Running Bear's November 2023 Coffee Shop


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Happy Sunday gang!

Started the installation of the new garage door opener yesterday, finished it this morning. It drove me nuts trying to figure out why I could set the raise and lower positions, but the door would not work, Played with the electric eyes til supper yesterday, to no avail. After dinner, I was too disgusted to think about it.

This morning I had to take the Border Collie for a pawticure so after we returned I got lucky, I caught what was driving the door nuts. As the door would start to move, normal flex in the door rail would cause 1 eye to drop out. So with a few small 2x4 blocks, I took them off the door rails and mounted the eyes to the wall and realigned them. Now all is well with the door! I'll wait til next weekend to install extra remotes and the wireless exterior controls and camera.

horsepower2.jpg

Same scene as yesterday, different angle and loco. PFM 4-8-4 Western Maryland Potomac. My engine painted by me, Charlie did his magic with the mechanicals same as the Kanawha.

Espeefan said:
With brass, you have to be a tinker. Almost anything from the original builders in Japan ran very well. The old PFM steamers I mentioned all run like Swiss watches. The change came in the late 1970's when costs in Japan got too high and production moved to Korea. There was quite a learning curve and many stinkers before the Koreans got up the learning curve. Early Korean brass is notorious for bad solder joints and poor running characteristics but can be made to run and look decent if you have the skills, or the bucks to pay someone who does. :)
Click to expand...

Yes, you do have to be a tinker of sorts. I have 2 Alco models Baldwin Sharks. Horrible open frame motors, my solution?
Article shark.jpg

I wanted to keep the correct wheelbase and side frames, so I mounted the motor to the truck on a brass bracket, added weight and a decoder then paint. I also have a brass Baldwin diesel that is running Athearn trucks with a can motor. You gotta tinker!
 
kbkchooch said:
Happy Sunday gang!

Started the installation of the new garage door opener yesterday, finished it this morning. It drove me nuts trying to figure out why I could set the raise and lower positions, but the door would not work, Played with the electric eyes til supper yesterday, to no avail. After dinner, I was too disgusted to think about it.

This morning I had to take the Border Collie for a pawticure so after we returned I got lucky, I caught what was driving the door nuts. As the door would start to move, normal flex in the door rail would cause 1 eye to drop out. So with a few small 2x4 blocks, I took them off the door rails and mounted the eyes to the wall and realigned them. Now all is well with the door! I'll wait til next weekend to install extra remotes and the wireless exterior controls and camera.

View attachment 176784
Same scene as yesterday, different angle and loco. PFM 4-8-4 Western Maryland Potomac. My engine painted by me, Charlie did his magic with the mechanicals same as the Kanawha.



Yes, you do have to be a tinker of sorts. I have 2 Alco models Baldwin Sharks. Horrible open frame motors, my solution?
View attachment 176786
I wanted to keep the correct wheelbase and side frames, so I mounted the motor to the truck on a brass bracket, added weight and a decoder then paint. I also have a brass Baldwin diesel that is running Athearn trucks with a can motor. You gotta tinker!
Click to expand...
Awesome "Wild Mary" Potomac. I'm hoping to eventually kit bash one using a bunch of collected parts. The price of a brass one is...damn🤣
 
Long time no post.

here's a pic of the winning "Stug" from the stug life tourney.

Photos by my friend Jeff W... Yes, it's a SU-85 from the Soviet arsenal. But got 11 out of 16 votes for best AFV of the tourney. (Had to be an Assault Gun or a Tank Destroyer... hence the STuG Life theme.)

Screenshot 2023-11-12 at 7.43.04 PM.png


The other side of the banner, and probably part of the reason everyone loved it.

Screenshot 2023-11-12 at 7.44.03 PM.png


WHEN you see IT, you'll see why... It was an excellent modeling job, but the bonner put it over the top.
 
troyphoto said:
Long time no post.

here's a pic of the winning "Stug" from the stug life tourney.

Photos by my friend Jeff W... Yes, it's a SU-85 from the Soviet arsenal. But got 11 out of 16 votes for best AFV of the tourney. (Had to be an Assault Gun or a Tank Destroyer... hence the STuG Life theme.)

View attachment 176788

The other side of the banner, and probably part of the reason everyone loved it.

View attachment 176789

WHEN you see IT, you'll see why... It was an excellent modeling job, but the bonner put it over the top.
Click to expand...
Uncle Stalin😆
 
troyphoto said:
Long time no post.

here's a pic of the winning "Stug" from the stug life tourney.

Photos by my friend Jeff W... Yes, it's a SU-85 from the Soviet arsenal. But got 11 out of 16 votes for best AFV of the tourney. (Had to be an Assault Gun or a Tank Destroyer... hence the STuG Life theme.)



The other side of the banner, and probably part of the reason everyone loved it.



