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):

Gemini gives its two cents

An image of the Inglenook Lake layout created by Gemini

Vince and I got to talking and he told me about a friend of his who asked Gemini to create a rendered image of a track plan he had in mind. So, as a challenge I asked Vince to ask Gemini to create an completed image of the most recent iteration of the Inglenook Lake track plan. The image above is what Gemini produced. Ok, it has many, many problems, but I am intrigued by it. First I like how the track is elevated a lot higher above the lake than I had in mind. That would further help hide the discrepancy between the HO scale trains and the 1/72 scale float planes, and I like how the fire watch tower is positioned so the train at the back appears to run under it ( it reminds me of the Bell Labs Manhattan Building). I'm not sure if that's possible, but it's an interesting idea. I rarely take anything Gemini produces as the absolute truth, but at times it can be an interesting source of ideas. Admitting this would get me banned and denounced from many places, but, well, that's what I think.