Again on 'A ModelersLife'

Here's a quick post to let you know about the second part of the interview I had with Lionel Strang (and Bruce!) on 'A ModelersLife.'   Once again, plenty of fun conversation, some shenanigans and insight into the Onondaga Cutoff and how it came to be.

Click on the link below (not the images!).

Dave Abeles Part Deux

Pouring Water for Snooks Pond

Throughout my time in this hobby, certain tasks seem daunting just because I have never done them before. 

Pouring the water for Snooks Pond was one of those tasks.  Over all the years I've been modeling, I had never attempted to use the available epoxy products or 'magic water' products available.  It was intimidating to a degree to be doing something that was a make-or-break technique on parts of the layout that were so visible.

Still, after all the prep in the last few months, it was time.  The 'dam' I made had dried in place, and all the painting and details were ready to accept the 'water.'  I watched a bunch of YouTube videos and a handful of videos on Trains.com from Model Railroader magazine, and after deciding on the 'EnviroTex Lite' epoxy product, it was time to jump in.

I followed the directions exactly, warming each bottle of the epoxy and the hardener in warm water, then mixing in plastic measured cups exactly as the directions ordered.  

The epoxy was much less viscous than in the videos I saw, thanks to my warming it per the instructions.  This was a critical step.  I poured in the middle of the modeled area, and let the epoxy flow to the sides.

For most of the areas with the details, I needed to encourage the epoxy into the tight spots.  I used old sprues and paint-stirring sticks to do so.   The epoxy has about a 20-minute working time which was more than enough.  

Once all the areas were full to the top of the dam, I had some extra, which I used to fill some of the ditches I'd modeled along other parts of the layout.  This was very successful as well, although more difficult since the epoxy had cooled down and was a thicker liquid.  Still, with some care, it worked out.  

Using the leftovers allowed for all the tiny bubbles to rise to the top after about 15 minutes, just like the instructions had promised they would.  At that time, the directions were to use a small torch to feather the exhaust gases over the poured area.  The carbon dioxide gas would pop all of them.  This worked like a charm.  

I covered the area with aluminum foil 'tents' to ensure no dust would settle in the new epoxy, and let it cure overnight.   I kept the mixing cups handy to use to test the cure, rather than touch the new surface and let it be damaged.  The stickiness disappeared after about 24 hours, and I removed the 'tents' - what a difference it makes!  And, what a relief that it went well.  

This trepidation of trying new modeling techniques for me has been going on from the moment I started to appreciate 'super detail' on locomotives.  I remember a bunch of Model Railroader issues from the 1980's and 1990's written by a guy named David Bontrager.  He did a beautiful job detailing and weathering D&RGW SD40T-2's and an SD50, BN C30-7's, and even a Conrail B23-7.  I loved those then-modern diesels!  He used drill bits I'd never heard of and parts I'd never seen for sale at my local hobby shop, which was a combination train/RC car/game/pet shop.  I didn't know where to start, but I sure loved the look of those detailed models.

I learned of a better hobby shop in 1992 or so, and that was where I got my education on drill bits like the #80, #76, #55, etc.  That shop, the Model Railroad Shop in Piscataway NJ, also had a full selection of detail parts and friendly, helpful staff - finally, I had access to the parts I needed.  After a lot of broken drill bits I started to achieve what I'd hoped for over the years prior.

In summary, don't be afraid to take chances on a new technique or method.  Check YouTube for how-to videos and read the magazines, search their archives online for ideas and suggestions on the topic at hand.  The results are worth the risk!

~RGDave

An Interview: "A ModelersLife"

As we walk through the longer nights of the year, we have some fun news in an experience new to the Onondaga Cutoff - an interview!

In the fall last year, I was in touch with Lionel Strang who is the host of 'A ModelersLife' which is a podcast that focuses on different people in the hobby of railfanning and model railroading.  Lionel is well known to me as an author and former columnist for Model Railroader magazine through the 1990's.  He's done some really fascinating interviews over the last few years, and I was excited to participate when he invited me to be on the show.

A ModelersLife

So, click on the words above (not the logo!) for a fun interview with Lionel and his buddy Bruce, with more to come.  It has more stories and background information on the Onondaga Cutoff, and me, than you probably want to know, but it's a fun listen and I hope you enjoy.

~RGDave

Hydrating Snooks Pond

Scenery along the main line of the Onondaga Cutoff near CP 277 has reached a point of completion where it is finally time to 'pour the water' into Snooks Pond. 

