I finally did it!!!

With the final car finished, I submitted my paperwork to my Region AP Chair just in time before the end of 2013.

Today I received my 8th Certificate in the mail.

Beyond my expectations I had earned 6 Merit Awards with my rolling stock models although I only needed 4 to meet the requirements of the Achievement Program.

With the submission of the paperwork for the last Certificate, a ten year lasting journey takes an end. I finally succeeded in what I never thought would be possible for a foreign member of the NMRA.

During all these years I learned to improvise and to jump over my own shaddow to make it possible to participate in the program. To get more chances for my models to be judged, I joined the British Region and over all these years I met many great modelers and also made a bunch of new friends. Through the participation in the AP I definitely refined my skills and through the positive critiques and help of these fine people, I became a better modeler.

Therefore a big THANK YOU! to all the members I've met along my route to become a Master Modelrailroader.

Passenger Car

To meet the requirements for the Master Builder - Cars Certificate I also had to build a passenger car.

I wanted to try a kitbash following the instructions from Steve Sandifer and build a Santa Fe Baggage Railway Express car with the distinct fishbelly sills

The base for my kitbash is an undecorated baggage car from Athearn. Fortunately I had purchased a couple of these before the Blue Box kits forever disappeared in history..

First I sanded the roof smooth and removed all cast on grab irons and curved drip rails. The Santa Fe drip rails over the doors were peaked.

I replaced the grab irons using brass wire bend to shape as well as Detail Associates commercial grabs.

I fabricated the fishbelly sills from .030" plain styrene sheet

I attached the side sills to the underframe of the car, although they should be glued directly to the body. But this would make the removal of the underframe impossible. And as you see in the pictures, this is hardly visible.

I covered the lower part of the baggage doors with .010 plain styrene sheet (mine was clear because I ran out of white). The Santa Fe doors were plain instead of ribbed.

Unfortunately I did not find suitable stirrup steps, so I used 3 rungs of brass ladder stock. I drilled appropriate holes into the body, glued the steps on and bend them to shape.

I mixed Pullman and Coach Green to closely match the Santa Fe color and airbrushed the entire car. After the paint had dried I masked the sides and airbrushed the underside and roof with flat black paint.

I added train and air lines and safety chains from a Branchline Trains Passenger car kit as well as a couple of underbody details, like air reservoirs, steam traps and battery box.

Fortunately I had a set of decals from a vintage Walthers Passenger car kit from the 1960's, to reproduce the correct lettering for this car. The Microscale Decal are missing the word "Baggage". The old decal film was quite intact but nevertheless I could not apply it without the film showing, even after it had dried overnight and with the application of another coat of Micro Set.

This kitbash was a good practice in recreating a typical Santa Fe car. There are a couple of things I will do differently next time, but that's the fun part of it.

Now it's time to fill in my SOQ and send my completed paperwork to my AP manager.

Master Builder Cars - A major effort

After my initial success with the Helium Tankcar back in 2011, I wanted to get this certificate done as fast as possible. I decided to mostly scratchbuild the remaining cars, to be on the safe side, so I had to plan ahead with the BR convention in October 2013 being my goal.

1892 AT&SF Hanrahan Refrigerator Car in HO

My first car in the row is a vintage refrigerator car of the Hanrahan Design built for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway back in 1892. I was fascinated with this double door reefer. Fortunately a wooden kit is manufactured by Labelle, so I ordered one and an extra set of decals, just in case I would mess up one (what I actually did :-S)

I used the instructions and constructed the car from Evergreen styrene strip and sheet instead of wood. The only commercial parts I used were the door latches, brakewheel, trucks, turnbuckles and brake fittings). The prototype did not have the knuckle couplers but link and pin couplers instead, so I installed the only ones I could find, the Gilpin Tram couplers from Grandt Line. In the meantime I also did my own using plastic knuckle couplers that I convert to link and pin couplers (but that's another story)

the score: 99/125

Construction: 27/40
Detail: 15/20
Conformity: 23/25
Finish: 21/25
Scratchbuilding: 13/15

Southern Pacific Narrow Gauge Boxcar #5 in On3

I am also a Narrow Gauge Fan, so my other half of the models were build in On3 gauge.
I had a couple copies of plans for Southern Pacific Narrow Gauge cars that I wanted to build. With most narrow gauge equipment the basic car was the Flatcar, on which everything else was build up.

The score: 101/125

Construction: 30/40
Detail: 17/20
Conformity: 22/25
Finsih: 18/25
Scratchbuilding: 14/15

Southern Pacific Narrow Gauge Low Side Gondola in On3

As I said above, the basis for most cars was the Flatcar, so it was obvious to include one. After I finsihed tha car I found that this was too simple and that I could easily build a gondola by simply adding the sides to the stake pokets. The sides are basically two boards attached to stakes. I installed a total of 176 nut-bolt-washer castings. The sides are inserted into the stake pockets. So I have two cars in one.

