MikeInHubCity
Living the life in the heart of the Dairy State
Willie- you sound like me. I have 30 or 31 first cousins. We’re spread from NJ-FL & as far west as MO.
Running Bear's August 2021 Coffee Shop
- Thread starter bnsf971
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Boris
Beach Bum
Good evening. Here we go again
Watching for Henri the cyclone who is barrelling up the coast. Of course, the media is at there hysterical best, while the NWS doesn't seem to agree on anything, except the possibility of Tropical Storm Weather Saturday Night through Monday morning. Most likely to be affected is central Long Island and Connecticut. My son and family are planning on driving down Sunday, unless this actually materializes.
Spent much of the day helping with the house cleaning. I watched some of the Nationals at Milwaukee game, Washington ahead 3 - 1 top of 9th., I was surprised to see so few people in the stands wearing masks. Whatever floats their boat, eh?
Not much else going on today...
Another view of the NYS&W SW9 running light to Cranford for the Interchange traffic for SI. Better view of the photographers Mustang
Watching for Henri the cyclone who is barrelling up the coast. Of course, the media is at there hysterical best, while the NWS doesn't seem to agree on anything, except the possibility of Tropical Storm Weather Saturday Night through Monday morning. Most likely to be affected is central Long Island and Connecticut. My son and family are planning on driving down Sunday, unless this actually materializes.
Spent much of the day helping with the house cleaning. I watched some of the Nationals at Milwaukee game, Washington ahead 3 - 1 top of 9th., I was surprised to see so few people in the stands wearing masks. Whatever floats their boat, eh?
Not much else going on today...
Another view of the NYS&W SW9 running light to Cranford for the Interchange traffic for SI. Better view of the photographers Mustang
DakotaLove39
Always Improvising
Tom, interesting to read this comment tonight. I was chatting with a fellow clubber a week ago about HO scale tree models. He and I are both working on modules, and he also has a switching shelf layout in progress. He wants to do a high railroad crossover on his module (dead track on a bridge above the actual "main" so to speak), and was talking about how he wants really tall trees to match. As he said, we seem to struggle to meet realistic tree height in scale model, as the trees around club even are 50-60feet tall, whereas most of the modeled trees we see are 30-40ft.
Anyway gents, right now I have the Twin Cities trifecta of HO scale clubs. The Newport club layout is super cool! I made the lengthy journey from staging in the basement to the very top level of the layout and around again. Love it! What the layout lacks in size, it makes up for in complexity. I journeyed over three helixes tonight with not one hiccup!
Unfortunately wide-angle shots of the layout are kind of difficult to get, due to the aisles being kinda narrow. I'll show off more in the future, for sure.
GarryCBQ
Well-Known Member
Good evening ...
Steve (Dakota ) .... I like the club layout photos.
Willie ..... I have used different methods for sky with clouds. Firstly, I spent time just looking up at the real sky. I noticed clouds look different at the horizon than when overhead. The angle of the sun changes throughout the day, and clouds change in appearance as that happens. .... I have used Faller backdrop sky for much of my layout, and I like how it looks. The problem is it is on paper and humanity causes wrinkles. ... I tried home made stencils, and results were only so-so. I found, the background blue must be an authentic sky blue. .... Some areas of my sky are hand painted. Before doing that I took lessons by watching You-Tube with artists. Each one had their own techniques, and I combined them to make my own method. ....
Hughie ..... I like your Mooney Plumbing. Your layout looks fun.
Tom O .... Trees look good.
Troy .... Your 3D equipment looks interesting.
Joe ... The SW9 has an attractive paint scheme.
EDIT.... that dang auto correct zapped me again. I typed humidity. It was changed to humanity. .. LOL
Steve (Dakota ) .... I like the club layout photos.
Willie ..... I have used different methods for sky with clouds. Firstly, I spent time just looking up at the real sky. I noticed clouds look different at the horizon than when overhead. The angle of the sun changes throughout the day, and clouds change in appearance as that happens. .... I have used Faller backdrop sky for much of my layout, and I like how it looks. The problem is it is on paper and humanity causes wrinkles. ... I tried home made stencils, and results were only so-so. I found, the background blue must be an authentic sky blue. .... Some areas of my sky are hand painted. Before doing that I took lessons by watching You-Tube with artists. Each one had their own techniques, and I combined them to make my own method. ....
