Under construction since 2002, the Housatonic has been no stranger to upheaval and renewal. Craig will talk about his reasons for modeling something very different from the pack, how it changed the way he models and what the pros and cons of it are. Begun with precious little information, the layout has experienced both subtle and dramatic changes made over a decade, thanks to more and better information than was available when it all got started. Craig also shares why sticking to a specific set of givens and druthers from the beginning made it possible to make changes, expand and even re-design parts of the layout on the fly when new things were learned.

Craig Bisgeier, proprietor of AmesvilleShops.com, designs freight car kits on his home computer and has them laser-cut by a third party. He is able to create cars and structures he needs for his own layout, and sells extra copies to other modelers to help pay for his hobby expenses. And he wants to show you how you can do it too. We will go through the basics of the software, how to use it, and basic kit design. Then he will discuss available materials to work with, how to prepare a set of drawings for a commercial cutter that will save you time and money. He will show several examples of his work, including several car kits he's made as well as structures which would be nearly impossible to model by hand. Finally he will do a visual walk-through of how an average laser-cut car kit is assembled. By the time you leave you will have a good idea of how to get set up and start creating your own kits!

Bruce discusses how he designed a log loader and brought it to life using 3D printing. He will cover 3D printing of complex shapes showing examples of his work.

Bruce will discuss the prototype research he did for a number of buildings located on the Southern Pacific's Natron Cutoff. He'll also talk about creating models of many of these buildings. This clinic will
include a number of never-seen-before historic photos of the Natron area (courtesy of Larry Castle.