Elliot's Trackside Diner 26

[Robby P.]

Vincent......I agree on the lower end car, but that car is a Ready to Roll series car.   Unless they know something we don't (paint scheme wise).

[Packer]

Afternoon ya'll.

Could I possibly get one of these in the dinner?

I tried airbrush weathering. The first 2 cars came out okay, but maybe a little heavy for my taste and with some "spottyness" to the paint (later attributed to low air pressure). So I thinned the paint out some more, but I guess I thinned the paint too much for the last few since it was really runny. At least I was using acrylic (testors model master) so I might be able to save the other few cars. Maybe using a clear color in the mix might help to kind of slow the effect down some.

Ray, I know what you mean. College books are one thing that nearly had my eyes pop out (I later found them online for about 15% of the price).

Robby, thanks for that link. Knowing athearn, getting paint schemes down might not be their biggest priority in the lower end lines.

[AmanaMedic]

Packer

How'd you come up with the Protec hopper from an athearn PS? Those make good projects if I pick up a few undec or duplicate ones.

I found it years ago in RMC or MR. It called for decals (nearly impossible to find now) by Islington Station. I built my first two or three years ago, but couldn't find the decals. Out of stock, out of business. Microscale has 'em now (XTRA and FMC Chemicals set)...so I built a second one too. It's not an overly difficult conversion. A strip of styrene is added along the top of the sides, the ladders on the sides are chopped with an angled piece added. The brake pipe is cut off the bottom of the side. The end ladders are narrowed. Worst part was piecing the hacked-up ends back together, and making the new...end sills?, whatever the piece is THAT goes from the main car body to the ladders.

They'll make a nice break from the norm when I finally start moving cuts of hoppers around. As more and more foobie Athearns get replaced with Intermountain hoppers...more Portecs may be built...or is THAT rebuilt??

I'll see if I can find where the article went. It could be a) back in the freight cars binder where it belongs..., b) somewhere in/on/around/under the w**k table, or c) only God knows where.

As for ROBBY P's BN hopper...I've never seen one like THAT...kept thinking "something's missing." But, since it's Athearn, why...it MUST be 100% accurate...right??? 

 

Took Rerun with me today, he played co-pilot as I made a whirlwind tour of the Clear Creek Amana school district, shooting buildings for THAT.  We even made a stop at Dairy Queen in Mt. Vernon for ice cream. He's very happily napping currently.

Welp, back to w**k...

Chris

***EDIT*** Looks like Rerun and I have got the supper tab. I'll go wake him up so he can schlep orders to the kitchen crew. Unlike THAT missing raccoon...Rerun will NOT deliver the meals however...

[howmus]

Afternoon folks!

Flo I need one of those RBFs to tide me over to dinner.

Robby P.

Ray......First your toe, and now a visit to the dentist.  Seems like your week is starting bad.

 

Well the dentist at least was painless until the receptionist handed me the bill.....

Robby, nice hopper there.  

Paul good to see you sir.  

I'm just waiting to hear from the LHS if some stuff came in THAT I need for the Engine House.  I am now at a standstill until I have the materials.  Right now i am sitting at the computer printing off scholarship forms to take over to the Guidance Offuce at the High School.

The white stuff has been melting quite a bit today. It was 49°F here a while ago.  A couple more days the lawns will all be a brownish green color.  Tulips, daffodils, and other bulbs are already peeking through the ground.....  Ah geesh!  THAT means it won't be long before I have to get the lawn mower out......  Haven't accomplished half on the layout this Winter as I had hoped to.

Oh!  Ulrich, congrats on odering the loco!  Sweet!

Later!

73

[Paul W. Beverung]

Greatings from soggy north-central Texas. I got the road grader out the other day and graded the road down to the corrals from the house so I'd have a smooth surface for the trancher to dig the trench for the water line. Of course it's been raining since then. It's supposed to stop tomorrow and then rain again starting Wednesday.

Maybe I'll be able to take some rain time and work on the MRR. That sure would be nice and I wouldn't have to feel guilty about not working on the ranch.

