What am I working on?

Long time readers of this site will know that I had hoped to put up one review per month. Obviously, I'm far short of reaching that goal. So, I think it's time for an update on the items that I'm looking at for review material. Rather than an in-depth on each item, I'll give you a quick first impression on each item. (Read more to see my initial thoughts)

Tools and adhesives

• Right Clamp - I haven't had a chance to really try this out yet, but I've wanted to get one for some time. For those who don't know about it, a Right Clamp is a 90° clamp specifically designed for model building. Built into the inner angle is a slot through which you can apply glue to the inside of the joint. I plan to use the clamp on my next project. I'm currently using a set of small machinist's squares for aligning right angles. While the squares work, I sometimes end up performing some wild prestidigitation to hold all of the pieces in place, open the glue bottle and apply the glue to the joint.
• Gorilla Glue - This adhesive is advertised as the only glue that you'll ever need. I kind of doubt that claim with all of the disparate materials that we need to fasten together, but I've heard a few modelers sing the praises of this widely available glue. However, I've also heard stories about slow set time and about it expanding after the joint is set and that it works better when it's wet. I bought a bottle of Gorilla Glue at the local big box, I just haven't opened it yet.
• Sprue cutters - I didn't know I needed this tool until I received one as a Christmas gift. Sprue cutters look like the result of a mad scientist experiment gone somewhat weird; the tool is sort of a cross between tweezers, fingernail cutters and rail nippers. I have actually used this and I like the flush cuts that I can get in small materials and that the blades can fit into tighter spaces than my rail nippers, but I've found that it's more difficult on thicker materials.
• Cold Heat soldering iron - The name is a marketing gimmick. In reality, this is a resistance soldering iron powered by five AA batteries. My quick assessment, after using it to solder about 40 rail joints, is that this is a useful tool. It allowed me to heat the joint, apply the solder and remove the iron very quickly, so I didn't need to clamp on a couple heat sinks to keep the ties from melting. The quick burst of heat at the joint also helped the solder flow into the joint without using any additional solder flux. A handy feature of this iron is the bicolor LED light behind the iron's tip that changes from white to red when current is flowing through the joint, so I know when the heat is working on the joint. One caveat that I've found is that the tip doesn't cool quite as quickly as they show in the TV ads; it's still a soldering iron, and the tip still gets hot enough to burn flesh, so be careful.
• Ott Light - I managed to pick up one of the portable models of Ott Lights when the local craft store had them on sale earlier this year. Now that I have one, I wonder how I got along without it. My first impression on this is that you definitely need one of these. Wow!

Rolling stock

• Kato F40PH - Kato has done it again with this release. I bought three of the Amtrak painted F40PHs when they came out, and I am very pleased with them. I take them to shows and normally use two of them to power my version of the Empire Builder on the NTrak layouts that I'm exhibiting with. The close coupling and small profile couplers really look good and work well, and they mate well with MicroTrains couplers. I've had them running for most of a day without problems. Sure, they get a little warm, but at prototypical speeds, the heat generated by the motor has not been a problem.

Structures

• DPM Gold Night Life - This kit is a combination of three individual DPM city structure kits. The structures themselves are all available separately, but the DPM Gold packaging includes a bunch of extra details that you don't get if you buy the structures on their own. For example, the theater is designed to be modeled with many of the side and all of the rear windows bricked over, so there are a bunch of brick inserts to add to the windows. I've actually started building this. I found that the brick inserts need to be filed a little to fit into the windows, a task that is currently slowing me down on completing the structure. Well, I'd rather have to remove material than have to substitute my own brick material, so the time spent is worthwhile.
• DPM Gold Olsen/Larsen's - Like the other DPM Gold kit I'm working on, this one includes a couple of DPM structures with a bunch of extra details. This kit is advertised as a farm equipment dealer, but the prototypes that I drive by here in Wisconsin have about 5 to 10 times as many tractors and implements out in the yard than are included in the kit. I'll need to add a bunch more details to make what I think of as a realistic looking implement dealer.

Details

• BLMA Grade Crossing - BLMA has been doing some really nice etched metal details in N scale for a while, and with the new details to model rubber grade crossings, it was time for me to try some. The parts look superb and the etching is right on. I bought enough to add the detail onto my NTrak modules where I've got two roads that cross the triple-track mainline. I haven't installed the details yet because I'm trying to get the modules working as perfectly as possible before really attacking the scenery tasks (and there's still a bit of subroadbed work that needs to be done). The next step on this part of the project will be to blacken the parts. I plan to use a chemical blackener on them rather than paint. What worries me is the flangeway space between the detail and the rail. If the flangeway is too small, older equipment will short out as they go over the crossing. But, I haven't measured anything yet, so this may be a false worry. We'll see.

Books

• Empire Express (David Haward Bain) - It seems that every time I finish off a magazine, another one arrives to keep me from my reading list. This book is thick, at about 800 pages of text (and about 30 of them are taken up with the endnotes, bibliography and index). On a first skim through and picking out a couple of subtopics from the index, the prose is accessible and easily readable. I'm planning to start a thorough read of this book later today, so it'll probably take me a few months to get through it with my lunch reading times. This is a book for the real history buff. What I'm hoping for is a more thorough treatment of the motives and interrelations between the railroad construction and competing interests in building the transcontinental railroad link across the US. I'll know more as I get into the read.