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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
Friday Apr 19, 2019
Friday Apr 19, 2019
This is Episode 70 of the Bench Time Podcast with Brett & Todd Wiley!
Episode number two of the week resumes our normal schedule and it’s just us again this week, BUT that doesn’t mean we aren’t having a BLAST with it.
This week we get into a quick recap of the Mini-Con and Clinics day we went to last weekend and then we transition into some of the Patron Questions of the week.
If you’re interested in becoming a Patron and keeping our show thriving, you can check out our Support Us page. We did add a couple of new ways for you to contribute and be a part of the show so if you’re interested in that, you can head over to our Support Us page and check it out there.
Okay enough of that, that’s not why you’re here.
After we go over our Patron’s questions we dig more into our favorite techniques on how to paint our 1:87 scale figures and people.
We’ve been painting only Preiser figures, but we know there are others out there. So let’s hear your favorite figures to paint!
Weekly Contest Updates:
Lynn McCurdy won last week’s podcast contest where you were supposed to post a photo of your “ugly duckling” to the comments section of our pinned post on our Facebook Page.
This week, we’re running with the same format, so post your favorite model railroading or model building tool to the PINNED POST at the top of our page to win a small HO Scale kit for you to assemble and put on your layout!
We also understand that some of you may not be on Facebook, so you may email your pictures to brett@hoscalecustoms.com. He will add them to the contest with JUST your first name to the comments for official entry (for those who aren’t on facebook).
All entries must be submitted to us either by email or as listed on our Facebook page by 11:59:59 PM PT on Wednesday night 4/24/19.
As always you can connect with us and follow us here:
https://instagram.com/hoscalecustoms
https://facebook.com/hoscalecustoms
Thursday Apr 18, 2019
Thursday Apr 18, 2019
BONUS THURSDAY EPISODE: Listen in from our fun day out at the Mini-Con and Clinics day at the Blue Ridge Summit Fire Hall last Saturday. We met a TON of listeners and we had an overall great time with the entire event. We’ll definitely be heading back there next year!
This is an awesome mini-con that offers a ton of great small clinics and hands-on opportunities for all of the attendees and the best part is that it’s FREE for anyone to attend!
Near the end of the show, we had Tom Fedor pop in who gave us an AWESOME run-down on what the South Mountain Division Mid-Eastern Region of the NMRA is up to and what this show and other events means to them. This is a great local division and they really do an awesome job with this mini-con!
The Mini-Con Day and Clinics were proudly presented by Main Line Hobby and the South Mountain Division Mid-Eastern Region of the NMRA.
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Friday Apr 12, 2019
Friday Apr 12, 2019
Todd and Brett are live today kicking it old-school with just us two.
We go over Patron Questions and really go deep into the patron topics this week as we spend a lot of time talking about scratch building, kitbashing, scratchbashing, and more!
We’ve also got the pics [at the bottom] of what we’re talking about, you can check them out below or hit up our website if they’re not displaying in your podcast app.
ALSO: we’ve got new prizes! These prizes are in thanks to the awesome support we receive from our patrons! If you’re interested in becoming a patron and helping to support our show do awesome things and create cool content visit us at https://patreon.com/hoscalecustoms or visit https://hoscalecustoms.com/support-us/
Last week’s winner was Silverado Northern and he’s got the prize pack coming to him.
This week, we’re starting to give out small kits as prizes and we’ve asking that you submit your contest photos to the facebook post about this week’s show. The comment thread in there will be the place to post this week’s and every week going forward photo contest.
Hopefully this resolves issues we were seeing with many not being able to post to our page for some reason.
Have an awesome weekend!
Friday Apr 05, 2019
Friday Apr 05, 2019
It's the first Friday of April and we're pumped that it's finally starting to look a little more "springy" outside. It's almost time to start enjoying the warmer weather.
But that's not why we're excited about Friday's, we're looking forward to sharing our newest episode of the Bench Time Model Railroading Podcast with you! And this week we have Renée and Nick from ITLA Scale Models.
