Running Bear's February 2021 Coffee Shop.

[logandsawman]

Good morning,

I will take a pile of blueberry pancakes and coffee. Italian roast, black.

We did not get snow and somehow lucked out altogether. Two weekends in a row the weatherman threatened snow and little if anything materialized.

Patrick - great progress on the daughters shed

Alan - that O'Neills is quite the project. Looking great!

Tom in Wi, you are getting your exercise with all that snow

Willie - the down the road shots are very appealing! You did a great job in the road ditches!

I got my second little AutoCar truck completed, a stake bed with nice tall sides. Here are the pictures:

The driver came with the model but did not fit very well. He shows best in the top photo. I had to file off his hat and he barely fit. This probably would have been about 1910 model?

Everyone have a good day... Dave LASM

 

[TLOC]

Coffee smells god! How's the breakfast menu?

welcome aboard. Breakfast menu is great. Always anything you want and always better then what you would expect.

TomO

 

[TLOC]

Good morning,

I will take a pile of blueberry pancakes and coffee. Italian roast, black.

We did not get snow and somehow lucked out altogether. Two weekends in a row the weatherman threatened snow and little if anything materialized.





Tom in Wi, you are getting your exercise with all that snow







View attachment 124095

The driver came with the model but did not fit very well. He shows best in the top photo. I had to file off his hat and he barely fit. This probably would have been about 1910 model?

Everyone have a good day... Dave LASM

Dave, it is exercise alright just completely different then my daily regime. It’s much more tiring because I think of the frustration level and it is work!

Normal is 3 days a week in the lap pool doing 25 laps. 3 days a week doing the stair climbing, 50 sets with one set being up and down. Daily is the dreaded 2 mile treadmill. Down 31#s since August. Trying to build back strength after the Lyme diease hit and the chemicals they r using to knock it out. No pool except to play on Sundays and no stairs either except to thetrainroom.

TomO

 

[Texas Hobo]

Good Afternoon all! Love what you have done with the place. Kinda greasy spoon-ish.
Not much train play to report, actually none. Yesterday was family Zoom Meeting so that took up the afternoon.
Willie - Nice "down the track" shots. I particularly liked #3
Mountain Man - Welcome.
James - If you like the black DRG&W get it. I don't think anyone here would blab that it's not prototypical.

Don't you hate it when people act all intellectual and talk about Mozart while they've never seen one of his paintings.

STAY SAFE
LATER

 

[montanan]

Good morning. Been busy again as usual. We managed to take 4 games Friday night bowling. Saturday morning we woke up st about 8 inches of snow. It was only the second time this winter that I had to plow. With short legs, the dogs needed to have an area cleared to feel comfortable to answer the call of nature.

Sunday we had some friends over and they stayed for dinner as my son and his wife are here every Sunday. May have another car sold and I got a call about someone that is willing to buy my entire layout.

Willie - As usual, I really like your photos and the amount of detail that you manage to get into the scenes. Don't know about painting the '57 Chevy. There are so many out there already finished and painted. If I would have had to paint mine for the Chevy dealership, there wouldn't be one. I did repaint a few, the 2 on the lower deck of the auto carried and the one in front of the Coca Cola truck. There are a couple of 55's in the lot that are Alloy Forms that did have to be painted.

Jesse - Making progress. Looking good. Nothing wrong with scratch building.

Troy - 8 inches is just enough to make the dogs feel uncomfortable when the try to pee.

Tom - That was nice for the city to leave you a present at the end of your driveway. Lucky you got it moved before it froze solid. Don't piss off the plow drivers.

Curt - I imagine that the Covid scare puckered you up.

Dave - Those vintage trucks will add interest and help define that it is in the early 1900's.

Ken in MD - I constantly have to laugh at the weather forecasts. They had a winter weather advisory out for us last Wednesday and Thursday and absolutely nothing. Was supposed to be clear starting Friday morning through the weekend. My weather rock was white.

Alan - Excellent work on the building. High winds must have moved the chimney.

Guess it's back to the archives.

Later

 

[bnsf971]

Chet, I’d be willing to buy your entire layout, too, but there are two things holding me back:
1- no money
2-no room...

 

[TLOC]

Steve

in our discussions from the January diner and my thoughts about 1980 Avery, Idaho. Totally had my dates messed up. I guess the Little Joe pictures I must remember were prior to the electrification shut Down in 1974. Based on my research today there is no way I’d go back to model anything in early 70’s or late 60’s when the electrics were being used. As much as I like the Little Joe’s, Boxcabs and the bi-Polars I disliked the rolling stock, mainly the roof walks. I am not knocking anyone and what they like to model but roof walks, nope not for my modeling. I have run on a few 1950-60’s layout, they were great, not for my modeling though

TomO

 

[Alcomotive]

I have never seen this paint scheme before until now for DRG&W....

