Evening all. Joe, a round of Boston-brewed Harpoon, in honor of our Boston Brewin's, uh, Bruins. Game 1 of the second round is safely in the record books, 4-1 over Carolina.
I had some alone-time while the girls have been off doing other things. After a long delay, I finished installing the diesel Tsunami in one of my Proto GP9s. It really does sound good. I had to go learn some more CV management to speed-match it down to its sister Geep, since Tsunamis do it differently. Once all the internals were done, I realized that I really didn't want to take this thing apart again, so I removed the truck sides, masked off the windows and weathered it up. I was so happy with the results that I dismantled the other Geep and also the Alco RSC-3 and gave them the treatment as well. I realized that on my layout, "fresh from the paint shop" doesn't mean new-looking, but rather the acquisition of a number of years of wear and tear.
Chuck, I love the idea of putting a car float on springs so it would roll and pitch and like a real barge as cars were loaded on. I'm thinking that the apron would have to be modified to have some play in it, too, which could make for an interesting operation. How about a camshaft beneath the float, with a set of push-rods coming up to simulate natural wave action? On second thought, better limit this to the roll axis. On my layout, I haven't figured out how to set the brakes on the rolling stock yet.
Hopefully, I'll get to the scenery around the coal loader this weekend. I got it installed and wired, and the scenery right around it is done. But, there's that narrow band between the loader and the main line. I've been putting together some more chain-link fence for it, and there will be a re-habbed signal bridge right there, too.
Well, getting late on the East Coast. See you all over the weekend.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Hi, Joe. Singha, please. It's lunch time.
(There's a joke in there somewhere, but only if you were with the 23rd TASS at NKP...)
I wonder if this is going to be the first of a new bunch of posts. We seem to have gotten onto a schedule of a bunch every few weeks, followed by a long period of quiescence.
I see that, in the process of commenting on this and that, I reached the top of the postometer! Maybe it was my comment on the would-be Desert Xpress that lifted me into the lead... (Las Vegas to - Victorville??? in the Trains Mag Passenger forum.) Maybe I'm a distrustful old (fillintheblank) but, to me, this has the delicate corroded-fish aroma of an investment scam.
The trip was interesting, and pleasant enough. Met my first great-grandson (and found out that his little brother will be due about August First.) OTOH, I love my grandson - as long as he's in Tennessee and I'm here. If I had tried similar behavior at his age, I would have died 67 years ago! (He's sixteen years younger than his sisters, and has been spoiled rotten.)
Well, time to shut down the computer and pick up the tin snips and power drill/screwdriver. The new section of benchwork won't build itself...
See ya,
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Hi everyone. The work week's half over, so it's reason enough to celebrate.
Yes, Sue, I eventually got my Bragdon rocks to look very good. I think my big problem was too much petroleum jelly. The second casting used a lot less. I also was very thorough with the degreaser. I only have that one jar of gesso, so that's what I used, and then the black powdered tempra. I quickly ran out of the small set of paints in the kit, so I switched to craft paint acrylics, and they worked fine. I was even able to salvage the original casting with a lot of degreaser.
Incidentally, the wash machine and the hand water pump are from Scale Structures Limited. Walthers carries them, or you can browse their catalog at http://www.jaksind.com/. Lots of fun stuff for building interiors, and many other accessories as well.
I know that it is 5:00 o'clock somewhere, but coffee will do just fine here this morning.
MrB, Love the ringer washer on the porch. The first house that I bought had one in the back shed. It had been taken care of and still had the manual with it.
Larry and I worked hard on the layout this weekend. We started the fascia so that I can finish the streambed. He made a fishing pole for my fisherman, and lettered 2 locos, while I got out the bragdon stuff and crafted the next opening for another tunnel portal and the hill around it. I did some rocks and made the portal from one of the rock molds. It tried the smallest amount of petroleum jelly in the mold release. We will see how it turns out. I am also going to try some acrylic color in the gesso on the inside of the tunnel.
