Happy Wednesday Eve, Wow! We are up to 100 pages of workshopping! Spent the past few days working to tackle that pile of structure kits. Looking to average one completed every 2.5 days during June. Here is a new freight house for Cherokee KS, located just south of the depot. This is a Micromark "Standard Pennsylvania Railroad Freight House" kit. Stock photo: https://www.micromark.com/Web Store Images/88999_R-01.jpg I modified the trim to remove some of the cross-angle pieces. They did not say "Frisco in Kansas" to me. These are "Scientific Line/Brand" kits and I have to say that I had a tough time with the trim which had to be cut in places to get to fit, and was a single piece for each side. Very tough to align correctly. Also, those roof braces come as part of the frame and I broke at least four of them off during assembly. Kind of frustrating. You can really see the mis-alignment around the windows. I need to get it planted on the layout (hiding ground gaps here with freight cars). Also need to fix the trim in a few places. I tried to give it a "used to be white" paint job and tinted the shingles to be a little green for contrast, as they were orignally gray. I also found this in my stockpile: I bought it off of eBay more than a year ago and had never opened the box. Someone had already installed all of the handrail and detail parts! A locomotive begging for a @modeltruckshop weathering if there ever was one! Take care all, -Bob T.
Spent a couple hours on my new "Mystery" engine. working on getting the new valve gear hanger finished and running gear running smoothly. PSC gearbox, can motor. I want this one to be a good one when it is done. Need to make a cab and tender. No running boards yet. Boiler is bare. Still need to build a tender for the 3695.
The assault on the structure kit pile continues without relent. Next up is the "Springfield Cafe" from AMB Laserkit. Stock Photo: http://laserkit.com/images/136web.jpg Still needs some weathering, and signage, and some trim touch-up, but this is as far as I made it for posting on a proper Wednesday. Somehow I missed painting the roof trim....hmmm, need more patience, I guess. This guy will go on Main Street in Weir City, but that section is currently stowed. Looking for a business name. There was a similar structure on main street in Weir, midway on the left. Sanborn map indicates "Restraurant / Lodge Hall" in 1915, if I am reading map correctly. Input welcomed. Take Care, -Bob T.
Structures look good to me, Bob. This was a weird week. Got a little bit done. I worked a bit on another muley caboose, stripping the paint and working on the underframe: Then the Bachmann Old Time Combine went in the Alcohol bath. The paint was really thick, so it's not coming off well, and I cutoff the monster truss rods and drilled holes for brass wire: I got my H16-44 together, installing a decoder and LED lights (though I seemed to forget how to wire up LEDs): And my oops loco, a 4-6-2 that was sold as a 2-8-2: Meanwhile, my Cary-boilered 2-8-2 had some trouble. The motor wan't doing well, and caused the decoder to release its magic smoke: So I'm trying to remotor, preferably with a can motor, but it's harder than it looks...
The 2020 Summer Structure Kit Marathon continues..... 139 Maple Street from AMB. Needs a little trim paint and that screen porch adjusted, plus some weathering, but three kits in 6 days (mostly done). This guy will go along Magnolia Street in Cherokee, east of the diamond, with a couple of other houses. I am really liking these AMB kits. Strange, one has green trim and the other gray, but they look the same in the pictures. Maybe one more this weekend....lots of work work to take care of. Take Care All, -Bob T.
This isn't Wed, but got the domes on the "mystery engine today along with the stack. Pretty soon, I might send a "teaser shot".
I worked on my old time combine--removed lettering and added grab irons: Just waiting for paint. I worked on the underframe, too. I shimmed some Kadee couplers and body mounted them, and I added new trussrods with turnbuckles: The original attempt was a disaster--I tried to have two pieces of wire meet in the turnbuckle, with a gap between them, like Chris showed above. It ended with wire stuck in my thumb and my thumb glued to my index finger. I gave up on realism and just ran one piece of wire. I tried to build a motor mount and mount a new motor in my Mikado, but it didn't work: I gave up and bought a new motor on eBay. I found an Athearn Heavyweight coach to be 768 and removed the lettering: Just waiting for decals. Built a load/unload shed for the grain elevator, still trying to get the curves in the roof correct: I have some galvanized siding material I think I will use. And as long as I had the Mattboard out, took a stab at building a mockup coal elevator to go with the Ice House: Will build a real one with Evergreen styrene. The good doctorwayne from Model Railroader forum was very helpful with this endeavor.