That said I need to get busy on some office work. Oh, Sorry for the four letter word there.

I'll see you all later.

Take care.

[Robby P.]

Vincent.....That hopper was just released by Athearn.  Not sure on the paint scheme thou.  http://www.railcarphotos.com/  had one hopper like this, but it was a hand painted logo.  

[Packer]

Hey ya'll

Jeff, I'm not sure how you would get rid of a person like that. Sounds like my mother though.

Robby, The hopper looks good. I've never seen that style of paint (without the "burlington northern" lettering, and the logo on the other end of the car from the marks) scheme though.  

Chris, How'd you come up with the Protec hopper from an athearn PS? Those make good projects if I pick up a few undec or duplicate ones. Any chance might know about the paint scheme on Robby's hopper?

[Robby P.]

LUNCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Todd......Looking good.    

 Ray......First your toe, and now a visit to the dentist.  Seems like your week is starting bad. 

 Here's a few shots of the BN hopper.  Not a rust bucket but it has some spillage, and body rust. 

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Sir Madog

I have a name for them - it´s "Voelkischer Beobachter" - after the leading Nazi newspaper!

An apt name, and very appropriate too depending on how you look at it. The National Observer or if you really don't take it seriously it can construed as a Folkish Observer. I find it surprising how many low foreheads on this side of the ocean hang on every word of the National Inquirer as if it's the gospel truth yet call the local news a trumped up set of acts that can't be trusted. I tell you, I sometimes think this world is heading for a massive section 8.

[howmus]

Mornin' everyone!

Zoe I'll have a nice bowl of oatmeal with brown sugar and a cup of dark roast to wash it down with. I'll be sitting at the Rivet Counter with the other guys.

Currently 43°F here in the Finger Lakes with a high around 44°F later.  Nice sunny day ad well.  Most of the white stuff should be gone by this evening.

So...........  Everybody seems to be grinning in expectation of something going on today? Oh, I see it's time to play, "Spot The Loony"!  I know! It's Jeff's neighbor..........

Jeffrey, I see you got an email from a friend.  One thing I like about the Mac email program is the little button you can push that says "Bounce".  Don't know if yours has it or not.  Probably can't be used with the forum as it would block you out.  It effectively says, "This is not a working email address" to the person who sent you the Spam.  I have used it with a couple people who I don't want to recieve the garbage they keep sending.  "Poof" they are gone!

Toe is no worse this morning, but I'm sure will be talking to me badly by this evening.  I have a dentist appointment early this afternoon, and need to run items over to the Hogh School and take information to a printer downtown.  The last 2 may not happen today.

Well I need to get limping around, get dressed, etc.  Hope I can get my sneakers on the left foot........

Later!

73

[Anonymous]

 Hi,

just little me again.

I found this fantastic British steam video on you tube - listen to the bloke´s comments! 

Jeff - you´ll find this type of person all over the world. It is the likes of him who make dictatorships work so efficiently. You´ll find them on the payrolls of the Stasi, Gestapo, KGB, Securitate, Tonton Macoute - you name them! I had hoped that, with the demise of the McCarthy era, they were extinct in the US of A - my error!

I have a name for them - it´s "Voelkischer Beobachter" - after the leading Nazi newspaper!

OK, Chloe, I don´t need the soapbox...

[Blazzin]

  "Coffee Please~"

   Mornin All~

  Todd,  wow.. now you're coming along~  Woot.. you gotta be feeling good.. like you've accomplished something.

  So thats the name?  Toddland?  I never gave my layout a name.  Hmm.. better give it some thought.

   Well since Mondays are Show and Tell.. I'm next.~

  If anyone remembers I was having a small problem with painted lines on streets.. especially Cobblestone.  For any kind of street for that matter. 

  If you actually take the time to click on the pic.. you might see the Yellow lines and white lines.. decal sheets.  Perfect for what I need.. and I don't want to ruin what I've done.. so decals seem to be my best shot.     MICROSCALE DECALS.

  At the bottom of the pic,  some plastic stairs.. railing.. structual railings.. and structural 'L' shape girders.. for trim and 'belly boards'

  As far as this last weekend.. well.. I had fun.

