The lights go on at the Repair Shop

I decided to spend some time finishing off the Repair Shop. All I had left to do was the roof and lights. I was getting all wrapped around the axle about what sort of business it would house, and what the interior should look like, and that was blocking me from actually finishing the thing. 

I made the roof removable by gluing to the kit's roof panels some rafters cut from 0.020" thick styrene. I also added a channel for an LED strip.

Roof with new, flexible LED wires.
Note the inside roof surface is painted white to reflect light.

I found when it came to placing the roof on the walls the LED wires weren't flexible enough, and their stiffness kept the roof from sitting properly. So, I rummaged around my odds-and-ends boxes for some smaller diameter, more flexible wire, peeled off the LED strip, removed the old wires, and soldered on the new ones. They did the trick, and the roof now can be made to sit easily on the walls.

To the exterior roof surface a ridge cap cut from 0.010" thick styrene was added, as were two ventilators (they're Walthers rooftop accessory products).

 That guy up there in silhouette is the same guy standing beside this side door:

Out front, him and the building look about the right size for each other, but as I noted in a previous post, he's too tall for the side door. I measured that door, and long story short, based on standard door heights, the model is probably somewhere in the 1:110 to 1:120 scale range, where 1:120 is TT-scale. On the Way Out Layout, the side doors will be out of sight, blocked from easy comparison views by neighbouring buildings. The new door that addresses the street though is HO, and doesn't look out of place on this structure. 

One last thing before coffee: kit history.

Left: Pola 'Quick' B 623 | Right: Pola 11623

I took another deep dive to see if I could find out anything about this kit. It turns out it was a Pola kit that was marketed in the US and Canada by AHM. It was first released by Pola in the late 60s or early 70s in their Quick range as kit # B623. Interestingly Pola also released an N-scale version as Pola 240. An internet search suggested that the kit isn't based on a specific prototype, but don't quote me on that as I can't find a solid reference for that assertion.

The freedom of small layouts

Left: Voie Libre International; Right: Voie Libre
I like how the freedom part is all caps in both headlines.

The Oct / Nov / Dec 2026 issue of Voie Libre International showed up in my mailbox last week. No, my work isn't in it, and no I'm not a shill for it :-) I was struck by the headline: 'Small layouts make you free', or translating the French cover with my rickety French skills, 'Freedom with small networks' ('networks' being the commonplace French usage for what we refer to as 'layouts'). If you're a model railroader, frankly, I think that statement is true, if a bit over the top in the English version.

This fall I've realized it's been almost exactly 5 years since I started the Loonar Module on a lark, which lead to the Centennial Experimental Farm layout, which lead to the Mount Lowe layout. All small, all completed, all fun. I don't know what the next 5 years has in store, but any layouts I do will likely be small. There certainly is freedom in small layouts, and I highly recommend them. I'm glad to see that stated so clearly. And, yes, there are fantastic small layouts and layout ideas in that issue.

Ben King & Wally Moore: Masters of Model Railroad Photography

Framed cover of the August 1973 issue of Model Railroader on wall leading to my workshop.
A few years ago Kalmbach offered oversized prints of selected MR issues and Aug '73 was one.
Naturally, I immediately bought one  :-)

Last week I had a surprising and delightful email exchange with S. Afterwards it got me thinking that I need to continue on with writing a number of blog posts I've put on the back burner. Things got stalled out after unsuccessfully wrestling with Gemini to create an index for the 1975 issues of Railroad Modeler. Creating the 1974 index was tough enough, but the failure of '75 made me down tools. 

Over the years I've gone on and on about 'discovering' the work of E. L. Moore in the August 1973 issue of Model Railroader that I bought at a local smoke shop while on a comic book run. What I always leave out of that story is what made me pick up the magazine in the first place: it was the photograph on the cover. I distinctly remember that it was the cover image that grabbed my attention.

Written by Peter Blum, with photos by Phillip Stearns; published in 1964 by The Odyssey Press

Maybe I shouldn't be too surprised I picked up a magazine based on a photo featuring miniature figures. As a boy I was given the little book shown in the above photo as a Christmas stocking stuffer and was entranced by it. I flipped through its pages over and over for years. I speculate it primed me for picking up that fateful issue of MR a few years later.

Every page is graced with brilliant, well composed, colourful photos.
Every 2-page spread is expertly laid out.
It's a small gem.

