In this week’s Midday Modeler, David talks about people building project layouts that have appeared in previous issues of MR magazine. Bryson shows off a cool Lego Maersk engine. Steve demo’s a “shack pack”. More viewer questions are answered.
Midday Modeler for March 22, 2023
By Steve Sweeney | March 23, 2023
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I know I used to have the Spokane Valley & Northern and used it as the Trewsville Southern (May 2002), sadly that layout got destroyed by mother nature and I’m going to help a friend build the Soo Line Red Wing from Dec. 1994
Sorry to hear about the layout, Jason. Hopefully the you and your friend will enjoy building the Red Wing. Cody Grivno built a version of that layout years ago, and I remember reading that series of articles and trying to figure out how I could get it into our first apartment. Best wishes on the new layout. D. Popp
Hi!
Thanks for responding to my question by sharing the story behind the MRT cardboard structure! I always look forward to more about the MRT. My all time favorite project is the Olympia (and Sand Creek) – just ahead of the MRT and the Beer Line! 🙂 I eagerly await each new O3 installment. Is there a regular release schedule for the O3 videos?
Thanks again,
Marcus Lee
Hi Marcus,
The Olympia videos are supposed to be released one per month, however, some months get an extra one if we have time to get a second one edited. The series should run through 2023. – D. Popp
Wasn’t there an article in MR some years ago by Don Ball who passed away in 2022 on horses, and wagons? I thought it was about his 1895 Stockton and Copperopolis Railroad.
Yes, Gordy. I’ve got a copy of Don’s great article sitting on my workbench. It was in the July 2015 issue of MR. Members to Trains.com can look it up in the MR archive. Thanks for the question! D. Popp
David,
I am building a layout based off the track plan for the Olympia, except in HOn3. Will you be publishing the track plan for the Sand Creek? I will send photos as it progresses.
Thank You
Eric
Hello Eric,
I’ll work on getting a pencil sketch up on Trains.com for you. Likely we won’t run it in the magazine until sometime in 2024 once the layout is finished. – D. Popp
I plagiarized one of Gordon Odegard’s track plans, The Bedford Valley RR from the November 1986 issue of MR, except that, instead of the switchback up the hill, I swapped in the branch
line from the Seaboard Central. And, that’s not all; I added a double-track folding staging shelf like the one that David Popp built on the Winston-Salem Southbound layout. I’ve been building this HO scale layout for almost five years, so it presents as mostly finished, although there’s plenty remaining to do.
David was gracious enough to share photos of his railroad with us. Look for them on Trains.com in coming weeks! – D. Popp
David,
The question is…what did you work on first? In other words, did you put the cart before the horse? Enjoy your modeling, model on!
Carts first. Had to have something for the horse to pull, after all! – D. Popp
Hi Midday Modeler,
I brought a decal sheet for a project that I would “eventually” get around to. That purchase was some 15 years ago and the decal sheet is no longer available. Is there any way to restore “dried out, old” decals?
Thanks for any advise
Mike
Mike,
Do a quick YouTube search for “Restoring old Decals.” Several pop up with various methods including Microscale Liquid Decal Film. Hope that helps!
Jesse
Jesse has the right answer, Mike. Microscope Liquid Decal Film works great. Cody has demonstrated it several times over the years in various video programs as well. Good luck with the project! D. Popp
1st time layout builder (at age 75) doing a version of Olympia ON30. Planning to use Walther’s Control system. See references to powering the frog from the switch motor, but cannot find instructions on how to do it. Can you demonstrate?
Patrick McCusker
Sorry, Patrick. I didn’t look this far back in questions this week. I’ll try to answer this on next week’s Midday Modeler (April 12). There are two micro switches mounted to the Walther’s switch machine. Either one can be used to power a fog by tapping into the positive and negative wires on your power bus and attaching a feeder to the frog. The trick is to know which polarity to use when the turnout is set to one position or the other. – D. Popp