 

  I taped a flashlight  to the work table.. and the mold to the table.. and got this.

  As you can see .. I didn't have time to drink my coffee.

  Jeanne walks in.. and says.. "Looking good.  So thats the front of it?"

[jeffrey-wimberly]

TMarsh

Jeff- You have got to be kidding.

Nope. There are people out there who have nothing better to do than to sift through everything others say and throw pitchforks. I have a neighbor who's exactly the same way and he is actually surprised that so many people hate him. After all, all he does is read through everything they post and if he finds anything he thinks is even the least bit illegal he hands it over to the police who in turn look through it. It's always just a bunch of printouts of post entries that in themselves mean nothing. But to his suspicious mind it all means something, especially considering the fact that he stays cooped up all day surfing the net on another neighbors Wi-Fi because he's too dang cheap to get his own service. Or could it be so that someone tracking him can't get a lock on his location? The home he's in is in someone else's name, he has no car and won't have a credit card or account in his name because someone could use it to find him. Instead he uses cards from family members and friends so he can stay anonymous. As far as I'm concerned he's 5 cans short of a 6 pack. Oh and incidentally the police hardly ever take him seriously because he's such a pest. He even tried reporting me for not paying taxes. That's true, I didn't pay taxes this year or last year for that matter. That doesn't mean I didn't file.

[AmanaMedic]

 Good *yaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWwwwwwwwwwwwwwn* Mornin',

Bucket of coffee with an IV bolus please 'n thank-you.

TODD et. BARRY: I concur. Funny thing, I was expecting him, but not for a couple more weeks. I figured once we started exchanging Easter greetings would be "the grand return."

TODD: Good to see Toddland coming back to life! 

LEE: Wow...THAT's a "full, rich," weekend. Hope her recovery goes well, best wishes for all others around there.

 

Weather Speculationists blew it...again. Was supposedly supposed to be sunny today (cloudy with rain yesterday, cloudy with rain starting again tomorrow...today was the "good day."). Rerun and I are heading out later to photograph the various school buildings in the Clear Creek Amana district, for THAT. She wants all of 'em for our forthcoming 2010 North Liberty Community Guide. So...I'll have my co-pilot with me today Oh gee...now it's getting foggy too...THAT'll make for wonderful pics. May have to re-evaluate this.

Have a SAFE day everybody...

Chris

***EDIT***

ULRICH: Hey, THAT's great news (ordering the locomotive). Kit does the same thing sometimes when I'm agonizing over "should I order or shouldn't I?"...darn enablers!!!  Thanks for the very kind words on the pics too!

[Anonymous]

 Good Afternoon, Everyone.

It is a sunny afternoon here,  but still too cold for the season. Can´t remember a cold spell in winter lasting THAT long...

Zoe, I´ll have a coffee and some biscuits to munch on - oh, no - not the kind for pets, I mean cookies.

Boys - I did it. I have just ordered the "so cute" loco from a source in UK. Petra more or less commanded me to do so. I am already itchy - can´t wait for it to arrive.... I still need to figure out how to build the baseboard, errr, benchwork. I want it to be light weight but still strong. I cannot use  styrofoam as a base - that traverser needs a stronger construction. Time will tell...

Lee - I am sorry to hear about all the bad news you received over the last days! My  for all concerned!

Jeff - so you are getting love letters from a certain person? How nice of him . The bad thing about e-mails is you can´t return them to the sender...  Please don´t take those blackouts too lightly - I have an appointment set up for me to check on my blackout from last Friday.

Chris - THAT I call great pics - Yessir! 

Rob - never heard of putting hair spray on the finished scenery - I guess, THAT sticky stuff would just make the dust cling on much better.  If all your ground cover etc. is properly glued down, you don´t need hair spray to affix it.

 Have a good one!

