Good Morning All. Partly cloudy and 75°, a bit cooler than yesterday but still a bit warm for this time of morning in early June. New forecast today now calls for overnight thunderstorms tonight, then again from Tuesday through Sunday.
Wife came home from her trip to South Padre Island yesterday, and couldn't find anything to complain about except the load of laundry that I didn't fold yet. That's her task anyway. I wasn't expecting her until Monday per the original plan, but that plan had changed about two weeks ago without anyone telling me. The other SIL is coming to retrieve the granddogs today. I did use the pool yesterday, a later start than a normal season. It had cleared up completely and the temperature was a comfortable 82°. I'm now ready for some rain to top up the water level. Out in the garden, I picked the first three Yellow Squash, but didn't remember to take a picture of them. They were delicious. I'll be picking more today, along with more Tomatoes and Jalapenos.
I didn't get to the mowing yesterday, as installation of the pool steps took longer than expected. The steps themselves didn't take much longer, but I had to remove and re-install an 8'- 2"x12" deck board first. I sorta mowed though, using the weedeater around most of the 75' pool circumference.
Not much time out in the train shed yesterday. I dug my most problematic unit train out of the storage/staging yard and ran it for a bit. It is a train of all spine cars, sometimes called front runners(?). Problematic for me as well as the prototype in that the cars are subject to derailing; for me usually when backing up. Going forward at a modest speed usually poses no issues until heading into a passing siding.
They're a definite "no-go" when empty, even though these Walther's cars are made of metal.
Just having two axles is part of the problem I believe. I have 8 of them, all gotten at an estate sale. 4 were originally equipped with drawbars, which I replaced with Kadee couplers, as the drawbar equipped ones were a problem going forward even on my 30" radius curves. I bought a 3-unit set from Bowser to add to the train, and they have traditional trucks. They run well.
They also have some really nice detailing.
I did some additional tuning up to see if I could get them to run better but haven't tried them out yet. Due to the design of the Walther's cars, you cannot use a truck tuner on them to ream out the trucks, some of which are rough. I had switched out the plastic wheels with P2K metal 28" wheelsets when I first brought them home.
John - Damn, getting up at 8:30 is early for you! I haven't slept that late since high school days in the 60's. Sleeping late for me is 5:15ish.
Regarding using the drones to spy on military bases: My Mini-2 is supposedly programed to restrict it from flying over military bases, prisons and airports. I don't know if it works since there aren't any of them near enough to me to be in range. I'm sure that someone more familiar with them can override that.
Cardstock structures: I sometimes add window frames made out of styrene strip to add a 3 dimensional aspect to them. I didn't do it to this one, but here's an example.
Today is Whit Sunday, or Pentecost Sunday as some call it.
Everyone have a great day today.