ITLA Scale Models is a Canadian based manufacturer of high-quality laser cut model railroad structures, but they're a little different than the rest... ITLA has a lot of brick and concrete buildings, and many of their structures offer height with 5, 6, 8 stories and the ability to go even higher!
We found it very interesting how they explained the manufacturing of their wall systems too as they pride themselves on not having to use any extra scale lumber like bracing or trim. It's all done through his materials and manufacturing process. It's also amazing to look at what you get in the kit... Everything you see is laser cut, details and all (obviously there may be some castings or smaller details, but structure parts are laser cut).
They have a good history in the hobby and the ITLA brand has held a piece of the industry since 2008 and Renée and Nick have operated and owned ITLA since 2012. They go into a bit of the history of ITLA and their involvement in model railroading which is always fascinating to us to hear how all of these great modelers, creators and manufacturers got where they are. And also why they enjoy providing amazing and TALL structure kits.
One of Brett's favorite parts was the conversation he had with Nick and Renée about the difference between painting and working with laser cut brick (wood brick) walls and plastic and hydrocal brick walls. It was a very interesting take on the differences in materials and something that we hope you all find interesting as well.
ITLA Links to Check Out and Bookmark:
- ITLA Instagram ....https://www.instagram.com/itlascalemodels/
- ITLA YouTube (just starting) ...https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeILg0fPa2P118h4CXeSWVg
- ITLA FaceBook ...https://www.facebook.com/ITLAScaleModelsInc/
- Nick's old YouTube pre-ITLA ...https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz8uL5MYftaiqGorShfC_Cw/videos?view=0&sort=da&flow=grid
They also have a good-size home layout they work on when they're not working on their business where they model the Algoma Central Railway along with a mix of Canadian National and Canadian Pacific. Nick goes into a cool explanation of why he chose the era and lines for the reason that it's one of the few that had steam and diesel mixed on the same lines simultaneously in his region. It allows them to have a wide variety of engines and adds more fun to the layout!
Contest Winner last week: Silverado Northern!
We've mailed out all prize packs this week, so if you were due one, it's on it's way via the trusty old USPS and should be there very soon! We've got a stack of flat rate boxes ready now so we can drop these immediately now.
Silverado Northern built the O scale version of Jack Em' Up Tires from KC's Workshop and you can see a photo of it below:
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If you look forward to our content each week and you feel so inclined to support our efforts, please consider supporting our podcast, videos, and content here: https://hoscalecustoms.com/support.
If you aren't ready to become a patron or support us one of those ways, you can always just subscribe to our YouTube Page or give our Facebook Page a "like" at the links below:
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Episode Artwork: David Ross
Friday Mar 29, 2019
Friday Mar 29, 2019
It’s another fine Friday for all of our Fine Scale Modelers out there because we’ve got another episode lined up for you.
Quick note: If you want to get updates on all of our new YouTube videos, click this link to check out our newest videos and subscribe to our channel: https://youtube.com/hoscalecustoms?sub_confirmation=1
This week we’re happy to have Ron Klaiss of Mine Mount Models on to talk about his newest kit that he’s been teasing us about now for the last couple of weeks! This is sure to be an awesome build and we’re excited to see how this one looks once it’s finally released.
The official name of the new kit is Palzer Plumbing Supplies and it’s the largest structure from Mine Mount Models available to-date.
We also go over the old-school episode format with Ron where we talk about what’s on our busy workbenches which includes some of what Ron’s been working on with this kit, Brett playing around with the new static grass applicator, and Todd ripping into some new builds!
We also announce this week’s Podcast Contest winner: Greg Leiphart who shared his photo of some interiors that he’s adding to his current build. Great work Greg!
If you want to enter into this week’s contest, just simply share some work-in-progress photos of what you’re currently working on for your layout!
