Elliot's Diner, Mark XVI

[SilverSpike]

Afternoon folks!

Hope everyone had a great weekend, it sure was a busy one for us!

Mow de lawn Saturday morning, then went to Ben's first baseball practice with the new team. Then made my triffle dessert and brought it to the fish fry dinner that night.

Then rest of the weekend we walked for an hour in the early afternoon and then rode our bikes around the neighborhood for 30 minutes!

Continued some work on re-directing some track on the layout over the stairway. Will try to remember to upload some snaps soon!

inch53

RYAN,,,,,, glad to hear your dad's doing good and pray it continues. How'd your son do with baseball tryouts??

Mike, thanks about my dad. And Ben made the Sand Gnats team. First practice was Saturday and they were a little rusty, but look good for a first anyway! Nice CSX snaps you got there!

PC, that rain video is real fun!

Ray, what shirt you wearing today?

Got to go for now.....work beckons!

 

 

[AmanaMedic]

Good afternoon, just popping in for a quick "to-go" order in-between w**k efforts.

JEFF: Your "tropical funnel clouds" sound like our "cold-air" funnels. Reverse cause, but same effect. I think I've seen more "mostly harmless" cold-air funnels than their nastier thunderstorm-born cousins...and I LIKE IT THAT WAY.

JIM: Just finished the captions and write-up on the "farmer's market"/craft show. The guy I was talkin' "engines" with is a 30+ year vet of the Cedar Rapids Fire Dept. I was trying to get him interested in buying my ex-CRFD rig...which led to him remembering riding/driving it (or the two sister-rigs), the late 60's/early 70's canopy cabs... Lots of reminiscing...no sign of his check book..  Oh well, ya get a couple firefighters together...and the jaws will soon be a-flappin'. It was also a nice diversion, back into the world of testosterone...and an escape from ESTROGEN LAND inside the shop.

Time to get back at it, I'm debating whether to attack the Congressman's Townhall story, or the "assisted living facility that isn't anymore" article. Not sure I really wanna do the tape review needed for the townhall...maybe I'll make the contacts I need for the other instead, deal with Congressman Loebsack ("Lobe-Sack") later...\

Have a good-un' everybody...

Chris

[jeffrey-wimberly]

 This can give you an idea of my progress on the new backdrop so far.

[TMarsh]

Sand Gnats......... Love it.

Jeff- backdrops taking shape. The airconditioner looks strikingly like the old one. I also see what appears to be a bit of disarray with the world. Don't you think it would have been easier to........ oh who am I kidding. I do the same thing, try and reach and stretch without moving things out of the way.

Ray- I see what you mean. Someone has resurrected the Collectors vs Modelers thread. I'm with you, I'll just sit this one out with you. So, (drum, drum, drum fingers on table) do you like cabbage?  

EDIT: Hey Jeff, not being nosey, but as I was nosing through you cabinet is that the Bachmann House Under Construction I see peeking over the top? I've got one myself. A classic, one of my saves from the early seventies. Keeps getting moved around the layout looking for a spot. I see you found one.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

TMarsh

Jeff- backdrops taking shape. The airconditioner looks strikingly like the old one. I also see what appears to be a bit of disarray with the world. Don't you think it would have been easier to........ oh who am I kidding. I do the same thing, try and reach and stretch without moving things out of the way.

Work now, fix the mess later.

[Robby P.]

 I've been fooling around with a track plan for the new layout.  Its better to see what it looks like before its put down .

 Barry.....Maybe thats what I need to do in the basement here .

 Jeff...... The back drop is looking good.

 The wife had a interview last week, and didn't get a call back.  Took her interview suit back, and she gets recalled today .   Now we have to get another interview suit .  Oh well............

  Guys have a good day.  

[Packers#1]

 Well, first day of high school, ands I actually kind aliked it. wasn'tr a pain going from class to class, but I have learned to go outside on a couple of my moves through the school, lol.

[pcarrell]

Robby P.

The wife had a interview last week, and didn't get a call back.  Took her interview suit back, and she gets recalled today .   Now we have to get another interview suit .  Oh well............

Dude, don't you know?  You'd have had to buy a new one anyways!  A lady can't wear the same suit to a place she's already worn it to!  (Guys can do that......same black or grey suit, but not the ladies!)

[Cederstrand]

Grilled salmon & garlic mashed potatoes, please. 

***Todd, that's a great idea. I'll look for something like that in HO scale, since this is for the wife's layout. (me = N / wife = HO)

Rob

[blownout cylinder]

Cederstrand

***Barry, [4'X5' but it had the toilet, a sink and a "stand up shower" in it]....that would be a rather common size in Hong Kong. One of my brothers has lived there for many years and has plenty of stories.

