Have you seen the latest edition of the Australian Model Railway Magazine yet? It’s the April 2013 edition and not only does it celegrate 50 years of publication but it also has some great articles and three in particular caught my eye.
Scratchbuilding for railway modellers
Two of the articles are of great interest to anyone who models Australian outline. The first one, by Andrew George, begins on page 33 and it’s all about modelling buildings that use Colorbond for cladding.
Not only do you some tips on what material to use to get something close to the correct spacings in both N and HO but you also get some tips on how to produce the correct colours too.
The second scratchbuilding article by Garry Kahler. It begins on page 42 and is for anyone (like me) who has always wanted to build models of prototype passenger cars but has never been brave enough to start because of all those window spacings and roof curves.
Garry gives you a complete list of the parts and tools you will require for this scratchbuilding project and then walks you through the steps you’ll need to follow to produce a NSWGR ACX composite sleeping car. Will I start one? Maybe this time I will.
A unique tool
Even if you’re not into scratchbuilding you will still be interested in the third article … especially if you’ve lost more than your fair share of coupler springs somewhere on the floor around your hobby desk.
Graham Larmour shows you that the tool you need is a large plastic box witha large hole in each end. The holes are big enough to allow you to slip a model into the box and also big enough to allow you to put your hands in so you can work on the model.
Once inside the box those springs can bounce around as much as they like but they’re never going to escape.

Well I guess this image of my digital camera has already give you a major hint about what this new modelling tool really is and of course a camera has been an important tool for any modeller ever since the camera was invented.


Last Thursday my very understanding partner took me to the Workshops Rail Museum in Ipswich west of Brisbane. It’s the first time I’ve been there and, even though I was very disappointed in what I found, it won’t be the last.




