Coffee Shop XXIX

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Good afternoon. It's 42° and mostly sunny. The high will be 51° and it will be mostly cloudy.

Well, most of my morning was scrapped. I spent better part of the morning at my parents place helping them. My mother had another sugar crash and my father can't handle her alone. As for the rest of the day, I have no particular plans. Whatever comes up I guess.

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Well, after a rocky start today seemed like Christmas. First I received a box packed with decals and Kadee shelf couplers. I was busy putting the couplers and their gear boxes in the old medicine bottles I keep them in when I got a call from my father that another box had arrived. This one had ten freight cars packed in it. One from Life-Like, three from Tyco, the rest from Bachmann, and all with truck mounted couplers. It'll be somewhat slow but I'll get them all converted to body-mounted Kadee's. One of the surprises was a Tyco pulpwood flat with it's load. In many cases the load gets lost or damaged. Another surprise was a Life-Like thrall-door weyerhaeuser boxcar. If I remember correctly this type was released in the mid 70's. Even so I've seen only a handful of the Weyerhaeuser boxcars and this is the first one I've had. Surprised is a picture of me in the dictionary opening that box.
 


Good morning folks.

We're all decorated for Christmas. I had read that the tree farm that my wife always went to as a kid was closing up shop this year. They are ripping out all of the trees and planting hay instead. We go to this tree farm every year and cut down a long needle tree. Since this is the last year, we decided to go big. You should see the tree she picked out.:confused: It's SIX FEET WIDE at the base and NINE FEET TALL! :eek: I had to leave it wrapped to get in the door. It was something right out of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Since we have eighteen foot, cathedral ceilings in the train room it doesn't look that big. Oh, did I mention this tree is in the train room? I'm waiting for a dang squirrel to come shooting out of this thing. Well, she's happy and that means I'm happy. I'm just going to have to cut it up inside to get rid of it this January!:D

I have the day off today so I think I'll run some choo choos. Other than that I don't know much.

Have a good day folks.
 
Good morning. It's 36° and sunny. The high will be 61° and it will be mostly sunny.

Yesterday I received a box with ten freight cars in it. Six Bachmann, three Tyco and one Life-Like. All had truck mounted couplers. This morning eight of them have Kadee couplers. Two of the Bachmann cars (Two 4 bay hoppers) proved very difficult to mount coupler boxes to so on those cars I mounted the couplers to the trucks using Kadee gear box covers and 1/16" brass screws and cut off the excess length of the screws. The three Tyco cars were very easy to convert to body mounted couplers. Two Bachmann Middletown & New Jersey boxcars and a Life-Like Weyerhaeuser boxcar were easy conversions. All that's left is a Bachmann UP gondola and a Bachmann SF stock car. The stock car is a toss-up as I have no use for it.

Now I must get ready to go to my parents place to have breakfast with my father. He probably has something up his sleeve.

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Hi all! Nope, no snow for T-town; the temps never got low enough even though the rain was there. Still, it is a cold (40*) and damp day that is ideal for some work in the depot.

We had a good Turkey day and a better football day with Bama destroying Auburn---Sorry Mikey. YUK! Yuk! This should keep Alabama in the number 2 spot for the National Championship game. I know some would rather see LSU play someone different, as I would rather see Alabama play someone different. However, this is about the earned number 1 and number 2 positions playing off for the Championship...not about what TV viewers and sportscasters want or how much money can be made. We will certainly learn how much influence and control, money has over college football if Bama is replaced by an inferior team. RANT OVER

Terry: My travel trailer roof repair job has hit $3500.00...but the gasket also has failed on the slid-out and its floor repair plus new gasket is an additional $1500.00. The RV center's owner told me that you have to re-calk the camper every 5-7 years or there is a strong possibility for leaks. The camper is a 2007 Dutchman...does all this sound right? I've only had it 3.5 years.
 
