Redlands Model Railway Exhibition

Saturday this week I went to the Redlands Model Railway Show.  I was on the NMRA stand up on the stage doing some work on one of my scratch built QR HO wagons.  I was ripping off the styrene tie down rods that I had previously fitted and replaced then with 0.020” phosphor bronze wire.  During the day I completed just one wagon.  Although I did bend up the tie down rods for the second wagon.  I just did not get around to fitting them.  I was struggling a bit as I did not bring my reading glasses which I now use for close up modelling. 

The exhibition was pretty good.  We had the usual shops and a small number of very good quality layouts.  There were also a number of standard quality layouts that we see around at the exhibitions.  We also had Jonathon and Darren taking the lead doing the other demonstrations and a couple of other NMRA  guys doing what we call ambassador work talking to the public.  When I went roaming the layouts, I may have seen a couple of mutton birds on some layouts.  One was on Walloon and the other was Philden Coast.  It might have been pretty appropriate for that layout as in the background was Mutton Bird Island.

I caught up with quite a lot of people I had not seen for a while and had some good chats.  Hopefully the organisers were pleased with the turn up.

Tuesday night this week we visited Garry’s place just down the road.  He has just started building a layout inside his house in a spare room off his lounge.  I think it will be very nice to operate, but he has plenty of work to do to complete it.

On Friday I did some running around and purchased some parts to allow me to assemble a set of 1:1 level crossing lights and have them moved around the back yard.  I painted the post and base this arvo.  I will eventually get around to wiring up the electronics controlled by an Arduino.

Today after I spent most of the day at a local school fete (the primary school that my kids went to) I came home and completed the second QR HO wagons and its tie down rods.

I’m back to work this week, and I will have to complete our itinerary to the Sydney Convention during the week at night and then fill out my various entry forms for the modelling competition.  Four weeks to go.

I Got the Last Laugh

Yesterday was the monthly NMRA meeting in our Division.  It was at Darren’s place.  We had quite a lot in attendance.  At least 37 at one point when I asked.  I had prepared a couple of items to position on Darren’s layout.  I had previously planted a seed in his mind that I was working on a sign for Darren’s layout.  So when I entered the layout room, Darren was distracted showing his layout off to many of the visitors.  I took advantage of that fact and installed the first section of the demountable classroom for the Wattle Flat Public school.  The second section was on the back of a semi-trailer nearby just waiting for the installation by a road crane that could sling the classroom into position next to the first section.  The third section for the classroom’s verandah was also nearby along with the roof.  The worksite was adorned with a modern safety sign about hardhats and other equipment being mandatory to be worn while on site.  A sign for the school was also present.

The Wattle Flat Public School location had been previously pegged out by Darren, and the land cleared by a contractor towing a wood-chipping machine behind his land rover.  This scenario had been in place for probably 3 years and the school had not been started.  So I took it upon myself to remedy that fact. 

So about 3 years ago, I had read an article for work, that had said that the NSW Department of Education advised that Wattle Flat Public school was being connected directly to the NBN.  As Darren was modelling Wattle Flat, I could not see his model for the school on his layout.  So my discussions with him, lead him to place the four builder's posts around the location that he had set aside for the school’s construction. 

So now his Public School is now being delivered.  What he does to finally address the details around this model is up for him.  While the external cladding of the school is corrugated iron, the insides of the school can be painted his own colours.  The ground posts for the various sections of the building can be driven through his scenery base at his leisure.  I was not going to deform his scenery, just place the components on the ground.

During the day, Darren never saw the building, just some of the signs that I had located on his fascia of his layout, where he keeps his uncoupling picks etc.  That was all he was looking for.  Once he saw the school, he had a great laugh.  I think it also brought a few laughs to other members there on the day. 

There may have also been a couple of other distractions on the layout, like a couple of couplers, and maybe a mutton bird or two.

Today I might have assembled two real lifelike lights from a level crossing flashing light unit.  Ask no questions – tell no lies.  They are however legal.  I tested one with a 12V power supply and it lights up brilliantly.  I now need to try and make an assembly where the lights can be attached and I can control the level crossing signal from an Arduino.  So that seems to be December’s job when I will be on Holidays again.

I have spent some time today working on our itinerary for the trip to the NMRA convention in Sydney in September/October.

Wagons Completed

Again nothing much has occurred since last weekend, except I had the Tuesday Nighters crew over on Tuesday.  They visited the shed and got to see an XPT running back ways and forwards in Lismore Yard.  We had quite a turn up.  I think it might have been 13 people in attendance.  Then we adjourned to the pergola to sit and talk I produced some copies of the NMRA Convention layout tours assembled into a spreadsheet that I had arranged in a logical order for both Friday and Monday of the convention weekend.  We proceeded to discuss the whys and wherefores, and at the end came up with a consensus that was what we were going to visit. 

On Wednesday both Geoff and myself booked in our car loads at the various layouts.  It looks like we will have another couple of cars travelling with us and a couple of hangers-on on both Friday and Monday.  This is looking like a great weekend.

Yesterday I went to the Club for meeting day.  While at the Club I handed out a few 6” x 6” diorama bases for this year’s December Modelling Competition.  I think that will be November’s Job, as I must submit an entry considering I suggested we go down that line of competition.  Upon heading home, the TV got turned on to watch the Lions and then the Matildas playing at the same time. 

Today I finally got around to completing the last few tasks on my model competition entries for the NMRA convention.  So I added chain, a brake cylinder and few paint touch ups.  I even got around to adding a fine weathering to my scratch built NOCY.  This was followed by a light coating of Dull coat on 4 of the wagons.  Now I need to fill out some entry forms for each of the models.

Next weekend we are visiting Darren’s layout for the NMRA meeting.  I wonder if any Mutton Birds or couplers will make an appearance?

More Preparation

My plans for this weekend were upset by the realisation that our local NMRA meeting is in 2 weeks.  It is at place of one of my mates.  i normally try and cause a bit of a stir at this type of meeting.  I had previous decided how I was going to surprise him and very few people know about it.  I spent the weekend building an item (or should I say a few items) for that meeting.  I will not comment any more until 2 weeks time.

So this activity pushed what I had planned on doing on my NOCY wagon and my ballast plough.  I will be doing that hopefully next Sunday.  Next Saturday is the RMCQ monthly meeting.  So I will head over there and catch up with the members. 

Early this week, the locations for the layout tours for the NMRA Convention have been announced along with the dates and time and the maximum number of attendees in a session.  Booking were opened up and we could start planning where we wanted to go. I have put together a draft list of locations and times for our travelling group to attend.  Our travelling crew hope to discuss this on Tuesday night at our usual meeting.  The idea will be to lock in our positions at each of the layouts by the end of next week.

The number of weeks left before the Convention is running out and I need to spend a few days on my presentations, updating the photos in them and maybe producing some additional notes for distribution.  Plenty occurring.