Having survived the tax season of 2013, we eagerly step to the platform in anticipation of the train that will take us to the weekend. It's time for Weekend Modeling Plans. Having finished the Rock Island GP40, I am now getting ready for the N scale show in Columbus Ohio in May. Construction of a new T-Trak module has started with the station painted and 50% assembled. Even with Jared's track meets, I should be able to sneak in a few hours and finish the building and maybe he road. I want the module mostly done for that show. Work on the layout has stopped as I work on the T-Trak module and get ready for Columbus and Galesburg. I have something special planned for Galesburg this year by way of a locomotive. Should be a productive yet busy weekend. So how about you? What projects do you have on the ready board this weekend? Track work, scenery, structures or painting? Are there any shows you are getting ready for? Whatever your plans may be, let us know. We'll come back on Monday the 22nd and see how we all did. Until then, have a happy and safe weekend and... ​High Greens!
I should get one day of modeling in, anyway. Our daughter is getting another two awards at college, so we're driving up there on Sunday for the ceremonies. The flat cars are almost done, but I decided they needed real wood decks. Unfortunately, my LHS has stopped carrying the Northeast Scale Lumber sheets I use for this, as they were very slow-moving items, but he told me that NSL has a small retail operation nearby, so perhaps I'll take a road trip at some point, or my not-so-local hobby shop a few towns away might carry it. Meanwhile, I'll pull the blue tape off the decks and use them as-is for now. It's time for the final scenery and a bit of tuning up of the trackwork for the carfloat apron. I think I'll have to remove and reset that wye turnout after all. Looking closely at the point where it merges with the girder rail from the street-running track, it's shifted about a millimeter from where I originally had it, and that's enough of a discontinuity to cause derailments. Getting back in there to re-rail trains once the carfloat is "in port" is going to be awkward, so I want that track as bulletproof as possible. Looking ahead, I'll be finishing up the foam base for the carfloat, and then I'll love that dirty water as I mix up some Envirotex and tint it to a murky green.
Oooh, please post pictures. I've got one of those in a box in the workroom. I bought it and the right space for it never developed. But, I think it's a great model with a lot of opportunity for detailing, and one day I'll get to it.
My brother took me to his LHS in Methuen back in 2004. Nice shop and friendly owner, though I don't know if he's still there 9 years later. Also, I don't know the status of Neal's N-Gauging Trains up in Hampton, NH, but he may have some Northeast stock.
