In October of 2013, I built a structure for Bill Johnson,  Getz Sideshow Big Circus Magic Shop. It honors a mutual friend and modeler Jack Getz.

This is HO scale the structure, it is a bash of a BTS laser kit. #27225 Cabin Creek Store. It has a lot of details, loose rabbits, loose doves. Shelves full of magic kits and tricks.....custom signs. neat.... fun...

Over the Holiday season I took my remaining vacation days off. It allowed me to relax and work on some models I had in my mind. One was a structure for my friend Steve Swanson. He is into minerals, mining and railroads. I thought to myself mining engineer and assay office would be the perfect structure. It is O-scale. The shingles are evergreen scale models real cedar shingles.

I scratch built the entire structure from strip wood. I distressed the wood, and lightly sanded it to remove the fuzz. I then used an alcohol and  (Kooh-i-noor brand) waterproof black technical pen ink. I penciled out the walls on architectural card stock. The wood was then glued on the surface. I also added a slight whitewash color paint to the upper parts of the wood on the wall. The rest was small details and grandt line windows. 

Small mineral samples have been placed on the front porch, and in the sill of the window. 

In the next picture below you can see the white wash paint effect I did.

The stove pipe I scratch built out of brass tube, sheet and wire.

The rust streak is a special rust wash I make myself.

The actual beginning is past history

In this blog I hope to capture and share my work and progress on my On30 model railroad: Termite & Tarantula, and other scale models that I am working on.  I build models in multiple scales. HO, O, Gn15, 1:35th scale and paint figures.

Background on my current layout:
My On30 Railroad started in my garage (early 2000? I think) in the Chihuahuan Desert of West Texas. It started as four shadow boxed, 8' x2' modules in an L shape. Garages in West Texas are fairly large. Ours had a small storage area nook, and several comfortable feet to either side of vehicles. A two car garage there can accommodate 2 full size heavy duty trucks. (unlike my 1970's garage here in Colorado) Why no basement? Most houses have no basements. Its expensive to use explosives to dig out granite for a basement.

With the layout towards the front and along the sidewall,  our garage could still accommodate our X-terra and my truck.  We could still use the door to get into the house.

I decided I wanted my new layout to be built simple, as light as possible, and be able to be moved.  My previous layout was HO/HOn3 and fit in a 10'X9' spare bedroom.

I knew I wanted to do a freelance railroad. No real prototype. In this I could model real and made up structures and places. I wanted to incorporate desert and mountains. Mines and timber.