Welcome back everyone. I hope you all had a great weekend and got a lot done in the workshop. Let's get started. Friday: I had it off which was nice after the trip to Denver. I mainly took it easy but by midafternoon I was working on the track plan again. Saturday: I got up and got started. It was still too cold to work in the garage, so I sat down and finally finished the track plan for the B&M shadowbox layout, complete with proposed buildings and street layout.  I'm naming this one Granite State Industrial. The industries are real, but I took a few liberties on the track layout. You can read more about it in the Layout discussion forum here on Trainboard if you are so inclined. I then updated the layout's Facebook page and finally it warmed up to 50 degrees. I spent the rest of the day organizing freight cars that will be used on the layout. Sunday: We went from 32 degrees to 60 thanks to a strong and persistent southern wind. We'll get a few days of normal weather before another cold front moves in for a solid week. Ang and I spent some time with her dad and Grandma and my buddy Steve, and his wife then settled in back home. I worked on the NTrak module but only managed to get half the 1/4-inch fascia up. I hope to sand the rest of it this week and add stain before the impending cold front. Then like that, the weekend was over. So how about you? What did you accomplish this past weekend? Let us know. We'll come back and do it again on Friday the 15th to do it all over again. Until then, have a great week, be safe, stay healthy and as always... High Greens!
Good mornin to Y'all, Hope Y'all had a great weekend The Op's session on Saturday went great. The layout ran pretty smooth. Very few glitches. Nothing major. All I managed to accomplish was to install the train order boards. One at Oxnard (photo below) and one at Saticoy. Thanks, and Y'all have a great week Wolf
I worked on some rolling stock this weekend. I added a bit of my own weathering two MTL factory weathered boxcars. I installed decoders in all my FVM GEVOs. Most of the weekend was spent on 3 Red Caboose centerbeams, seen below on my layout. And I started weathering (but didn’t finish) 5 sets of Kato Maxi-I articulated well cars. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Saturday I spent the afternoon cataloging the new rolling stock and then programmed the new locomotives I purchased for the N scale modules. Sunday I am on the road again. I took the five locos with me again to work on. This time I had the decal setting solution and paint I needed last week. I was able to get three done. Monday I will finish the last two. Wednesday I will be programming all five locos. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Had another good weekend and got a bit accomplished on the layout. The bridges on the two rear tracks got installed. Then the track got installed. What is shown here was assembled on the work bench then taken to the layout section and glued in place. In between steps while glues were drying I finished installing tie down chains on one of my DODX flat cars. Still need some touch ups and maybe weathering the deck. Then started modifying another Micro-Trains Humvee into a different variant.
Good weekend of modeling. Did not get to the HM Meyers building, but did spend all weekend experimenting and painting Derlin railings. For the first time ever, I got 3 sets of engine railings painted with NO flaking (so far). I am working 2 RSD-12's and an old S2. The RSD in the photo will need decaling of course. I put one of the railings on (loosely) just to see how it is looking. The Dupli Color works well. Have to go strictly by the instructions. I soaked the Derlin (POM plastic) railings in acetone for about 20 minutes. After air-drying, spray on the adhesion promoter and then within 5 minutes, air-brush. The RSD 12's were particularly challenging because the C&O had them with yellow railings all the way across the engine deck with the C&O "Enchantment Blue" stanchions. So after doing the yellow first, it was a mix of masking the the railings for the stanchions and then hand brushing the blue over top of the railings for the sleeves at the top of the stanchions. The good news is the adhesion promoter spray works! EUREKA!!!
I worked on a little more static grass for some foreground scenery on my N-scale Housatonic RR. There is a bit of a learning curve, since I don't really have any experience working with it, but I am happy with the results of the two hours I could sneak some modeling time into. I am learning as I go and still need to add some more detail, like deadfall under the trees.
Fine diagram and pics above! @Kitbash Hooray for the railings. Crisp! Saturday I went to the Gadsden Train Show. I won a door prize! I felt like I won a Nobel Prize. Great show. The permanent club layout is seventy-two feet long! More layouts in attendance. However, my begging the Northern forum members on here to stop the cold from bleeding South was to no avail. Very cool wind all day. Especially at Noccalula Falls where a chilly mist would sometimes waft on visitors. Still the falls were in full flow. As of now, the beam cover sheets are done and on to the end frames. Have a great week!
