Progress on HO Scale 0901

 Trying to avoid the crazyness going on with the world this past weekend I started to work on my model of 0901 again.  Made some progress. Split the model into two printable parts, created the headlight and whistles of different types, and started working on the handrails.

Short and sweet but good progress.  Photos will be updated here later.  Stay safe everyone and wash your hands

Taking the Workshop in the Road -- Cheshire High School Spring Show 2020

There is nothing like Train Show Season.  While there are no set dates or times that limit exactly when train shows take place in my are we normally see them start around the fall (September/October) and end in the spring. They can very in size from large multi room and even buildings (ie: the Big E Train Show) to a single room in a hotel banquet area.  Regardless of the size of the show I normally am there ether as a visitor or assisting some friends sell items and carry boxes. Very rarely would you find me selling anything of my own. However this year that is going to change!!!

This coming weekend is the annual Spring Model Train Show located at Cheshire High School in Cheshire CT. This is one of the larger small town shows in our area filling the schools gym, both their cafeterias and parts of the hallways. This is always a packed show with Vendors, Layout groups, Local Hobby Stores, and tourist Railroads.  The Cheshire show has become a special show for me for a few reasons. Its only about 10 min drive away from home, it is a great place to catch up with some friends in the hobby and it is where I got to meet a amazing family that sets up a large kids area for free.  They set up a large toy train set for kids to play with and drive trains around, with supervision of their parents of course. But its one of the few places where kids can get their hands on the trains and hopefully is the thing that gets them into the hobby and help it grow.

Here is Justin's set up from the Winter Show

 I have become their "Mr. Fix-it" and help maintain the trains and track. ( They can sometimes take a beating over one day of work!!) But it started a wonderful friendship with that family and I am very grateful that I happen to bump into them at the show.

But I'm getting a little off topic. The main reason why I am excited for this Spring's show is that for the first time ever!!!  Artist794's Workshop is going on the road!!!

 Over the last few weeks I have been 3D printing examples of some of the models I have created in a range of scales (N,HO,S,O,G) in order to promote what I have been doing and hopefully sell a few items to fund some more future projects.  Here are examples of what I am planning on bringing to the show:

Both of my printers hard at work for the past few days

G scale R,A,W posts compared to S scale R,A,W posts and Mile markers

HO and N scale mile markers and W,A,R posts drying in my UV chamber.
The solar powered turntable helps make sure they get a even exposure to the LEDs

If you have ever wanted to see a 3D printer in action your in luck as I am planing on bringing one of my printers as well to print a few more parts throughout the day!  If you are planning on attending the show and want to stop by and say hi! I'll be in the cafeteria on the right near the kids area along with a few of my Model Railroad friends. (they have many toy train and real railroad items for sale as well check them out!!) Hope to see you there and make sure you stop by Justin's Kid City area as well.

Until Sunday, See you real soon!!!

VRR 0901- Building an HO scale Spaceship!!

So I have a confession to make......I cant find my HO scale 3025 right now.........It is lost in a box that I haven't unpacked yet or its back at my parents home......


BUT NEVER FEAR!!!!!  I have another project to work on while I try to locate that box. I have mentioned before that I am partial to steam engines when it comes to models and real life trains. However I do have a soft spot for a few diesels, especially those that I have worked with and on. 

Down at the Valley they have a small collection of General Electric 80 Ton Locomotives, including the star of this project and as far as we know prototype to the class, Engine 0901.

While it has the same overall size and power it definitely dose not share the same shape as her younger sisters. 

0901 on the right

She has a shorter and squared off hood design and makes different noises as she rumbles down the track. One engineer compared it to a spaceship as it chugged up and down the line. But spaceship or not she is a Valley Engine and make it a contender for HO scale modeling in my book. There is only one little,  tiny, itty-bitty problem about that........no company ( to my knowledge) has made an HO scale 80 Tonner......

What to do, what to do.....well I did what most would due in this day and age, I googled it!! and actually found a article someone wrote about modeling a U.S. ARMY 80 ton GE locomotive. If I find the link to the article ( may have been taken down) I will post it at the end of this post. But the main point is that they used a Bachmann 70 tonner body and motor as a base. I measured 0901's length in real life and scaled it down to HO scale and they are right only off by about 2 inches or so. Close enough in my books!!

So I have wheels and a motor but I am going to need to create the body somehow.. I can try building it out of plastic card or something similar but I want there to be some details. If only there was some why i could draw it in my cpu and print it out in 3D?!?!??

