Our celebration of National Model Railroading Month continued with approximately 40 members and guests venturing out to our Philadelphia Division Meet on Saturday, November 18, 2017, held at the Community Center that is part of the larger Brandywine Town Center in Wilmington, DE.
After a few opening remarks and announcements, Joe Walters presented the morning’s first clinic on flat casting using two-part resin. Joe demonstrated his methods of using flat molds with his mixture of resin to cast a variety of walls, autos, cars, and many items useful for creating a model railroad scene. He shared several examples of his work with the group. Joe lives in nearby Bear, DE and his layout can be viewed on one of Bill Fagan’s recent videos found on our website at http://www.phillynmra.org/.
After a short break our Achievement Program Coordinator Dave Messer, MMR presented a Golden Spike certificate to Joe Parisi. Others not present will receive their certificates at a future meet.
We continued along with Mike Baker’s presentation on building or modeling HO vehicles. Mike presented examples of autos, trucks, tractors and similar vehicles as part of a model railroading or diorama scene. A professional model builder, Mike is also founder and owner of “Nick & Nora’s Designs” providing a variety of HO & N scale craftsman kits and supplies based in the Division in Newark, DE. Mike shared with the group the various stages or approaches he uses to assemble, or kit-bash when necessary, his HO scale models. He described some of his techniques for painting and weathering to get his models to look “just right.” His clinic included a good discussion on the types of glue, paint, and weathering techniques used on the various models.
Part three of the morning’s activities included a “Show & Tell,” where 3 members shared their work. Earl Hackett showed some of his cast models with a lively Q&A session. Guest Dennis Blank from Denver, PA/Susie Q Division, showed his growing collection of hoppers he is developing. Finally Fred Monsimer brought a section of a module being of an earlier version of the PRR Philadelphia Station before the advent of 30th Street. Fred is constructing an elaborate network of track as he works from maps and photos. The module is part of the larger GATSME layout being built in Rockledge, PA.
The door prize drawing was held and Steve Richardson was the lucky winner of the 50/50 raffle. Congratulations. The meeting ended shortly before noon.
Following the formal Division Meet, our MER 2019 Committee met under Rob Hinkle’s leadership for another round of planning. The committee is growing, but many positions still need filling to properly pull off the convention. Anyone interested in contributing or volunteering is welcome to attend. For the foreseeable future, the Committee will be meeting after the Division meets or as otherwise announced.
Afternoons are for visiting layouts and with the November Model Railroad Open House layout tours annually conducted at this time, seven nearby layouts were open for visiting.
Many thanks to our clinicians, Mike and Joe, to our Show & Tell contributors, and to Earl Hackett for once again procuring this wonderful venue. Our next meet will be held jointly with the New Jersey Division at a new location in Merchantville, NJ. See the December issue of the Dispatcher or the event listing for maps and directions. Hope to see you there!