March/April/May 2026
Updated: May 18
It has been a while since the last post. I am sure to miss something in the monthly summary.
Marie and I had a fantastic time on our spring cruise. We were gone almost a month, starting with 3 days in Venice, 24 days on board the Star Legend as it cruised around Italy, Croatia, Sicily, Crete, Greece and Turkey. The weather wasn’t very good the first week, including a thunderstorm and down pour while we were in Dubrovnik. That same storm made crossing the Adriatic, from Dubrovnik to Italy, pretty rough, with 2m - 3m seas. It was a huge disappointment to learn that we wouldn’t transit the Corinth Canal, due to extended maintenance, but the alternate stops made up for it. We made so many stops, and saw so many things, that it started to blur together. The ruins in Herculeum and Pompeii were impressive, but the ruins in Ephesus and Delos were highlights of the trip. We ran into problems on the way back, after Lufthansa cancelled our flight home due to a strike in Frankfurt. It put a damper on our only day in Instanbul as we tried to work out alternatives. A day of worry and frantic activity culminated in repurchasing tickets on Turkish Airlines. They were fantastic and we highly recommend Turkish if you ever get the chance.
On the way home, we stopped in Houston to see Daniel participate in his first Ironman. The race consisted of a open water swim, a bike race and a full marathon, totalling 140 miles total distance. We had a lot of trouble finding him in the swim, but were able to watch him on the bike and running courses. He finished the race in just under 12 hours, a big accomplishment for a rookie Ironman. The next day was pretty quiet as he began to feel the effects of the race,s o we had a quiet day at the hotel, playing board games around the pool.
Dave and I went to Supertrain on April 25. It was a big event, with lots of vendors and layouts set up. It took us over 6 hours to take it all in.
Nicholas came home on the Mother’s Day weekend. Mother’s Day started out with a quick 9 holes of gold at Lil’ Devil, then home for breakfast, cooked by Nicholas and Christine.
Marie headed east on the Victoria Day weekend for Jill’s shower. It is now just a little over a month to Nicholas’ wedding. He and Jill will be in Edmonton the weekend of June 6, so we will try to get up there for a visit.
Finally, this is being written while sitting in the South Calgary Oral Surgery waiting room, where Christine is having a front tooth removed and replaced. Not an ideal situation but the tooth had died and needed to be removed.
The Unnamed Town
Oulton has been selected for the name of the main town. The current track plan has a smaller town, located on the opposite side of the room, on yet unbuilt benchwork. A question was posed last blog regarding potential names. No one responded to any of the suggestions so I am repeating the name suggestions. Please respond with any favourites, or other suggestions if you have better naming ideas.
Speaking of the unnamed town, potential names have been explored. See if any of these options strike a chord:
a) Riley. He's our oldest dog. I like the sound of the name. It is actually a real town in Alberta so it might be confusing.
b) Ember. Another of our dogs. It also "sounds" right. There is an Amber Valley near Athabasca but no Ember.
c) There has been a number of friends from high school and university that had names that seemed to "fit" the Alberta small town theme. Perhaps not surprising, as last names were commonly used in some form for many town names. Possibilities include Wolgar, McKenzie, Elvidge, Otholf, Stocker, Abernethy and Sullivan
d) Davis or perhaps Davies. Davis is Nicholas' fiancé’s last name
e) Alex. A shortened version of my father's middle name. There is a real Alix in Alberta but no Alex.
f) Paddle River. There is a Paddle Prairie, and an actual river named Paddle, but no town. Based on a suggestion from Nicholas, it is now planned to model a Paddle River. Given the use of this name for many things, perhaps it would be fitting for it to find a more concrete presence.
g) Write in your own suggestions.
Monashee Laser Grain Elevator
Work on the elevator is almost complete. Roofing has been installed and painting completed.
Photo 1 - Roof sections complete, ready for painting
Photo 2 - Painting complete.
Photos 3&4 - White trim complete
Photo 5 - Loading platform area complete
Photo 6 - Dry fit of out drive shed and approach ramps.
The intent of building this kit, rather than expanding benchwork, was to confirm that the Oulton yard was big enough for three grain elevators. With elevator construction basically complete except for decals, it was time to figure out where to place the finished kit. It is much larger, both in height and footprint, than the other two grain elevators built previously. I had initially thought it would be placed at the east (right) end of the Oulton siding, but am leaning towards placing it in the middle..
Many prototype wooden grain elevators were expanded, with grain bins and annexes added next to the original elevator. Checking my photos from Barrhead confirmed that all five elevator there had some kind of addition. Since Outlon is loosely based on Barrhead, this has fuelled a desire to do something similar with the Oulton elevators.
While at Supertrain, I confirmed with Monashee that they were going to release both an annex and a grain bin later this year. I would love to add one of these but will wait to see how big they are. In the meantime I will hold off adding the decals in case an annex covers the markings up.
Making the Monashee elevator larger through addition of an annex risks it really dwarfing the other two elevators. Time to look at ways to “bulk” up the other two elevators.
Photos showing the Monashee elevator kit positioned in the center of the Oulton yard
I have several pictures of Pioneer elevators that have been expanded by erecting corrugated grain bins next to the elevator. I had three Rix grain bin kits, purchased specifically for this purpose, that were dug out and built. The bins look good when placed next to the elevator. Final construction will require installation of a catwalk across the top of the bins, joining them to the elevator. It will also be necessary to add appropriate grain transfer piping between the elevator and the bins.
Pictures showing three Rix corrugated grain bins beside the existing Pioneer elevator.
Finally, here are some pictures of the three elevators, lined up along the Oulton grain track.