Hughie ..... I like your Mooney Plumbing. Your layout looks fun.
Tom O .... Trees look good.
Troy .... Your 3D equipment looks interesting.
Joe ... The SW9 has an attractive paint scheme.
EDIT.... that dang auto correct zapped me again. I typed humidity. It was changed to humanity. .. LOL
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McLeod
Forest Lurker
Good Morning!
Not much time this morning for a shop visit. A friend is picking me up soon, wants to take me out on a breakfast date as we haven't seen each other in awhile. He would be the squirrel poacher of Whitecourt; I believe I posted his photo awhile back. After the visit, I must go paint more at the rich ladies home. Probably for the whole weekend.
47F on a might or might not rain day. The leaves on the trees are already beginning to turn.
This is a rare occasion that I post someone else's photo. Only do it because I'm showing the kind of rail photography that I'd like to get into. The credit for this photo goes to Allesandro. The photo must have been taken in Banff National Park, along the Bow River. No proof of that with no caption, but, that's what I believe.
It's a beautiful photo; looks like a postcard.
Anyway, I can't hang around. The day is already calling and I must get ready for action.
Have a good one!
Not much time this morning for a shop visit. A friend is picking me up soon, wants to take me out on a breakfast date as we haven't seen each other in awhile. He would be the squirrel poacher of Whitecourt; I believe I posted his photo awhile back. After the visit, I must go paint more at the rich ladies home. Probably for the whole weekend.
47F on a might or might not rain day. The leaves on the trees are already beginning to turn.
This is a rare occasion that I post someone else's photo. Only do it because I'm showing the kind of rail photography that I'd like to get into. The credit for this photo goes to Allesandro. The photo must have been taken in Banff National Park, along the Bow River. No proof of that with no caption, but, that's what I believe.
It's a beautiful photo; looks like a postcard.
Anyway, I can't hang around. The day is already calling and I must get ready for action.
Have a good one!
Jaz avalley
Station cat
Plywood in the uk is usually
8 foot by 4 foot
and sold as
2440mm x 1220mm when metrically sized
they are quite often used interchangeably as not enough to argue over
4x6foot is not a common size the 4x8 is available everywhere and/or it’s 2440x1220 equivalent.
Jaz avalley
Station cat
Good Morning All. Cloudy and 74°, humidity is only at 98%. Scattered rain and thunderstorms all around, some might be here soon. Ominous rumbling outside right now at 0530. Yesterday was another crazy weather day here, never getting above 74° until 6:00 pm when it rose to 79°. It rained for a while before dawn, again at 11:00 am, then again around 1:00 pm for a total of 3". In between it sprinkled until mid-afternoon. None of this ran off, it's been on the dry side here so it all soaked in. It's been a wet August by our standards, average year is 2", we've had 6"+ this month so far. It's also been the coolest August in a long time, with the highest temperature that I've seen at 97°.
I am a bit disappointed that the pool filled up but it is only 76°. Hopefully it will start to warm up tomorrow when the sun comes back out.
Today is the weekly grocery/beer trek into Denton. I am not sure if we have any other stops on the list today. I'm thinking Walmart because they seem to be the only store in town that carries the brand and style of toothpaste that I like to use. My wife made a "Poor Mans Peach Cobbler" last night to go with the homemade vanilla ice cream that she made earlier in the day. The cobbler had peaches wrapped in pieces of Crescent Dinner roll dough, then doused with some melted butter/peach juice syrup and covered with a cinnamon/sugar mix, and then baked. Tasted great! It's a keeper recipe.
How about just a giant blueberry muffin and a handful of bacon this morning Flo. Tell Mel not to cook the bacon quite so long.
Thanks for the likes and comments regarding the Dry Goods kit that I am about to embark on; Joe, Christian, Tom O, Patrick, Garry, Hughie, Karl, Gary, Troy, Tom, Guy, Sherrel.
Out in the train shed yesterday, I worked on the Dry Goods kit.
