Good evening Shop Dwellers!
Once again, I thank you all for the positive feedback on yesterday's photo that I snapped with my cellphone camera. And I don't have time for names cuz' I've still got a lot left to type tonite...
IBKen: Nice decals. Did you use a laser or bubble jet to print them with? Been wanting to 'roll my own' for quite awhile and I suspect that it will get done sooner or later.
We live in the County so there are no building permits. If I want to put in a septic tank, that is a quick trip down to planning with drawing of the area showing any waterways, depressions or nearby wells and that can be done with crayons if that is all ya have. Then you tell them what you are putting in, how deep and where along with drain field, size of rock ... etc .. etc. I am told stories of the number of car bodies that have been buried just for this purpose. In fact, we have something buried in our front yard that has a ( for the lack of another word ) shadow later on in the summer where the grass does not grow the same as nearby stuff. It is pretty big, 6 by 20 ish if memory serves. Maybe one day I will get on the backhoe and find out what is there.
Todd -
thanks for the kind words! They were inkjet-printed on MicroMark decal paper (white background) using an Epson WF-2750 All-In-One printer. I like Epson because their ink doesn't "bleed" when covered with fixative spray.
Your comment about the planned garage and property taxes reminded me of the story of an unfortunate widow who is a member of my church. She lived in a county that requires a permit for
anything that will significantly alter the description of your property that the county government has in their files. ~20 years ago, her husband's brother built a large addition on to their house for only the cost of materials, it had a sunroom on the second floor and 2 bedrooms on the first; pretty much doubled the value of the property. This family had recently immigrated from India, so building permits probably weren't even on their radar screen.
~20 years later the husband passed away, and the woman decided to sell the place and "downsize." Don't recall the dollar amount from the sale, but it was enough that she could retire early from her job as a physician. But when she tried to get the County to approve the bill of sale, they refused to do it because the property description didn't match what was in their files [and what they'd been paying taxes on]. They wouldn't just let a building inspector come in and review the work and approve it;
nooo, the addition had to be totally
demolished, and a county-licensed contractor hired to
rebuild everything!
She had to dip into her own IRA to cover the expenses for the contractor(s) and the County since she hadn't yet gotten the check for the sale. Once the dust had settled and the sale was finally completed, she wound up with a net profit of ~$50K after replenishing her IRA. And she did NOT end up retiring early...
TomO - I totally agree with you about the SSS speakers. They dramatically enhanced the quality of the sounds of the engines I've put them in. I definitely want all of my 2gen EMD turbo models to have them, for
more rumble and
less whining/whistling!
Joe - those SD40-2's in the photo must be ~50 yrs old!
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IB Ken. Beautiful layout scene
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Thank you
sir!
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IB Ken- Very nice layout shot. Is that static grass on the siding track? If so, can you still run an engine on it?
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Thanks
Curt! Yes, that is Silflor static grass applied in varying colors and heights. I left enough open space around the rails themselves so a loco can be run over it, and I successfully tested one after I'd finished the scene. But when I'm having an op session, I'll just position the car being spotted at the end of a long string of cars, so the guest operator doesn't have to potentially contend with a loco that
might not roll smoothly thru the grass without needing a nudge: "The ground is soft, might not support the weight of a loco..."
Good Night - and have a Pleasant Tomorrow!