Good Morning All. Cloudy and 39° this morning, headed for a high of maybe 46°. Nearby Weather Underground station says that it is foggy, but I call it a very fine light mist since it's actually falling. Radar shows that it is probably rain. Still looking at cooler weather until Friday, mostly with light rain.
Yesterday was mostly indoor chores, a couple of loads of laundry and securing dry firewood on the covered porch. I did plant some hardy greens in the garden. It's not too early for my area, I've planted as much as 10 days earlier without issue. Depends on the year. I also believe that if you don't lose something at either end of the season, then you aren't maximizing your efforts. Seed is cheap.
Later today, I have the appointment at the dental office to discuss my dental options. That will be fun.
Out in the train shed yesterday, I did add four figures to the loading dock of the feed store. Moved some stuff around as well to make the scene appear a little better.
And since I am still in the kit assembly mode, I grabbed a P2K covered hopper kit from the shelf. These kits have over 80 parts if I remember and will take me parts of 4-5 days to complete. I will do other stuff while waiting for adhesive to set up.
MKT interchanged a lot of freight cars with ATSF during the era that I model. I love these kits and their detailing, but they are a bit of a hassle to assemble. A look at step 2 of the assembly instructions tells it all.
I have made over 20 of these covered hopper kits since they were first manufactured in the late 90's, and one of the first thing that I learned was to ream out each and every mounting hole. Many parts are extra small and fragile. I dropped the first part that I was dealing with and was fortunate to find it on the floor about 14" from where it hit the ground. It's about 1/16" x 5/32".
Here it is along with the other 2 parts that I mounted yesterday before supper called my name.
Those tiny hoses are next into the bottom two holes of the brake valve.
Mike (97) - No, I think it is a Mercedes as
Mac pointed out. It's been taking up space on the workbench since 2012 when I bought a box of vehicles from a fellow forum member. It came with no grill or front bumper. I was told in advance that a couple of the 140 vehicles were missing parts. I can't fix it but may use it somewhere with the front end tucked away in a garage. It is in the project notebook!
Tom O - No roofwalk boxcars on my layout because my era is too modern; but almost all RTR covered hoppers, regardless of manufacturer, have those poorly applied roofwalks. I have had to fix more than I wanted to.
Karl - I also have one of those double-whammys to deal with. Wife's birthday is the 12th followed by Valentines Day on the 14th. However I made it clear before we were married that it was one or the other and she settled on her birthday. Although I have loosened up a bit since retirement.
Just stepped outside again, and it is definitely misting and not fog.
Everyone have a great day.
! It's a double whammy for me. 2 cards and 2 sets of gifts. But hey, she deserves it, she puts up with my shenanigans.
