Well the unofficial start to Summer has begun, although if you live in some parts of the midwest or New England, you might think otherwise. My home state of NH got snow over Memorial Weekend. Regardless of the crazy weather, it is time for Weekend Modeling Accomplishments. I had a long list of things I originally wanted to get done this weekend but thanks to three solid days of rain and storms and some kind of thing I got that took all my energy, I got zero done. No work on the new Galesburg projects or T-Trak modules, no work on Jess the Railfan Jeep and no work on anything other than sleep. Whatever it is was, I hope it is over as I have too much to do this week. So how about you? Did your weekend go any better? Let us know with a picture or two if you have any. We'll all come back on Friday the 31st and do it again. Until then... ​High Greens!
It turned out to be a pretty good weekend for me. The weather "co-operated" with 2 days of clouds, rain and cool temperatures, perfect weather for modeling, and then a final nice day. One of my "modeling projects" is re-scultpting my corpulent carcass, so Monday saw me out on my bicycle for the first time this year. The carfloat project inches on. The base is complete and painted, and I've glued the float itself in place. Sealing took longer than expected, though, so I never got to the Envirotex. Still, it's looking pretty good. I actually played with pulling strings of cars off the float under locomotive power. Pushing strings of cars back on remains a problem, with too many derailments on that girder rail. It's best with smooth-rolling metal-wheeled cars. I think some of the problem is rolling friction from older plastic-wheel cars which I put on the float for the picture. It was definitely the right call to replace the plastic rail provided with the kit with real Code 83 nickel-silver rail. Here, I've got the apron superstructure in place as well. This picture is a bit earlier in the weekend, without the superstructure, but I liked the way the scene came out with the guys hoistin' up landlubbers and battenin' down hatches.
The car float is looking great! The details are fantastic I had a good modeling weekend. I have started the work on my FreeMo-N module for the SiliconValley group, by building the passenger station, this weekend. The module will be a 3-section, 12 foot curved module, with a two-track passenger station (able to serve a full Cal-Zephyr, CofLA, El-Cap, Daylight, etc), and a freight bypass. Here are the first photos of the station, still on work bench. It is the new Kato/Faller North American Suburban Station, and I have added the SMD LEDs to light it (there are holes for placing them, but they are not included). 27 on the main station, 2 of which stopped working once I finished installing -- broken wire/connection most likely, but, there are always lights out needing changing. Maybe a workman with ladder will be part of the detailing Detailing still needs to be done, as does such simple items such as painting the undersides and gluing the roofs on!
