New Zealand Model Railway Convention - Part 1

A couple of weeks ago over the Easter weekend, I attended the New Zealand Model Railway Convention in Christchurch. The convention was held at St Andrews College not far from the centre of town. The international guest speaker was Iain Rice from the UK.

Iain was certainly well used by the convention organisers. He spoke on all three days of the convention and visited many home layouts open for layout tours over the weekend. On the first day of the convention (Friday 2nd April), Iain spoke for almost two hours (with a short intermission) about his experiences with model railway layouts over the past 50-odd years (wow, is it really that long?). Iain's presentation was accompanied by some great layout photos from most of his layouts over that time and shown as Powerpoint slides. But this was certainly NOT death by Powerpoint - the images illustrated what Iain had to say perfectly.

Iain started off by telling us about some of his early layouts (e.g. East Suffolk Light, Tregarrick, Woolverstone, and Leintwardine which was built for the Model Railway Journal Show in 1991). Of particular interest to me was the thinking behind each of his layouts, and why some things worked and some things didn't. Iain also enjoyed describing the pros and cons of building white metal locomotive kits from a range of manufacturers in the UK; some harder to put together than others! The upshot is that experience is indeed a good teacher.

One of Iain's more recent model railway layouts is the diorama-like Trerice that depicts the china clay industry in North Cornwall. The layout, in P4, was initially only 6' 7'' long. Iain has since redone parts of the layout to increase operational interest. Trerice is "based on the same convenient fiction that spawned Tregarrick - a mixture of Bodmin and Wadebridge and Cornwall Minerals with a touch of North Devon and Cornwall Junction thrown in". I really liked the way Iain fictionalised a believable history on which to base his model railway; yet selecting practical and personally preferred aspects for the model that he wanted to bring to the layout. The blending of history and fiction for constructing context around a model railway layout seemed to have come naturally to Iain (perhaps a reflection of his theatrical side) which is rather a nice compromise really.

Iain also explained how he displays his exhibition layouts at model railway shows. To get a layout up to eye level for adults (about 58-odd inches if I remember correctly), he stands his layout on a portable table! All in all, it was a very informative and entertaining session.

On the Friday I also went to a presentation on weathering by Stan Agar and a workshop session with a number of demonstrations (the three from five offerings I went to were figure painting, custom decals, and building turnouts). The key message from the presentation on weathering was to refer to the prototype for good examples from which to copy or take ideas from. Stan uses a rather high 40psi for airbrushing, but also favours hand painting a mix of paint and powders for a good "grunge" look and feel. Humbrol enamel paint No.29 was recommended for washes, as was alkyld paint for relatively fast drying (2 days) applications.

The afternoon session concluded with a presentation of digital "slides" of Eric Brooman's famous Utah Belt model railway. The take-home from that presentation included the following:
1) avoid clutter and too many structures on the layout
2) produce typical scenery rather than unique (more believable)
3) staging is paramount
4) design for prototype operation
5) narrow shelves are effective with good backdrops to give depth of field

And in between the sessions there was time to chat and look at the layouts on display in the main hall. The people at the convention were exceptionally friendly and helpful - thank you, I really appreciated it.

I have included a couple of layout photos to whet your appetite for the next (belated) instalment.

The first three photos are taken of the large modular TALMR layout (NZR, 1:64 scale). David Low would certainly be happy with the buildings on this layout - superb stuff!






The next two photos are from the S scale (1:64) NZR layout, Arauatu.




Finally, there was a model competition at the convention. My favourite was this diorama of a New Zealand factory scene built by Mark Dalrymple.

NZ Model Railway Convention

While there remains some uncertainty and inertia over the future of my Australian model railway layout (Winmar), I am pleased to report that I will be attending the New Zealand Model Railway Convention in Christchurch in April.

I love New Zealand and over the years have visited many places on the North Island, and one great trip to the Marlborough region at the top of the South Island. Christchurch has been one city I have been keen to visit and I will spend a week there over Easter at the Convention and generally just looking around. I will even get to visit Ironhorse Hobbies in Christchurch, an advertiser in the Australian Model Railway Magazine.

I have also been a member of the New Zealand Model Railway Guild for some years now. I hope to meet some Guild members at the Convention in Christchurch.

Many New Zealand prototype modellers model to 3/16" to the foot scale (S scale) and I am keen to see some layouts in this scale during the layout tours. The New Zealand prototype railway has a track guage of 3'6'', a pretty common narrow gauge track for Australasia.

I have often thought that S scale is a good compromise between HO and O scales. In Australia, S scale is popular among prototype modellers of the Western Australian Government Railways (WGR) and Queensland Railways (QR). The Western Australia and Queensland prototype railways have historically been narrow gauge (3'6") railways and S scale modelling (Sn3 1/2) allows for the use of the common HO scale (16.5mm) track. Interestingly, the narrow gauge (3'6") prototype modellers in South Australia and Tasmania have generally favoured HO scale and a model railway gauge of HOn3 1/2 (12mm). I have no idea why these geographic differences have occurred in Australia but I'd be keen for someone to put forward an intelligent explanation!

At the same time, there have been some excellent smaller scale (N120, for example) New Zealand prototype models featured in the Guild's New Zealand Model Railway Journal. While I readily admit that the smaller scale is a tad too small for me these days, I can certainly appreciate good quality modelling in any scale and in any prototype.

Registration is still open for the New Zealand Model Railway Convention. The Convention takes place in the first week of April. The early bird rate (NZ $80) is available until 28th February and after that the rate increases to NZ $100. Unfortunately for us overseas people, credit card payments can't be made. However, payment can still be made by direct credit (details on registration form) or by going to your local Australian bank branch and getting a cheque drawn in NZ dollars.

If any other Aussies are interested in a different modelling experience, please visit the Convention website for all details and a registration form. Maybe I will see you there...

Model railways across the Tasman

I just received my latest issue of NZ Model Railway Journal. I really want to give this model railway magazine a real plug since I regard it as one of the finest model railway magazines published anywhere in the world.

That's quite a statement. Let me elaborate.

The Journal is produced to an excellent quality, both in terms of production values and in content. The Journal is printed on fine quality glossy paper, has brilliant photographs of both model and railway prototypes, and has some excellent model railway articles. The text is clear and easy to read. The way the magazine articles are presented is simple, organised, and straightforward. With plenty of half-page and third-of-the-page sized photographs, images are easy to look at and with informative captions.

Obviously, New Zealanders are the main audience. The "favoured" scale is 3/16 inch to the foot - S scale (1:64). In this scale one can use track for HO scale standard gauge railways that in S scale represent the narrow gauge 3'6" gauge used by the New Zealand railway system.

In the latest issue though is a layout article built to 1:150 scale and despite the freelance design, is a very fine layout. The images are superb! And if you're into actually model railway construction of wagons and locos, there are two great articles in the latest issue on building a Roturua guards' van and another article on matching rods and frames for loco construction. There is plenty of news and some fine prototype photographs in black and white - very much in the style of the UK finescale magazine Model Railway Journal "real atmosphere" - as well as a couple of colour shots taken at Reefton in the 1950's.

The Journal can be purchased in Sydney at the ARHS Bookshop at Central Station. Maybe give the shop a call before Saturday and see whether they can bring some copies of the NZ Model Railway Journal to the AMRA model railway exhibition at Liverpool this coming long weekend. Alternatively, just subscribe to the Journal via the website.

Whilst the New Zealand content may not be relevant to some people, I always find something of interest to read. And as to publishing standards, the NZ Model Railway Journal is one of the best - a great credit to the voluntary editorial and production team. Well done!