Recent content by cheis

Fashion a scare crow on a rail car, all of a sudden it is a functional garden fixture. Heh

I was actually aiming for the distribution percentages of model railroading budgets on model railroad items but the conversation has taken a different yet interesting turn and everybody that has posted has been cool which speaks to the quality of the community here. Thanks

An old favorite for DIY softboxes in inexpensive studio lighting is to use a ultra lite sheer white cloth over the light source. You simply layer it to get less light. The downside may be if the bulb you are using produces heat that might be a problem plus the cost of the cloth might be on a...

Putting the responsibility for 20 trillion dollar debt on me? Man that is mean. :o lol I blew my months budget on 5 engines before I knew it, I wound up with most of the engines I have been pining over for a decade now however. Haha

I figured I would budget 20% of my overall railroad modelling budget on rolling stock, that appears to have been flushed. ;) For the members that must monitor your expenditures, what percentage do you folks allow for which resource and what is a good guideline? How often do you end up going...

I had recently acquired a Printrbot Simple Metal assembled and while I can attest to the quality and simplicity of modern printers, the surface finish resolution of the finished product was not very satisfactory for HO scale modeling to me. That combined with the printing bed area of 6"x6"x6"...

I have seen people use an electric carving knife with a good degree of success but I have never done it myself. It was a bit messy but a shop vac was usually close by.

I should be more specific, HO gauge interested groups. Haha, watch your wallet, Las Wages has a habit of getting to your cash. That is indeed something I appreciate seeing is the tourist railways. There is a large one operating in Boulder City as well. As far as hobby shops, I am lucky with...

Is there anything going on in or around Las Vegas area for Model railroaders? NMRA does not appear to have a local chapter and the SNMRE Email bounces back.

Thanks for posting, that's pretty cool.

Yes, I am making the best out of the space I have available. A high number of turnouts in a small switching yard for a small number of cars in a limited space sounds logical to me, am I missing something? I have never been around prototype operations so maybe yards don't have that many switches?

I was throwing your folks input around and this might be a bit more usable and within reach of the operational side of the layout also. I am thinking of having a cutout in the layout in the large open area where a person could operate the far side easier. I will retain the separator wall...

Are new locomotives only designed and constructed at the request of purchasers like railroads and mining companies on order or do companies like GE, EMD and others design and build new locomotives as backstock and hope a buyer will come along?

About 15 years ago I was in to building the Tamiya kits when I could pick one up for a $20-$30, back then the best thing I found was easy-off oven cleaner and a tooth brush but it very well may make the plastic brittle. I have used pinesol to limited success and I heard that lemon juice...

This is close to what I am thinking for a final revision of my layout. In the space I have and the expense of track and benchwork I think this might be a good compromise between switching for my self (center of layout) and railfanning the mainline movement of large long modern diesel freight for...