Snooks Pond, a small lake in Fayetteville, NY is one of the spots of my family's lore from Central New York.  The Deans moved all over New York State in the 1940's and 1950's as my grandfather's job with General Electric in the radar and sonar divisions moved from Syracuse to Schenectady, then to Syracuse again; then to Ridgewood NJ, then back to Syracuse.  During the Syracuse stays, the family lived in Fayetteville for a time in the 1940's, Ridgewood around 1952, and then settled in Skaneateles the second time in the mid 50's.  My mother tells the story of her younger brothers and the family dog building rafts for sailing on Snooks Pond during the early 1950's in Fayetteville, which were tested by the dog - and always sank.  The dog swam safety back to shore.  Snooks Pond would be a winter ice skating rink and fun park for the family - all in all, lots of nostalgia there.

When I laid out the route for the Onondaga Cutoff, following the geology and elevations through Rams Gulch along I-481, I noticed the alignment took us quite near Snooks Pond - and I smiled.  

I began by defining the area of the lake, and filling the terrain in to suit.  I masked off the areas I wanted to keep clean and mixed a batch of sculptamold to create the landmass.  

All contoured now and curing.

The area where the bungalow is for CP 277 has always struck me as awkward, with a narrow shelf for the bungalow.  This would have been a tower location on the original line, so I decided to add a retaining wall in the pond that would suggest a foundation for a former tower.  I filled in the back with sculptamold and shaped it to fit the look of eroded backfill.

As that cured, I cut clear plastic 'dams' for the area that will receive the pour of the two-part 'Enviro-Tex' epoxy that will be the base coat of the pond.  (I plan to add ripples to the surface later with a different product.)  The dam is sealed with caulk.

After the plaster cures, I painted it grimy brown-black and added static grass.

The final touches are a variety of plants around the edge of the pond, including swamp grass, cattails, bushes, and wild shrubs, from all sorts of sets I have collected from Scenic Express, MRC, and Noch.  

Now I will finish up those installations, paint the base and pour the water (GULP) - another permanent move that would be costly if I screw it up!

~RGDave

Thoughts on a New Decade

Welcome to a new decade - 2020 offers hope and a promise of tomorrow, as all new years do.  I am optimistic for this year and decade to come!  Still, though, sometimes a date alone is worth taking time to reflect.

I'll include few images of the recent operating session which upon processing and viewing have helped me think and ponder over the 'here &  now.'  

2019 was a year with new highs, balanced with several difficult lows.  I am realizing as time passes that some times of each year tend to be more prone to major shifts in energy, both on the layout but also in the larger context of life.  January has become such a time.  Early in life I'd be excited for snowstorms, for a cozy house on winter nights, for the chance at time off school, time trackside or working on models, and in later years time home from college.  Those memories are poignant and true, and remain where I somehow expect to be in January, even while life is so different from those days, all more than 25 years ago now.  

Today, firmly rooted in adult life, January carries more weight as well as expectation.  January now carries more awareness of darkness, and memory of things beyond my imagination 25 years ago.  My current sense remembers my father's death 4 years ago this month.  I'm more reminded of that this year than I expected.  These days in NJ there is less snow to be excited about, thought my excitement for a good storm remains.  I am aware of the weight of winter finances, family responsibility while recovering from holiday spending, making acute other financial considerations and that subsequent responsibility.  Work dominates the days and weeks before trailing off most nights and weekends, but to a higher degree than I'd hoped it still requires energy and interactions after hours.  Official volunteer activity similarly adds a layer of stress.  And it is my house that we work so hard to keep cozy, creating memories for my kids and my wife and I alike.  

Mixed in with all that is this wonderful hobby which is truly in a golden age.  My family is healthy, which makes all other issues pale in comparison.  I have my health, a true blessing in a world of uncertainty.  And so I offer this as food for thought:  it is the Great Balance that is so perplexing.  I think there is a lot to be said for 'sitting' with the energy of our times, of the seasons and weeks and days, and reflecting on our being present with that energy, whatever it is.

Worth noting is that our first ever operating session on the Onondaga Cutoff was in October 2011, and it is hard to believe that makes 2020 the TENTH year of operations on the layout.  More to come on this as we approach this important milestone!

For me, and for many of us that model, I feel the hobby has a role in keeping us centered.  Ours is a real, tangible hobby, and one you can't really fake.  Either you create models or you don't.  You either read a few books or references or you didn't.  You attended operating sessions, or you didn't.  You have to have jumped in somehow to be part of the hobby.  That clarity of purpose is important for people and it's something I am thankful for.  The Onondaga Cutoff was built with the hope of satisfying operations, and keeping alive memories from a younger, more innocent life that I had when I was 10, 12, 16 years old, even 20 and 24 years old.  It has exceeded expectations on both.  

