model are made with building papers from Clever Models laminated to ½-mm card (cereal box). The signs come from various sources. Overall, the model is 8½ inches wide, 6 inches deep, and 4-1/8 inches tall at the roof peak. 

I build my stairs on a jig made from scrap stripwood and a section of Central Valley Model Works' stairs. With the jig, I can easily build staircases of almost any width and length. I stain my basswood with Hunterline Weathering Mix. I have seven shades of gray-brown for different effects from lightly weathered wood to creosote ties. Their stains are not cheap, but a single bottle goes a long way. I also have a homemade alcohol-&-shoe-dye weathering mix (John Allen's recipe, I think) that I use for dirty weathered wood.

E-2C Hawkeye "Chick" paper model, scale undetermined

I desperately needed a one- or two-evening project. I have a pair of one- or two-month paper model projects on my bench, and I really needed something quick and easy to restore my sanity (or what's left of it). Several years ago, I built GPM's E-2C Hawkeye paper model in 1:33 scale. So over two evenings last week, I built a paper model of an E-2C Hawkeye "chick" from paperizedcrafts.com. I feel much better now.

In progress: 1989 Porsche 962C Paper Model in 1:24 Scale

I am usually not a car person, but I have always like the looks of the Le Mans racers, and this kit looked like an interesting challenge -- 1989 Porsche 962C, 1:24 scale from Mega Graphic, a Czech publisher of detailed paper race car model kits, mostly Formula 1.

The kit's two pages of written instructions are in Czech, and the accompanying drawings are inadequate and confusing. Pavel at Mega Graphic pointed me to a detailed build thread on a Czech modelers' forum, and the photos there have been lifesavers.

I like the kit's artwork and parts fit so far, though the chassis was a challenge. I had to build it twice to get it right, modifying the way it was assembled. Engine and transmission come next, then rear suspension, and finally the shell -- lots left to do.

VW "Tractor-Trailer" - 1/35 Scale Paper Model

Inspired by a photo on the internet, I started with two copies of a 1/35 paper model kit of a 1962 VW Westphalia camper conversion, a PDF from PaperDiorama.com. With a bit of Photoshopping and a lack of adult supervision, it was an easy conversion and a nice break from more complex projects. The variety of similar full-size conversions pictured online suggests that a fair number of VW minibuses end up as camping trailers. (Mine ended its days as a chicken coop.)

With typical performance of "0-60 in 11 Minutes," could a 1960s VW bus really pull a trailer like this one? Apparently, swapping out the VW hamster cage for a Porsche engine was the common answer to that question. 

Paper Diorama's kits are free to download, easy to build, and fun one-to-three-evening projects. They look pretty good, too. Most are 1/35 scale, but like most digital kits, you can scale them up or down (within reason).