The score: 102/125

Construction: 28/40
Detail: 17/20
Coonformity: 24/25
Finish: 19/25
Scratchbuilding: 14/15

Monson Snow Spreader in On2 1/2 (On30)

In a Narrow Gauge Gazette I found an article about this spreader in HOn3. I liked the idea of scratchbuilding the superstructure and especially the spreader blades.
There were only a couple of black and white photos to imagine how the real car looked and what particular details it had. The HOn3 model was a bit to small to recreate all visible details in the photos, but in On3 it could be done. The spreader superstructure was mounted to the flatcar with brakets and U-bolts, so I believe that it could be removed as well. This was a very nice detail to model, as well as the blades that can be swung out and locked in place with small bolts.

The spreader blades are 3 pieces of brass sheet, soldered together following the drawings in the article. I also drilled holes to install some nut-bolt-washer castings.

The flatcar is a superdetailed Bachmann underframe. These are intended to replace the stock underframes from the On30 cars. I installed tension rods, new brake gear, stake pockets and wood planking.

Throughout this was a very rewarding experience and its one of my favorite cars

The score: 96/125

Construction: 27/40
Detail: 18/20
Conformity: 24/25
Finish: 17/25
Scratchbuilding: 10/15

Winch Car in On3

The last car in the row, although my first On3 car that I've built also comes from an article in the Gazette. Lee Vande Visse built it back in the 1980's for a contest. Again its unique design, a common practice with many narrow gauge railroads, inspired me to build it. Based on a D&RGW flatcar it has a "homemade" shack to protect a gasoline winch that was used to tear up used rails for replacement. The A-frame rack and cable guide are the most visible details as well as the reinforcement rails along the deck. Sometimes these rails were also installed to the underframe, but here they are more visible. They are also attached with U-bolts and brackets.

The score: 100/125

Construction: 29/40
Detail: 18/20
Conformity: 23/25
Finish: 17/25
Scratchbuilding: 13/15

I was totally surprised that all of my five cars received a Merit Award, although I only needed three to meet the requirements.

Lessons learned:

Construction:

Take care to keep everythin level and square.
Don't use excessive glue.
Avoid glue spots.
Sand all wooden parts prior to assembling and painting
Watch for fuzz and sand it away.

Detail:

You cannot have too much detail
Check your plans and photographs thoroughly and try to add all details that should be there, either through scratchbuilding or commercial castings.

Conformity:

Try to conform to the prototype you model, either real or freelanced
Supply as many drawings, photos (black/white or color), articles etc, as you can. This is a dead on category where you cannot have enough reference material.
You probably noticed that I scored an average of 23.5 out of 25 in this category.

Finish:

Decide whether you recreate a used or an almost new car. The finish should be appropriate to its "age" or the prototype pictures that you supply.
Watch for a neat paint job, without running colors.
Apply your decals straight.
Seal the decals with dull- or glosscote to hide the decal film
If weathering your car, don't overdo it, but remember: even a new car already shows some weathering, if only on the trucks.

Scratchbuilding:

Scratchbuild as many items as possible.
Some basic parts are excluded, like trucks, couplers, light bulbs and wood/plastic strips and sheets
If you scratchbuild hardly visible parts, do mention them in your description so that you get credit for.


Scratchbuilding as many parts as possible is definitely the way to go, although this category only counts for 15 points, but it might be just these points you'll need for the Merit Award.

I might have forgotten to mention a couple of things but before starting I advise you to read, and reread the instructions for every category and if in doubt, call your AP manager.

Master Builder Cars - First success

With the Master Model Railroader Certificate almost within reach, it was time to turn to building rolling stock models to complete my required certificates.

Different types of cars have to be modeled with a total of eight. Four models must reach the minimum of 87.5 points. After having completed six certificates already I was now confident that I could also succeed with cars. I also had the different cars in mind that I wanted to build like a Flatcar, a Boxcar, a Reefer and perhaps a Tankcar.

The car I had in mind was not an ordinary Tankcar like the one everybody knows but a Helium Tankcar. At a swap meet I purchased an old Ambroid kit of exactly this car. This was a wooden craftsman kit with a handfull of stripwood and metal castings. I took the plan and purchased Evergreen styrene strips instead. If you ever tried to make wood look like metal you understand my reason for doing so..

