Running Bear's January 2021 Coffee Shop

[Alcomotive]

I know the coffee shop closes soon and we will start a new grand opening for February.....

I have a questions for you DRG&W guys.......

Did the DRG&W have black paint scheme on their box cars? I know they black cattle/stock cars. Did they do a scheme in black say on the 50' FMC or AFC or any of those cars? All black, silver roof maybe and the usual orange lettering?

 

[BigGRacing]

Chessie, the layout is looking awesome !

 

[CambriaArea51]

Good morning....A chilly 19. The hobby shop is open and is in the process of finishing setting up. Nice to have a place to get simple supplies like scenic, paint, and glues among other stuff.
Coffee Flo, I just take a donut I know you're packing up to move tomorrow.

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning Everyone. Clear and 39°. Not going to be as warm as yesterday's 73°, but I'll take upper 50's on the last day of January anytime. I hope that everyone is surviving their blizzards back east. I was looking at the national radar and they just seem to be sitting there right now. Wisconsin southeast through lower MI, OH, PA, and VA look like they're getting slammed. We got a significant West Texas dust storm yesterday afternoon

I can only imagine what the cars will look like once the sun comes up.

I'll go for the Sunday Special this morning Flo. Western omelet with a healthy side of bacon should warm me up. I'll buy Troy a doughnut in honor of him finishing his latest book.

Thanks for the likes and comments on yesterday's progress update; Justin, Garry, Hughie, Tom O, Karl, Curt, James, Tom.

Yesterday in the train shed, I tied up the loose ends on the feed store. Added pallets, grain sacks, additional signs, a scale and a chimney.

On the end of the structure I also added an overhead (non-working) lighting fixture.

Here it is in the location that I think is most suitable.

I selected a few figures to paint, and made some alterations to one. They will all be outfitted with blue jeans and appropriate shirts.

Meanwhile I also made some progress on the '58 Bel Air. Stopped short until I could view some Internet pictures to define where the paint break on the front fender is.

It's a little rough yet, but that will be fixed in due time. Digital pictures bring out the worst in models! LOL I do dread doing the chrome trim seperating the two colors though. Due to the difficulty in masking this car, I have had to brush paint with somewhat thick acrylic paint. It will not be used in a forefront scene though.

Hughie -

Debating whether to mow the weeds or wait another week.

This is the first January in many years that I have not had to mow. Not enough rain in November to germinate the usual cover of wild ryegrass and oats.
Tom O - That is a really neat bridge combination. Wonder why they just didn't do plate girders all of the way across?
Terry - I don't see many U23C's modeled. Nice picture.
Steve - ScaleTrains did do two versions of SD45's, just not in Milwaukee Road. Maybe next.

Everybody have a great day. Stay safe and wear that damn mask.

 

[ACL-CSX]

Good morning y'all. Weather app on my phone says it is 36, feels like 29, and has a 50% chance of light rain. Looking out my window tells me it is cold, wet, and raining at present. I think that means it is time for another cup of coffee, thank you Flo.

While waiting for the temperature to rise to a comfortable level yesterday, I managed to get my repair facility built and temporarily installed on the layout. Pics to follow here as soon as I can get them off my phone. This leads me to an important question; Does anyone else have a love/hate relationship with their preferred brand of superglue? Like why does it stick to me better than the intended target for the glue? And why does it stick immediately to everything you don't want glued together, for example the work piece and the workbench?

But I digress. I need to add a few finishing touches but overall the building plan for the layout is complete. This is mainly due to the fact that I am now out of space to add any more buildings, save a small office space for the shop and maybe a few random, small out buildings. I will be adding docks and beginning to scenic soon. Now that it was rained again, I have to wait to challenge the paint counter at my local Home Depot. Since my layout is set in South Carolina where I live, I want the base coat of my layout to match the red clay found in my yard. From there I can add asphalt and gravel as applicable.

I am planning to order my roadbed today, but I would like a little advice as to which is better: Cork or Foam? Thanks in advance for the input.

Justin- Layout is looking good.

Willie- Feed store looks great.

Y'all have a blessed day.

Post Edit: Pictures

 

[Boris]

Joe, since one of the partners at SMD is a personal friend, I didn't want to press the issue. He did announce at one point at one point [after another delay ~2018] that anybody who really wanted their money back could cancel their preorder. I'll wait until he says they've cancelled their production plans before I request a refund, I'm sure the SMD model will look much better than my homegrown one.

