What´s up?

Happy new year to all!

After I returned back home from Oxford, everyday life has taken all my time. But during the Christmas holidays I found time to test my new etching unit. After some trials with exposuretime, temperatures etc. I got results that looks promising for some goods wagons and parts for the loco. But there are a need to redesign a lot to get more buildfriendly parts. I will tell more when I have experience from next trial etches.

The Rena section has a small wood with some of the pinetrees I have explained about in earlier posts. The newly added Norway spruce on the left in the picture is a result of my experiments with etched branches last week

Epilog-Back home

Well back home and ready for taking the models back into our house. It is friday morning, a hot nice summerday in Oslo
















We have a long stairway on the outside of our house leading to my little workshop/office. Here something happened:

A worktrain has appeared by the snowshed!

















But where is the snowshed? Hey! look down! Its in the river!






















And the pine also!





















This is dramatic! Good thing its summer, though.















And all those columns in the river! Can it be saved?














Yes, but it will take time to fix all this mess. Good thing the roof seems intact. We`ll make it.

















And Gulliver says: and all this because I stumbled in the stair! I was dreaming of the expo instead of looking out for the last step. Silly me!

In Oxford at last

We made it to Oxford and it was a splendid exhibition. My wife AAsne helped me to exhibit Rena 1900 and snowshed Setesdalsbanen. It was a pity that we could not have any trains moving, but the rolling stock we exhibited is owned by Stein Ragnar Pünther. He built it on Märklin chassis about 20 years ago. It worked then, but Stein has taken a pause from model railways for a while and I have no rights to change his models. In the near future i will go on to make my own locos and wagons. Ill tell you about my results as I go.

We met so many nice people both in the 2mm SA and as public. And we studied so many top quality models. Some very big and very impressing, like Cpoenhagen Fields and some very small like the very cute little oval shaped Golden Jubilee Layout Competition winner Framsden, by David Eveleigh.

I wish I could get more scandinavian N scale modellers interested in finescale. It was nice to meet Kirby from Finland and a young danish N finescale modeller.

We were very well velcomed by the chairmann of the 2mmSA, Nigel Cliffe, thank you, Nigel.

I took some pictures of Rena 1900 at the show:

Oops--one week to goooo....

Time goes fast. After various trouble with making perfect transparens for my artwork for etcing, I realised I had to delay the work with the rolling stock. (design and artwork is ready for etcing of five different small wagons and one loco type IV). I have to rely on the old models on loan from my friend Stein Ragnar Pünther. He made around 1990 three small ng locos based on Norwegian and swedish types. Also he made some goods wagons. All based on Märklin chassis. However these locos are in nonworking condition so it seems I end up with a static diorama.

I now concentrate on making a shorter version of Rena for the 2mm celebration including the stationbuilding with trainshed , two tracks and two points. I try to make a nice setting around it with trees and fields. Later I will expand to the original plan.

So The last few weeks I have concentrated on the trainshed and track ballasting. Connecting the trainshed with the stationbuilding will be a very delicate wooden platform.

Here is the results so far:

Since I now use only half the space I asked for , I may (if permitted)bring another little diorama based on a snowshed from Setesdalsbanen, a preserved 1067 line in the south of Norway

This will be connected later to the Rena 1900 diorama.

Here is an almost complete station building. From my drawings (autocad) Klaus Maser (Mago) , a finescale Fremo member, has lasered the parts in carton. This was a very interesting experience and Klaus did a fine job with his laser. But still it took me about 40 hours to complete the model. I use 3M Spray Mount to laminate the walls etc. This gives a very fine spray and it is repositionable for some time. I also use Cyanoacrylate for stiffening small parts and for small touch up repair. For more control with positioning small parts, white glue is best.

Here is a detail of the walls with curtains in the windows and the stationmasters daughter looking at the action at the platform. The windows lack some details to be etched.

Type IV construction started.

While waiting for Gunnar to mill the frames, I have commenced making the boiler, doom and stack. I use my old Unimat 3. The wheels are 2MMSA 7mm spoked bogie/tender wheels. The black rods are tiny drillbits holding the parts for the photo