I feel a great deal of gratitude this January.  Even though fighting a nasty cold and dealing with all there is to deal with, I am just so thankful for those that I join and that join me on this journey.  The amazing people in my world make this hobby and its operating sessions so worthwhile, and add to life in many ways beyond the hobby.  It is literally a hobby - and a life - of 'better together' and that is how I want to embrace it.  

Here's to the new year, and decade!

~RGDave

4-pack for the Holidays

4-Packs are standard fare for many items, and in the world of craft beer it usually means something worth trying.  Today, though, it's a 4-pack of locomotives - four of a kind all finally programmed and weathered up for service.

Rapido's B36-7 as you have seen before here and other places online is a real work of art, an incredible model in looks, sound, and operation.  The detail and paint are fine and as good as any paint on the market.  I took extra time with the programming and the weathering to make sure those lived up to the high bar established by Rapido, and so here we are:

TV14 at CP282, Onondaga NY, September 1995

I am really thankful for these long-awaited models, they fill a huge hole in the Onondaga Cutoff roster as well as the roster of any Conrail, Seaboard, or CSX intermodal modeler.  I followed my usual protocol with the weathering - masking windows and lights first, then a dark wash of thinned dark brownish-gray paint to highlight the doors and give some depth to seams.  That cures overnight, then a overspray of dullcoat, followed by airbrushed dust and mud on the underframe and an overspray of beige to fade some of the paint.  Once that cures, I finish with powdered pastel chalks and some dry brushing.

Finally having a small group of these means that we finally get the 'fleet' feel for these machines.  With 60 B36-7's on the roster, they were somewhat common on mainline trains.  However, add in that these were mostly focused on the routes that hosted intermodal trains and they suddenly seem very common for the Chicago Line.  Nearly every piggyback or intermodal train in the early 1990's had one or more of them in the consist.  

This was a pretty great way to spend some late nights finding some 'peace' after the craze of work during the holidays.  The kids are wired each night and it feels like we are always moving at 100 miles per hour - it's too fast, and it needs to be manually, mindfully slowed down sometimes.  Weathering is a time-consuming but satisfying process that slows down those moments we need to really appreciate things sometimes.  

Teddy at 5, Pete nearly 3, Susie at 7-1/2. 

The Abeles, December 2019

As 2019 draws to its close, I have a lot to think about.  It has been a bewildering year.  We Abeles are finally coming out of some of the craziness of having an infant or baby in the house continuously for the last 7-1/2 years.  Raising kids is awesome, demanding, incredible, and it is hard work.  My wife amazing, smiling and happy and hard working on these kids so much of the time.  Each day, each of these little people develops, grows, and is becoming a person you can speak with, laugh with, and enjoy.  For sure, then, we also have hard days, dark days, sad days.  We all can do better.  And whether a good day or a hard one, it's a blessing and should be appreciated.  

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, best wishes from us to you all into 2020!

~RGDave 

More B36-7 Goodness

Conrail modelers have had an amazing run of luck with manufacturers lately.  In the last few years, we have racked up beautiful, superdetailed models of H58 boxcars (Tangent), PS 4785 (ScaleTrains) and now PS 4750 (Tangent) covered hoppers, insulated 50' boxcars (Moloco), high-cube auto parts and appliance cars (Exactrail), coil cars (Exactrail, Tangent), all of which are incredible but are in some ways outdone by the locomotives - ScaleTrains C39-8's and SD40-2's, Athearn Genesis GP38-2's and GP40-2's, Atlas GP40-2's, GP40's and GP38's, and now the incredible Rapido B36-7. 

This is an embarrassment of riches compared to the 1990's and 2000's when we were kitbashing and hand-painting models!

As seen in the review from last month, the models themselves are amazing.  After all four were programmed, I speed matched them to a test engine (Kato 6345 seen 4th out above) and then added all four to a consist for some break-in runs.  

I did have some challenges programming these, with the new ESU Loksound 'V5' decoders.  My usual approach of JMRI (Java Model Railroad Interface) wasn't as useful as it had been.  In the end I had to make the investment in the proprietary 'LokProgrammer' which isn't cheap and is yet another thing to manage, but in the end, it did work, and is intuitive after a few hours of fiddling.  

Admittedly the sight and sound of these consisted makes up for most of that frustration.  

I can write the LokProgrammer experience in a future post, too, which may help keep that for posterity and maybe help someone else who was befuddled by the need for it.

Weathering is up next.  These are going to add a tremendous amount of variety to operations on the Onondaga Cutoff.  The layout has benefited from all this top-quality rolling stock.  The roster is nearing a state of completion, with the only major exception being modern-tooled and DCC-equipped six axle Dash-7's.  If a manufacturer announces C36-7's, C30-7A's and C30-7's, I'm going to need a loan to finish off the fleet!

~RGDave