The Coffee Shop (a place to chat) Est. 2004

[krump]

that Toy surprise is terrible.

[fec153]

As I go from post to post to read the questions, I am constantly amazed at the re-
sponses of good natured help. If only the world would be more open to each other.
May your God bring you good health and happiness. As we all model in different ways
we all worship differently but with the same goal. Peace to all.
Phil

[fec153]

krump- I just read your other post re: Turtle Creek decals. I'm looking at them as I
type this. Need address to send them.
Phil

[fec153]

Oh! Forgot to say, it's complete,both N and HO.

[fec153]

rfd is showing the demolishion of the Stockton tower- now 9 a.m.

[Anonymous]

Good Morning All:

Tom:
I can identify with that idea about being the labor to redo a room and let the better half be the boss/decision maker. We have a house that we are trying to get ready to rent, the mechanical things like wiring or plumbing I get to choose. Where the light switch goes - Ho Ho Ho. She wants it here and I want it their because of easier to do - you know where it goes - here. I ask "You want it WHAT color?" But that's the color that it gets. The "off peach" looks a lot better on the whole outside then the color chip looked in Lowes. I've learned that it is a lot less stressfull just to do it her way first time around, that eliminates having to do it twice. (ARE YOU YOUNG GUYS LISTENING/READING THIS?) It isn't disgracefull to admit that you wife is the boss. I saw a guy in Wally World the other day trying to tell his wife what to buy, all he did was make her mad and I bet he still doesn't know why he is all of a sudden celabent (SP). But in the train room I'M GOD. I can paint the house/industery any darn color I want.

I guess I'm lucky. I bought the new Walthers/Athearn Santa Fe Chief ABBA yesterday off eBay for $295.00 including shipping and insurance. I purchased the drive units about six months ago just in case I found a deal that I couldn't walk away from. Caboose Hobbies wanted $358.00 PLUS $7.75 shipping.


Phil:
I thought that was very nice of you to give those decals to Krump. It's things like that make me proud to be a model railroader.


Ed:
It sounds like you and I are in the same boat - my optiviser is the first thing I put on when I go upstairs. I now own two of them, one is a "4" lense and the other is a "10". The "4" has a worn out sweat band and I had to order one the other day. It cost more then the whole thing cost me 15 years ago, but then that's progress. Have you thought about 1:1 scale? I can just see my 4-8-4 running around my house - neighborhood - city. The mayor would sure like that.

I inherited an "N" scale layout and after I relaid the switches with Atlas, then relaid track with Atlas, bought Kato engines so it would run and Micro trains cars to stay on the track, I found out I still couldn't see it. Three months of messing with that layout got it done but I just couldn't enjoy it. The up side was that it made the HO a lot easier to work with. It's in the garage in the rent (?) house with sawdust all over it. Maybe the saw dust will protect it. Don't tell me about the sawdust in the engines I KNOW ALL ABOUT THAT. Besides, they are all back in the boxes.


Noah:
If you'll look back several pages in this topic you'll see a post from me about using the BB's and coke cans as buildings and tanks. Using the boxes makes them re-cycleable, you can set them long side down or short side down for a tall building. They also tape together for longer or taller buildings. My first layout had almost all of the building made out of kit boxes. To me they are good visual planners that I use even today.


Construction tip for the youngies and I guess oldies also:
When drying out sand on the stove, don't go out and put bird seed in the feeder as you forget about the sand and when you get back, the pot has stuck to the burner. But if you just let the pot and burner cool off normally they will become un-stuck. DON'T USE A TEFLON PAN AS THE TEFLON WILL BURN OFF. I'm not going to tell ya'll how I found this out.

BIG_GIRL:
QUIT LAUGHING, Not all boys learn how to cook at an early age - some not until their wife has had a stroke. At 64 we are slow learners. Sometimes you have to tell me something three times. U-MMM isn't that the way it is with teenagers? Maybe old people are just teenangers again.