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We buyed us new tree this here year. All white wid blue LED lights. It is one of dem open the box and fold down the limbs and plug the sections together as you go. EASY!!! and I luv dat part of the process. Man is dat ting bright. Only 300 lights on a 6.5' tree seems like a 1000 of dem dere lil burgers. We had all blue LED's on the green tree last year and I put over 900 lights on a 7' tree and it was not nearly as bright as this years tree. I LUV it. I have liked blue at Christmas for over 20 yrs and now it is becoming more popular around here at least.
 
Good afternoon all,

It's fairly comfortable around here as the nights aren't dropping down too low I think about 38* last night and it about 45* or so now but the sun is out and little breeze.

Rex:
Man that's quite some price for the roof repair and then the extra money for the slide out. Wow!! I would think that the new Silcon or Latex calk would be easy to apply yourself and the stuff is tuff once it dries. I used some of it on a couple of things around my place and it sure bonds great!

Certainly nothing you'd want to use to addhear track if you ever had any thought of pulling it up again.


Jeff:
Those background scenes sure do make quite a difference. If you wanted to really create and illusion, on the shot of the scene of the tall wood structure with the long boards leaning against the side of it proped up on the roof just cut a small block from an appropriate size piece of wood and use some stick it on the roof just below the long pieces standing on the roof as a support and you've given the scene a third demension!


Hope everyone has a good day. I had a couple of belts break on my Eclipse and a very knowledgeable mechanic friend found the main pully on the krank had somehow changed position and caused the other belts to shred. So I'm waiting on him now with the drivers side jacked up and the tire/rim removed so we can take the lower plastic cowling off.
 
Trussrod said:
Jeff:
Those background scenes sure do make quite a difference. If you wanted to really create and illusion, on the shot of the scene of the tall wood structure with the long boards leaning against the side of it proped up on the roof just cut a small block from an appropriate size piece of wood and use some stick it on the roof just below the long pieces standing on the roof as a support and you've given the scene a third demension!
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That's a good idea. I may do that some day. That part of the backdrop is a bit difficult to get to and those background buildings are totally two dimensional. They were cut from a Details Associates Farm Town background and stuck onto the Busch backdrop with looped masking tape.
 


RexHea said:
Terry: My travel trailer roof repair job has hit $3500.00...but the gasket also has failed on the slid-out and its floor repair plus new gasket is an additional $1500.00. The RV center's owner told me that you have to re-calk the camper every 5-7 years or there is a strong possibility for leaks. The camper is a 2007 Dutchman...does all this sound right? I've only had it 3.5 years.
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That's about right, even maybe a bit low. I hate Dutchmen trailers. We have one sitting on the lot that I've had to rebuild both slideouts, re-roof the unit, and repair the floor. The gaskets for the slideout are horrible. A single piece of thin rubber against a thin piece of plywood to seal them. Oh, and the one I worked on is a 2008. And it's been 6 months since I did the work (it hasn't sold yet, even at a bargain-basement price)--and it's leaking again, and the fiberglass front section has become delaminated. If somebody offers you a stack of cash for it, take the money and RUN.
 
:eek:Wow! That's not good to hear, Terry. Dutchmen used to be a good brandname back......well, a good ways back. It doesn't have any fiberglass on it, so at least I don't have to worry about that and the rubber roof seems to be in good shape (hell, the rubber roof has a 10 year warranty. Naturally, that didn't fail.) The danged leak never showed up on the inside where I could have done something sooner. Is it correct that I need to re-caulk the seams every 5-7 years???:confused:
 
RexHea said:
:eek:Wow! That's not good to hear, Terry. Dutchmen used to be a good brandname back......well, a good ways back. It doesn't have any fiberglass on it, so at least I don't have to worry about that and the rubber roof seems to be in good shape (hell, the rubber roof has a 10 year warranty. Naturally, that didn't fail.) The danged leak never showed up on the inside where I could have done something sooner. Is it correct that I need to re-caulk the seams every 5-7 years???:confused:
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The rubber roof will last 10 years, if you clean and treat (coat) it every 3 years or so. The biggest issue is all the holes in the rubber roof that will let water in. Roof and plumbing vents, clearance lights, antennas, the aluminum channels on both ends and both sides of the roof, anywhere there is a screw through the rubber or fiberglass. You should reseal all those spots every 3 years to help keep the leaks down.
Also, unless your trailer has corrugated aluminum siding and front and rear panels, you have bonded fiberglass. The smooth white side panels are fiberglass backed by 1/8" plywood, with Styrofoam sandwiched between that and the interior 1/8" plywood panels.
 
