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Badgerland S Gaugers News

"…. A social club for the promotion of model railroading—
especially S gauge including American Flyer, hi-rail, scale
and other facets...

Badgerland S Gaugers Charter

All of the club expense receipts have not come in yet for 2006. This means that the financial report will be handed out at the "December" meeting. Ron also reported that the shirt and cap order cutoff was September 30^th. "For any new members who are interested in club hats or shirts Contact Jeff Young" is printed in all newsletters. If you require new or additional items contact Jeff. Keep in mind that there is a minimum order quantity. You may have to wait until we reach that number. I believe that it is somewhere around three or four. Short and long sleeve shirts are available.

Jeff Madden opened the meeting in lieu of Dave Smukowski’s absence. Ron Schlicht gave the treasurer’s report in lieu of Jeff Young’s absence. This was the first meeting of the year and it appeared that a lot of club members were absent in lieu of other things to do.

Art Doty had little to report regarding various activities in the Midwest. He did give a brief report on the upcoming Fall S Fest, which is being held in Tinley Park, IL. The registrations are going well and they only had about 20 swap tables left.

Jim Starosta thanked all of those who attended the 2006 BSG picnic. Our members not only brought themselves but brought along some fine eats and beverages. Jim especially thanked Ray and June Puls who prepared the chicken. (Yours truly also received an honorable mention.) The conflict with the NASG convention was unfortunate.

Ron Schlicht mentioned that in the past, all clubs have made donations of door prizes to the hosting Fall S Fest clubs. BSG will be giving one Sinclair tank car and one Milwaukee Road "Blue Ice" reefer to CASG this year. We have "purposely" held back the sales of some of these cars in order that they be used for this purpose, there are very few left. We will also be doing this for the St. Louis club at next years Fall S Fest. The remaining "Blue Ice" reefer sales have been going well, (around 20 cars in the past year, that’s good) it was decided to keep the price at $45.00 each. The only discounts are to club members or if a 4-car set is purchased. I will be checking out the new postal rates for shipping. We will also be taking the cars, along with other club items for sale, to Fall S Fest this year.

There was another discussion on Fall S Fest cars in general. There will be an S Fest committee meeting in the near future. It is our desire to have an actual car or prototype on display at the St. Louis 2007 Fall S Fest. This is always a helpful tool in order to generate interest and encourage early registration and preordered car sales. It is important to find out what might be in the works for St. Louis Fall S Fest car. It is also imperative that we know all of the recent new manufacturer releases, NASG car projects and any other S gauge club project releases. Too many consecutive years of the same type of car is not a good thing.

Don’t wait around, sit on your hands or fail to express an opinion and then criticize the choice of S Fest car. If you have an idea for a car bring photos, paintings, HO models or any other renderings to our meetings. We would like to have the car illustrate a regional theme. (No packer fan with a cheese head attached.) In addition the Chicago Northwestern is out, that is our neighbor to the south’s turf. We have to get this project going soon. Over two Fall S Fests, 2000 & 2004, BSG sold nearly 1,000 cars. It is essential that the car selection is appealing to both Hi-Railers and Scale enthusiasts. I believe that the proper car selection was the reason for the amounts of our past sales.

The one discussion that I hate at our meetings is the Fall S fest car discussion, a lot of suggestions with no concrete information. Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk and more talk, it goes on until the batteries go dead on the recorder.

Ron is compiling a spreadsheet to show the data for the 2000 and 2004 BSG Fall S Fests. Roy Meissner graciously went over all of our records and put together the data for me. I volunteered to do this for "all" of the sponsoring clubs to aid all clubs in S Fest planning. So far I have gotten no response I will fill in the information that "WE" compiled with our figures entered and possibly get the other clubs to fill in their blanks. (My wife complains that I volunteer for too much, she might be right. But it amazes me that an individual will volunteer and still get no response. Someday I will be starting a new club "The Badgerland Schlicht Gauger" membership of one.)

After seven consecutive terms as president of BSG has decided to take a well-deserved rest. This year all of the officers’ terms are up for election. Ron Schlicht started the nomination process for this year. There will also be an opportunity to add to this list at the upcoming October meeting. We would like to have as many nominees as possible; it makes for a spirited and interesting vote. "So far" the following are some of the nominations that were made at the September meeting.