It turns out the Aug '73 cover photo was shot by Ben King, and inside was one of his most influential (and somewhat controversial) articles: Modeler's camera with roll-film holder.

That article was a follow up of sorts to his oddly titled January 1964 article called Ben King's photogenic modeling where King describes how to scratchbuild a pinhole camera with a lens that is capable of taking both 'you are there' eye-level photos of layout scenes and stereo photos! According to mentions in MR many readers built this camera, and several MR cover photos were taken with them.

I consider King's camera a rather significant piece of work in model photography. Pinhole cameras aren't new. They're the most fundamental of image capturing devices, and stereo cameras weren't new either. What is new is he used a lens to provide precision focusing to the pinhole, and created a device for allowing the lens to be moved to a second position for taking a second photo for the necessary two photos required for a stereo image to be created. The basic principle of stereo photography is to take two image of a scene, one for each eye. Typically a stereo camera has two lens spaced the same distance apart as are one's eyes. In HO this is impossible as the eyes in HO are only spaced 1 mm or less apart. King solved this by allowing the camera's lens to be moved a little to take the second photo. Layout scenes are static, so unlike with a full-sized stereo camera, both images don't need to be taken at the same time. He put all this into a compact package that could be set on a layout for picture taking. Me being 13 at the time and clueless, I didn't know all this, and just looked upon it as a complex project I would never build.

Ben King
Image snipped & processed from MR Jun '71

Over the years MR published three biographical notes about King. They can be found in the June '71, September '95, and June '97 issues, with the last one being his obituary. King himself also provides some biographical information in his September 1995 article, The Timber City & Northwestern. If one stitches together the sometimes contradictory information found in all four a little more comprehensive biography comes to light. If you see errors with the stitching in my following account, please let me know.

Ben King was born in either 1926 or 1925, and died on 7 March 1997, aged 71. He was in the US Army in WWII right from 1941 until 1945, and fought and was wounded in the Battle of the Bulge. He met his future wife in France while he was in the army. After the war they took up residence in Greenville, Ohio. They had 8 children, 4 boys and 4 girls. He opened a business that repaired radios, televisions, and other electronic equipment. 

King became interested in model railroading sometime in the late 1940s or early 1950s. He didn't have any room, so he didn't have a layout, but focused on model building. Once he and his wife bought a house in 1958 he started in on a layout, but it didn't work out and was abandoned. He started a new layout in 1960, The Timber City & Northwestern. Railroad Model Craftsman gave it an early look in a June 1965 article, and then a followup 20 years later in June 1985. MR finally ran an article about it in September 1995. Surprisingly, it was a shelf layout that measured only 2-1/2' x 10', but was an incredible tour de force of craftsmanship of the highest calibre.

In one of the King bio pieces I stumbled across this philosophical statement from him:

“I never work at modelbuilding so hard that I become tired of it. I never set any deadlines nor try to meet any schedules. This way I work at it only when I’m in the mood, and it has given me many hours of spare-time enjoyment.”

I got a feeling of deja vu from that. It seems E. L. Moore had a somewhat similar work philosophy when it came to model railroading. He had this to say in a May 1965 letter to Bill Rau:

"Me, I’m a saver, too . . . can’t bear to see anything wasted . . . except time. I like to work a while, then prop up my feet and read a while figgering what I don’t get done today will be there waiting for me tomorrow or the next day, and surprisingly I usually finish what I begin, but I never handicap myself with a schedule or deadline. If I get interested enough in something I’m building I’ll go on to maybe two or three o’clock in the morning — then sleep till ten and loaf all day."

A case of Great Minds Think Alike? Who knows.

King noted that as well as model railroading, he was interested in designing and building cameras and camera equipment, quartz clocks, and electronic instruments. I'd add that he was also a prolific contributor to MR of both articles and photos. Check out the following list of his works (all were published in MR unless otherwise noted):

Aug '54: Photo of his K4 Pacific in HO by Penn Line.

Dec '61: Photos of his United 2-8-0 in HO.
Apr '62: MR cover photo.
Aug '62: MR cover photo.
Aug '62: Photo of his scratchbuilt engine house (Quality Craft Models produced an N scale kit of this model that was reviewed in the July 1977 issue in the Trade topics column)
Feb '63: The life of Benjamin Flats camp.
Jan '64: MR cover photo.
Jan '64: Ben King’s photogenic modeling. (Eye level pinhole camera with a lens capable of taking stereo photos)

Jun '65: Timber City & Northwestern RR. (Railroad Model Craftsman photo essay of King's layout in an early stage of construction.)