WHEN you see IT, you'll see why... It was an excellent modeling job, but the bonner put it over the top.
Click to expand...
Those look incredible!

How many of those creator's model railroaders?
 
bnsf971 said:
Based on that result, they got a new Dasher (Passat), and I got Auto Union's version of the same car.
Click to expand...

Just for those not in the "know", Auto Union is Audi. Or more the direct predecessor of Audi, which was formed in 1969 when it merged with NSU to form "Audi NSU Auto Union AG" which was just shortened to Audi in 1985. Audi was actually the name of a smaller company that merged with Horch, DKW, and Wanderer (German car companies from early 20th century) to form Auto Union in 1932.

The Audi 4 rings comes from Auto Union and represents the 4 companies that merged to form Auto Union. Auto Union shares had previously, mid 60s, been bought up by Volkswagen, having previously been part of Daimler. It is still part of the Volkswagen AG or VAG, the umbrella company that owns VW, Audi, Porsche (now, after a failed attempt by Porsche to buy VW), SEAT, Skoda, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Bentley, Navistar, MAN Trucks, etc.

Now, with that history in mind, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Car wise I've basically owned only VWs or VW group products with a couple exceptions. My very first car was my dad's old Dodge Aries 2 door manual sedan (loss leader). We had 2 Aries when I was in HS -- a white 2 door manual and a 4 door automatic with A/C. My dad sold me his Aries for $1 when I started my full time job at DEC and needed a car, That lasted about 6 months until I noticed an oil leak (it was probably only 6 years old) and I took it in to the local town mechanic who said it wasn't worth repairing as the main frame piece was rusted through and would probably snap if I hit a hard bump or train tracks. So I went and bought my first new car in Nov 1988 -- a 1989 Golf GL 2 door. I had actually gone to the Honda dealer across the street as I didn't have any sort of preconceptions on what cars I liked but Hondas had a good reputation (and my friend had just bought a CRX IIRC) but the dealer had no cars on the lot. So I drove across the street to the VW dealer, who had cars, and test drove a Golf. I was kind of emotionally partial to German cars once I thought about it since I had just come back from almost 2 years living in Germany. So I had no interest in going elsewhere after Honda had no cars on the lot to sell. (They said that when a new trailer of cars came in they were sold out within a day or two).

I've since had an 1988 Jetta bought used (after returning from Germany again, where I lived a year and a half and had brought my US built Golf which was totaled in a 64 car pileup on the autobahn -- I was not at fault but was in the middle of it). I then leased an bought out after the lease expired a 1997 Jetta GT (which I really liked), a 2006 Passat, two 2013 Jetta Sportwagen diesels, his (manual) and hers (automatic though my bride can easily drive a manual, coming from Japan), which were bought back in the diesel scandal. These were replaced by a Volvo and an Audi (which is an expensive VW). So the Volvo has been the only non VW car I've bought new and it was totaled in 2019 when an idiot pulled out of a side street and hit my wife and so when we bought a new car we got a 2019 Jetta SEL Premium. We still drive the 2016 Audi A3 e-tron, my car and a PHEV, and the 2019 Jetta, wife's car.

So I've owned and driven a bunch of VW cars and I've liked them all and had good luck with all of them. No outstanding maintenance issues or long term issues beyond the normal. I did have one wheel bearing go a little prematurely in the 97 Jetta GT and the 2006 Passat needed an A/C core replaced or something like that. Otherwise its been mainly basic maintenance and consumables (brakes on a couple that wore down and tires, etc). My dad bought an 89 Honda and they've had Hondas of various sorts since. They've had good experiences and reliability with their Hondas (though I think they had more recalls than my VWs had :). Now that my dad has passed we have his 2007 Fit that my son drives. And my mom still is driving her 2004 Accord with no major issues.

The "worst" VW I had was the 1988 Jetta which I bought used in 1993. It worked relatively well for me though there were a few problems but my dad took it when I got the 97 Jetta GT and it started having a lot more issues and he finally got rid of it. I bought it used and despite a pre-urchase inspection by a friedn who was a mechanic, it turned out to have some issues and had 3 prior accidents, which I did not know (this was before you could easily get reports and CARFAX and all that). I only learned its history much later after my dad had finally gotten rid of it,

The only other vehicles I've owned were an old early 80s Mazda GLC which I bought (used obviously) for the equivalent of around $750 while living in Germany after my Golf was totaled on the Autobahn. It was a tide-me-over car as I had no money and it took a while for insurance to be paid [I didn't have collision so had to wait to get paid by those behind me and that took a long time to sort out]. It developed an issue and the gas mileage became atrocious and I couldn't afford what I thought would be huge German level repair bills so I tried to feed it carb cleaers and fuel additives etc in case it was clogged up. I finally brought it to the dealer, after a few months of 50 miles one way to work each day and $5-5 a gallon gas [early 90s] and the repair ended up being about $100 in time and materials. It was just a distributor harness that had a bad wire and so it was running on 3 cylinders or something.

