redwood empire division april - june 2014 callboard2. be able to focus within about 4” or less...
TRANSCRIPT
REDWOOD EMPIRE DIVISION APRIL - JUNE 2014!
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In this Edition !
Front Office!Page 3!!
Show and Tell!Page 5 !!
2nd Part of!Photography and Model Railroading!
Page 6!!Hobby Shop!
Reopens in SR!Page 8!!
Clinic Map!Page 7!!
Tips and Techniques!
Page 9!!!!!!!
CALLBOARDAn exciting meeting is setup for May 17th at Monroe Hall on College Avenue in Santa Rosa. Dave Grundman has put together a clinic that will introduce the various methods of operations for your layout. Jim Providenza will lead this part of the clinic and Tom Swearingen has graciously opened his new HO scale SP layout so that you can get a first hand experience using the techniques that were discussed in the clinic. Note that the business meeting will be short so we can devote most of the afternoon to the clinic and operating on Tom’s layout. The meeting will start at 12:00 noon and lunch sandwiches and drinks are available. A map to Tom’s house is presented on Page 7.
Introduction to Layout Operations
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Director’s Report Dave Croshere
!Empire Staff Roster !
DIRECTOR Dave Croshere
1331 Enos Avenue Sebastopol, CA (707) 829-9220
E-mail- [email protected] !!SUPERINTENDENT
Dick Foster 219 Avenida Barbera,
Sonoma CA 95476 707-935-6215
E-mail: [email protected] !!CHIEF CLERK
Verne Alexander 907 Grouse Lane
Petaluma, CA 94954 (707) 763-9072
E-mail: [email protected] !!CONTESTS
Giuseppe Aymar 1330 Medical Center Drive Rohnert Park, CA 94928
E-mail: [email protected] !MEMBERSHIP Gus Campagna
1915 William Dr Penngrove CA 94957-9524
E-mail :[email protected] !NOMINATIONS
Open !ACHIEVEMENT PROGRAM
Giuseppe Aymar 1330 Medical Center Drive Rohnert Park, CA 94928
E-mail: [email protected] !ESTATE COUNSELOR
Don Clauder 305 Garfield Park, Santa Rosa, CA 95409
(707)539-3510 !CALLBOARD EDITOR
Dick Foster 219 Avenida Barbera,
Sonoma CA 95476 707-935-6215
E-mail: [email protected] !
Steve Lewis is an active NMRA member, a member of the Coastal Valley Lines (CVL) and he operates with the same notorious group on Wednesday nights that I do. Steve has expressed to me the desire to better acquaint the DCC operating system to his CVL group. They have tried DCC on occasion with their modular setups, but Steve felt the full benefit of DCC comes to the front with an operating session. As in four or five locos all vying for the same trackage while picking up and dropping off cars at sidings. I agreed to host an abbreviated ops session for a beginning group. We met at my house on Saturday March 15th. A basic description of how we try to simulate the business running a railroad started the meeting. We introduced point to point operations and we talked about how the layout function. We talked about why we use car cards and how this prescribes where freight cars are to be located. With this new info firmly in their heads they were sent into the train room. Steve and I planned and laid out a very basic ops format. Each operator would start with a simple task of picking and dropping one or two cars, turning at the prescribed town and returning to their point of origin. With the help of Peter Barnes and Dick Foster acting as mentors to their fellow CVL members this went quiet smoothly. As the first phase was concluding we assigned more challenging tasks to whomever was up for idea.brought their own
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A Message from the Front Office
as simple or as complex as you want. The main thing to remember is “Have Fun”. Dave Croshere is going to ask for each of you to suggest what you would like to see as the summer meeting picnic. No matter how wild the idea, throw it out there and maybe we can make it work with some modifications. All of us work hard to make these meetings informative and fun, but it is you, the member who really benefits and it would be great to have some variety in what we do with the summer meeting. Think it over and be prepared to offer your help and in put. Thanks -- DF
I am sorry to report that I won’t be at the May 17th meeting. Our granddaughter is graduating as a nurse from college and that is more important, to us than trains. I will miss the introduction to operations which your Events Chairman and the rest of the board hopes to be an outstanding presentation and just the beginning of a new series of clinics and operating sessions that will increase the fun and joy of model railroading. Just building a layout and watching the trains go round and round soon wears thin. But with new advances in DCC, smoother running engines coupled with well designed layouts, operations are the key to bringing your layout to life and making it
locos and rolling stock to run on the layout. We had ten CVL members two of whom were under the age on eighteen. It was good to see young people put my train gear through its paces. For me this was an enjoyable day. I met and was able to get to know some of the CVL members better and introduce them to a different aspect of of model railroading. Dave Croshere
Superintendent’s Thoughts
Meeting!May 17, 2014!
12:00 PM!Monroe Hall!