I agree about the lack of taste about the toy but remember, when news of the disaster was spread in Iraq and Iran - they were jubulent and had street parties about our misery. They were not the least bit upset or compassionate.

BIG_BOY:
About the four verses six wheel trucks; real railroads were not above spreading the rails a little on the curves to accomadate the longer wheelbase, but their was a limit as they didn't want the cars to come off.

FERGIE:
The trip is still in the go stage and we are looking forward to it.

I sure am wordy today - I think now that my second cup of tea is just about gone that I'm going to get a third cup and mosey upstairs.

Ya'll have a blessed day and remember SANTA FE ALL THE WAY
Bob

[der5997]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Fergmiester

I'll have to think this one over John. But like everything else it depends on the size of the Dock and what size vessel it is accomadating. I would say 9" I beams would be in order for smaller wharfs and the size would go up as the size of the wharf increased. Larger docks may require 12" to 15" and some 24" I beams. BTW Maritme Hobby carries all sizes of I beams and round styrene round tubing as is used for pilings.

I'm off to bed as tomorrow comes fast and furious

PS John, Does MT require trackage rights on the MESS. I offer competitve rates!

If time permits I'll be going to the LHS (Great Hobbies) to look for some tools.

Huzahh!

Regards

Fergie

Fergie: Computer crashed on the 25th, and I've just got it back. (Tried to burn a CD, and since then it has insisted on having a bootable disk in the CD slot in order to boot up! [V])

On the dock wall thing, I didn't realize that they were just I beams. I'll look in MH next time I'm in Hfx. and see what looks appropriate. The dock is about 350-400 scale feet. Thanks.
As to trakage rights on the MESS, unless you have a dual guage system like the line across the Great Australian Bight ( My maternal grandfather was an engineer or some such down there) my N could have difficulties on your HO[:0] The rolling stock changes trucks to accomodate teh guage change I believe, but that could be a bit of a streach too.[:D]

I've decided on a decoder install on my ConCor Bud car as a first attempt. Lots of room to manouver, so it seems to me. Wish me luck, I don't want to fry this puppy.[:p]

[der5997]

QUOTE: Originally posted by egmurphy

QUOTE: John asked: From your intimate knowledge of Marine Docks, can you help me with the dimensions of the steel pilings used to form dock walls? I'm thinking of the sort that make a U and inverted U pattern all along the dockside.

I think you're referring to 'sheet piling'. The I beams (more commonly WF or 'wide flange' beams) that Ferg mentioned are more likely to be used as the bracing for the sheet piling.

There's not a standard width but 18-24" center to center for the piling sections would be reasonable. Try some of these links:
http://www.hmc-us.com/hmcsp/spile.html
http://www.geoforum.com/info/pileinfo/view.asp?ID=44
http://www.skylinesteel.com/info_description.htm

A google search on sheet piling will turn up more hits that you can look at.

Regards

Ed

Thanks for this short list Ed. I'll check it out. Somehow I never think of doing a Google search on this sort of thing, but rely on the experience of other modelers!

[egmurphy]

QUOTE: I've learned that it is a lot less stressfull just to do it her way first time around, that eliminates having to do it twice. (ARE YOU YOUNG GUYS LISTENING/READING THIS?) It isn't disgracefull to admit that your wife is the boss.

Well I usually have the last words in any discussion around here.......and those words are usually "Yes, Dear." [(-D]

Ed (using his optivisor to read the screen...........................)

[der5997]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Fergmiester

LED's now there's frustration ! I've been to several well stocked and reputable electronic component suppliers looking for these "jems". Went through catalogues looking for the really small bright white LED's and NADA. what I land up with is generic, one-step-up from Radio Shack.

I'm hoping that with the recent "boom" in LED technology this product will be more readily available, bcause for me LED's are the way to go.

Oh BTW Hello everyone. I'm still around.

