The Southern Forest weekend...

Its been a while, so should throw in an update of whats been happening of late. The weekend just past saw the running of the second "Southern Forests" meeting for narrow gaugers, held in the heart of Puffing Billy country, at the town of Emerald. Southern Forests is an event designed to cater for the demands of fellow narrow gauge modellers on the alternate years to the Australian Narrow Gauge Convention (scheduled for Easter 2013, here in Melbourne).

I should back track slightly though, since my weekend started on the Saturday evening, with a pleasant BBQ at the home of Gavin Hince, editor of "Narrow Gauge Downunder Magazine", followed by a casual operating session on his On3 home layout. Dinner on the rear patio under a cool Autumn night with around 8 in attendance, with a bit of show and tell of what each has been up too, and then upstairs to the layout room, to attend to the railway demands of the little people of California on the North Coast Narrow Gauge. The layout runs using an Easy DCC wireless system, so is well designed for sessions involving 4-5 operators. Gavin runs a busy timetable of passenger, mixed goods and logging runs, with a fast clock trying to keep everything on schedule. Running the session takes about 2 hours, with a mid evening pause to try and squeeze in some desert. Its a great layout to run on, with well finished scenes, and good mix of structures, and a believable sense of the real world in the way the layout moves from high country logging operations up at "Angels Camp", through several small halts and industry points, to the coastal township of "Lands End". The session is made more challenging, or entertaining, when you throw in a couple of amateur engineers (like myself) to try and negotiate the logging Branch's daily chores. I think I am finally starting to get my head around understanding the operational side of the evening. I didn't have to hide any cars in odd sidings to make the job look done, and wasn't beaten too badly by the flying fast clock! I spared Gavin the indignity of taking photos of the derailment that happened on the rather hard to reach loop above he stairs (lets just say it needs a ladder and a good stretch to correct any unfortunate issues in this particular spot), but the clock was paused for some time! After a late evenings finish, we all retired for the night, to ready ourselves for the early start the next morning up in Emerald.

 The Sunday morning saw the early start up in the misty hills, with the cold morning awoken to sounds of the Puffing Billy Na's rolling along the 2'6" line.  The Southern Forest meeting started with a chartered train from the Menzies Creek station, up the line to Emerald, where the meeting was being hosted at the Gemco Theatre (just alongside the Emerald Station).  I couldn't take the charter train this year due to having all my gum tree clinic gear to cart in for the show.  The meeting was well attended, with a comfortable group of around 70 enthusiasts present for the day.  A mix of presentations and clinics scattered over the day.  The most interesting presentation for me was from Eamonn Seddon, the CEO of Puffing Billy Railway, with a fascinating discussion about the position of future directions of this world renowned preservation tourist railway.  Most interesting to hear the challenges faced in modern times of OH&S and operational requirements, and the demands of maintaining such and old operation whilst pleasing modern standards.  There were a number of very nice models brought along for the display, including a beautifully modelled selection of VR narrow gauge roster (the now Puffing Billy's origins) by Melbourne modeller Roger Hill.  A filling lunch on the verandah, some inspiring presentations and models, and the sound of "Puff" climbing the grade at the back door of the venue made for a great day.  I presented my gum tree construction clinic to a receptive bunch of modellers, and had my "Splitters Gorge" bush in a box out for display in its near complete form.  Still some detailing to add around the bush hut, but the scenery side of the diorama was complete, with the new frame and signage to finish its presentation.  Didn't take many pics at the show unfortunately (to busy catching up with mates most of the time), but here's a few grabs from the day.  I need to mention that proceeds from the day were donated to the Climax Restoration Committee, to go towards getting Climax No. 1694 back on the rails at Puffing Billy.  The Climax project is well on its way to completion, with the newest fundraiser, "Coffee for the Climax" underway to continue the financial demands of the project.  I am a supporter of this project, and encourage others to get on board (so please check out the link).

So I didn't get to take any pics of "Splitters Gorge" on display at Southern Forests, since I forgot my tripod, and time really didn't permit it for me unfortunately.  So to make up for it, here's a quick snap with a cameo appearance, which hopefully also helps put the size of the diorama into perspective for you.  It was an interesting squeeze into the back of the car, but the diorama travelled well on the day.

Cheers,
Dan

Have box, will travel...