I mistakenly referred to some of our members having expired. This was in reference to their terms of office not their life. I might add that some of our members do appear to be in a catatonic state and may have expired, but haven’t realized it yet.

With the various discussions starting regarding Fall S Fest 2008, it is important that all club expenditures be heavily scrutinized before being made. Recently some investment purchases have been made for the purposes of acting as fundraisers.

Dick Kloes once again asked for a little help at the doors of the swap meet between 7:00 and 8:00 am. This is to help the vendors set up and keep the general public out of the hall until the meet actually starts. There are times that individuals have waltzed in and not paid for admission. In addition, keep looking for door prizes for the meet.

Encourage new vendors to participate in our meet. We have never met a dealer we would not sell a table to. We also have a room for expansion if necessary. Occasionally people forget to call Dick Kloes, if someone asks you about table availability just tell them to show up and we will find room for them. In addition keep spreading the word on our meets. A lot of people through the door will insure a lot of vendors for our tables. Our swap meet income dramatically impacts the various activities and charities that we participate in.

Doug Stoll has been busy working on the Badgerland S Gaugers web page. So far only a few have previewed the site, it looks terrific. Rick Wade and Doug have been coordinating this effort. If all goes well it should be up and running soon.

We are in need of an individual with a good digital camera and a real eye for photography to take pictures of members’ layouts. We should update our DVD for shows and have new pictures for our website.

The store hours are from noon to 5:00 pm. The meeting will be in the classroom in the back of the store. Ask at the information desk. The store has been a steady contributor of door prizes for our swap meets.

February Meeting - Brad Nelson February 17th & 18th -Mad-City Model Railroad Show & Sale

Call Ron Schlicht, if you wish to host a General Meeting. There is no specific criterion for hosting a meeting. Weekday evenings, Saturdays or Sundays are acceptable. If you want to schedule for next year it’s not too early.

*We try to keep away from a BSG swap meet Sunday, but that might be unavoidable.

Programs are held at the Milwaukee School of Engineering Student Center, 1025 North Broadway

The first meeting of the 2006/2007 Badgerland S Gaugers was hosted by Art Doty and Trumann Garrett and held in Bristol WI. First of all we would like to thank the hosts and Trumann’s wife, daughter and granddaughter for helping out and providing us with a very tasty spread. Unfortunately it rained and we were unable to tour one of our guests, Robert Boehm’s Number 1 gauge railroad. Trumann offered some of his fine electric transit engines for sale. All went to happy homes. Both Art and Trumann have offered to host next September’s BSG meeting. We were treated to a very entertaining video "The Rapid Transit In Milwaukee From T.M.E.R. & L. to Speedrail". There was a lot of past and surprising new history in this video. Many of us were unaware that Milwaukee once planned a subway system. The project was started but unfortunately stopped due to a lack of funding. Were have all the tunnels gone? They are still there. BSG member and S-Fest chairman Steve Lunde, happens to be a principle engineer on the reconstruction of the Marquette Interchange project. (Please do not hold that against him.) Were have all the tunnels gone? He can tell you since they unearth some of the dammed things during their excavations. Perhaps the mayor of Milwaukee will suggest a new multi-billion dollar subway system for our community. Most of the politicians in Milwaukee County come up with even dumber ideas. To them cost is never an issue. Most have succumbed to post concussion syndrome resulting in severe brain damage. I apologize; they did use a lot of energy and resources to come up with an absolutely fabulous pension plan for themselves. Chicago politics? We are attaining your status as major leaguers in that field, here in Wisconsin.

The Fall S Fest-2006 is scheduled from November 2nd (Thursday) thru November 5th (Sunday), and will be hosted by the CASG club in the South-Chicago suburb of Tinley Park, Illinois.

If you have not registered or received any information on this years Fall S Fest contact:

The Badgerland S Gaugers will be participating in the large modular layout that will be setup at this year’s Fall S Fest. We would appreciate it if all of BSG members attending the S Fest would spend a little time (an hour or so) helping out and manning the layout.