Mar '66: MR cover photo.
Mar '66: Photographing a model scene.
Aug '69: MR cover photo.
Aug '69: Build a sensitive drill press.

Aug '69: Model of the Month Award. (Freelanced 2-6-0)

Jan '70: Belt drive for the sensitive drill press.
Feb '70: MR cover photo.
Feb '70: Station for Timber City. (Later, James E. Ison won MR’s Model of the Month Award in Oct ’71 for building this model from the article)
Sep '72: Motor magnets and how to charge them.
Aug '73: MR cover photo.
Aug '73: Modeler’s camera with roll-film holder.
Jun '78: A miniature oilstone bench grinder.

Jun '88: RMC cover photo. (Railroad Model Craftsman)

Jun '88: Revisiting The Timber City & Northwestern. (Railroad Model Craftsman)
Feb '91: MR cover photo.
Feb '91: Building an HO interlocking tower.
May '94: Building Weimer’s Mill.
Sep '95: MR cover photo.
Sep '95: The Timber City & Northwestern.
Sep '95: See the TC&NW in stereo.
Aug '96: Build a 35mm SLR view camera.

May '97: Scratchbuilding Yancy’s coal yard. (Posthumous publication as King died on 7 March 1997)

You can see King published on a range of topics covering cameras and photography, scratch building structures, and making precision tools for modellers.

While I was doing reading for this post I stumbled across a review by Andy Sperandeo in the August 1984 issue of MR of the Pinhole Camera Attachment made by the A. J. Fricko Co.. He panned the product noting that MR's testing confirmed that publication quality photos of the  'you are there' type required a lens for proper focusing of the image that a pinhole aperture accessory (like the one provided by this product) alone could not provide. Sperandeo notes:

“The best pinhole pictures have been produced with a combination of a small aperture and a good lens, like the pinhole photographs by Wally Moore and Ben King that longtime MR readers with remember. Fricko’s attachment seems to demonstrate that a pinhole alone is not enough.”

Wally Moore? Moore? Photographer? Moore? Who's he? The Moorian gong was going off in my mind :-)

I didn't find a lot of articles and photos by Wally Moore in MR, but what there were, were excellent, and the general assessment of his work was that he was a master of model railroad photography. Here's what I found (I don't think this is a complete list of all his published work, so please let me know if there is more):

Jul '57: Parade at MA Tower. (With Bill Reid)
Aug '58: Cover photo ; Aug 1958 
Aug '58: A day at East Side. (with Bill Reid)
May '59: “OS Union Pacific extra west No.831, 2:10 p.m.”.
Aug '60: New dimensions in model railroad photography.

Oct '62: Narrow-gauge from Ophir.

His Aug '60 article is a deeply technical one discussing the optics of taking realistic model railroad photographs. It's on par with articles one might have found in the Amateur Scientist column of Scientific American at that time. His article is the documentation of his reasoning on how to modify a lens for a 35mm camera to take realistic, 'you are there', eye-level model railroad photos. The new lens is basically a lens with a suitably sized and positioned f 90 pinhole.

Now that I know of Wally Moore and his renown I'll be on the lookout for more of his work.

In our era of digital cameras, image stacking, image processing software of all sorts, and AI, all this early work by King and Moore may seem somewhat irrelevant. Technology-wise, maybe so. However, what is still relevant is their commitment to obtaining the best images possible, high-end model work, and their knowledge of what makes for a good scene. Their images continue to rival those produced by our current technology. Although we have fantastic technology, it's still the person using it, their artistic sense, their technical skills, and their vision, that matters.

A Tale of Things Big and Small

Playing with CL-215 placement and layout sizing.

I built up the CL-215 water bomber kit enough to get a sense of its size, and to get a sense of how it would look on the Inglenook Lake layout. I had in mind a scene inspired by the photo below of a damaged CL-215 that had been tied up awaiting rescue:

Image sourced from Skies Plus. 

Although I wanted to have a CL-215 on the layout since the theme is an homage to fighting forest fires both on the land and in the air, I think this airplane is too big for the layout. From playing around with placement I think it will dominate the scene and make the layout larger than I have in mind. I don't want that. I'll have to think about how to proceed with this scene as I go forward.