View attachment 131363
Willie
I liked this originally then just scrolled past, looking for something I came past it again
and realised
pllain laser cut
to
really nice plank finish
i do not know if it was in the kit but makes it look so much more, the texture the depth all , and even though you did not cut interlocking individually I like that you see a nice thick end of the plank, more substantial less model, very nice
Jaz
View attachment 131365
I actually finished it but it looks like I forgot to take any pictures of the finished model!I am not going out in the rain just for that right now...it's still too dark.
Additionally I added more weeds to the scene in Graham, this time on the other side of the scene by the bicycle repair shop.
Guy - Maybe the bears got all of the blueberries!
Great ROW pictures yesterday. Why the derail? Or do you know?
Tom O - Thanks for your analysis of the Super Trees. I did note the thin trunks and the frailness right away. I have already considered cutting the branches off and just making small trees which go better with the locale that I model. They might work in a cluster where the trunks can be hidden with smaller trees in front.
Garry - That is a nice looking BL2, but in my opinion the only uglier diesel is Santa Fe's CF7's. At least the CF7 was more reliable!
Hughie - In my post yesterday regarding the scene at the train shed entrance, I mistakenly attributed three models to JL Innovative. One of them is actually American Model Builders Laser kit.
Curt - While that dry goods store is a definite beginners kit, it will fit nicely where I want it to go. Most of my other AMB kits are quite detailed and are much more complex. I actually have two of their kits made in plastic before they shifted everything to wood. Those plastic kits were laser-cut as well. Both were bought back in the 90's.
Sherrel - Looks like Temecula has made the news again this week. Garbage truck explodes. Seems like I saw another story about a trash truck fire in your area as well.
Well it's a heavier thundershower than I thought, at least according to the Weather Underground station just around the corner. It is showing 0.68" in the last hour. I'm not going to go out and check my rain gauge until daylight.
Everybody have a great day.
Good Morning All! I finally got those Genesis FP-7's ready and took them to the club for testing. Getting them ready consisted of a little programming (just an address change) and replacing those *#$@(*&^! plastic McHenry couplers Athearn insists on using with Kadees. A little product review: I was pleased overall. Detail is excellent, sound and performance were flawless. The dynamic brake sounds like a Stuka! Very accurate according to an old time railroader I know (qualified on E units). Nits: Those couplers, but since Athearn bought McHenry, we're probably stuck with them. Larger nit: when replacing the couplers one of the snow plow pilots came loose. The pilot just happens to hold the front of the chassis in place. Evidently the Chinese assemblers went a little lean on the glue. I have seen notes from other modelers who have bought these units with the same problem. It's an easy fix, but at this price point one I probably shouldn't have had to make. QC is never going to be 100% perfect, and as a brass guy, tweaking a new model to get everything right is something I do more often than not, so I'm probably a little more lenient on this issue than most. Last nit: That price point! Retail on these is a whopping $619.98 for the A-A set I bought. My LHS did considerably better than that, but Damn! Nobody pays full MSRP of course, and the current upward trend may have a little something to do with the current world wide supply chain issues. Not a good time to buy a car either! The Walthers units are comparable and a little cheaper if you happen to be a penny pincher, but the Athearns edge them out by just enough to justify the difference IMNSHO. If you're on a budget, consider non sound units. I looked at those hard, and have done it this way before. On a positive note, the rest of the details are attached well, and those icicle breakers are surprisingly durable. I put an extra piece of foam between them for support when the models were upside down in my foam cradle and they have survived a casual swipe of the hand without damage or deformation. That's my story and I'm stuck with it! For your viewing pleasure:
CHRlSTIAN
Happy to be here !
My mistake. I though that all layouts in UK were built on a 4'x6' baseboard/benchwork. I read it on New Railway Modellers forums. In France it's 1220x2500. Very similar in fact.
santafewillie
Same Ol' Buzzard
Good Morning Everyone. Mostly clear and 77°. Heat advisory has returned for today even though it's only supposed to get to 95°. The pool has re-warmed up and was 81° yesterday evening, warm enough for me but not my wife. Seems like I did mostly household chores yesterday.
Something substantial today Flo, like a tall stack of blueberry pancakes with a half dozen sausage links and OJ.
