I recently finished adding some interior details and lighting to the Mineral Ridge Mill, on my 1/24th scale In-ko-pah Railroad. Here are a few pics:









A view of the sorting house interior with the newly added lights:









As darkness falls, the lights bring the mill to life:































Looking through some of the windows:













Looking up the street towards the ore bin, sorting house, and trestles:









Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/iHXdhL85-r0

On September 15, my In-ko-pah Railroad was host to several visitors, as part of a regional layout tour held by the San Diego Division of the National Model Railroad Association. I shot the event using time-lapse photography.

Music by Eric Matyas
www.soundimage.org



Enjoy!

I haven't had a lot of time for modeling so far this year, and what time I did have, has mostly been spent refurbishing older models. The newest structure is a through, plate girder bridge. Until now I've just had a crude temporary bridge made of wood, which has become badly warped:






I built a permanent replacement for it. My previous plate girder bridges were all made using a structural fiberglass material called G10. This time, I wanted to try making it out of Sintra. I used 6mm Sintra for the deck and sides. The interior braces were made from 1mm Sintra. The rest of the details are styrene.  I got a bit lazy on this bridge and decided to leave off the rivets -- where it's located, no one can get very close to it anyway. The underside of the bridge is strengthened with three lengths of 1/2" square acrylic tube, plus three sections of extruded aluminum angle for good measure.










I sprayed it with red primer followed by gloss black. Then I weathered it with a thin, alcohol wash of gray acrylic paint. Then I used RustAll to create reddish rusty streaks. Next I used Sophisticated Finishes' "Iron" and "Rust Solution".









Two of my earliest structures on the layout were really starting to show their age. The paint was faded and worn (beyond the intentional weathering). The clear plastic used in some of the windows had yellowed, fogged, and warped. Slide cover glass used in a few places had broken or fallen out. A couple signs were faded, and both structures had minor damage caused by a raccoon. One of the buildings still had incandescent "grain of rice" bulbs, which I wanted to replace with LEDs. Here are the "before" photos:












Here are the "after" photos:
















Enjoy!

I've just finished posting the full report on my 2016 Nevada/Mojave ghost town trip, starting here:

http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/Nevada_Trip_2016_Part_One.html

Lots of great reference photos!

These are the places I visited on the trip:

Jasper Queen Mine, CA
Corona Mine, CA
Minnietta-Keystone Mine, CA
Lookout Mine, NV
Black Butte Mine, NV
Nevada Rand Mine, NV
Nevada Scheelite Mine, NV
Red Top Mine, NV
Nevada Quicksilver Mine, NV
Pershing Mine, NV
Beacon Hill Mine, NV
Boyer Ranch, NV
Chalk Mountain Mines, NV
Westgate Mill, NV
Ellsworth, NV
Vindicator Mine, NV
Ames Camp, NV
Cloverdale, NV
Goldfield, NV
Gold Point, NV
Minnietta, CA
Lead (aka Hughes) Mine, CA
Lookout City, CA
Ballarat, CA
Goler Canyon and Newman's Cabin, CA
Lotus Mine, CA

In Goldfield, they now have a vintage train on display. It's an 0-6-0 tank engine (missing cab and other parts) and two wooden box cars.

In addition to all these historic places, I also photographed some wildlife including hawks, antelope, burros, and a Great Basin rattlesnake (got some video of the snake).

Enjoy!

Merry Christmas from Ray and Cris Dunakin, and the In-ko-pah Railroad!

Here's an nice article about a local guy who puts up a big Halloween-themed model railroad display every year:

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2015/oct/30/fred-mcdowell-halloween-train/

I finally finished organizing the photos from my trip and getting everything posted to my website! The report on my trip begins here:

http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/Nevada_Trip_2015_Part_One.html


I had some car trouble again this year, and definitely need to find another SUV before my next trip. Also had a very scary near-wreck. But mostly I had a really great time and saw a lot of amazing stuff, including mines, mills, mining camps, pioneer ranch buildings, and a huge steam tractor. Here's a list of some of the places I visited this year:

Mazourka Canyon, CA
Black Eagle and Alhambra Mines, CA
Kearsarge, CA
Sylvania, NV
Sylvania Mine, NV
Four Aces Canyon mines, NV
Four Aces Mill, NV
White Wolf Mine, NV
Grantsville, NV
Nevada Cinnabar Mine, NV
Ione, NV
"White Ranch", O'Toole Ranch, "Adobe Ranch", Hess Ranch and others in the Reese River Valley, NV
Diamond Tunnel and Diamond Camp, NV
Eureka, NV
Willow Creek, NV
Keystone Canyon, NV
"Ground Zero" at the Project Faultless nuclear test site
Two mills in Eden Creek Canyon, NV
Clifford, NV
Tonopah, NV
South Klondike Hills, NV
Brannigan Mine, CA
Paymaster Mine, CA


I also added a lot of new reference photos to my Modeler's Resource pages:

http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/Modelers_Resource.html


Enjoy!

