Running Bear's August 2021 Coffee Shop

[DakotaLove39]

Well, guys. As I leave the northern club, the Newport, MN club invited me to visit tomorrow night. This is one I'm interested in joining, so maybe we can solidify that tomorrow. It's not super huge like North Metro, but it's closer, dues are cheaper, and the layout jives with my modeling interests a bit more. It has a very 1960's rural southern MN/Northern Iowa kind of feel.

Plus they have a Milwaukee Road switch tower right outside.

 

[CambriaArea51]

Good morning....Half day today at work, I feel the sunny day sickness coming on.
Coffee Flo and a donut.

 

[kbkchooch]

Good morning gang .
Playing hooky from work again today. Put Mrs on a plane yesterday with her other sister to go to N.C. to visit a 3rd sister who is having some "issues" with an ex boyfried, a teenage daughter, and a bottle.
I stayed home with son #4 and the dogs. It's safer. When they all get together its like "Hocus Pocus" meets the "Witches of Eastwick" ! All this take place a few miles fom my oldest sisters house.
It's not all fun and games for me. I've got some rooms to paint and a lawn to mow before she gets back Sunday evening.
BBL

 

[troyphoto]

Well, howdy there internet MRR peeps

It's Troy again

Today we're going to talk about another investment in my hobbies.

You might recall that I recently plunged into the world of 3D Resin printing.

Well, I pulled a muscle in my back trying to get a countertop out of a friend's SUV. Back re-twinged yesterday, so I spent the day with the heating pad. However, the reason I wanted to get that countertop was to make a home for this bad boy:

That's an entry level $180 USD on Amazon 3 D Filament printer

We're almost 12 hours into a print job. That's a 1:56 scale "Normandy" house for a WWII infantry based game.

Here's some detail:

Got about 3+ hours to go just on the building. Then another 10 hours to do the roof in a separate print.

I can down the quality of the print some and print this faster. I wanted to try top quality first. Started this before I went to bed.

If you're thinking about 3D printing, ask yourself the primary purpose. If it's for MRR, structures? Or people?

For People or small details on a HO or smaller scale layout, I'd go with Resin.

For structures (bridges, buildings, larger vehicles) go with Filament like the new one above.

Filament printers (Like my Elegoo Neptune) is cheaper, and you're not dealing with toxic stuff.
Working with Resin, you need nitrile gloves (something better than just vinyl gloves), an alcohol based wash station, and safety goggles for prying the supports off the model. And ventilation. I'm going to have a vent fan added to the basement. It's not a bad smell, but it's not great. And Isopropyl Alcohol (or other cleaners for the resin) are stinky and may have flammable vapors

Software comes with, or is cheap. (One of my slicer programs has a $36/year license fee, the others are free)

There is a learning curve.
You will have failed prints.

Resin has more disposable parts to the printer that need to be swapped out. Mine are new enough that I haven't had to yet.

The other hidden expense is purchasing the files to print. Thingiverse.com is one source. Searching on https://www.yeggi.com/ is another way to find some. However, many of the folks who digitally sculpt people figures and make the files available would like to be paid for their efforts/art.

I've not done a deep dive into human figures that would work on a MRR, yet. But I will.

These printers will start working on the layout this winter, once I get the new southern end of it figured out.

 

[CHRlSTIAN]

Looks like a good old 4'x6' to me.

Don't know. In UK it's 4'x6" but in USA it seems to be 4'x8'.
What Size Does Plywood Come In?

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning Everybody. It's partly cloudy and 77°, rather muggy at 79% humidity and no real wind. Weather forecast shows a slow return to normal August temperatures and no rain. Had to sleep with the A/C on last night after about a week of open windows. Ended up with 0.74" in the rain gauge yesterday morning, giving us close to 6" for the month, three times the average. For the most part, it will just green up the grass, and only the weeds will grow. Still means some mowing soon.
Grocery trek went OK yesterday. Other than beer, prices are going up on everything, especially meat and fresh veggies. A few more mask wearers than last week, maybe 4%. I'm going to a family event Sunday to see a first cousin who still lives in Brooklyn. She's from Mom's side of the family and I haven't seen her in 40 years. She last was here in 1981 and helped us move into our current home. I have 27 first cousins

Thanks for the likes yesterday regarding the progress on the dry goods store; Gary, Sherrel, Christian, Guy, Tom O, Garry, Steve J, Patrick, Chad, James, Rick, Hughie, Tom, Karl.

Maybe just a Bear Claw and OJ this morning Flo. We ate at our favorite local Italian restaurant last night and I am still stuffed.