Regards
Fergie

Fergie: Did you get any joy from Jetronics in Burnside (up behind Leon's off Akerly)? They'll order in, even small quantities. They just sent me two bicolour LEDs. If you have a manufacturer's part # it helps a bit, but isn't critical.
Regards,

[der5997]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Fergmiester

If I'm not mistaken the original six axle engines were designed to distribute the same weight (SD were roughly thesame weight as a GP of the same HP) over a larger area. This was a requirement for branchlines that had poor or light rail or bridges with load restrictions. Prince Edward Island had six axle engines for this very purpose.

Regards

Fergie

Fergie: Thanks for this. I thought it was about tractive effort, and that a six axle would not "fit" the MT. Now I can look at the Atlas C630 as a distinct possibility, despite its age. The MT will take anything still running!

[fec153]

TEFFY- If I have no use for something and someone does, why not share? Heck,
tho I don't consider myself a modeler in the way most of us train nuts are, we belong
to a great fraternity. The human race. Eleventh commandent- DO UNTO OTHERS
AS YOU WOULD LIKE THEM TO DO UNTO YOU.
Phil. P.S. Hasn't gotten in touch as yet. Now is yard work time [lawn that is.]

[egmurphy]

Okay guys (that's a generic 'guys' and includes the 'girls' too), breaking news, you heard it here first.

Those of you old timers on the forum might remember (or you may not, who knows) that back in May I started a small diorama to photograph trains on, since I don't actually have a layout in suitable status to do any photography. It was also to serve as a practice ground for working with extruded foam, ground foam, and all the other new scenery techniques that I'd never had a chance to work with. When we last caught up with our intrepid reporter and his diorama, it had received a coat of paint........... Well it stayed like that for a couple of months (hey, I was traveling.......okay, ... so I was lazy [:(] ), let's say 'not sufficiently motivated' to complete something as small as the diorama.........it's probably closer to the truth to say that it was "paralysis by analysis" - thinking too much before doing.

Well I finally got busy this week and have completed it! [yeah] [:D] I'm actually happy with the way it turned out. I'm glad I did this first, before starting scenery on the layout. I think the look it has is about what I'm trying for on my freelanced road. No trees yet, I'm still searching for a suitable weed in this area (lot's of weeds, nothing particularly suitable). It won't make the pages of MR but I think it will do fine for what I need, especially if I take off my glasses. [(-D]

Oh yeah, story and pictures at 5................................

Hasta luego

Ed

[Noah Hofrichter]

Not a whole lot on the wisconsin front today. Rainy here though. Guess I'll go read the rest of the posts and head out of here.

Ed, Waiting for those pictures!! Glad you finally got your self motivated. I plan on doing a diorama/modual soon to take pictures on instead of using my front porch as the back ground. I'll probably model the rock springs hills, it'll give me a chance to use rocks, coloring, and a few hills and track, all in one.

Noah

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by TEFFY

Good Morning All


Construction tip for the youngies and I guess oldies also:
When drying out sand on the stove, don't go out and put bird seed in the feeder as you forget about the sand and when you get back, the pot has stuck to the burner. But if you just let the pot and burner cool off normally they will become un-stuck. DON'T USE A TEFLON PAN AS THE TEFLON WILL BURN OFF. I'm not going to tell ya'll how I found this out.

BIG_GIRL:
QUIT LAUGHING, Not all boys learn how to cook at an early age - some not until their wife has had a stroke. At 64 we are slow learners. Sometimes you have to tell me something three times. U-MMM isn't that the way it is with teenagers? Maybe old people are just teenangers again.

I agree about the lack of taste about the toy but remember, when news of the disaster was spread in Iraq and Iran - they were jubulent and had street parties about our misery. They were not the least bit upset or compassionate.

A couple of things Bob,

I would never ever laugh. I learned in my very first apartment, it was my first gas stove too, that you can't , even on the super lowest flame, heat chocolate fudge sauce in it's jar. What can I say, I was young and lazy and actually pretty lucky it didn't explode worse than it did. Also I learned that no matter how cute and spiffy those burner covers make your stove look by the time you realize a burner handle got turned to the lowest setting(an electric this time) while wiping the counter a lot of stuff can burn under it. And it stinks up the apartment for days.
What you can do over a gas flame is roast marshmallows if you are really really careful.[:D]

I got some killer easy and good recipes if you want some. My mom was queen of 5 ingredients or less, while I use more than 5 alot of the time I stay away from the futzy stuff for the most part. I have my email listed in my profile so give me a shout if you like.
For some good and easy recipes and if you are in the mood go to the foodtv.com site and you will find a recipe for anything you can think of.