 

[Alcomotive]

I have been on a quest lately for odd ball schemes and equipment for my JR's UPRR.....

I have been looking for MOPAC transfer caboose as I have a ton of pictures of them when I lived outside of Little Rock AR years ago. I remember UP had one after the acquisition of MOPAC that was repainted etc. It is the only one that was repainted in UP colors from the MOPAC red. MOPAC had 34 of them at the time of the merger.

When I lived in AR these MOPAC transfer caboose were everywhere. If I am not mistaken there is still one in the Benton yard in AR just south of Bauxite AR siding where there was a lot of switching activities for the ALCOA plant facility there. It would run from there all the way down to Malvern back in the days.

Soooooo.......

I found one in HO scale and purchased the UP 13737 Transfer caboose made by Bluford Shps! http://www.bluford-shops.com/bluford_93_018.htm

I got it and it's on it's way! I will share when it arrives on the RPO!

 

[Alcomotive]

Another little gem I am going to work on is the below picture....

many of you remember the HERBIE cars.....well interesting enough I have 6 HERBIE cars but not one of them are RED! All are brown.....

So here is the prototype and notice the caboose! All for UP....

 

[CambriaArea51]

is it February already ???

Yep and as long as we don't get stuck on Feb.2 were good.

In tresting about ST taking over MTH? Perhaps they could offer a reconstruction program for replacing some of the components of the MTH locos? That would surely gain some kudos with the modeling crowd?

Send them an email explaining that,you never know.

 

[IronBeltKen]

Hi Shop Dwellers, we've got 31*F with snow here in the corner of Baltimore County where I live.

I'm back earlier than usual for a Monday, but half of my co-workers, including the boss, took the day off to tackle the snow and ice on their respective properties. So at lunchtime I decided to also sign-off for the day.

What was supposed to be snow according to the radar maps was actually falling as freezing rain. As soon as I saw that, I knew some type of action had to be taken NOW before this stuff melted and re-froze as solid ice which would be nearly impossible to clear. So I decided to defy the Manual and attempt to use the snow blower in less than their advised minimum 6" level of accumulation. I remembered reading in one of the reviews for this machine where somebody was able to use it in ice-encrusted snow, so I figured I had nothing to lose by trying. The guy wasn't joking - it did eat right thru the 2" layer of glazed snow covering my driveway! Of course the ice made the blower harder to steer, so it was tough to follow the exact path I had plotted 6 inches away from each of the marker poles I'd put down on Saturday, and this required a few additional passes to trim away what was left. Also had to blast away the berm that the County had deposited earlier at the driveway entrance.

One thing I can tell you all is, you have to be in good physical health to use this contraption - it's not advised for anyone who is cardiac-challenged! When I was finished with this 90-minute chore, I felt every bit as drained as I would have just from hand-shoveling only a small, 40-foot-long, 2-car suburban driveway like the one at my previous property.

Naturally, as soon as I parked the blower back in the shed, the freezing rain changed back into snow and it's been snowing ever since...

 

[chessie_system3]

Sigh....well fllers I guess my projects are on hold for the time being. Jammed my finger today. Cant really use it because its numb. So any real tedious stuff will be on hold. Suppose I'll just sit back and run my trains. Which truth be told isnt a bad thing. Oh well the projects ain't going anywhere anytime soon anyways. So I'll just hurry up and wait.

 

[PRR Modeler]

Afternoon All,

Spent the afternoon with Mom at her appointment then at her house. She got a little bit of good news today but ultimately won't change things in the end. I'm not being morbid just realistic. Hopefully I'll be able to do some modeling tomorrow. It gives me a chance to focus on something other than everyday life.

Justin- It's always nice to receive "presents" in the mail.

Jesse- Sounds like you're making good progress.

Patrick- Dad joke.

Alan- I think the build looks great.

Willie- Great scenes.

Dave LASM- Great looking truck.

Chet- Great photos.

James- Nice looking transfer cabeese.

I hope everyone has a good night.

 

[santafewillie]

Speaking of that kit. I actually unboxed it and looked at it yesterday. Doesn't seem too complicated of a kit to put together. Atleast not as complicated as my camp houses. Now would it be easier to construct before or after painting?

Justin - I assemble the four walls and the matching roof firewalls before painting. That's just the way that I do it. I find that it is easier to get the painted corners done better that way, and it also gives me something more substantial to hold while painting. Additionally there is the possibility of glue seepage! Mainly from my fingers holding the parts together after applying the liquid cement. These structures are big enough that applying the glass to the windows after assembly is not difficult, there's plenty of room to work inside.

