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We're an adult-oriented fine scale model building podcast that focuses on the craftsman modeling side of the hobby!
Episodes
Wednesday Jul 10, 2019
Wednesday Jul 10, 2019
We were fortunate enough to have Doug Foscale of FOS Scale Models on this week's mid-week model building toolbox talk to tell us about how we can all use taskboard to create streets, sidewalks, walkways, docks and more.
We've already know about the use of taskboard and actually have started to use it within out city for sidewalks and such, but Doug took the idea and added to it on this episode by giving us some ideas on how we can add more detail by adding simple real-life wear and tear to the taskboard sidewalks and streets.
He covers some really quick and easy methods to create lifted concrete, potholes, and more defects. But not only does he explain a cool way to make them, he also gives us some more golden tips on how to weather them from filling the potholes in with dirt, mod podge and paint to create puddles, static grass tips and more!
Taskboard is such a fun medium to work with on our dioramas and layouts and when you get a sheet or two, it can go a long way when working in our scale or similar sized model railroad scales.
Friday's Episode: Rust Rock Falls Limited Run Kit with Doug Foscale of FOS Scale Models
While you wait for Friday's full-length episode, check out and get your hands on the Rust Rock Falls Limited Run Kit from FOS Scale Models.
Thanks for the modeling tip Doug!
Have you tried using taskboard? Let's hear/see your success stories with it!
Friday Jul 05, 2019
Friday Jul 05, 2019
This week we were very excited to bring Lance Mindheim onto the show! We have had many listeners request us to get Lance on and we finally were able to schedule some time to get together with him and chat modeling with him. Lance provides a lot of great information on his blog at LanceMindheim.com and from his books over at his bookstore (links are on his site for all books).
He also has another great site for his business site over at ShelfLayouts.com, so go over there too and check out more of what Lance has been working on and what he has to offer the model railroading community. On this site you can also sign up for his Newsletter and stay up-to-date on everything he's working on.
We're going to try to get him on again and have a deep dive into a specific topic or two again. We have so much more we want to cover with him and everything we didn't get to ask him yet.
After our time with Lance on this week's episode, we went over all of our usual things like what we're working on, some new thoughts and ideas as well as our What's on Your Bench and Tools of the Week segments.
LAST WEEK'S CONTEST WINNER: LARRY STARK
THIS WEEK'S CONTEST: Submit a photo of a building you've taken or saved from services like Shorpy that you want to build or use as inspiration for a future build. You can submit it to our pinned Facebook Post or email it to podcast@hoscalecustoms.com for a chance to win a small craftsman model railroad kit from RailroadKits.com! Entries due by 11:59:59 EST on Thursday, July 11th.
Wednesday Jul 03, 2019
Wednesday Jul 03, 2019
This week for our mid-week episode we talk about the use of the American Flag (and other international flags) in your models and model railroads. There is also an importance to make sure you're using the right American Flag for the era that you're modeling! For more on the different versions of the flag that our nation has used you can check out this site on the American Flag historical timeline. There's some really wildly different versions from the 50 star version we're used to today!
For us we're going to have to use a 48 star version that was used in the early 1940's.
We also go into a wider topic from this original one of using the appropriate cultural artwork for the time period and region that you're modeling! Wouldn't it be cool if you were modeling the 1980's and you threw some old 80's hair band concert posters into your city?
Let's see how you're incorporating the culture of the time of your layout! Tag us in some pics on instagram, twitter, or post those pics to our Facebook!
Have a safe & happy Independence Day!
Friday Jun 28, 2019
Friday Jun 28, 2019
Last weekend was a VERY special weekend for us and a lot of other great modelers that we met. We got to tour George Sellios' Franklin & South Manchester layout and meet & talk with George!
On-top of that, we also got the chance to visit Doug Foscale and hang out with him for a while on Friday afternoon. Doug showed us his shop where all the work behind the FOS Scale Models kits are created and it was a really cool stop that just added even more to the whole experience we had all weekend. Thanks again Doug!
We also had a ton of fun opening an awesome care package from Dan Pugatch (if you haven't already, you should go like his facebook page here: Breakwater Branch). We can't thank you enough Dan and my dad and I will be sure to enjoy some of the beverages this Friday evening as we work on the layout!