I remember quite some years ago being in Tokyo and finding a hotel that had the same setup. Fascinating space saver---then again---some of the Japanese architecture has a fascination all their own too

----------------------------------------------------------------

I had a wonderful afternoon of clobbering my little toes--I wacked my toes into 2 doorframes, a door from a closet, my basement steps, my basement steps coming in from the outside. Now, they are all black, blue, purple, and a healthy shade of green. And they do feel very alert right now---

The above was all due to a massive attack of brain dumbdownism---I went in this wonderful 3H weather and did a bunch of moving of stuff in and around the house and, in said process, did go KLOOOMMMPP into all manner of things Of course, being of not so sound mind I would go and do more of same only to go KAKRAAAANNG!! into some more causing me to go into mode. Now, I'm just sitting here with some ice and just letting ever't'in' settle

Let this be a lesson unto you---

Chloe---I'll just have a nice cold RBF with a plate o' fries please---I'll be at the corner booth with me foot up....

[howmus]

Evenin" folks!

Zoe a cup of decafe an a hot fudge sundae if you please. 

I spent most of day cleaning up the mess in the workshop.  Also got a bit more scenery done.  Hope that all the trees that looked dead last night will be growing leaves by bedtime tonight....  What IS that screaming???  Barry did what?  His toes?  Was it from that resurrected thread?  Oh!  he was moving stuff.....  I'll go over and talk about cats for a while.  Maybe that will take his mind off the pain for a bit.

TMarsh

So, (drum, drum, drum fingers on table) do you like cabbage? 

But of course....  Corned Beef and Cabbage is one of my favorites.  It's the Irish in me....  Well I am English, German, Irish, Scotch, and more than a little Bourbon ya know!   Bet Ryan has a great recipe for it too!

Huh?  What about Ryan....?  Oh my shirt, no nothing special, just an old Boy Scout Camp shirt.  Didn't go anywhere where I could get away with insulting people today.........

Hey Barry....  I sat down here to post, and eat my sundae and along comes Manét.  Just has to climb up in my arms, so I put the ice cream down, and let him climb up on my shoulder.  Of course after about a minute on my shoulder he flops down into my arms upside down.  His favorite position.  So I rub his belly for a couple minutes and then gently put him down next to computer.  He immediately decides to check out the dish of ice cream.  I distract him by rubbing his belly some more......  As soon as I stop he reaches up with his paw right into the dish!!!  Grabed it away from him just in the nick of time.  Little scamp!

OK back to doing something constructive, I guess.

73
 

[Robby P.]

Phillip....She gets mad if we go somewhere and men have suits everywhere, and womens are in pieces.   I guess its a woman thing. 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

 I got the rest of the poster board up. All the walls around the layout are now as blank as the mind of a total amnesiac. The next step will be to go back around and glue the seams down. I couldn't do that while I was putting the pieces up because I may have had to go back and shift one or two slightly. But I won't be doing it tonight. Maybe in a couple of days I'll be able to join the first two scenic panels together.

[blownout cylinder]

howmus

Hey Barry....  I sat down here to post, and eat my sundae and along comes Manét.  Just has to climb up in my arms, so I put the ice cream down, and let him climb up on my shoulder.  Of course after about a minute on my shoulder he flops down into my arms upside down.  His favorite position.  So I rub his belly for a couple minutes and then gently put him down next to computer.  He immediately decides to check out the dish of ice cream.  I distract him by rubbing his belly some more......  As soon as I stop he reaches up with his paw right into the dish!!!  Grabed it away from him just in the nick of time.  Little scamp!

OK back to doing something constructive, I guess.

Ray: 'Spring' kind of does the headbutt then he will glide along rubbing his side along you--then he will place his head between your mouth and whatever it is you are attempting to eat---that is why Audrey says he is a charmer ---- Actually--while i was trying to post he did just that and almoxnvsyy88

see what I mean?

[JimRCGMO]

Good Evening, Chloe - a cup of hot cocoa and an oatmeal raisin cookie, please. Thanks.

Cederstrand

***Jim, no luck finding a Tar trailer yet. Sounds like you enjoy making model building as challenging as possible. If I had to place windows inside after the fact, I'd leave them out make it an abandoned building. Good Luck with that!