How is Mrs. Teffy coming along?? Gotta have her pop on the coffee shop and say Hi once in awhile.

As for the toys-I am sure everyone here on the forums found it as disgusting as we do. The distributor that sold them to the Miami store( under false pretenses as they were listed as a swingset) says that they don't see anything wrong with the toy. I hope those that deal with them vote with their wallet and show them what was wrong. I can be as liberal as the next person about live and let live but this in my mind was done specifically as a [censored] you to not just America but everyone single country who lost someone in that tragedy and the ongoing battles brought on by it.

[krump]

QUOTE: Originally posted by fec153

krump- I just read your other post re: Turtle Creek decals. I'm looking at them as I
type this. Need address to send them.
Phil

that would be great Phil. please email me and I'll get you my mailing address... thanks again. The HO scale decals would be perfect.
cheers
Krump

[krump]

Teffy - if nothing sticks to teflon, what makes the teflon stick to the pan?

Phil - thanks again

thought for the day -
re: Athens 2004 - (this may only make sense to Canadians, who might have seen the TV ads...) I think that the "Best With Quality Milk" promotions are a true indication that the "Little Blue Cow" should be tested for STEERoids [C):-)][C):-)][(-D][(-D] - I note the weightlifting in particular.

cheers all,

[Anonymous]

Good Morning All:

This second cup of tea sure is good this morning. We went to a live performance last night and boy I sure didn't want to get up this morning.

John:
It just dawned on me a couple of days ago that you are modeling in "N". Do you know where "N" came from? It seems like their was a guy that had a very large "HO" layout and he wanted to put it in a smaller room, but it was to big. Accidently one of the cars fell into the washing machine and got washed. Since it wasn't sanforized it shrunk and along came "N". The pieces that got washed twice ended up as "TT" and "Z".[:D]

Well I've got to get ready for church so I'll talk to ya'll later.

Have a blessed day and remember SANTA FE ALL THE WAY
Bob

[fec153]

krump- don't be alarmed by the stamp. My wife got them. I AM STRICTLY "D.C.".
Phil

[der5997]

QUOTE: Originally posted by TEFFY

Good Morning All:

This second cup of tea sure is good this morning. We went to a live performance last night and boy I sure didn't want to get up this morning.

John:
It just dawned on me a couple of days ago that you are modeling in "N". Do you know where "N" came from? It seems like their was a guy that had a very large "HO" layout and he wanted to put it in a smaller room, but it was to big. Accidently one of the cars fell into the washing machine and got washed. Since it wasn't sanforized it shrunk and along came "N". The pieces that got washed twice ended up as "TT" and "Z".[:D]

Well I've got to get ready for church so I'll talk to ya'll later.

Have a blessed day and remember SANTA FE ALL THE WAY
Bob

Good Morning TEFFY (Actually it's past noon here, but still morning in the lone star state )[:D]
There's a chap in South Africa on one of the forums (ndcc???) who refers to HO as Horribly Oversized, and N as (of course) Normal.
TT would have come from one of hte cars being rescued from the wash a bit ahead of the one that finished up as N [D]
Got to go, Kris is chomping at the bit to get to lunch.
Blessings,

[fec153]

Whats the name of the steam engine in South Africa that uses 14 axels? Garrett?
Their rails are light weight and they need to spread the Weight of the loco.
Phil

[egmurphy]

It's a Beyer Garratt.