FREE KIT CONTEST WINNER: Dazzy Jay
THIS WEEK'S CONTEST: For you chance to win a kit from RailroadKits.com and some other goodies, post a pic or email it to podcast@hoscalecustoms.com of your favorite railroad line, real or one that you model! It can be current, historical, international, made-up, whatever! Also if you can or want, explain what makes that your favorite railroad line! Enter by email or comment on the pinned post on our facebook page. Entries must be in by Thursday, July 4th at 11:59:59 EST.
Thursday Jun 27, 2019
Thursday Jun 27, 2019
Our recent visit to see George Sellios' Franklin & South Manchester brought a TON and I mean a TON of ideas into my sights that I want to attempt on our own layout.
Now, I am realistic and I know that it will never look like what we saw this weekend and any attempt to do so will either end up looking like a blatant copy OR will never be what his layout is. But what I can do is take his techniques and apply them to our own layout in our own way to make our personal layout better.
So my first takeaway is going to be the use of mirrors in a couple tunnels within our city. I got a couple cheap makeup mirrors from the local dollar store and will pop them out to use for the tunnels/underpass scenes.
I want to challenge our listeners to try to do the same thing! Get some cheap mirrors like I did (because there's no sense paying more than a dollar or two for them) and giving this a shot! OR if you have done this already, send us some pics!
Note: The cover photo and photo in the show description were taken by Brett Wiley (myself) and are the original work of George Sellios on his Franklin & South Manchester Layout.
Friday Jun 21, 2019
Friday Jun 21, 2019
We're VERY excited to finally see the Franklin & South Manchester layout and we discuss how much it means to us to be able to get to see this layout for the first time. This is such an iconic layout and myself and Todd have drawn so much inspiration from it, and to be able to finally see it, it's going to be AWESOME!
We're also very excited to meet up with some of our listeners up in Massachusetts and look forward to the stories and company we'll share this weekend.
Also we get into a little bit of a rant about how Todd feels about people's junk and things for sale at yard sales and antique shops.
This week's contest winner: Steven Haworth
This week's photo contest is to submit your favorite street corner scene. It can be from your own layout OR any famous published layout, please give credit if you share a famous layout. Winner's will receive a kit from RailroadKits.com! Good luck!
Wednesday Jun 19, 2019
Wednesday Jun 19, 2019
Mid-week we're talking about how we save parts from other kits we build and how the parts we save are better off when they're organized in a way that we can easily find them later, when we actually need them.
It's so easy to save things that we'll "use for later" but the hard part is actually remembering you have them for that later time when you intended to use them.
We're sure this is a problem that many of us have run into into as modelers and part-time hoarders, so this week's mid-week episode we talk about how we keep our extra building supplies and detail parts that we didn't use in kits organized to make sure we remember to use them later!
Do you have a bin or collection of things that you've been saving from old builds that you intended to use later? Hopw do you organize it? We want to hear the way you recycle the leftovers from your kits!
Friday Jun 14, 2019
Friday Jun 14, 2019
This is the last episode of the Bench Time Podcast of the Spring of 2019, because next week will be the first day of SUMMER!
We dive into a very wide range of topics on this week's show and cover a few of our Patron questions as well.
One of the questions was so good and we knew was FULL of content to talk about that we picked it as the main topic for this week's episode!
Quick housekeeping points:
- If you enjoy our content and want access to be able to get your questions/topics on the show, you can support the show here.
- If you want to support our show in other ways, you can always share our episodes on your Facebook page/groups, or on your other social networks!
Okay, boring stuff out of the way! Back to the real content!
We discuss scaling UP or scaling DOWN kits to work with your hobbies scale if the kit manufacturer doesn't make a structure in your scale, and we're positive you might also be able to contact SOME of these craftsman kit manufacturers to potentially laser cut one for you in a specific scale. They might be up for it if there is a demand and there's no way they'll know if there is a demand if we don't ask them to cut their kits in larger or smaller scale! So if you want kits that are typically not made in your scale, say something! You just might start a trend in craftsman kits in other scales... Where there's a demand created, someone will fulfill it!