Every once and a while attend some of the swap meets that I list in our newsletters. You might go to a few of them and find nothing. Sometimes you may only find one or two items, but every once and a while you hit the jackpot. At the September DuPage meet I found exactly what I was looking for and much more. At the BSG meet, although small, every once and a while there is a nugget in that pan. Model railroading may be a bit on the decline but the thrill of the hunt is still there for some of us and could also be there for you. Sundays are for church for many, I go on Saturdays and sometimes a blessing comes the next morning. (I don’t pray for train stuff at church, I leave that to other derailed individuals.)

This is no secret to most, but don’t throw that old scrub brush away. Pull out or cut those worn out, dingy looking, bristles, they make great weeds for your layout. Pay no attention to your wife when she says "what are you doing". However do not save some of the junk that I have saved. I don’t even know if I will ever use it. When I die my children will probably be questioning my sanity. But we all know one thing for certain, that within days of the garbage man hauling it away, you will find that special use for it, and decry the fact that you discarded that treasure.

That little junky stuff that you can find at a "craft" store and purchase for virtually pennies, with a little imagination and paint, can make layout items that are fantastic. I’ve had people ask me where did you find this item or that item. When you tell craft store, the answer is always the same, "you got to be kidding". (I know that the term "craft store" to purists is like a swear word to a nun.)

I just finished adding over 80 vehicles to the youth layout for train shows. This means that there are over 80 people in cars. My home layout has hundreds of people in cars, trucks, buses etc. Am I fanatical? The following article is from The Waybill, which is the official newsletter of the South Jersey S-Gaugers. They have many contributing editors. It is being published in our newsletter with the permission of the author and the South Jersey S Gaugers.

Although I presently model in S gauge, I have six other layouts in gauges from N to G. These layouts combined contain about 150 vehicles, mostly right out of the box die-cast. Depending on the manufacturer they come in various levels of detail. The expensive ones are so well detailed they can be put directly on the layout, unless you choose to weather them or add people. The less expensive vehicles usually come in two or three colors and need additional work. I will go into these detailing techniques later in the article, but first, lets cover the issues that detract from vehicle realism the most.

DRIVERS WANTED! In my years as a model railroader, active in a number of organizations, I have visited hundreds of model pikes and am often amused to see a modeler who turns out contest worthy structures or scenery, place vehicles on the roads without drivers or passengers. I've even seen convertibles gliding down the highways without drivers! My rule is; NOTHING HITS THE ROAD WITHOUT AT LEAST A DRIVER. My two exceptions are modern vehicles with glazing so dark you can't see into the cockpit, and, vehicles that face towards the backdrop and are so far in the distance that the viewer cannot see into the cockpit. There are plenty of inexpensive plastic figures in all scales that, with a little work with a razor saw and a bit of paint, can be made to fit behind the steering wheel. I often use standing figures and cut them off at the waist. Unless the viewer will be able to see under the dashboard this does not pose a problem. Don't forget passengers too. Watch any road you choose, most vehicles have more than one occupant. Try to keep your occupants consistent with the vehicle. In general a station wagon would contain a large family, an old pick up calls for an older man or a young kid, a 57 Chevy on a modern layout would either be "souped up" and driven by a young person, or, driven by a well dressed grandmother type who occasionally drives it from the garage to the market. She's babied the car since "the mister passed away." On my layout I have a pricey Porsche Spyder being sported about town by a blonde haired college boy wearing a white dinner jacket and red bow tie and carnation. His name? Dexter Madison the Third.

FREEZE! There is a rule in psychology called "suspension of disbelief". Something in the mind needs to be stimulated to the point that a person is willing to concede that what they know for a fact is fake, COULD be real. Example: A 1950's toy like LIONEL boxcar will not suspend disbelief. A super detailed contest level scale boxcar usually will. The problem with model railroad vehicles is they do not move and therefore disbelief cannot be suspended. I've seen modelers even turn conveyer belts into highways to make vehicles move, but this doesn’t work well because vehicles on a highway move at random speeds relative to one another, not all at the same speed. The first comment a visitor will usually utter is, "you put your vehicles on a conveyor belt, how clever!" My rule is DON'T ATTEMPT TO MAKE VEHICLES MOVE.

