Division Layout Tour - Don Ham, Escondido - January 14th, 2012 12 Noon 'til 3:00pm
To begin the new year, the San Diego Division is being hosted by Don Ham at his layout at his home in Escondido. Don Ham's Central Coast RR is situated in one bay of his three car garage. It is a 11'x17' HO scale freelance layout depicting the Santa Maria Valley of the California's central coast. The mid 1950's transition era is the time period with both steam and early diesel locomotives. The bench work is open grid and 1/2" plywood with cork road bed. Approximately half the turnouts are hand laid with flex and some hand laid track using code 83 for main line and code 70 for sidings . The scenery is 60% complete over a hard shell base. All the trees are hand made from local "weeds" collected from area. Many of the structures are scratch built or kit bashed. The layout is fully operational so you can watch trains pass through coastal towns and country side. It's a nice layout and well worth seeing.
San Division Winter Meet - Short Track Model Railroad Club, Vista - Saturday, February 11, 2012
The San Diego Division annual Winter Meet is February 11th from 1100 A.M. to 300 P.M. at the Short Track Model Railroad Club located on the grounds of the Antique Gas & Steam Engine Museum in Vista, CA. The Meet will include lunch, clinics, contest judging, show & tell, and members of the Short Track club will be giving us an inside look at the building and operation of the N Scale Donner Pass layout.
Clinics:
Weathering with Powders: Jimmy Simmons, owner of Monster Modelworks, has prepared a clinic using Weathering Powders to color and highlight any and all materials in the model building process. Following the clinic, Jimmy will answer any questions about the products his company sells including custom laser work and a nifty tool to make nail holes.
Master Model Railroader: Our second clinic will be presented by Paul Schmitt, MMR on The Master Model Railroader achievement program. A lot of folks, yours truly included, have procrastinated for years on starting the program for numerous reasons and most of us use the excuse of "the paperwork is too difficult". Paul will explain the easier way to earn merit awards by demystifying the paperwork and showing us how not to make things too complicated.
Achievement Program: Please bring any models you would like to be evaluated for A.P. Merit Awards. Evaluators will be available to answer any questions you may have about the Master Model Railroader achievement program.
Show & Tell: If you have a model, photos, locomotive, a new idea, or any model railroad project you are working on, please bring it to the meet for Show & Tell and spend two minutes sharing your ideas with the group. We all are interested in learning new things.
Lunch: Subway sandwiches, chips, and a drink will be available for $5.00 but you must e-mail David Balser at ON30MAN@GMAIL.COM by February 11th or call 760 436 6139 and choose Ham, Turkey, or Beef as your sandwich selection. Please bring a dessert to share with the group like cookies, brownies, candy, or anything tasty.
Our meets are for members, but guests and visitors are welcome to attend to see what the NMRA is about, and join us in the fun. See you on Saturday the 11th.