Hope Santa treats you well ..read more

Machu Picchu, Peru You may have noticed that I have not posted on the blog for several weeks. Don't worry, I am still alive and doing well. It is just that I was on a long stretch of consecutive trips to various locations. The trips started right after MARPM.MARPM 2024 MARPM 2024 was a success with 30 clinics, 14 layout tours and several vendors. Financially, we lost a bit of money, but not enough to break the bank. We plan to do it again in 2025. So mark your calendars for the weekend of September 13-14. 2025.  LAKE ERIE, OHIO TRIP Put-in Bay, Ohio Next Alicia and ..read more

The punch list on the diorama is shrinking. On Saturday, Jeff Hammer stopped by and installed most of the remaining barbed wire sections. Meanwhile, I started scratch building the Landing Craft Tank Mk 5 (LCT) number 2227.  I decided to use styrene parts applied to an acrylic base. I cut the acrylic base on my laser. I also used the laser to cut some of the larger styrene parts. However, the laser cannot cut small parts ins styrene, especially those with sharp angles. So, it was time to... GET TO THE CHOPPA! LCT almost ready for paint It has been a while since I scratch built ..read more

  Merritt opens her B-Day present- Brio trains I am back in Virginia and recovering from two weeks of visiting and babysitting my granddaughters.  It was a blast. The little ones are so full of energy and wonder. So much fun to be with them.  Some highlights included giving my granddaughter Merritt her first train Brio train set. She knew exactly what it was and immediately began to play with it. She sees a lot of trains in Birmingham, and she is fascinated by them.  Ruka watching a metro train When we returned to Virginia, my son and his f ..read more

Harvey Parker, a member of the 4th Michigan Infantry Regiment is visiting Dr Brunnell’s establishment. He would later be captured, survive Andersonville prison, and return home to father a family with  5 generations, three of which were embalmers and funeral directors.  This family history was provided by Doug Tagsold, one of his descendants. There was a Lieutenant Parker in the fourth Michigan, but Doug does not think Harvey Parker was an officer. That is why I depicted him wearing an enlisted uniform. The fourth MI was a zouave infantry regiment. They wore dark blue uniforms wi ..read more

On August 10, 2024, Paul Dolkos passed away while in hospice care in Alexandria, VA. He was 85. Paul's family asked to post this news to the model railroad community.  They are planning a celebration of his life in the future. I will post the time and location as it becomes available.  Working on my Soldier Summit layout I don't remember exactly when we met for the first time.  I know it was sometime in the mid 1990's. Paul lived in Alexandria a few miles from where I lived. He took me under his wing. He helped me with my model railroad projects and introduced me to man ..read more

Former C&O Caboose and Freight depot in Ashland, KY We are in the middle of our road trip to the Midwest to attend the IPMS National Convention 2024 and to visit family. We started the trip on Monday with a stop at Blackwater Falls State Park in WV. We spent the first night at Ashland, KY.  I visited the location of the former AK Steel mill, which I featured on the cover of my book on Modeling Steel. The AK mill was torn down in 2021. Almost nothing is left of the mill except for some piles of materials and some bits of foundations. Next stop was golf at Eagle Trace Golf Cou ..read more

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  We are almost done with the Operation Chattanooga Choo Choo diorama. There are just a few items on the punch list left to do.  Mark is just about finished with the last major element, which is a German tactical truck in the foreground.  I have a few more things to do on the trains and the will be it. To make the water I used a  product that I haven't tried before - UV curing resin. I painted the stream bed with mud brown and dark blue gray taking care to feather the brown into the gray. Then I added a thin layer of UV resin. I used a portable UV light to cure it. But a ..read more

Test photo of work in progress   Operation Chattanooga Choo Choo was part of the Allied Transportation Plan leading up to D-Day.  According to "The Army Air Forces in World War II, III Europe:Argument to V-E Day," "The most sensational attacks were the CHATTANOOGA CHOO-CHOO missions, the first of which took place on 21 May when 763 AEAF fighters swept over the northern half of France and 500 Eighth Air Force fighters ranged over Germany firing and bombing at trains. Another occurred on 25 May when three Ninth Air Force fighter groups operated over the Rhineland and ..read more