Ray Clifford

Ray and Sue

I would like to introduce you to my mentor Ray shown above with his wife Sue. Ray has been modeling since the 60s. Over time he has had his own custom model business and then moved in to building 1:48 contruction replica models. Each model was sone in runs of over a hundred in his shop. He was commissioned to build dioramas for 4 or 5 different museums. One is in Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump which is an UNESCO World Heritage site near Fort Macleod Alberta.  Another is in The Reynolds Museum in Wetaskiwin Alberta,  as well as Crowsnest Museum in Coleman BC, and in Calgary  Military Museums.  Ray has been a lot of help to me as he still likes to scratch build and has an ON-30 layout that he continues to work on. One of the few things we do not seem to agree on is his wish for me to change to modelling O scale. We both like to scratch build and try new materials and techniques. He has helped me with tips and tricks using a laser cutter as well as learning to use a lathe. We also talk about casting and modeling, vacuum casting, tools and books. My topics of contribution are soldering electrical and providing motivation. Ray received his MMR last year after putting if off for more than a few years. Here are some pictures of his O scale portable layout that you may have seen if you have attended Supertrain or GETS. Now everything, and I mean everything in these pictures is scratch built including the figures but excluding the vehicles which are Revell kits that have been heavily reworked. If you have the pleasure to talk with him about his dioramas or layout each scene has a very interesting detailed story. 

I am very glad I have him to bounch things off of.

This now lives in Leduc West Antique Society Museum west of Leduc Alberta. 

Here are some pictures of his production models that he had for sale