Just checking in. Haven't been able to do much, weekend trip to see the grandchildren, while in Knoxville TN visiting them, my brother, Roger, passed away. Made a trip to Seligman MO to visit the folks and officiate the Memorial Service for him, limited any progress on the layout or rolling stock, but first things first. He had suffered a brain injury and partial paralysis as a child and wasn't expected to make it past his 20's, he made it to 54. Though he lost the ability to speak, he brought a lot of joy. He was nearly always happy. Caretaker staff loved him. He will be missed. The growing, greening yard beckons for its share of attention as well. My recent "accomplishments" have been more along the line of cleanup work. I lugged a bunch of the 2x4s from the basement upstairs to the garage, to free up some floor space, as well as, poured a bunch of kitty litter into several 5 gallon buckets of paint the previous owners left behind and disposed of them.
Craig, we're sorry to hear about your brother. We will say a prayer for you and your family. Joe and Cynthia Lovett
I appreciate the condolences everyone. We are ready to move on to happier thoughts today You all are great.
I got some yellow on Keith's F units this week and am working on the masking now. I am trying to talk him into a Conrail unit next so there is no masking. Here is another project I just wrapped up too. If Gary can post his electronic projects I can post a car right? LOL This is for an online contest on a weathering forum I participate. It is 99% railroad models but I like to throw the occasional vehicle at them. Nothing says weathered like a stained old mattress on a Gran Piece with peeling clear coat and an engine fire all riding on the mini spare mounted on front. HA Thanks for checkin it out as usual, Steve
Steve, that's incredible weathering on the car!!! What scale is it and how long did take you to do it? Please tell us more about how you did the weathering. Did you use the same process as the MKT truck? Joe
Thanks Joe. Glad you liked it, hope you got a smile from it. It is 1/25th like most of my vehicle projects. Yes the same general process and the Katy truck. I didn't use a proto photo for this, Just painted a few shapes that looked close to me then used thinned acrylics to fade the paint inside the shapes to look like the paint had peeled off like so many 90s vehicles did. For the burn I painted a thinned coat of a rusty color on, then applied chalk pastels over that in several colors from dark center to light at the edges. Hope that helps. The nasty bedbug covered mattress I made from Sculpy putty that I molded to a close shape then baked in the over on a night my wife was not home. HA As I made the shape I "dented" where I would put the ropes. For the rivets I used straight pins with small heads pushed into the wet Sculpy.
Thank you, Steve. We bought a Dodge Spirit in 1991 brand new and after about a year the paint started to peel. The Dodge dealership said that they have no problem with their paint but they would fix it for $1,500. We told them to stick it. After that we noticed a lot of other Dodge cars and trucks had peeling paint, but Dodge said "We have no problem with our paint". Yeah right!!! We will never buy another Dodge. Joe
Too funny Joe in a way because my dad and I both had similar experiences with brand new Dodges. We would both walk before we ever drove another one.
I went to Challenger N Scale in Tulsa tonight and took some photos of their layout in the store. A few years ago I built the four three foot corner modules for the NEONS, North Eastern Oklahoma N Scalers, the local club. The layout is a display that never leaves the store. They have several other modules that they take to train shows and it makes a huge layout. The NEONS are going to go to Kansas City in August for the big show, I plan on going with them. Joe
Today, I have been working on my paint booth. Overall dimensions are 21 3/4 high, 35 wide and 24 deep. It will hang on the wall on a French Cleat fastened to the studs. The painting arena is 25 wide by 20 1/4 high and 24" deep. The blower will be in the upper right rear. LED strip lights will be placed under the upper ledge and along the vertical sides. To the left are three vertically oriented drawers that will be on full extension drawer glides at top and bottom. Two are arranged for a single row of bottles along each shelf and the third is arranged to hold short spray cans and other supplies. A 25 x 25 filter will slide into the diagonal glides through a slot in the the top. A sound deadening box will hold the compressor near the right rear next to the exhaust vent pipe that will be directed straight up and then out through the rim joist to a vent hood. I plan to seal all the wood and paint the painting arena and exposed edges white. The last picture is an illustration of the cleat that I am referring to.