Running Bear's February 2022 Coffee Shop

[TLOC]

That's some of it. Some of it is maybe fewer hobby shops, and you're right, the internet is taking a chunk of that business. In my experience you have three types of vendors at these shows. The "from my basement to yours" guys selling off estate stuff or stuff they aren't going to use, or just plain getting out of the hobby; the "Hobby Shop in a van" guys who have no actual brick and mortar store, and the actual hobby shops. The hobby shops started doing this to blow out extra inventory that hasn't sold at a discount. The pre-order system is changing that business model, and you aren't seeing the deals you used to. They're still there, but there are not as many of them. I think shows are in a transitional period. They'll change some, but they won't go away, though there may be fewer. We're a social bunch and we like to see layouts and shoot the breeze. Even Covid won't change that much. I'd say probably 90% of the crowd was masked up yesterday. One last thing, to prevent this from morphing into another "they hobby is dying" discussion I saw plenty of young guys with bags full of stuff. My son happened to be with me. I got him started when he was about 3. He's 30 now and after the usual "the other kids make fun of me for playing with trains", and the middle and high school years where cars, girls and parties were all more important, he came back. I think as long as we expose people and mentor, the hobby will be in good shape.

I agree with most of what you wrote. I got there early and the majority thenwere looking to be in the 35 to 50 yrsr old mark. Later before I left I saw a lot of older guys who were not sitting behind a layout but seemed to be blocking the aisles talking to a buddy.

At the scale train type vendor tables there was a lot of buying.

Actually I was surprised by the few who weren’t masked. On the UW campus at the Kohl Center, LaBahn arena and the Memorial Union there are constant announcements that masks need to be worn. On campus those unmasked would have been asked to put one on or leave. Not at the show.

I believe in almost 2 years of no or extremely few shows, the traveling vendors moved online to places like Facebook and the io.groups for selling. I don’t buy on eBay so I rarely look there and don’t know if they went there.

I can see this show disappearing or get even smaller. The volunteer organizers seemed to be ancients and not the healthiest looking group of guys.

TomO

 

[TLOC]

Good Morning Everyone....warming up and windy today after a cold day following the snow squalls we had on Friday night. 75 mile an hour winds on Friday night that are close to hurricane strength. Lucky not much damage.

Just catching up on the web subject and sadly the financial news. A bit behind on the Forum News. Have to clean up the paperwork that collecting on my computer printer and shred some of the private information. It's funny a realtor that Cathy used to sell her mother's home sent us a market survey of our residence and the projected sales price if we were interested in selling. A lot of the information was incorrect and should of never been used.

Missed the Madison, Wisconsin Train Show and I never had attended the show in the past. It wasn't until TomO mentioned the show that I remembered that I forgot the date. I miss the annual TrainFest in Milwaukee and used to saved my pennies to spend at the show. But, the last time I was there I didn't spend a dime! Now I have a Jack Daniels 1.75 bottle now over half full of coins.

The web store are taking a lot of business out of the brick and mortar hobby shops, no different that the stores on main street and in the malls. I shop the internet for basic supplies and one of a kind needs. Since I'm not 100% percent, the web store make it easy for me to shop on line. I made a purchase of Vallejo paints at Hiawatha Hobbies on line and received my order three days later. Excellent customer service.

I shopped often at Hiawatha when it was a smaller shop in Waukesha, Wisconsin and it was a fast trip during my extended lunch breaks at work. I spent a small fortune on locomotives and Kadee freight cars at Hiawatha that I purchased basically on impulse.

I purchased locomotives and KD cars with color schemes I liked and different, odd road names. Like a Black River loco or Buffalo Creek box cars. On line shopping I avoid a lot impulse purchases. Trouble is I'm stocking up on supplies that I'll need or I'm low on when I get back to model railroading full time, not to mention buying a few pieces of rolling stock.

I look forward to shopping at my LHS in person!

That's about all for now.....

Greg

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And I thank you for buying pulp wood cars. We in the modeling community are doing our best to keep the economy going

TomO

 

[MilwRoader_Steve]

Some work done today.
Glued down the 22r and the one curved TO connecting to it:

And wanted to show the method I chose to mount the two PSX circuit boards on a spring-loaded hinge:

I am pleased with myself. Cheers all, it's 5 o'clock!

