Birthplace of MR

Bought a "birthplace of Model Railroader" kit on eBay (Period Miniatures). It's a solid block of cast resin/polyester, which I'd previously only had experience with in terms of small parts such as A/C units.

Review: I like the concept of not having to "build" the kit, as it eliminates some of the issues. Downside: no interior to install, but in a building this small (relatively), the painted black windows and lack of "glass" aren't as big an issue (as they might be with a 5 story DPM Mercantile kit, for instance). It took paint very well, and the details are quite good for a kit made from a single mold.

An idea came to me for kitbashing: what about taking two kits, and near one end of each cutting the  end off at a 45 degree angle, and splicing the larger pieces together to create a larger (and unique) L shaped structure? Perhaps that will be my next big project!

Soldering

Well now, I wish I had seen this decades ago. I can't solder to save my soul, but this makes the process much easier to understand:

R/C Railroads

Remote Control of trains with onboard batteries already exist in the largest scales, as they are popular with garden railroaders wishing to follow their G-scale locomotives around the yard, and eliminate some of the hassle of running a few hundred feet of electrified track through the often wet outdoors environment.

But what about the smaller scales? What is stopping us from skipping DCC altogether?

I've never been a fan of DCC. It's expensive, finicky, and complicated (IMHO).

Technology has progressed far beyond DCC anyway; batteries for cell phones and small electronics now have the power to fit inside our small locomotives in any scale. And as far as receivers, have you ever seen those tiny helicopters you can buy for about $20 online?

Considering that a locomotive only needs a direction and a speed (two functions), I don't see why there can't be RC receivers small enough for even an N scale locomotive.

Proof of Concept. It worked anyway.

2013

A New Year, and a new update on the State of the Railroad:

I've stopped selling buildings on eBay for a while. After my initial successes, the bottom has fallen-out of the market, and they're either not selling, or the prices consumers are willing to pay just doesn't justify the amount of time that goes into construction. There are also a number of new competitors, some of whom are better modelers, most of whom are worse, and a few that look like they mass-produce from an oversea factory. If you're offering the same built structure week after week for pennies on the dollar compared to my one of a kind kits, then something is up somewhere I can't compete with.

In any case, I'm still modeling with a focus on buildings, but have decided to populate my tiny layout with a more urban environment than I was originally planning upon, something reflecting Bangor or Lewiston.