Well, we are back. I hope you all survived Friday, especially you BarstowRick! let's see how we all did. Saturday: I had planned to work on the module but.....The weather was beautiful, warm and sunny and my garage, AKA workshop, AKA Jessica's bedroom, needed a new side door. The old metal one had rotted away so much that a small cat could squeeze under the door once closed. So my Daughters boyfriend and I jumped into the good ole Dodge Ram and headed for a new door which also included a new door for their place as well. It was a good day getting up two new doors and some security lighting. Oh yeah then my step son came home for a quick visit from college so we had a big family diner at the local Mexican restaurant. Sunday: I was committed on getting some train things done. I started by going to get a drill press that I have wanted for a while. Once home, Ang asked if I wanted to go to town with her. Tired and hungry, I stayed home. Well about 40 minutes later she came back and not alone. Looks like I have another lady in my life. Little Lucy is our eight week old Beagle puppy and since she is such a heart breaker, I got zero accomplished after she came home. I'm a sucker for dogs and a huge Beagle fan so the surprise of this little ball of fuzz really had me side tracked! So how about you? Did you do better than I? Let us know. We'll do it all over again on Friday the 20th. Until then, have a great week, stay safe and, who let the dog out? High Greens!
Good morning!! As I suspected -- I didn't get much done on my layout. I did however find out that the lead in track to my staging yard is electrically dead -- dang it!! Wasn't able to fix it -- so, hopefully next weekend I can get that repaired. Hope Ya'll had a great weekend, Wolf
I just about went blind with my old eyes drilling holes (#76 drill bit) for the hand rails on my F-3 project. Yep, had to use my magnifiers for sure. I was dead on for every hole bit the Walthers handrails are slightly bowed which i somewhat disappointing. I am hoping that I can make some adjustments. Still have to drill some holes for some grab irons and MU hoses. The handrails aren't at they're final depth yet as I am trying to figure out how to get them straight. Had a lot of other non train projects to do also over the weekend so the shell is not complete yet.
"Sort of" as planned, I got about 20 some feet of plywood for double track mainline "jigsawed" and set into place. Also worked on the passenger station. Also watched a ton of football Saturday. Spent quite a bit of time yesterday measuring and checking heights for the eventual coal branch. Trying to get it 7" above the base level. On the east side of the layout room, the low track will be at 46" above the floor and I've figured out how to maneuver the coal track to elevate 7+" using a 1/8" to 1' rise. I wasn't happy in how I originally planned this branch and consider the measuring and checking time well spent.
This weekend was the Central Coast Rail Fair in San Luis Obispo, CA. The Silicon Valley FreeMoN group went down, with many photos here Here is a sampler photo
Did a bit of artistic work, painting my new hillside/rock cut after paying a visit to the art supply shop (not a frequent destination for me, but now my inner artist has been unleashed ). That visit also netted me a decent Dullcote substitute, a relief since both big LHSs have trouble stocking that, and one suggested Tamiya satin semi-gloss, which is not really what I wanted, and takes ages to dry. Every time I've used Tamiya, I ran into problems... I also did some experimentation with roadways. I downloaded some road textures and played around with that, printed them out, and temporarily set that in place. 150 gsm card stock works better than plain paper. It's also less glossy. I'll experiment with a light matte spray finish to refine the effect.
Krylon clear matte finish. In a big rattle can about 4x the size of the teensy Testors cans. I'm not worried about compatibility - it's the same brand as the olive green I use for the 1950s (pre-noodle) CN diesel scheme. I tested it on a couple of shiny buildings and it's pretty good. And best of all, it liberated me from the tyranny of greedy Dullcote hoarders who gobble up an entire LHS (or two) stock in one fell swoop.