I wince at the strut work on the floats on the C-45. There's a big clean-up job ahead.

On the other hand, I think the Beechcraft C-45 floatplanes have just the right size for the layout. In fact, I wonder if they are truly 1/72 scale. When I place HO scale figures nearby they seem at times too big for the airplanes! I need to do some more investigation.

An HO giant waits at the Repair Shop's side door.

Well, plastic model kits are often proportioned rather loosely. Look at that fellow up there who is waiting patiently for someone to let him enter the side door of the Repair Shop. The kit's door is clearly too small for HO, and, to compound the size problem, those bricks seem too big. 

Donor kits for the Expeditor floatplane kitbash

Apparently there were a lot of C-45s converted to float planes after WWII. I used the Pioneer2 kit for the plane and the Airfix Beaver kit for the floats. I had to concoct my own struts to attach the floats to the plane. Actual model airplane kit builders would have an heart attack if I explained what I did, so for safety reasons I'll skip it.

I think this is the end of the road for planning on paper. The next step will be to get out some foam and lay some track.

Outtakes from the dock

I've been searching through my layout photos, thinking about putting together a little book of pictures I've taken over the years. There's a story in them, and a picture book might help me figure out what it is.

Not for the Faint Hearted

Inspiration Point to the left; Dante's 'Staircase' to the right.

Dante's 'Staircase'. At least there's a chain :-)

Worth the climb?

The Cryptids of the Mt. Lowe Layout

The Mount Lowe trails have their secret tales

That would make your blood run cold.*

*With deepest apologies to Robert Service.

Waiting for the trolley ...

.... and making the trolley wait.

My Cub is Envious

I knew there was a reason I installed floats on this thing.

Six: Documenting the Principal Views

When I was taking Mt. Lowe layout photos last year I took a series of six pictures to document the layout's six principal views. They aren't meant to be arty, just allow one to get their bearings when looking at other photos.

I think of the above photo as the main view simply because that's where the control box is located. Its control panel can be peeled off because it's only held on to the box with Velcro. The batteries are inside, but you can completely disconnect the control panel and batteries and plug the track directly into an external power pack if necessary. 

The parking lot is the next view if we rotate the layout counter-clockwise. We'll keep rotating counter-clockwise as we roll through the next four views.

Those switches on the layout's body allow the power to be turned off to the sidings so you could park a railcar of some sort in those locations and keep running another railcar over the loop.

And here we are back to the view I showed yesterday. You can see that lighting makes all the difference in how the layout is perceived. Here the light is flat and clinical, and yesterday's shot, as well as the one that appeared in VL, captured pretty much how I see this view in my mind.

Finally, here is the layout in the family room. No, it isn't a permanent feature :-) It was only brought upstairs temporarily last year for showing off at Christmas. 

The base rotates as there's a turntable bearing embedded in the black part that touches the floor. If you run the numbers, the total area of the layout is 4 sq. ft. (technically the upper limit for a micro-layout, although calling this thing 'micro' is a bit of a stretch). Being a lapsed aeronautical engineer the weight of an object is always on my mind, especially with this piece since I have to move it here-and-there in the house. It turns out the layout weighs only 4.2 kg (9.2 lbs), and the stand is 2.3 kg (5.0 lbs). The layout and stand are separate items, so handling the thing is fairly easy.

Yeah, what's that you say, I once wrote here that this layout actually has 7 (!) principal views? For number 7 you'll have to go have a look at VL :-)

Anyway, have a Happy Thanksgiving!

In the mountains

This is another Mt. Lowe photo that didn't appear in VL. It's a test photo I shot after setting up the layout in the family room. Most of the photos were taken in the basement where there is more room for lights and backgrounds, but I had some ideas for photos of the layout with people and furniture, so upstairs it came for awhile.

There aren't any trains in this one, but there's something about it I quite like. I think it's the gradation of light from shadows in the valley to sunlight up at the observatory.

Travel brochure

Two docks for two airplanes

 A first sketch of the dock scene.
Dock outlines are in brown, track roadbed is black, outer bound of the lake is blue.

I've started to work out some ideas for the scenery now that I think the track plan is more-or-less worked out.

I've started with the dock area as this will be the most prominent feature. Both the standard and narrow gauge tracks run out past the lake's shoreline onto a spit that has been created by dumping rock onto the lakebed and civil engineering it to support railway track. The split is sandwiched by two docks, each dimensioned to accommodate one de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter without interfering with the railway track.