Thanks for those likes, comments and advice on clouds yesterday; Tom O, Patrick, Guy, Troy, Chad, Christian, Karl, Hughie, Sherrel, Gary, Curt, Rick, Tom, Joe, Garry.
Out in the train shed yesterday, I did a couple more clouds. Still experimenting with style.
The one on the left might be a tad high but I'll leave it anyway.
Here's what I meant yesterday about arranging the very large stencils into an endless number of patterns. there's five of these things, three are pictured below, two taped for use.
And two in another pattern.
You can see that by overlapping different stencils in different ways, you can make many different shapes and sizes.
On this one I experimented with a gray lower color with white above but I didn't take a picture yet.
Karl - I hope that the intervention works out for all involved.
Guy - Yep! I believe that is the camera. Normally unless there is an incident, no one looks at the footage though. Yes, the Dry Goods Store went quickly. It is a very simple beginners kit which I have a few of.
Troy - Thanks for the pointers. I would however, need three hands to hold the stencil away from the surface and still paint!
Patrick - While rare on my layout, I still have a few re-worked Tyco and Lifelike cars in service. I recently gave eight of my older era cars to a young enthusiast.
Hughie - I have definitely thought about using the gray towards the bottom of some clouds. The one yesterday was my first attempt. It is OK, but I see that there can be some modification in technique.
Mike -
Garry - I figure that it will take a few more clouds to get the effect that I want. I am not necessarily going for "artist quality", but just something to add some variety to the monotonous blue backdrop. I already use some cut-out pictures taped to the backdrop to provide some depth, however I have not yet used the pictures from kit boxes as you have suggested before.
I'm out of here to start mowing this morning; there's no dew and there is a slight breeze.
Everyone have a great day.
Something substantial today Flo, like a tall stack of blueberry pancakes with a half dozen sausage links and OJ.
Thanks for those likes, comments and advice on clouds yesterday; Tom O, Patrick, Guy, Troy, Chad, Christian, Karl, Hughie, Sherrel, Gary, Curt, Rick, Tom, Joe, Garry.
Out in the train shed yesterday, I did a couple more clouds. Still experimenting with style.
The one on the left might be a tad high but I'll leave it anyway.
Here's what I meant yesterday about arranging the very large stencils into an endless number of patterns. there's five of these things, three are pictured below, two taped for use.
And two in another pattern.
You can see that by overlapping different stencils in different ways, you can make many different shapes and sizes.
On this one I experimented with a gray lower color with white above but I didn't take a picture yet.
Karl - I hope that the intervention works out for all involved.
Guy - Yep! I believe that is the camera. Normally unless there is an incident, no one looks at the footage though. Yes, the Dry Goods Store went quickly. It is a very simple beginners kit which I have a few of.
Troy - Thanks for the pointers. I would however, need three hands to hold the stencil away from the surface and still paint!
Here's a source for the files, you'll have to scale them yourself. STL Hummingbird files Good Luck.
Patrick - While rare on my layout, I still have a few re-worked Tyco and Lifelike cars in service. I recently gave eight of my older era cars to a young enthusiast.
Hughie - I have definitely thought about using the gray towards the bottom of some clouds. The one yesterday was my first attempt. It is OK, but I see that there can be some modification in technique.
Mike -
Yea! Counting the six in my family, our generation is 33 strong plus spouses. A majority of around 20 or so are still living in the Brooklyn area where we were all born. We are also spread out with Ohio,Tennessee, Florida, Texas and Colorado in the mix as well. There may be other places but I haven't really done a good job of keeping up with some of them.
Garry - I figure that it will take a few more clouds to get the effect that I want. I am not necessarily going for "artist quality", but just something to add some variety to the monotonous blue backdrop. I already use some cut-out pictures taped to the backdrop to provide some depth, however I have not yet used the pictures from kit boxes as you have suggested before.
I'm out of here to start mowing this morning; there's no dew and there is a slight breeze.
Everyone have a great day.
TLOC
Well-Known Member
Good morning from a wet Saturday morning in So Central Wisconsin. Not much of a rain at 1/4” on the computer since 5:45am but the drizzle has stopped. I am on the love seat in the family room and the TV lady says it has stopped for now but may slide over us again around noonish. Temperature high was to be mid 90’s, she says now 84f degrees but uncomfortable humidity.