 

Rob, I was thinking - there might be some small trackside instrument box that'd be close enough to just add an axle and wheels under it that would come close. That, or scratchbuild one, like DerJohn does (in iNvisible scale, no less. ). On the trailer park office windows, I won't spend too long on getting the windows in - I figure if the glue messes it up some, I can make it look like there's cobwebs around the window and they haven't cleaned the window in a while. Bear in mind, I'll be also assembling 3 trailer homes to go with this office, so can't have such a thriving business look abandoned. And speaking of that office, here are (with flash and without) some photos of the (unpainted) resin office.

Front:

and Back:

Todd - that Herpa trailer looks like a possibility, now - do they have it in HO scale? I think it was Rob's wife who wanted it. (Well, I need one for my roofing crew, too...) [Edit] I see that Rob already covered the scale thing. My bad.

Hey, Jeff - how long does the tropical storm party go until? I just heard about it, and I was gone to MRR club (photos tomorrow...), so missed the post about it until I saw Lee's comment! Hope you get things rolling on the backdrop. This afternoon I used some cloud stencils as a starting point for drawing my own ones on some poster board. We'll see how they work once I get them cut out, though... Hey, after looking at your A/C unit, I think we have the same one! Cool!

Chris, hope your firefighter buddy just wanted to go home and run it past his CFO, and will be calling you to haggle terms with checkbook in hand. Yeah, I used to get that glazed look on one return leg of a vacation (when I was married) - when part of one day (tooooo long...), I had to hang around the (get this) "Precious Moments Chapel and Mall." It's in Southwestern Missouri, and I could get you directions for your wife if you'd like. Definitely NOT a testosteron-laden environment!

Ryan - Ben's team name sounds like one that Disney made up - did they? Hope he has a lot of fun this year. How late into the fall do they play, if they're just starting now?

Robby, I'm sure that the thing about your wife's callback is one of those Murphy's Law-related things... Just don't go to the same store this time... And best wishes (and ) for things to go great for her with this one! Oh, , it's a woman thing. Hey, if you want us to kibbitz (comment, suggest, etc.) on your new layout addition plans, we'll be glad to help you out on that...

Ray and Barry, you guys are just making me sure that I don't want to get a cat anytime soon (no offense intended, of course, to any humans of felines...).

Went to MRR club meeting tonight, kinda smallish turnout, few people missing. I test ran my Shay around the layout (boy, it goes forever when the top speed your Shay is doing is about 18 scale mph!). Found out the thing can't quite pull 20 modern cars (60-foot boxcars and such), slipping too much, so I just put 5-6 cars and a caboose behind it and it handled those okay. Of course, on my layout, the Shay will mainly do the mine run with (MDC) ore cars, or the sawmill run (with shorty/skeleton logging cars), and I may try to find me a bobtail caboose, like one of those 2-axle kinds. Took some pictures of the layout (some progress on the structures being made), but they're still in the camera, so will upload those tomorrow to p-bucket account and post some.

When I came out to my car after the meeting, the rain was coming down fairly hard, and rained all the way over here, so you folks east of me, better put the pontoon dock out by the garage. The 6 p.m. weather guy was saying the temps were dropping on the other side of this front (from upper 80's F, to upper 60's/low 70's F).

Well, I'll head out with my cocoa; need to figure what I want vs. can afford to order from LHS owner/MRR club member this week (mostly smaller stuff), and get the order ready to send him in the morning. Tonight, I think I'm ready for sleep - stayed up till quarter of midnight last night.

Prayers for healing of toes, circulatory and other systems, and any other body parts, for job openings to come through, and for safe weather for all of you. Hope that one tropical storm that was heading north from the African coast doesn't make it to Ulrich's part of Germany. I'll see you Diners in the morning!

 

Blessings,

Jim in (kinda soggy) Cape Girardeau

[jeffrey-wimberly]

JimRCGMO

Hey, Jeff - how long does the tropical storm party go until? I just heard about it, and I was gone to MRR club (photos tomorrow...), so missed the post about it until I saw Lee's comment! Hope you get things rolling on the backdrop. This afternoon I used some cloud stencils as a starting point for drawing my own ones on some poster board. We'll see how they work once I get them cut out, though... Hey, after looking at your A/C unit, I think we have the same one! Cool!

Party ended 2 hours ago. The A/C unit is a 12,000 Btu Frigidaire.

[pcarrell]

Robby P.

Phillip....She gets mad if we go somewhere and men have suits everywhere, and womens are in pieces.   I guess its a woman thing.

Don't try and understand it.  There is no ryme or reason to it.  Just nod your head, smile, and in your nicest voice, say, "Yes Dear".  It helps if you use this face while saying it.

