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Author Archive: John Cubbin

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Dave Meek | On30 Thunder Mesa Mining Co.

Dave Meek | On30 Thunder Mesa Mining Co.

During a recent YouTube poking around session, I came across a model railroad video that just made me smile. Not that I wasn’t impressed with the On30 scenery (I was), and not that I didn’t appreciate the quality of the video production (I did), but the video just made me happy enough to watch it […]

October 28, 2015 More
Walter Vail | Showcase Miniatures Nn3 Shay

Walter Vail | Showcase Miniatures Nn3 Shay

To model railroaders not familiar with narrow gauge modeling, can you give us a little background on the prototype of your Class B Shay locomotive kit? Actually, there is not one individual prototype for this Shay. These locomotives varied within their class according to many needs of the individual owners. Many prototypical engine designs went […]

October 21, 2015 More
Kato Unitrack Ballast For HO, N & Z Scale

Kato Unitrack Ballast For HO, N & Z Scale

I recently needed to build several small scenes in HO, N and Z scale. For ballast on my custom pieces, I tend to use natural materials such as soils and sands, often grinding and sifting it myself. For these pieces however, I wanted to go with a readily available commercial option instead. As I may […]

September 17, 2015 More
OrthoTape Plaster Cloth For Scenery Building

OrthoTape Plaster Cloth For Scenery Building

I recently built a handful of small scenes to use as “sets” in order to photograph some of our upcoming products here at Raildig and I decided to go with plaster cloth for creating the terrain. I was just about to order some of the hobby-branded plaster cloth but at the last minute looked in […]

August 17, 2015 More
Two Union Station Track Plans For Ztrack Magazine

Two Union Station Track Plans For Ztrack Magazine

In recent months, American Z Line has been producing an amazing amount of heavyweight passenger car bodies in a wide variety of road names. Rob Kluz over at Ztrack Magazine thought it would make for a fun project to come up with a Union Station-themed track plan as a place to highlight these models, then […]

July 22, 2015 More
Mobile Devices, New Article In Model Retailer Magazine

Mobile Devices, New Article In Model Retailer Magazine

What’s the newest, old chestnut in model railroading? Sort of a vague question, but I’d suggest it’s the idea that younger people aren’t currently involved, or getting involved anytime soon, in model railroading. The biggest reason given for this seems to be the draw of mobile devices like our smartphones and the siren song of […]

June 26, 2015 More
A Visit With The PRR GG1 Locomotive

A Visit With The PRR GG1 Locomotive

Several years ago I had the chance to visit the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg, Pennsylvania, home to a pair of Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) Class GG1 electric locomotives. These GG1s were No. 4800 and No. 4935, nicknamed Old Rivets and Black Jack, respectively. Ryan C. Kunkle, Supervisor of Visitor Services at the Railroad Museum […]

June 26, 2015 More
Add Roofing To Our Pizza Layout Buildings

Add Roofing To Our Pizza Layout Buildings

We previously added a little age to our MTL laser kits and we were going to tackle the decals next but decided instead to add some custom roof work to these buildings. The thinking was, it would be better to have these kits basically finished, except for final weathering, before we applied our decals. This […]

June 7, 2015 More
Aging The MTL Kits

Aging The MTL Kits

Just a quick post tonight as it’s already 3:40 AM, seriously, how do I manage to lose a couple of hours whenever I’m working with trains and kits? Missing time aside, I thought I’d take a few photos just prior to the decal work I’ll be doing on these kits. I’ve added the Grandt Line […]

May 27, 2015 More
Pre-Decal Paint For Our Yard Kits

Pre-Decal Paint For Our Yard Kits

For some time now, I’ve wanted to make my own water slide decals and I think the Micro-Trains kits I’ve built for the pizza layout are some great decal candidates! Late last year I picked up an HP Color LaserJet for work but (much as I hate to admit it) have yet to try my […]

May 23, 2015 0 Comments More
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