Welcome back everyone, I hope you all had a great weekend and got a lot accomplished. Let's get started. Friday: Normally I start Good Friday, Great Railfanning early in the morning but this year after traveling we set out at 8:30am. Brian and I caught a lot of action at our usual haunts and even witnessed a train go into emergency due to from what we could make out on his scanner, a misaligned switch. The Transcon was shut down for a bit, so we headed to Galesburg and watched a few trains around that area before grabbing our fried Tacos at Taco Hideout and ice cream at Kastle Kreme. We then headed down to the depot. Soon it was dark, and we were heading home from another Good Friday Great Railfanning day. Saturday: I slept in, made coffee and looked at some train videos on YouTube to get inspired to work on some projects. Soon the wife was wanting to get a few things in town for Easter, so I joined her, and we enjoyed a small lunch together then off to pick up some groceries for the next day. Once home, I parked the Falcon outside and started the Harley for the first time since October, put some air in the tires and went around the block. The rest of the day was spent doing yard cleaning. Sunday EASTER: We slept in, I made coffee and worked in the workshop a bit then went downstairs to start working on the dinner. I made twice baked potatoes and worked on the ham while Ang made corn casserole, deviled eggs and salad. Her dad and Grandmother arrived at 1:00 and we enjoyed a nice Easter meal. After we enjoyed each other's company for the afternoon before they left at 5:00. I went to town to top off the fuel in the bike and when I got back our Granddaughter was over, so we visited with her and her parents before taking a nice evening stroll before sunset. Not a lot of model railroading but a nice relaxing weekend after a few months of busy, busy, busy. So how about you? What did you accomplish this past weekend? Let us know. We'll assemble again on Friday the 14th to start the process all over again. Until then, have a great week, be safe and as always... High Greens!
Did a fair amount of sorting/packing/organizing for the move. Since it’s overseas back to the US, we won’t have most of our stuff for about 90 days or possibly more. So it takes a fair amount of time to get organized and make sure all the things are ready to go on the boat or all the “essentials” are identified (and not accidentally shipped on the slow boat!). All the outdoor stuff, including the grill, is cleaned and organized. All but my youngest’s clothes are sorted The kitchen is pretty much done too. Movers show up next week. As far as trains go, I started weathering three more tank cars-2x BLMA, 1x Atlas 31k Trinity tanks. I did a fade with oils on the two black ones and but graffiti on the white one. Going to try and finish them over the course of the week or next weekend so I can box them up for the move too. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Good morning to Y'all Hope Y'all had a great Easter My weekend went as planned - Saturday: Obtained my European driver's permit. And - I did get a little work bench time. I worked on my friend's 1910 Model T touring. (1:48) Sunday: Had a wonderful Easter dinner. Y'all have a great week!! Wolf
Friday, I did a little homework reading, started some prep cooking for our family Easter dinner, then went to take part in our community Good Friday worship service. That evening, my wife started feeling... unwell. Saturday, I did more homework reading, took care of my wife who was now obviously sick, and went to church in the evening to do some computer work (blog posts, YouTube, etc.) followed by our Easter Vigil service. That evening, we officially canceled our family gathering. Sunday, I was at church by 6:30 am with our youth as they prepared for their "Sonrise" service at 8:00 am and to set up the livestream for that service. Afterward, I grabbed a plate at our extensive continental breakfast and got to work posting my Sunday message and setting up the next livestream. Since my wife was a little better but still camped out on the couch, I went to the Sebring Model Railroad Club for a little while, did some bookkeeping, then went to visit my Mom nearby at her care facility. That evening, tired as i was, I just sat in my recliner and ate snacks. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk
Good morning all. The weekend went mostly as I thought. Worked on oil platform, 3 Walthers kits. Not really happy w/ those kits, but that's another story. I have a lot of "tweaking" w/ these things. Made a concrete paving base for the platform. Put it against the siding and the siding had a "bow" in it. So Saturday AM, I ripped out the track, sanded down the base and put in a new siding aligned w/ the platform base. The platform is going to take some work. Sunday: Not much modeling. Spent most of the day setting up the smoker and grilling ribs. Mrs. Kitbash and I had our son and his wife here. St. Louis ribs were awesome. Used the "Franklin" method for those of you that do a lot of grilling/smoking. Hope everyone had a great Easter weekend and a great week ahead to all. Here's a shot of some stuff going on Saturday AM.
Not a lot. Work was a real thrash this weekend. My ambition level was not quite as hoped. My HOn30 caboose is now almost ready to decal. Spent some time relaxing and reading through my binders of saved favorite model RR articles.
I spent most of Thursday and Friday trying to break a fever and kick a nasty headache (it's still there now!). Felt decent enough on Saturday morning to get out and sit at my workbench to assemble and start testing one board: Top right corner has the LCC connections which route down to a few LCC nodes (two seen in this picture in the bottom right corner area) and the lone RJ45 cable coming out the front goes off to a legacy cab bus system. As part of testing I was able to decode and document a few undocumented cab bus commands and uncover a weird issue where device on the cab bus were knocked off the bus for unknown reasons. Didn't get much done on Sunday but a bit more planning on the future layout and new electronics workbench to be built under part of the layout.