If you want access to our Overtime at the Bench patron only episodes, and help support our show, you can join our Patreon group here: https://patreon.com/hoscalecustoms
Friday Mar 22, 2019
Friday Mar 22, 2019
Legendary Guests Dave Frary and Hal Reynolds. 50 plus yrs of friendship and world-class model railroading
This week we blow the doors off the barn and bring you two model railroad legends. Dave Frary and Hal Reynolds! They both are not only scenery masters in this hobby, but pioneers, technique geniuses, and great close personal friends for well over 50 years.
They share so many incredible stories about how they met, shared the same neighborhood, and worked with each other on projects, and with railroad layouts, we have all only read and dreamed of visiting, let alone get to work on. We talk about Hal's company, Atlantic Scale Modelers and how that came to be. Ironically, Dave helped him put that seed his head. Hal and Dave share with us how Hal was a pioneer of scenic ground foam back in the 70s and the role his father played in helping him create it, and how both men were influential with photography in model railroading and the background they shared in that too! Just fascinating stuff that you could sit around and listen to all night if we had the time, and never get stale!
To check out some of what Hal has to offer, check out his site at Atlantic Scale Modelers!
You can also find Dave Frary’s youtube channel here: The Trackside Modeler
Dave Frary’s books are also available here
We also tossed patron questions at them and they gave some priceless info that you just have to listen to! So buckle up, take a trip down memory lane, and then back to the present, and enjoy this exceptional rare trip with two of the hobbies greatest!
Friday Mar 15, 2019
Friday Mar 15, 2019
What a great time we had on this week’s podcast with Doug Foscale and Frank Varga, getting them on the show to just talk about how each of them builds and how their creative minds work to make what they do, was just amazing & fun.
The best part of this interview was getting the creative mind of Doug Foscale, who spends an amazing amount of time and effort to create his unique craftsman kits to talk shop with Frank Varga who has the eye of an artistic kit-bashing genius who often end up kit-bashing FOS kits for many of his builds!
We let them talk back-and-forth about their work and what each of them finds interesting in each other’s building and modeling process.
A little later on through the podcast interview we brought up the decades which each of us model and why. Frank & Doug discuss modeling in the time-period they grew up in and remember the most while we explain how our love of history brought us to model the late 1930’s.
Check out the HO Scale TV Antennas that Doug has: https://fosscalemodels.com/products/set-of-tv-antennas-lasercut-details-ho-scale
ALSO if you aren’t in Frank’s Facebook Group, you should check out some of the work going on in there from some flat-out great modelers! https://www.facebook.com/groups/502844843210535/
These are two stellar modelers among a sea of ever improving modelers in our hobby and we were very happy to have had them on for this week’s episode.
Here’s the blog posts from FOS on information on the Concrete Highway Piers and the Maspeth Creek
LAST WEEK’S CONTEST WINNER: SCOTT PERRY
THIS WEEK’S CONTEST:
The best painted small detail part that’s smaller than a dime.
Send us a photo of your best painted detail parts the size of or smaller than a dime (posted on our Facebook or emailed to podcast@hoscalecustoms.com) with either the date or HO Scale Customs on a small piece of paper to be entered.
Submit it before 11:59:59pm on 3/20/2019 and winners will be selected next Thursday night (3/21/2019).
Friday Mar 08, 2019
Friday Mar 08, 2019
It’s Friday so that means it’s time for your weekly dose of the finest fine scale modeling podcast around!
On episode #63 of the Bench Time Model Railroading podcast, we had the awesome opportunity to talk to Rick & Maureen of Hunterline.com. Hunterline has been in the model railroading industry since 1994 and they pride themselves on their amazing craftsman-quality prototype wooden bridges and trackside structures. They also enjoy making a product that is built for the novice to expert modelers alike.
You can truly tell, with our time on the show talking to Maureen & Rick, that they truly love sharing their knowledge of modeling and working with their great products to ensure everybody succeeds with their projects.
