October 2009 - On Top of the World Communities Info

8 The World News® October 2009ModelRailroadersJim DevineIn order to have a realistic model railroad,you must have realistic scenery. Creatingscenery requires an artistic flair thatsome model railroaders have, and othersdo not. The On Top of the World ModelRailroader’s Club has some members whoare especially gifted in this area.Would you believe that the mountainson our layout are made out of sheets ofStyrofoam? The sheets are one or twoinches wide and are glued together tobuild up the mountains. They are shapedusing hot wires, knives or saws.Hot wires are fairly new to the hobby.A wire is heated between two arms of a“y-shaped” tool and the wire cuts throughthe Styrofoam like a “hot knife throughbutter.” The hot wire doesn’t just cut theStyrofoam; it can also be used to createStay Informed!www.ontopoftheworldinfo.com/stayinformedstrata in the mountain’s rock face. Clubmember Gary Mowry held lessons in hisgarage to show us how to use this tool.The mountains are painted and stained.Stains are extremely watered down paints.Stains are used to make artificial rockslook like real rocks, giving them the propercolor and bringing out their cracks andcrevices. It also can be used to bring outthe details on buildings.The rocks on the layout are eithermade of Styrofoam, plaster castings orrocks. That’s right; some of our rocks arereal rocks. Small pebbles become boulderson a model railroad layout.You may think that all model railroadgrass is the same. In fact, just like in thereal world, model grass comes in a widevariety of colors and lengths. The vividgreen grass that you see on a golf courseor a perfectly manicured lawn is very differentthan the grass that you see in openfields or a non-perfectly manicured lawnlike mine. Special care has to be taken topick the right grass to put in various areason the layout.You also have choices to make with thetrees that you put on a layout. Trees alsocome in various types, sizes and colors.You need to choose the proper trees foryour layout based on the part of the countrythat you are modeling (i.e., no palmtrees in an Alaskan setting).You also have to decide what timeof year you are going to model. Do youwant a summer setting with lots of greenleaves, a fall foliage explosion of colors,or a winter scene with few, if any leaves?As I said, all this requires a lot of decisions,and an artistic flair.Our monthly club meetings are heldat 9 a.m. on the first Wednesday of everymonth in Meeting Room #3 (Poker Room)of the Arts and Crafts Building. You’reinvited to join us if you’re interested inbecoming a member of the On Top of theWorld Model Railroader’s Club.For additional information, contactHud Huddleston, the club’s president, at861-6221 or hhuddleston2@cfl.rr.com.Photo by M. Keith NadelTed and Ladybird Diane Pope with the Britten-Norman Islander.R/C FlyersM. Keith NadelSitting under the pavilion on a cloudlesssummer morning with the slightestof breezes, which failed to alter the limpwindsock, listening as pilots took off andlanded amongst applause and catcalls, Iwas pleased and comforted by this bandof brothers sharing their life experiences.Thanks to Jim Ellis and his small crew,the field was beautifully sculptured, and Ireturned to my task of interviewing two ofmy brother pilots, Ted Pope, current clubvice president and sometimes instructorand Dick Rose, master instructor. Thesetwo were selected as they both have greathearts and to whom this writer and othersare gratefully indebted.Ted Pope hails from Hopkinton, Mass.and has been crafting airplanes for 70years. Ted retired as a board certifiedanesthesiologist, is multilingual, havingspent six and a half years in Germanyduring WWII, and recalls his first scalestatic display plane was made of woodand cardboard. He then discovered thatconstructing models was far more funthan playing with them. He did not getinto building successfully powered flyingmodels until 50 years later. His CandlerHills home is replete with ships’ modelsunder glass.A graduate of Boston University MedicalSchool, after a surgical internship andone year of surgical residency, Ted servedin the Navy as a medical officer aboardthe USS Los Angeles CA 135. His wife, Diane,a Ladybird, has her RN.Ted’s newest plane is a 92-inch wingspan twin engine green and white Britten-Norman BN-2A Islander, built from enlargedModel Airplane News plans.Dick Rose, originally from Minneapolis,earned and received degrees in IndustrialTechnology, Industrial Education and didpost graduate work in engineering, businessand political science. Like Ted, he isboth engaging and knowledgeable.Dick served as an Aircraft Engineeringand Maintenance Air Force officer for 23years. He was responsible for C-130s, F-4s,F-16s and the A-10s, which were highlyeffective in the first Gulf War. Upon retirementfrom the USAF, he joined GeneralElectric Aircraft Engines as programmanager with responsibility for the B-1and B-2 bomber engines.At the field, he flew his Wild Hare 50 ccEdge 540 with an 84-inch wingspan whilea seated chorus of pilots cheered.Dick has been a flight instructor forseven years, three of which are here at theOn Top of the World RC Flyers Club. Witha remarkable display of patience and superbskill, he worked with the writer whofinally soloed in Dec. 10, 2007.A number of pilots in this and his formerclub owe their flying skills and loveof flight to this gifted teacher whose expertisewill be extended the forthcomingNov. 7 when he will co-chair, with CharlieSmith, the main event of this year, the NovemberFun Fly. This event attracts flyerswith a wide variety of aircrafts and offersa great spectator experience. Flying startsat 9 a.m. and there is some great food anda 50/50 raffle with a guaranteed winner’spurse of at least $100.