Next up we talked about the PROS only in a ton of craftsman kit manufacturers. Now we know that we can't cover them all in one episode, so we talked only about the ones that we've worked with and build. It's only fair that we talk about the Pros of the kits that we have experience with. So if there are others out there that we failed to mention, it wasn't out of ill intent, it was either out of lack of experience with the brand OR we simply forgot... We're human!
Here are the kit manufacturers we talked about:
- Bar Mills
- Seaport Model Works
- FOS Scale Models
- Railroad Kits
- KC's Workshop
- Carolina Craftsman Kits
- Mine Mount Models
- Atlantic Scale Modelers
- ITLA Scale Models
- Rail Scale Models
- Crow River
- Rusty Rail
- Microlumina
- Trackside Scenery
- Hunterline
- Train Troll
- Rusty Stumps
- BEST Trains
- Scenic Express
But we're open to talking about them once we hear about some more, so if there's one you want us to experiment with let us know! If it fits our modeling style, we might just take a crack at a new challenging kit!
Lastly we introduce our new mid-week podcast episodes, the Model Building Toolbox Talks! This week was our first installment of them and you can listen to that here: Model Building Toolbox Talk #1 – Building a Revel Ford Ranger Model
This new part of our show and content is to provide you, the listener, with a little mini episode to get you through the week until we publish our normal, full length episodes on Fridays! These new mid-week shows will be 5 to 10 minutes in length and will feature a quick topic, tip, thought, or story that either Brett or Todd want to share! So we hope you enjoy this new feature.
This week's contest winner: Pat McCarthy
This Week's Contest: Show us what you decorate your shops with to make it "your workshop". Maybe it's a sign, photo, poster, bar sign, wall clock, whatever it is share it with us by emailing it to podcast@hoscalecustoms.com OR posting the photo to the pinned post on our Facebook page! All submissions will be counted IF they're submitted to us by 11:59:59PM EST on 6/20/2019 (Thursday night).
Thursday Jun 13, 2019
Thursday Jun 13, 2019
This is our first mid-week Model Building Toolbox Talk where one of us will just record some short thoughts, tips, or stories of our model building experiences. These can range from new ideas, errors you can all avoid, tips, new things, really whatever we want!
And they'll all be in digestible 5-10 minute bites.
This week Brett introduces the new part of the show and talks about his new endeavor into the vehicle modeling world! Sorry the recording is bad, I did it in the car on the voice recorder. BUT don't worry, it was all hands-free and was no different than talking through my bluetooth. Safety first!
Let us know what you think or topics for new types of builds!
Here's the model truck that Brett is building: Revel Ford Ranger Pickup Model
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Friday Jun 07, 2019
Friday Jun 07, 2019
For week 78 of the Bench Time Model Railroading Podcast we have a guest favorite on! Jason Jensen jumps on this week’s show for an awesome discussion on how we’re starting to see everyone SHARING MORE online with each other.
We have more and more model railroaders sharing more of their work and progress online. There are more and more model railroaders creating pages and groups to document the progress of their layouts and builds. To be honest, we find this explosion of sharing to be completely amazing and we encourage everyone to SHARE MORE of their work and how we’re all developing more techniques and skills as we all learn from each other.
Let’s do something fun, if you have a facebook page, or personal model railroading blog like some of our other listeners, share it with us on our Facebook page, email a link to us at podcast@hoscalecustoms.com, or reach out to us on Twitter or Instagram.
Some important links from this week’s show:
- Jason Jensen’s new video: Let's start with a plastic kit for our model railroad structure.
- HO Scale Resin Cast Cars that Brett found: TheRailroadConnection.com
- Laser cut windows from Rail-Scale-Models.com
- The Ship My Pants commercial for everyone’s personal entertainment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xwUuSM06xQ
LAST WEEK’S CONTEST WINNER: George Nagle!
THIS WEEK’S CONTEST: Let’s see photos of your tool and supplies organization on your workbenches! You can submit your contest entry on the pinned post on our Facebook page or email it to podcast@hoscalecustoms.com for a chance to win a free kit from RailroadKits.com and some other goodies from HO Scale Customs!
Also be sure to check out RailroadKits.com for a ton of awesome white metal castings, wood craftsman kits, resin castings and MORE!