Welcome back everyone, I hope you all had a great weekend and got a lot done. Let's see how we did this first weekend of November. Friday: As predicted, the wife and I headed into town to pick up a few things at Costco, Hobby Lobby and Menards after having a quiet dinner. I was able to pick up what I needed for the N scale shadowbox project as well as a few Holiday items for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Saturday: Somehow the dogs let us sleep until 8:00am which never happens. We quickly got up and ready for the hour and a half trip to Angela's dad's so we could get the Falcons new parts installed. By 5:00pm we had run out of parts we needed to complete the project. We cleaned up and grabbed some dinner before heading home and setting out clocks. Sunday: Despite it being nice and warm outside, I was just not having any luck with the shadowbox. My table saw is an old, cheap design from 20 years ago and simple things like the fence are no longer accurate. Despite me measuring the distance from the front and rear of the fence to the blade, all my cuts were off and pieces cut were crooked. I fought through it and was able to get the lights and wire installed for the lighting as well as the top and both sides finished. I still have the front fascia to install but by 5:00pm I was finished with fighting with the equipment and cleaned up for the day. We made popcorn for dinner and watched a movie and as the credits rolled the weekend was over. So how about you? How was your weekend? Let us know. We'll assemble again on Friday the 10th to start the process all over again. Until then, have a good week, stay safe and as always... High Greens!
Good morning from a beautiful fall day in McLean VA. I don't remember what I said I was going to do but I'm pretty sure I didn't. More or less sequentially: Friday, (I think) Went to the paint store, Image: Man with dark glasses, black beret and a white cane walk into a paint store. What did he, (the employee), tell his partner that night at dinner? Suffered sever sticker shock at $25 per quart. Argh, so, I only bought red and blue hoping that I actually did bring my leftovers from Boston. Got home, looked / felt through lots of boxes, sigh, no joy. Saturday: Now I remember, Box Car Assembly Step-Daughter and I built 2 of the 'Accurail' boxcar kits, (pics to follow). We skipped the undercarriage as this was a first time for both of us, we didn't have an applicator *and* 'nobody can see that anyway', <innocent smile> She was able to get the couplers on. Me? Not so much. ☻ Took 2 hours each for us to 'complete' the cars. It will be faster next time. ♣ Promoting Domestic the Tranquility required I take care of home stuff the rest of the day. I did get time to study and envision certain aspects of the layout. Decided to paint blue backdrops on now empty cardboard boxes but just didn't get the time. Sunday: Re-Designed the viaduct. I've decided to use empty cans instead of the platic cups. They are much sturdier and available, (as soon as I make my chili). Most likely they will be noisy. If I don't like the sound I'll find a way to insulate them. Synopses: No paint means 1 or 2 day delay on putting track, (which should arrive Tuesday), down. That will push back everthing else. Still, it will give me time to empty 2 more cans of diced tomato. Edit: For clarity.
Good mornin to Y'all. I had a mixed bag of a weekend. Saturday: We went down to my Brother's to celebrate his Birthday. My Sister-in-Law got her dates mixed up. She thought we were to get together on Sunday. Sunday: - Changed out the Kitchen faucet. Went very smooth. I then sat down at my work desk. -- starting feeling a bit woozy -- some how I caught a bug of some sort. (I think, it's just a head cold -- no fever, no sore throat and no coughing) - Just feel like crud. Y'all have a great week, Wolf
Saturday was a bit busy-went to my friend’s birthday party, watched my youngest play soccer, and then I headed to a hobby shop in Alexandria. I bought some clear coat and some scenery supplies. Got home did a couple of chores, then rested because I was tired. I chalked it up to ice skating for an hour which I’m not good at and hadn’t done in a long time. Sunday I still felt tired (still do this morning-think I’m coming down with something) so it was noon before I mustered the energy to leave the house. I ended up getting to home depot buying the weed mats for the garden, some trim for the fascia, and some gray paint for the backdrop. I put the weed mats in put away the Halloween decorations, and was spent. Hopefully I’ll feel better by next weekend and can put some paint on something. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Monday AM greetings all. This past weekend went no where as planned, but it was still full of Modeling. Friday when posting I completely forgot the Raleigh Train Show was going on. So, Saturday AM I cut a base for SL Cabin and got it installed. Then later I went over to the Show. It was pretty good this year with more scale vendors. There are always tons of tin-plate at the show but this year seemed to have more scale model railroading vendors which was good. I did not buy any rolling stock or engines this year, but did score some sweet building details and things I cannot ordinarily find. Also, my favorite modular club, the Sipping and Switching Society of North Carolina was there. Always fun to catch up those guys and check out the modules. It is a HUGE layout and if one is ever in the NC area and they are showing, it is worth the visit. Sunday modeling time was spent cleaning up the layout, running trains, and cleaning out things under the layout that can be "deep six'd" in the Tuesday trash pick-up. "Sipping and Switching Society" pic's
If anyone kept up with college football scores this weekend, then you know how my Saturday went . . . The Tide rolled right over my Tigers on Saturday . . . rather painfully. So I spent Sunday in mourning and accompanied the domestic CFO to the annual Peter Andersen Fest arts and crafts show. Saw many cool things I have no room for or need of but aided my recovery for Saturday with a couple beverages sipped while walking.
