Another weekend has flown by the station. Did you get everything done you had set out to do? Busy as I was, I still have the bench work and layout to move into the new room. I hope by next week it will all be in there. Saturday was spent on painting Jared and I's R/C Car project and his first indoor Soccer game so little was done in the train room. Sunday I was able to get the room about 90% clean. I really need to get the bench work and layout in since I have a lot I want to get done before June. How about you? Did you get everything done you wanted to? Layout work or module work? Track work, bench work or cleaning? Whatever you did this past weekend, let us know. We'll all come back here on Friday the 25th and do it all over again. Until then... High Greens!
The car float, which was a box of parts 10 days ago, is now completely assembled. It took a bit longer than expected, as many joints had to be clamped together and I've only got 2 clamps. Because I didn't actually finish assembly until late Sunday, it was already too cold outside to paint, so that will have to wait for another warm day, at least a week from now according to the forecast. The 3 flat cars didn't get touched, but I did manage to make the first pour of Envirotex in the canal. I should be able to do one pour a day, so I'm hoping to have that done by the weekend.
I was able to get the cork glued down on one of my new T-Trak modules for the main pair of tracks. I wasn't expecting the switches to arrive until today at least, but Fedex delivered them Saturday afternoon.
Well, sometime back someone was asking about the BNSF Trinity 82ft Reefers and I commented that a decent foobie could possibly be created quickly using the new BLMA CEFX Trincool cars that were basically a blank slate. I decided I would put my money where my mouth is and try one myself and the day off today afforded me a little modeling time. Not close to finished mind you, but I'm posting an in-progress shot for a couple of reasons. First, I need to go get some more Micro Set and I'm not sure any place will be open today. Second, while I was searching for photos to assist in placing the decals, I noticed the very cool MLK graphic on Google's home page and thought it could be turned into some pretty believable n-scale grafitti. It's only printed on paper for now, and I think I will photoshop it a little to make it more "grafitti-like", but you get the idea. Thought it would be a nice tribute to show on MLK Day. Regarding the CEFX to BNSF conversion, I opted for "easy as possible" since at the end of the day it's still a pretty serious foobie. I used Joe's decal remover and an eraser to remove only the CEFX reporting marks from the side and ends. Renumbering for a fantasy car just didn't seem like good bang for the buck, and reporting marks were quick and relatively easy to remove. I plan to add the icicle graphics as well, and I think it will be a nice stand-in until BLMA announces the BNSF version...which will probably be next week. ;-)
Started on my quest to build a model of Santa Fe's SWBLW (Switcher, Baldwin Locomotive Works) also known as the Beep. I started with a Stewart VO-1000 in B&O colors, removed the cab numbers and long hood, and attached a long hood from a railpower products shell I had laying around. The next step is to fabricate the piece that goes between the cab and the long hood. Still haven't figured out how I'm going to sandwich a pair of blombergs under there.....
Can I share this here? Its not the weekend, but its still not next weekend either! So, yea.... Today's project...... RBOX 43206. All photo credits go to their respective owners, as noted in the image copyrights.
Well, actually just completed today was a major reshuffling of my modeling bench and its drawers. In order to better facilitate projects....