Hi all,

Finally finding some time for a quick update.  Been a little quiet on the modelling front with school holidays and activities with the kids.  We did our usual January camping thing at my brother in laws sawmill property out the back of Lorne, so got to walk through some of the hikes again that this bush box diorama was influenced by.  Photos are handy, but its more fun getting out in the field so to speak.

So had some late evening time to play with a few parts for the scene.  First task was to tackle the "cattails" (or bullrush) for along the creek.  Nothing that a bit of green paper, and old straw broom and a bit of blu-tack can't handle.  Took this one straight from my Geoff Nott notes, cutting fine strap leaves into the paper strips, with a few painted highlights, and then the "cattail" head made from a blob of the blu-tack rolled around a short length of the broom straw.  A bit of paint and assembly, twist of the leaves, and there's an inch of bullrush.  I made about half a dozen of these clumps to line the front edge of the scene where the creek disappears into the foreground.  When the diorama is finished, I plan to add a picture frame around the scene, and these long reedy cattails will be the little lead point that will guide the eyes further up the creek and into the scene.  Its sort of all about leading lines, and trying to make natural looking lines.  Not real easy to explain, but in nature, natural lines occur that make those scenes look good, and thats whats trying to be replicated here.  Sounds a bit mad science, but its has a theory to it.  Google it...

I wanted to get the box up to a certain point to be able to take it along to my local model railway exhibition run by the Corio Model Railway Club here in January. I participate as part of the "Art of the Diorama" display, this year with fellow modeller, Grant McAdam. Often this display also involved two other modellers, Laurie Green and John Hunter, but they had their Outback Model Company trade stand set up along side us instead. I took along a step-by-step info display on how I make my gum trees, as well as a heap of trees to finish off painting. I also had a few bags of the cheap small scale palm trees (or larger scale tree ferns!) to paint up as well. The whole display looks kind of like this...

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The plan for the weekend was to get the half completed block of trees completed, paint up the ferns, and then spend the last few hours of the first day planting out the scenery around the base of the gorge on the left side (where the small bush hut was to end up).  Got that all done in time so I could give it all a good glue drenching and leave it all overnight, in the hope that it would all be dry and well secured ready for transport home at the end of the show.  This bush box coffin travels laid down flat in the back of my wagon, so I had the fingers crossed the glue would be cured in time for transport (which it did...just).  I spent day two of the show working on some detail bits for the scene around the bush hut.  Decided to add a rough little bush sawmill (old sawbench powered by a salvaged diesel engine), half housed under a small iron shelter.  A few weeds, ferns and ivy added, and still plenty of smaller details to bring into the scene, but one of the things about doing this stuff at exhibitions, is plenty of people want to stop and talk about it, a lot, so best intentions of what you wanted to get done in the day are usually cut by half.  At least all comments are positive, and viewers are impressed with what can be done with some garden scraps and plant cuttings.  While the shows can be a bit tiring (what with the constant conversations and repetetive explainations of how you did it), its good to get out a promote the hobby a bit, and catch up with a few of the usual crew out an about for the day.

With the box back home in the garage for further work, the goal is now to get it completed in time for the next "Southern Forests" meet, which is a narrow gaugers gathering at Emerald (Puffing Billy country) in late March.  I will be presenting a few of my clinics on building the gum trees at this show, and hope to have the diorama completed by then, as a good example of putting the trees to good use.  For now, heres where the scenery is at.  Time to assemble a couple more of the taller Mountain Ash trees for the right foreground...

Cheers,

Dan

The "Bush in a Box"...

Hi all,

Thought it was time for an update of some projects.  I've mainly been spending some time on my "bush in a box" diorama, that was started some time ago, but like many other projects, had some distractions along the way.  The influence for this type of project comes from fellow scenery master, Geoff Nott (of Red Stag and Muskrat Ramble efforts), who many of you will be familiar with Geoffs modelling pieces.  Geoff has created a number of boxed diorama's featuring his talents for very dense scenery.  Generally, his diorama's feature the trees cut off by the top of the box, creating a cropped view into the bush setting.  After I began making my taller gum trees and Mountain Ash pieces, I wanted a way to show of their size (cutting them off to fit in a box didn't seeem to do them justice) and get them into a nice scene for taking to exhibitions to display, so have taken the bush box concept, and basically added a heap more height...

