The frame for the coal mine is looking good. Thank you for the update on Cynthia, continued prayers for you both.
Same here from Dottie and I. Didn't make it to your area when we hoped to (beginning of COVID) but still hope to make it to the area possible this spring depending again on COVID. Sumner
You and Dottie are welcome to come by anytime. Will PM my address and phone number. The same goes for anyone who is interested in seeing my layout, the more the merrier. We would like to see fellow TrainBoard members. Just PM your phone number and we can set a time and date. Hope to have the layout set up by New Year's Eve to ring in a new year. Joe
Just finished building the frame for sawmill, it went faster than the coal mine because I used a sharper knife. Amazing how the right tools do job faster, my Xacto blade is really dull and kept forgetting to get more earlier. My short term memory is shot but can remember things that happened years ago. Senior moment. Haha. Next project is drawing track plans for my HO Ft. Scott and Beyond layout. Joe
Another cool framework Joe. Your not the only one forgetting to use fresh blades and having those short term memory issues
I have the issues but can't blame dull blades on it. I guess I just seem to be cheap and keep thinking I don't really need a new one yet. When I do replace it I'm like 'why didn't I do this sooner' . Also changing to new ones sooner would probably still be the least expensive thing that is going on in my life. Sumner
Last night I made a template to make bents for the coal mine and started cutting the poles and top caps. Picked up a trailer from Uhaul to move stuff from storage to our apartment, one item will be the module 05 Arkansas River Bridge to make repairs to the side trusses on brown section. Luckily the kit has extra trusses. Joe
I made a mistake on the coal mine template, wrong size, it should be three inches wide instead of four. There are seven 0.010 inch diameter Qtips poles on each bent 0.75 inch long and eight 0.125" square Balsa wood top beams. The cross braces are going to be six 0.060" by 0.010" styrene stripes on each of the eight bents. Joe
I've been moving all of the big items from storage the last three days and haven't worked on the layout related things. Went to LHS this afternoon and purchased some 0.060 by 0.010 and 0.080 by 0.010 inch strip styrene for the coal mine and sawmill. Will work on the bents for coal mine this evening, have about half of the poles cut. Photos when they're finished. Joe
Thank you Richard. So far I've used pins on every scratch build project, used a scrap piece of half inch insulation foam for the base and graph paper with drawing of the project on top. The only thing I have to watch is the project being glued to the drawing. Joe
I moved four modules from storage this afternoon and set up module 05 the Arkansas River Bridge in the living room. The bridge is a mess, the brown span is heavily damaged along with the south lift tower. May have to replace the side trusses, luckily the kit came with extra trusses. It's going to take some time to do all of the repairs but that's okay, I'm retired and have time to spend. Joe Gabby said she would help, as you can see she's all excited. She will be 19 years old in March.
Joe, that was a beautiful bridge. Hopefully the repairs go well. Looking forward to seeing some Frisco freight rolling across it again soon!
When I first purchased a N scale Model Power train set in 1984 I made the switch from HO because I wanted to run passenger trains. There are five passenger sets in my collection, two Santa Fe heavyweights and three Frisco lightweights. Along with about 250 railcars and locomotives, 135 are Frisco. When the layout is up and running will record a video. It's going to take some time because there's a lot to do to get that level. By the layout being modules I can work on them one at a time on my TV tray or two workbenches. Gabby is sprung loaded and ready to go. She runs through the apartment when she comes in from outside. @MK Thank you for the tip. Joe