My latest scratchbuild -- Serenity's Sandwich Shop. Made of Sintra PVC board and styrene, with corrugated metal. The door and window are from Grandt Line:

Here's a quick photo I shot recently of myself in front of the layout. My Bachmann 4-6-0 is prominently featured:

I wanted my scratch-built radio repair shop to have fluorescent lights, but of course there are no working fluorescent lights in 1/24th scale. However I had an idea for a way to possibly simulate the appearance of working fluorescents...

I started by using 1/16" acrylic rods to represent the tubes. Small rounded bits of styrene strip were glued to the ends:




The base of the fixture was made from a strip of .100" x .250" styrene. Three 1/8" holes were drilled through it:




I used thin sheet brass to make the reflectors:




After painting the fixture white, I glued on the tubes. To help disperse the light and to give the tubes a somewhat frosted look, I brushed on a very thin coat of fluorescent white paint that I had leftover from a Halloween project years ago:




I marked the positions of the three holes and drilled three larger holes in the ceiling. Then the fixture was glued in place. Three 3mm LEDs were inserted into the fixture, through the holes in the ceiling. You can just barely see the rounded ends of the LEDs showing through in this photo:




When I first connected a battery to the leads I was disappointed... the beam from the LEDs simply made three bright spots on the acrylic rods. However, when I tried photographing it, I found that it looks perfect in photos! Here are some test shots, looking through the windows of the building:
















At this point I think I'm done with the radio shop. Next will be the barbershop details.

I just finished making a 1/24th scale replica of my wife's 104-year-old grandmother, to ride in the back of my scratch-built rail bus:






After sculpting the figure, I decided to make a mold and cast it in resin so I could make duplicates to use elsewhere, or to replace this one if ever got damaged. I have the step-by-step on making the two-part mold and casting the figure on my website:

http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/IRR_Figures.html

(This process can be used to mold anything, not just figures.)

The past few months, I've had no time for modeling due to a lot of "real life" obligations. I'm finally starting to get a little bit of time, and have used it for a couple of upgrade projects on my 1/24th scale In-ko-pah Railroad...

One of these upgrade projects was replacing the lights in my structures with LEDs. Originally I used grain-of-rice bulbs, which are cheap, easy to use, and fit into even very small, scale fixtures. Unfortunately they keep dying on me, rather mysteriously and inconsistently. Some have lasted for years, others need almost constant replacing.

I'm getting LEDs in several sizes from this source:

http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/bl-212.html  

If you want to see how I installed some of them, go here:

http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/IRR_Lighting.html


So far I've only converted the lights in two structures, the rock shop and the bakery. I coated the LEDs in the rock shop with a bit of glossy white paint. This dimmed them slightly and gave them a somewhat warmer, soft glow. The lights in the bakery are a bit harsh, in part because there are so many. I may paint the LEDs in the bakery, or remove a couple of them, or both.

Here are some night photos so you can see how they look:  




The rock shop is on the left, the bakery on the right:

I finally finished posting a report on my latest adventure, exploring old mines and ghost towns in Nevada and the Mojave desert:

http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/Nevada_Trip_2014_Part_One.html

Lots of good modeling reference here, especially mines, mills, etc. Railroad-related items of interest include a cabin made from a narrow gauge box car at Buckhorn Mine, and a wooden Las Vegas & Salt Lake RR caboose at Rhyolite. I also got detailed photos of a Skagit B-20 Logging and Loading Donkey, which was being used to operate a steep aerial tram at the Gray Eagle Mine.

I've also added a lot of new photos to my Modeler's Resource pages:

http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/Modelers_Resource.html

These are images of weathered wood, metal, steel drums, and much more -- all great reference for modeling and weathering.

I've just posted the first new video of my railroad since 2011...

Enjoy a ride on the In-ko-pah Railroad, my unique, 1/24th scale outdoor model railroad! Climb aboard a freight train pulled by a 4-6-0 steam locomotive, and watch the beautifully detailed desert scenery roll by.

You'll see the ruins of abandoned mines and miner's cabins; and you'll pass through Dos Manos and Mineral Ridge -- two old mining towns. Thrill as the train crosses spindly wooden trestles and high plate girder bridges! Hear the locomotive as it chuffs through the darkness of the route's many tunnels! You may even catch a glimpse of the railroad's ancient Model T rail bus giving someone a tour.

http://youtu.be/MhLOskIuqDg

I've just finished posting a report of my 2013 Nevada/Mojave ghost town trip on my website! It's not directly railroad-related but there's a lot of great reference material for mines, mills and other structures:

http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/Nevada_Trip_2013_Part_One.html


My 2013 trip was a real adventure in every sense of the word! I saw some wonderfully preserved sites, many historic ruins, and a mine big enough to drive a car in; ancient log cabins and fascinating machinery; thunderstorms, flash floods, wildlife encounters, and a blue sphinx!

