NMRA PSR Convention

I spent Thursday and Friday at the NMRA PSR Convention in Oceanside, California, which prompts a few comments.....

1. Okay. I'm probably a bit of a nerd, but I've been in model railroad environments that made me, in comparison to the geeks around me, look like Cary Grant in his prime. But, with only a few exceptions, the people attending this convention could just about pass for normal human beings. Nice change.

2. Not long ago --- I think it was on another forum --- there was a bunch of whining about whether it was really worth it to join the NMRA. Not being much of a "joiner", I've wondered sometimes myself, but have maintained my membership just to "help support" the hobby. This convention was good enough to make me glad to be a member.

3. The best part of it --- I guess, for me, the only important part of it --- is the clinics. This convention, like many, had a whole bunch of them. I came away feeling I had really learned some great stuff. Layout design, material usage, RTV / resin casting, new and unusual tools, weathering techniques.

4. And I am now sure I will never care to get involved in modular stuff. Between clinics on the first day, I regularly popped in to the train show room to watch the people setting up their modular layouts. There were a bunch of them --- N, HO, HOn3, Sn3, O, and even tinplate. These guys were banging away on them for hours (literally) to get them up and running. Some were still working on them on the 2nd day! Didn't look like a bit of fun to me.

Bill S
 
Bill, My wife worked at a model train store once. I'd ask her if she had any lookers in today. Her words were " ya' know, some of those train people are beyond bizarre". It's funny though the person I thought she would not be able to tolerate (the owner) she liked. :confused: I remember He had this habit of making loud farting noises. :D

I could really use some lessons on resin casting myself.

t.
 

jon-monon

Active Member
Originally posted by t. alexander
It's funny though the person I thought she would not be able to tolerate (the owner) she liked. :confused: I remember He had this habit of making loud farting noises. :D
So, t., does she get upset when _you_ make loud farting noises? :D :D :D Or, were you the owner :)

Sorry, I couldn't resist...

jon
 
t....

Maybe the same guy..... My wife and I were at a model rail swap meet several years ago, and paused to look over the stuff on this one table. The guy behind the table let out a monster belch. That didn't scare us away so he cut loose a really loud fart. When he didn't even get a reaction from that, he leaned over, put his thumb against one nostril and loudly blew his nose onto the ground.

Imagining that his next gross trick might be to leap onto the table and take a pee off the side, we moved on --- doing our damndest not to laugh out loud at the wierdo.

On resin casting: I've done a few easy things --- like box car doors --- with great success. I used the stuff sold by Micro Mark, and followed their (very simple) instructions. Worked perfectly the first time. But I've been a little hesitant about attempting to cast an entire car body.

The clinic at the PSR thing was presented by Joel Bragdon, who sells casting and scenery supplies. Among other things he went through the process used by one Dennis Brown, who published an article on molding a one-piece refrig car body in the November, 2001, Railroad Model Craftsman. I had read the article and was impressed by it, but was a little skeptical about his overall approach. But Bragdon explained it so well, that I am now convinced that this is the way to go, and when I clear a few other things off my to-do list, I'm going to tackle one myself.

Judging by the small things I've done, casting a series of car bodies aught to be an absolute creative blast. May never buy another kit!

Don't know if anyone has done it, but I also want to try molding my own trucks. The arch bars available are just too "modern" for my layout. But, because of the complexity of the shape, I think that will be even tougher than doing a car body.

Bill S
 
jon, no she didn't get upset but she did tell me not to quit my day job. :p :D


Bill, Sounds real interesting, I bet you do have a tough time finding of the shelf items for your time period.
I keep back dating mine myself.

Btw, in case you havn't looked yet, could you check out my post, "steam engine part help" it's in the Real Thing forum.
With your knowledge of the really old timers you might be able to help.

thanks,

t.
 
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