Out in the train shed yesterday, I tried my first venture into making clouds on the backdrop. Remember that I bought some stencils last week, but ran out of white primer which is the recommended paint to use. I bought the paint yesterday as Hobby Lobby had all Krylon paint available at 30% off, thus making it cheaper than Walmart. Here's the first result, I actually took four pictures, all crappy, and this is the best.

Today I will turn it upside down and try another spot. It's a two piece stencil and its adjustable and has three others that you can mix and match. This is not the full stencil either, so many variations are possible.
Meanwhile, here are a couple of pictures of the completed dry goods store that will be going with similar themed structures soon.

Gary - Congratulations are in order for paying off your mortgage. I remember the party when we paid off ours in 1995, but the money soon went for paying for three kids in college, two in private schools the third for a masters degree. Upside is that none of them have come back home to live, or needed financial help from us since then.
Jaz - Politically Correct??? Count me out. The only time that I am politically correct is when I vote. In our last election in November, I voted for 23 out of 24 winners. Is that politically correct?
Guy - Nice picture of the snow plow and pilot details on that CN engine. Better hope that no one is reviewing the dashboard camera footage from that engine!
Tom -

Half day today at work,

I guess that you're no longer on that four-day work week.

Everybody have a great Friday.

 

[TLOC]

Good morning from the state of Wisconsin. It is muggy, damp and only 70f degrees. Heading to a humid 89. Except for a few chirping birds it’s very quiet outside.

We have a person coming up to look at buying some of the firewood that the crews have been making this past Spring and now Summer. We had never planned to sell firewood but with all the downed trees the past couple years and the terrible storm damage from this year why not.

I am not sure I even want to go in the train room today. I was in there yesterday morning for a couple hours, then from 2-7pm before dinner. If the CV tie strips don‘t arrive today or tomorrow I think I will go with code 83 flex from ME. The current part of the layout is code 70 but will be considered a branch line when the expansion is complete. This new portion will have some run through unit trains and the heavier rail is understandably needed.

My Super Tree dilemma has been solved. I sold them in a local group chat yesterday. The guy came over yesterday and asked if I would sell him some of my wire armature trees. Maybe at a later date. Enjoy the day

TomO

 

[JazzDad]

If you're thinking about 3D printing ...

I had a friend who bought a pickup truck. The first thing he did was to buy a cap. He explained, "When you have a pickup, everyone will be asking you to haul manure. With a cap, I can politely turn them down."

Now that you have a 3D printer, I have this file...

 

[McLeod]

Good Morning!
Beautiful end-of-summer days happening. 46F with little to no rain; mostly blue skies and sunshine. My favorite time of year!

Painting the rich ladies bedroom yesterday has turned into paint the entire upper interior floor of her upper-class house. I don't mind; I'll make a few grand.

Guy - Nice picture of the snow plow and pilot details on that CN engine. Better hope that no one is reviewing the dashboard camera footage from that engine!

Willie - I really don't care if they put me on the 6:00 news and make me one of the ten most wanted. I'm not there to damage, vandalize, or steal any of the stuff I get close to or photograph, and that should be obvious in any footage they might be viewing. I just want a few photos. - And if they do give me some notoriety, it might just make my photos worth something.
I think this is the camera, but, I'm not sure:

Bye-the-way, Willie, that is a great looking Dry-Goods store, and built with lightning speed.

Troy - Wonderful that you have a 3-D printer. I'm looking forward to seeing what you produce with this machine.

TomO - I'm not sure there are enough hockey games on TV to give you the time to develop a profitable tree making business, but, it's nice to know the public is interested.

I have to get a move-on. The paint is calling. So here's one more photo from the other day:

And here's a photo of the type of hoppers that engine was pushing. The SG logo is Standard General:

Thanks for the likes and comments on my posts!
Have a good one!!

 

[troyphoto]

Out in the train shed yesterday, I tried my first venture into making clouds on the backdrop. Remember that I bought some stencils last week, but ran out of white primer which is the recommended paint to use. I bought the paint yesterday as Hobby Lobby had all Krylon paint available at 30% off, thus making it cheaper than Walmart. Here's the first result, I actually took four pictures, all crappy, and this is the best.
View attachment 131385
Today I will turn it upside down and try another spot. It's a two piece stencil and its adjustable and has three others that you can mix and match. This is not the full stencil either, so many variations are possible.
Meanwhile, here are a couple of pictures of the completed dry goods store that will be going with similar themed structures soon.

Willie: If you're using rattle can or airbrush, hold the stencil out about an inch or two from the backdrop and spray through that. It will soften the edges.

Or trace the stencil onto scrap cardboard, cut the shape(s) out and you can spray through several without gunking up the original stencil

 

[Patrick]

Morning all,

Late start as I need to work later today...oh joy!
Then I get called in to fix a problem at on of our buildings on the way in.