Good morning everyone, Had another productive weekend here. Spent part of Saturday afternoon at the SBHRS open house. Ran into quite a few friends there so spent time catching up with them and enjoying the layouts and museum. The prices in the sale area are always very good and it was already quite picked over by then but I did find one N scale car I wanted and some flex track I need for a project. This time I visited the tower and enjoyed the presentation given on its history and operation. Nice view from up there. The tracks on the left are heading north toward San Francisco. The recently installed overhead wires on this line will be for the new Stadler EMU's when they start operation in the next year or so. The tracks branching off to the right go up the east bay through Oakland. Easy to see why they needed a tower here back in the day. Mostly all passenger trains these days and a couple went through while I was up in the tower. In this photo a Sacramento bound Amtrak California Capital in push mode is taking the cross over. On and off all weekend I worked on the staging yard control project and made some good progress. I need to build a small simulated yard section to test the Model Train Technology sensor setup so the old T-Track module that has been used as a test platform several times in the past got a new sheet of plywood glued on top. By Sunday afternoon the flex track bought at the open house had been installed on this.
This weekend went by way too fast but pretty much as expected. Errands run and completed Friday evening. Saturday, Drank coffee, ran trains, and worked on cleaning up items I had painted and prepped some additional items to be painted. Started painting some resin cast stacks of crushed autos that have been sitting in a box for a few years now. Move the lumber from the garage to the basement so it will be ready to work with and not much after that. Sunday, I managed to fit in doing some measuring and figuring for what I want to do with the lumber. Then it was on to the planned non train activities for the day. Just like that, the weekend was gone. Now on to another week of work. Hope you all have a great week!
Weekend went as expected, bowled Friday, just about average but the team won 5 out of 7 points reversing a bad trend we were in. I did manage to get some paint on a Tangent Bethlehem gon. Saturday was spent traveling to Columbus and back for the State Seniors Bowling Tournament, bowled 6 games and bowled about average, did not do any modeling at all. Sunday, slept in recovering from Saturday, did the laundry and some cleanup around the house, got the gloss coat on the gon, and later in the evening got one side decaled, also built a Stewart coal hopper and started on a Details West Combo Door Boxcar. Rick Jesionowski
We got almost all of the outside Halloween decorations down and packed away. There are some metal ones which I have to check to see which ones need repairs. I know at least four that require some soldering. We also got a start on the inside decorations and are about halfway through. Did some cleaning of the floors and some laundry. We ran to PetSmart and the grocery store. I was able to speed match the three Bowser locomotives, two Reading C-630’s and an ALCO Demonstrator C-628. I then made up a 16-car trailer train. I discovered that some of the flat cars are not running smoothly. I will need to work on the trucks and the wheels some, so they travel more freely. I a sure if the flat cars were rolling more freely I could have had a longer train. I continued updating my inventory program. Here is a video of the trailer train.
Good Morning Modeling Enthusiasts, About all I managed was a trip to Papa Ben's in Houston where I grabbed a number of small items for current projects. This guy and a couple of hoppers got some clear coat (VMS matt), but that was about it. I hope your football teams did better than mine, -Bob T.