Oh wait!!! I think I have just such an printer I got for Christmas. So using some nice photos I found on Lee's Facbook Page. (If you like the VRR you should really check this out!!) and measurements off the actual 0901 I started.

The start of my Madness: 2 CPUs, calculator, engineering paper,
pencils, and the HO scale 70 Tonner.

Boo, our new little kitty, decided he was going to help me as well....
By getting in my way.

And after a few hours of work here is what I have so far: 

Not much but its a start.  Now enough talk and back to modeling. But until then; See ya real Soon!!!

2020 Amherst Railroad Hobby Show Report

While it might not have been my first visit to what i lovingly call the Big "E" train show, But this is the first time I am documenting some of the things that I saw and of course the few Items I returned with.

First things first and like I mentioned in me post the night before the show. My goal this year wasn't to find a particular Engine or Car but rather information and leads. This year in celebration of the Valley Railroads 50th anniversary in a few years I started t history project about the Valley; In particular the Valley's Engines and Rolling stock.  There  are over 20 passenger  cars and a handful of freight equipment all along the valley line. All in various levels of restoration or, for lack of a better term, rust.  I started finding information about one the passenger cars we use as a bunk car for one of the members and it kind of snowballed into every-car and engine we have small or large. Anyways the final product isn't 100% yet and its mainly in the planning/research stages and i'm sure I will post more about this as the hunt continues.

When I was looking through the list of vendors at the Big "E" show this year I noticed there were a decent amount of historical societies there. I planned on visiting each just to introduce myself and my project and hoping to get a contact number or email I can follow up with details. I actually had a great success in this and have already started to reach to a few organizations so lets keep those fingers crossed we can find some information.

As for the rest of the show it was its normal fun and excitement.  This year I noticed that it was so packed that it was hard to push past some of the crowds. This show seams to get bigger and bigger each year. So let get to the point here is a slideshow of photos from the event!!

First  up is the Bachmann Trains booth:

Bachmann's Model of Disney Imagineer/Animators, Personal Grizzly Flats Railroad.
I would love this model but its not in the budget right now.

Multi- Level Layouts showing most of the scale Bachmann produce.

This is their Display of Bachmann's Thomas and Friends Line.
This holds a special part in my heart for these model but I personally
am not a fan of this layout. To me it looks a bit too Cheep and nasty for my liking.
It doesn't match/nor does it remind me of any scene from the TV show or Books.

Hon3 Model of Rusty the little Diesel engine.
My younger brother really wanted me to get this model.

Showing the different face molds for the Diesel Model.
I have the one on the right and would like the one on the right.
(hopefully one with both buffers)

Here is the full wall of T&F Product.
Believe it or not I don't have all of these yet. :-) 

Here are some more Highlights from the day:

MTH's booth that was too crowded to get near.

Examples of T-Track modular club

More of the T-Track. This might be fun to build one day.

I was very surprised to see Hattons at the Show.

This was their first over seas train show and with
a very impressive range of models.

And layout.  I cant deny have a soft spot for British Trains.

Northlandz ( under new management) had a large display and
might need to be visited one of these days.

This was a O gauge layout for sale.
I didn't ask for a price this was way to big for my house.

Live Steamers clubs shows off some of their very impressive rolling stock

And Engines... This has been a show favorite. Every year there is
another section built and on display.

Here are some of their engines!!

And Finally a small layout from the CogRailway. with a working rack track!!

And Finally here is my Show haul:

A Book on Maine's OOB Trolleys ( a Family Vacation Spot), a Ertl T&F Trevor the traction engine for my brother, 2 New HO Scale T&F Rolling stock to add to the collection, a Micro Mark HO scale truck turner ( more on that in the future!!)  and Finally Bachman's HOn3 Rusty and Blue passenger coach.  Whats not shown is a special box used for holding HO scale engines and cars. I got it to hold the VRR Trains I am building.  

Overall a great day and I cant wait until next year. But until then See ya real Soon!!

Twas the night before Train Show....

Here we are on the eve of the annual Amherst Model Railroad Show. Every year around this time this group sets up one of if not the largest model train shows in New England. Located at the Eastern States Exposition, or "The Big E" as its nicknamed, this show fulls 4 giant exposition halls crammed pack with Model train Vendors , manufacturers, layouts, trains and much more. These weekend event is pack every year and somehow keeps growing every year. 

They provide a list of vendors as well as a map showing all of there location on their website. Normally I print them both out and take different color highlighters to mark which stalls I want to visit and even try to categorize them.  Here is a picture of this years map and my work.

