MODELING It's Monday, March 21st, 2022: Weekend Modeling Accomplishments

Jim Wiggin Mar 21, 2022

  1. Jim Wiggin

    Jim Wiggin Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Welcome back everyone. I hope you all had a great weekend and got a lot done. Let's see how we did.

    Saturday: Was as predicted, cold, windy and rainy. I slept in but got up quickly and got ready for the day. Since the weather was typical Illinois, I decided to spend the day with the future Mrs. Wiggin. She has started candy making as a hobby and so we went to her store to stock up on supplies needed for the upcoming Easter Holiday. We stopped and had lunch then enjoyed a brief walk-in downtown Decatur. More shopping for the upcoming special day then a true sign of spring, the annual service appointment for the bike at the Harley Dealership. Last stop was the big lumbar store as I had an idea for the City Job and some upcoming shows. I didn't get what I was looking for but did pick up a can of grill paint.

    Sunday: It started off chilly but by the time I was up, cleaned up and thoroughly refreshed with Earl Grey, the temps were in the high 50's and the sun was out. I had two projects today, the NTrak module and the grill. I received a smoker grill for Father's Day about 5 years ago and it was starting to rust, so in between cutting and gluing parts of the N Track module, I was cleaning, sanding and painting the grill. Some may criticize me for spending time on the grill, but I feel we throw away far too much in our society. A short afternoon and a $4.95 can of high heat grill paint and my grill looks as good as new and ready for another 5 years. It was about supper time when I had the biggest assembly pieces of the 6-foot NTrak module completed.

    NTrak 6Foot.1.jpg
    All I have as far as construction now is the front fascia and skyboard. It's a two-piece design that will form a "box" for transport and will easily fit in The Jeep Wrangler. Once the fascia and skyboard are on, I'll stain the legs and fascia, paint the underside light grey and paint the top earth brown. I should be laying track soon. I then enjoyed a nice dinner with wife to be and called it a day.

    So how about you? What did you get accomplished this past weekend? Let us know. We'll assemble again on Friday the 25th to start the process all over again. Until then, have a great week, be safe, stay healthy and as always...

    High Greens!
     
  2. bremner

    bremner Staff Member

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  3. Tompm

    Tompm TrainBoard Supporter

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    Friday and Saturday the weather was perfect for working in the yard. We raked the leaves and cleaned up the gardens in the back yard. I swept and cleaned out the carport. I tried trimming the forsythia but came to realization my shoulder and back won't let me do all the trimming needed. I will need to talk to our yard guy to add it to his list. The chill on Sunday chased us inside. I shampooed the throw rugs in the foyer and the living room. I cleaned and polished the breakfast nook floor where the chair legs had worn off the shine.

    All the outside work and inevitable recovery time meant little modeling got done. I did begin working on the hot dog stand. I got some painting done and signs. The kit is an old Pola kit even though it was sold by Model Power. The graphics for the signs are stickers not decals. I guess I will see how well they hold up.
     
  4. Philip H

    Philip H TrainBoard Member

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    I solved my rolling stock storage dilemma, thanks to Keesler AFB remodeling some of its quarters and the local Habitat for Humanity ReStore picking up the furniture. Everything fits with a tad bit of room to spare:

    [​IMG]
     
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  5. Grey One

    Grey One TrainBoard Supporter

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    Set up the second point of my 'Henge'
    Last December I got the first
    This morning I got my first equinox
    Pictures to follo
     

    Attached Files:

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  6. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    Wired up all 8 of my mainline switches, so I can now run trains with a bit more ease. Next up is laying out my yard and engine terminal.
     
  7. SP-Wolf

    SP-Wolf TrainBoard Supporter

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    Good mornin to Y'all

    I worked on a GS-4 and a GS-5
    Replaced the traction tires then installed a decoder on and into a GS-4

    Did a little detail decaling on a GS-5 (I may do a bit more - builder's plate-?)