 

[Sirfoldalot]

JAMES - I gave a shout out to a Grand Junction modeler and he contacted a couple of his friends who are avid "Grande" modelers and historians.
This is what they told him.....
"I have talked to a couple DRGW historians
And no there were no boxcars black w silver roofs and Orange lettering.
The early years were boxcar red.
Then action orange w black lettering.
Some did get painted in a version of passenger yellow tops, silver roofs, a single black stripe and silver bottoms w black lettering.
Some cabooses were black with white lettering and a few even had four thin yellow stripes down the side."

 

[Alcomotive]

JAMES - I gave a shout out to a Grand Junction modeler and he contacted a couple of his friends who are avid "Grande" modelers and historians.
This is what they told him.....
"I have talked to a couple DRGW historians
And no there were no boxcars black w silver roofs and Orange lettering.
The early years were boxcar red.
Then action orange w black lettering.
Some did get painted in a version of passenger yellow tops, silver roofs, a single black stripe and silver bottoms w black lettering.
Some cabooses were black with white lettering and a few even had four thin yellow stripes down the side."

Sherrel! Thank you for checking into this. Well I guess I will be an owner of (2) fantasy DRG&W boxcars. No worries I think I will let my JR's UPRR call them heritage boxcars I may even slap the UP shield on them or one of them. We shall see. I can't wait to show them off on the RPO thread!

I wonder if those guys have seen the one I posted with the orange and yellow?



Snow has been hitting Albany NY and has yet to make it up my way....an hour away. Got the fire burning to heat the house and staying cozy.

Ya'll have a good evening. I gonna post few more things and lurk a bit.

Peace

 

[GarryCBQ]

Good evening !

The wife told me to put ketchup on the grocery list. Now I can't read it.

Patrick .... LOL ..... I hope she kicked you in the Heinz end for doing that.

Alan ... Excellent work on the old building.

WIllie .... That looks like a busy Santa Fe main line. ... Nice looking downtown photos, too.

Dave LASM ..... You did good work with the old trucks.

May have another car sold and I got a call about someone that is willing to buy my entire layout.

Chet .... Please tell "someone" part of the deal is he must participate in the Coffee Shop! I hope you stay on the forum too.

Everybody.... Have a good night.

 

[IronBeltKen]

Ok, I'm back for my third post of the day. Thanks everybody for the "likes" and comments on my two earlier posts.

Justin, sorry to hear about the finger injury, hopefully that will heal quickly. Willie gave you some pretty good advice on assembling the Merchants Row I kit; I prefer to spraypaint the brick walls before assembly, but save the rest of the details painting for afterward. I don't remember if the kit comes with interior walls to keep the five businesses separate, or if I used some of my own sheets of Evergreen sheet styrene for that? It was 10 yrs ago, so my memory about that is somewhat foggy...

. . .
Sunday we had some friends over and they stayed for dinner as my son and his wife are here every Sunday. May have another car sold and I got a call about someone that is willing to buy my entire layout.
. . .

Chet - I do hope that possible sale of your layout works out, it would be great if that masterpiece could survive beyond its native location!

* * *
Earlier today I mentioned that I airbrushed the base layer of Enchantment Blue paint on my Stewart F-unit shell, and that I would post a picture of it. Well, here's the photo:

I masked-off the radiator grilles so they wouldn't get filled-up with the Enchantment Blue paint; I plan to hand-paint those in flat aluminum and don't want it mixing with the dark blue. The color is so dark it looks almost black, but this is the way all B&O/C&O engines look when they're fresh out of the paint shop. A bit of weathering to fade it, after the decals are applied, will correct that problem. For now I just want to set it aside and give the paint a few more days to cure and harden a bit, so I can handle it without leaving fingerprints all over it.

I'll need to sign off now, since I might need to get up at 4:00am and repeat the snowblower treatment of the driveway. It appears that another 2" has already fallen. The second round should be somewhat less strenuous since it will be straight snow, I won't have to cut thru an ice crust like this afternoon. Toodles!

 

[CambriaArea51]

Evening...Well covid has afforded me the opportunity to get things done on freight cars that have been put on the back burner for some time. The grain train for example. I've also updated equipment (not all yet) with the FRA reflective strips to bring them into the modern times. http://smokeboxgraphics.com/reflective.html
I also have coal cars that have duplicate numbers due to Walthers only making a few sets. So some patch and renumbering the last number or two to make those changes. Which brings me to another paint and decal project. CSX has gray coal cars with black lettering. Paint I have acquired but no decals are made for this series. I have left over decal sheets from the 4750's and 5161 grain cars I did which give me the "CSX" and numbering but not the right data. So after looking at different roads I found that NS has similar cars and that Microscale has the NS coal decal data that's needed to complete this project.