 

[CambriaArea51]

Tom- Neat video. Are the 4 uprights that grip the car spring loaded?

No, I believe he has them on stall motors.

 

[santafewillie]

Today has been another high wind day, this time from the west. The resultant dust storm from West Texas always brings a sunset similar to this.

 

[tootnkumin]

Ray: You are so perceptive.

By what Terry reports it may be his new employer will not need to be concerned about the previous competition for very long. Implosion can be as destructive as explosion.

 

[bnsf971]

Good evening. It's clear and 39.
I replaced a SSD in a ultraportable laptop today, and upon reassembly, I discovered how tight some clearances are. The old drive had all it's components on one side, and the new one, having twice the capacity, had some parts on the other side. The difference in thickness was between .25mm-.50mm. That's between 10,000and 20,000 inch. That difference in thickness was enough to prevent the trackpad from working. It was a real head-scratcher, because the SSD is located on the opposite side of the laptop from the trackpad. After finally figuring out what the issue was, I rummaged around in my parts box, and found a pair of .5mm fiber flat washers, which I placed between the battery and the body of the laptop. That held the battery down, away from the bottom of the trackpad so it would function properly. After reassembly, all is right in the laptop's little world. Not all brain surgery is that precise...

 

[Boris]

Good evening. Hope everyone had a great weekend. Spent time between naps working on the layout. I finished the last module, back drop and all. I have to physically connect it to the previous modules, then run the buss, and the DC accessory buss, before I put down the track. (Hopefully I have enough. This is the end of the line. It is a switching layout. Dimensions are 24" wide. Length follows the walls, 23½ ft x16ft x 19ft. Sort of a upside down U shape.

Two 2 ft x 4 ft modules left and center.

This is the general track plan for the end modules, with modifications to be determined at a later date.

 

[D&J RailRoad]

I really wanted to go work on the empire after the Daytona crash extravaganza finished up but got hooked on watching the Yellowstone series till 1030.
Well, there's always tomorrow.

 

[Smudge617]

Well, storm number three arrived yesterday, and is officially over, not! Had an interesting drive this morning, horizontal rain, sleet and snow, not bad in less than two hours. Been pushed around today far more than friday or saturday, gave a few cars and 18 wheelers a fright. Went round a bend and went from 50mph to under 30, in less than two seconds, and I'm 14 ton, and that's with my foot still on the gas, bit of a headwind I think.
Ah well, see what the return journey is like this afternoon.

 

[bnsf971]

 

[BigGRacing]

Good morning all,
Starting to feel better as well so will definitely get to the train room and work on some landscape contours today I think. No money for train parts as my scale Liberty ship will cost me about $250 (bonus is that I will R/C it so it will be dual purpose)

Deck hatch #5 printed and first hull section being started last night by my buddy from work who is doing a smaller scale one for himself to match his old Bonaventure AirCraft carrier.

Okay finish to the race last night, and I hope you all have a great day !

 

[Patrick]

Morning all,

After last week's 68° to 6" of snow the next day, we got rid of the snow. Most gone by Saturday. Supposed to be 72° and windy today, with a high tomorrow of 28°. Not expecting to be above freezing until Saturday.

Got some train time scheduled for today. Most of my extended weekend was a bust as I was recovering from a sinus infection. That just dragged me down.

Happy President's Day. Last holiday until Memorial Day. I do have some honey do's to get done as well.

Terry: Good luck on your first day on the new job!

Bbl

 

[santafewillie]

Terry - Good luck today.

 

[CambriaArea51]

Good morning....A well deserved government holiday today. Train room later, need to get stuff together for the train show this coming weekend.

 

[MilwRoader_Steve]

Good morning all,




View attachment 141339

Love the two cannon in the background, Gary. Neighborhood kids must pay money to traipse around in your garage/work area!! Nice flattop.

 

[Espeefan]

Alan - Braggart! I'm jealous of both your booty and the fact you got to go to a train show. Nice economical haul.
Our first local train show will not be for a few weeks yet.