We were talking yesterday of heading to West Bend this morning/afternoon to a Farmers Market, Chalk Fest and a Model RR Open House. With hit and miss rains it does look like the 90 minute trip to get there is cancelled as it is in the eastern path of the possible rainfall. The ladies with me have no sense of adventure!
While I sit inside the ladies are getting ready to walk to the stables. I will hit the pool and then the trainroom. I have a turnout that needs to be re-laid, seems the main gandy dancer put too much stickum on the cork and glued the points. Since I have no extra turnouts this replacement will be handlaid if I can’t fix the one I pry off. Fingers crossed.
enjoy your day
TomO
We were talking yesterday of heading to West Bend this morning/afternoon to a Farmers Market, Chalk Fest and a Model RR Open House. With hit and miss rains it does look like the 90 minute trip to get there is cancelled as it is in the eastern path of the possible rainfall. The ladies with me have no sense of adventure!
While I sit inside the ladies are getting ready to walk to the stables. I will hit the pool and then the trainroom. I have a turnout that needs to be re-laid, seems the main gandy dancer put too much stickum on the cork and glued the points. Since I have no extra turnouts this replacement will be handlaid if I can’t fix the one I pry off. Fingers crossed.
enjoy your day
TomO
TLOC
Well-Known Member
Steve, good luck on the club selection.
I want my trees to at least stand above the rail cars. WS even their tallest armatures were still to short.
TomO
Texas Hobo
Well Known Hobo
Good Morning all! Yes it's another hot one. On the plus side Grace stayed in the southern Gulf and had no effect on this part of Texas. The folks up in the northeast should keep a weather eye on Henri.
Today is the 36th anniversary of my 39th birthday. I sometimes wonder how I made it this far. Thank you Lord for another day, Amen.
Not a lot planned for the day. I guess we'll play it by ear. I do hope to run some trains later.
Thank you all for the likes on the Mooney's Plumbing. I do need to find another Bar Mills that is as large as Pickham's Keg & Pallet.
STAY SAFE
LATER
Today is the 36th anniversary of my 39th birthday. I sometimes wonder how I made it this far. Thank you Lord for another day, Amen.
Not a lot planned for the day. I guess we'll play it by ear. I do hope to run some trains later.
Thank you all for the likes on the Mooney's Plumbing. I do need to find another Bar Mills that is as large as Pickham's Keg & Pallet.
STAY SAFE
LATER
TLOC
Well-Known Member
MilwRoader_Steve
Well-Known Member
Greetings all,
I had a great day on the golf course yesterday. While it was quite warm and humid, the strong wind kept us comfortable. The wind was definitely a factor for the play. One par 3 with the wind at my back, I usually hit 7 iron. Yesterday I hit and still put it over the green AND the cart path. Fortunately, it stopped six feet short of the water. No. 18, again with the wind at my back, I hit a 250 yard drive. I'm usually a 210 guy, occasionally 220.
No layout work done. Stopped for some shopping and came home to clean up and nap. Then took wifeykins out to dinner and had a great time. Now she is out shopping, so I will head to the train room here shortly.
In my haste to get the runaround track down the other day, I forgot to put in the permanent magnetic uncoupler!! Now have to decide if I want to take up the whole track, cut it, or just do without. Decisions, decisions.
Have a great day. ------- Steve J
I had a great day on the golf course yesterday. While it was quite warm and humid, the strong wind kept us comfortable. The wind was definitely a factor for the play. One par 3 with the wind at my back, I usually hit 7 iron. Yesterday I hit and still put it over the green AND the cart path. Fortunately, it stopped six feet short of the water. No. 18, again with the wind at my back, I hit a 250 yard drive. I'm usually a 210 guy, occasionally 220.
No layout work done. Stopped for some shopping and came home to clean up and nap. Then took wifeykins out to dinner and had a great time. Now she is out shopping, so I will head to the train room here shortly.
In my haste to get the runaround track down the other day, I forgot to put in the permanent magnetic uncoupler!! Now have to decide if I want to take up the whole track, cut it, or just do without. Decisions, decisions.
Have a great day. ------- Steve J
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