This box I have been working on, likely to be called "Splitters Gorge", stands around 1000mm tall, 700mm across, and just 500mm deep.  The added height made the back scene a bit more of a challenge, as there was a full height of scenery to try and cover.  I toyed with a photo backdrop, but covering that full scene wasn't working, so I opted to paint one in oils.  The effect I was after was the slightly blurred distant scenery, and not too detailed to draw away from the main foreground scenery.  Once the trees start going in front of the painted backdrop, I think its fairly effective...

This type of scenery chews up heaps of trees.  This small ridge along the top of the diorama is only about 150mm deep (6"), and has already taken up about two dozen of the gum trees (not to mention all the other filler bush foliage and smaller trees, grass, ferns etc).  Most of what is scene here will be faily obscured once the foreground scenery goes in, but the background wiil be visible to those that look hard enough into the scene.  Its all about the depth and density.

The more recent stages of the diorama (now the background work is done) is the start of the waterfall and moss covered rock face.  Slowly starting to build up the green spread over the wall, and then start to texture in the water stages as the falls cascade down the gorge and into the small creek.  Again, much of this detail will be masked by the dense bush scenery, but needs to be there for the effect.  The moss was first "mapped" in with a goopy mix of PVA, fine ground foam, and green paint, for texture.  The second pass was with an airbrush to soften out the moss effect.  Still a few more stages to work with on this part...

Here's a bit of a reference image for the type of moss covering I'm heading towards, taken on one of the family bushwalks in Lorne, Victoria.  Its not a heavy moss, but more of a thin film that just gathers within the dampness from the waterfall.

Finally, a quick shot of the small bush hut that will be part of the diorama, sitting at the base of the gorge.  I wanted to place a man made structure into the scene to help with setting the scale and perspective of the surrounds.  Its made from basswood over a matte board shell.  Once in the scene, there will also be a few surrounding details to indicate the workings of bush living.

Thats about where it is at the present.  Hopefully some time off work around Christmas will allow some time to work on a few more trees for the scene.  I am hoping to have this one finished in time for the "Southern Forests" meeting for fellow narrow gauge enthusiast, down in Puffing Billy country next March.

Cheers,

Dan

New books and bits on the bench...

Hi all,

 Bit of a quick update an review of some of the new things that have landed on the workbench in this last month.  First of all, following my tree clinics from the recent NMRA Convention (and thanks to all for the good feedback), I had a chance to browse through a brilliant tree modelling book, and had to own a copy.  The book is "Modelling Trees, part one - Broadleaf Trees", by Gordon Gravett.  I was semi-familiar with some of Gordon's fine modelling from some magazine articles I had seen on his layout, "Pempoul".  This soft cover book is 92 pages of some of the finest modelled trees I think I have seen.  Superb photos, well documented step by step images and descriptions, and easy to read instructions make this a really cool resource for model tree builders.  One of the points that is made in the book, is the estimated time required to model some of these wonderful trees (often 10-20 hours per tree!).  It highlights the simple fact, that be prepared to spend the time, and the results are far more rewarding.  The book covers the modelling of elms, oaks, ash, silver birch, willow and beech trees, as well as ivy, hedgerows, and even birds nests.  I certainly look forward to giving a number of these techniques a try in the future.

Also new to the bench, was a few fine laser cut detail pieces from VectorCut.  Turns out, I'd been on the hunt for some 1/48 padlocks for some little detail features on door latches.  Knowing that Dave at VectorCut had done some crazy small details (I mean HO scale hamburgers and hot dogs, that need assembly!), I asked him if he would consider doing a set of mixed padlocks.  A few weeks later, he sends me the link to the new product on his site, saying thanks for the idea.  I had previously picked up some of the VectorCut tools and gears sets, so knew what to expect.  Well, the padlocks arrived (I also ordered some car parts for a future diorama), I wasn't disappointed.  They're laser cut in laserboard, etched in detail, and include skeleton keys!  NUTS!!!  His site is worth checking out just to see what other crazy details he has chosen to cut...recommended browsing (and not bad value either).

