By now, most of us are done with the turkey, dressing and pecan pies. Our bellies full, our hearts warm and schedule slowly going back to the typical routine. It's time for the Special Weekend Modeling Accomplishments! I started my long weekend on Wednesday by heading to the flying field with Jared. The air was warm and the winds were mild, so sneeking the last few flights outside for the year was easy. Thursday, we all headed to Angela's sisters for the big feast and hoped Detroit would win the game (They didn't). However later, I was happy to watch my Pats win over the Jets. Friday I started the task of re-doing the south end main on the B&M layout. The main had a few switches removed, and the hill and overpass had to be removed. Later that afternoon, I took both Angela and Jared to my not so local hobby shop, McClean Station to pick up some much needed #7 turnouts. I think he is the last shop in the midwest to have Atlas code 55 switches. After getting the two switches I needed, we took a brief ride on old route 66 and looked at the Grain Elevator Museum in Atlanta IL. Yes we have a Grain Elevator Museum. Sunday more work was done on the layout, I was able to get the right hand switch swapped out for the left hand as per the prototype, fill in the rest with fley, add drop wires, solder and later check the main with a short work train. Monday I cleaned up the layout from the last few days of work.I hope to get more done on the layout next weekend since the house will be empty next Saturday. I still need to add the two sidings and re work the terrain. So how about you? Besides filling up with all the traditional foods and football, did you get a lot done modeling wise? Did you get to show your work off to friends and relatives? Where there any open houses or train shows you attended this weekend? Track work, weathering, detailing, whatever you got done, let us know! We'll come back on Friday the 30th and do it all over again. Until then... High Greens!
Just a bit of modeling for me. I started work on the Car Float Apron, a now-retired (again) Walthers kit. I've got the base and superstructure assembled and painted. There's still more to do, and there will be weathering, besides. After this one, the car float itself looms on the horizon, along with the additional benchwork to support the whole scene. I, too, enjoyed the Patriots' game immensely, as the Jets, shall we say, bottomed out? But then, it was time for the Tour de Chooch, the annual self-guided open house tour. This year, I took in 4 layouts and a lot of back roads of New Hampshire on Saturday, and just one on Sunday. Each was a treat unto itself. Sam Novello has torn down his layout that was featured in MR, and is now at work on another. A second layout had more craftsman kits than I've ever seen in one place, all beautifully done and set in 1929. Then, it was on to an operations-oriented layout, again in HO and set in New England, and finally for Saturday there was an O-gauge pike, along with a ride-on live steam engine on the far side of the garage. Sunday, though, was an even more magnificent experience. Behind the home of Stan and Debbie Ames is the SJR&P Railway, a 200 foot by 180 foot outdoor layout in Fn3. From top to bottom it measures 18.6 feet. I spoke with Debbie, who some of you may remember as the US representative for Lenz DCC systems, and she was careful to say it was not a "garden" railroad. It is, in fact, operations-oriented. It was a chilly, cloudy day in New England, but the weather was no impediment to the Tour-ists gawking over this great model railroad.
Had a nice Thanksgiving. Friday I went up to my brothers house and picked up some firewood he had for me after having several large Oaks that were hanging over his house removed and I did some cleanup work in my backyard. Saturday I did some work on my T-Trak module and split the firewood. Yesterday I went to a train show and bought some N scale Unitrak for some more modules and a BLMA N scale mechanical reefer.
Accomplished very little. I lettered an Accurail PS1 40' Boxcar as Gulf & Ohio Midland #39358, but incomplete because I ran out of "&" symbols. I also completed patching out and lettering an ex-Frisco 50' drop end gondola to the G&OM-owned lease fleet, LTLX. Hopefully will accomplish more next weekend. Need to get some kind of junctions so I can get buss line installed.
Wednesday afternoon and thursday were family time - eating, playing, eating more. Friday I had to work (!) but managed to watch my LSU Tigers win against Arkansas, going 10-2 for the year and retaining the coveted Boot trophy. Sadly, Auburn didn't help me out on Saturday, loosing embarrassingly to Alabama. So now I have to lean on Georgia (bleh) in hope of a Sugar Bowl bid with Bama down in flames. So Saturday before football I got several major jobs done off the Honey Do List, which meant I could do some serious track laying on Sunday. The loco and cars are sitting on the L&A/KCS/BRS yard ladder. From the left (in the vertical image) you have main/through track, A/D track (which will access the UTLX dome via a 3 way switch), 4 tracks for sorting and classification and a short caboose storage track - which my ever expanding crummy collection needs. I still need to lay the passing track to the left of the main (which is where the prototype has it), and continue on around the bend. To finish, all I need is a left hadn code 55 #7, a code 55 wye, and (if I'm feeling randy) a code 55 double crossover fro the approach to the Kidder Morgan Transfer dock.
I spent the holiday "puttering" on the layout......can't putter in the yard as the weather was frightful, so the layout took over.......puttering is an old fart thing. I have bout a million things to do building the layout, none of which is worth dragging out the camera. Finally got going on tree building, painting, breaking up shale.....don't think I ran a loco at all......puttering.
I did it! As of Saturday afternoon, all the main line tracks on the JACALAR (with the exception of the lift out bridge) are ballasted! Still have the whole yard and industry area to finish. But, this lets me finally work/finish the backdrop, without worrying about messing it up.
Careful when you mark your extruded styrofoam base with a marker. As you can see it blots and will bleed, even when you paint over it and add ground cover, ballast, etc. I found out the hard way, that's why I mentioned this. You probably need to cover it with a few layers of latex paint if you don't want it to show up. I've had some streaks show up even under ballast, I've tried to make it part of the weathering. Or, if you do use markers, use an earthy tone like brown or grey or black so that when it does bleed it looks more like legit weathering. At least it looks better than a pink or red orange streak.
After a smoked turkey dinner with all the fixings, I ballasted half of Crescent Siding, but no pics yet. I was under the weather yesterday, so no idea when I will get some online. Maybe tonite.
Good to know, thanks for the heads up. That area will eventually be covered up with plaster cloth, paint and forest floor. Hopefully it will not bleed through. Thanks again!
I headed over to a Montreal club's open house - Vermont & Essex. Very nice layout, beautiful scenery and structures. One thing I saw in the workshop gave me an idea - something to clean loco wheels. Cheap (I love that word...). And by cheap, I mean free. (I love that word even more). Recipe: one piece of scrap wood, 1x4, about two feet long. Add a piece of spare flex track, nailed down. One power pack, a couple of alligator clip leads, and an old hanky. Place hanky over one end of track. Add one teaspoon of alcohol to the end of the hanky over the tracks. Hold one truck of loco over alcohol-soaked hanky, and ramp up the power. Let her spin for about ten seconds, and voila! Clean wheels. Repeat for other truck. Serves eight. Stuffing optional.
Mike, I used to do that too, but I used paper towels, and they wore thru after a loco or two. I weathered the ballasted portion tonight--drybrushed Polly Scale weathered concrete for the sand (upgrade), and a 6:1 mix of PS Rust and Grimy Black for the brake dust (downgrade). A bunch of random splotches of grimy black were drybrushed in between the rails as well. Here's the look I am seeking (Chuck Conway photo): http://www.drgw.net/gallery/CCEastoftheMoffat/5338_Crescent This is a really low angle, and I think I need to tone down some of the weathering: And the helicopter view (the lighter ballast nearest left is "Chuck's Ballast" from Australia, the darkest stuff is AZ Rock & Mineral--I tried to blend it...):
