Welcome back everyone, I hope you had a great weekend and accomplished a lot. Let's see how we did. Saturday: As predicted, the morning started with my shop heater still on, but it quickly shut off as the morning temperature was already higher than Friday's high. With coffee in hand, I headed to the workshop and enjoyed a few videos before starting the day. I went to the now warm garage and went to get the tractor started only to find the battery terminals were in bad shape with corrosion. So, I completely cleaned out the battery bay, battery, terminals and installed new pigtails where required. Angela's dad stopped in about the time I was testing my 1980s vintage John Deere mower. We then transitioned to the F150. I purchased the truck from my elderly neighbor of 93 and as such the truck sat more than it ran, so we have been replacing hoses, plugs, flushing the radiator and such. This day we found some vacuum hoses that needed replaced as well as cleaning mud out of the radiator reservoir. Ang alerted us that it was time to leave for dinner at one of our favorite steakhouses where we would celebrate her father's birthday. Once home again we enjoyed Angela's German Chocolate cake and ice cream. It was late so Ang's dad decided to spend the night. Sunday: After coffee and donuts, Ang's dad and I wrapped up repairs on the F150 then took it for a test drive. The truck had zero issues and is now ready for its trip up north where we plan to have someone sandblast the rusty wheels so I can repaint them and install new tires. Angela's dad left soon after and I returned to spending most of the afternoon focused on yard work. By 7:00, I had fired up the grill and made hot dogs for dinner then like always, poof the weekend was over. I believe that a workday "day" is longer than two weekend "days". So how about you? What did you get done? Let us know. We'll assemble again on Friday, May 3rd. Until then, have a good week, stay healthy, be safe and as always... High Greens!
Hello all and happy Monday. Weekend went about as planned. Finished "office work" around noon Friday and went in the work shop rummaging around and zeroed in on tray I use for "bad order" cars. Plus there was an old pick-up truck in there w/ busted wheel axles and broken off mirror. Saturday was spent helping the Mrs do things for kids and their families coming for dinner. The free time I had I spent at the work bench fixing up all the cars. 6 of them. Some where simple, others were in bad shape to say the least. The little pickup truck got some new axles cribbed from the junk box. For the mirror, I took a small straight pin and cut it short. Bent it 90 degrees just behind the head. Drill out the old broken off mirror stem and glued the new mirror in. Straight pin worked out well. So that is a trick I'll keep. The freight cars got new stirrups, under body details, new latches on the reefer, coupler issues, some were in sad shape. Sunday I fired up the air brush and did my best to match each car's paint and blend in the fixes. Weathered up the pick-up truck and it was done. Well worth the weekend to get most of the "bad order" cars back on the layout. I have one car left to do and that may get done during the week here. Have a great week all!
Friday-took my oldest to the Spirit game. DC lost to Orlando, so we’ve dropped to third in the NWSL. Still had a great time. Saturday-took my youngest to her soccer game. She also lost-but had a good time. She plays keeper and had some great saves. 2nd half she ended up playing defense because we didn’t have subs and they needed fresh legs-she was great-broke up a lot of plays. Neat to see because she has only played keeper so far in games this season. It was rainy and my wife had to work this weekend so I stayed home the rest of the day and did some chores and tried troubleshooting my DCC system and then it got late. It’s been packed up for a year since the move back from Japan. Sunday-better weather so I did a few more chores while the kids played. Was able to identify the problem with my DCC system-the flat cable has some sort of loose/broken wire inside. If you don’t hold it in a certain way it looses connection with the track. Tested all my Kato SD45s and my Athearn F45 and they all work. Ran out of time to do anything else. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Happy Monday......... Was a busy weekend, more so than expected but I did manage to get a few things done. Friday evening, was less free time than expected so really didn't accomplish and modeling. Saturday morning I managed to finish up a couple of decal projects and got 7 different projects all set for dull coat. Continued some work on some gondolas and a covered hopper. Also ran a few trains. After lunch, I applied the dull coat and painted the covered hopper and just like that, it was time to get ready for the dinner and action at the church. I didn't win any of the items I bid on but the wife did really well winning 3 things she was interested in. Sunday morning, I couldn't sleep so was up before dawn. Reattached the trucks to all the cars that got dull coated and called those done along with a couple of other projects. Seemed like them morning was gone in the blink of an eye. Then it was off to other task. By late afternoon when we got home, I was thinking of heading to the workbench but made the mistake of sitting down for a minute that turned into the rest of the day. Now here we are at Monday. All I can say is I hope you all have a great week!