All of their kits come in and are accurately scaled in N, HO, S, and all Narrow Gauges. They also carry templates for TT, G & F for you larger scale modelers to build with.
The other product line they take great pride in is their stains or “Weathering Mix”. - This is our favorite thing of theirs we love experimenting with.
Hunterline is a proud Canadian business and they work FAST with US customers as well, they talk about this in the episode…
Learn more about them and Hunterline at their website: hunterline.com
During the episode we talk about their history in model railroading where Rick tells us a great story about how he got into model trains from a gift of a restored model train that his father gave him, to how he realized he needed to get into the business of selling high-quality craftsman kits.
Rick also tells us about the first kit that Hunterline produced which was his King Post Truss Bridge and how his kit manufacturing evolved into what he offers today!
We also cover some awesome staining and weathering techniques that you can use when you’re working with stains on your next project!
Hunterline’s array of colors they offer with their stain products is wide-ranging and we have to say that we’ve been using them for quite some time now and are very impressed with the range of colors and effects you can achieve from their Weathering Mix.
We also go over some great questions from our Patrons and announce a new weekly contest where we’ll offer a simple contest each week and pick a winner who will receive some sort of HO Scale Customs prize or a prize of our choosing.
This week’s contest is to provide us with your best modelers tip by calling into our phone line @ 717.601.2348 or emailing podcast@hoscalecustoms.com. Todd & Brett will pick the winner and announce it on next week’s show!
Friday Mar 01, 2019
Friday Mar 01, 2019
The weekend is finally here and so is March! Episode 62 of the Bench Time Podcast we have with us special guest Mark Schreier of Foggy Mountain Models Craftsman Kit Structures! Mark shares with us a bit of insight into the makings of On3 and O scale craftsman kits which Foggy Mountain Models is known for and he tells us a lot about how they can be detailed out to look super realistic just like HO Scale kits can. He also tells us all about a new and first ever release of an HO scale kit which is soon to be out April 6 and 7 at the The Great Scale Model Train Show in Timonium Maryland and on his website foggymountainmodels.com
Then we get into placing smaller structures in places we all often forget about or are just too small and tricky, like between tracks and on turnouts and corners. We have a look into the brick and stone block textured paper products that we have spoken of on the Podcast many times and have shown incorporated in some of our models and layout. Mark sells these sheets that are just fabulously detailed better then any product we’ve seen, and we chatter on about their application and how easy they really are to work with.
Throughout the show we share ideas about the older kits and how they were made then as compared to years back, and how they start accumulating in piles on a shelf and the debate within ourselves of if we should save them or build them (we choose the latter everytime). So during our walk back in time to our early years of building kits and how much they too have changed~ This was a great episode you all need to check out and listen in as you build whatever is on your bench this weekend! Enjoy!
Friday Feb 22, 2019
Friday Feb 22, 2019
On Episode 61 of the Bench Time Modeling Podcast we were very excited to bring to you someone that Todd met at the Fine Scale Modeling Expo in 2018 who paints amazing detail parts. He even led one of the clinics there on the subject!
Vilius Bileisis is a very accomplished model builder and he's been working with craftsman kits for quite a long time. His work extends much farther beyond the detail parts we talk about in great lengths in this episode to great structure and diorama work as well!
We discuss what drew Vilius into working with such small parts and how he has learned to paint them with such precision and in great "detail".
The great thing about talking to such an awesome and fine modeler as Vilius is his artistry extends into everything he works on including his structures and more. He also has created a personal blog to share his builds step-by-step and some of his techniques with you, so you can learn as we all progress through this hobby to become better modelers. You can check out Vilius's Scale Modeling Blog here.
He also has created a Facebook page that we recommend visiting and giving a "like" to so you can keep up-to-date with his fantastic work!
Important Show Links:
Vilius's Scale Modeling Endeavors Blog: http://viliussm.blogspot.com/
Vilius' Workbench Chronicle Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/vbworkbench/
Want to help us help other modelers and grow the show? Become a Patron Today!