Days are getting shorter and the night slowly grows longer as the days hopefully get cooler in September. It's time for weekend modeling plans. I'm afraid I have nothing going on this weekend railroad wise as I will be gone all weekend at a model airplane meet. This is probably the last outdoor meet this year. After this show, I have one more big model airplane show in Ohio in November, so the model plane side is starting to slow down. Next weekend will be all trains however as my club will be putting on a display at the Decatur Train Fair. After that, I expect to start doing a few more railroad projects. How about you? We are seeing a steady increase here in traffic, so the Autumn days must be bringing back our modelers to their benches, modules and layouts. What do you plan to work on this weekend? Let us know, with pictures if you want. We'll come back on Monday, September 10th and see how we all did. Until then... ​High Greens!
My LHS guy said the Silflor static grass I ordered should be in this week. So, I'll hopefully be able to experiment a bit with different lengths and colors to get the look I want. And then, football starts on Sunday. Since the big TV shares the family room with the trains, I get to watch the games and model at the same time. I've saved up some ballasting to keep my hands busy while Tom Brady hopefully keeps his receivers busy. I've also got a couple of F7s that are not working right. This will be a good opportunity to open them up and see what's wrong, and to break out the detail kits and dress the shells up a bit. Finally, there's that big open space on the far left end of my layout, the last of the visible pink foam on Phase 2 of my layout. It's going to be the home of the Empire Tanning Company. As I did with Mooseport, the first step will be to unroll a big sheet of paper and mark where the existing tracks are, and then cut out templates for the buildings. I just love the fall.
The days are indeed getting shorter, my wife commented about that last night. It was almost totally dark by 8:15 when we were watching Pawn Stars (love that show!) The wife's birthday is Sunday and I bought her a nice Kitchen Aid mixer.... so any modeling funds for this month is out the window. Anyhow, I will be laying more rail down for the Main Track / Run Around / Yard 1 Track. I think I should be able to get a good chuck of that knocked out this morning and tomorrow morning. I need to dig out a kit I bought to use for yard office and decide which way I want to go with that. I bought a Model Power kit several months ago with the idea of using that as a starting point and scratchbuilding and extra detailing several things into one structure. Also thinking about just going with a craftsman kit instead....... hmmm.
Early mornings.. I'll be working in the "Train Attic". I want to finish pulling wire and "making up the grounds" for the first permit inspection which I hope to have done soon. The inspectors here like to see the wires in the boxes stripped down, rolled, and grounds crimped together. If time permits, I have some last minute stud blocking to do. Once I get this done with framing and rough-in electrical inspected, I can start insulating. Either Saturday or Sunday afternoon, I plan on rolling out the air-brush and having a painting session. I have several freight cars that just need a little weathering to be finished (along w/ some chalk maybe) and the a few kits that need a base coat so I can get them decaled. Will probably be Sunday afternoon since I'll be watching college football tomorrow afternoon.
I have finished track laying on the fourth section of my T-Trak yard modules and today I wii assemble them, hook up my dcc system to it and run some locos around to test the trackwork and electrical continuity. If all is well I will add some scenery and ballast to the modules.