Try this link for a good photo:
http://www.oldengine.org/members/diesel/Delhi/delhi1.htm


Regards

Ed

[egmurphy]

Okay sports fans, here are a couple of pictures of the infamous diorama. The first one is just an overview of the diorama. After all the agonizing I did over the small trestle you can't even see it in the photo. [:(]



The second one has my first attempts at painting and lettering cars (remember the dry transfer rant from a couple of days ago?). You can see the letters are none too even. I didn't even try to do anything with dimensional data. A good heavy weathering effort ought to cover it up pretty good. But this is what I wanted the diorama for, to have a place to photograph cars.



It's H(orribly) O(versized) ballast. Yeah I know the grains are too big for N. I wanted to be able to see something grainy without using my optivisor. [8D] In these photos you can easily see that it's code 80 rail. In real life it doesn't jump out at me as much. I tried painting a test section of rail to make it less obvious (inspired by Tom's example) but decided to leave well enough alone at this time. Maybe later.

Anyway, now that the diorama is done, on to the layout.

Hasta mañana

Ed

[lupo]

Morning All! [:)]
Ed, nice pictures! I am suprised your diorama turned so green!, looking at the pictures you first posted I thought you was going for a desert type of scene!,
btw I can see the trestle, imho these not so obvious to see details add to the quality of a
small scene.

[philnrunt]

Ed- good pics, and thanks for the nudge to get me back in the shop.
Looks like the usual suspects are still gathering here, and still sharing good information with each other. See a few new faces too, good to see them also.
Had some personal trials and tribulations that took over for awhile, but they have been rounded up and contained in those metal boxes the Army used for their experimental cross-bred soldiers.
So how did Noah's TC come out? The last time I was here, the Shop was up to page 72, and now it's 87, I went back to 84 but didn't see anything, did he post pics, and what page were they on?
Rode the Pizza Train Sat, had a GP-9 up front in a scheme reminiscent of C&O's, and a Nickle Plate unit on the other end, but it was too dark to see it, and too far to walk without getting left behind. Pizza was pretty good too. I love riding on jointed rail, you can't beat that rocking motion. There were about 100 -150 people on the train , so when we got to the restaurant it was more of a cattle drive than a relaxing dining experience, but it was alot of fun. The best part was watching the kids, trains and kids go together so well.
On the way back, we sat in a darkened car and watched the latest in a long line of T-storms off in the distance. It was a fine time and a pretty good bargain for about $20..
I need to return to the museum a bit earlier in the day, so the lighting will be condusive for decent pics.
Sure missed talking with you guys, glad to be back.

[tomwatkins]

Good Mornin' Everybody,
It's going to be a beautiful day in the mountains today. The coffee is excellent and there's lots to do. We got a good bit of the "ragging on" of the top coat done in Shawna's room yesterday. It looks good, but it takes a lot of time. We got far enough along that I can start installing the floor today.

I realized quite a long time ago that "Yes Dear" is perhaps the best possible response in many situations. This is particularly true of matters concerning interior design and decorating. Left to my own devices, I'd have painted the room a single color, chosen very quickly, put down the floor, etc, and driven on. It would have been clean and fresh, but in all honesty, it wouldn't have looked nearly as good as this is going to. Besides, this is what the ladies want. I am, however, totally in charge in the RR room. Sounds fair to me.

Ed, the diorama looks good. It turned out nicely.

Phil, welcome back, we've missed you. Noah's TC turned out great. He really did a good job on it.

Teffy, when are you going to be in this area? I'll email the directions to you this evening. I'm looking forward to it.

I'd better get going on the floor now. The sooner this gets done, the sooner I can get back to the railroad.

Have a great day everybody,
Tom

[der5997]

QUOTE:
So how did Noah's TC come out? The last time I was here, the Shop was up to page 72, and now it's 87, I went back to 84 but didn't see anything, did he post pics, and what page were they on?

