Gidday All, well it’s been a grey day and the nights are definitely drawing in quickly.
Apart from the decals and a bit of light weathering, making the falls and the final installation of the davits and lifeboats is the last major task of the actual ferry build. I wish I could say that this was the third and final lifeboat, but it’s the first as I’ve had a struggle to get the falls looking right, aside from having several small bits go pingggggg, never to be seen again!! [:(!] [sigh]
I think my next build will be an Athearn BB freight car
Hey Bear!
I think we could start a whole new thread on the subject of how many things we have had go
into the nether world (i.e. my messy work bench). A while ago I bought several packages of truck springs on spec. They were too cheap to let go. A couple of days ago I was trying to resurect some old sprung trucks. Several springs went
so I was really glad I had the reserves!
The lifeboat and davits are wonderfully done.[bow][bow][bow]
Its great to see some rolling stock on the ferry too!
You bemoan your fall season. We are just coming into bloom. The grass is growing like mad. I hate cutting the grass, and fertilizing it just makes the darned stuff grow faster[:(!]. Dianne and I are off to Point Pelee this Sunday for three days of bird watching. Point Pelee is on Lake Erie and it is on one of the primary bird migration routes in the world. We hope to see 60-70 species in two days.
This week’s project has been cleaning and repairing four Star Line stock cars. The kits date from the late 1940s and were assembled by someone who knew what they were doing. Everything is perfectly aligned and there is absolutely no excess glue to be seen. However, several of the glue joints were broken and a few pieces of wood were damaged so I have had to make some repairs. I also added some weight.
I wanted to retain the original sprung trucks but unfortunately the castings were really weak. I broke the ends off of two bolsters trying to get them apart and I wasn’t using much force.[banghead][:'(] I had enough older sprung trucks in my spare parts cabiniet to do all four cars but the Intermountain wheel sets will barely stay in them, so I have ordered Kadee sprung trucks to do the job properly.
Take care all!
Dave
Hi Bear & Dave,
Bear You are really doing a fantastic job on the ferry… love the lifeboat!..Just have to do, how many more??LOL
I won’t go into the ‘‘Ping’’ thing Dave… Grass? I’m glad all I have to do is steer.LOL
Had a couple more loads of gravel delivered to the lot…but this time…I think He brought the whole family.[:-^] [(-D]
Also spilling gravel, all over the road.
Take Care! [:D]
Frank
Bear and Dave,
“Parts diving” is an old sport here. Some of my best part came right off the floor.
Eye-catching lifeboat, Bear, just in case any of those tiny crew need it.
A few quick ones before trundling off to the sack. Putting down ballast around Summit, Looks too perfect, but I can fix that.
A work train at Purgatory.’
Turning the test train at Bear Town.[:D]
Hello Bear, Dave, Frank, Mike!
Nothing trickier than making lines look like they have some weight on them, Bear. I can never get hoist cables to hang straight. Yours look great and the life boat cover looks well secured.
Those stock cars look like they have been well cared for over the past eighty years, Dave. Nice to see you taking the time to preserve them for the next eighty!
I’ll take “ping” over “slash” any day (beside the cussing, what exactly IS the sound of a #11 tearing into flesh?)
I bought the 2016 version of a “DustBuster” and it has saved my can a few times for finding lost little parts. It has a built in crevice tool and I just vacuum (or “Hoover”) the area then empty the can onto some white paper or a sheet and sometimes… there’s the part!
Frank, that sure looks like a load of Bear Litter being delivered…
Ballast looks great, Mike. Nothing makes a right-of-way look nicer than good ballast.
I spent a few hours making a roadway so the trucks can get to the electric furnace. My attention has finally gotten 'round to the steel mill area which has sat, collecting dust, since 1997! Time to get things finished up!!!
What you see above is a bed of white latex caulk with some 1/8" thick PVC ceiling tile scrap material that I found at w**k. It cuts easily and makes a smooth sub-base for roads.
Here it is after the caulk has set and I applied some 1mm EVA foam over it.
One of the other forum members turned me on to the f
[:D]
Another quick side project, painting an ex Reading (technically the model was originally Western Maryland) caboose for New Hope and Ivyland 9.
Good morning all from sunny and mild Northeast Ohio!
Bear, I think you should stick with Blue Box kits as your scratcbuilding skills are so defiecient! [:-^]
Dave, it great trying to save old cars but many times the old parts will not old up do the age of the materials.