Which show Mike? Steel City Division? Still at the Bessemer Civic Center? Those were the days! I did pass on a Tenshodo P-5 4-6-2. it's a model that's technically still on the want list. I like those tall drivered straight boilered Harriman Pacifics, but it was painted for a fictitious road, and the paint job was meh and it would have needed a can motor and decoder as well. The price was good at $195.00, but I have so many painting projects in the stack here I just couldn't in good conscience put another one in the pile. It's a common model. There'll be another one along if I change my mind. I've sort of become the Jim Gibson of the Milwaukee area, with quite a large collection of steam engines and brass passenger cars. As you may know I wound up with a large amount of Jim's collection, and quite a chunk of Thorington's as well. You will eventually plateau with this stuff!

 

[McLeod]

Good Morning!

It's only -16F outside, but, it feels colder than that. All around, it's just going to be a crappy day to go outside and play for this holiday Monday.
There are a number of outdoor events in the works for this Family Day , but, I'll leave that to the younger folks and I'll just stay inside my warm house.

D&J - Thankyou for the table leg-levelling suggestions. Good suggestions, although too late for what I'm doing since I've already spent the money on sliders. I don't want to spend any more money on it, and my idea seems to be working out.

GaryR - Love the flat-top with the Banshee's and Tracker on deck. It seems like everyone from the Maritimes is into boats. What scale would that model carrier be?

Here's a marked photograph of what I'm working on.

I happen to be a mumbo-jumbo builder, never working off of real plans; everything just coming out of my head. I'm always jumping around, doing this, then doing that. It all seems to work out in the end and look decent.
That styrafoam table will have another layer of foam put on it, so that the McLeod River can be cut into it, with a bridge crossing over. The tables legs are to be adjusted and sliders installed.
Another 48" table is under construction, and will be placed to the right of the tracked module.
I still need to put on some drywall, paint, further adjust lighting, etc, etc.... I'm really all over the road. I've been mumbo-jumbo my whole life. Things seem to work out, though.

Well, I want to get to it. So, have a great day, folks!!

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All. Cloudy and 54°. Oh how the forecast has changed overnight. Instead of mostly sunny and 83°, it is now for cloudy, 77° and thunderstorms around dusk! I have a bit better forecast than Patrick upcoming, with 61° tomorrow, dropping below freezing around midnight Tuesday with freezing rain for two days and not getting back above 32° until noonish Friday.

Happy President's Day. At least the stock market won't move! And to our friends north of the border, Happy Family Day. Yep they have holidays in Canada despite Guy's beliefs!

I gave up my 9:00 am dental appointment today for a nine-year old kid who needed it worse than I did. They called me last Friday since his was more of an emergency than my minor filling. I'll go next Tuesday...my alternative was this Wednesday when it is forecasted to be freezing rain. I am in no pain and wouldn't have even known about the cavity other than having my teeth cleaned about ten days ago.

Thanks to all who commented or reacted to yesterday's post about the improvements to the candy shop; Tom, Guy, Karl, Steve J, Rick, Joe, Gary, Mikey, IB Ken, OB Ken, Hughie, Smudge, Justin, James, Louis, Curt, Tom O, Chad, Troy, Jaz, George, Patrick.

Out in the train shed yesterday, I moved on to the next smallish project. I added the sidewalk to the Harrison's Hardware store.

This is a Woodland Scenics "built-up" model that was gifted to me a few years ago. I normally only purchase kits.
One of the nice things about it is all of the detail parts, but they are all attached and I didn't really need everything attached to the rear of the store, as they will not be visible from any angle.

So off came everything except the electric meter and the lamp over the door. They will be used somewhere else soon.
I got as far as cutting and mounting the sidewalk and the .040" strips under the two remaining walls.

I am quite undecided about the dog lying on the sidewalk to the right of the front door; I may remove him. It's a nice touch, but somewhat impractical for this location along the main drag in this town. Today I will paint.
Meanwhile, while I waited for glue to dry, I started installing the Woodland Scenics barbed wire fencing that I bought last week. I have always made my own by cutting toothpicks to length, drilling three .010" holes through them and then stringing .007" wire through them. Well this is an experiment to see if the pre-made works any better. Here's the initial results. I have an area about 72" long and 3" wide between the main line and the backdrop/wall that represents a cow pasture.

