Mebane, NC, Train Show for 2022

[cteno4]

Ahh the rush to a show! It’s coming along nicely.

 

might think of not gluing down the shrine base so you can work on adding figures and details later to it off the layout, it’s way easier that way. You can just glue down some small styrene strips to the layout base around the edge of the base to hold it in place and then cut a chunk of cardboard the size to the base and wrap it in wax paper do scenery right up to and tack in place with pins. This will keep the scenery materials from attaching to it. Then just pop it off and pop shrine in. One or two pairs of small neodymium disc magnets glued to the base and layout can hold it firmly in place but still be easily removable.
 

maybe leave some parts blank as “something will happen here” and spend a little time putting figures and details around the shrine to show how these scenes can really stand out. If there is one nice memorable finished bit the viewer’s mind’s eye will tend to remember that and, at times, later forget there were uncompleted areas. Can also leave some of the undone areas in various stages of scenery development to talk about that with newbies.

 

jeff

[Tony Galiani]

Good ideas - thanks for the input.  Likely to keep the shrine removable, as well as the inn, as that seems a good option.  As to finishing the layout, I am hoping to get it done since I am pretty close, but will fall back on a layout under construction sign if I don't complete it. 

Ciao,

Tony

 

 

 

[Tony Galiani]

I work a hybrid job situation right now - some days on Campus and some days working remotely.  Pre-Zoom, it was easy to do something else when on a work conference phone call - that is no longer easy with Zoom - you can shut off the camera but then everyone knows you are doing something else.

Yesterday, I got lucky - had a call without video - so did more scenic work around the shrine and the water feature.  Getting closer to the finish line!

Ciao,

Tony Galiani

[Tony Galiani]

Back from a short vacation and the mixed joys of international travel and hoping to get the layout reasonably ready for the show next week.  Yesterday I added static grass to the front to basically complete the landscaping.  The minimum I want to get done before next week is to add the water, paint the sides black (since I am not going to have time to add contoured side panels), finish the shrine and touch up the landscaping where there are some small gaps in the ground cover.

 

Not sure if I will have the time to add some of the details that I would like - I came back to a crazy busy week - when I turned on my phone after arriving at the airport it went crazy with pings and alerts.  I ended up having a phone conversation with my Director as we were hustling to the gate to make our connection!

 

Anyway, this was my first try with static grass and the results are mixed - to me it looks okay but not great.  And the color blend is not so great either.  Oddly enough, I was looking at my Woodland Scenics supplies this morning and I have various packages of foliage and ground cover - all labeled light green but all of them not matching.

 

And one caveat - I read the instructions and watched videos on applying static grass but did not really get that the unit holds a residual charge.  Even though I had finished and turned it off, I still managed to give myself a shock when I went to put it away.  Lesson learned the hard way!

 

Ciao,

Tony Galiani

[Tony Galiani]

I am thinking I will put a sign up on the front of the layout to make it look a bit nicer (and to hide where some of the "water" seeped under the seal and down the front of the layout when I poured it yesterday).

Going to Google Translate for the words Japanese rural railway, I got these results:

 

Nihon no inaka no tetsudō      and     日本の田舎の鉄道

 

Can anyone tell me if these are good?  Even though I cannot read it, I would like the sign to be correct.

Thanks,

Tony Galiani

[Tony Galiani]

And ... done ... sort of.  I have a small sign to attach to the front and I would like to do a bit more detailing but timing may not permit that.  I need to work on the running quality of the trains.  I let the track get really dirty during construction and spent a lot of time cleaning it last night.  My Tomytec DMU finally ran well on it last night but this morning it was not so happy.  So it looks like another cleaning session will be needed.

 

I learned quite a bit doing this - all those techniques that look so easy on youtube were not quite so easy in real life.  (Probably due to creative editing!)  I thought I had the water feature adequately sealed off but the copious amounts of Woodland Scenics water that ended up all over my work table proved me wrong!  Still I am inspired to start on my next project(s) and hope to have some better results going forward.

 

Ciao,

Tony

[Tony Galiani]

Everything looks better with Totoro and Jiji!

 

Tony

[Tony Galiani]

Made it through the show but it was sort of disappointing - attendance seemed lower than in previous years and while I was able to giveaway and sell some items, I did not do as much as in past years.  Though I do have a lead on a model railway club towards Greensboro where I might be able to donate magazines and other items I want to clear out so that is good.  Also, a lot of the attendees and vendors seemed pretty downbeat.  Odd weather as well - pouring rain in the morning then temperature dropping and snow flurries - in North Carolina - in March!  One of the club members helped me load out and as I commented on the strange weather he replied "strange times".

 

I did get to meet Alex and had a couple of nice conversations with a couple of visitors about Japanese trains and travel to Japan so that was nice.

 

The layout ran reasonably well - despite testing it the day before I had some running issues at the start but worked them out.  And I did get my donut - powdered raspberry filled from Distefano's with fresh coffee so that was a big plus!  Since I am not likely to have another donut until I get to Aegina in June (hopefully) I was happy that my donut choice was very good!

 

And I noticed something I had not given much thought to in the past.  I was sitting behind the table and looking at the layout from about 2 feet (70 cm) and when I was looking at my lightly weathered nostalgia freight train - DD13 and a couple of ReMus - it struck me that they looked pretty good.  Since I normally look at them relatively close on my work desk I notice all the flaws in my painting and weathering.  But with a little distance, those are not obvious and the overall look is pretty good.  So I was pleased with that.

 

Here are a few last pictures of this project.  Now, I just need to figure out what I want to work on next.

Ciao,

Tony Galiani

 

 

[cteno4]

Tony,

 

glad you got to do the show. I expect things will be a bit odd this year with shows. Everyone is a bit rumpled and off with the last two years of covid and now Ukraine. Hopefully things will get back to normal here with some time and doing the shows. We waved off the February Timonium show due to omicron still lingering a bit. We are doing the April one (they had to move the show up a month). Reports from the February show were huge crowds and lines at the door to get in though, so there must have been a lot of pent up energy here for a show. The financial model for vendors at shows I fear is only going to degrade. Between fuel and hotel costs it’s getting harder and internet sales are always going to be competing with them. Timonium just went from 4 shows a year to 3, they dropped the summer show where it needed to be in the smaller, air conditioned building that cost more (no biggie for us as they didn’t do club stuff at that one due to small space).

 

Good to get some stuff sold off! I’m sure my wife wishes I would do the same…

 

jeff