With the Pioneer elevator expanded, it was time to figure out a way to enlarge the original Alberta Wheat Pool elevator. The Walther’s kit, used in its construction, was very welcome when it came out. It was an affordable, easy to assemble grain elevator kit that was readily available. Two kits were immediately purchased with the intent of some day building a small town scene. But something about the kit wasn’t quite right. The kit was on the small side, about three quarters the size of a typically Canadian grain elevator. The kit also seemed too low, as if it was built for flat ground, when Canadian elevators were more typically located on elevated ground. Recently, while browsing through some old model railroad magazines, I came across an article on “Canadianizing” the kit. The author noted all the above discrepancies and short comings of the kit, but figured out the biggest issue of all. The Walther’s kit has an exterior scale, build on flat ground. Canadian grain elevators placed the scale inside the unloading shed to protect the scale from the elements. This meant the elevator complex needed to be raised up to provide space for the scale beneath the unloading shed. That’s why a Canadian elevator is typically on raised ground. In the pictures below, the elevator is sitting on a pile of manuals to better represent the extra height typical of a Canadian elevator (and it’s still noticeable shorter than the Monashee elevator).
Rebuilt Walthers Grain Elevator
The article suggested raising the unloading shed approximately 5 scale feet in height. That wasn’t possible on an already completed kit. More importantly, raising the unloading shed would have covered the existing logo and town name. Something different was needed. It was decided to raise the entire elevator approximately 6 scale feet by building an extension under the elevator.
Construction went quickly, partially added by a rapid disassembly caused by dropping the kit.
With the raised floor in place, it was decided to replace the kit’s metal roofing with the more typically used shingles. Monashee laser cut shingles, with a self adhesive backing, made quick work of the reshingling project. They represent cedar shingles, generally replaced later with asphalt shingles that would be more appropriate for the era being modelled, but they look the part.
Photos 1-3 - Original elevator as built
Photo 4 - Proof of concept. Adding height will work
Photos 5&6 - Finished adding height
Grain Bin Annex
The raised elevator still seemed too small when sitting beside the larger Monashee kit. I really wanted to add an annex to bulk the kit up. With no commercial kits available, it would be necessary to scratchbuild one.
My Barrhead pictures had the perfect example to use, shown in Photo 1 below. Most importantly, it wasn’t directly attached to the elevator, and stayed below the elevator’s hip roof, greatly reducing the build complexity.
I had previously purchased Evergreen clapboard siding to extend the elevator height, but had no where near enough to build a grain bin. Sorting through three Calgary hobby stores found enough sheets that were similar enough that construction could get started.
Work began by creating a pattern from the photo. It took several tries to get something that worked, but the pattern confirmed dimensions and proved the concept. Construction went quite quickly, added by a recently purchased set of magnetic corner jigs that held the walls together and ensured they were square.
Canadian elevators typically had a small building located behind the elevator. I had understood this to have once been the drive structure, isolating the gas motor, powering the elevator leg, from the potentially explosive grain dust, but all the pictures I have show it as a small office.
Photo 1 - Grain bin annex in Barrhead
Photo 2 - Paper template to test dimensions
Photo 3 - Magnetic clamps simplify assembly
Photo 4 - Walls in place
Photo 5 - Shingles finished
Photo 6 - Size looks about right
Photo 7 - Got the office roughed out
Photos 8&9 - All the new structures together
Next steps will be to prime and paint the new plastic, add appropriate markings, and weather the structures.
Eduard 1/48 Kittyhawks
The provided photo etch instrument panels were used. They are very impressive. They even have glass dials.
At normal viewing distance, it is hard to tell the resin seat from the plastic seat with photo etched belts. The resin seat is on the left in Photo 2 below.
Painting of the cockpit side wall panels, floor and seat was done in three stages. A coat of silver was sprayed first in all the high wear areas. It was followed by an application of chipping fluid, and then the final colour. After a few minutes drying, the final colour was wetted and then scrubbed with a stiff bristle brush to “chip” the top colour and expose the silver underneath. This was followed by a couple of washes using starship filth and burnt umber oil paints. Finally, the top colour was dry brushed over any high points to lighten the colour and provide highlights. The intent was to try and model worn paint, scuffed by boots and normal use.
Photo 1 - Photoetched instrument panels
Photo 2 - Resin seat on the left. PE and plastic seat in the right.
Photo 3 - Cockpit components ready to assemble
The assembled cockpits
The P-40 had a very large chin intake, required to cool the large Allison engine. For such a prominent feature, it proved very difficult to find any good intake interior photos. Eduard’s instructions show the intake interior to be Curtiss Green, but photos clearly show the external parts are painted in the external colour. Try as I might, I could not find any indication of how far inside the exterior colour went. It was finally decided to use what appeared to be a mould line, about 1 mm inside on all surfaces, as a demarcation point. It took a substantial amount of masking, and three airbrush sessions, to finish painting. In the end, it really didn’t prove that impressive. Photo 1 below.
The bottom of the intake interior, seen at the top in Photo 1 below, with my finger showing behind, was a separate piece. Unfortunately, one of the pieces had broken free from the sprue and had gone missing. A thorough search of the shop didn’t turn it up. The remaining piece was a semicircular tube, so the scrap box was raided to find an old bomb that was about the right size. Some cutting and some sanding resulted in a satisfactory replacement.
Photo 1 - Intakes painted. Doesn't look like much given how much masking was needed
Photo 2 - Fuselage sections joined together.
Photo 3 - Wing sections in progress.
Next steps will be to complete the wing sections and then join them to the fuselage.
That’s it for another blog. See everyone back here next month.
Omg I read past the family stuff. Think my 2 to picks would be paddle river for the reasons you mentioned or McKenzie to honour Jeff.