Good morning everyone, Had a full and enjoyable weekend here. On Friday we drove to Lodi to visit our friend there. That all went well and weather was clear except for brief downpour while we were there. Cleared up in time for the drive home. Saturday was some home repairs - a sagging gate and the back screen door that was not closing correctly. Also started up another circuit on the backyard irrigation as we appear to be done with the rain here. Finally got into the train room Saturday afternoon and finished the DCC install on the frame I had milled last weekend. Also painted the hand rails and installed M/T couplers. The Miller Engineering sign had arrived on Friday so on Sunday after a bit of house cleaning and a walk with my wife, I got to working with how to mount the sign on the DPM building I am working on. Also got some more of the details painted on the building so it's coming along. And I was able to do some train running on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.
Good mornin to Y'all I finished up a couple of H16-44's (I have two more) and an NW-2 As well as progress on the T&NO F9M's is coming along great -- just about ready for primer - then paint H16-44's NW2 Y'all have a great week!! Wolf
So my weekend started a bit early this time. On Wednesday I left home around noon and drove to the NMRA PCR Tech Line convention. After arriving I spent most of the afternoon shuffling all of my stuff into the hotel room and off to the contest room. I setup one of my 3D printers and kicked off a couple test prints which brought a crowd over resulting in a few people considering picking up a printer for their modeling needs. Thursday was the first full day of the convention, I spent the morning in between the contest room and checking out the vendors / swap meet items. In the evening I attended a couple clinics, Direct Traffic Control (with a focus on the SP) and Weathering with modern paints. Both very interesting clinics during which I got a few ideas for my future projects. Friday was a bit of a whirlwind day, I joined the two morning clinics in the room I was going to present in. The first clinic was Easy Weathering which was quite interesting. The second was focused on 3D printing detail parts using FDM and Resin, also quite interesting. The third (and final) morning clinic was the Make and Take that I was presenting using an HO scale laser cut building from Late Night Hobbies (Single Story Flex Structure - Style B) during which we covered mostly the prep work and started on the initial painting of the structure. The first evening clinic slot we resumed where we left off, a couple people were able to complete the basic building process within the ~2 hours that we had for the clinics. When we needed to vacate the room for the next clinic a couple people were very close to finishing so we relocated to a side room so they could complete their builds. One of the best parts of the clinic was a family of four (husband, wife, two daughters) all attending and building the building together as a family, each with their own building so they were able to put their own details and paint scheme on it. I'll be meeting with them in the next couple months to work with them on a few NMRA AP projects since I have the tools / supplies on hand and will not be using them, more on this below. In between the clinic slots that I was hosting I ventured out to Silicon Valley Lines in San Jose for a layout visit, an amazing layout that has evolved over time and has a few areas being developed further still. Saturday morning I ventured off to the Hobo Breakfast with many of the other attendees, they held a few drawings by using some placemats that have signatures from the various breakfasts at conventions dating from the late 1960s to this year. I happened to have one of the entries they were looking for and came home with an HO scale Central Valley 72ft Plate Girder bridge kit, which I haven't figured out what I'll be doing with yet. After breakfast I ventured down to the swap meet tables and setup almost all of my N scale collection, I was able to offload around 1/3rd of my collection to others and reclaim some space since I'm switching scales. Things were fairly busy in between the morning clinics and shortly after lunch we started breaking down the swap meet tables in prep for the banquet that evening. While I was selling off my N scale bits, I was able to pick up a couple items for my On30 layout build. I found an O scale 36ft Olympia Beer Reefer car kit which I'll regauge to On30 (mainly swap truck assemblies) and enter into a future contest for AP points, likely not for a while though. Sunday was the end of the line for the convention with a (late) breakfast and short NMRA PCR business meeting before everyone ventured towards home and a few layout visits and operating sessions that were open on Sunday. A few pictures: While the building was far from perfect and incomplete, it was well received and warranted a 1st place in the kit category. I'll be reworking the details and completing what I ran out of time for on Wednesday morning (I started this on Tuesday morning having only a couple hours then and on Wednesday before work meetings). Most likely it will end up on an HO scale diorama alongside the HO scale Challenger that I inherited (it's from the 1980s and has maybe 10hrs runtime total).