He did indeed, and very fine they are too. The model certainly doesn't look like a first time scratch. Reminds me that my first time scratch was an outhouse (forbiden topic [censored]) Makes me feel really like Charlie Brown[*^_^*]

As to the page, I think 82 or 3 . I'll post this and then go and see, and edit it in. Would you beleive 80?
Regards,

[Anonymous]

Good Morning All:

ED:
i think the pictures look nice. Since you are in Mexico I can't imagine why you would have a tank car with "PEMAX" on it. At your age you should be movin' up on the gage ladder, at least to "HO" and maybe to "G". If I didn't have so much invested into "HO", I think "S" would be the way to go. But their just isn't that much available in that scale. I'm too old to start building all of these structures in another scale for a future layout. I bet I've got at least 25 buildings ready to go on the present layout and not enough sidings or space for them. I do enjoy looking at them and I enjoyed building them. Most layouts that I've seen don't have space for big lineside buildings, that's the reason I have almost all of the Sydum and Alpine kits.

Big_Girl:
As of Friday, I can't get my e-mailer to e-mail anything out and it only receives one or two e-mails a day. I've got to call my ISP and find out what's wrong. Anyway, about the only thngs that we don't eat is bell peppers, broccoli, and carrots. Supposelly the GI's brought broccoli back from Europe after WW II, they should have left it over there. GOD didn't mean for MEN to eat broccoli.

This second cup of tea sure is good.

I've got to get all of the switch machines hooked up in the yard and then I can switch without having to do it by hand under the table. I got through soldering all of the wires to the connectors Sunday night and now I have to wire them to the terminal blocks and then get the control switches in. I can't make up my mind weather I like the regular or mini switch. Since space isn't a problem I'm leaning toward the regular as it's easier to find.

Big_Boy:
From the picture that I've seen of your layout it's about like mine - how are you controlling your switch machines? I thought about the DS54 from Digitrax as I like being able to throw then from the throttle but then someone from across the room can't see how they are thrown and may try to run a switch thrown the wrong way. I had origionally thought about using caboose hobbies ground throws but then you have to be right there and if someone is in the way then you're out of luck. Besides that my Branchline engineer may be operating from outside the layout since that's where the branchline ends.

LUPO:
How are those trucks doing on the mantle? Don't waste your time repainting them go ahead and use them - after a while you'll get into another problem and wont even see that they are a different color.

Have a blessed day and remember SANTA FE ALL THE WAY
Bob

[egmurphy]

Thought I'd show a couple of rough pics of the area around here (outside the town) that are representative of the area, and thus give an idea of the look I'm going for in the diorama and the layout. the area is rolling, but no high mountains (they start a short bit inland from here) which is good for a layout that needs to be stored vertically.





No Lupo, no desert around here. Veracruz is probably one of the lushest states in Mexico. The desert areas tend to be up in the north central and northwest parts of the country.

Tom, I'm going to try taping the dry transfers on and see how that goes. However I think that'll only work for some of the larger letters. The small ones I'm using for reporting marks are only about 1/16" square, so the idea of taping them together is about as daunting as trying to align them.

Good to see you back Phil. I see you're still covering night shift for the coffee shop!.

Bob, the eyes are all for a larger scale. Unfortunately I'm in N due to space restrictions. What I really need to do is just recognize when "enough is enough" detail-wise and not try to emulate everything that I see in forums on the web. I took my career real seriously, I'm trying hard to keep from being too serious about my hobby.

Hasta luego,

Ed

[lupo]

Good evening All!
Bob , you are dead right about the color difference and other problems with my Santa Fe FA and B units, It is beautiful to look at, and I do not have a problem with the color anymore, [:D] but:
I noticed a differentce in the rounding in the roofs of the MRC B and the Intermountain A units, so the sides of the B unit are a wee bit higher than the sides of the A units. Is this prototypical [:)] , or does this mean I am becoming a [:-^] "Rivetcounter"

Ed, i allready checked out Veracruz and surroundigs: [8D] [8D] [8D]
but the base color you painted your diorama let me think it was going to be all sandy

Phil, good to see you back, maybe see you around tomorrow morning ( tonight )

John (der5779) I read you are in a different timezone as well, how may hours are you away from "ForumTime" ?

take care
stay safe

LUPO