Yes, for those who may have missed it- One of MR’s Editors, Andy Sperandeo, has passed away and a thread honoring him is over on “the main line” of General Discussion threads.
If you are aware of him, or his columns meant something to you, or even if not, please stop over to the thread “Andy Sperandeo has passed away” thread to leave your condolences, and thoughts for his family at MR, at home and his friends who will miss him dearly.
AS much as we miss our beloved Jeffrey, Andy will be missed by the MR community.
Good evening. Nice day in the North. The leaves are still on the trees which is very unusual this late in the year. Went to probably the last live hockey game I will see in 2015 unless daughter invites us to a Caps game. The local Flin Flon Bombers won their first game of the season convincingly with an 8-4 win.
YGW, I have built one SIP home with 4x8 panels with R-24 wall value and R-40 roof panels. The house required a large air/air heat transfer unit with motorized dampers controlled by relative humidity. SIP panels have the advantage of very low thermal bridging as convention framing at the studs will have an R value of 4-1/2 or 6-1/2. Johnboy’s house uses a good alternative to SIPs in installing closed cell insulation on the outside of the wall sheathing. I worked on a Habitat house up here that used similar external insulation over the OSB wall sheathing. The house was sided with vinyl siding using 3 inch roofing nails.
I am packing up for my migration back south this weekend and leave on Tuesday. Back to laying more track on my layout soon.
It´s rather quite in the forum today. The news of Andy´s passing has left us all in a state of sadness.
Our weather is turning to what we usually have around this time of the year - just dulkl and gray. The only question open for the weather guessers is, whether the weather will wither the wet or whether the weather won´t wither the wet. Hey - howzat for a tongue twister?
I played with my “new” camcorder this morning, still being annoyed I can´t upload the videos from the camera to my computer. Boy, was I wrong! I don´t need that video management software from Sony to do that! Behind that screen which opens when you hook the camcorder to the computer was another screen! Saving the video file on my computer was just a drag & drop thing! Having the file saved on my computer was only step 1 - the video wouldn´t run on my VLC media player! Well, it did run, but more like a slide show than a film! I had to convert it to the same format and now I can play it! As long as I now can view my videos on my computer I am happy and don´t need to know why I have to do all this!
My friend Lothar called right after lunch inviting me to do some rail fanning in a nearby light railway museum. They also have a few miles of track, on which they ran their steam loco today. What a treat!
I did some filming, but it´ll take a while before I can show it here. My computer is still working hard to do the conversion …
Well we finally have the bathroom countertop installed, only 3 months behind schedule but it looks great. Now just the backsplash to get sorted and have the taps installed. We might be done before Christmas!
Ulrich, looks like you had a nice day at that museum. Sunny too.
I have to take the car back to the dealership on Tuesday. When they installed the new power door lock in the drivers door they managed to disconnect the radio speakers. I have to admit there is a big improvement on the ride and handling with the new tires so a good investment.
I finally started to work on the N scale layout yesterday. I had to build up the sub roadbed for the highway in one section and then I will be able to put down the streets and the short highway ‘out of town’. I’m using a Busch flexible roadway. Then I have to lay the sidewalks in the town. I have some plastic ones and also I bought some made by Bar Mills that I have painted ready to glue down.
The converting and combining the individual takes didn´t work, so this is just one of them. I´ll have to figure out how to make a “professional” video.
Excellent Answer Brother Elias! Or since they haven’t had much rain in a couple years, just sit and enjoy getting wet for a change…
Evenin’ Folks!
Janie, I sure could use a pot of strong decaf coffee to warm me up…
Another long day out at the museum. We once again didn’t tie up the train untill close to 6PM and I got home around 7. Every train ride was sold out once again! We were a bit short handed, I and several others didn’t get ba lunch break in order to keep the trains running. The day started badly as when I reported for Crew Call and the Safty Meeting old LV 211 wasn’t up and running yet. She was dead this morning! Dead Battery this morning! Dead $8,000 set of Batteries this morning. They brought down the FM H12-44, US Army 1843 to junp start old LV211. Of course that put us in the situation of not doing the safety run today. Not an absolute must do, but we like to do one run before we have passengers to make sure everything is OK. I was explaining the problem to the waiting passenegsr when I heard an EMD 567B roar to life. I looked skyward and yelled, “It’s ALIIIIIIIIVE!!!” I’m the resident comedian out there. Quick brake check and we loaded the passengers and got moving. Rest of the day went smoothly. I haven’t heard the actual passenger count, but it was likely over 700 once again. Two huge and great days out there. I stepped off the Ladders on the Erie Caboose on the next to the last run back to Industry Station and missed the platform under the steps… Train wasn’t set well. Luckily I was going down the ladder properly and had a good hand hold so I didn’t fall to the gravel, but did wrench my back. I will feel it tommorrow I&
Work has been the pitts this weekend. While it shows on paper we had written $1600 in sales, they where a $20.00 and $10.00 down on layaways whick are more than likely junk! In fact, Dave had one of his layawys cancel that was a $100.00 down so the store was really -$70.00 in the hole! [banghead]
It was so slow today, I all most left around 3:00 PM. K-10 Model Trains had there open house this weekend. Miss going to the open house.
Trains are all so being a pain in the caboose as well. Seems like my PK 2000 E 6 with the QSI sounder decoder is in shut down mode. Cannot remember which CV control it! Cannot keep the wheels clean on the PK 1000 F 7 A NYC.
Just to finish off a rotten weekend I ran out of propane 15 minutes ago. Just got back from buying more propane. Boy, I wanted to pick up some [B] while I was out! But, I still sucking down Lemonade.