[blownout cylinder]

TMarsh

Barry- Nah, whoever it is will probably get irked that Jeff chose to say something about the e-mail, as if he had no right, and make it sound like it's someone elses fault then publicly lambaste him and us for this and that. Some of us will look up from our coffee's and calmly say something to the effect of "nice to hear from you again" and the rest will ignore him. Oh there'll be a couple who miss the whole thing and come in to say, " gee did Vinnie have to throw someone out? There seems to be something missing" Then he will head out to the main yard and cruise the tracks for other posters he can set straight until he stops in again. No big deal.

Right said!

BTW---good progress on the layout

[Cederstrand]

Coffee in a  SOUTHERN  mug, please. 

***Todd, Nice progress there!

Not much sleep. Went ahead and got up to do the barn chores early. Waiting on wife to return from the hospital (work) so she can give me a hand with getting through some gates without any great critter escapes.

Speak of the devil...er, I mean BELOVED, there she is pulling in now.  Rob

[TMarsh]

Good morning all. Coffee and a sweet roll please.

Jeff- You have got to be kidding.

Lee- Glad Dorothy is doing well so far. Prayers for your Mother and my condolences to your friend and his family

Barry- Nah, whoever it is will probably get irked that Jeff chose to say something about the e-mail, as if he had no right, and make it sound like it's someone elses fault then publicly lambaste him and us for this and that. Some of us will look up from our coffee's and calmly say something to the effect of "nice to hear from you again" and the rest will ignore him. Oh there'll be a couple who miss the whole thing and come in to say, " gee did Vinnie have to throw someone out? There seems to be something missing" Then he will head out to the main yard and cruise the tracks for other posters he can set straight until he stops in again. No big deal.

OK SHOW-N-TELL Monday!!! Here's where I am on the layout progress.

The OSB is just setting on the near part of the bench. I want to get a feel for how things will be as I work on the peninsula. I may want to have easier access to the back for a little while until I need to move to that part. Then I'll have some track and the elevator to rough in to see if and where I can have an access. I'm feeling sur I will need one now that I see it with the plywo... OSB. I still have to do some bracing on the peninsula and some surface work before I can add the rest of the second tier. The middle back portion of the peninsula will be a lumber yard and the trailer park toward the back on the second level, with hills behind. EDIT: Oh and yes the baseboard trim will be replaced.

Church bookwork then more cleaning and dumpster filling at Mom's then work. No time for MRR today. Maybe.

Have a Great Day!!!

P.S. By the way, if it looks like I might miss something today (I might not make it back until late tonight), would someone copy and paste anything that may seem of value or interest and PM it to me.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

 Good morning. It's 50, dreary and overcast. To top things off it's cloudy. The high will be 60 and it will continue to be cloudy and dreary.

I'll be going to town later today to get some refills on several meds including more pain pills. I'll also go by the docs office so he can make an assessment of the pain I'm having. Other than that there's not much going on.

[Robby P.]

 Good morning.  Its starting to finally warm up.  Still got some snow on the ground thou.

 Well it's been a busy weekend for me.  Hopefully I can get some stuff done in the basement.   I have a BN hopper I need to finish up. 

 Jeff.....Hope the blackouts don't get to bad.  Might wanna make a appointment with the doc???

 Chris..... Good looking cars!

 Lee.......That was a rough weekend.   Hopefully it will get better.

 Barry...Don't talk about pot-holes.  PA is famous for them.  We have so many, the cops probably don't know who's drunk or dodging pot holes.   

[blownout cylinder]

Jeff: Ah---an e-mail papparazzi! oh well. Do anything and the guy will get all upset, the poor dear I agree with Chris in that they really don't have a life--

Good Morning--

Everything seems to be OK here---no bust pipes but boy do we have POTHOLES! Our street looks to have been chewed on by asphalt eating critters of some type.

We be getting up to 11C today---in the sunshine. This will melt some of the ding snow that still has our backyard buried in it---I checked the depth and we are now at 10" still---the only place I can see bare ground is beside the maple at the side of the house

I'll just have a coffee--yeah my type o' coffee----and a breakfast bagel please. I'll be at the RC

[LSWrr]

Good morning all,

Been a rough weekend; Friday took my girlfriend to the doctors to have her foot operated on.  They removed the bone spurs from in between her toes, removed the useless cartilage from around her big toe and installed compression staples to fuse the bones together.  They sent her home in a compression bandage with a pain pump.  She goes back today to have the pump and the compression bandage removed and a fiberglass cast installed.  She will be off her feet for a while.


