PEMRC Newsletter July 2019

NEWSLETTER July 2019

In this issue:    

Layout visits planned Recent layout visit(s) Diorama Competition Results Club House News

PEMRC NEWSLETTER JULY 2019 # 3/2019 Editorial Dear Member and fellow hobby enthusiast, We thank Etienne Terblanche for producing the Club Newsletter up till now. I was asked whether I would take over and here goes....

Roel Editor in training.

Committee: Chairman:

Mike Smout

Treasurer:

Attie Terblanche

Clubhouse: Mike Parsons

Email:

ma.smout@mweb.co.za terblalc@telkomsa.net

Tel:

041 365 3456

Shop:

Mike Smith

mwsmi5@iafrica.com

Layouts:

JP Kruger

juanpierrekruger@gmail.com

Librarian:

Carel van Loggerenberg

annie3@telkomsa.net

Editor:

Roel van Oudheusden

roelvanoza@gmail.com

Workshops: Graham Chapman

chapman22@telkomsa.net

Subscriptions for 2019 are R300 for the year and any unpaid subscriptions are now overdue.

Bank account: Port Elizabeth Model Railroad Club FNB Walmer Park, branch code 211417, Account no. 623 861 2205 7

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Layout Visits Planned: 10 August

Etienne Terblanche

14 September

J.P Kruger

12 October

Charl Du Plessis

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Graham Chapman

November

Plot 40 Hunters Road Cockhart's Hope 6 Corrice Road Charlo 26 Richardson Street Summerstrand 118 Adam Road Charlo

071 364 2267

082 321 2233

082 450 7052

072 103 4625

December no layout visit

Layout visit on 15 June 2019 – Mike Smout, HO scale, British The layout visit was well attended and some saw it for the first time and were suitably impressed by the variety, creativity and cleanliness. Others were disappointed with the builders who don’t seem to ever get the building being constructed finished!

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Layout visit on 13 July 2019 – Roel van Oudheusden, N-Scale layout, Germany.

Thank you all who attended and made most of the experience, helping with the derailments etc.; the gremlins were plentiful...

Thank you Antonie for the images

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DIORAMA COMPETITION RESULTS This was the brief: “Club Members are invited to build a diorama and enter the ‘Diorama Competition’.

The Competition starts 1 February and will close on Saturday 22 June 2019.

There is no entry fee. Prizes will be awarded on Saturday 29 June.

The Rules are as follows: 1. Baseboard A4 size (210mm x 297mm). Club will provide piece of ISO board.

2 Diorama must be to a stated scale 3. Maximum height 297mm from top of baseboard.

4. No rear or side walls – no back scenes 5. Lighting allowed as part of scene but not overall lighting of the diorama.

Here’s your chance to focus on a very small area and produce a scene which is both creative and original.

If you are going to take part you can collect an ISO board base from Mike Parsons’ garage.”

On Saturday 29 June all participants arrived with their showpiece and waited their turn for a tête-a-tête with the judge, Donald Bell.

Everybody was impressed with the variety in the dioramas created and the quality of the workmanship.

The judge had a tough time deciding on a winner and declared them al winners.

However, he was pushed to make a final choice and after some wrenching declared: 4

“This one pushes all my buttons” and pointed to Roel’s N-scale bridge and waterfall scene.

All agreed that each one was a winner and that the challenge itself was more than worthwhile and competing was more important than winning.

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JP handed Roel a highly appreciated prize of a Tamiya weathering colour set and a bottle of Brian’s Hobbies Glue.

Roel’s idea for the diorama came about that he needed experience to create waterfalls and flowing rivers; this was to be the next step on his layout. He had used silver oak bark before to create mountains and now had some nice pieces of mature pine bark and an already built stone bridge. Crete stone was used on the ISO board base to create the landscape and attach the pieces of bark. Quite some sanding was called for to stay within the size restrictions.

Woodland Scenics Water Effects was used to create the waterfall and river. The initial result of the waterfall was improved by using stitch witch backing paper. The water effects waterfall was lightly painted white with a dry brush. Mod podge was used to create a more realistic river after most of the resin used initially disappeared in the painted Crete stone!

