Mike I'm not following I'm being lead like a sheep in the herd to better grazing grounds Absolutely taking in the views
Short update after a couple of weeks away. Doug and Scott worked on improving roads while I spent the holidays in AZ. Doug specifically worked in Maple Valley. This work will accomplish the goal of looking far more realistic once completed. Scott continued his work in Renton, reshaping the main entrance to Dunn Lumber and then adding more asphalt surface at the back end entrance to Kenworth. My evening was spent carving out recesses in the balsa plates for the ties. The goal is to be able to get as close to rail height as possible. I used a small block plane, contouring knife and 60 grit sandpaper to shallow the edges. Here is the first piece, set in place, testing for clearance. Happy with the outcome, but I think I can't get lower still. Only 9 more pieces to go. Based on the amount of woodchips, this is a vacuum as you go enterprise. Fun times. Well, back at it next week. Until then, thanks for checking in. RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD
Here's tonight's Rainier Great Western work party recap. I spent the entire evening carving out the edges of each balsa segment to accommodate the ties. Here's the telltale sign of progress: This is mostly accomplished with a very small block plane. It's a Stanley and the blade is only 1 inch wide. I use a #10 blade to carve an edge into the balsa about 3/8 inch around the perimeter. Then using the plane shave the edge down to about 1/16th inch. A significant amount of sanding using 60 grit then gets the depth and profile needed to lay over the ties, while the center section sits on the table top. As you can see I was able to get several more sections completed tonight. Two more in this area plus whatever I decide to do inside the backdrop are all that's left. Next each piece will get varathaned to prevent warping. It will also prevent paint absorption. Scott completed the asphalt upgrades to the Dunn Lumber scene and then painted the asphalt in. Next week he'll begin pavement weathering. Doug worked on the road in Maple Valley, getting a lot of sanding done before chipping away at any spackle that covered any ties. Reynold made it back from Wisconsin and continued his work on the Prineville boxcar. I'll try and get some shots of that interesting, but confusing (for me anyway) project next week. One final thought for the night, I had a chance to take a quick trip to Sacramento this weekend to visit my 90 y/o dad, Ray. He wanted to go to the train museum (imagine that), so we did. We were both in awe of the cab forward. What a machine, all 1.033 million pounds of it. Well, that's it for tonight, as always, thanks for checking in! RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD
Here's tonight's RGW work session update. I promised to detail Rey's work on the two cushion coupler City of Prineville boxes. So here goes. These boxes are all post 1970 construction. They were built with the bolsters within 6 inches of the cushion coupler. These stock boxes do not accurately represent that. As such, Rey is extending the frame to accurately place the bolsters. He also added spacers to extend the cushion couplers. As you can see, he's cut and extended the frame with the horizontal styrene spacer near the bottom of the photo. To accommodate the change, he's incorporated a longitudinal spacer up near the trees (as a reference point). Finally he's added styrene spacers just prior to each coupler to put them in proper location. I'm amazed by it all. As for me, I finished all the balsa inserts for the Boeing lot. Then I spent a few minutes giving the pieces a coat of varathane on both sides. I left them to dry, but will give each another coat tomorrow. Scott put some refining touches on the Dunn Lumber scene. He painted in all the rest of the asphalt areas. He wanted to let that dry overnight before weathering, so he then helped Doug with more road refinements in Maple Valley. I'll get more on that next week. Everybody was pretty busy with their various projects, but before we called it a night, we shared some soda and double chocolate Carmel cookies from Costco. As we ended tonight with each other, we want to pass on a joyous and Merry Christmas to you all and as always, thanks for checking in. M RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD
Just about to get another work session underway then I realized I failed to send last week's. Here's a final on Rey's modifications to the cushion coupler boxcar. On the left is the modified car with extended coupler and the wheelset moved 6 scale inches toward the end of the car. It may be hard to see the change in wheelset, but if you gauge the two cars by the front ladder, you'll see the left is closer to the end of the car. The coupler change is quite distinct. Scott made more improvements in Maple Valley. You can easily see the redefined road. As for me, I completed the shaping of the concrete pad inserts for Boeing. Next week, er tonight, we'll get some glued in place! That was it for last week, now I'll close and get busy for tonight. RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD
Not much to report from last night, but here's what I have. Scott and Doug continued work in Maple Valley. Scott completed the install of the rail crossings for Maple Valley Feed. The next step is to create the road for truck ingress and egress around the mill. I started with creating a template, which you can see has been tracked to the current surface just right off the building. We decided that trucks would come into the plant from the left, where you can see the crossing, and exit to the right. This will necessitate removing some existing scenery and creating a road that exists above the fascia at the far right of this picture. You can see that by evening's end, Scott had removed all the trees to the right of the scene. As for the rest of my evening, I applied glue to two of the balsa inserts at Boeing, then used every available weight to hold it in place. Tonight I will head back in the train room and glue the next two inserts. But that's all there is for today. Until next time, thanks for checking in and Happy New Year to all. M RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD
Another night is in the books here at the RGW. Scott and Doug are again working in Maple Valley. Doug was working on a border that would separate the rail from the road traffic. Not sure where he's going on that, but I know at the start of the evening he grabbed the entire box of styrene out from under my desk, so who knows. I'll do more investigation on that next week. Meanwhile Scott was busy creating a road template for the mill. This is about the third iteration and finally makes the turns as realistic as possible for larger vehicles. As I mentioned in the last post, this will require major scenery changes to the right of the scene. This pic gives you an idea what's ahead, both taking hills out and backfilling the depressions. As for me, this weekend I was able to get all the concrete inserts glued in place at the Boeing plant. As you can see, there are still a lot of 123 blocks in use. That's because tonight I spent all evening cutting and shaping pieces for under and behind the backdrop, like this one. It follows the rails at the front but also forms around a 1x4 riser and tucks in behind the backdrop on the right. Here are the two pieces I finished, the one above on the far right, just temporarily being held in place. Ultimately I intend to detail inside this area with fuselages under construction. There will be scaffolding, drop down lighting and maybe the use of a picture backdrop to hide anything left visible behind the inserts. Finally it was time to share refreshment. Christmas cookies and soda and a lot of bull. These two guys are great friends, Scott on the left, Doug on the right. Couldn't do this without them. Well that's it for tonight, until next time, thanks for checking in! RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD
Here's tonight's very brief update. Due to an impending ice storm, one that WA State Patrol warned drivers not to navigate, we elected not to work tonight. That said, my commute was about 30 feet out the back door, so I went anyway. I started by measuring and cutting 1x6 boards to extend the support for the balsa sheets that sit under the Boeing building. Once cut, I glued on 1/4 in cork to ensure the surface was the same level as the track section. It took a bit of effort, but a few pocket screws and some glue did the trick. I test fit the three balsa sections and was very pleased with the result. To cap off a shortened evening, I gave the three pieces two coats of varathane so they can be ready for painting in the future. That's all I was able to get to, but by the time I walked out of the train room, the exposed aggregate walkway was a skating rink, so I'm glad the fellas stayed home. More next week. Thanks for checking in. RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD
Here's our update from Tuesday's work party on the RGW. Reynold was back at his favorite thing, tweaking rolling stock. In this case a Boeing boxcar with a unique "twist". The frame on this old kit has literally twisted at one end. Rey pulled it apart then reinforced the end with styrene strips and a secondary weight. Scott carved out the road for the mill in Maple Valley. While this is not the best shot he'll ever pose for, there was no other angle to grab the shot from as he's wedged into the SE corner of the layout. Meanwhile Doug was adding the bumpers along edge of Maple Valley Rd. and the rail line. He cut the bumpers out of basswood stock. A quick shot of paint and on the layout they go. As for me, spent a good deal of time cutting and fitting small pieces for the paved surface inserts at the Boeing plant. Then gave the primary inserts another coat of varathane. Finally spent some time on eBay ordering up several packages of Evergreen #291, L-shaped stock. They are for the next step in the insert process; between the rails. More to come on that. Until next time, thanks for checking in. RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD
Tuesday's work session is in the books and here's a quick update. I started the evening taping off the tracks that will be covered by the Boeing inserts. I then spent most of the night spreading Golden Coarse moulding paste over the inserts. The paste will harden, it will be sanded, then painted. We'll do it a second time and the finished product will have a nice concrete texture. Doug continued placing the concrete barriers along Maple Valley Road. He's using the two stained pieces as spacers to ensure uniform placement of the bumpers. Scott began cutting and placing the asphalt road at the mill. He's following the template he cut out a couple of weeks ago. Later he'll contour the landforms and begin to remake the scenery. One last item, I finally received in the mail my new Krydrufi all-in-one art box. This is a hobby painter's dream. Two deep cups for water, both with inserts that allow you to brush the paint off the bristles. As you can see it has multiple brush holders, two for drying, two for storage. The bottom compartments are for wet pallettes and paint mixing. This is a great unit. I found it on Kickstarter and it cost about $35US. It came with multiple packages of wet palette sponges as well. A great buy. Look them up on Kickstarter or on Instagram/Facebook. Highly recommend it. Well, that's enough for this update, until next time, thanks for checking in. RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD
