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//-->N Scale Modellerwww.nscale.org.auIssue 2 ~ December 2009• 11th National N Scale Convention report• Installing a DCC decoder into an Atlas Two-Truck Shay• Wire and stock fence posts in NN Scale ModellerThe Founding of “N Scale Modellers Australia”A national N scale organisation was first mooted at the plenary session of the 1995 National N ScaleConvention. An incorporated body proposal was floated during 2000 but did not gain sufficient support.Although discussed by members of the 2003 and 2005 National N Scale Convention committees, itwas not until 2007 that representatives from various clubs/groups were appointed at the 10th NationalN Scale Convention to be members of a steering committee to investigate the forming of a cooperativenational organisation.The steering committee discussed matters via email over the Internet. The findings of the steering committee werediscussed at a forum at the 11th National N Scale Convention held in Canberra in October 2009 and recommendationswere then presented at the plenary session. The delegates voted unanimously to form a national N scale organisation“N Scale Modellers Australia”.N Scale Modellers Australia (NSMA) is to be managed by a Secretary and a Vice-Secretary and the role is to, 1) createand maintain a portal (gateway) website for N scale modelling in Australia, and 2) to keep Convention records andrecommendations for Conventions. The delegates appointed the following: Secretary: Graham Cocks (SA), and Vice-Secretary: Ian Sprent (NSW). The term of Office is for two years (or Conventions span) and the occupants are eligiblefor re-election.Contact points will be the forthcoming Convention Convenor and representatives from known recognised N scaleclubs/groups/SIGs. Duties will be honorary and liaison will normally be conducted via Internet communications. Theportal website will include links to such things as clubs, groups, Convention, resource sites, forums, modular systems,publications, etc. In particular, it will be the host website for the N Scale Modeller publication. (the only payment will bethe registration of the portal website domain name and that payment will come from the remaining community moneyin Australian N Scale Newsletter which published various hard-copy publications)An additional aspect to all of this is that Australia can now be represented in the International N scale scene as NSMA,as a national representative of N scale modellers in Australia, can be a member of INGA-NET (International N-GaugeAssociation NETwork).Publication TeamGraham CocksTrevor MayDavid BromagePublished by nscale.org.auEmail..............................................nsm@nscale.org.au______________________________Articles may not be copied or reprinted without thepermission of the respective authors. Orginal articles inthis publication may not be copied or reprinted withoutthe permission of the publisher. The publisher accepts noresponsibility for articles submitted by contributors.Modellers wishing to submit articles should take noteof the following technical requirements. Photos must beforwarded as separate items:1. Text may be submitted using Word or plain text by emailif it’s a short item. We can do the formatting.2. Photos to be in JPG (JPEG) format. 300dpi or better. Wecan reduce the size if necessary.3. Text should indicate where a photo should be inserted,eg. (Fig 1 placed here)Assistance with article preparation is available from theTeam if required.All correspondence and submissions is via the publication’semail address:nsm@nscale.org.auContents11th National N Scale Convention .............................3Product News ............................................................8Wire and Stock Fences in N Scale ...........................11Exhibition reports .....................................................14Cover:‘Sydney Central’ layout by Ross Balderson. (Photo:Ross Balderson)2www.nscale.org.auInstalling a TCS M1 DCC Decoder into anAtlas Two-Truck Shay ............................................. 