Ratio's OO/HO Yard Crane

I started work on this kit during the Christmas holidays as a little diversion, and finished it a couple of evenings ago. Well, truth be told, I spray painted the parts sprue with red oxide colour primer in the backyard a few days before Christmas when the temperature was above zero since I can’t spray paint in the basement. It had about a week to dry before I started in on construction.

I saw this crane last summer in a layout article in an issue of Model Rail. I immediately was smitten and found a supplier here in Ontario to order one from. This crane wouldn’t find its way into Canadian railway practice regardless of era, but I liked it, so that was that.

All the plastic parts are contained on a single black sprue, and the kit also includes some thread for the lifting hook and a chain for the driving wheel. The parts are well molded and a pleasure to work with. My only comment is that some holes require a little enlargement for things to fit together without jamming or application of undue force. Overall, I’d rate this as a kit suitable for an intermediate-level model builder: it’s not a ‘shake-the-box’ item suitable for rank beginners, but likewise, it doesn’t require application of advanced methods like being familiar with photo-etch assembly techniques. However, I wouldn’t dissuade a beginner from giving it a try if they had already built a couple of kits; it would make for a good first step-up build.

Once it was assembled I applied some final washes of my favourite rust mix followed later with some washes of PolyScale grimy black to finish things off.

I glued the kit together so that I would have a fairly solid model when finished, but I suspect that a careful modeler could get those gears to mesh and turn properly with a little extra effort so that it could actually be operated – the moldings appear that precise.

James May's Great Train Race

Over the Christmas holidays I was searching to see if there was a Top Gear segment reviewing the Honda CRZ and I had the happy accident of stumbling across the series James May's Toy Stories. Episode 6 was about an attempt in 2009 to build the world's largest model train setup stretching from Barnstaple to Bideford - a distance of 10 miles. Unfortunately, the attempt wasn't successful, but a second one, the subject of the The Great Train Race, was made in 2011 with better results.I've posted here the first segments of each show and you can find the others on YouTube. Both shows are good fun and worth a watch.

The fate of the old layout

Over the Christmas holidays the old layout was moved out of the basement to make room for the new one. This blog got its name from the old layout: it was 6 feet by 5 feet in size, 30 square feet, hence, 30 Squares of Ontario. Maybe I should consider a name change.

I salvaged what I could from the old layout, then hauled it outside, wrapped it in plastic, and stashed it behind the shed for the winter. It’s too big to disassemble in the basement, so I’ll tackle that task outside in the backyard when the snow’s gone.

Debra commented that the remains seemed like some sort of strange abstract collage style painting. Well, if anyone wants to buy it as such, contact me and I’ll give you a price  Saves me the work of taking it apart 

The old layout’s rolling base I kept and modified to act as the stand for the new portable layout. The tilt-top action was eliminated and replaced by a fixed support frame. No big loss since the new layout is about half the width of the old one and just a little longer. This makes it easier to roll around the basement, and no tilting is necessary to get clearance when attempting to move around obstacles.

One good thing about the new layout transportation-wise is that only one person is needed to lift and carry it. I installed a lifting ring at the balance point along with handles before and after it. I attach a strap to the ring for lifting and carrying the board, and the handles are used to balance and tilt it – the strap takes the weight and the handles are for control. This seems to work ok, but the board could be built lighter through a more judicious use of materials!

Scenes to start the new year

Happy New Year! However, the unhappy part is the train layout must now return to the basement, but before doing that I spent some time over the past week taking a few pictures.

I made use of some old watercolour paintings as backdrops for these pictures. I frequently used a painting behind several different buildings which is why it sometimes looks like mountains and trees are moving around :-)

[Getting ready to load a flat car at Bunn's Feed & Seed. The rail-camino has already been loaded.]

[Bunn's as seen from the truck delivery side.]

[Bunn's at "night" as seen from the roof of the Barrel & Marble Works]

[The Barrel & Marble Works from track-side.]

[Getting ready to load a tank car at Jones' Chemical Company.]

[Jones' Chemical Company from the truck delivery side.]

[The 4pm car has arrived at Scarboro Square Station.]

[This was an early trial of building placements. Grille's is now next to the Bookery.]

[The streetcar passes by The Bookery. There are a number of issues with this picture, but I liked the way the overall composition turned out and the colours, so I went ahead and used it for the blog's new title picture. Once I fix up the grass-mat a bit and do some other scenic improvements, I'm going to re-shoot this scene.]

[I shot this interior scene of The Bookery back in the spring, but I rather like it and have included here for no other reason than that.]

[Walking to the beach along the boardwalk from the Amtronic Ranch House.]

[My two favourite tank cars. Still looking pristine. I don't have the heart to try and weather them. Unfortunately the curves are too small on the layout to allow this to run.]

[Looking from just above Grille's roof-top patio towards the windmills.]

There's obviously lots of detailing and building still to go on this, but that makes for the fun.

Rusty Spike Ceremony

Friday was the Rusty Spike ceremony. The tracks and locos were cleaned and readied for showing off. The layout board was hauled up from the basement to the living room. During the course of the evening many trains were run, stories told and drinks drunk. So, with that final event, this year's train season comes to a happy end, and this will be the last post for the year. Hopefully I'll be back next year for more. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!