“Introduction to Operations”
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Niles Canyon
!Musings from Giuseppe on RED
“Spring has sprung” and so undoubtedly has our enthusiasm for a renewed and fresh approach to participating in the RED activities. The success of RED is totally and completely based on the participation of our members. Each one of us enriches the meetings ( Oh no, I should not refer to it as meeting; our members, younger than 40, will be turned off!!!!!). Let’s try again. Each one of us enriches the “socially interactive, technology sharing and acutely informative get-togethers” that are offered by RED for our members’ benefits. Being that attending is a benefit and not a requirement, participation is rather mediocre; we do usually count on 20 to 25 attendees but for the most part it is the same nucleus of modelers who see a substantial benefit in associating with like minded people.
At the core of these “SI,TS,AI get-togethers” we find our Show&Tell which has been designed not as a competition but rather as a platform for our members to become, even if for a few minutes, teachers and perhaps showmen, exhibiting to others work that is interesting, unique and challenging that otherwise would reside unappreciated on our workbenches or locked in binders or photo-albums (computer files with today’s digital photography). We all have projects that have been started, are in the middle of or have been completed; we never think of showing them to others fearing it is NOT GOOD ENOUGH. Now, remember we have a fresh new approach to modeling, thus we have decided it is time to dust all these projects and bring them to the Show&Tell. Tell us about your project, the agony and the ecstasy of working on it, how you would solve a problem you encountered, would you do things differently if you had to do it again; this personal interaction could be the spark or catalyst for someone in the audience to decide to start or finish or change direction on their unfinished work.
Show and Tell is open to anyone and to all kinds of work, be models, photos or crafts; we do not define specific categories that would narrow the scope. It should be a celebration of our love for this Hobby of ours.
! Go RED, Go RED
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RED Meeting February 22, 2014
!“Show & Tell”
Overview and Tour of NWP Historical Society
Facilities
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(continued from last month - excerpts from the following pdf publication)!!
A MODEL RAILROADER’S GUIDE !TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY !
By Brooks Stover, MMR !!
A key to taking good photographs of layouts is using a camera with the right capabilities!!!!!
Camera Requirements !A digital camera for taking layout photos must have the following features or capabilities: !
1. Allow manual selection of the aperture (the lens opening or f-stop) !2. Be able to focus within about 4” or less from the end of the lens (the closer the better) !
3. An autofocus mechanism that allows manual selection of the focus point !4. A ‘delayed release’ or remote release feature so you don’t have to be touching the
camera while a picture is taken !5. Ability to take photos at a minimum of 8 megapixels of resolution !
6. A provision for attaching to a tripod !In today’s market, most cameras with these capabilities will also have the ability to
manually set the white balance and the ability to manually set the ISO (sensitivity to light). Most will also have a lens with an adjustable focal length, although focal lengths from about 25mm-100mm (measured as 35mm camera equivalent, see pg. 23) are all that are
typically needed for layout photographs. !There is a large variety of camera styles in a wide and with a wide array of features and
prices.!!Pocket Point and Shoot – These small cameras will fit in your pocket and have non-
interchangeable lenses. Their close focusing capabilities vary. Not all in this category have the required manual control of aperture, but many do. Most have fixed rear LCD
(Liquid Crystal Display) screens for framing the picture. !
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Super Zoom – Cameras in this relatively new class look like small DSLRs (Digital Single Lens Reflex) but have non-interchangeable lens. The class is defined by lenses that have a very
large focal length range (not needed for layout photography but great for other types of photography). These generally have good close-focusing capability. !
Fujifilm HS30EXR and Panasonic Lumix FZ47 !!Compact DSLR – These are slightly smaller than DSLRs (below) but are similarly
configured and have interchangeable lenses. Many have articulated LCD screens. Close-focusing capability is determined by the lens selected. !
Canon T3i and Nikon P5200 !!Full Frame DSLR – These are large, “professional grade”, full-featured cameras with the
largest sensors available and interchangeable lenses. Close focusing capability is determined by the lens selected. !
Canon EOS 5D and Nikon D7000 !! Almost all of the digital photographs that I have had published over the last several years
have been taken with a camera from the first category, Pocket Point and Shoot, that I
Map for May 17th meet at
Tom Swearingen’s
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10% RED Member Discount
Poggies Returns! !
At the last Costal Valley Lines meeting Mark Pogendorff reported that Poggies Hobby Shop has not disappeared. In fact it has
reopened and with new expanded stock. Call Mark and he can give you the open days and times.
Glad to see we have a local hobby shop that can work with us.
Support Your Local Hobby Shop
Is Your Layout Ops Ready? Our May 17th meeting will give you
the chance to discuss how and learn to improve you railroad so you
can enjoy operating sessions
Micro Mark Tool I have ordered one of this cool corner cutters for scratch building structures and making accurate window openings, Will let the readers know the result next issue. About $25.00 on-line.
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REDWOOD EMPIRE DIVISION JANUARY - MARCH 2014
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