I plan my streets with plenty of curbside parking and larger parking areas at railroad stations, supermarkets, etc. This allows one to load up the layout with vehicles that are not expected to move and it also saves on the number of figures you have to put into the vehicles. I plan my roads so that all vehicles are positioned at stop signs, red lights, yield signs, etc. I place several vehicles in a row waiting for a light. In most States, all trucks and buses must stop at railroad crossings just like a stop sign, even if the crossing warnings are not active. At crossings start your traffic back up with a truck or bus at the head of the line? On long open highways simply create traffic jams with lines of stopped vehicles bumper to bumper waiting for some obstacle to be cleared. My favorites are fender benders, animals crossing the roadway, an 18-wheeler jack-knifed across all lanes, a construction scene, a fallen tree, a downed electrical wire, and the list is endless. Just think of the things that have caused you to sit in traffic jams. On a residential street a school bus can halt traffic in all directions. Add actual flashing lights and you've got yourself a real eye catcher! Since most layouts do not allow one to see the entire layout at once, and the viewer usually moves from scene to scene, it does not become immediately evident that all the vehicles are stopped or parked. Therefore, no vehicles need to actually move if you plan ahead for no movement. Now, you've got a shot at suspending disbelief.

SIZE DOES MATTER: No matter what scale your vehicles are they will not be equal in size. In S gauge we use 1/64 scale vehicles. As I write his I have on my desk almost a dozen cars and trucks. Each ones packaging states they are 1/64 scale, and yet they all differ in size. I cannot explain this. My guess is each manufacturer has their own standard of measurement. One does length and width, another length and height. Some go by the wheelbase, some by the tire size. Who knows? Maybe they just lie. Anyway, the best solution to the size problem is to group the vehicles into like sizes and place all similar sized units in the same area on the layout. Generally, I place larger units in the foreground and smaller units in the background. I try to make sure each street or parking area contains all vehicles of the same size. This solution seems to work well.

DETAIL THE VEHICLES: I am dealing only with out of the box die-cast cars and trucks. Kit items would be another article and there are few plastic ready to run vehicles that look realistic without major work. Most die cast vehicles look fairly good right out of the box. In general the less expensive the vehicle, the less hand painting of details was done at the factory. You will need bright silver, red, yellow, white, and black paints, all high gloss, plus, flat black, silver, and assorted other flat colors of your choosing. All paints should be water base. A few fine point sable brushes, how fine a brush depends on your scale. In S gauge I use 3/0, 5/0, 10/0 and 20/0. You will also need an Ultra Fine Point SHARPIE Permanent Marker.

On many vehicles you will start from the bottom up. Die-cast cars and light trucks are often "low riders" to mimic the "cool" cars of today which are usually classics, stock or customized, with altered chassis that allow them to cruse only about a foot above the ground. By disassembling the vehicle and using a little mechanical ingenuity you can get the wheels down enough to suspend the frame the proper distance from the ground. If the vehicle has rivets instead of screws holding it together simply drill out the rivets and replace them with small screws during re-assembly, 0r, be lazy like me and just epoxy things back together. As long as things are apart it is a good time to add a driver and passengers and paint in any extra dashboard or upholstery details you may desire. Since most interiors are plastic a repaint of flat colors or at least a shot of flat clear spray is recommended. On convertibles it is a must. Next remove any trailer hitches (unless you are going to add a trailer), they are always over sized and toy like. Paint the underside of the frame flat black if it is not already that color. Brush a thin wash of flat black on the shiny rubber tires. The wheel rims and / or hubcaps are always a problem because most manufacturers put the same rim or hubcap on every vehicle. The challenge is to make them look different. On trucks and commercial vans they can be painted white, flat silver, or the color of the body. On taxis and police cars gloss or flat black or silver is prototypical. On autos dull silver works well on cars that would be at the lower end of the price scale in prototype. Chrome wheel rims can often be altered by using flat black to paint out some spokes. New hubcaps can also be fashioned out of thin plastic if you're ambitious. At this point put the vehicle back together. Study the model carefully and paint in all of the details the manufacturer neglected. Using the appropriate colors (bright silver works best for chrome and head lights) paint in headlights, taillights, turn signals, marker lights, door handles, grills, hood ornaments, etc. Paint everything that is different than the main body color. Take your model to a parking lot and find a similar real vehicle to compare details with. Weather the vehicle using the same techniques you use on structures and rolling stock if you please.

