# A great site for the anal modeler



## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

For the few of you who care about such stuff, the CC Crow site has a lot of great tips on painting, weathering, mold making and other esoteric, time-consuming topics. BTW, C.C. Crow is know for his hydrocal building kits, which include a neat Rio Grande?? roundhouse, and other structures. But not in large scale.


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## smcgill (Jan 2, 2008)

Joe do you have the web site name or an address?


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## c nelson (Dec 18, 2008)

Joe, this thread title is a little scary?


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Here ya go

FINE HYDROCAL CASTINGS
BY C. C. CROW[/b]


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## NTCGRR (Jan 2, 2008)

Pretty anal thread!!!!


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By c nelson on 12/26/2008 6:03 AM
Joe, this thread title is a little scary?




Ergh, agh, I cannot think of any joke reply I could post that would not risk some sort of banishment from MLS.......


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## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

I knew when I wrote it, that the thread title was risque, but then I thought, "What the heck?" Now I know better. I guess I'll start using the term, "rivet counters," although I'm sure someone will find a double entendre meaning in that. Garrett, my man, be a little daring and see if you can...um, I better not say any more 'cause anything I say won't sound proper. 

OK, for the literal among you, what I'm sayin' is youse should all type in CCCrow.com, go to his sight and read about the neat buildings he sells for people who have better eyesight than me and love trains that you can carry in yer pocket rather than haul around in your Tahoe. Yez can also learn how to weather stuff, photograph yer trains and there's even Crow's 2 cents worth on what it takes to make $100,000 selling custom model kits (start with $200,000, he says).  

Now consider yerselfs informed.


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## Engineercub (Oct 18, 2008)

The bad thing about free speech is that everyone loves the concept of it but hates the responsibility that goes with it. They think it should only apply to them and that they should be able to make a crass joke about someone or something and not have to take responsibility for the repercussions. Unfortunately for them, we all share that same right. The object of the joke has the same right to get offended by the joke as the perpetrator has to make the joke. It's called cause and effect. If you are going to make a joke that could potentially get you banished from MLS, maybe you should keep it to yourself. That is MLS taking responsibility of protecting it's members, not picking on someone for wanting the spotlight for a minute to tell an offensive joke. Your mother said it best.... "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."

Just my 2 cents.

-Will


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## NTCGRR (Jan 2, 2008)

I thought Dwight came from the plant Uranis?? Is that how its spelled. 
Or should we just move on before I get a steaming from Dwight.?? 
Back to the shop.


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By joe rusz on 12/26/2008 1:20 PM
I knew when I wrote it, that the thread title was risque, but then I thought, "What the heck?" Now I know better. I guess I'll start using the term, "rivet counters," although I'm sure someone will find a double entendre meaning in that. Garrett, my man, be a little daring and see if you can...um, I better not say any more 'cause anything I say won't sound proper. 






I did the rivet couting thing back in the past. Mostly freight car stuff an diesels, most Eastern and South Eastern US in protoype. The final tango was being a partner in the development of the guide and convention presentation for the NC&StL for prototype car freight car modelling. I did get a really neat pulpwood rack out of that project made of a cut down 36' boxcar.


Hours of research and work into each model and stacks of books and photos for modelling. You can quickly tie up $100 in an HO plastic or resin freight car kit and about as many hours. I did some really neat stuff, learned some neat tricks, but where does it end? It ends with projects that will never be completed because the correct truck, brakewheel, ladder, etc. does not exist. 


On the road for work? I would load up and take a project. There is a Residence Inn room in Rosemont, IL that I am willing to bet that still has resin dust in the carpet from of banging out a pair of Tennessee Central boxcars.


So what do I have to show for it? Some CN boxcar that I am the only one in the entire state can tell you what is right and wrong about it? What does this gain? 


Been there, done that, got the ribbons and dust collecting shelf queens to prove it, and as many half done projects and unbuilt plastic and resin kits in boxes.


Life changed, had kids and found out there was more to life than my old wood desk and files of info. It just was not fun anymore. 


Ever since I was a kid, I was infatuated with narrow gauge and European railways. So now I have at least some focus.
And heck, European prototype stuff is so much more interesting to me than the US stuff, they had flowerboxes on their stations afterall!

OK, as far as the free speach.....here is the joke:

Only the anal modeller can tell you if there is a hyphen before the retentive!


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

I thought Dwight came from the plant Uranis?? Is that how its spelled.
No... it's spelled "Uranus" and in the astronomical community, is generally pronounced "*YOUR*-eh-nus" or "your-*AHH*-nus" to avoid juvenile jokes from the Beavis and Butt-Head crowd. hehehe









BTW, not to be "anal" about it, but it's a "planet", not a "plant."


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## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

I still like a.r. and while I won't use it on MLS (perhaps "obsessive" is more P.C.), I still think it applies to some of us like myself. Or C.C. Crow, the guy I mentioned earlier. When I dug out the November 2000 issue of Model Railroader and read his article on how to make your own hydrocal castings, I learned that the in doing the Orbisionia firehouse, he scribed a gazillion lines into his casting to simluate individual bricks, using a pointy thingy, a machinist's square and a ruler. And it took him only a weekend, he said. It looks great and anyone who buys his HO kit should be thankful for C.C.'s effort. But I don't have the patience for such a task, although Peter Bunce--he of the great-looking chimney as seen on the "Buildings" section--seems to have the proper qualifications (talent, patience).

BTW, I don't think you could cast a hydrocal building in large scale because the surface area would be so huge the dang thing would probably crack. But you might do it in some other medium...


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

Hydrocal can be used in large scale. A friend did a roundhouse with the stuff. I want to say he used nylon screen as a reinforcement, but can't remember exactly. The one thing you don't want to do with hydrocal and large scale is use it outdoors! Hydrocal (and plaster-of-paris, Durham's water putty, etc.) is a gypsum-based product, and gypsum doesn't really react well to water. Actually, it reacts very well with water, which is where the problem lies. Water will make rather quick work of the walls, leaving you with a pitted, sad looking shell of what once was. No, sealing it with polyurethane or other varnishes doesn't help. 

Later, 

K


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## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

Hmm, so maybe I should sharpen my awl, get out my steel ruler and square, and start carving? There's a brick, single-stall engine house that was once sold my Mesamodels, that I have been admiring...


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## barnmichael (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Dwight Ennis on 12/27/2008 3:17 PM
I thought Dwight came from the plant Uranis?? Is that how its spelled.
No... it's spelled "Uranus" and in the astronomical community, is generally pronounced "*YOUR*-eh-nus" or "your-*AHH*-nus" to avoid juvenile jokes from the Beavis and Butt-Head crowd. hehehe









BTW, not to be "anal" about it, but it's a "planet", not a "plant."













I thought the plant Uranis was some kind of Orchid.


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