I also recently ordered in a number of castings from The Aspen Modelling Company.  I've known that these were really nice castings for a while, but took a while to get around to finally ordering some.  Some of you may be familiar with these figure and animal castings from some of the 1/48 animations the Laurie McLean MMR has been featuring on YouTube for the last few months.  The castings are pretty clean, minimal flash, and really nicely detailed pieces.  I picked out a number of the horses (will be needing a few of these for a future blacksmith/farrier scene), and a couple of the figures as well.  Prices again, very reasonable, and postage was great, just $6 for overseas orders.  I don't doubt I'll be back for more of these castings in the future.

And lucky last, a few detail parts came in from Sierra West Scale Models.  I suspect most modellers would have heard of this manufacturer before...well recognised for some well designed kits, but probably equally recognised for the detail castings that complete the kits.  I finally got around to ordering a few of these details as well (available as individual items, so you don't have to buy the whole kit just to get the detail castings).  Another set of superbly cast details, and I look forward to going a bit cross eyed painting them up.

At least I can't say I've got nothing to do in my spare time.  Plenty to read, plenty of small parts to paint.  On top of that, I've been playing with some LED strip lighting pieces as possible replacements for the old heavy fluoro tubes I would normally use to light layout modules (that will be a future blog report).  The new Outback Model Company kit, "Carver & Dawson", is due to hit any day now, so there's another project to pass the time.  I've been able to watch this kit develop slowly over the last 6-8 months, so its great to see it finally going into the box.

As something different to also throw in the mix, I sat down and had a chat via Skype with Jimmy Simmons, which has been recorded as an interview for the October edition#53 of "The Scotty Mason Show" podcast.  It was a fun chat, and I don't think I used too much local slang to confuse the wider audience.

Cheers,

Dan

The NMRA Convention wrap...

Hello gain, and I'm back now from a tiring, but certainly enjoyable and inspiring weekend at the 2011 Australasian NMRA Convention, held up in Melbourne.  I headed up on the Friday afternoon to assist with setting up the venue for the weekend, before enjoying two days of interesting clinic topics and conversations on a mixed bag of model railway subjects.  It was a fairly intimate event, with about 80 attendees.  The venue made it look like a small crowd, but it was all good company.  Early starts and late nights, with lots of ideas to think about while laying in bed at night can make a young-ish body weary.

Across the two days, we got to hear a good range of topics presented in either lecture or workshop formats, from DCC LED applications, casting techniques, CNC milling with live demonstrations, various discussions on model development and techniques, as well as a number of talks on some prototype settings and modelling thoughts. As well as that, I was also there to host a couple of workshops on how I go about building my gum trees, which was well supported by all, and I was happy to receive plenty of positive feedback (as well as some good after discussions brain storming some new ideas).  Thanks to Mario Rapinett for the couple of shots during the clinic.  I'll add here a link to my clinic notes on how I do these trees (its a 10.4MB file as a word of warning)...

"A guide to building iconic Aussie gum trees"

As well as the clinics and workshops, a couple of traders supported the event, with thanks to Brunel Hobbies, Outback Model Company, Narrow Gauge Downunder, and Fine Art Model Trains, for being there to happily accept some modellers hard earned dollars. 

There was also the modelling competition that is usually a part of such an event.  I was quite happy to accept the award for best diorama (with my Kawarren piece, as featured in the previous blog posting), as well as the "Rick Shoup Award" for best model of an Australian/New Zealand prototype.  I also thought I'd have the Kawarren goods shed structure judged under the NMRA criteria, and was happy to score a merit of 108/125 with it.

And then here's a selection of images from across the weekend.  Congratulations to those others who were awarded in the various competition categories.  If I could have one slightly negative thing to report from the weekend, it was the perhaps low number of participants in the said competitions.  I would prefer to see more entries to this area, even if the model is not entered with the intention to receive any awards (I don't neccessarily enter things with the prize in mind, although I do like to offer my best work), but to atleast put more on offer for fellow modellers to admire and discuss during the show.

There was a number of private layout tours available for the Sunday afternoons entertainment, with a mix of scales and gauges to visit, but I had a long drive ahead of me, so opted not to head out and visit any of these (another day maybe).

 Thanks to the organising committee of the 2011 Melbourne NMRA Convention for the hours dedicated to planning such an event.  Its a tiring job with little reward, but their efforts were thoroughly appreciated by all in attendance.

Cheers,
Dan