It's back to reality for most of us as we return from a long weekend. An extra day or two may have helped a bit in our shops. How did it work for you? About the only thing model railroading I was able to pull off was to search for my Kato GS-4 Freedom locomotive that I knew was in storage but had not seen in close to a year. It had not run of the layout since I had been in NJ and since it was the 4th of July weekend, I figured I should run it along with my Burlington observation coach I use as my business coach. After about an hour of going through boxes mainly packed with O scale, I found it and returned home. The locomotive was hitched up to the Burlington car and ran laps while I cleaned the work shop. Saturday's cook out and birthday celebration took most of the day as did the Chicago Fire MLS soccer game in Chicago's Toyota Park on Sunday. Unfortunately the Fire lost 2-1 with Sporting Kansas City taking home a win. I did get to see a badly faded SP unit but you'll never see it from me because I didn't bring my camera...grrr. So how about you? Did cook outs, celebrations and parades keep you away from the layout or did you sneak in a few hours? Maybe you were able to use the entire weekend? Whatever you accomplished this weekend, big or small, let us know with pictures if you have them. We'll do it all over again on Friday the 12th. Until then, have a great week and... High Greens!
I finally got my layout cleaned off! Sadly, it had become a desk over the last few months and nothing was getting done. I had planned on cleaning it off last weekend, but with the heat, it didn't happen. This weekend, the weather was great, so it got done. Cleared the track off, wiped the door down to get rid of the accumulated dust and what not, set the track back up so I mark it for the roadbed. Hopefully next weekend, I'll get the roadbed glued down. I forgot how much fun this was!
Well, I managed to get one kit partially assembled. I do mean partially.... Too many household summer time chores which needed attention, ate up the hours.
Well... its been a long time in the making, but I'm "back on track" so to speak. In late May I pulled a permit to finish my attic as a train-room. This after spending a couple of years "piddling" with it. By pulling the permit it forces me to finish. I waited until I had finished the framing and the wiring rough-in so I could immediately call for an inspection. I got the inspections 2 weeks ago and passed. This clears me to put in insulation. This weekend I got all of the foam board put behind the knee-walls I built (now required by the building code). So, I'm ready to put in the batt insulation. The panelboard I put in the attic also passed inspection so I am clear to "connect" it to my main panel. I am past being ready to get the Albemarle Division back up and running. I'll post pictures once I finish the insulation. Also did some model painting and weathering over the long July 4th holiday.
It was a long, hot summer weekend. I had great hopes of doing bike rides and perhaps even some yardwork, but it was so hot that I clicked on the AC and spent each day in the trainroom, watching the Tour de France and working on the layout. The first order of business was to get the last turnout mounted, and temporarily pin down the sidings to the Railway Express depot and the tannery. Then, I mounted that Tortoise, and wired up that one plus another Tortoise that leads to it, which had been left unconnected at the panel so I couldn't send a train off the main to uninstalled track. Next, I did some cleanup and put my carstock mockups on the layout, creating this "ghost town:" The cuts in the pink foam give some idea of where the liftoff section will be, basically the part with the 3 largest "ghosts" on it. The liftoff will have no tracks, which should make it much simpler. That done and photographed for posterity, I started on the first two buildings. These are the Walthers Empire Tanning Company set, 4 buildings plus a tall water tower, and some assorted tanks. The buildings are all Cornerstone Modulars, which means they can be re-configured in a number of ways, although so far I'm building them by the book. With all that flexibility comes a lot of extra effort, though. The wall sections are small, maybe 2 inches square for most, so there are small pilasters and corner sections for joining them, plus base sections (and connectors) and top sections (and connectors,) and then there are the roof pieces. In two days of sprue cutting and cleaning, plus assembly, I've got the individual walls assembled for 2 buildings, plus the bases. They're all taped up to keep the glue off the mating surfaces, and I painted walls until I ran out of paint. Oh, well, it was too hot outside to paint anyway.
That mockup looks cool. I spent the evenings making some trees for a friend. I used natural material and sculpted each trunk using modeling putty. I made a base from foam board covered with fake fur scenery. I took them outside this afternoon for photo fun. Here's the pics.
Wow. Next time you make trees, could you take some pictures of the process, and give us a little photo tutorial?