[LSWrr]

Good morning all, here are a few layout pictures. I need to add a few more details to these areas but I wanted to share my progress…..

Fox Creek

http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2788743320029441264Glkwbw?vhost=rides

http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2562347800029441264DjYHmt?vhost=rides

http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2949064040029441264kCcIIg?vhost=rides

http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2122286690029441264NWYVOw?vhost=rides

Ice Cream Truck on the edge of town

http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2298087520029441264KuFKcE?vhost=rides

http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2570914780029441264HwFEKc?vhost=rides

Bus Stop

http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2150667830029441264DsjOdB?vhost=rides

Himes Barber Shop and Bob’s News Stand

http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2264978750029441264HSAltX?vhost=rides

Harvey House and Sally’s Five & Dime and Alice’s Bakery

http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2812569720029441264PYffua?vhost=rides

City news

http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2575471250029441264unkQqD?vhost=rides

Finally some of the same pictures in B&W and if you keep hitting next you’ll see more.

http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2452682930029441264PHruAa?vhost=rides

 

 

[LSWrr]

Jeff, Is that poster board or that Styrofoam project board?  It looks really good so far.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

LSWrr

Jeff, Is that poster board or that Styrofoam project board?  It looks really good so far.

Poster board. The way you see it is the exact color it was when I bought it at Wal-Mart. The color looks to be almost a match for the sky in the scenic backdrop scenes I got from Busch.

 

 

Good morning.

It's 74 and clear. The high will be around 90 and there's a chance of rain.

Got the poster board backing for the backdrop up yesterday, 14 sheets in all. Today I'll be gluing down the seams. That's somewhat slower and requires patience, not exactly something I'm known for. I'll also be looking at the Detail Associates modular scenes and see how I can incorporate them into the main backdrop scene which will trees and woods. The structure scenes in the DA stuff are rural and will fit in with the layout scenery which is small industry in a rural setting but somewhat pushed together due to available space.

Today's Weather for:
Sundown, LA  71446-6114      8/18/2009

Heat Index:  79°F
Humidity:  99%
Dew Point:  74°F

So Far Today
High:  76°F
Low:  74°F
Rain:  0.01"
Rain Rate:  0.00"/h
Gust:  5mph SE

Tuesday  High: 92 with a heat index of 106.   Mostly cloudy with a 50 percent chance of scattered showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the lower 90s. Southeast winds 5 to 10 mph.

Tuesday Night  Low: 75    Mostly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms in the evening...then partly cloudy after midnight. Lows in the mid 70s. Southeast winds around 5 mph.

[blownout cylinder]

Good Morning

'Spring' is all curled up between my arms so I'm back to one finger hunt and peck mode here. The current temperature is 22C with humidity at 96%. The high for today will be 28C while tonights low, under clear skies will be 13C. Dull and showery for this morning and sunny with cloudy periiods for this afternoon. We have a chance of a t'underin'boomer as well.

I've got some blue stuff to take over to Eric's house to build up the foundation of that bridge---at least I think it'll be sufficient but--- The bridge jigs are getting built up as I type this--I'm assuming that it'll need at least 6 different heights considering all the various levels--bench/terraces--involved. I'm also working on my Macro mode for the camera---I'm not all that great when it comes to close in work--but I's be getting there!

Flo, I'll have an egg on a muffin and a coffee please----I'll be at the corner booth with the foot still up

[TMarsh]

Robby P.

She gets mad if we go somewhere and men have suits everywhere, and womens are in pieces.

Oh......my.......gosh!!!! Quick, keep her happy! Don't lose her! Forget about the bathroom, this gals a keeper! I can't believe a woman would rather buy a package deal than shop around for "just the right combination" Oh I need to sit down.

 

[blownout cylinder]

TMarsh

Robby P.

She gets mad if we go somewhere and men have suits everywhere, and womens are in pieces.

Oh......my.......gosh!!!! Quick, keep her happy! Don't lose her! Forget about the bathroom, this gals a keeper! I can't believe a woman would rather buy a package deal than shop around for "just the right combination" Oh I need to sit down.

 

Yep. Audrey is the same --- would rather get the complete package than go running around trying every dang thing on!!

[Robby P.]

 Good morning.  It was a long night at work.  Might try to lay down now, instead of the afternoon.

 I gotta finish up a MKT "Katy" 2-bay hopper today.  Of course I will get some shots of it on here.  Not much planned other than that.  

 Jim.....I will try to post a track plan tonight, and see what everybody thinks.  

 Barry.....You had a cat between your arms, I have a 25lbs cat trying to eat my breakfast .