I installed nine decoders and did initial testing programming on them. I put all of those locomotives into my JMRI roster and assigned road numbers. Four of those locomotives were Frankensteins, shell swaps and such. I didn’t get a chance to work on finishing my test track. I need to get that done so that I can start working on speed matching.
Friday: Moose made paper mock-ups of the yard warehouse and a brewery and confirmed their designs should work. Saturday: Updated designs of the aforementioned buildings and ordered the necessary materials to build them. Sunday: Nothing train related... Mock-ups: https://www.trainboard.com/highball...-yard-need-help-planning.143359/#post-1220366 https://www.trainboard.com/highball...-yard-need-help-planning.143359/#post-1220389
I actually accomplished what I planned! My remaining older T-Trak modules are all salvaged and gone. I finished numbering another HOn30 critter and started a gondola kit. But have not taken a picture that critter as yet. Maybe I will do that and post it later today or tomorrow......
Well I did not expect to get anything done with all the bowling activities this weekend and I was correct. When I finally got home I just sat down and either watched a movie or read a book. Should get back to modeling this week and weekend. Rick Jesionowski
It was a slow weekend all around. The rainy weather on Saturday kept us from doing any outside work. We did finish the Easter decorations. I think Sunday some side effects from our Covid boosters hit as we did not feel like doing anything. I got nothing done on the layout or the workbench. I did read through the manual for the NCE Power Cab DCC Starter Set.
Almost immediately after publishing my weekend objectives my wife "suggested" I accompany her to the mall. All was not lost. On the way home we stopped at the RE Store (Bellingham's reuseable materials outlet) where I found a sadly neglected screwdriver for a $1. Perfect for my needs as I took it home and turned into this: The security screwdriver I need to open one of the orphan tool chargers retrieved from my mother-in-law's shop. In that charger I found a capacitor close enough in value to replace one I suspected of failing in one of my chargers. Which led to this: A bit larger physically, but still able to squeeze into place. And sweet success! The charger works again meaning I can now use this: My old Dremel stylus. The second, of three, rotary tools I have been able to put back in service over the past few months. This one has been my go to quick job choice in the garage for several years. It stopped charging last year sometime. Took me a while to figure out the battery was still good and a bit longer to troubleshoot the charger. Parts support ended long ago for this one. The only thing on my weekend list was dispositioning the orphan charger. My other train-related projects suffered from the distraction. Now back to cleaning the workspace. And then, maybe, if the stars align, modeling. Stay safe,
Finally got my DCC feeders dropped for a spur, and 3 of the 4 yard tracks. Have a few more wired joiners just have to find them. Have another 2 locations to drop feeder’s, makes a world of difference. Now I actually have DCC power to my locations and it works now. Used to lose power in those locations. All is good now. Next drill locations for Just Plug street light’s and install. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Finished the track in my yard and began thinking through how I'll work a raised segment of track that provides an alternate mainline route.
Friday: With Spring upon us, my wife and I got started on our church community garden. Two years ago it was nearly overgrown with weeds, so last year we started covering everything with weed barrier fabric, plastic, and mulch. Friday we worked on parts we didn't get to last summer. Afterwards we rested, walked our dogs, and picked up some stuff at Walmart. By the time we got home, my knee was not happy. Apparently I tweaked it while mowing or rototilling. By bedtime it was killing me and my wife offered me crutches. Falling asleep was a struggle just to find a pain-free position. Saturday: Knee was some better. In the morning I met two other officers from the Sebring Model Railroad Club at the bank to get signature authorization changed for our accounts. After that I cleaned our turtle tank, mixed nutrient solution for my hydroponic garden, did laundry, went shopping for new hiking boots, and a few other chores. Sunday: Palm Sunday! So, church, then train club, and then a 2.7 mile hike with my wife and the dogs on a former rail line. The only train project, other than banking, that I did, was to start looking at the new bobber caboose I bought at the last train show. No actual work got done other than to pry the sides apart where they had been glued and considered how to mount new couplers and add weight. Shouldn't be hard once I have the time and motivation to sit and do it.