I've also had 2 Dodge RAM trucks, a 2000 DOdge RAM 2500 crew cab Sport with Cummins, and a 2005 Dodge RAM MegaCab with Cummins. My trucks worked great and I liked them. I just didn't need a truck and my commute went up so I traded it for the Diesel VW mentioned above.

I grew up with Rambler, Plymouth (70s Valiant), Toyota (early 70s Corona), and teh afore mentioned Dodge Aries K-Cars. My dad also had an old Fiat when I was really young.
 
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chadbag said:
Just for those not in the "know", Auto Union is Audi. Or more the direct predecessor of Audi, which was formed in 1969 when it merged with NSU to form "Audi NSU Auto Union AG" which was just shortened to Audi in 1985. Audi was actually the name of a smaller company that merged with Horch, DKW, and Wanderer (German car companies from early 20th century) to form Auto Union in 1932.

The Audi 4 rings comes from Auto Union and represents the 4 companies that merged to form Auto Union. Auto Union shares had previously, mid 60s, been bought up by Volkswagen, having previously been part of Daimler. It is still part of the Volkswagen AG or VAG, the umbrella company that owns VW, Audi, Porsche (now, after a failed attempt by Porsche to buy VW), SEAT, Skoda, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Bentley, Navistar, MAN Trucks, etc.

Now, with that history in mind, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Car wise I've basically owned only VWs or VW group products with a couple exceptions. My very first car was my dad's old Dodge Aries 2 door manual sedan (loss leader). We had 2 Aries when I was in HS -- a white 2 door manual and a 4 door automatic with A/C. My dad sold me his Aries for $1 when I started my full time job at DEC and needed a car, That lasted about 6 months until I noticed an oil leak (it was probably only 6 years old) and I took it in to the local town mechanic who said it wasn't worth repairing as the main frame piece was rusted through and would probably snap if I hit a hard bump or train tracks. So I went and bought my first new car in Nov 1988 -- a 1989 Golf GL 2 door. I had actually gone to the Honda dealer across the street as I didn't have any sort of preconceptions on what cars I liked but Hondas had a good reputation (and my friend had just bought a CRX IIRC) but the dealer had no cars on the lot. So I drove across the street to the VW dealer, who had cars, and test drove a Golf. I was kind of emotionally partial to German cars once I thought about it since I had just come back from almost 2 years living in Germany. So I had no interest in going elsewhere after Honda had no cars on the lot to sell. (They said that when a new trailer of cars came in they were sold out within a day or two).

I've since had an 1988 Jetta bought used (after returning from Germany again, where I lived a year and a half and had brought my US built Golf which was totaled in a 64 car pileup on the autobahn -- I was not at fault but was in the middle of it). I then leased an bought out after the lease expired a 1997 Jetta GT (which I really liked), a 2006 Passat, two 2013 Jetta Sportwagen diesels, his (manual) and hers (automatic though my bride can easily drive a manual, coming from Japan), which were bought back in the diesel scandal. These were replaced by a Volvo and an Audi (which is an expensive VW). So the Volvo has been the only non VW car I've bought new and it was totaled in 2019 when an idiot pulled out of a side street and hit my wife and so when we bought a new car we got a 2019 Jetta SEL Premium. We still drive the 2016 Audi A3 e-tron, my car and a PHEV, and the 2019 Jetta, wife's car.

So I've owned and driven a bunch of VW cars and I've liked them all and had good luck with all of them. No outstanding maintenance issues or long term issues beyond the normal. I did have one wheel bearing go a little prematurely in the 97 Jetta GT and the 2006 Passat needed an A/C core replaced or something like that. Otherwise its been mainly basic maintenance and consumables (brakes on a couple that wore down and tires, etc). My dad bought an 89 Honda and they've had Hondas of various sorts since. They've had good experiences and reliability with their Hondas (though I think they had more recalls than my VWs had :). Now that my dad has passed we have his 2007 Fit that my son drives. And my mom still is driving her 2004 Accord with no major issues.

The "worst" VW I had was the 1988 Jetta which I bought used in 1993. It worked relatively well for me though there were a few problems but my dad took it when I got the 97 Jetta GT and it started having a lot more issues and he finally got rid of it. I bought it used and despite a pre-urchase inspection by a friedn who was a mechanic, it turned out to have some issues and had 3 prior accidents, which I did not know (this was before you could easily get reports and CARFAX and all that). I only learned its history much later after my dad had finally gotten rid of it,

The only other vehicles I've owned were an old early 80s Mazda GLC which I bought (used obviously) for the equivalent of around $750 while living in Germany after my Golf was totaled on the Autobahn. It was a tide-me-over car as I had no money and it took a while for insurance to be paid [I didn't have collision so had to wait to get paid by those behind me and that took a long time to sort out]. It developed an issue and the gas mileage became atrocious and I couldn't afford what I thought would be huge German level repair bills so I tried to feed it carb cleaers and fuel additives etc in case it was clogged up. I finally brought it to the dealer, after a few months of 50 miles one way to work each day and $5-5 a gallon gas [early 90s] and the repair ended up being about $100 in time and materials. It was just a distributor harness that had a bad wire and so it was running on 3 cylinders or something.