I sat down and watched some football I didn’t care about. “Bye” weeks are just an excuse to extend the season and make more money. So, I also worked on my City Classics company houses. I got the first one sort of built, mostly because I wanted to try painting it. I was thrilled with the results - the very light gray Krylon paint color is perfect. It’s just muted down a bit from the original stark raving white and gives the building the look I want.
Hello Railfans! How is everyone? I was doing fine and had intended to come in and catch up with you folks but… having recieved he news that Andy Sperandeo just passed has really taken the wind out of my sails. I really enjoyed his articles.
Well, everything around here is still pretty much so so. Im doing fine myself and I hope you folks are the same. I will stop back in soon.
I will be calling the surgeo’s office to see if I can get in there this week. My right shoulder is now at a ‘12’ on the 1-10 pain scale. I don’t understnd why, and I have the strong pain meds so I shouldn’t be having pain. but it is hurting liek some word I cnanot print here!
SO, that and I ahve to go to Raymour and FLanigan to get a free gift they didn’t have whne we went last week. No furniture bought, just LQQKED…but may wnat a few things…later after we get teh house
Still no word on THAT,they tell us for now, no news is good news…We will see.
Maeanwhile we are bumbling along…
SHOULD pack up the trains! That way, will be one step closer!!!
Ray … Sounds like a very busy day at the RR museum.
Douglas … Good to see you. Glad you are doing fine. Same here.
I worked on the layout some yesterday. I am putting together a very old building kit made by Suydam. It is made out of metal, and they have soldering instructions. I can solder, but I’m using gel type super glue which is faster. The kit is for a small industrial office building.
Do the mods at the MR forum have the ability to simply delete posts and lock threads rather than only delete threads? I know the forum rules what is not allowed in threads, so I guess threads can get deviated from innocuous topics by later malicious posters).
I ask this as I got around to reading the Oct 2015 RMC last night (my Nov 2015 MR has not arrived in the mail yet…hmm). One interesting (to me) article by David S. concerned the mass production of weed and grass tufts using blobs of glue and static grass, the glue in this case being clear Aleene’s tacky glue (I didn’t know Aleene offered clear glue - my local Michaels only has the usual white glue), which was blopped on silicon-coated sheet metal, (serving as the working ground surface for the electrostatic grass dispenser). There were additional tips on modeling flowering grass tufts, suggestions for coloring, shaping, and so on.
That glue-blob process seemed very familar, and it was - there was a thread this Spring on the forums covering a similar (almost identical) process of making weed tufts, by an Aussie named Luke Towan - I distinctly remember asking a question in the thread concerning the durability and removability of the weed tufts.
That thread has since vanished, and Mr Towan MR profile shows no activity or posts. Thing is, I can’t imagine why the thread was deleted - IIRC, he wasn’t selling anything, and while he did link to his youtube videos showing the process, there was nothing out of the ordinary. Did the thread devolve into debauchery and name calling and cursing (symbolic or not) in later posts? Its a bit baffling to me why the mods couldn’t have locked the thread, deleted whatever posts were causing the issue, and leave the remaining interesting posts alone.
__[Size=18]YAWN…[/size]__Hi Zoe! Yes I’m still tukered out from the last couple days. How about I have the #2 special this morning… Over easy eggs, bacon, homefries and a double order of the sour dough toast. Oh! I’ll need a 30 cup urn of Marrakesh Express dark roast to see me through the rest of the morning…
[color=red]Chutton[/color], your best bet would be to contact Steven Otte directly through a private message. Click on his name in the forum rules thread to get started.
Sun is trying to shine today here in the Finger Lakes Region, the temp is currently 54°F on its way up top a high of 66°F sometime this afternoon. I have to get the lawn mowed, get groceries, stop at the pharmosy for some Rx’s, drive to Canandaigua to take care of the cats (my day for duty), and get caught up with a hnost of other items that I didn’t get done over the weekend… Guess I better get started!
Good morning! It’s a bit warmer out today. I may go for a bike ride, or perhaps just take a walk since the cough still hasn’t gone away and I want to get over it.
Aileen’s Tacky Glue goes on white but turns clear as it cures. When I want tufts of long grass, I use “field grass” and apply it by hand to the blob of glue. I do this in place on the layout.
I have used original Aleene’s Tacky Glue for awhile, currently I am using it to glue figures into vehicles (among other uses). I haven’t tried it for landscaping, nor for temporary tacking of details, so I don’t really know how much residue it leaves when pried up, or how matte the finish otherwise is (for styrene “window glass”, I switched over to 560 Canopy Cement, which works surprizingly well). I researched this clear tacky glue some more, and turns it is actually a gel; supposedly it dries clearer, and is less runny when wet, than normal glue. Its also a bit pricer than the normal glue it seems, but I can see the firmness of the gel being useful for making those blobs of weed/grass tufts.
BTW, the whole point of both David’s and Luke’s process is mass production of such tufts off the layout/module, in a controlled (e.g. easy to clean up) environment, then later just pull tufts from the stockpile and add them to the module as needed, as opposed to making one tuft at a time, constructed in-situ.
I guess I should ask in a PM if the mods in the future can just lock and prune out-of-control threads that contain otherwise useful information.
Today I removed the adhesive patch from over my hernia incision. It still amazing to me how quickly the skin can heal, and how unobtrusive the scar can be in the hands of a skilled surgeon. I do have a huge bump under the skin, but this will flatten over time. This week I get back to traveling for w*ork and should be able to handle putting the roller bag in the overhead luggage compartment. I hate to check a bag. When I get to where I am going, the last thing I want is to wait for 15-20 minutes for my bag.
