now starting to add the details that come with this kit...lots of metal castings and photo etched parts in this one. I've added the basics to the garage floor (the kit is meant to represent a structure as it would appear today, with the modern lifts, inspection pit and "Route 66" badging on the building) I'm backdating mine to the 50's so I left the Route 66 badging off of the building, but I did include the modern lifts simply to show what is included in the kit. They'll be hidden with 50's era vehicles in case anyone wants to get down in there and have a look). I distressed the signage with some carefully applied black panel wash.
I am remembering the old two post lifts we had, fifty plus years ago. They were great for a lot of underbody work. From oil changes to dropping transmissions.
It's 0500 on a Sunday morning. I'm sitting here at NASA Wallops working a rocket launch, waiting for it to go. So I built this Pikestuff kit. Still need to build a second one...
Had to look this one up since I thought this was a Rix product and found out that it seems to be known now as Pikestuff. They make some nice kits and I have a couple of the grain bins, and the grain elevator that goes with them, along with a few quonset huts. Evidently the launch went okay as I don't have any long things with fins on one end sticking out of my roof, or tractor shed roof this morning. I am located South of Wallops in Virginia.
The row with stores is complete, I guess. The two buildings on the right are scratchbuilt items. This a look at the vending machine at the railway station.
Laying on my workbench at this moment is a Burpee Seed Sower that I got while out shopping for garden supplies. Got to looking at it more closely at home and I realized that it could be used to spread small quantities of ballast of scenic materials in tight and hard to reach areas. It has 6 sizes of openings that can be dialed. 000_0157-1 by John Moore posted Mar 30, 2018 at 7:26 PM
Finally received the tiny motor for my Showcase Miniatures Nn3 Climax Kit. It was on backorder for about three months. Now it’s time for detailing and weathering.
Last week, I bought a pair or long out of production Miniatures by Eric Pacific Electric shells. The passenger unit is a 1100 class, and the box motor is a 1445 class. Both of these will be powered by Tomix chassis. I can’t wait to see real Pacific Electric traction on the Playa Desnuda branch.
Someone over at the Model Railroad Hobbyist site was talking about using tiny magnets to ensure turnout function. It's not a new idea, and I'm interested because right now I'm using Caboose throws which work well, but are wildly out of scale for N. This modeler (HO scale) was experimenting and getting good results with tiny magnets he got on the auction site. I went ahead and ordered a batch of 100. The cost was about $7.50 with free shipping. It's a US source, so they arrived very quickly. Two things were immediately apparent. First, they are TINY! Second, they're very strong for their small size. Tiny Neodymium Magnets by Rocket Jones posted Apr 1, 2018 at 2:07 PM 1/16" disks, 1/32" thick. On the index card are three, marked by arrows and held in place with a couple each on the other side. Along the bottom of the card are the remaining magnets, between 90 and 95, stuck together so you can compare them to the squares on my bench mat. Tiny Neodymium Magnets - darkening test by Rocket Jones posted Apr 1, 2018 at 2:07 PM I wanted to test "hiding them in plain sight" on a layout, so I darkened a couple with NeoLube. In the above close up (pardon my usual suspect camera skills), the one on the left was left as-is, the one in the middle is painted with NeoLube, and the one on the right is also coated with NeoLube, but handling with my fingertip smudged the finish some. With as strong as these are, I'll be testing to see whether a single one glued to a turnout throwbar will keep the points in place when the turnout is thrown. The guy is using finishing nails to test with and seems to be having good luck with the magnets. They are a challenge to work with, being so small and so strong. It doesn't help that my "non-magnetic" tweezers aren't, so I'll be looking for a pair of plastic tweezers with a fine tip.