Ken: Not for nothing, I feel for those guys, I met them at Timmonium, and used to interact with them on the B&O Forum on Yahoo Groups. Guess they were too small time for the Comrades to bother with. Their other products were great. If I hadn't changed focus, I would have had prepaid also.

 

[McLeod]

Morning!
It's only -2°F this morning with what looks like a clear sky, so I believe it will be a lovely, mild Sunday!
An omelet like what Willie is having would go good to start the engines, and lots of coffee.

This is the first January in many years that I have not had to mow.

Quit bragging! I've never mowed in January! - Mowing in January is a more equatorial pastime, though.

I was on the verge of finishing my door move yesterday, when I ran out of nails. Even though I had purchased 2lbs of 3-1/2" coated just for this project, they weren't enough. It's surprising how many nails a 2x6 stud wall with a door will eat up. - Now it's Sunday under covid rules, so I don't even know if the hardware will be open. That's a small town living dilemma; bankers hours.
The new wall had to be built well, because it's load bearing. There was already a crack in a wall on the upper floor from excessive snow-load, so I wanted the new wall built super strong. Better than the existing wall.
I suppose I can start wiring for the new lighting system today.
What a man won't put himself through, eh! If one wants a decent layout area.

Thank you all for the daily posting of good morning reading material and photos here in the shop! For me, it's replaced all the same old crap I read in the newspaper.

My photo input this fine morning is a boxcar that I just liked the color of, so I took 23 photos of it from all angles and close-up. It was built in 95, so it's surprising that it has so little of that horrendous graffiti splattered on it... I believe it has been repainted from the usual CN boxcar red, so maybe all the graffiti is underneath that greyish-blue color.

If you are a modeler, it's a good thing to have a photo collection of the real items for reference.

Anyway, time to get on with the day. Have a good one!

 

[troyphoto]

Morning all! Looks like French Toast is the special of the day so Mel doesn't have to get creative with the move.

For those above the sunbelt, and not down under or across the pond, It snowed Here in the Fort (NE Indiana).

Since we live in a condo (our building has 7 units side by side) we don't have to shovel anything not in our fenced in patio... Unless the plow service pushes the big hump in front of our garage door.

So, an hour of shovelling and carrying each shovel full across the drive lanes to toss the snow into the median. and We're mostly stabile here. Amazon and Pizza drivers can get in our gate, and up to the door with a clear path (for now... still snowing).

Looks like about 8 inches on the patio (center to get a decent level/average reading)

 

[bnsf971]

It's still 32, and still raining. The expected snow turned out to be a dusting, about 5 minutes of sleet at 4 AM, and the rest of it has been rain. It's supposed to warm up all the way to 34 later.

 

[Sirfoldalot]

No snow here - except the top of my head and the higher hills in the distance. Sunny, clear, and a temp of 40 degrees -- looking for a 68 high!

The mission today is to figure out the new iPad that was given/loaned from the HOA to use for meetings and/or whatever.

My, That's a big blueish, grey box you have there, GUY! I still cannot find the "Built by Lionel" sticker?

 

[bnsf971]

The mission today is to figure out the new iPad that was given/loaned from the HOA to use for meetings and/or whatever.

Basically, it's a really big iPhone that's can't make phone calls.

 

[IronBeltKen]

I actually have bells for the GP9 and GP7. Problem is getting a color match. My C&O blue is too light and Santa Fe blue is too dark. Any ideas on the correct color?

Justin, what brand of paint are you working with? If you're using Pollyscale Enchantment Blue, that always seems a bit on the light side IMHO.

What I normally do is start with Tamiya Royal Blue (X-4) and mix in Tamiya Red (X-7) up to a 2:1 ratio, until it looks like C&O Enchantment Blue; this gives what my eyes tell me (if I'm not color blind?) matches a C&O or B&O loco fresh out of the paint shop. If I'm trying to match a factory-painted loco, such as the LifeLike P2K GP30, I take a piece of scrap styrene and paint little swatches of the blue/red paint mixtures right up to the edge and hold each one beside the model until the two look almost identical.

If you're only painting the bell, the color probably won't need to be quite as exact - since that is such a small surface area compared with the loco body itself.

 

[chessie_system3]

Justin, what brand of paint are you working with? If you're using Pollyscale Enchantment Blue, that always seems a bit on the light side IMHO.