Went to Detroit (Warren & Macomb TWP) to visit my kids, daughter belongs to a comedy club in college and they had a 2 hour benefit for a local family with a daughter who has some serious medical issues.


To top things off my mother was admitted to the hospital for a low iron count and a friend lost his brother on Friday morning.


I’ll be glad to go back to work in the morning so I can rest up.  All is well here believe it or not.


Thursday before any of this happened I ordered a new toy:  If you look in the front section of the new Walther’s sales flyer you’ll see the ad for the new F7 units, look on the next page and you’ll see the F3’s are on sale.  I bought a B&O F3 AB with DCC & Sound.

[AmanaMedic]

jeffrey-wimberly

Oh, and speaking of jokes, I was just laughing so hard at an email I got from a certain person on this forum who considers it his business to pry into my life.

Well JEFF, you know, some people just don't have a whole lot to do...especially when they're probably sitting around in their underwear, at the computer, in their mommy's basement!!! Since they don't have a life, they settle for sticking their nose in somebody else's. THAT and I'll betcha Mommy blocked all the "good sites" from his computer and he's mad at the world because of it.

Glad you aren't letting the twit get to you!

Good night everybody... gotta be up early to play newspaper again in the mornin'...

Chris

 

 

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

blownout cylinder

Jeff: I be wanting to find out why I be getting blackouts---they be no fun at all Hope you get that looked after-----

It's due to nerve damage suffered when I was a child and is being aggravated by my diabetes.

Oh, and speaking of jokes, I was just laughing so hard at an email I got from a certain person on this forum who considers it his business to pry into my life. He says something illegal is going on if my sister got me some oxycodone. Let's see, a physicians assistant talks to her boss, obviously a physician, who talks to one of my physicians who then talks to me about the pain problem I'm having and gets me a 2 day supply to last me until he can see me. I see nothing illegal here. Yeah, it requires jumping through a few hoops but I can get an emergency supply if I need it anytime 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I was laughing so hard I could hardly breath. I'm going to show that to my parents tomorrow. They need a good hearty laugh!

[TMarsh]

Got the trainroom where at least I can walk and work somewhat easily around the layout and I have a picture ready for Show-N-Tell Monday.

I like my coffee in a mug. I can perty much drink it anyway it's served. Like tea or mud, I'll drink it.

Prayers for those in pain, healing and in general need (including black outs).  

[blownout cylinder]

Jeff, Chris: Yep on that coffee! THAT is REAL coffee! Not this pansie-a----ed Starbuckian dishwater that tries to imitate coffee.

Audrey and I went to our favourite Tim Horton's coffee place just down the road from here---it was a nice ice puddle free walk this time---supposed to be like this until Wednesday now----then we'll get some showers--

Ray: A co worker uses a box in bed to protect his foot from the sheets---no fun at all-- Hope you get well----

Jeff: I be wanting to find out why I be getting blackouts---they be no fun at all Hope you get that looked after-----

'Spring' is running around the house--on top of cupboards, into the yucca bush, into the garden house, on top of bookcases---all filled with piculous energy tonight--- Then he comes up here and bashes my head---he is a big headbutter this one

[AmanaMedic]

 JEFF: Your coffee descriptions reminds me of the ONE time I was assigned to make coffee for the Central City Fire Dept.'s pancake breakfast. My Chief took a swig, then promptly dumped half the coffee maker's contents into the sink, replacing the discarded amount with water. "You'll put hair on the little old ladies' chests!" He hollered.

Tasted pretty doggone good to me...

After THAT, I went back to cracking eggs. 

I got a buddy who is a career firefighter for Cedar Rapids.  He specializes in making coffee which comes with it's own MSDS. He allegedly brews-up a coffee concoction he calls "syrup coffee." Again, allegedly (I haven't had the pleasure (??) of trying this stuff), he whips up a really thick, drips slowly off the spoon kinda brew.

jeffrey-wimberly

Other than a black-out earlier today I'm doing well.

