
Time spent at the workbench creating models is priceless.
Research is important too. Here is a short list of online sites I visit occasionally.
Set a time limit on research and and internet time, then get back to the workbench!
Inspirational Modeling Resources
- Todd Herman: Todd’s Flickr site showing progress on his outstanding L&NE layout, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/77373135@N05/sets/72157660390159495
- Gene Diemling: Gene’s spectacular Proto48 modeling blog, at https://myp48.wordpress.com/2021/12/12/modeling-tank-car-ladders/
- Frank Hodina: Frank‘s Resin Car Works blog, featuring excellent model builds: http://blog.resincarworks.com/
- Jim Dufour: Gentleman-Jim’s intriguing modeling and proto-photo website, found at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/12504598@N04/
- Tom Johnson: Tom’s incredibly inspirational layout on MRH Blogs: https://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/8934?page=20
- More Tom Johnson: Tom’s newer blog on weathering freight cars, found at https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/weathered-covered-hoppers-for-the-lin-12194292
- Lester Bruer: Lester’s excellent blog on freight car construction, at http://mnrailroadcab100.blogspot.com/
- Eric Hansmann: Here’s is Eric’s excellent and thorough 1920’s modeling resource: http://designbuildop.hansmanns.org/
- Chris Nevard: Inspirational small layouts on Chris’s British layout site, at http://www.nevard.com/
- Jeff Eggert. Jeff Eggert’s excellent modeling site, a little off the beaten path, at http://www.yardoffice.com/
- Tony Thompson: Tony’s excellent and superbly-researched Modeling The SP blog, at http://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/
- Rene Gourley: Rene’s thoughtful, slower-paced modeling site, at https://pembroke87.wordpress.com/page/2/
- Joe Atkinson: Joe’s MRH site, featuring his new modern-design layout, at https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/iaiss-4th-sub-a-new-beginning-12216708
- Justin May: JR May’s out-of-the-way blog, featuring some great modeling, at http://georgiarailroadmodeler.blogspot.com/
- Tom Klimosky: Tom Klimoski’s website, with a lot of super modeling information: https://www.thomasklimoski.com/
- Marty McGuirk: Marty’s great New England modeling website, found at: http://centralvermontrailway.blogspot.com/
- Mike Clement: Mike’s cool Boston & Albany modeling site, with lots of freight car stuff, at: https://nyc65.wordpress.com/2020/01/04/introducing-central-artery/
- Bruce Griffin: Bruce’s B&O modeling site featuring outstanding research and modeling, at:
https://bomodeling.com/blog/
Above. Tony Thompson (left) and Lester Breuer (right) at a recent St. Louis RPM event.
Modeling Sites of Interest
- Ted Culotta’s old Steam Era Freight Cars site, at http://steamerafreightcars.com/
- HO scale box car doors and parts for kitbashers and scratchbuilders: http://southwestscale.com/main.sc
- A cool new site with many new wood parts for building construction: https://www.rail-scale-models.com/index.php
- John Hitzeman’s “insider” AMB site for new AMB products: http://www.rgspemkt.com/index.html
- Modelu (pronounced Model-You), a British company making incredible finescale figures: http://www.modelu3d.co.uk
- Matt Goodman’s neat PRR and N&W VI Tower layout site, at https://vi-tower.com/about/
- Artitec’s official online store for military vehicles and details: https://www.artitecshop.com/en/
- Precision Design Company–nice wood products, at https://www.pdc.ca/rr/catalog
- Bill Welch’s primer on resin car building (and kit building in general), at http://blog.resincarworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/resin_kit_primer_pt1.pdf
- Excellent blog on building a prototype short line, the Susquehanna & New York: http://snyrr.com/
- A neat up-and-coming site with cool model conversion kits: https://www.apogeelocoworks.com/
Resin Model Sites:
- Resin Car Works (Frank Hodina) http://resincarworks.com/
- Funaro & Camerlengo (Steve and Sharon Funaro) http://fandckits.com/
- National Scale Car Co. (Ryan Mendell) http://nationalscalecar.com/
- Speedwitch Media (Ted Culotta) http://speedwitchmedia.com/
- Southbound Model Co (Greg King) https://www.sbmwdco.com/
- Yarmouth Model Work (Pierre Oliver) http://www.yarmouthmodelworks.com/
- Rocket Express Models (Ron Van Werder) http://www.rocketexpress.biz/
- Southern Car & Foundry (John Cagle) https://southerncarandfoundry.com/
Prototype Research Sites
- A great railroad historical resource, UMSL’s online Barriger National Railroad Library site: https://www.flickr.com/photos/barrigerlibrary/
- The Lake States Archive site, my second all-time favorite prototype site, at: https://www.lakestatesarchive.org/
- An interesting site that includes lots of information on central Illinois railroads: https://www.mayberrytownship.net/index.html
- The online Hagley Museum, which includes a vast railroad photo section: https://www.hagley.org/
-
Great site for prototype signal research: http://www.rrsignalpix.com/index.php
- The Center for Railroad Photography and Art: http://www.railphoto-art.org/
- JJ Young’s outstanding steam era photo archive, at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jjyoungjr/albums
Proto48 and O Scale Modeler Resources
- Hard-to-find O scale parts: http://foothillmodelworks.com/index.html
- Cool European military modeling site with an emphasis on 1/48 scale, at http://www.track48.com/
- Proto48 track and parts, including the Clouser, AS&S and Red Cliffs lines: https://right-o-way.us/index.php
- Very cool Australian and US models, and parts, in O and other scales: http://www.karlgarin.com/index.htm
Time to get off that computer and get back to modeling…unless the cats beat you to your workbench.