Frank, where is the netting over that load?
Mike, any ballast always looks good, our club has a couple of spots where ballast has not been applied and it just looks bad!
Ed, nice roads, I once helped built a layout where we used the old (OOP) Aim Instant Roadbed for Asphalt Roads, it really looked good in that application.
Casey, nice job with the caboose, I have a couple to do myself, one for the DT&I and one for the D&TSL, both of whom purchased old Northeastern cabooses.
I too have a myriad of parts on the floor and workbench that went ping in the night, many times find the 6 months later!
Finished a couple of cars last week!
A few weeks ago I did a Savannah and Atlanta Boxcar in the modernized paint scheme after the Southern absorbed the railroad, here is the car in the as delivered paint scheme. Intermountain 40’ PS1 boxcar, painted with Scalecoat II Boxcar Red and lettered with Champ Decals.
I acquired an undecorated Red Caboose coil car, so I purchased a decal for it, so it is painted with Scalecoat II Black and IC Orange, then decaled with Dan Kohlberg’s decals. The IC put the car number on the hoods, I wondered how long the hoods stayed on the same car?
And a different shot of my U30b’s on the Stongsville Club layout!
Thanks for looking!
Rick Jesionowski
Bear … The car ferry looks fantastic. It looks ready for the Detroit River.
Dave … The old stock cars look good so far. Old trucks don’t work well based on my experiences with them.
Frank … Nice truck and scene. Here comes JaBear with the dirt !
Mike L … I always enjoy your CO railroading photos.
Casey … Your caboose looks good.
Ed … Your steel mill is looking good.
Rick … I like the S&A box car and the IC coil car. I know what you mean about hoods being moved to other cars.
Below is a scene in the City of Heartland.
Great stuff again this week! The missing part thing got me thinking… do all those missing parts go to the same place as missing socks and such? … hmmm.
Here is a new railfanning spot I created…
Great Photos Everyone !
Outstanding modeling of that ferry, Bear. A power transfer crossing Hammer creek.
Rick,
That law, did not exist in the 50’s…[swg]
Take Care! [:D]
Frank
Work is almost complete on the doubled up pedestrian bridge at the north end. Add some handrails at both ends so folks don’t fall off the bridge and I am all gold…
Rich
Very nice models everyone!
well, today, exactly 13 days after the warrenty expired, my NCE DCC controller broke…don’t you hate it when that happens?
Charles
Charles, I would call them up. You might be able to get it fixed at no charge, given how close you are to the expiry date.
Bear, Thanks for setting sail on another WPF! Nice to see some rolling stock on deck. With three life boats I assume there will be passengers aboard?
WPF is certainly good medicine when nursing an injured back. The time of year and being out of action prompted an oldie re-post, Vai, Vai!
Thanks to all and regards, Peter
We got the 3 bridges, abutments, some retaining walls, and rock faces installed in the waterfall area, but ran out of time for the water before Boothbay Railway Village opens for the season. One of the projects from next fall after the museum closes.
Fr[swg]ank’s just kidding with all the bears. Unless they have badges, that truck driver from JaBear Enterprises will just ignore them…
Ed,
Nice work on the road. Still working on ballast here.
RDG Casey,
Nice work. Contrasting color handrails always give me fits and yours look great.
Rick,
Beautiful IC car!
Garry,
Thanks for enjoying the CO stuff, your urban scenes always appeal to me.
Tony,
Looking rusty and good.
Gramps Trains,
A timeless scene of beauty – and rust.
Rich,
The station scene is coming together nicely.
Peter,
Better get healed up for biking season…oops, I forgot it’s alway bike season in Cali![:D]
George,
Maybe it’s the dry season?[(-D]
A couple of late pics…
I’ve been spending some time on scenery on the Wabash layout, using layered insulation board and latex caulk.
The finished scenery on the other side of the bottomless chasm at the back is normally on the other side of a skyboard. The track back there is “35 miles” by rail (or 300+ feet of HO track) away from the scene in the foreground.
A little wider perspective, with the skyboard that separates the sides of the sections visible to the right.
Today we’re holding the last operating session before we shut down for the mad sprint to finish projects-in-progress prior to packing up the layout to take to the NMRA National Convention in Indianapolis in July. In Indy, we’ll be offering Operations Road Show operating sessions from Monday through Thursday. Sign-up will be in the layout room starting Sunday, July 3.