New England/Northeast Prototype Modelers Meet, 2009

Jim Harr’s fleet of nicely weathered and detailed EL units.

Well it is, er.. was, that time of year again. The New England / Northeast Prototype Modelers Meet has come and gone, seemingly without a hitch, and with lots of excellent modeling on display.

2009 Amherst Railway Society – Railroad Hobby Show

A very well built scene on a modular layout at the 2009 Railroad Hobby Show in West Springfield, MA.

I’ve been back from the 2009 Railroad Hobby Show for a couple of weeks now and have finally gotten some time to look through the photo’s I took and write down my thoughts about the event. The show was good, but I was more impressed with the 1/87 Vehicles meet that occurred on Saturday after the main show had ended. There was some seriously impressive modeling there, some of which I have photo’s of below the cut.

An Election Day Surprise… from Canada!

Railflyer Model Prototypes Wide cab photo-etch.

My latest shipment of Railflyer parts arrived yesterday. Included in this shipment were some really neat things I’ve been waiting on for awhile, like the Canadian wide cab photo-etch pictured above. Apart from the fact that the cab is a one-piece thin wall kit, the photo etch is whats really exciting about it. This new multi media approach lets modelers get into a level of realism and detail that hasn’t really been available before. I’ve labeled most of the parts in the photo above, though there were a few that I couldn’t identify, I’ll label them once Christopher tells me what they are. Possibly the coolest parts are the window gaskets, which are designed to fit right inside the openings on the plastic cab, not shown because it’s clear and I didn’t think it would photograph wellis a fret of laser cut clear plastic “glass” for the windows, number boards and wind deflectors. Check beyond the cut for a few other things I received

New Hood Door Kits from Railflyer!

One of the new Railflyer Hood Side kits mounted on styrene and posed on my BN 2154 GP38-2 walkway module.

One project I’ve been working on for awhile, but haven’t yet posted about or mentioned much, is the GP38-2/GP40-2 Hood Side kit that Railflyer is developing. I received the kit a few months back and assembled it in a few hours over a couple of weeks in August. It’s a very interesting and well thought out way to do engine room doors, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it will work with the Railflyer hood cores currently under development.

Railflyer Model Prototypes Construction Update, Part IV

BN 2154, now with tread!

I’m getting to a point with BN 2154 where it’s nearly done (as far as the Railflyer portion of the build is concerned. The tread and most underframe detail parts are on, and I assembled a test ditch light (which works!). So there’s just a few final things to add, and I’ll be at a stopping point. Of course I still need to add the air line and my piping, but I’m still doing research on that aspect. It’ll also be getting RFMP trucks, drive and hood, but that’s still down the line a bit.

Seattle & North Coast F7A #101: Update 4

The nose of SNCT F7A #101 with grabs and pilot steps.

My posts recently have been very Railflyer/second gen EMD oriented, so it’s about time I made a note of my progress on SNCT F7A #101. Not a lot has been done, but some of the major hurdles have now been cleared.

Canadian Cab!

Front quarter.

I received the plastic parts for the Canadian cab I ordered from Railflyer awhile ago, and just today sat down to take a really close look at them. There’s still a lot of photo-etch that is in production, which I haven’t yet received, but there’s enough here to get an idea of hwo this kit goes together.

Railflyer Model Prototypes Construction Update, Part III

My Railflyer GP Walkway Module with traction motor cables, bell and lots of fuel tank details added.

More progress has been made on BN 2154, not as much as I’d like, but since I’m taking my time and trying to determine the best assembly method for this stuff, a little delay won’t hurt.

New England/Northeast Prototype Modelers Meet, 2008: Day 2

Alex Conta’s excellent SP U50 #9950.

Well, it seems to have taken a lot longer to post than I had planned. Most of these photo’s are therefor probably a little dated, oh well. This isn’t nearly everything, just what really stood out for me. If you want all the photo’s from this year and the last few years, go here: http://www.neprototypemeet.com

New England/Northeast Prototype Modelers Meet, 2008: Day 1

Atlas’ latest product announcement, an HO Scale Alco HH660.

I just returned from the first day of the 2008 New England/Northeast Prototype Modelers Meet. Atlas introduced a new HO Alco HH660, and there were a lot of very well done models on display. Attendance was a bit sparse, but hopefully that will change tomorrow when people won’t need to be at work. I had some stuff on display and was workign the Railflyer table as well. Photo’s are below the cut, I’ll try to get some more tomorrow.