MrB did you use the tempra on the rock as Joel suggested?
Sue
Anything is possible if you do not know what you are talking about.
Just realized I am at the top of the page….
Chuck:
You and the Mrs. have a great trip. Be sure to have as much fun as possible and DON’T pass up anything you really want to / need to do!
As for the pirate thing, I’m in your boat! The Pres. (giving the oky-doky) and the navy did well. But… I just don’t get it!!! Now they threaten to retaliate??
I almost hate to say it, but I’m really sick and tired of some of this stuff (for lack of verbiage I would otherwise use if not on the forum) and as an old military guy….I’m thinking some weaponry (perhaps some large weaponry, I'm thinking maybe "puff" on the wings and a few dasey cutters inland) could go along way to prevent all of this who-ha from happening over and over again!
Sorry, I’m not usually an advocate of violence…But this has got me torked!
Chuck... sounds like a long trip. I watched the tracks being upgraded for the Music City Star. I have family memebers in Mt Juliet between Nashville and Lebanon. Ridership has been disappointing on the Music City Star. It seems the goverment upgraded I-40 which runs parellel to the tracks but about 2 or 3 miles south. We're located 100 miles NW of Nashville in western KY. If you're interested in seeing the layout, stop by.
Regarding the heroic rescue of Captain Phillips, I figured out what saved him. It was Easter Seals. ...Well, the folks in Elliot's Diner just about kicked me out with that joke. Kidding aside, the incident could have been tragic, and I am glad it was not.
JB...I'll let you know if I go to Duluth.
Happy Model Railroading.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Hi, Joe. Olde Frothingslosh tonight. That way, I won't be tempted to have seconds...
Well, about this time tomorrow, I'll be cruising across New Mexico on the way to Beautiful Downtown - Ashland City, TN... Then to Lebanon (the eastern terminal of the Music City Star) before coming back by way of Tucson, In between, visits with my kids, grandkids and great-grandson (in TN) and my sister and her tribe in Arizona. Depending on timing, I might have a chance to visit my parents' grave, at a military cemetary a little way off the route.
A little , but have to extend a big, "Well done!" to the US Navy. Maybe it's about time to return to the (not so) wonderful world of yesteryear. I wonder if the pirates would be anxious to try taking a ship with a 105mm on the stern and twin 20mm on the bridge wings...
Remember seeing a model ship next to the quay on an HO scale layout set in the early 40s. The ship was a foobie, but the weaponry was spot-on.
The cargomaster just called me - something about getting the suitcases and such into the RAV...
See ya - in a couple of weeks.
Chuck (Temporarily not modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Nice touch...with the washer! Looking good.
Happy Easter...Hope you can enjoy friends and family.
MisterBeasley Great deal on the cruise, Mark. Do you have to row as part of that bargain?
Great deal on the cruise, Mark. Do you have to row as part of that bargain?
No, but we're in the forward bowels of the ship on deck four, the lowest one with passenger access, just above the waterline. Although we paid for an inside cabin, we were upgraded to an outside cabin with a porthole. Hey! Just a second! Maybe the expect me to row with the oar through the porthole!
I was on the maiden voyage of the ship (Norwegian Jewel) 2-3 years ago. We had an outside cabin in the middle of the fifth deck, with a large rectangular window. It sure was dandy being mid-ship and low when we went through a hurricane early in the cruise! We were later transferred to an eleventh-deck patio cabin at the stern after complaining the crew door outside our cabin kept banging all night.
Mark
Still having fun with the Clampett place. They're just so proud of their new washing machine that they put it on the front porch to spruce up the neighborhood a bit.
The sad part is that it did spruce up the neighborhood a bit...
tomikawaTT. Time to toddle off to bed. Have to get acclimatized to the earlier time zones at our destination(s) - preferably before we get there.
Time to toddle off to bed. Have to get acclimatized to the earlier time zones at our destination(s) - preferably before we get there.
Where're you going, Chuck? I only occasionally peek into this thread, so don't know your plans, assuming you posted them.
