Welcome everyone. I hope you were able to accomplish some things in the train room. Let's get started. Friday: I worked on my YouTube channel. I only have three short videos but if you're curious, the channel is Wiggin Locomotive Works. Once I get some equipment I hope to upload more videos in a video blog style format. Saturday: No trains for me this day. After a long day at the dealership, I relaxed with cheeseburgers on the grill and a beer, or two. Sunday: I had plans to meet up with a buddy and fly some model rockets but he got delayed and I soon was elbow deep in yard work including, working in the garden, installing fence for said garden, removing two old horseshoe pits and smoking a chicken in the smoker. My barrier strips for the layout did come in from Amazon a day early which means I can work on my turnouts tomorrow. So how about you? What did you get done? Let us know with an image or two. We'll assemble again on Friday the 24th. Until then, stay safe, stay healthy and as always... High Greens!
Worked on my TR6B and my friend's E8's -- Took both days to clean up the striping on the E8's -- these two are fighting me tooth and nail all the way. The TR6B is now ready for decals: Hope Y'all had a great weekend!! Wolf
Well. I did most of what I wanted. Definitely drank the coffee early Saturday AM. Worked a little on the Meyers kit. But while drinking the coffee, I was walking around the layout and got to thinking about the screen saver on my laptops. This is a C&O E8, in Kentucky I believe. The C&O branched off to the eastern Kentucky coal fields. In any event, I got to thinking about the water tower and water column. I had each sitting in my workshop, so I just decided to build them. The tank is an Atlas tank that I modified (didn't use the spout on tank) and the water column is a Tichy kit I had hanging around since, like, forever. Still has work to go. Ladders on the tank ground cover, darken up the ballast and track area w/ coal dust, some green growth, etc. But, I was inspired by the screen saver. Here's my screen saver: Here's what I did this weekend:
modeling work this weekend consisted of Finding my stash of code 55 #7 turnouts; determining that I DO NOT have the lone #5 I need Getting a #5 from a friend online participating in a Saturday MRR virtual Happy hour and body mounting couplers on a lone Deluxe Innovations woodchip gon. Still, it was a good weekend - I made sawdust fly while building a larger enclosure for my daughter's hedgehog. Off to the races!
I reworked this area of my layout to include a small business section. I'm still working on adding the details.
Hi All, We had a nice Spring weekend here in NE Missouri. Worked at the bicycle shop on Saturday. Real busy. Sold three bikes and lots of repairs. Sunday morning I cooked a bunch to have food ready for the week ahead. I took advantage of the nice weather and opened the garage door. Fired up the airbrush and shot some paint. Please excuse the poor photos. I don't have a proper camera nor am I photography savvy. Tichy Train Sugar Beat Gon Rasputen Models Have a great week everyone. Get out and enjoy the sunshine. Be good. Be safe. Be well.
I finally made it back I to the train room. Several years ago I built several kits to fill in spots on the layout with the idea of returning to them and making them better. This weekend I did just that with one of them. A Walthers kit called Derrys Pub. I had previously painted the exterior. This time I added paint to the roof and weathered it with pastel chalks. I also worked on the interior. I added a stage with a blues band, some tables and patrons, then I added two sound cards and a timer with a light. It works sort of. I got a gremlin in it that I need to get rid of. I also added the fire engine sound to the fire scene.
lets see...I proved that I have too much to do at work due to coworkers not getting the same work from home permissions as I have....
I finished weathering a bunch of PS-2 covered hoppers. Then I found I had eight more PS-2 covered hoppers a and two ACF covered hoppers still in the pile. So I began weathering them. I ran some trains.
Touched up the backdrop. Not having access to a large format printer I had to piece it together from printed photos scaled to 8.5" x 11" sheets. OOPS, When photographing, I missed that push pin under the bridge. Next step is to pour the gloss medium. The gloss should help in matching the color of the river to the backdrop since the color in the backdrop is mostly due to reflected light. I think the colors of the painted river bed are pretty accurate.
After searching to find some electrical supplies for my module projects, and thankfully locating same, I have been mostly just relaxing. And binge watching Hogan's Heroes.
Fabricated a couple of headlight parts. Watched one hundred thirty-seven old movies on u-tube. Undid rear of tender for correct assembly. (rray is influencing me unduly .) This last undoing just a little while ago. Now, to do it rite.
I started trying to learn Arduino yesterday. I am attempting to build in an Arduino welder with 3 LED's. It flashes blue and white while welding and after the weld is done, the red light slowly faded for an afterglow effect. That part works just fine. So I got the DFPlayer sound module, and I was able to record Arc Welding sounds, Slag Chipping sounds, and Wire Brushing sounds onto a TF card, and wired it up to the Arduino Mini, and loaded a sketch that plays those sounds. So now I am trying to make the sound and lights both trigger by the Arduino, but I keep having problems due to my complete lack of programming skills. I think it will take me about a month of goofing with Arduino to learn enough to actually get both sound and lights on the same module as well as sync them to seamless effect. Then I can finish my roundhouse, and detail the interior with machines and tools. Here is the mess so far:
Did some road work, added some signs, poured another layer of water, and in general used up a good deal of detail parts I have had hanging around (most for way too many years). Posted more detailed updates in my N scale JPT Sub thread. Hopefully everyone is doing well and staying safe.
Beside your super detailed, weathered, close to reality rolling stock, don't be shy to invest a little bit in your model landscape! It is worth it! Have fun & stay healthy! Sven
