I cut out the area where I wanted the ice house  to go as I found out that the ice house had been set for the height of track plus cork.  I lowered the model by the amount needed and used strips of cardboard to build the structure for the plaster cloth.   I used hot glue and staples to hold the pieces together and to the edges of the table.

The nice thing about using hot glue and staples was that you don’t have to wait very long for it to set.  This was my first attempt at using plaster cloth, before I had used the paper towel and plaster of paris method.  I was quite impressed by this product for several reasons.  The first was the ease of use, you simply cut a portion (or tear, which I found to be too messy) dip it in water and drape it in place.  I made sure to overlap each area with two layers going in different directions for added strength.  The second reason I was so impressed with this product was the complete lack of mess (ok a couple small drips, but that was it) compared to the previous methods.

Another tool that I recently acquired was the magnetic gluing jig from Micro-Mark.  This is a very simple tool in that it is just a metal plate with edges bent up at 90 degrees, and some magnets for holding pieces.  Using magnets this way allows infinite variation in how they are placed to hold pieces next to each other.

I used this jig in the construction of a recent plastic model.  Since I was using a solvent type glue, this jig allowed me to assemble the parts and hold them in place before applying the glue.

For helping in creating square corners this tool was excellent.

• Overall: 9.5
• Instructions: 10
• Value for price: 10
• Overall quality: 9

At the San Leandro Historic Railway Society’s winter show I won a Kato NW2 switcher from the raffle.  I am happy to say that this model turned out pretty well, and runs nicely on DC.  Unfortunately is was very difficult to install the decoder for DCC in this model, as no room is available inside of the model.  I was forced to mill out a portion of the weight under the hood to allow enough room for a N scale decoder from NCE. On the plus side the Kadee couplers I used to replace the horn-hook style couplers included with the model slid right into the existing pockets once I assembled them.

Two different options for the exhaust stacks were included, indicating the phase one and phase two (as built).  The detail parts were crisply molded and easily installed, with only minor enlarging of a couple of holes.  The directions were very clear and used diagrams of both the model and the parts sprues indicating the location for each part.  For the smaller parts duplicates were included in case of damage.  The directions stated that these parts could be just snapped into place, however I used Zap-A-Gap to make sure they would not fall out.  The lights use yellow LED’s, which I admit look a little strange – and I will be changing them out eventually.

Other than the difficulty in installing a DCC decoder into this model I would have given it top marks.

• Overall: 7
• Provided parts: 10
• Instructions: 10
• Value for price: 7
• Overall quality: 8

This kit is the first one from InterMountain Railway Company I have built.  Having only built simple Athearn kits before I was pleasantly surprised to open the box and find a model of so many parts, all of which were crisply molded.  The sprues contained no flash  The multi-page assembly instructions and the included exploded diagrams made for easy identification and installation location of parts.

On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being worst, I would rate this kit as follows:

• Overall: 9
• Provided parts: 10
• Instructions: 10
• Value for price: 9
• Overall quality: 8

This was a fun kit, would not recommend for a first build due to the fragile parts, but an excellent kit for all the details included.

I recently purchased a very useful tool at my local hobby shop.  The Chopper II, made by Northwest Short Line, is a device for cutting scale lumber.  By using a rigid blade on a pivot it allows you to make straight cuts on scale lumber up to 1/4″.  This version has a self healing mat on the cutting surface, which should add considerable life to the tool.

By using the stops that come with it making duplicate cuts is very easy, allowing for large numbers of identical pieces to be cut quickly.

• Overall: 10
• Provided parts: 10
• Instructions: 10
• Value for price: 9
• Overall quality: 10