I'm starting next to an existing fence.

I installed the first 23".

I still need to add the proper sag to the wires, but I ran out of time yesterday. My conclusions since Dave B had asked. Easier than drilling all of the holes and stringing all of that wire. Downside is just getting the mounting holes accurately drilled, as the wire is permanently fastened to the holes in their product. I have adjustment built in to my method, the posts will slide back and forth. The cost is not really relevant except there is a tremendous time savings. While the homemade is essentially free because I already have everything, free toothpicks from eating establishments and wire salvaged from discarded computer cable from work when we went wifi. A 23" pack from WS is around $9. It easily takes 90 minutes to do an equivalent length of homemade.

Justin -

I needed to work on my Athearn/Roundhouse hoppers. They have saggy couplers. Even with the covers in place. I've attempted to modify the covers for a better fit without much success.

Kadee makes red washers, #208, (and gray ones too) that go on the truck kingpins of all older Athearn Blue Box and Roundhouse cars that bring the couplers up to the correct NMRA coupler height. Simple to use. I used them by the package-full years ago. Alternately but more expensive is to switch them out to 36" wheelsets.
IB Ken - Nice job on the rotary dumper. Looking forward to the next step.
Mikey - I am a super big fan of figures on the layout They add a whole new dimension especially when I can get or make action poses that are truly relevant.
Joe -

Spent time between naps working on the layout

You're beginning to sound like me! Although I have dropped back to only one nap a day since kicking that damn pneumonia.
Patrick -

Happy President's Day. Last holiday until Memorial Day.

Due to the high Hispanic Catholic population here in Texas, Good Friday is considered a non-official holiday here. Most all non-retail businesses are closed.

Everybody have a great day. Stay safe and warm.

 

[TLOC]

Good morning Crew from So. Central Wisconsin. 53f degrees yesterday, maybe 40 today per the WeatherChannel app a minute ago. Yesterday we were told by the TV guys we wouldn’t hit 30. They still say though a devastating ICE Storm is hitting this afternoon. But, as I type this the morning weather guy says the ICE STORM hits around 9pm. Not really sure why I pay attention when the weather folks appear on TV.

Other then the normal Monday vacuuming I only have a PT appointment at 2:30 in the plans.

I did break out the air brush yesterday. But I did first watch maybe an hour of the 500 mile Dayton. I have not watched any NASCAR race I bet since before retirement in 2014. I knew few of the names, disliked listening to the expert analysts and the race is in sections. Saw the beginning for maybe 25 laps and then woke to watch the whole last section but left with the big crash at the end. That air brush was calling.

I had not handled an air brush in a number of years and I have 2 brand new Badger brushes. Actually all 4 of my brushes are Badger and the one I was using before getting married in 1976 still sprays as good as the 2 new ones. I practiced for almost 2.5 hours. It did not comeback very easy. 2 single action brushes were fine but the 2 new dual action were almost comical. Never had used a dual action before. I had all 4 brushes out and did the same practice exercises for each and after the 1st 2 with the single action I thought this is as easy as I remember. Not true with the dual action. Today, I will be painting and weathering my ridiculously massive Grain Terminal with way too buildings, bins, silos and not enough space. Weathering of the rolling stock has been by hand but the undersides of the 4 gondolas I purchased Saturday will now be airbrushed. I will hold off on using it on the visible sections until I am more familar with the airbrushes.

Most of the visitors have left. The son was planning for a noonish departure but ended up getting out at 7 this morning. He is dropping the girls off including his co-pilot/gf in Nashville. When he decided to route home that way I knew yesterday he was playing taxi driver. So the house upstairs is the SIL and 2 grandkids. Down here it’s just me and the brother. He now is not sure when he flies to Arizona to oversee packing up the house. His closing is March 3rd. The brother’s g/f, the son’s g/f, the daughter, my wife, the sister and her daughter are there 2 days early.

Terry, have a safe, productive and ENJOYABLE day on the new job. Congrats again.

Ken, just be safe on the job. No foolishness waiting for the new job start date. Congrats again to you.

Have a great day
TomO

the air brushing victims for today