This was a quiet weekend, league bowling is done on Fridays and because of Easter we did not have the Ohio State Tournament this weekend. I managed to paint a couple of Covered Hoppers and the ends and under frame on a RBL along with a couple of other underframes. I started to build a Walthers PS 4427 CF covered hopper and in looking at the library shelf ladders and grabs I removed and replaced them with finer plastic and wire replacements. Also started and am mostly done with a Walthers 89’ Trailer Train flat. Rick Jesionowski
Happy Monday all, Friday's vet visit for the cat went well and he is in good health. On Saturday we were able to get into the club's trailer for the first time in 3 years and retrieve the corner module for one of the members to re-do the scenery on. While there I noticed the spare tire on the trailer has deteriorated to the point of needing replacement so that will need to happen in the next 2 months. Easter Sunday ended up being the nicest weather we have had here so far this year hitting 74 degrees. I spent much of the day cleaning up the deck area and bringing the deck furniture out of storage. Also started to prepare the vegetable garden for planting. Throughout the weekend I was entering items into the N scale database and doing other yard work and house cleaning.
100% agree, we hit 76 degrees up the hill here in Sonora. Looking at 77F today before it drops down into the mid/low 60s the rest of the week. I'm on the hunt for a few plants to add to our garden, we scaled it back this year from four 30ft rows to two and have planted about 1/3 of one row with garlic (most of which is ~6in tall now). I'm trying to find scotch bonnet and habanero plants so I can make hot sauce next spring / summer (we wash the peppers, take the tops off and toss them in whole into the blender with just enough vinegar to make a paste, add a bit of salt and let the paste age for 6-8 months before adding more vinegar, blending and boiling to make the final hot sauce).
We had a good weekend around the house. I got some tulips that were in pots planted. I put several plants back in their proper locations are the squirrels apparently relocated them at some point. I did some trimming of the weeping cherry tree. I basically removed branches that were out of line and did not have any blossoms on them. Inside the house the laundry got rearranged. My wife made the potato salad. My daughter did her baking, making her tres leches cake. This year she tried Easter bread after we forgot to order it ahead of time. The bread came out well. The only problem was a heated discussion between her and my son regarding the glazing of the bread. He did not want any glaze. She agreed to leave a section unglazed for him. However, she reneged on the agreement after he stole a piece of the bread. The last thing done was the coloring of the eggs. Easter was a quiet day. We had our usual dinner attended by my wife, my son, my daughter, and myself. I handled the ham and the sweet potato casserole. My daughter made mac and cheese from scratch. The microwave took care of the vegetables. After dinner we found a movie on Apple TV called “Greyhound” starring Tom Hanks. It is about a US destroyer escorting a convoy during the Battle of the Atlantic in the Winter of 1942. It was an enjoyable movie and the fact my daughter and wife watched it through is a testament to that since they never watch war movies. I did not get much done on the layout. I did glue down the foam board base for the Union Station. I organized my weathering pastels, pigments, and supplies. I also organized my airbrush paints and other airbrush supplies. I packed them in bins to make them easier to find and store. I worked on the walls for the Morgan House kit.
Great railfanning. Great family visit. Back to the USA! (Sounds like a song ) Working on friend's model T. Cool! In the recliner eating snacks. It doesn't get any better. I hate unwanted "bows". Relaxing and reading. Sublime. I hope the headache leaves soon. Covered hopper rustling in the undergrowth? Chortle! Gotta' have good tires. Bread theft! So unexpected! Hello from train derail prone Alabama. Looks like most had a good Holiday. I went out of town Saturday to my son's house. Did work up some dimensions for the tenders Sunday. That was about it. Have a great and safe week.
Hey All, hope you all had a good weekend. I did not make much progress, but did make a trip to the Texas Hill Country to visit Larry Smith's "Hill Country Great Northern" as part of our Lone Star Region Division 6 Bi-Monthly Luncheon. A fantastic multi-level layout in a 40 X 60-ish space, in the upstairs of this shop: A great time with fantastic hospitality! If you ever get the chance to visit....do! -Bob T.
Z Scale REA Transfer Warehouse ↓ extension kit ↓ My REA Transfer Warehouse with 1 Extension Kit Any and all comments appreciated Not bad for just beginning Z scale in mid-January 2023
Family here for Easter, so not much modeling done except for a bit of work on bridge abutments. Saturday was cold and rainy, so enjoyed time reading by the fire while my family worked on a jigsaw puzzle. Had our Easter dinner Saturday, as a family member had to leave for their journey home after Sunday's church service.
Didn't get as much done as I wanted, but we had some nice weather so I took the motorcycle out for some well needed throttle therapy. I did pick up this Walther's utility truck that I spent probably 5 or 6 hours putting tiny LEDs and a circuitboard (that doesn't quite fit but close enough) to control the strobe lights and 4 way/head/taillights. I finally got that completed today but started it on the weekend, so it counts as a weekend accomplishment. I also installed some manual throw switches from Caboose industries, made some saplings for the layout, and cleaned the tracks!
Had a little fun running the trains this week. Most time and money was spent of my two electric bicycles. The two wheeler (marketed by TREK) keeps braking down and falling apart. So, yesterday I got it's replacement. A trike with lithium ion battery and 750W motor - $3000. Will ride it later this morning. Of course this reduces possibility of advancing the layout.