I then built the car following the instructions using styrene basic shapes and a couple of commercial castings (ladders, brakewheel, couplers etc)

From the old decal sheet supplied in the kit I drew new decals on my computer and printed them out on plain decal paper.

I finished the car right on time for the 2011 NMRA convention in Sacramento, Ca. I was very excited about the score it would get. I invested so much time to build this car, so if it would not get the minimum score I didn't know what to do to succeed in this certificate.

After the judging was finished the car earned 90 points out of 125, a Merit Award and a Honorable Mention. I had convinced the National Judges of my skills and now I knew that I was on the right way.

Here's the detailed score:

Construction: 28/40
Detail: 12/20
Conformity: 25/25
Finish: 15/25
Scratchbuilding: 10/15

Cars is probably one of the most challenging certificates because the models you have to build are not static like structures are. When installing the brake riggings, you must take care that the trucks swivel enough to negotiate turnouts and curves, It is nevertheless one of the most rewarding experiences that I've made. To see a piece of rolling stock emerge from a handfull of strips and bits and pieces.

I decided to scratchbuild all of the remaining cars, because the chances are bigger to reach the needed score. 

Master Builder Cars - First efforts

The first certificate that I started to build models for was Master Builder Cars back in 1999. That was the time I was persuaded that this would be the easiest certificate of all (!!). Ha!

I modified an Athearn Santa Fe cupola caboose or waycar to stay with Santa Fe lingo. I installed brake gear, new ladders, window screens, marker lights etc and was very proud of the outcome, because I followed a construction article from Andy Sperandeo from Model Railroader Magazine

I submitted my model at the NMRA concention in Minneapolis/St. Paul in 1999.
Although the judges certified me a throughout good job, it nevertheless earned only 64 points out of 125.


Construction: 18/40
Detail: 9/20
Conformity: 21/25
Finish: 14/25
Scratchbuilding: 2/15
This judgement made me aware of the fact that I probably had not the required knowledge yet to succeed in this certificate.

I then put cars on the backseat and continued with structures instead.



In the meantime I tried my hand on scratchbuilding a simple flatcar and entered for merit award judging in 2003 or 2004 at the British Region convention.

I probably did not do enough research and although it was almost completely scratchbuild except for the trucks and couplers it only earned 68 points.

Construction: 20/40
Detail: 12/20
Conformity: 13/25
Finish: 10/25
Scratchbuilding: 13/15

That's when I laid cars completely aside for a couple of years and it would only be my last certifcate that I completed before MMR.

More on this in another post.

Master Builder - Cars (Requirements)

Master Builder - Cars

A "Car" is just about anything that runs on rails and is NOT self-propelled (if it's self-propelled, it's Motive Power). This includes freight cars, passenger cars, maintenance of way cars (including equipment such as cranes), cabooses, cable cars, unpowered (dummy) locomotives, etc. Actually, if you have a model which is self propelled, but is a model of something that was designed to carry something (besides itself), such as a rail car, it can be used as one of the qualifying models for either Motive Power or Cars, BUT NOT BOTH.
Contact your Regional AP Manager if you have a question about which category a particular model would fall into.

To qualify for the Master Builder - Cars certificate:

1. You must build eight operable scale models of railroad cars:

"Operable" means that they must be able to roll on the track, negotiate a curve, be pulled by something, etc. It doesn 't mean that every door, valve, or other moving feature of the car must work as the prototype does. (However, any operating features that you can include in your car are likely to increase your score.)

1.      There must be at least four different types of cars represented in the total of eight. One of these must be a passenger car.

"Passenger cars" include anything that would normally be found in a regular scheduled passenger train including baggage cars, express reefers, business cars, or other passenger carrying cars like drover's cabooses.

2.      Each of the eight models must be super detailed with either commercial parts or scratch built parts (for extra points).

3.      In addition to being super detailed, at least four of the eight models must be scratch built. The term "scratch built" implies that the modeler has done all of the necessary layout and fabrication that produce the final dimensions, appearance, and operating qualities of the model.

The following parts are specifically excluded from the scratch built requirement:

• Wheels
• Couplers
• Light bulbs & electronics.
• Trucks.
• Brake fittings.
• Marker lights & drumheads.
• Paint, decals, etc.
• Basic shapes of wood, plastic, metal, etc.

("Basic shapes" are things that the builders of the prototype would have used as raw materials. For example, an "I" beam would be a basic shape; a commercial door or window casting would not.)

2.      You must earn a score of at least 87-1/2 points on four of the eight models in either an NMRA sponsored contest or in AP Merit Award judging.

Note that only four of the eight must earn 87-1/2 points. The others don't even have to be judged! They do all have to be described on the Statement of Qualification (see below).

3.      You must submit a Statement of Qualification.