Was bidding on some train stuff at one of my auction sites, and as always, others wanted to pay more than I felt the stuff was worth. I exceeded my budget by 25% and still lost out. For some reason the site also thinks Tyco cars are worth a ton on the buy it now side. I think they along with Life-Like need a lot of work to be decent cars. Yes I have a bunch of those I picked up last year as well.

 

[troyphoto]

I had a friend who bought a pickup truck. The first thing he did was to buy a cap. He explained, "When you have a pickup, everyone will be asking you to haul manure. With a cap, I can politely turn them down."

Now that you have a 3D printer, I have this file...

I was one of those guys (both with a cap on the pickup and asking others to print) Fortunately, the Ender-3 clones are cheap enough - and filament down to $9/kilo (one spool) that I can volunteer to help get them setup and do it themselves.

Seriously: for Filament printing - budget $300 to begin your journey (might be $350) - For resin, you are looking at $600 to get started.

Another thing to consider is that the better suppliers of 3d printed parts are located north of the border with the US. So shipping of a $10 part more than doubles the cost. Anymore, in the US, postage is getting close to that price.

Told the wife it may take a couple of years for each printer, but I'll make the money back just in upcharge and shipping costs.

Now to find that N-scale hummingbird STL file...

In the meantime, here's how to 3d print chainmail...

 

[CHRlSTIAN]

Hello Happy Modelers !
What is the length of the Bachmann Spectrum GE Dash 8-40CW Conrail ? More than 10" I guess. Thanks.

 

[santafewillie]

Since the real thing is 70' 8", that would make it 9.75" in HO. I think that's 24.76 cm in metric.

 

[TLOC]

Good morning again. The sun is bathing the south deck so I went north. 84 now and a 2mph wind which dones nothing for comfort.

guy, to make a profit on trees unless I charge $7-8 per tree no way and maybe not then either. I do have a tree making process that I can produce trees fairly quickly but to charge for the time to produce them they become priceless. I have made trees for myself and maybe have sold the extras but not really at a profit.

the most time consuming for me is forming the branches and then using the rubber mold compound to give the wires so heft. The above picture contains all wire trees including the ground fall branches, logs and stumps. I have experimented with Woodland Scenics plastic tree armatures but as with Super Trees the trunks are too thin and the tree too short.

the above picture. Is where someone could make money on trees. Creating the “dead season” that is where the ground is no longer green, the trees have lost most of the leaves and in Wisconsin is usually the 1st week in November before the snow sticks. My version was a failure as I did not add enough molding compound to the trunk of the tree. But was a fun experiment

I make batches of 100 trees. The wire is wrapped around various sized boards to create the wire amounts for the tree height I am making. Roughly 50pieces are 36’-40’ tall, 30pcs. 45’-50’ and the balance of 20 are taller. I create all the armatures before anything else. Once those are twisted for the trunks then the slow process of tree branches begins. It sounds tedious but during uninteresting (non BlackHawk) hockey games I can twist out the whole batch. During games of interest I will do them during intermissions and maybe get 30 total.

So nope, no way to make a profit selling trees
TomO

 

[CHRlSTIAN]

Since the real thing is 70' 8", that would make it 9.75" in HO. I think that's 24.76 cm in metric.

Many thanks for your help Willie. I really appreciate that. It's a very big diesel.
I hope it can run on 20" curves. Bachmann writes this: "Performs best on 22" radius curves or greater"

 

[CHRlSTIAN]

 

[PRR Modeler]

Afternoon All,

Started out going to Dad's for a few minutes to drop a shower chair off then went to BJ's with the wife. After lunch I ballasted approximately 9 ft. of track (3 tracks for 3 ft.). Tomorrow and Sunday I will be at Dad's. Sunday the local family is going to remove some furniture that they want (every bit helps).

Dakota- It looks like a nice layout.

Troy- Hope your back feels better soon. Impressive machine.

Willie- Nice looking building and cloud.

TomO- Nice looking photo.

Guy- Nice photos.

I hope everyone has a good night.

 

[CambriaArea51]

I guess that you're no longer on that four-day work week.

On till labor day. I swapped days off earlier in the week.

 

[Texas Hobo]

Good Afternoon all! Hot and humid, but then again it is August and this is Houston. Did manage to mow yesterday, then just a few odds and ends today to finish up.
I was thinking about one of those dirty water hot dogs with sauerkraut, the kind you could get from a cart on a street corner in NYC.

Well I pretty much finished Mooney's Plumbing Emporium. There are a few minor details that need to be added. I added it to Bar Mills Row, but I'm not sure this is it's final resting place.

Willie - For your clouds, you might consider starting with a light gray and then using white for highlights. The white would tend to be toward the top used to indicate cloud cells. You definitely want to soften the edges.

STAY SAFE

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