 Phillip.....Thats only a face a mother could love  .

 I will be back in later today.

[TMarsh]

Good morning one and all. High today 81F partly cloudy and a 20% chance of getting wet. Tonight, 30% chance of some T-Boomers. Ducked a storm last night/early eve/late afternoon. About 4 I heard of a severe T-storm heading this way and shut communications with the outside world down. Then went to work after it petered out and passed.

Rob and Jim- The scale is 1:87. I don't know what that N means in the scale box, (new maybe? I poked around in the sight a bit and found various letters in the box with 1:87 as the scale. Don‘t know) I got the hit on google from a military modeling site and they said HO scale but offered no pictures and said the thing would be available in last half of 2009. So it may have something to do with availabiliy. Just a guess. If you save the brand and the stock number it should be easier to locate or order at a HS or on line, but it is HO. That's a good idea Jim, I've seen oil/tar tanks that are just round or square tanks bolted to tandem axle utility trailers pulled behind pickup trucks. That would be another thing about using the water buffalo. If you had it setting by itself or hooked to a larger truck it would probably look fine, but if you had it hooked to a pickup it would look kind oversized because of the wheel size. They use 9.00X20 tires or about the size of a grain trucks' or smaller dump trucks'.

Oh and Jim- I see what you mean on the NMRA gage. The part on checking turnouts is a bit confusing. I think what you understand is what I do, so I'll re watch the video and see if I can make sense of it and hopefully send some photos and explanations. Hopefully.

Lee- layout looks wonderful. Boy the B&W photos of downtown sure change the appearance don't they looks like a photo taken 50 years ago.

Barry- YOU TOO!! Oh I really have to sit down. Brenda's not that awful bad, she will by a "pre-assembled outfit" when she does buy something like that but sometimes she'll not like the choices. Then the hunt is on and I pull up some floor space. I used to set down in the store isles when it was taking a while, she wouldn't be so very happy about it, but one can only stand for so long. Now, since the floor is farther away than it used to be and getting back up is more of a chore requiring a hand hold of some sort many times and is a lot noisier than it used to be ( some people probably think they stepped on something and cracked it ), she doesn't have to worry about it. Maybe I'll just get one of them rolling walker chairs.

Well kinda dreary out so I guess I'll find something to do on the layout until I have to stock the groceries at the restaurant.

Have a Great Day!!!!

[Cox 47]

Good morning...Its partly cloudy and 71 here with high humidity and good chance of t-storms...I'll have a diet coke with lots of ice please..thank You..I am getting one of my old cornets out this morning and cleaning it and airing the case out....Tootie my Grand Daughter wants to play it Kinda hate to get rid of it but I havn't played in years and Makes me proud she wants to play like Papa..havn't done much on railroad it one of those rare times that I don't have a project on work bench...you all have a good one...Jerry

[blownout cylinder]

Robby P.

 Barry.....You had a cat between your arms, I have a 25lbs cat trying to eat my breakfast .

"Spring" will do that too!! LOL! He'll station himself right between the food item he sees as good and then he'll try to paw the item towards himself----if that fails he'll place himself between you and the item--everytime I get the fork near my mouth--he snatches it and runs-----

[howmus]

Mornin' .... er.... Afternoon folks!

Been busy doing some odds and ends around here an never did get in for my morning coffee.  Zoe, nothing for me right now, had a big breakfast about an hour ago.

blownout cylinder

He'll station himself right between the food item he sees as good and then he'll try to paw the item towards himself----if that fails he'll place himself between you and the item

Blackie is the one around here that tries that stuff!  He likes to climb up on the table and sit down right on the newspaper crossword puzzle I am doing, and then gradually sniff my food.  If I look away at all, he will have his nose right on the plate.   He gets scolded and taken off the table.  He comes right back up.....  Ah, the fun of harboring kitty cats.  Blackie is the one who jumps up on the keyboard here, licks my nose, then looks at me with the, "Daddy, did you forget that it is now lunchtime/snack time/ time to play (pick one)" and will not give up.

Hope you are all having a great day!

73 

[Robby P.]

 Well I finished up the "Katy" hopper.  Hopefully it will sell.  My plan is to sell a car for about $50+, and turn around and order three more cars for $50 (boxcars, hoppers, etc).  When one sells, do it over again.  Put some money towards taxes, the layout, and more cars.   Well that's my plan for now .

 I will probably slow down if they stop selling, but for now they are on "the bay" for a day or so.  Then gone!!!

 Before:

 After:

 

 

 

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

 That hopper looks great. Wouldn't mind having some of your work myself.