Welcome back everyone. I hope your weekend was good and that all the Fathers out there had a good day. Let's get started. Saturday: Work Sunday: I slept in, made a cup of Earl Grey and enjoyed some switching on the B&M layout. After enjoying some down time, I got the house ready for Angela's Dad to come over for Fathers Day. We enjoyed a nice quiet day around the grill. Angela got me a nice cordless weed wacker and leaf blower combination that will certainly make my yard chores easier. So how about you? What did you get done? Did you have a nice "Dad's Day"? Let us know. We'll start the process all over again on Friday the 26th. Until then, be safe, stay healthy and as always... High Greens!
Good morning all, It was a warm muggy weekend here in NE Missouri, even had a bit of rain. I made some yogurt, bread and granola. Managed to finish 14 N scale painting projects most of which I'm not too thrilled with but then I have to say they're not to bad after a 15 year hiatus. For whatever reason I can not get the last pic to rotate properly. It previews normal. grrrrr. Anyway, have a great week. See ya next time.
I worked a bit on a couple of buildings (Added window treatment) and I did a bit of work on the SW8 and SW900 projects -- Was in kind of a funk this weekend. Hope Y'all had a great weekend, Wolf
A few resin test prints of the FMC 4200 cuft bathtub gon are done. Had to make some changes to the support structure to minimize damage to the angled tub. That test is don, will prep and cure tonight.
Did not get as much done on my track plan as I wanted, but did progress it a little bit. I did manage to spend quite a bit of time on the Albemarle City Station parking lot as well as the parking lot "next door" at the "Division Office" building. Also started building the stone walls that will front the entire station grounds. Still some work to do on the wall. Also, the passenger platform that will go to the right of the main station building is yet to be done. In any event, here's the "progress".
I went camping and fishing. I got the last campsite available Friday morning at 10AM. I could not find a place to throw a line in until 5pm, and caught 1 fish. On Saturday there were hundreds of people fishing from the banks all day long. I showed up at 5:30AM, and every spot on the banks were taken, every 5 feet someone was there. I had never seen so may people fishing or camping at the same time in my life. Saturday night around 5:30 someone left and I finally found a spot to fish. I asked how people were doing and there were people who had been there all day and caught 1 fish, but most people had 1 or 2 fish. I caught an 18" rainbow in the first 15 minutes, and another 30 minutes later. There was a kid next to me who had been there all day and had not caught any fish, then he caught one. Then someone else left and my son moved to that spot next to me and he immediately caught one. someone else next to my son left for dinner, and my daughter in law took that spot and immediately caught a fish. So after a slow fishing day, as soon as people started leaving for dinner, my family moved in and we started catching fish. The kid next to me who had been there all day started pulling them out. I limited out in 2 hours, the kid next to me caught his 6th fish and limited out the exact time I did. I stepped aside and let a lady take my spot as I carried an almost 8 pound stringer of rainbow up from the waters edge, and those people who left for dinner were back and asking me and the kid how we caught all those fish in such a short time after they wasted all day with hardly anything. We both smiled, and the kid said you just gotta know how to fish this spot right. My son limited out 30 minutes later, pulling out the big 24" fish for his 5th and a 16" for his sixth, and had an 11 pound stringer to mine at 7 pounds 11 oz. I hate loosing stringer wars to my son, but after eating so much trout Saturday night, I still had enough of the weekend's catch to freeze a few for later: And today I examined the new RS-3's I got in the mail before I left on my camping fishing trip. They are so tiny, Z Scale RS-3's are begging for DCC so I will work on that, but to help admire them, i put them on my module for a picture:
Well, I went to the big national chain store mega hobby retailer. Thought I might find a simple cylindrical bead I could adapt to make a spark arrestor. NOPE. Seemingly thousands of bags and strings on multiple walls. Not one single cylinder shape. Every other round and angular type existing. But not a thing I could even take a chance buying and altering...
Have been in a funk before myself. Right now I seem to be working along ok. I sometimes think inspiration is a rare commodity. I am sure you will find yours.
Pass out "Wows!" all the way 'round. I think the fish have preferences about being caught. Those new locos are making me drool.
Congrats Mr. Wiggin. All the above pics look great. Verbal reports good too. Me, I fabbed the drop-in turnout module (left hand). Installed the turnout and installed the new sidings past the turnout. About twenty-eight inches worth. Removing the old turnout was the hardest part. Then I did a little trouble-shooting. Not that much required. All working better than ever. New track looks better too. Sun. got an invite from my daughters for a Dad's Day meal. Saw them and grandchildren for a nice visit. This week: As of this morning I am recording specs for the new turnout design and will begin a right-hand turnout and new track installation for the freight house/ milling company lead. Good and safe week to all.
Saturday as I finished the clinic My wife decided to get hurt so we spent the afternoon in the ER. So weekend plans were cancelled after that. I ended up spending some cash and getting some new storage devices and assembled them on Sunday. I think this will help keep my train room a little more tidy. Other than that nothing else done. I already had two carts for storing modeling tools and supplies. Now I have one for locos and one for cars as well as a transfer cart. The mess was getting out of control. Looks much better now.
Did a few light chores around the house. Had a virtual family gathering while watching Premier League soccer on TV Sunday morning. Got to put the furniture back on the deck after new stain. Then my son came over for a properly distanced outdoor dinner on Sunday afternoon. All in all a very good Father's Day. Very happy to find time to make progress on my two projects. Got the left side of 2295's coal bunker attached and prepped the hidden bulkhead to provide strength. I am trying to retain the underlying clips of the original bunker which involves replacing the outer .015" with fresh styrene. All matched to the collar from a Bachmann tender. Affixed the washers to adapt the MP frame to the Bachmann trucks that will eventually support it all. Completed the modifications on the old N Kato Mike drivers. That involved adding layers of conductive paint to supplement the original electrical path which was press fit joints from hub to tire. I did that in several coats with minimum 20 minute cure times between applications. I followed Max Magliaro's article, but with water-based paint from the same supplier. I have some of the solvent formula on the way for comparison. It was worth the effort as the old loco was creeping around my test track in either direction this morning with solid lighting. This may be old news to the N scalers here, but all new for me. So a very good weekend. Won't be any modeling time for me the next couple of weekends, but I may cheat and post progress I make during the week if you don't mind.
I made two extensions for the overhead lights valence, altogether it measures 130 inches long and 16 inches wide. Have some hooks and chain to hang it from the ceiling. Should be able to install the valence tonight when a good friend comes over to help. Soon the Boston Mountains Sub Division will see a great improvement with more lights. Joe