Good morning from sunny and warm Northeast Ohio! Friday, did not get any modeling done, trying to fight off a cold so I just rested most of the day except for finding cars to take to the club on Saturday. Saturday, went to the club and ran trains, one of the cars had a problem it was come to a dead stop and derail or fall over when it went over a turnout, 3 of us looked at the car, checked if the truck swivel hit any detail, also checked the wheel gauge with the NMRA gauge and it was alright. After looking at it numerous times, I finally noticed some flash hanging down from the sideframe, this was catching on the frog and causing the car to stop. After removing the the flash the car ran flawlessly. I did nothing else modelingwise later in the day, but we watched a movie on Amazon Prime in the evening. Sunday, did the laundry and planted some flowers in the bed with the Azaleas that we had installed last year where the sewer line was replaced. Got to the workbench and istalled the flooring and underframe to the 40' Brick Boxcar and then added the end detail. Rick Jesionowski
This weekend was somewhat productive. We got some easter decorations put away. My wife and daughter got some tulip bulbs planted. With my daughter’s help we were able to do several loads of laundry. She had to do all the heavy lifting. I did a minor repair to our herb garden table. We made the usual visits to PetSmart, and the grocery store. We dropped off some Amazon returns. I ran a grain train made up of a 21 3-bay covered hoppers and a caboose. Power was two Chessie U30C locomotives from Atlas Master Locomotive series silver version. I had some power issues, but some track cleaning seemed to address them. I took some measurements in the rea of the bridges and test fit the tunnel portal that will act as the roadway tunnel. I need to trim the tunnel and paint it.
1980's mower! My goodness! Major bad order repairs. Transient DCC short marked "found". Moral of the story: Don't sit down? Hotel sign looks fine. "Tiger stripes" (?) on the loose. Congratulations on 1st Place in Kits. I hate pesky flash. Grain movement marked done. I was able to complete cutting for all doors and windows. Next will be glazing and bay window assembly after associated floors are made. Have a wonderful week.
Nothing. And I am not a happy camper. Unbeknownst to me, my work schedule was quietly altered and only only accidentally found out. How nice of them.
A little bit of this, a little bit of that... My Saturday errands did go well! I nabbed the latest TRP Magazine, with lots of interesting articles about fallen flags, their operations, etc. Always a fun read. Also got a replacement remote for my TV. Apparently those things don't like coffee... especially with cream...
Weekend went well, with the exception of the sports results. One draw and two losses. Friday: Honda battery replacement had zero problems. After cleaning up some winter boots, Sharon and I got out for some walking time. A few other domestic chores needed attention. I did find a few minutes to work on the Mikado boiler. Saturday: After the soccer match, I met a building "recycler" to discuss what we can do with the home we purchased last fall. Then we picked up our son and headed downtown in search of the best hashbrowns in Bellingham. This is Sharon's personal quest, which I fully support. Turns out good hashbrowns seem to be found with bacon and eggs. Very convenient. Again, I found a few minutes to work on the boiler. Sunday: It was still rainy, so I was able to spend some quality time with the boiler. It went well. Some steps better than I expected. Other steps can be improved on. The rain slacked off in the afternoon and we went for a nice, long walk. Passing a cafe, Sharon noticed steelhead on the menu. Sometimes the best meals are the surprise ones. It was delicious! Bonus Monday: The surprise dinner on Sunday evening meant a little hand finishing was required before test fitting the boiler. And here it is: I need to make sand domes (the pictured models are incorrect) and a new steam dome. Then I can check the overall proportions. Definitely like how it is going together. Stay safe,
Knucklehead post. I had my 8' section of Indio staging on the workbench for testing and programing. I programed the Cobalts, soldered the throbars in, and mounted the section in place. What I did not do was test that I had the frog polarity correct. Dang it! They were all backwards. So I had to remove all the mounting screws and stand it up on edge and clamp it vertical in place. I switched the wires and put back in place. Next will be connecting the yards for continuous staging.
Some good, some bad........got to visit 2 train shows, a small one in Livingston (sat.) and a large one in Helena (sun.). Our club did an NTRAK layout at the larger one (we have for quite a few years now) and that was a lot of fun, but also a lot of work because there was only 2 of us to do it this year. On the way in from the parking lot, my one box (I have 3 plastic totes packed in a cardboard paper box.....so about 180 cars) of trains fell off my cart 3 times! They are packed pretty tightly, so not too much damage beyond some broken couplers, but I was amazed at how many lost wheels.......almost every car lost from 1 to 4 wheels. I spent a lot of time putting wheels back into the trucks. In a few cases, the coupler pockets fell apart and I had to reassemble them, in others, the couplers broke. I managed to mix and match parts from the broken ones and so only lost about half (6 couplers) which I didn't think was too bad considering they had fallen about 3 feet onto concrete 3 different times. My boxes are padded, but still............ Surprisingly all the locos survived just fine. In the end I ended up only having 3 cars (out of 180) out of service till I got home and could install new trucks.
Took Shasta out for its first show for five years. Carnforth Model railway exhibition held in the Rail Heritage centre there. This Union Pacific/Southern Pacific Z layout had been exceedingly popular but come the pandemic all of the next round of shows were cancelled and when things returned to normal my two latest Z layouts 'Hakuho' and 'Republic Steel' had taken over as the layouts the show organisers wanted The layout is based on Cantara Loop in the Sacramento River canyon in Northern California and the display board features some of my photos and some historical ones plus a map of the lines toturuos ascent from Dunsmuir up to Sawmill curve It ran better on Sunday than Saturday. We had some random uncoupling over the Z-Bend track baseboard joint which was solved by adjusting it first thing on Sunday. The route indicating LED array went down but isn't really neccesary and the searchlight signals also failed so it is on the power side coming into the boards and panel Inn the end we never got chance to run half the locos and stock we had taken but everybody was impressed with how well the MTL and AZL locos ran It is due out again in August at the Leyland show and a couple of show managers were very interested in having it in the future Video at Brooklyn. my grandson, operated it all weekend and has asked me to leave it set up in the workshop for a couple of weeks so he can play with it Of course! Kev
My weekend went pretty much as expected. Friday I finished my homework by lunchtime and then my wife and I headed out to pick up some groceries for the Bridges Out of Poverty seminar that we hosted on Saturday (at church), and then ordered lunch for 20ish people at Old Carolina Barbecue. Other than dropping off some of the food and drinks at church, not much else was accomplished. Saturday, I was at church before 8:00 am to set up for the seminar and to meet the instructors. Most everyone else arrived around 9:00 am and activities lasted until 4:00 pm. By the time I got things cleaned up, leftovers loaded, and put away at home, it was about 6:00 pm. It was a long day for my day "off". Sunday, is church, and afterwards a few hours at the Sebring Model Railroad Club. Mostly we talked, but I did get most of my monthly treasurer's report finished. Once home, my wife and I took the dogs out to the dog park for an hour or two. Our German Shepherd had a great time because there were many friends with whom she could play. This is a good thing, because when she is cooped up at home for too long, her energy levels make her a bit crazy.