I hate off-spec tools. At least two boxcars got done. I hate crud. Seems like folks need a breather. Cool train show pics. When LSU was mentioned before, I figured either they or the Tide would win. Good history info. Drank coffee and ran trains. Sounds like a dream. Three rail cars in progress. Flatcar tune-up in progress. Matt coating looks good. Yeah. Here it is Monday again. Weekends are on greased rails. Did a little more work on the passenger cars. Saturday, I went to Irondale to see, as it turned out, only one train. Then I went downtown to not see more trains. Went through an old run-down part of town which did have tracks and a couple of hoppers on a siding next to an industrial building. At dark, I went to my daughters to roast hotdogs and marshmallows with the great grand kids. Sunday saw me start making back frames for passenger car trucks. I need eight more. Four different sizes. Have a fine week.
Went to the Laval hobby show on Saturday and had a ball. Walked out of there with two Atlas RS-3s, a couple of freight car kits, three books and a folding map of the CN system as of 2010 (after their ten-year shopping spree). I eyed a tempting CN M420, but nearly had a heart attack from sticker shock... six bills... Encountered an older gentleman showing off some Meccano builds, including a working miniature two-stage road snowblower, the kind one sees around town cleaning up snow on the streets. The back part, a four-wheel vehicle, is pure Meccano, with a motor for propelling the machine, and a second motor for driving the hand-built snowblower attachment on the front. That has two sets of screws that send the snow to the propeller in the middle. He showed me a video of the cool machine actually blowing snow into an R/C dump truck rolling beside it. It gobbled up a long pile of snow maybe 4-6 inches high and threw it into the truck bed like it was nothing. That was fun!
Well... it's been an interesting weekend and the start of a new week. And, as is often the case, "interesting" isn't always good. Friday, our entire family, including our son (Jonah) and daughter-in-law (Kiley) from Texas, attended the funeral of the young man (Jon) who was Jonah's best friend and was best man in Jonah and Kiley's wedding just a few months ago. He has been friends of both our sons (twins), as well as our daughter and her husband. All of them have socialized, hunted, fished, partied, and lived life together until Jon went off the road in the wee hours of the morning and died in a one car accident. His cause of death is still not known, though it may have been alcohol related or simply fell asleep at the wheel. Once home from the funeral I did homework until bedtime. Saturday, I finished my homework early then raked leaves for a couple hours until we left for a chili-cook off fundraiser at Everlasting Equine, a horse ministry that my wife and I support. It went very well until the very last ride of the night when my equestrian wife, who is an accomplished rider and horsemanship instructor, landed wrong getting off of her horse and tweaked her knee pretty badly. Sunday was Church, followed by a huge family dinner with our kids, their spouses, my mother-in-law, and some friends. Then train club, where we did last minute planning for our open house that begins this weekend, and voted to buy a wheelchair lift, that is posted on Facebook Marketplace for $350, in an effort to increase the accessibility of our club. This, especially because one of our long time members is now having trouble climbing the five stairs to our door. That evening, our Texas kids asked if they could start our Christmas decorating. We usually don't do that before Thanksgiving, but since they are planning to spend his Christmas leave from the Army in Alabama with her family, we let them. In doing so, we also sorted through our lifetime accumulation of ornaments, cookie cutters, and other Christmas "stuff" and sent a bunch of it home with them. First thing Monday morning, we drove to the walk-in orthopedic clinic to get my wife's knee looked at. She was finally seen just before lunch, but the x-rays couldn't really see much so they're supposed to call sometime this week and schedule an MRI to determine if it was a strain, sprain, tear, or break. In any case, she gets two weeks off work, a knee brace, and is camped out on the sofa for the near future. Oh, and in a late-breaking addition... because my wife had a suspicious skin spot removed by her dermatologist last week, they won't schedule the MRI on her knee for two more weeks until after she gets the staples removed from her biopsy site. (sigh)
Compiled a wish list of N scale rolling stock I would like to acquire. It's not a long list, so my wallet did not faint- yet. Spent a little time with my Bluford corn fields. Need to decide how it will best fit the module intended. Relaxed and enjoyed the days.
