Running Bear's January 2024 Coffee Shop

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Good evening. After reaching our apparent low of 32° around Dinner time, the current temperature is 34°, and cloudy, with a calm SW wind (?). Forecast is for a chance of Flurries, overnight, and clearing after daybreak with a high of 41°. Today, was brilliant sun, clear sky, high of 48°, with a chilly 10MPH North wind. Amazing how fast the weather changes here in Jersey.
 
Been playing with LeonardoAI image software.

I put in a pic of me, and pics I took of SaMo Pier, and asked it to make me a wizard in a similar environment

Wizard 1.jpg

Not bad, but I don't have facial hair...
Evidently, wizards do have it...

Then I changed "wizard to "detective"

troy pier.jpg


And I lost my glasses somewhere.
 


Willie-How was that elevator kit to build? I have one to build with two add on silo kits to add.

Any advice on hiding the silo seams?
I assembled this 10-12 years ago and this is what I recall. Assembly instructions were rather sparse, or actually absent but there were exploded views that at least made sense. You have to take it slow and easy because of the extra long gluing surfaces that have to align, but I used some 4'x4' wood blocks to hold the elevator walls in place when gluing from the inside. The silos presented the same issue, again because of the length of the joints. But I seem to recall that there were positioning nubs that helped the alignment. As far as the seams in the grain silos, the only ones that presented a problem were the end ones. After careful assembly, I sanded them as smooth as possible with 400 grit sandpaper, then took a dab of Testor's Putty on my fingertip and ran it up and down the seam. After it dried, I sanded again and then used Krylon White Spray Paint over the whole structure. The seam still shows slightly, but it appears to be just a concrete seam now. Note that painting is really important, as Walther's white plastic kits will eventually fade to a yellowish color after being under lights for any length of time. I learned this on some large propane tanks back in the 90's. It happened under florescent lights, I don't know if it will happen under LED's or not.
The joints with the add-on silos are in between the silos and are not noticeable at all.
I like the kit because it is a "railroad-sized" structure. I was going to use the add-on silos, but I used them on my Ethanol plant instead. I still have another of the original kits left to assemble for a different place on the layout. I did not attach the silos to the elevator because it would have been too unwieldy to handle, and I couldn't get my hand/arm inside the silos to glue them to the elevator. They nestle up OK anyway, thus making it easier to move to the workbench for periodic cleaning.
 
Been playing with LeonardoAI image software.

I put in a pic of me, and pics I took of SaMo Pier, and asked it to make me a wizard in a similar environment

View attachment 179022
Not bad, but I don't have facial hair...
Evidently, wizards do have it...

Then I changed "wizard to "detective"

View attachment 179023

And I lost my glasses somewhere.
Your detective persona has that "Columbo" look, albeit with longer hair. IMO anyway.
 
Good Thursday morning from Wisconsin, where the saying is if you don’t like the weather now, wait 10 minutes.

25f degrees feels like 19 and actually very warm for this seasonal part of a Wisconsin Winter. High today shall be 31 per the weather guessing staff.

It’s a weathering bench free day. A day I’m supposed to work on the layout if I go in the train room. I will start off running a few trains and then switch to working on the layout. The son in law last week picked up for me 12- 4’x8’ sheets of formula 250 pink foam 2” thick. $39 each at HomeDepot. HD wanted $150 delivery fee to drop it at the foot of the driveway. The SIL and daughter yesterday cut 8 sheets into 24” wide and the final sheets 16” wide and dropped them off last night.

Enjoy the day. At 7am, or 36 minutes from now I shut off my IPadPro and ignore the internet on my cell phone till midnight. So off to look at a couple other places here and another forum.
 


It’s a weathering bench free day. A day I’m supposed to work on the layout if I go in the train room. I will start off running a few trains and then switch to working on the layout. The son in law last week picked up for me 12- 4’x8’ sheets of formula 250 pink foam 2” thick. $39 each at HomeDepot. HD wanted $150 delivery fee to drop it at the foot of the driveway. The SIL and daughter yesterday cut 8 sheets into 24” wide and the final sheets 16” wide and dropped them off last night.
Thats a great price for 2" foam, Home Depot around here wants $53 a sheet.
 
Good Morning All. Foggy and 35°, supposed to turn into a dense fog soon.

Today as usual, is grocery trek Thursday, with at least one additional stop at Target for paper towels and TP. Then the pharmacy on the way home. Seems like that's getting to be a more regular stop these days. Spent a while yesterday clearing out two shelves in the small freezer. Unfortunately there was some unidentifiable stuff in there. My wife has never gotten into the habit of marking the date and contents of Ziplock bags that go in either freezer - I am quite rigid about doing it. I don't remember what else I may have done yesterday.