I've also had 2 Dodge RAM trucks, a 2000 DOdge RAM 2500 crew cab Sport with Cummins, and a 2005 Dodge RAM MegaCab with Cummins. My trucks worked great and I liked them. I just didn't need a truck and my commute went up so I traded it for the Diesel VW mentioned above.

I grew up with Rambler, Plymouth (70s Valiant), Toyota (early 70s Corona), and teh afore mentioned Dodge Aries K-Cars. My dad also had an old Fiat when I was really young.
Click to expand...
If you put an NSU Prinz engine in your Valiant, would it be called a "Prince Valient"???
 
Good morning all. After a couple of days with no rain the Heavenly watering can is back and working overtime.

Last week Dawn asked the doctor for a prescription for urgent medicine. She was told she was on the priority list and the prescription would be sent to our local pharmacy. Dawn has repeatedly telephoned the pharmacy, but no prescription has arrived. Today the doctor has sent the prescription? Now Dawn has to wait until the medicine she needs has been ordered and arrived. Priority? I do not think so.
Meanwhile Dawn has to stay in bed until the medicine is available!

Rant over.
 
NorthBrit said:
Last week Dawn asked the doctor for a prescription for urgent medicine. She was told she was on the priority list and the prescription would be sent to our local pharmacy. Dawn has repeatedly telephoned the pharmacy, but no prescription has arrived. Today the doctor has sent the prescription? Now Dawn has to wait until the medicine she needs has been ordered and arrived. Priority? I do not think so.
Meanwhile Dawn has to stay in bed until the medicine is available!

Rant over.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, I see our health care following the same path.
 
NorthBrit said:
Good morning all. After a couple of days with no rain the Heavenly watering can is back and working overtime.

Last week Dawn asked the doctor for a prescription for urgent medicine. She was told she was on the priority list and the prescription would be sent to our local pharmacy. Dawn has repeatedly telephoned the pharmacy, but no prescription has arrived. Today the doctor has sent the prescription? Now Dawn has to wait until the medicine she needs has been ordered and arrived. Priority? I do not think so.
Meanwhile Dawn has to stay in bed until the medicine is available!

Rant over.
Click to expand...
Oh that is wrong! What part of priority do they not understand? I would be raising h e double toothpicks over this.
I hope she gets her meds soon!
 
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Morning all,

Got a full week this week. Not looking forward to it. Next week is going to be shorter and fewer days.

Currently 42° and dark, going for mostly light and 70° later. A bit above average for this time of year and supposed to remain so for the next 7 days. Some remote possibility of rain by the end of the week, but the real money says it won't.

BBL
 
Good morning from a little part of Wisconsin. Temperature is 41f degrees heading to the high 50’s and then 60’s the rest of week per the weather guessers.

I will walk outside after the sun comes up at 6:48am. It’s so much nicer walking outside then the darn treadmill. I will exercise the 3 horses and ride one of them this afternoon. I will get in the pool around 8 tonight as the trainer and physical therapist are using me as a “guinea pig”. They are spreading out my active times hoping to keep me less fatigued during the afternoon and late evenings. Somewhere between those activities I will be at the weathering bench. I have been napping around 3pm with a 30 minute alarm. I have been falling to sleep almost nightly the last month around 9 -10:30pm in my chair in the cave. Then going to bed at 11:30pm to midnight and sleeping to 5:30 or later. The doctor is aware and before we do medicine changes they want to see if moving the swimming to the evening will help.

Last night I won a few bids on EBay for containers by Atlas and Walthers. So 32 more containers for me. I have 120 already so this will round out the layout needs at this time. $7 to $8 is a good deal if they really are new!

enjoy the day
 
Oh the joys of getting older - sometimes i wonder if it is really worth it? I have been up for going on two hours - went to bed around 8 PM, woke about 3 AM wide awake.

Didn't even touch the truck yesterday - just no desire to be frustrated - after all it was Sunday and supposed to be a day of rest. Heck, everyday for me is a day of rest! LOL

Supposed to be 79 and sunny today - yesterday climbed to 86!

DAVID - prayers for you and DAWN. Sorry to hear of you trials with the Medical Profession.

KARL and MAC - Love those steamers! They are all "works of art".

TERRY - Good vibes when dealing with the bank - stay cool.

BBL
 
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