Don Ulmer Says Hello

Thursday, December 26, 2014
Partly cloudy, and warm

Don Ulmer Says Hello

   I was surprised to hear from Mr. Don Ulmer yesterday.  I had discovered Don on ebay in February of this year and wrote several posts about him and his fine "artwork". Don makes exceptional retro-looking items that model railroad enthusiasts place into their scenes. His fine work looks very weathered, and fits well into certain rural and rustic scenes. I had never seen such items before, and so I had contacted Don in February of this year, and added several posts. When I return to Don's website and ebay store as I normally do for all my guests, I would look for Don's latest creations.

  I don't have an agenda book or a work log, and try to "remember" what I want or need to do for future posts. Obviously, I had forgot about Don,and many other people this year. I've been busy chasing milestones, but forgot the most important thing- keeping in touch with people. 

  I wrote back to Don, and he's been busy at his regular job, and mentioned that he's still selling, but that the profit margin on ebay can sometimes be small for the effort that he places to create his exceptional work. I personally what he means. When I was buying and selling, it was hard to just meet my expenses.There's not that many old toys up here in Montreal (I stopped looking), and when I found them (at auctions or Toronto antique stores), they were too expensive. And when I sold them back on ebay, I inevitably didn't make much considering that most were shipped from the USA, and then I resold them back either here in Canada or "The States".

Please click here to visit Don's website

Please click here to visit Don's ebay homepage

O, On30,On3 Custom Truck

1934 Ford with mobile home in tow,Custom,one of a kind,Totally redone,new wheels and tires,repainted,Detailed and weathered,mobile home is resin,wheels match the truck,new bed in the truck,real wood,barrel and wood are included but NOT glued,you may change if you wish! 1/43 scale but is big enough to work for O scale. Home Sweet Home!

 I like how Don take's plenty of photos to present his items. Personally, if I had a model railroad in my basement, I'd be sold from just the first photo. However, as a blogger, it's super to have so many photos to present to everyone.

I like that "weathered" and aged look that Don add's to his artwork. I don;t know if Don would call this art, but I do. There's a lot of effort and detail that goes into these pieces. I especially like the bottom photo above with that "aerial view" I like that large red patch!.

On30 Custom Passenger train

On30 Custom Built Passenger Train,nothin like it anywhere,all resin,Built,Painted,Weathered and Detailed.You do nothing,just put em on the rails and go.Look perfect behind a Porter or small critter.Each one is 2 3/4" long,tight curves? Not a problem. Thought these would be an easy build,as always they weren't ,but they look good.

When I was in university, I would go "Up North" by bus to go fishing in late August. I would take the bus ( I didn't drive then).  Riding on a bus allowed you to see much more than driving a car, and I remember seeing cabooses and these small portable  structures usually parked alongside the railroad. I'm sure they were used in the remote areas where railroad workers would replace rail sections or clear the track bed of weeds and plants that had grown over the summer.

O, On30,On3 Custom truck #2

One of a kind Custom Kenworth,repainted,detailed and weathered.These trucks work hard,I try to show that, I seem to forget the logging industry is still going on,so I did a newer truck,ya got big logs,ya need a big truck and  here it is! Count the rings on those logs,must be a super fast growing tree!!!!!!!!! Somethin is fishy here! 1/43 scale

I like the custom side posts that were "welded" to the steel horizontal beams on the truck's bed. I also like the "logs"that were carefully selected to be proportioned properly to the size of the truck. I hope you read Don's humour for this truck. I like how he commented on the fast-growing tress through their annual rings. 

Imagine of trees could grow this fast!

Of course, this truck is not an "old old" vehicle, but  it certainly would fit in well with a train platform of that era. I've seen great mini-cities in Toronto where  a train club had set -up whole "mini-worlds" of trains and cities when the Toronto toy antique show was going on.  It's unbelievable how much detail that you can see in these set-ups. 

Thanks for dropping by and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be,

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com