The Final night banquet dinner was great ! Lots of character and an amazing amount of give-aways and raffles. As Mickie and I leave, we see a newspaper article. The picture is familiar. It is Z scale CP locos on the Z modules. The article states the BAZ BoyZ group (we had the sign over our modules) and the 220 times smaller than real life. Only ONE sentence about N-scale. Read the article: http://tinyurl.com/7fjblmv The local Southern Oregon Z group, along with the Cascade Z Scale and BAZ BoyZ were invited to set up a layout at the 20th N-scale Collectors Convention in Medford this past few days. There were 2 simple N scale layouts, a long oval from T-Trak on bare substrate, unattended and an larger 4x8 size with 1/2 white layered 'winter' scene foam and 1/2 with simple scenery details on 3 level loop tracks. Essentially NO N-scale representation, like past Conventions. The combined 20 Z scale modules took up the bulk of the lower level, minimally attended room shared with the Contest and very low attended clinics, except for Joe D'Amato's weathering and David K Smith's modeling in miniature. Overall, as an emerging N scaler, it was a good meet for me. Looking forward to Milwaukee in 2013. .
N Scale Medford sampling: Following is David K. Smith's model of a model - a very tiny scale model of a model railroad - for inside a N scale home. http://www.pbase.com/atsf_arizona/n_scale_medford&page=all
Got back home from Medford a few hours ago and the convention was very fun! The schedule was full of activities, though I will have to admit by the end of the banquet I was pretty tired as it was a long day. For those of you looking for news, there wasn't much. This was generally more of a NSE homecoming rather than the full Nscale convention of past years. The group filled up the hotel - rooms and all the common space, so things were tight. The silent auctions were scrapped as there wasn't enough room to have them and the accompanying activities. Half of the manufacturers that were supposed to show up didn't (for example, Kato, IM, DI, Athearn, Concor, Walthers, TCS. Trainworx). It wouldn't have mattered as the room wouldn't have fit them anyway. As it was, the tables streched down the hallway outside halfway back to the lobby. Atlas did have protoypes of the trash flats and the PS1 boxcars and their new LED streetlights. The lights will be lit from below and using fiber optics in the scale height and diameter masts. The masts will just sit in their sockets so you can change out at will. Globe, clock, gooseneck are among the 6-7 kinds to be offered in the next few months. FV had the new 50' ribside boxcars on display. I was very impressed with the new BeNscale searchlight signals. Perfect for the SP modelers out there! Lowell Smith has partnered with MT to create a modernized heavyweight business car to be painted in a number of roads. While there was a lot of the collector MT prices out there, I saw lots in the $8-12 range. One dealer was selling his MT collection at the retail prices - this means Kadee MT cars at less than $8 regardless of collector value. Prices were down generally as deals were had all around. As was mentioned last night in the banquet, this area may have MT for Nscale but that is about it as there is no local N-trak group and there were no N scale home layouts available. The MT tour was fantastic - I still can't imagine assembling Z-scale couplers all day long as your job as we saw! It really makes you appreciate what goes into their products. We saw more live steam between the Medford Railroad Park and the Train Mountain Triennal than operating N scale stuff. I think the highlight was the jetboat ride - I hadn't done one in a while and forgot how fast those boats move. Coming into a 90 degree bend at 60 mph and pivoting away what seems like just feet from shore and doing a controlled slide though the bend just adds to the fun! Folks like me on the outside edges as well as most others got wet from both sides and over the top of the windshield . The contest models were very impressive and the clinics were good too even though the room conditions were less than ideal. There was so much stuff in the banquet raffle to give away that everyone in the room at least got something. I got a NP Airslide (donated from Wig-Wag), a DCC decoder and a MT runner pack. Similar piles were all around our table. One lucky guy at the end ended up with all the leftovers (two good-sized boxes). I don't think anyone could go wrong with least attending one of these - you won't be bored! Peter
That's Hien Nguyen's Z scale bridgework in John's pix post. 2nd place at Sacramento NTS. Its amazing what he does. .
John, Thanks for the extensive photo coverage. I agree with Mike, almost like being there. Next year! Charlie
Yes it is! I dont know about you, but I am one that is willing to pay a couple bucks more for something made here in the US vs something made overseas or Mexico. Keep the jobs here for our economy!
Dave, glad you liked it. Here's more photos of John Petrovitz's N scale layout, it is a SP layout set in San Francisco Bay Area, then north on NWP, including Tiburon, Petaluma, and the Scotia Bluffs: X2011 West NMRA Nationals layout tour 2011: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.224288024272864.63307.104852949549706&type=3 NMRA local layout tour 2008: http://www.pbase.com/atsf_arizona/coast_tours_john_petrovitz I asked John Petrovitz about his 3rd & Townsend module. He took the buildings off the San Francisco portion of his layout as you can see below: Then he built a portable diorama module upon which to place the buildings and transport the scene. The 3rd & Townsend depot is scratchbuilt by John. The rest of his layout is spectacular as well. SP fans..... how's this for a N scale rendition of the famous NWP Scotia Bluffs in the Eel River Canyon. Knocks my socks off : Glad you liked the photos.
Yes, He did and I ended up with all the stock he had left over on Saturday night. That and I'm now a dealer for his product and he is my Distributor in Europe. What stock I had was sold out late Saturday night and Sunday morning but will be ordering more soon with luck. One thing of note is that while Daniel and his wife were here in the states for the convention/ vacation his wife gave birth to a great baby Girl and is stuck in the Medford area until the doc's give them the OK to fly home so wish them well. rich www.rslaserkits.com
I found out last night at a BBQ that was at a fellow club members house that another fellow club member built this model that took best in show. Dave Montgomery, the guy who built this model was absolutely shocked that an engine he built took best in show at a national convention.
