Thanks Craig, I look forward to seeing your truck there too! Hint! Thanks Sherrel I appreciate it. Ken/Andre one of the things I always worry about with a model is what happens when somebody zooms in. Sometimes a picture can hide a lot of ugly. Sometimes it highlights ugly. I like to take pictures to find issues and correct them so they will look better in person. Thanks again!
I put on the piers, now the structure is 15 ft above the water. When I pour the water it will be a little less. I think this will work better. I still need to position it.
Happy Workshop Wednesday Eve, Probably no more progress until the weekend, so a provisional post for tomorrow. Spent the last few evenings finishing up wiring on the South Cherokee module for the Crawford and Cherokee: Wiring-S-Cherokee-Module by rjthomas909 posted Jun 11, 2019 at 7:55 PM This included switch machines, wired with the screw-down terminals from Berrett Hill Trains. Nice. And on the top side, have some basic terrain, feeders are in, and ready to test alongside the Cherokee module and Lighting Creek. S Cherokee - Trackwork-and-Feeders by rjthomas909 posted Jun 9, 2019 at 8:22 PM Maybe this weekend I will get to a layout update post. If the A/C gets installed will for sure try a mini ops session. Great stuff on Frisco.org this week. A pleasure to be along for the ride. Take Care All, -Bob T.
I did. We surveyed the tornado damage just off of Area B of WPAFB. That one just missed the AF Museum!
Based on Steve's comment, maybe that business on Bill's layout should be Bill's Waterside Live and Liquid Bait...
Thursday Addendum: The new split A/C went into the garage/workshop/train palace yesterday. With decent insulation we have installed, and this 18,000 BTU unit, the San Antonio heat might be held back enough to actually make some progress in the summer months. Nothing like working on the layout and enjoying the Redbirds. AC-Cardinals by rjthomas909 posted Jun 13, 2019 at 8:22 PM ...even if they are behind. Just missed the opportunity to combine with the Blues big win last night! Gave the A/C a test run today in the ~90-degree heat (yes, much worse to come), but a very comfortable evening in the garage after work. Finished up the wiring for the Cherokee module connection to the South Cherokee and connection to the Lightning Creek Mine. Sorry, no structures or photogenic trains put out, but with a little adjustment of frog polarity, my sacrificial (in case it runs off the end) Southern Pacific F Unit is running through the added track, turnouts and joints -- just fine. S-Cherokee-Module-Wired by rjthomas909 posted Jun 13, 2019 at 8:23 PM Time to tape off the un-scenic'ed module and get the track painted with the airbrush and some basic scenery in. Probably need the doors open for that task...dang. Take Care All, -Bob T.
OK, a Saturday Workshop Wednesday. Oh well. Had some time this week after work and Saturday morning to work on random projects. I had a few more Accurail cars to assemble, and pretty much have two of the five together. Also working on a Frisco stock car and another coal hopper (not shown). These are two New York Central System Cars (Michigan Central and Toledo & Ohio Central). Accurail-Cars-Switchstands by rjthomas909 posted Jun 22, 2019 at 5:16 PM In the same photo, you can see that I assembled a few Details West switch stands to help improve the South Cherokee module's scenery. These are the "SS-915" version with different targets available. From the drawings elsewhere on this site: http://www.frisco.org/shipit/index.php?threads/switch-stands.4295/ it looks like Frisco had some circular targets. As these are off of the main (N-S Afton Sub), I painted them red. Thanks @Coonskin for the advice. The stands may not be Frisco prototypical, but a good stand in. Maybe some weathering is in order. Not sure the targets would stay so shiney. This weekend, I also started to focus on the last two modules of the layout. They are the Weir City module, and the peninsula for the wye in Weir. I started filling in various gaps in the foam board base and have been adding road for the main street, structures and industries. Still needs some work, but I have picked up plywood for the wye model and have measured out where to insert turnouts along the track of the module that has been built. Weir-City-Module-Patching by rjthomas909 posted Jun 22, 2019 at 5:13 PM Anyone have a FastTracks #6 or #5 wye fixture? Not sure if I will get away with a regular #6 turnout on the peninsula. Take care all, -Bob T.
I've missed a week or too. It stopped raining as much so work has been busy. Here is a couple on my table though. I liked 5201 with the random clean and dirty panels and the yellow stripe still on the door. Also 632 because it is BEAT, kinda my taste. I am seeing yellow stripes in my sleep now.
Steve, those are looking awesome. I can't wait to see the final weathered versions! Here is my contribution for Workshop Wednesday: Spent the last few days working to get the Weir City module ready for scenery and insert a couple of turnouts for the wye module that will go in there. The Weir City module will feature a wide Main Street (at one point it included an interurban). Worked to piece together a grade crossing for the tracks there with the Blair Line curved grade crossings, cut into segments: After lots of gluing and building up the roads and surrounding area, we have a reasonable starting point for a Main Street scene: Also added a bit more cork to build up the areas that will have industries in Weir City and painted to a uniform dirt color: And, thanks in part to a #6 wye FastTracks fixture loan from Don Winn (NMRA Division 6 Director for the Lone Star Region), I was able to start the required turnouts for the wye section. It turns out that Don lives about 10 minutes from me here in San Antonio. I was able to get a peek at the progress on the new HO scale Burlington Route Aurora Division that he is building....his staging yards have twice the number of turnouts as my whole layout! Quite impressive. The remaining ties needed for the turnouts are in the mail, and hopefully arrive by the weekend. I had left the rails long, as I will need to cut in the turnouts on the outside parallel track of the Weir City module. I am hoping to get this done over the next two weekends, but am flirting with heading up to the NRMA Regional this weekend in Dallas (City of Frisco!). Also found some neat historical photos from Weir City. Will post those in the layout thread later, along with updates on scenes for the module. Take Care All, -Bob T. Picture of South Cherokee Section by rjthomas909 posted Jun 23, 2019 at 9:56 PM
Very nice work, R.J.! That last photo - hard to tell that it is not real. The City just needs to add a "d" to its name ... lol.
I got outside for a couple pics of my FA from Wednesday. Yes its an FA2 not an FA 1. I can live with it.
Thanks Bill and Sherrel. This is my new favorite module to use as a diorama. Steve, those are fantastic locomotives! Some progress on the Weir(d) City module/wye this weekend. Will post a few pictures in the layout progress thread after the glue sets. -Bob T.