    [​IMG]

    Thanks, -- have a great week, Y'all
    Wolf
     
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  8. Kitbash

    Kitbash TrainBoard Supporter

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    Monday again. Well, I planned on working on engines and maybe casting rocks at the river gorge scene. Never got around to rock casting due to spending an inordinate amount of time on the engines.

    Saturday: Got out the Stewart AS-16, an Atlas S-2 Switcher and 2 Atlas RSD-12's. One of the RSD's was pre-lettered, the other a shell. I painted the 2 RSD Shells. They will need another coat of yellow on the sills. The Atlas RSD's had the window glazing that was a bear to get out. They wanted to break, so I pried them w/ toothpicks on all sides and got them out slowly but surely. They were still intact so it was worth it.

    Sunday: I weathered the AS-16 and S2. Painted all of the railing and am letting them dry before I trim them w/ yellow and re-install. The S2 also needs the side sill yellow stripe and decals on the illuminated number board. Cleaned the wheels and let them run some. They are each about 85% done. They already have the decoders in them I want so that will be 2 new engines ready to put into service soon.

    The beauty is all of these are engines I have just had hanging out in in my workshop. The S-2 was the first engine I ever painted, back in the late 80's. Never weathered it or anything. So now it is getting a "re-birth". The AS-16 I got in '03 and had been running it "out of the box". The RSD's are Atlas units I found on Ebay and just got them for the heck of it. My goal is to get an engine, fix it up. It either goes to work on the layout or it goes out the door.

    [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]
     
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  9. gmorider

    gmorider TrainBoard Member

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    Wowsers! So much coolness! @Jim Wiggin, the module looks very crisp (and very portable). @bremner, you are driving me crazy with your excellence in traction. :confused: Others: Maybe put some clear glue over the stickers? Can't have too much storage! And we are working on a "Henge". (y) Running trains more easily! GS-4 and GS-5 upgrades. Inordinate amount of time spent. I can relate. :rolleyes: Speaking of inordinate. I am in the "process" of attaching sides to slope sheets. It is a bear. :eek: I am test fitting the assembly to the center beam to try to get enough depth. It is a bear. :mad: I creep along. Car by car. :oops: Everyone have a great week. :D
     
  10. Randy Stahl

    Randy Stahl TrainBoard Supporter

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    I cannot tell you how happy I am to see this. Nice job !!!
     
  11. MetraMan01

    MetraMan01 TrainBoard Member

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    I spent a little bit of time on the Waukesha Sub. I ran out of ballast and have to go get some more. So I finished the storage shed at the end of the team track. I’m very excited about the roof.
    [​IMG]


    Then I finally finished my last Redstreak Rail flat. I had a broken hopper that was wrecked, so it became the load after meeting with a soldering iron and a cigarette lighter. It was undecorated originally.
    [​IMG]

    And I re-weathered a three hoppers I had done previously but wasn’t happy with.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
  12. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Finished my HOn30 caboose. Kinda like the little thing.

    JT's Trains & Stuff 14' Caboose Kit

    Kit= Body, roof, cupola, underframe.

    Glazed the windows;
    Tichy brake wheels;
    Tichy stirrups;
    Made the grabs and railings;
    Made the smoke jack from styrene;
    M/T 003 02 000 Arch Bar trucks;
    Adapted Precision Scale HOn3 31971 D&RGW brass ladders;
    M/T 001 02 003 couplers.

    [​IMG]
     
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  13. Mark St Clair

    Mark St Clair TrainBoard Member

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    Another weekend in the rearview mirror. Some modeling got done along the way.

    Friday: I cut the interior wall sections for my NP coaches. For experience with the laser engraver, I practiced engraving murals on the walls. Because I was having fun I went ahead and printed the murals on cardstock to finish the job. I know no one will ever see them after installation. I got a kick out of it.

    Regular panel and 2 with murals.
    NP coach bulkheads.jpg

    Here is where they go.
    NP coach murals installed.JPG

    Saturday: I got serious about making steam driver overlays. After messing around a while, I concluded the engraver needed further adjustment to make the drivers acceptable. Spent the rest of the day tearing the machine down, cleaning, reassembling and adjusting. Preliminary testing was promising.

    Sunday: All day with the family. Soccer games on TV and out to dinner with our son. Good times!

    Monday: This might be cheating, being done on Monday. I finally tested the laser to see if I had made any improvements.

    Before: After:
    Driver 1000 before.jpg driver 1000.jpg

    There were several speed/power combos that were more than successful. Very happy!

    Going to be away from the workspace for a couple weeks, but when I return it will be time to finish the driver conversion. Bout time!

    Stay safe,
     
  14. BNSF FAN

    BNSF FAN TrainBoard Supporter

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    Seemed like the weekend went by way too fast. Only got about half the metal wheels installed that I planned to. Enjoyed doing what I got done.

    Hope you all had a great week!
     
  15. dti406

    dti406 TrainBoard Member

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    Friday bowling was infuriating had a 139 first game which we lost followed up by a 225 and 200. But I did get a boxcar painted before going bowling.

    Saturday, ran some errands and worked on decalling a couple of cars. Also started building an IMWX 1937 AAR boxcar kit.

    Sunday, did the laundry and some more errands, finished building the IMWX boxcar and spent some time researching W&LE / NKP boxcars for a decal set I have.

    Rick Jesionowski
     
  16. Grey One

    Grey One TrainBoard Supporter

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    @BNSF FAN
    Thank you. You were my 2000th 'Like'
     
  17. WPZephyrFan

    WPZephyrFan TrainBoard Member

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    Most of my hobby stuff has been packed away in boxes for years. I finally have a house all to myself (and my cat) with a spare bedrrom for a moderate sized N scale layout. I've been in here since November but because of my work schedule, i haven't been making much progress on unpacking. Today, I really started digging stuff out. This is a lot of my hobby stuff, my model kits and such. On the bar I unpacked all of my Western Pacific rolling stock:

    276112500_4789297951168629_5192989083358943236_n.jpg
     
  18. Kevin Anderson

    Kevin Anderson TrainBoard Member

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    This weekend was mainly prep time for the show this weekend.

    Rolling stock checked, changed trucks on six cars. Marked a bunch.

    Repaired some electronics and tested some engines. I really need to learn how to speed match


    Today I assembled 14 more legs for more modules.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
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  19. RailMix

    RailMix TrainBoard Member

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    Like others, didn't get as much done as I wanted to, but got all the wiring holes bored and some of them chamfered. Going to try working on benchwork again today.
     
  20. Pastor John

    Pastor John TrainBoard Member

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    Saturday I spent the day with fellow members of the Massillon Railroad Club in our booth at the Mount Hope Train Show, which is, I think, the biggest in Ohio with 600+ dealers. I spoke with one dealer of Matchbox cars that was from upstate New York and that's a decent hike from here.

    [​IMG][​IMG]

    I spent most of my time helping the club sell tickets to the 50-50 raffle and we sold over $500 so somebody's getting a check for half. And, of course, I had my eyes open while I was out hawking tickets and found a few bargains along the way.

    [​IMG]

    I got the blue box loco for $5 because the dealer bought it as part of an estate and hadn't "tested it yet". So, since my test track is currently set up for DCC and JMRI, I took it with me Sunday afternoon to the Sebring Model Railroad Club. Once I took a closer look, however, I realized that it's a dummy unit. Oh well, still a good deal, just not as good as I'd hoped.

    And then, later in the week, two packages came in the mail. One with enough Kadee coupler parts to keep me occupied for a few months, and the other a bag of insulated alligator clips that may be used in the future to build a DCC decoder test stand.

    [​IMG]

    It's hard to believe that little pile of stuff set me back well over $100 (and a good deal at that) and I'm not telling my wife that either.

    Sent from my SM-A716U using Tapatalk
     

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