Back Issue: December 2013 AMRM

The December 2013 issue of AMRM is now available as a back issue direct from the AMRM office.


The December issue cover features a shot of the Indian Pacific crossing the flooded creek on the ACT Model Railway Society's HO scale exhibition layout, Yendys.

The contents of the December issue.

This issue's feature layout is a small (with a very 'buildable' idea for a 'minimum space' layout) slice of mid-20th century Geelong, featuring the long gone tramways of that rural Victorian city.

Even more impressive is that the layout resides in Canada!

Our occasional Lineside section features some images of three exhibition layouts set in or near Sydney.

It's been a long journey, but we have finally got to the end of Ian Black's comprehensive series on building the NSWGR & VR's 'glamour' train of the 1960s/'70s, the incomparable Southern Aurora. This last installment covers construction of the PHN power cars.

For those who want a nice, simple scratchbuilding project, Maikha Ly shows us how easy it is to build a typical suburban house.

All layouts need something to support them, so David Mitchell presents another way of building baseboards which will be particularly useful to those living in small spaces and/or rented accommodation.

The 'traditional' materials for scratchbuilding are often overlooked these days, given the amazingly versatile materials that are available now, but Barry Lloyd shows that good results can be obtained by 'looking back'...

Our theme for 2013, our 50th Anniversary year, has certainly been 'looking back' and we conclude with part three of our Gallery feature highlighting significant commercial models of the last half century, this time covering the years 1987 to 2012, using photos of the display organised by the AMRA (NSW) branch at the 2012 Liverpool exhibition.

Reviewed in this issue are the SDS Models NSWGR BCW/NSCF bogie cattle wagons and NSWPTC FMW/NRWF F.J.Walker refrigerated wagons, On Track Models NSWGR BOB set passenger cars, Trainorama NSWGR MRC refrigerated cars, Ozrail Models VR L sheep vans and a Chevrolet 'Blitz' truck kit from Times Gone By (all HO scale), plus ready-to-place SAR and VR colour light signals in N scale from San Mateo Line and a power amplifier for the ESU Loksound DCC chip from DCC Solutions.

With six pages of reviews, plus the article content and eight pages of new product news, this issue of AMRM should give our readers some enjoyable holiday reading over Christmas (if you can wait that long!) 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our readers!

Purchase this issue of AMRM as a back issue.

Ring the office on (02) 9311 2036 and have your credit card handy

or

Order a back issue from our website

James McInerney

Production Manager

Back Issues: June 2013

The June 2013 issue of AMRM is now available as a back issue.

The contents of the June issue.

In keeping with the 'looking back' theme of our 50th anniversary year, this issue's feature layout is Andrew Collier's 'under construction' VR suburban layout, Glenburn, set in the 1920s/'30s and showing that a 'non-standard' era layout is eminently buildable with intelligent selection of commercial products and some scratchbuilding.

We continue Bob Gallagher's three-part history of AMRM with the second part, covering the 'middle years' when great changes occurred and AMRM nearly disappeared due to a disaster that occurred when the printer burnt down in 1980!

Those building their own Southern Aurora will be pleased to read the fifth part of Ian Black's magnum opus, covering construction of the MHN passenger brake vans.

We also have the second part of Peter Jarvis's article on constructing a NSWGR water tank.

For those 'south of the border' we have a Prototype File on the VR's Castlemaine B signal box. The author, John Gilbert, will follow this up in a future issue with the construction of an HO scale model based on the box.

John Burford, a regular contributor, has penned an 'autobiography' of his 50 years in the model railway hobby, paralleling the development of the hobby over the last half century.

With great topicality, Ben O'Malley has written a 'how to' guide on fitting a DCC chip to the recently released Auscision 73 class.

This issue's Gallery features photographs from the 2012 Adelaide Model Railway Show by well-known photographer (and airman), Maikha Ly.

All this, plus many smaller, though no less useful, articles should make our 300th issue one to remember!

Eleven pages of reviews and new product news should keep you up to date with developments in the commercial side of the hobby. We review the Auscision 422 and 73 class locomotives, the Wuiske/Haskell r-t-r QR QSC/QSCW/QLCP vans, the ILM RU 'dress-up' kit and two new books from Train Hobby.

Purchase this issue of AMRM as a back issue.

Ring the office on (02) 9311 2036 and have your credit card handy

or

Order a back issue from our website

James McInerney

Production Manager

Back Issues: February 2013

The February 2013 issue of AMRM is now available as a back issue.

The contents of the February  issue

By way of preparation to mark our 50th year of publication, we are featuring Brian Rowling's (of Rowlingstock Productions fame) amazing O scale layout, which features models built by Brian (and others) over the last 60 years.

The general contents of this issue cover the usual wide range of topics including the next chapter in Ian Black's definitive work describing the construction of the NSWGR and VR's

Southern Aurora in HO scale. This issue covers the construction of the BCS lounge cars.

Those wishing to 'individualise' some of the excellent r-t-r NSW stock wagons that have been released recently will find these two articles to be of interest. 

The non-NSW modellers have not been forgotten, with an article showing how to model one of the many variations of VR four-wheeled open wagons.

Rural produce appears to be a bit of a theme in this issue, with how to model wool traffic covered in this article, equally applicable to all Australian systems.