What I normally do is start with Tamiya Royal Blue (X-4) and mix in Tamiya Red (X-7) up to a 2:1 ratio, until it looks like C&O Enchantment Blue; this gives what my eyes tell me (if I'm not color blind?) matches a C&O or B&O loco fresh out of the paint shop. If I'm trying to match a factory-painted loco, such as the LifeLike P2K GP30, I take a piece of scrap styrene and paint little swatches of the blue/red paint mixtures right up to the edge and hold each one beside the model until the two look almost identical.

If you're only painting the bell, the color probably won't need to be quite as exact - since that is such a small surface area compared with the loco body itself.

Ken the C&O enchantment blue I have is by Badger. It doesn't match a single C&O unit I have. It does work in small areas where it is easily over looked. I mostly use it for touch ups and that's it.

 

[chessie_system3]

Speaking of my C&O units. I really dont show this one much love. It's a pretty solid runner too. It's just not too fond of snap switches. Its slows down going over them. Otherwise it runs just as quiet as my Atlas locomotives. My P2K GP30

 

[TLOC]

Good afternoon. My small section of Wisconsin got 8” of the white stuff. But thanks to the City snowplows and stupidly owning a corner lot, this is what was on the apron of the driveway this morning. 30” of white slush, starting to freeze.

 

[DakotaLove39]

Holy smokes, guys. Not only is ScaleTrains killing my wallet with SDL39's in HO scale, but they have also bought up the MTH HO and S scale lineups. I'm over here about to die over my excitement. A ScaleTrains MTH HO Little Joe with ESU instead of ProtoSound? HELL YES PLEASE!

 

[McLeod]

Afternoon!
Tom - Around here, the plow operator would lower his right blade extension to clean-up each driveway he might plow under. If not, the town will send the Bobcat to clean it up. - I feel sorry for you, if they did that to your property.

I wanted to share a photo I took the other day. It's just a photo of the local CN yard on a crappy day when not much was happening down there. The photo was so boring, that I edited in a few words to expose my evil sense of humor:

Has anyone heard from Flip? He hasn't come in for about a 1/2 month; and the last time he came in he was complaining of not feeling well. Hope he's ok!

Anyway, I finished framing my layout room wall with borrowed nails from the neighbor. Tomorrow, I'll get the drywall and mud so I can get closer to having a proper layout room.

Have a good one!

 

[PRR Modeler]

Afternoon All,

We had a scare here yesterday. After oldest grandson being at the house all day, daughter received a voice mail that he had been exposed to a Covid positive patient in his class. Dad took them both to get tested and they came back negative. SIL disconnected the old hot tub breaker and removed parts that he wanted so we can have it hauled away now.

I only had about 10 minutes working on the substation before SIL showed up, but I did manage to get the main transformer sides together.

Troy- Congrats on finishing the book and imbibing with red vines. Yuck on the snow.

Terry- Nice layout scene.

Joe- After my extensive mainline testing I started getting constant starts and stops that turned out to be dirty loco wheels.

Dakota- Nice array of locos and 1:1 rail photo.

Justin- Nice boxcar and scene. That blows about the plaster cloth.

IB Ken- It looks like you have a nice sized area around your home.

Sherrel- If they're here I will take care of any issues, but it's the parents responsibility to deal with these kind of issues...whether they are or not.

Tom- Great news about the LHS. They're usually closing not opening.

Willie- Nice detailing. I looked closely at the bricks and that could also be adobe brick.

Jesse- Nice job on the structure.

Guy- That's a nice shade of blue. I saw Phil last week for about 20 minutes. He's doing OK but dealing with energy issues. I talk to him usually every week.

I hope everyone has a good night.

 

[TLOC]

Guy from the frozen North

I asked the 1st winter we were here about the plow operators, were they picking on my driveway. I am not going to fight city hall they have unlimited funds to fight back. I’m afraid if I talk again to them it might get worst. Today’s mess may rank though in the top 3. Number 4 though was the most dangerous. I was in front blowing out around the mailbox as the plow turned the corner I barely got myself out of the way. They did pay to fix my blower that got hit by the plow. I called the police and the plow driver was arrested for assault and endangerment. He still works for the city just not on plows in my neighborhood. He did apologize and even though I believe he waved at me he claims he never saw me.

Tom

 

[chessie_system3]

The FedEx man is a ninja. I didnt even know he stopped. Usually dont miss anything on the front porch. He brought me some more goodies today. My micromark order has arrived! Only a day late but its here anyways.

Bag of polyfiber for trees and a foam cradle for my locomotives.