I also had a variety of car problems, a near-disaster, and my first-ever call to 911, and being on the receiving end of Mineral County's Search and Rescue! I visited many interesting sites, most of which I'd never seen before, and a few I had not seen in many years.


I hope you'll enjoy reading about it. If you discover any broken links or other issues, please let me know. Also I'd appreciate hearing any suggestions as to how I could improve the site or make it easier to navigate.

I recently came across some photos I shot back in 1998, at the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum in Campo, CA. There are a lot of great shots of former SP steam locomotive #2353, which saw use on the San Diego & Arizona Railway. In the late 1990s this beautiful loco was running excursions. Since sometime around 2000 or so, it's been out of service due to the need for a new boiler. Anyway, I've posted these pics to my website, hopefully some will find them useful for modeling reference or simply enjoy seeing this great steel beast:




You can see the rest of the pics here:

http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/SP_2353.html

Enjoy!

Does anyone happen to have a spare set of windows for a Big Hauler passenger car? I have one of these cars I want to paint and letter for my RR, but it sat outside too long and the windows are now yellow.


You can contact me at raydunakin@aol.com

Lately I've been trying to get some projects done that have kind of languished for a while...

First off, I finally finished my the first passenger car for my 1/24th scale outdoor railroad. It's an old Bachmann combine that I repainted in my RR's colors and lettering. The decals were provided by Stan Cedarleaf.

I had started this several years ago, and the thing's just been laying around in pieces for a long time. I added aluminum tape to the roof to simulate the look of sheet metal roofing, then painted the roof dull silver. I also removed the couplers from the trucks and added body mounted couplers, as well as metal wheels.

I had planned to replace most of the plastic details and add some additional details, but decided against it. I'd rather wait until I can build something from scratch, and then go nuts with the details. Anyway, here's how it looks. The paint is actually burgundy, but for some reason it looks very red in the photos:




At the moment, it has no interior lighting because I lost those parts. At some point I'll put in LEDs. I also have a couple coaches that I plan to repaint to match, for a complete passenger train.

Next up was to refurbish some of my oldest structures. The hoist house of the Cliffside Mine needed a little work -- the paint on the door and windows had badly faded, and the door had fallen off. They look much better now:





The ruins of the blacksmith shop, at the abandoned Monolith Mine, was also faded. Here's how it looks after touching up the paint. Someday I want to build a replacement for it using my current modeling techniques:




The biggest job was refurbishing the water tower near the town of Dos Manos. The supports were made from real wood (western red cedar), and most of the paint had peeled off. The wood on top of the platform was heavily weathered and worn. The tank also needed repainting. Most of all, the original spout needed to be replaced -- not only was it beginning to fall apart, I was never happy with it to begin with. Now I have the skills to make a better one.

In this photo you can see the old spout, with the new spout below it. The old spout was made from cardboard tubes coated with fiberglass resin, and spray painted silver. The mounting brackets were crudely made from brass rod. The new spout is entirely made of brass:





The prototype for my model is an old San Diego & Arizona RR water tower located at Dos Cabesas, in the Anza-Borrego desert. The prototype has an unusual, hinge-like hardware. Without any good photos of the tower when its spout was still intact, it's difficult to determine exactly how the spout was attached, and how it operated. My original spout worked but did not seem very practical or realistic. When I built the new brass spout, I tried the configuration shown in the next photo:






That didn't really look right, and didn't work very well either. So here's the configuration I settled on:






Here's how the finished tower looks, with new paint and new spout:













The foundation has small brass pins sticking up, which fit into holes in the ends of the support timbers, to hold it in place.

Here are a few new pics I shot recently. The first two feature my scratch-built Model T rail bus. I sculpted the two figures, representing my dad and my sister. I still need to make some more figures to fill the rest of the seats:







This next shot shows a train crossing a bridge at the west end of the layout. I refurbished this bridge back in January, including replacing the damaged catwalk with one that can support actual cats (not to mention possums, squirrels, and other critters):




Enjoy!

I recently bought a pair of replacement wheels for the large scale handcar, which I intend to use on a scratchbuilt railcar. The wheels arrived today. Each wheel has half an axle, and there is a short length of gray plastic tube which apparently is supposed to be used to join the axle together, preventing a short circuit through the axle. Problem is, there's no way the axle stubs will fit into the tube. Do I just need to find another tube with a larger inside diameter, or is there something else I'm supposed to do with this?

Also, the wheels came with a thin plastic washer that fits over an axle. What is the purpose of this washer?