Videos to Watch While Sequestered at Home

[Keith Hayes]

Sorry not to post in a while, but work has been especially busy in 2020. I have completed a couple modeling projects but they have not been C&S topics and thus not appropriate to post here. However I have been meaning to share some free videos I have happened upon on You Tube. Of course there are the updates Don Gustavson is posting on his layout (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDqfYTPe8Eg&t=0s) and you all may be familiar with TSG Media (I recommend the series featuring Jack Burgess, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2eEnMaQnfY&t=1439s), but there seem to be few other railroad modelers posting interesting kit builds. (Yeah, I know there is Ken Patterson and James Wright, too).

One general modeler I like is Plasmo (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T1nhp5xmOw). David Damek is a European modeler who builds a variety of kits--aircraft, armor, ships, cars, motorcycles and fantasy craft--and does a nice job of moving through the build quickly, providing some narration regarding his techniques. I have learned a lot from these videos regarding both paint--David is fantastic with an airbrush--weathering, cements, paints and putties. There is a whole world of products out there developed by the military model community: it is too bad we don't have more occasion to model colorful exhaust pipes or highly glossy paint jobs. I very much appreciate David's willingness to grind down plastic parts to achieve more realistic thicknesses, adding etched brass parts (only Leadville Shops is doing this in Sn3 to my knowledge) and generally modifying and fabricating parts to suit his needs. Watch the WWI plane builds to see how David emulates wood textures. There are a couple builds where he throws out a finish job mid-way, and buffs a race car windshield to a high polish. David has steadily built up his skill both modelling and presenting the build as a video.

By far the master of the model build video is Tom Grigat, TOMs Modelling in Motion (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa-Y8VMICwU). These videos are done as stop motion and are a tour-de-force. Tom also does a variety of kits but choreographs the parts to come together in clever ways to animate the build. Tom is also not afraid to modify and supplement his kits. Though all of Tom's videos are enjoyable, he continues to develop his filming technique and the newer videos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUpT7Mc3yLY) continue to wow us in new ways.

If you do nothing else after you read this post, watch one of these videos. I guarantee you will enjoy them.

[Robert McFarland]

Pick a spot where the grade was near a well traveled road or highway get on Google maps use the ground level and take an imaginary trip to Colorado following grades.

[Lee Gustafson]

Keith,

Thanks for the videos. Lots of interesting material.

Lee Gustafson

[Keith Hayes]

I don't know how many of you have watched the videos. You saw in the Ingoldsby Dump Car build how the AK chipping medium was explored as a weathering tool. Though the old fiberglass brush ultimately proved the ticket, the chipping medium is something to consider for other builds.

Here is another video--Night Shift by Martin Kovacs. Martin likes to build armor, and has a cutting sense of humor. This build features some interesting techniques for weld marks and using Tamiya putty and epoxy putty for texture. Sherman Easy 8 Tank Build

But...what is most interesting is at the end of the video Martin introduces us to Paper Shaper, a product by a Polish firm called VMS. Paper Shaper While this is great for tarps over loads on flat cars (you can finally build a unique load, not one like we all have from whatever company that is!), I wonder if this would also be a product for cab curtains. We all started on this journey a while back when Darel used tea bags for cab curtains, but the VMS paper, which is thinner than copy paper and lack fibers, may be the ticket.

This also may be a better product for that Kellenburgers Raspberry Julep banner. Pondering how to do this on a recent hike I had settled on using really thin brass sheet. What do you all think?