Man, you worry me some days...but only the ones THAT end with a "y."

Chris

***EDIT****

ROB: Thanks! On the layout I built back in high schoooooooooooooool, in my parents' basement, I used hair spray on completed scenery. Don't know if it did any good or not, don't know if it made any difference or not. Seems I read it somewhere, probably in RMC. When I dismantled the  disaster area a few years ago, a lot of the ground foam/ground goop/lichen/etc., and who-knows-what all came up in large...sheets; like a dryer filter full of lint. 

RAY: Good luck with THAT gout...does NOT sound pleasant.

[Cederstrand]

Decaf coffee in a UNION PACIFIC mug, please. 

***Chris, neat weathered cars there.

***Jeffrey, I'd take your Doc's Coffee challenge (Tae Kwon Do & Shorin Ryu Karate), but these days I'm a shell of my old self and just not up to that much caffiene. I rather like Elliot's here anyway, as long as it's fresh. BTW, I haven't blacked out yet, but a few times daily I feel close to it. Sometimes if I stand very quickly, I have to bend in half with elbows on knees and concentrate. The legs get tingly and vision starts to go funny. I can't predict when it will hit and fortunately it passes pretty quickly. (result of the treatment I'm following) Sure hope you didn't hit anything when you blacked out, Jeffrey.

Made some progress on the wife's layout tonight, around the farm & the church. Went a little better than the other night. Question: When you finish an area of scenery, do you spray it with something, like hair spray or what? I used the 50/50 elmers & water, mixed with some paint as a base upon which WS stuff was sprinkled, and some fine baked dirt.

Sometimes looking only at the wife's layout and all that needs to be done, it is overwhelming. Whew!

Rob 

[howmus]

 Evenon' folks!

Zoe just a cup of decafe for me tonight.  Still stuffed from the Birthday Party for my little sweetypie.  I'll go sit in the back booth by the stove to get warm.

"We're havin' a heatwave, Tropical Heatwave....."  Hey got all the way up to 46°F today under full and gloriuos sunshine here in the Finger Lakes!  Highest temperature this year around here.  Sn*w is just about gone for the moment.

Well the whole famdamally was there for the party.  All of the cousins in the new generation, all 6 of them were there.  Yep, six beautiful little girls... Not a boy yet in the bunch!  They had a great time playing.  They range from 9 months to 5 years old and are great little kids.  Sure hope they stay THAT way!  Photos will be coming soon so I can brag a bit!

My son's new furniture finally arrived yesterday morning before the party for their friends. Sure helped to have a bunch more seats for folks.  They actually bought one large couch and two small (2 seat) couches so they have seating just with them for 8 people.

My big toe ached all day but was bearable until i got home tonight.  Right now even after taking an advil (only thing the Doc wants me to use) it is really throbbing.  Gout ain't fun!  Hopefully this time i can get it calmed down sooner than the last time which was about 3 weeks.  I haven't eaten anything which should have brought it on so I really think this is due to the combination of meds the Doc has me on.... 

Jeffrey, another black-out today?  Not good sir!  Take care of your self!  Sounds like your foot doctor knows how to make gooooooood coffee!  THAT is the way I like it!  None of THAT woosey stuff.....  (Chocolate carmel, fudge, vanilla cream latte with whipped cream...... )

Have a good one!

Later!

73

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Other than a black-out earlier today I'm doing well. I notice the coffee here is a bit strong. I need to bring in my foot docs coffee. Barry would love it! The cups are marked 'Use at own risk' and are Kevlar lined. The spoons are case hardened steel. By the time he's ready to see you your eyelids are cranked wide open, your blood pressure is 100 over 175, your temp is 102 and that's just from sniffing the coffee. The coffee itself has been around and is a martial arts black belt fighter and will whip you like a step child if you actually drink it. On the other hand, the coffee at one my other doctors office is so weak it can't even reach up to the full line at the top of the cup and has put in for disability and SSI.