Next Thursday I'm flying to Miaimi for a $50 per day, 11-day ocean cruise to Dover via the Azores and northern Spain. Then I'll spend a couple of days each at Dover, Dunkerque, and Brussels and maybe fit in a day trip to Waterloo, and then get back home May 6. Rather than Brussel sprouts, I intend to taste some chocolate there. (I've already had rabbit in Malta, frankfurters in Frankfurt, hamburgers in Hamburg, and fish-and-chips in London.)
This weekend I'm taking care of my GF's teenage cat. The cat Possum (she's mostly cream colored, with dark grey ears and tail with grey tiger stripes on legs and face) just got fixed today and needs intensive TLC. So far today, she's spent 90% of her time on my lap. This January my GF came by and said I was to take care of the then 6-7 week-old kitten as GF was taking her mother, brother, and sister-in-law on a Mexican Riviera ocean cruise. During those 10 days GF was gone, I named the cat. The cat and I bonded, and although Possum spends 95% of her time at my GF's house, I'm still her favorite human.
'Evening, Joe. And thanks for the cool one, Mr.B...
If you get the chance, sneak over to the garden railways general discussion and check out the thread on Baldwin 2-6-6-2 loggers. It's about the prototypes, with only a tiny touch of G gauge models.
I finally found a key ingredient for some kitbashes that were hanging fire. 6-wheel Buckeye trucks seem to have become an endangered species...
All that will have to wait, though. In a couple of days we'll be off on a cross country trip to visit the family members who came out here last time. Hopefully, when we get back my subconscious will have come up with workable answers to a couple of the issues I still have with the new section of hidden staging.
Thanks Mr.B, I will...
And, hey...You are right! Any pic is better than nothing!
I'm a pumpkin this evening...So, an other time perhaps! For one! more!
I do have to say though..."It's been on your mind for four years?"..... I'm thinking this "gimmick" has been lurking for some time.....And, good for you it all woked!
Happy Easter to all...And to all a good night.
Have another, JB, and Joe, I'll take a Strumpet draft as well. Let's see who else shows up on this good (Good?) Friday.
I love the photo in your sig, by the way. And, your tale of the insistent smoker at dinner over on that other thread brought a chuckle, too. Thanks for that one.
I got the seagulls on the layout, but the pigeons will have to wait for another day. Is pulling out 4 different colors for HO scale seagulls overkill? Well, maybe, but after looking at pictures for reference, I needed them all. The bigger project for the day was getting some more voltage to the old Vollmer coal loader. I'd been running it off of the lighting circuit, which is nominally 10 volts but probably closer to 8, because it's overloaded. Today, I opened up a new spool of wire and connected it to the 12 volt supply I use for the uncoupler electromagnet. Suddenly, after 45 years of slumber, this old thing worked again. I can load a couple of carloads of coal into my hoppers. The building doesn't hold much coal, but just being able to load live coal again, and then dump it on the other side of the layout, is one of those things that's been on my mind since I started this layout 4 years ago. Sure, it's a gimmick, and I'll only do it once in a blue moon, but I love stuff like this.
Sputtering around a bit this evening…
As mentioned a while back, I didn’t really like the new “silhouette thing” with the new forum.
I have always wanted to put my CCRY herald there, but don’t have anything to cut and paste….
I’ll take you up on that strumpet Pale Mr. B….
YUP, our ski season is over too, but we do still have snow on the ground...And even though it may be shirt-sleeve weather (40 F. today) I haven't broken out the Hawaiian shirt yet!! I have, however been doing some cooking outside most all winter long. Recently it has just been a few Ribeye and a Porterhouse steak, but last month I double smoked a 20 lb ham...It was way Yum!
Sounds as though you are back at it with a head of full steam on your RR! Can't wait to see some more your handy work.
I haven’t been able to get too much done so far this week….But I’m going to play some tomorrow. Hopefully, most of the day!
