We had a busy weekend again. We took my son’s Cub Scout Pack to the Elmwood Park Zoo. During the year they raised money and adopted a Bald Eagle and on Saturday they got a talk with the keeper and toured the zoo. On Sunday my FIL came home from the hospital. With everything else going on no modeling got done.
I did a quite credible weathering job on my new RailBox boxcar using just black paint and alcohol. I also installed Kadee couplers on three cars and a locomotive.
Some trains running at home. Mostly to try out the latest loco, SJ class Da, made by Roco. Running real good and will have to do lot of work in the future.
I actually tried something new over the weekend. Tried my hand at milling down a frame to make a "green goat" switcher out of a GP20. I also began scratchbuilding a foobie version of the green goat using the GP20 shell.
Nada! I decided to wait for the remainder of the track to arrive later this week or beginning of next week to do any more wiring. One good thing has occurred. I had ordered a few things direct from Walthers since there is no real hobby shop nearby. One of the items was double track portals from Woodland Scenics. Opened the box, took off the shrink wrap of the portal box and one of the portals was broken. I sent a email to Walthers and suggested maybe that the packing wasn't as good as it should be and the jostling through USPS was the culprit or that Woodland Scenics maybe should package them better. At any rate I mentioned I probably could repair it with some hydrocal. Email back from them was very apologetic and did not wish me to have to repair a defective product. They are shipping a replacement FedEx with no charge. Another instance of responding to the needs of the customer.:thumbs_up:
finished laying most of my mainline track...just need to install the bridge to complete (which I have been putting off) and started adding contouring to the landscape, added the town level.
Wow, hey, got just about everything I set out to do done! Started the Christmas Layout (and even got some trains running on it just for fun) and got a significant amount of the scratch build saloon done. Wahooo!!
Well let's see....I daydreamed allot about how my future mountain would look. Thought about if I want a long two track bridge, single track bridge, or land and a small bridge for my upper loop in my future scenic area. Thought some more about how I should build that mountain. Thought about gluing down all of my risers. Thought about how I am going to wire the track and reverse loops. Thought some more about that mountain again. I accomplished nothing
I've finished my ALCO RSD-5. Now this engine has light and sound. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUymvzlNOQ4"]YouTube - ALCO - first test run[/ame] You can see the HOW TO at my TrainBoard Blog Wolfgang
Since today is a public holiday here, and as tomorrow I have to start doing 6 hours of commuting (thanks to a job relocation as of 5:30 pm Friday) I thought I'd squeeze in some trains: I cleaned up the garden railroad, and since it looks like I'll be staying in this house for a while longer have decided to go ahead with the the extension that will curve round infront of the gate on a removable section, run along the left of this picture before heading further off to the left of photo and heading back up to the house. The last phase will be to build a link across the patio and make a loop. I also spent five minutes on my GP40P-2 and removed the corner pieces at the rear of the DB blister to reuse on the steam generator section of long hood. The other week I said I'd destroyed a boxcar, well I managed to save it via a liberal application of brake fluid (easily removes Tamiya spray paint), and some BLMA steps. Next off some white and green paint for a freelanced scheme for a shortlien that'll make an appearance on my oneday layout. From a couple of weeks back a U28C that I've started bringing up to scratch. First off was to repair the cab roof which was all pock marked like it had been attached by chemicals, although the damage was below the paint. It'll get some detail parts, If I can scratchbuild out the Sunrise blackhole, filled in pilots and some change to the rear of the long hood to match the SP models. Anyone know if NWSL do replacement wheels for these locos ? Wolfgang, nice freelanced scheme you have there!
"credible"???? Are you kidding? I had to do a double take to make sure this was not a real car!! Fantastic job...I really like it
We had our favorite niece and her beau over for the weekend, and went on the Tram to the top of Sandia Crest, and explored the National Atomic Museum and Old Town. I ran trains on Friday night for their behalf. Everyone but me is pretty amazed at the geometry of the layout. Paul (the beau) is an aspiring writer, and peppered me with questions while taking copious notes in his journal. Interesting to have a fellow writer for a weekend! My hip is really getting painful, but hiking doesn't seem to make it worse. Friday afternoon at Sandia Crest, it was about 35 degrees F., with a 40 MPH wind, so the wind chill was pretty low. These Phoenix folks have no tolerance for cold! Late Sunday, I stopped fiddling with track repairs at the Insane Asylum, and simply cut in a new piece of track. I've learned that, if you have to fiddle so much, just scrap it and put in a new section. Going out to test it tonight.
Thanks to work and family-related issues, very little got done. What I WAS able to do was lay down some ballast and a little WE ground foam on a test section of scenery. The track was painted, then ballast & ground foam applied (I'm looking for a lightly-used look, which some Frisco secondary lines had, which meant weeds in the ballast). About 2 feet got this treatment, and I'm satisfied enough with it that when I FINALLY get all the wiring down, I'll do the rest of the visible track the same way.
Mom and The Trio... ...helped to pick up a couch and deliver it to my living room. Next Matt and Mike (almost 6' each) installed / mounted Pete's 2nd backdrop. It is beautiful and pics will follow. Their long reach was decidedly helpful in setting it in place and taking down a decorative shelf. I could not have done this without moving the table. Pictures to follow. Due to time constraints not much more happened. Over heard was Rachel telling her unckle all about the trains, um, er and how funny it was when Steve crashed the trains. oooops. Mike and Matt have been enthusiastic about designing bridges as they have all been told that as long as we can still run trains then any scenery and structures they can build are welcome.