I'm not sure how large the bays on either side of the docks should be. They shouldn't be too big for layout handling reasons, but not so small that they seem vestigial. Also I have an idea for a temporary scene for the right-hand bay that would feature a Canadair CL-215 water bomber floating in the water, but given the size of that aircraft that may be one airplane too far :-)

Next, some vertical mocking up.

Mystery trolley by 'J G Models'

Left: J G MODELS trolley | Right: My kitbashed Jigger

John, Garrett, and I visited the Ottawa Valley Associated Railroaders swap meet this morning. It was excellent and we all found some treasures. John knows I have an interest in unusual trolleys and bought me that one on the left in the photo above. It reminds me of the 'Jigger' I kitbashed from a Tyco trolley for the Centennial Experimental Farm layout.

It appears to be cast from white metal, is clearly narrow gauge (maybe HOe?), and the trucks are also cast items that are static. You can see 'J G MODELS' is stamped on the bottom. I can't find much of anything on the internet about this other than J G Models was a model train manufacturer in New Zealand, although I can't be sure of that. I need to do some research about this intriguing item. I may motorize this unit with a Kato N-gauge drive for use on the CEF layout. Thanks John!

Yes: Rough sketch in track of the Inglenook Lake track plan.

A second attempt was made with Gemini to see what sort of rendered track plan it could create for Inglenook Lake. I supplied Vince with the above cleaned up track plan along with some reference images and notes for a prompt, which in turn he offered up to Gemini.

No: Gemini's second attempt at a rendered image of Inglenook Lake

From that information the above image was created by Gemini. The only thing better on this attempt is the track plan is much improved. The rest is not close to what I have in mind. I guess I shouldn't be surprised because Gemini can only generate images in accordance with what it has been trained with. Vince told me it took a lot of work to get the image to this point, and I appreciate him sticking with it so we could see what Gemini could do; however, I don't think I'll continue on with this Gemini investigation.

I only post Gemini's images here so they can be compared to what I have in mind for this layout, how I want it to look, and what I want it to say. Gemini can't tap into my mind, experiences, thoughts, or aesthetic preferences, so I shouldn't expect it to approximate a layout I might want to create. I'll leave it at that. Stay tuned.

A model railroader goes to a plastic scale model show, again!

Godzilla assumes his position of honour at the Fantasy Figures table.

Last Sunday, John, Garrett, and I went to the annual scale model showcase held each year at this time at the Holland Armoury. We went last year and had a great time.

Godzilla patiently awaits transportation to the show.

Last year I took a serious entry with me, but this year I couldn't think of a diorama to build so I thought I should just be lighthearted about it and took my build of Polar Light's Godzilla I completed in 2025.

Godzilla towers above the other entrants proving he is indeed King of the Monsters!

These isn't any formal judging at this show. All judging is done by those who enter a model. If you enter, you get a ballot and can cast votes for models in the various categories you think are worthy. Last year John and I found wandering the floor doing our little bit of judging enhanced the viewing experience. It gave us a framework for talking about aspects of models we liked or didn't care for. It made us more engaged with the show. So, for this year I decided to enter Godzilla so we could once again judge and be a bit more engaged with the model work on display. It worked. 

An excellent armour model on an elevated display
(I apologize for not identifying the builders in my photos as all entries were displayed anonymously for judging purposes)

All the model work was outstanding. My only concern is that models are not displayed in a manner that does justice to the excellent work of their makers. 

The display tables are standard commodity, transportable dining tables. They are too low for show purposes, and the models are too crammed together on them to allow for proper viewing. I understand why these tables are chosen as they're readily available, convenient, and no additional costs are incurred by using them. 

Another excellent armour model on an elevated base.

But, I do like how a few builders made use of elevated bases to try and alleviate this problem a little.

1949 Bombardier C18

There was one piece of railway related equipment on the display: a beautiful scratchbuilt 1949 Bombardier C18 Maintenance of Way vehicle in 1/25 scale shown in the above photo.

A good time was had by all. As a bonus I found a Hobbycraft DHC-3 Otter kit I've been looking for and a few old magazines. We'll be sure to be back next year.

Update: 10:10 am

Check out the following video to get an overview of the show and all the models (Godzilla makes an appearance around the 6:42 mark):