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| Newly restored and operational Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad No.5, Tahoe, at Nevada State Railroad Museum, July 4, 2022 - Jason Hill photo |
Well now... Another 4th of July... which means the sixth year now on the blog has started! I'm off to Carson City today to see the Great Western Steam-Up...
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| Some of the new and continuing freight car projects of 2022. |
But let me leave this post with some updates on what's been going on with the blog, the Jawbone Branch, and modeling blog posts over the last year, and upcoming posts.
Blog Stats
Blog views (Total lifetime): 316251
Followers: 162
Posts: 195
Comments: 248
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| The last year of total page views. |
Top 10s
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| Most popular post views for July 2021-2022. |
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| Most popular page views July 2021-2022. |
Last year I just posted the data because the blog crossed 250k views. Now passing 316k, shows you all have viewed the pages and articles about 65k times in the last year. I'm encouraged to see the pages still being of use to my fellow modelers.
Looking Back
Let's look back at some of the blog posts in the last year.
SP 43595/SPMW 1791 - 70-Ton Odd-Ball Flatcar
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| SP 43595 F-50-12 flat with transformer from Raymond Breyer of PreDepression group |
This kitbash involved modifying an OwlMtModels F-50-12 using a Tichy 40ft USRA flatcar underframe to simulate the upgraded 70-ton underframe on the SP 43595.
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| SPMW 1791 with a cool weathering job on the deck |
I elected to model my car as the post-1937 SPMW 1791 version, which was assigned to Ditcher service... which I believe means that it was carrying a ditching shovel. I'll probably kitbash one of my Jordan shovels for use on the flatcar.
SPMW 438 Scale Repair Car
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| SPMW 438 Scale Repair Car & 790 Scale Test Car |
This was a very fun kitbash of an Accurail boxcar into SPMW 438 and upgrading of my SPMW 790 Scale Test car with separate grab irons and redecalling it.
SPMW 215 - B&B Crane Tender
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| SPMW 215 a crane tender and tool car |
Based on an interesting photo at Lone Pine of an F-50-4/5/8/9/10/12 with this type of rack and stake arrangement fitted. Not much more is known about this car (including the actual number), but it's a fun car to model.
SPMW 7021A - Relief Tender for Bakersfield Wrecker
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| SPMW 7021A Rail & Tie Car conversion of F-50-5 class flatcar |
Based on photos and research for the Bakersfield Wrecker and supporting Relief Tender cars.
SPMW 2452 - Ready Flat
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| SPMW 2452 Ready Flat with low-sideboards |
This is a fairly simple kitbash to fit an OwlMtModels flatcar with low sideboards for supply service, based on a prototype photo hauling freight car wheels.
2022 Postings
The after the start of the new year 2022, the process of blogging hasn't gone as I'd hoped in terms of posting articles and my modeling.
Blackburn Sugarbeet Racks
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| A string of empty Blackburn beet racks round a mountain curve in 1947. |
The first part of my much delayed articles on the SP's Blackburn Sugarbeet Racks, specifically leading to the 1924 design, which lasted until the arrival of the SP's famous GS composite gondolas of 1948 and 1949. Enjoy part 1, in which I go through the history of the beet racks and the development and modifications to the 1924 design.
Jawbone Branch (Part 29-31) - Electrical Projects
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| Electrical & Switch Plan for Owenyo |
The Jawbone Branch has made some progress in 2022, with electrical parts arriving and some fabrication work on the wiring harnesses.
ATSF 129782, Bx38 - Weathering with Pencils & Acrylics
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| ATSF 129782, a Bx38 from IMRC weathered. |
A fun weathering project. My first time doing this type of board weathering with Prisma Pencils and then combined with acrylic paint blending.
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| NP 11661 Double Sheath boxcar with weathering. |
Like the ATSF 139782, the NP 11661 was a fun weathering project aiming for a very light minimal weathering for a car that had recently been repainted to the 'newest' NP scheme for my modeling era.
NC&StL 15337 - Accurail Fowler Kitbash
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| Kitbashing my Accurail 36ft Fowler car into more correct NC&StL 15337. |
This kitbash is mostly involving changing the roof to a metal one and changing the brakes to AB type. I'm waiting for new decals now to complete the car.
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| Kitbashing Accurail R-40-26 PFE reefer to be somewhat more accurate. |
While this kitbash will not be 100% correct for a PFE R-40-26, but I'm going to try to do as many corrections as possible without stripping and repainting the Accurail factory paint job.
Modeling SP 32451 - Sunshine B-50-15
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| Rough body assembled SP 32451, B-50-15 from Sunshine Models resin kit. |
This is my newest project, starting my second flat-kit resin boxcar. I'm looking forward to finishing up this model. Originally the SP rostered 4900 cars in the B-50-15/16 classes, and still were over 4000 cars strong in 1950 around the era I'm modeling. The large numbers of this class in my era means I should have a couple of these signature cars.
Looking Forward
Let's have a look at what articles I'm planning to post in the not too distant future...
"Salt Weathering"
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| Failing roof paint and galvanized roofs of various cars |
I'm planning to circle back to my SP All-Steel Boxcar series and specifically focusing on weathering the roofs of the cars with the "Salt Weathering" techniques. I've wanted to try this technique for a number of years, I'm finally getting the chance to do it! So far, I like the results and look forward to writing about it.
Modeling an obsolete early 1900s boxcar in MW service from one of the older Westerfield resin "flat kits". I've had this kit several years and decided to finally start building it.
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| SPMW 2257 at the end of Part 1, with roof laid in place without glue. |
Modeling an obsolete early 1900s boxcar in MW service from one of the older Westerfield resin "flat kits". I've had this kit several years and decided to finally start building it.
SP 140234 (Part 1) - Kitbashing RC F-50-16 from F-70-7
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| SP 140234 kitbashed from Red Caboose/SPH&TS F-70-7 flatcar kit. |
This is an old project I started in 2012, four years before I started this blog. I recently noticed that I'd never written my intended blog post about this kitbash. So I'm working to finish it up now in the second half of 2021.
Jawbone Branch - Continuing Construction
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| Electrical Wiring, Lighting, and Construction are the current focus for the layout. |
In the last couple months, I received my repaired NCE PowerCab, which should allow me to start operating DCC engines on the Jawbone Branch. I also want to work on the connectors and wiring for the LED lighting, power supplies, Mojave Staging Yard. Then work on the Jawbone will shift to Owenyo module #3, the west end of the siding and the ore trestle.
In Closing
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As I say just about every year... I'd like to finish up or at least move forward other random "Part 1s" that I've started on the blog, but not continued. I hope you all will enjoy the future journey and musings here on the NightOwlModeler blog. I look forward to interacting with the modeling community and input.
Jason Hill
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