GET LEGAL: The most over looked detail on model vehicles are license tags. First decide if your "State" is both a front and rear tag territory or just rear. I favor two tags because it is less work in the long run. Most models already have a front plate molded in. You will have to turn it into a flag or fraternal order placard, or a message board anyway. Next pick a color for your license tags that will look good with black lettering. After all the tags have been painted and are thoroughly dry use the fine point marker to write in letters and numbers. Don't forget to do a few personalized plates such as TRAIN, RR-MAN, S-FAN, etc. I have a pink Corvette with a tag that says "Barbie". Another silver Jaguar is driven by a women I know is divorced, because the license tag reads WAS-HIS.

So I am retired and have nothing better to do, or so you think. However I have been working feverishly on the youth layout. Many, many improvements have been made. It is important that our club put up a good showing each year. We also like to see a little change every year. The public is not interested in seeing the same old same old. Remember being asked to display at this show is a privilege not a right. There are plenty of other organizations that want to display their layouts at this show every year, that are turned down.

And now for some bad news, in the past the WISE Division has been providing food on the Friday night of the manufacturer’s show. This practice might be discontinued or modified. A number of various members from various clubs abused this tradition. They loaded plates to unheard of heights, which in some cases some resulted in food actually falling off of their plates and onto the floor. This deprived those who came in later of receiving this enjoyable and hospitable treat. There is always room for seconds if there is food left. There is no room for overloading a plate, failing to eat all of what taken and then dumping the remains into the garbage cans. This displays poor manners and the lack of respect for others. So it means that the minority wins again, if only for a short time, and ruins a really nice gesture by the WISE Division for all.

And now for some more bad news. Due to the rising cost of putting on this event and the abuses by some organizations, there will be a limit on the number of passes given to each club. This means that our club will receive 20 passes. I have already submitted a list with over 20. This now means that I will have to, very selectively, pair down the list to those who do the most work. There is the possibility of the club purchasing additional passes at $8.00 each. As to whether BSG pays for them, or the individual club members’ pay for them, will be put to a vote at the October 29^th BSG general meeting. I will then submit a revised list to the Managing Director of Trainfest, John Tews, which will require a check for any amount over the twenty passes allowed.

(I know of one of our club members who in the past, has turned down a pass and has paid for his own admission.)

Needless to say, that since I will be there Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I will be one of the pass recipients. All of those individuals who are bringing modules will be included on the list. Also included are the members that are there more than two days. This leaves "very few free" passes left. If you are not positive that you will be attending, please do not submit your name for a pass. When extending it over the past few years I have only had a couple of no shows. Fortunately this was a very, very rare occurrence.

If you are connected with any other organizations and are able to receive a pass from them, please pursue that option. I have heard rumors of individuals actually having passes from more than one group.

Unfortunately there are no discounts on parking. That is totally out of the hands of the WISE Division and they are unable to do anything about it.

I might add that the above practice of the limiting of admission passes and the pay for parking issue will probably also be put into effect for the Mad-City show in February.

I have nothing to report at this time. The season is just getting started. Perhaps there will be a review on some of the new Lionel products. I did purchase one the 60^th Anniversary Flyer cars. I don’t care what anyone else thinks, but I think that it is a very attractive commemorative car. (This is a shelf item. If run on a scale layout it will either self-destruct or release a virus on to your layout attacking the integrity of true scale. Ooh chills and fever.)

*It is a relatively common occurrence that individuals change their email or Internet providers. There is a lot of competition for your business. Send me your updated addresses to insure that I change you on our group listing.

If any of our members would like to receive the newsletter via email please contact Ron Schlicht via email.

If you are interested in using the For Sale column give me a call. I would like to limit the amount of different items to a maximum four per member.

I will list items under "Wanted" for two or three newsletters. Please contact me if you want a listing continued or it will be dropped. The same applies

to the "For Sale" column. If you sell an item contact me so that I can remove it from subsequent newsletters.

This engine has won a box full of ribbons and has never been beat in the S Fest races. Price $160.00 plus $7.50 shipping.

The views and opinions expressed in the Badgerland S Gaugers newsletters are those of the editor, unless otherwise credited, and do not necessarily represent that of the club, it’s officers, directors, or the membership.

The Badgerland S Gaugers do not offer any warranties, guarantees, nor assume any liability from information contained in this publication.

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Directors: Steve Lunde (06) – Dick Kloes (07) – Art Doty (08) – Trumann Garrett