Know-how gained from Luke Towan’s video tutorials https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjRkUtHQ774mTg1vrQ6uA5A/videos and Kathy Millat: https://www.youtube.com/user/NYNHHkathy

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Mike Smout:

“Firstly, my layout is more or less finished so that building a diorama that could become part of the layout was really not on. I therefore decided to do something completely different – not even connected to model railroading.

Anne and I have enjoyed several holidays on the canals of France and I have always admired the construction of the canals and locks. Canals were the main arteries of several European countries especially for the movement of bulk and/or heavy goods such as coal or tons of grain. Most villages developed either side of a canal and the engineering and hand crafting of stone some 200 years ago is impressive.

I have the official guides (effectively charts) of several canals and these contain all the measurements and specifications of the canals, locks and water sources and systems. I decided to build a cross section through a lock so that one could see the two water levels and the stone work of the lock itself. This way I could show the rear end of a commercial barge carrying coal and the front section of a pleasure boat tied up in the wider ‘bay’ on the up side. The lock keepers house and trees lining the canal are common features. All aspects of the diorama were scaled to 1:80. As I needed to build up the sides I discarded the ISO board and used 6mm ply.

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The main tasks were re-creating the stone sides of the lock using castings of Crete stone and a sharp nail and producing realistic water surfaces – several dark colours on stiff card followed by multiple coats of thinned oil based gloss varnish. The barge and the pleasure craft were built of thin card.

I enjoy sitting at my work bench building a model and it’s a great escape from the wider world and its worries.

Winning a competition or ‘coming stone last’ as Mike Smith said, matters not.”

____________________________________________________________________________

Johan van der Mescht: Detail awaited

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Juan-Pierre Kruger: Detail awaited

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James Kruger: Detail awaited

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Mike Smith: “Attached are some pics of the Underfalls diorama development stages, the synopsis which accompanied the model and some of the inspiration pics, like Vic Falls, Meiringspoort and Augrabies gorge (not in the mix).

Challenges were; Finding out that turpentine in varnishes (for water) melts ISO board Styrofoam. Scratch built electronic circuits do not make good waterfall sound generators. I used a cell phone app. and cell phone in the end. The locomotive had to have lighting upgraded to LEDs and the motor was hard wired direct to power via a plug-in, with drive wheels raised slightly above the rails to simulate movement.

Colouring rocks to get the 'right' look is a rather hit or miss affair, using stains, washes and dry brushing.

The diorama took weeks of attention out of my life, but oh how enjoyable it was!

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Antonie Wentzel: My diorama of Ben, the blacksmith, really helped to save two orphan kits that I had.

The shed was bought as a kit by my parents in Krugersdorp. They saw the kit at a swap meet, and not knowing the era that I model, they bought it as a birthday gift, hoping that I could use it being HO gauge.

It did not really fit into my CBD or residential areas. Since it is a great shed, I wanted to display it somehow. The blacksmith car was also left in a display case, as I could not get it to run well on my layout. Had lots of derailments and problems due to the kit being very light. Both these kits worked well together on the diorama.

Biggest challenge was making trees, and shrubs, as my scenery abilities still need lots of practice!!

All in all a good challenge and definitely something the club must continue to present.

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Club House News Discussions with the PE Model Locomotive Society (PEMLS), their architect and Metro authorities have been positive. Although there is no formal agreement as yet, it is likely that our Club Members will become Associate Members of the PEMLS and that we will erect a ‘small scale shed’ on the site at Londt Park. The fee for Associate Membership will be paid by PEMRC from the funds already collected from paid up members.

The PEMRC Committee is in the process of costing a modular, wood framed structure of about 8.4m x 18.8m in order to find a meeting point between what we would like to have and what we can afford. In terms of the building regulations this will be a temporary structure. In order to contain costs, the Committee plans to organise the build by Club members rather than go to a contractor.

If you are able to assist in this project please advise Mike Smout. We need willing and able members to lend a hand. When we start to build modular wall panels we will need ‘all hands’ on deck.

The site that has been agreed to is in the car park just behind the station.

J-P is busy trying to match what we would like to have with what we can afford and it is not as simple as one might think. We have to take into account municipal regulations, especially fire regulations and calculate things like wind loadings because we don’t want the Club house to blow away.

We will keep members posted once ideas have firmed up.

Mike Smout Chairman.

M

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