Out in the train shed, I did some of the ground cover at the grain elevator.
IMG_1211.JPG

It included the exit drive from the truck dump and ground foam to fill in. It is still glistening white from the glue in this picture.
My workbench time was spent making a new grain pipe for the elevator. The old and new are pictured below. I just determined that the old one on the bottom was beyond repair so I just made a new one with some of the extra parts included in the Rix elevator kits.
The one on top is the unfinished second one for this elevator; there's two supplemental bins at this facility, one of which is seen on the left in yesterday's post.
IMG_1210.JPG

Ultimately they will look like these at a different grain elevator.
IMG_1213.JPG

I am not sure just how this bracing works on the real thing, but it is present on all nearby elevators.
Here is a picture of the closest one to me over between IH35 and the BNSF main line.
1704376321697.png

The bracing is most visible over on the right. That place is big enough to have their own switchers, here's one of them from TrainWeb.
1704376549219.png


Not a lot of activity here in the Coffee Shop yesterday, maybe everyone was out train watching or working on their layouts.

Today's birthday is...ME! Celebrating my 72nd trip around the sun. PM me for an address to send model railroad gifts to.

Everybody have a terrific Thursday.
 
Good Morning All. Foggy and 35°, supposed to turn into a dense fog soon.

Today as usual, is grocery trek Thursday, with at least one additional stop at Target for paper towels and TP. Then the pharmacy on the way home. Seems like that's getting to be a more regular stop these days. Spent a while yesterday clearing out two shelves in the small freezer. Unfortunately there was some unidentifiable stuff in there. My wife has never gotten into the habit of marking the date and contents of Ziplock bags that go in either freezer - I am quite rigid about doing it. I don't remember what else I may have done yesterday.

Out in the train shed, I did some of the ground cover at the grain elevator.
View attachment 179041
It included the exit drive from the truck dump and ground foam to fill in. It is still glistening white from the glue in this picture.
My workbench time was spent making a new grain pipe for the elevator. The old and new are pictured below. I just determined that the old one on the bottom was beyond repair so I just made a new one with some of the extra parts included in the Rix elevator kits.
The one on top is the unfinished second one for this elevator; there's two supplemental bins at this facility, one of which is seen on the left in yesterday's post.
View attachment 179042
Ultimately they will look like these at a different grain elevator.
View attachment 179043
I am not sure just how this bracing works on the real thing, but it is present on all nearby elevators.
Here is a picture of the closest one to me over between IH35 and the BNSF main line.
View attachment 179044
The bracing is most visible over on the right. That place is big enough to have their own switchers, here's one of them from TrainWeb.
View attachment 179046

Not a lot of activity here in the Coffee Shop yesterday, maybe everyone was out train watching or working on their layouts.

Today's birthday is...ME! Celebrating my 72nd trip around the sun. PM me for an address to send model railroad gifts to.

Everybody have a terrific Thursday.
Congratulations Willie, hope you're having a great day.
 
Happy Birthday, WILLIE!
Have a big bowl of ice cream doused with strawberries - yum, yum!


You have reached the number that I hate - hate - hate; that's when all my problems started!
I pray that NO ONE will follow in my footsteps!

Nothing much new around - temp is 37 degrees looking for a high of 58 today.
It rained a little early yesterday - 0.31 hundredth of an inch - any is always welcome.

Had my PET SCAN yesterday which used up the entire day and I was very hungry going just shy of 23 hours with no coffee and no food.

The Spousal Unit will return late tonight from her safari to ROME with the youngest daughter and family. She said that it was a fabulous trip and the parade was three miles long!

Have to visit the APPLE store and retrieve her MAC PRO which she dropped and broke the screen a couple days prior to leaving. I am grateful that she has the insurance on it - this was the second time.
 
Morning folks

Like Willie, a shopping resupply run this morning.

Willie's reference to an ethanol plant reminded me of this:
53442613470_63f53d0987_b.jpg


This was Grain Processing Corporation's plant circa 1944. At the time, the world's largest ethanol plant. I always thought it would make a great steam era model.
 


Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to Willie
Happy Birthday to you.
And many smores.

If you don't like my singing, you can imagine anyone you like, maybe Yoko Ono or Lady Gaga. Oh wait, you are old. How about Teresa Brewer or Connie Francis. Have a good day.

STAY SAFE
LATER
 
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