Good evening. I just finished converting the last of the ten freight cars I've been working on. It's a Bachmann gondola. For some reason known only to Bachmann the body sits four mm higher than other cars. That's almost three scale feet! :o It's also the height of a Kadee draft gear box. So this car has four gear boxes instead of two and the couplers are at the proper height. Now all ten cars are lined up for the next step. Weathering. I'll take photos of each car as it's done. I wouldn't want you to miss it.

Now it's time to hit the sack. I'll see y'all tomorrow.

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Good morning. It's 37° and clear. The high will be 58° and it will be mostly sunny.

On the schedule for today is car weathering. There are ten freight cars lined up and they're way too clean and glossy. I have the weathering powder and the brush ready to go and I'll be starting on the first car later this morning IF nothing else comes up. I'll be taking photos of each car after they're done.

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Good morning folks

It was 43 F this morning. A change from the past few mornings where it was close to 60 F. Our high today will be 53 F.

I am just passing through quickly today. It is another crazy day at the office. Seems like the majority of my time lately has been putting out fires. I am getting a crash course in crisis management. All the emergency contracts we let recently are driving us nuts. As the projects progress in construction we finding that the damage in most cases is more severe than initially thought and we having to do a lot of redesign on the fly.

I will be out of the office early today. MY daughter sees the hand specialist for her finger today. The splint came off last week and we are hoping she gets final clearance that everything is healed. She is chomping at the bit to get back on the volleyball court. She can’t wait until practice starts next week.

I hope everybody has a good day.
 
I got the ten cars weathered. They now look just as rusty and dirty as any of my others. I wanted to get them done today as tomorrow is bill paying day. I get to be depressed as I watch my Social Security check disappear. I'll have photos of the cars up later.
 
jeffrey-wimberly said:
That's a good idea. I may do that some day. That part of the backdrop is a bit difficult to get to and those background buildings are totally two dimensional. They were cut from a Details Associates Farm Town background and stuck onto the Busch backdrop with looped masking tape.
Click to expand...


Say Jeffrey

The buildings, to me, have enough of a three dimensional look to them to appear as real buildings, especially with the tall 2x6's? leaning against the taller section so that a couple of actual blocks just under the tall leaning boards would sure make individuals viewing the scene wonder if they weren't indeed actual buildings in the distance. It's kind of an illusion it would create!

Another trick if you have an area that is somewhat near that you want to appear as farther away is to use an N scale building to give you forced perspective.

The new Avatar photo I posted uses a picture my Dad hanging on the outside wall of the old dark room and had actually fallen off so I taped it too some foam core board and just set it behind the switch mans shanty and then took the shot. It seems a bit busy to me. I think I may redo it with just a blue or light grey sky type of board. Anyway your layout is looking pretty good!
 
 


Good afternoon all,

It's about 40* out with lots of moisture as everything is dripping wet and cold! I guess I'm in a low cloud as I can look up toward the higher hill in back and the trees get progressively more faint as the distance increases from about 250' and beyond. Would be an interesting effect for a backdrop.

I was talking to someone about railroading around the great depression era and the subject of hobos came up and I did a search and this one of the things I found.



The list of people who rode the rails includes many later became famous –

* Novelist Louis L'Amour
* TV host Art Linkletter
* Oil billionaire H. L. Hunt
* Journalist Eric Sevareid
* Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas

All, at one time, had been hoboes, looking for work.

Yep, the old RR history is colorful for sure!
 
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