Workbench Wednesday

Workbench Wednesday, , ,

Burlingame stockyard

Jared Harper sent an update on the latest addition for his Santa Fe branchline layout that meanders through the Flint Hills of Kansas. Here’s Jared with the scoop.

This is a partially completed model of the Santa Fe stockyards at Burlingame, KS. I used stripwood, round toothpicks for fence posts. Pat Wilkinson laser-cut the fence pieces and made the fine etched-metal gates. The base of my model is a sheet of 0.060-inch styrene. As with my other stockyards I will eventually paint the bases with my dirt color paint mix, then sprinkle on dirt-colored tile grout.

I use Krazy Glue (CA) exclusively to glue wood models. When I built my wood trestles with Krazy Glue adhesive, I could sand the bottom of the bents even by moving them back and forth on sand paper. They would have fallen apart if I had used wood glue.

Of the seven stockyards on my layout, this is the only one being constructed full size. The others are up against the backdrop and are truncated in one way or another. Because of this stockyard location in the middle of the Burlingame wye there was no backdrop to build up against.

What’s on your workbench?

2019 RPM Updates

RPM

We have turned the corner into the second half of 2019 with several Railroad Prototype Modeler (RPM) events ahead on the calendar. Let’s review the upcoming events.

  • The St Louis RPM is a few weeks away on July 26 & 27 at the Gateway Convention Center in Collinsville, IL. This meet has grown to be one of the biggest in the country. Make your plans now!
  • Bernie Kempinski and his troops have a strong slate ready for the Mid-Atlantic RPM, September 19 to 22 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Baltimore near the BWI Airport.
  • A brand new event is rolling in Milwaukee. The WISE Division RPM will be held September 21 at the Four Points Sheraton, Milwaukee Airport.
  • Out west, the LA Area Prototype Modelers Meet will hold their second event on October 5, at the Encounter Christian Church in Bellflower, CA.
  • Mike Skibbe and his minions have been prepping the RPM Chicagoland conference for October 24-26 at the Sheraton Hotel and Conference Center in Lisle, IL. This metro-Chicago event has been running for 26 years.
  • Tony Sissons and crew are pulling details together for RPM Carolinas: School of Railway Prototype Modeling on November 8 & 9 in Winston-Salem, NC.
  • Looking ahead to early 2020, Mike Brock and his team will kick off another year with Prototype Rails. The January date in Cocoa Beach, FL, will be announced soon.

Check the RPM Event Calendar for details and links to make your plans. Pack some completed or in-process models to display. I’ll be attending a few of these upcoming events. Maybe I’ll see you there!

Eric Hansmann

June kit announcements

New Kit, Resin Car Works Update, ,
AT&SF photo from Keith Jordan collection

The Resin Car Works minions have been busy producing cool reefer models for your hot summer modeling! Here are the latest two kits.

  • Kit 10.3 – Rr-43 – SFRD rebuilds with Morton running boards. 766 cars were rebuilt and installed in 1947.
  • Kit 10.4 – Rr-45 – SFRD rebuilds with Apex running boards. 500 cars were rebuilt and installed in 1948.

The Rr-43 and Rr-45 classes had rectangular “solid steel riveted panel” roofs and the earlier “improved” dreadnaught ends.

Kits 10.1 and 10.2 are also being reissued. These kits covered SFRD rebuilds of the RR-35, -36, -39, and -40 classes built between 1944 and 1946 for a total of 1,360 cars. These kits sold out quickly last summer. Visit the Resin Car Works Kits page for full kit details.

In other news, we added an postal insurance option on the order form. Resin Car Works is not responsible for lost, damaged or stolen packages. Insurance can be added to your order using a USPS rate table on the order form.

We can now ship to Canada, but orders require payment using an international money order, along with $9 US for each kit to cover shipping costs.

Resources

Resources,
1955 Wabash freight waybill.

We use resources to push many of our modeling projects forward. Prototype photos assist our understanding of hardware use and placement, weathering, and lettering. Prototype data from Official Railway Equipment Registers, Authorization For Expenditures (AFE), and ICC Valuation details guide efforts to add rolling stock, locomotives, and structures to reflect the prototype scene in the point in time we set for our modeling.

Continue reading Resources →