Being able to go back to work…I’m thinking that I can get after that of pike staging again! Just need to watch out for “too much grunt”. Sure would like to get her done before “garden season” hit full force!
Ah, now is the winter of our discontent nearly come to its inevitable conclusion. The warmth of spring has fallen upon the land, and the birds do chirpeth (chirpeth? chirpeth? Where doth one get words like unto this folly?) I grilled burgers outside tonight. I've been doing that all winter, but tonight I was wearing a Hawaiian shirt, no jacket, and no mosquito repellant. Truly, the way life should be.
I started one of those projects I've been putting off. (Yeah, Joe, a Strumpet IPA, and one for anyone who hasn't already had enough of my Shakespeare impersonation.) I opened up a P2K Geep, and started carving out a slot in the framework for a speaker. It's getting a diesel Tsunami. I've had the parts for a month or 2, at least, but not the time to get the project even started. Ski season seems to be over, though, so now it's time for some serious train work.
I assembled a couple of Walthers coal conveyors earlier this week. They were on sale, and each package makes 6 conveyors, more than I need. I only did 2, one of each flavor, and was pretty happy with them. The Walthers flyer came last week, and I ordered a set of unpainted Preiser "Truckers" from my LHS. To get back in the swing of things, I renovated another 3 freight cars from my childhood, a black Deep Rock tanker, another Mantua clamshell hopper, and (surprise to me) a fourth Crown log car I didn't even know I had. None of these was enough to keep me busy, though, so I've been painting 1:87 seagulls and pigeons from Greenway to add to the Moose Bay scene. Time to mix up some "beak" color and finish the job...
Hello JB .... as it stands now, I am not planning that. It's been many years since I have been in Duluth, and I may consider it.
So, will you be coming to Duluth??
Perhaps?
regarding ore trains...
Here is the website for Great Northern Ry Hist Soc.... http://gnrhs.org/
I do not know anybody in the group, but joined thinking I could use info. My fictional divison of the Q connects with GN. Their July convention is in Duluth I see.
I wouldn’t mind seeing that…But I no longer get a copy.
It’s a bit of a LONG STORY but …I’ve lost touch since, I’ve lost touch with my friend Duane.
Is there a “site” a person can go to?
Speaking of ore trains, I just received my March issue of the GN Goat from Great Northern Railway Historical Society. It has some great photos of ore being loaded at the open pit mine and ore being unloaded at the transloading docks.
On my layout, ore is deliver by rail directly to the blast furnace at my steel mill.
Lookin' good ,JB!
My average train length is about 12-16 cars. There's a feww more around the corner, plus the engines.
Sue, the weather idiots say mid 50's next week. We can only hope!!
Terry
Terry in NW Wisconsin
Queenbogey715 is my Youtube channel
Looking great, JB.
Thanks Gary.
And Sue: regarding the logo. Actually I’m doing mostly the original DM&IR herald, but also the simplified lettering done much later in their lives.
I remember reading, some time ago now and I can’t seem to find the reference, about the two major types of ore car prototypes and thinking that I could depict the two styles with the Walthers and the MDC cars. Neither are 100% correct, but with the two different sizes, the various color shading and differences in the lettering….I feel it gives a pretty good flavor.
I really like that ore train, JB.
saronaterry Sue, I sure hope the fall doesn't screw up scoot ridin'. Sheesh I'm tired of winter. I haven't even uncovered the bikes, much less put the batteries back in. Did move the snow blower to the back of the garage in anticipation, though! Terry
Sue, I sure hope the fall doesn't screw up scoot ridin'.
Sheesh I'm tired of winter. I haven't even uncovered the bikes, much less put the batteries back in. Did move the snow blower to the back of the garage in anticipation, though!
Larry charged the batteries this last weekend so we are good to go. They are predicting 60 degrees on Sunday and 65 for Monday. However, it was snowing less than 100 miles to the north this morning. Will spring ever come?
JB, The 22 cars will look great. Most of us couldn't fit 80 cars on a continuous track. What logo are you painting on those cars?