16Issue 2 ~ December 200911 National N Scale Conventionthby Graham CocksI was one of the 125 delegates whoattended the 11thNational N ScaleConvention held at the Heritage Hotelconvention venue in Canberra from 16thto 18thOctober. This was the second NConvention to be held in Canberra andsimilar to the 2007 one held in Adelaide ithad on-site hotel/motel accommodation.About half of the delegates used theon-site accommodation facility. Therewere attendees from all States exceptTasmania and of course a considerablenumber from the ACT. Unfortunately,no attendees from overseas this time.Although the mornings were a littlechilly, especially when one was going forbreakfast at 7am, each day was basicallyperfect weather.Photo: Gillian DowlingThe venue was excellent for the activities with the layout and trader display rooms,seminar rooms and refreshment and relaxing areas all adjacent to each other.Competition entries were on display in a glass cabinet for all to see. Continuostea/coffee was on hand as usual and snacks were provided during morning andafternoon session breaks. The wide range of hot and cold food for the luncheonswas certainly appreciated.I had hoped to arrive in Canberra during the early afternoon on the Thursday, but dueto door malfunctions on the aircraft ramps at Tullamarine airport, passengers hadto wait in the aircraft from Adelaide for over a half-hour; so a number of us missedthe Canberra connection. However, there were plenty of seats on the next flight twoand a half hours later and I arrived at the venue in the late afternoon. I collected my‘hand-out kit’ and Convention Shirt.The kit, contained in a bright blue bag with a black stripe, comprised of Conventionmug, Convention Container with logo decal courtesy of Aust-N-Rail, pen courtesyof Feather River Train Shop, key ring with Aussie car courtesy of ROSCO’s Models,Issue 2 ~ December 2009a couple of pewter items courtesy of Kerroby Models, a 50ml bottle of PVA gluecourtesy of EFD Simply Glues, a souvenir railway ticket specifically designed for theConvention (in my case the journey of “Adelaide to Canberra” was printed on genuineSAR card stock), some model railway businesses advertising/price list pamphlets,tourist guide booklet for Canberra, the Convention Folder with the timetable, clinicand layouts visits summary notes, and a neck hung clear plastic name pouch whichalso included a mini-timetable – so convenient for that quick check of what’s on.Additionally, a of clinic presenters’ presentation notes CD could be pre-purchasedfor $5 and would be forwarded after the convention. Quite a number of delegatesand partners attended the “Meet & Greet” session in the evening.After the general registration period on the Friday, the formal welcome by theConvenor, Tom Dowling, included the introduction of the members of the organisingcommittee, informing that 125 people had registered, arrangements for the day’sactivities, a summary by the Steering Committee coordinator, Graham Cocks, re thesteps over the weekend towards the formation of a proposed national organisation,and advising that a raffle of a sponsor donated diesel locomotive was being held to3www.nscale.org.auraise funds towards the seed money for the next Convention.As occurred at the previous N Convention, the prototypes modelling forums wereheld on the first morning to enable modellers with similar prototype interest to getto know each other early-on. The Forums and Clinics were arranged to be held ineither 2 or 3 parallel streams with only a couple of repeats. Two large seminar roomswere used for the more popular presentations and the alcove and poolside room forthe smaller presentations. As usual, the break periods were used for swap, buy &sell by a number of delegates at the tables provided in a couple of areas.The Partners Programme, now a very popular event, had special schedules prepared.These included choices of visits to the War Memorial, new Parliament House andthe National Museum on the Friday, tourist sites on the Saturday morning, and the“Markets” and the “Direct Factory Outlets” on the Sunday morning. In addition,partners were able to attend the Friday evening meal at the ARHS Railway Museumand also to take part in the afternoon layout tours. Generally, partners were pre-booked into the Convention Dinner via delegate registration.The layout display and trader areas were smallish, as often is the case, and only fourlayouts were on display – Sydney Central Station by Ross Balderson, Water Streetby Sydney N Scale MR Club, Lone Star OOO scale models layout by Steve Curryand two T-TRAK modular layouts – a large one which included modules from fourStates (NSW, SA, VIC, WA) and the ACT, and a small one by Bianca and MelindaPallas. Traders in attendance were: Aust-N-Rail, J&J Hobbies, Model RailroadCraftsman, Pallas Hobbies, Peter Boorman’s Workshop, Rail‘N’Thusiast, Runway13, Spirit Design and Tinkering Tools. There were up to four do-it-yourself “buy &sell” tables on the go.The afternoon clinic sessions covered: Hand tools for modelling, Building a layoutfrom scratch using DCC, Making decals with an inkjet printer and Styrene buildingsfor model railways. Coaches then ferried the delegates to the ARHS Railway Museumfor a guided tour. Although the air was fresh and only a very little rain, we were ableto make the walks to view the extensive range of stock exhibited. We also visitedthe on-site ACT Model Railway Society’s club layout in the mail van at the railwaymuseum. Following the tour, three of the kitchen/dining/restaurant carriages wereused for the evening meal; something completely different from the past.The Saturday morning update included the coach arrangements for the afternoonlayouts tour and then it was into the three rounds of the morning clinic sessions.These covered: Introduction to T-TRAK, Styrene buildings for model railways(repeat),Spray painting techniques (including a repeat session), Changing commercial trees,DCC advanced, Operations – train pulling and curves, Landscaping forum andProposed national N scale organisation & hobby future forum.Layout tours got underway after lunch with delegates being transported by threelarge coaches. Home layouts visited were: Peter Dinham’s “Dally Junction” andviewing his “Michelago Station” AusTrak module, John Harriott’s “Tumut to Batlow”and viewing his “Burbong Bridge”, “Mount Vernon” and “Royalla Siding” AusTrakmodules, Des Strusz’s “Gerwig’s Bahnen”, and Mal Risby’s part completed NorthAmerican outline layout.Following the home layouts tour it was a short break beforethe commencement of the Convention Dinner at the HotelHeritage venue. An invited guest was Charles Schuster whowas the Convenor of the first National N Scale Conventionheld in Canberra in 1997. During the evening, awards werepresented, guest speaker spoke and the delegates ‘luckydip’ occurred. The guest speaker was Phil Sochon, DeputyCEO and Manager Government Relations, AustralasianRailway Association who spoke about various nationalaspects of railways including the push to expand interstaterailway transport, railways and carbon emissions, andrailway crossing safety. Modelling competition results wereannounced and the various awards were presented. Thechief judge, Rob Nesbitt presented the competition awardsand the major award, the Dane Parker Memorial PerpetualShield, was presented by the Convenor to Ross Balderson.The competition results and Awards are listed elsewherein this publication. The ‘lucky dip’ for delegates includedIssue 2 ~ December 2009Greg White’s ‘Wallerawang’ was just one of the home layouts visitedby Convention delegates in the afternoons. (Photo: D Bromage)4www.nscale.org.autable bidding prior to ‘dipping’ to raise funds towards the seed money for the nextConvention.An ecumenical prayer and communion service was held early Sunday morningfor those wishing to attend and following the update session re arrangements forthe day the morning sessions began and included: clinics on Weathering track, Abeginner’s adventure into research, Operations – car forwarding, cards & waybills,and a forum on T-TRAK. Immediately following these sessions it was time for theclosing plenary. Special youth encouragement awards were presented and thedelegates voted unanimously to form a national N scale Organisation “N ScaleModellers Australia” which would be managed by a Secretary and Vice-Secretary.Delegates then appointed Graham Cocks (SA) as Secretary and Ian Sprent (NSW)as Vice-Secretary. Following the general round of ‘thank yous’, it was time to confirmthe location of the next Convention. Delegates were informed that neither Tasmanianor Western Australia was able to run one in 2011. The New South Wales N ScaleGroup offered to run one in March or April 2011. No rival bids were made. TheVictorian N Scale Collective offered to run one in 2013 if Tasmania was unable todo so.Following lunch it was time for the final round of the home layouts tour. Four coacheswere used this time as one coach would be skipping the last layout and proceeddirectly to the airport for those who had departure flights booked for the Sundayevening. I was one of those people. Home layouts included: Vance Brown’s “NorthEastern England”, Steve Walker’s “Burlington Northern in the Pacific Northwest”,Greg White’s “Wallerawang” which included two new yard modules built to thenew Australian Free-moN system, and an operating AusTrak modular layout at theTaggart family’s residence which was made up of privately owned and CMNSG-owned modules.Overall, it was a very successful and enjoyable Convention.The forecourt area of Ross Balderson’s ‘Sydney Central’ layout (above), Sydney NScale Model Railway Club’s Water Street (below), and Pete Boorman delivering aclinic on ‘Hand Tools for Modelling’ (below left).(Photos: Glenn Farrell)Issue 2 ~ December 2009www.nscale.org.au5 [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]