Here we are again on a Monday morning. Did you remember to turn those clocks forward one hour? Hope so, don't need any cornfield meets on our layouts! I had a good and productive weekend. While I did not finish the 2-rail boxcars like I thought I would, there was a lot of stubborn decals and a lot of Solvaset used, I did get some work done on the modules. Saturday I started out early and set out for southern Indiana for wheels. If your following along, Angela's Pontiac vehicle suffered a terminal malfunction the day before I was to leave for Springfield Massachusetts. Currently the vehicle is sitting, waiting for it's donor engine to show up and get replaced. Since then, my trusty 1998 Jeep Cherokee XJ has been performing duties of everything the "primary" car was supposed to do. The good news is the Jeep is slowly getting restored I guess and these wheels are part of the restoration. On the way I found a cool GP9 sitting at a grain elevator so on the way back, I stopped and snapped a few pictures of this un-molested GP. The unit looks like it is in great shape and still has it's high hood. I'll post pictures of it later but based on the dynamic brake blister and nose mounted bell, it's linage could be Norfolk Western or even Maine Central. Sunday I worked on the modules largely undisturbed. Henderson St by Jim Wiggin posted Mar 14, 2016 at 6:54 AM I started by researching the area that needed the main roads and parking for Butler. I ended up overlaying a vintage aerial photo of the complex over a current Google Earth picture. The process worked great and I was able to make patterns from paper as seen above. Henderson St 2 by Jim Wiggin posted Mar 14, 2016 at 6:55 AM Once I was happy with the measurements and looks of the paper templates, I simply tapped the patterns on a sheet of .060 thickness polystyrene and cut the streets out with a sharp hobby knife. Here you see Henderson crossing the two tracks and Forth intersecting with Henderson and paralleling the tracks. Look closely and you'll see one of the main entrances to the Butler Building complex as well as the lower parking lot is centered right down that spur! I now see why present day, this entrance is nowhere to be found regardless of the track being torn up. Once all of this is down, I'll scribe the concrete lines and get out the handy dandy airbrush and lay on a coat of weathered concrete and use Tamiya Tape as well as Reefer white and yellow to make the road lines. Overall a good weekend. So how about you? How did you fare? Let us know! We'll come back on Friday the 18th and start it all over again. Until then, have a great week, stay safe and... High Greens!
Hope Ya'll had a great and productive weekend. Well, it was not to bad of a modeling weekend. I managed to put down the roads in my switch complex on Saturday. Yesterday, I went back and did some fill in and touch up work. This evening, I may go up and smooth it out and get some paint on it. Also got a bit more done on the bulk oil dealer. The roads are the first "scenery" added to the layout, since it was started about 8 years ago. Finally - LOL!! Thanks, Wolf
Jim: I like how you're laying out the roads and the track. I'll have to watch your progress on this. Big weekend. Got the staging yard framed. First bench work for the Albemarle Division v3. Also put up a small "D" target signal I found several years ago online. Mounted over the stairway as you go down from the attic. Much more bench work to come.
with visiting friends and relations (!) and my wife's departure for a business trip (meaning I am now full on MR. Mom for the week) All I got done was moving (and labeling) my books and magazines to their new home under the new benchwork. We'll see how this week pans out.
Well, after the disaster of last weekend, was able to finish up the sound install and weathering of my 2-10-2 Here is the decoder (sans speaker) in the tender And here are a couple shots of the numbered and weathered unit (this was an undecorated model)
I had planned on doing a bit of modeling Saturday afternoon after doing my weekly shopping. A couple of stops into the morning, my low tire pressure light on the dash came on. I stopped at a gas station to unsuccessfully put some air in the tires ($1.50 just to use the station's air? No thanks!), I discovered a large screw in my right front tire. I rushed home and threw the groceries in the door way and then spent the rest of the afternoon at the tire shop waiting to get it fixed. Sunday was spent at a 4 hour work meeting, a 40 minute drive away in the pouring rain. Hopefully, next weekend will be a bit less..."exciting".
I finished two cabooses over the weekend. A NP 24'er and SP&S 760. The SP&S bay window was a true SP&S order not hand me downs from the GN and NP. The order called for 4 cabooses, 760-763, but the last two were cancelled. I made this one from a Model Power and completely rebuilt the bays.
Went to the big trainshow over the weekend and bought a pair of Walthers buildings to try out. I've never built a kit before. I've usually just bought the Woodland Scenics buildings ready to go. I told myself this was just a learning experience, so I was able to relax and enjoy myself. Normally I'm too perfectionist for anything to be pleasurable. For next time though, I will paint before assembly. And get some better paint brushes.
Altoona's Scalefest turned up a few discontinued kits from N Scale Architect, including Littles Lumber Mill, and Delphi Paper and Box. As well as a wooden water car kit I've never seen before and two Bmann Old Timer boxcars. Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk Spookshow of course has the tank car kit listed http://www.spookshow.net/freight/railheadtank.html Perhaps it'll go on a fire train. Or get repurposed into crude oil hauling... They used wooden stationary tanks all over the ANF after all.
Not much accomplished. What little there was done, I was studying how to do a coupler conversion to my MinitrainS passenger cars.
Unfortunately the weather was too nice in upstate NY and I spent the weekend cleaning up stuff that Mother Nature scattered around my yard during the winter. 2 acres with a lot of trees means a lot of 'pick-up-stix' and raking every spring. Still not done...
I have a lot of pine (varying species) and they shed worse than a dog. Not fun to walk on barefoot in the summer if I just try to mow it under. Plus I end up with a trailer load or more of stuff 2"+ in diameter every spring. Fortunately the weather forecast for the next two weeks will be a bit more conducive to staying indoors so I might actually be able to get back to laying track.
I had time this weekend to sketch a new scene I want to model. It will take a lot of thinking before it comes clear in my mind.
