No shame in anything there BNSF FAN, sometimes things go awry without cause it seems. Nothing ventured, nothing gained I suppose. If it helps, I was trying to track down a rattle in my car yesterday and broke a tab off an interior panel trying to access the area. I felt like an idiot and still do.
And here I was thinking of sticking my arms into some sort of make shift booth that looks like a sand blasting booth hahaha.
Thanks guys and Sumner, I may just give that a try at some point. I guess you all could say that both stairs and coupler assembly are my kryptonite.
Spent a little time the other day going through a parts (a.k.a. JUNK) drawer looking for an item and realized, I really do need to re evaluate what I am hanging on to. Not that I have a ton but I wonder sometimes why I keep things. I also find things that I didn't even remember having. Here is a good one. I think I will post this on eBay for a huge price and see if that will make me a guest contestant on the More eBay Humor thread Then I have this stuff that I have no idea what I would ever use it for. The plastic parts are handles from a box and the wood is chop sticks. I'm open to suggestions including file 13 options.
Sumner, Wow, you have given us a Master Class (your link) and a very easy to create jig, for assembling MicroTrains couplers, Bravo and thank you! - Tonkphilip
Chop sticks, chop them up ( get it ) and make barbed wire fencing. Plastic handles, really tiny tunnels for those fast arse trains in other countries. Maybe Z scale I would NOT throw away the chop sticks, that's for sure. Round chimney with chop sticks, a million things for them.
Still on the what to do with stuff kick. Cigar boxes are great for storing parts and stuff in however, I have a King Edwards one (check out the price) that is full of Tampa Nuggets wrappers from my grandfather. There is even an old flyer in the bottom about redeeming the wrappers for stuff. No idea why I am really holding on to all these wrappers but just can't seem to dump them. Really should since I could use the parts storage. Next up, I found an extra set of billboard ads for the BLMA modern billboards. Anybody need them? I guess I'll start going through the scrap parts drawers next. I really do need to get rid of more stuff or stop watching that show Hoarders.
While changing out some wheelsets over the weekend, I found something that was interesting. On several of my M/T BNSF 3 Bay Covered Hoppers, I noticed that part of the coupler box was brown while the rest of the box and truck were black. Maybe that's more common that I know but it did seem different. Just thought I'd share that with you all. I'll crawl back under my rock now
I thought I had a fair handle on my train stuff until yesterday when I came across this shoebox of Testors model paints. I had no recollection of them. Thinking back, they were given to me by a friend who knew a guy who built scale models and had passed away. Although the pricing of two bits on some jars is old, they're surprisingly fresh and there are a ton of colors. Not the sort of thing I'd paint locomotives with, but I've already used some colors for color-coding wire junctions under the layout and they'd do okay for N Scale autos and some structures. These aren't like the Testors paints I remember as a kid (@ $0.15) that had a consistency of tar.
That's a lot of little Testers bottles and actually pretty cool. I agree that it would be good for n scale cars and the use for color coding is a good idea!
Been a bit since I have really done anything on the layout itself. I got started into this project and stalled. Need to finish up these tanks, add some dirt around the gravel and get the fence straight and secured. Maybe soon In the mean time I have been doing a little work on updating some freight cars to M/T trucks. This Deluxe Innovations wood chip hopper was one of three that got M/T trucks with the medium extension couplers. As you can see, they are pretty much the same lenth as the original equipment in the car. They I had 2 of the older Walthers Cryogenic boxcars to update. These needed the longer extended couplers. I thought about doing body mounts but since I already had the correct replacement truck/couplers on hand, I went with that. Nice to have those cars updated now. Don't have too many more cars that have not been updated to M/T's yet. I'm also working my way through adding metal wheels a few at a time. Was late to the metal wheel game and when I first started adding metal wheels I haphazardly just started with whatever random cars were out on the layout at the time. So, probably updated about two dozen cars before settling on a better plan. Now, I have decided to update all of a certain type of car before moving on to the next type. My cars of choice currently are 3 bay covered hoppers. After finishing up a batch o12 the last two weeks, I just about have them all converted. I think the 2 bay covered hoppers will be next since a few of those were done already. Here is a string of completed 3 bays on the layout. Other things in progress are some M/T tractors. Just need to paint and assemble once I find out what prototype they are so I can paint them the correct color. Also on the work bench is a rough looking collection of empty jewel cases that I happened across the other day. I have washed them all good in warm soapy water and now comes the task of using some Goo Gone or rubbing alcohol to get all the goo from price stickers and tape off of them. Even though many have crack and scratches, I was happy to get them so that some things that don't have boxes will now have a home. Then last for this update, I did hang up this really cool MoPac sign that I got from a fellow TrainBoard member. Hopefully he knows how much I appreciate this sign! That's it for now.
Ooooooooooo! He should get a fortune for this! It is a very rare GP38-2C. "C" for convertible. Ha ha ha.