My 11 x 17 Printed Map

The 2020 8 page list of Vendors

This year Blue indicates a Manufacturers booth, Green a Railroad Historical Society, Orange a layout, yellow a tourist railroad, and pink a store or vendor that I have visited in the past that had great deals. As you can see there is a lot to see in only a day.

This year I'm not looking for any model in-particular, but rather information and connections.  There is another project that I have been working on with some other members of the FVRR to find the history of the VRR rolling stock and engines. I will go into more details about that a little later but I saw this show to be a wonderful opportunity to reach out the other organizations or get contact information/leads to were i might be bale to find specific information.

But just because I'm focusing on that doesn't me I wont keep my eye out for things. The HO scale Valley Railroad and WDWRR projects can always use a few more parts here or there. Thats one of the fun parts about this show; you never know what you might find....  Ill be sure to take lots of pictures and report back here if I find anything. Till then; see ya real soon!!

Busy, Busy, Busy.....but ready to start the New Year on a High Note.

Between the Holidays, the rush to finish projects at work before the new year, and of course taking more than a few trips to the North Pole on our locomotive sleigh, I haven't had much time for trains or hobbies.

However I am very motivated to get things back on track.  Like I have said before I tend to start more projects then I end up finishing but that doesn't mean I'm going to give up on them. Currently projects like my HO scale model of 3025 and WDW Train Station are still lost in moving boxes. I know, I know its almost been a year and I haven't unpacked but there are more important things that needed to be addressed before I can have fun with the trains.

 One aspect of modeling I have been really focusing on has been my growing collection of 3D printers. That's right I said Printers with a (s)!!!!!

I few years ago I acquired a used Dremel 3D20 PLA printer on Ebay.

 It has served me very well printing random things like dice, replacement parts for old toys, or even little figures for board games. The Dremel 3D20 PLA printer can print in fine quality however the layers are still not small enough for fine scale models. This is why I haven't really used them for model train parts. I tried printing a 4-wheel truck I designed for a HO scale VRR couch and it was just too noticeable for me to be happy with it.  I'm not trying to be a rivet counter about it but the layers made it look cheep and nasty.  This printer is good for items that can be a little rough around the edges or don't have a lot of small fine details that might get lost in the different layers. While its not the best for train parts it did wonderfully this Christmas season printing out custom ornaments that I gave out to family and friends.

This printer has done wonders for me but I couldn't really shake the itch to get another that would allow me to print HO scale parts and not pay out a small fortune to places like walthers or Shapeways. This lead me to look for a UV resin printer. There are a few on the market on amazon but they can get very expensive very quick.

The one I ended up setting my sights was a Anycubic Photon S.

Its listed on as a middle of the road printer when it comes to price and quality. There was two factors that pushed my hand to buying my own, a strong recommendation from a model railroader magazine contributor and a Black Friday deal I couldn't pass up. It took a few weeks but it finally arrived last week and I cant wait to set it up and run some test prints. Once it is up and running I make a post comparing the two printers. Until then Happy New Year Everyone and see you real soon!!!!

Modeling inspiration can come from anywhere,.....even work!!!!

My plans to build an HO Scale 3025 have been set on hold for a bit. Mainly because I'm not sure where my it is!!!!

Recently I have moved into my first house with my beautiful fiancée and as we are still setting in to our new home model trains have taken a back burner....kinda. While most of my modeling projects and equipment are still in sealed boxes that doesn't mean I cant use my computer for 3D modeling.

A few years ago I started my own Shapeways store online and have been uploading some of my 3D models I made for fun or for my own projects for others to look at and buy. I was even asked by someone on there to redesign some cylinders for his HO scale 4-6-0 Steam engine. If anyone would like to take a look at my store please follow this link: Artist794's Workshop Shapeway Store

So what do I mean by inspiration comes from work? As I mentioned before I am a volunteer at the Essex Steam Train. What I haven't mentioned is that I also help out as part of their operation department and the track crew. My current job with the track crew is repainting the Valley's line-side items (Mile Markers, Whistle posts, etc.) I have been working my way up the line in my spare time focusing on the mile markers from the main hub Essex to the end of the line. Here is a example of a before and after:

So after painting my fifth mile post my mind started to think.....I can make scale models of this.

and that exactly I did. It took me an afternoon and some screaming as my cpu died as was saving the final model but here they are!!

I made them into a HO scale set of 10 for the store but I can print them one by one if need be. I don't have a layout to use them on but it was still fun to make. Hopefully someone will find these on my store and use them on their layout. They can easily be scale up to O and down to N scale if anyone requested them. This isn't the only model like this I plan on making so stay tuned to the blog and check the store for update in the future soon, but until then; See ya real soon!!