Railway infrastructure/ layout construction has not been forgotten either, with this simple 'how to' on wiring a turntable.

All this, along with Beyond the Fence, Superintendent's Notebook, a Detail Hound, plus articles on theft prevention and masking models for painting should keep the modelling bench active for quite some time!

This issue's Gallery features some very inspirational models from a time period not often featured, the 1970s.

Thirteen pages pages of reviews and new product news should provide plenty of purchasing temptation (don't read if you have run out of money over Xmas!) Items reviewed in this issue include: IDR Models NSWGR BPV powder van and Model Etch VR Q bogie flat wagon kits, r-t-r NSWGR MHG goods brakevans from Trainorama and NSWGR OCY container flats from SDS, plus ILM screw couplers, a laser cut house kit and the latest book from Train Hobby.

Purchase this issue of AMRM as a back issue.

Ring the office on (02) 9311 2036 and have your credit card handy

or

Order a back issue from our website

James McInerney

Production Manager

Back Issues: October 2012 AMRM

The October 2012 issue of AMRM is now available as a back issue.
 

The contents of the October  issue

As is traditional for the October issue the layout article features John Dennis's excellent photography, returning this year to the narrow gauge theme with Peter Knife's HOn3.5 home layout, Minnipa, based on the prototype location on South Australia's Eyre Peninsula.

Continuing Ian Black's definitive work describing the construction of the NSWGR and VR's Southern Aurora in HO scale is the chapter in the story, describing the construction of the RMS dining cars.

 

A completed RMS dining car. Photo by Ian Black.

The next part to be published will describe the BCS lounge cars.

 

 

Craig Veitch returns with part three of his series describing the construction of his layout.

 

 



Continuing the 'construction' theme is an article by new author, Christopher Jewell, describing the conversion of a proprietary kit into a model not available commercially.

This issue's three page Gallery features some fine modelling by author and EMU expert, Roy Howarth, describing some of the models he has constructed, set in a period somewhat neglected by modellers.

 

 

 

All this, plus Beyond the Fence and over eighteen pages of reviews and new product news, including the latest from manufacturers great and small in three scales.

 

Purchase this issue of AMRM as a back issue.

Ring the office on (02) 9311 2036 and have your credit card handy

or

Order a back issue from our website

James McInerney

Production Manager

Back Issues: August 2012

The August 2012 issue of AMRM is now available as a back issue.

The contents of the August  issue

The feature layout in this issue is David Low's exhibition layout Eskbank, which feature a fabulous collection of 19th century NSWGR trains, built by David and the members of his operating group.

Following on from last issue is part 2 of Ian Black's definitive work describing the construction of the NSWGR and VR's fabulous Southern Aurora in HO scale.

This chapter completes the construction of the NAM sleeping cars and covers the LAN and DAM sleepers that also formed part of the trains consist.

A completed NAM sleeper. Photo by Ian Black.

The next part, to be published in the October issue, describes the RMS dining cars.

And now for something completely different, a building article with a bonus!

The article not only describes the construction of the building, but also includes full colour drawings that can either be used as a plan to scratchbuild the structure, or scanned/photocopied from the magazine and assembled as a kit!

A lower resolution version of the drawings is also available for download from the

Modelling the Railways of Queensland website:  

http://qldrailheritage.com/mrqc/

This issue also sees another of the popular Branchline Ramblings from Ron Cunningham, plus some simpler construction articles for those who may find building a complete Southern Aurora set a little daunting!

This issue's Gallery features just some of the amazing work that appeared at the most recent Modelling the Railways of South Australia convention.

All this, plus the usual supporting features and fifteen pages of reviews and new product news, including reviews of the latest offerings from Austrains, Eureka and Auscision.

Purchase this issue of AMRM as a back issue.

Ring the office on (02) 9311 2036 and have your credit card handy

or

Order a back issue from our website

James McInerney

Production Manager

Back Issues: June 2012 AMRM

The June 2012 issue of AMRM is now available as a back issue.

The contents of the June issue

The feature layout is the Tumut Railway Modellers exhibition layout in HO scale depicting the long-closed Tumut and Gilmore stations.

This issue's feature article is part 1 of Ian Black's magnum opus on building the entire Southern Aurora in HO scale.

The first part covers the preliminaries and gets into construction of the NAM sleeping cars.

The next part, to be published in the August issue, completes the construction of the NAM cars, as well as the LAN and DAM sleepers.

On the other side of the continent, Phil Knife has been scratchbuilding WAGR steam locomotives, providing information that is of use to any scratchbuilding project, not just the prototypes described!

Infrastructure has not been overlooked in this issue, Warren Miller has adapted a European kit to represent the NSWGR's Victorian era locomotive sheds that handled the needs of the Department's steam locomotives near Redfern for over 80 years.

This issue's Gallery highlights the amazing work being done in N and T scale by skilled Victorian modeller, Paul Blake.

All this, plus the usual supporting features and seventeen pages of reviews and new product news, including the latest from Australia's own 'mini Nurnburg', the Hobson's Bay exhibition at Collingwood Vic, which was held over Easter.

Purchase this issue of AMRM as a back issue.

Ring the office on (02) 9311 2036 and have your credit card handy

or

Order a back issue from our website

James McInerney

Production Manager