Workshop Wednesday

Wow, that's huge. Now that you're famous, I guess you'll be hiring a publicist (I'm available).

GS

 

Thanks Greg. Ill keep it in mind. I’m pretty sure you know my budget though. HA.


I agree the smiling kids make it worth it.
Not quite sure famous is the word I’d use.

Thanks guys!!

 

Fantastic stuff, guys. Maybe THIS year I will make the St Louis RPM.

I have not posted much lately, as my projects have included re-staining the deck and making some closet organizing cabinets.... oh well.

I did manage some wallet work over the past couple of weeks, and ordered three more of the Bitter Creek kits (click for larger image).



These include another 36-ft truss-rod boxcar (will be Iron Mountain...decals came in from K4 also), a 34-ft truss-rod boxcar (will be Mobile, Jackson & KC), and a truss-rod flat car (will become a Frisco wood coal gondola). I plan to use the flat/gondola as a pattern and scratch build a few more for a 190x operating session rolling stock set.

I also grabbed two AT&SF 36-ft wood boxcars from the most recent Roundhouse/Athearn release. I will spiff these up a bit with turnbuckles, Kadee couplers, more brake detail, and some weathering. I likely won't redo the grab irons on these. They are lettered for 1902, but probably too many safety appliances for that date.





I also made it to the New Braunfels train show last weekend. They had two rooms about this size:



...and a good number of vendors and a bunch of display layouts from Lego, to T-track, to N-track, to 3-rail O, to modular HO.

I grabbed a few parts and found these Proto 2000 Mather stock car kits for $12, which was not a bad deal. They are nice kits.




As it it Good Friday, I took the day off from work (mostly), and finished up a shoebox-size diorama for pictures of new builds:



With the tree background block, it makes for some nice photos. I will probably take it for the Red River RPM this summer and display some of the 190x rolling stock.

Happy Easter All,

-Bob T.

 

Good stuff Bob. I like the mini dioramas too. It would be great of you could work out a St Louis trip.

 

Always interesting to see what new items you come up with Bob.

Wish I could find a show like that near by.

 

OK, ready for Workshop Wednesday (and Workshop Tuesday Night)....cleaned off the workbench and even organized the paint with a few new shelves. I was able to move the new compressor onto the same table as the paint booth and off of the stack of blue tubs.



Hope all are doing well and have some time for some Frisco modeling this week.

-Bob T.

 

That’s great Bob. I feel like I am just working in my lap most of the time. Lol

 

A couple things I have been working on here Pics are bad. I took them late in the day with my phone. So I’ll get better sometime. We have had snow 3 of the last 4 days with rain in between the snow showers. Mixed with sleet and hail. Ugghhhh.

First is a Conrail van I stumbled on to online one night. I figured it could be fun. It’s just a Triton van I tried to paint to backdate. I need to make Collinwood decals for the sides still so I just stuck on some scraps for now.

 

Many of you know I am a Utah Belt fan. This is just a fantasy model of a fantasy railroad. But believable enough. The Tahoe was a $10 swap meet find. Just an old snap together AMT kit.
Enjoy

 

Well I've just been a busy little beaver this week! Been piddlin' along with several projects.

Got another batch of gravel loads weighted, painted, dry brushed, and in the "Gravel Loads" drawer ready for use. Gravel is going to play a much more prominent role my my traffic than it has been.

Another project is one that I've been procrastinating because of a decision I needed to make either yay/nay. As of this week I've decided yay.

Note the scratch marks on the tank:



I decided to go to this trouble because I want to have cut side skirts on my BL2. I think cut skirts are a cool feature. So, I hope this to drop the frame off at the machine shop that milled my Stewart/Kato F frames and have them mill out the marked area.

Then a couple days ago, I recommenced working on the BL2's shell. I located, drilled, and mounted all 8 lift rings on the roof, and also located/drilled the holes for eyebrow grabs, then fabricated and installed them.

(I previously drilled/filed out the sealed twin beam headlight and installed a more OEM looking single bulb headlight.)



As soon as I get the frame milled, I'll reassemble it, attach the shell, and send it (along with another engine) off to The Whiz for him to work his magic on.

I've also replaced the split axle gears in two P2K GP7's that are in the pipeline.

OH, and I agonized over an engine that just hasn't panned out previously, but now I think I've addressed the issue. However, that's a longer tale that will be told over in my "layout" thread in the Off Topic section.

All fer now!

 

I always liked the BL-2s for some reason Andre. I got to ride in the cab of the Kentucky Rail Museum BL and it was pretty neat to see how primitive it was.

 

Steve:

Waaaay back in the early-mid 1990s when I created my KC&G concept/theme, I allowed for BL2's. However, on the paper roster, they were traded off in the early-mid 1960s. (FYI: Back in the 1990s, I originally modeled the KC&G as it would have been in 1970, plus, I hated the original clunky P2K model that I had purchased back in the 1990s for the KC&G and promptly got rid of it. SO, long ago I had decided there would no BL2's modeled.)

Since that time, I've backdated to 1964 to gain the last of the passenger trains as well as allow me to use a few more units that were on the roster that would have still been in service in '64, except I still wasn't going to do a BL2 because of the clunky P2K offering.

Well, my long time friend and most faithful operating crew member (Jimmy), loves BL2's... and he went to work on me. Chinese dripping water torture works, and after I saw his "blue box" P2K BL2's, I was a goner. (The "blue box" was the retooled P2K BL2, and they have far finer handrails and details and is a really nice model.)

SOooo....

I revised my paper history so that there was one BL2 still out in the weeds in the dead line down at the Magnolia (AR) Shops. (EMD wasn't interested in trades or credit/trust purchases given the KC&G's cash issues.) Seein' as the KC&G was in a cash flow crunch (what with the bankruptcy and reorganization), but desperately needing serviceable power... they pulled the BL2 out of the weeds, and using parts from some of the other dead (wrecked/etc) EMD's, looks like they're going to get it running. Soon as they do, it's going to be sent to Ozarka to relieve one of the GP7's assigned there for mainline pool use.

Least ways, that's my story an' I'm a' stickin' to it!

 

Impressive Tom.

 

Great Stuff Tom, Andre, Steve,

Just catching up after a long week in Mobile, AL. I managed a little time this weekend to work on the new section for the layout. Taking Ethan's advice, I am adding the "Lightning Creek" to the section (black marks) and an open field on the right. It does not look like much, but I have all of the wooden sections for transitions and the roadbed down and have been carving some landforms, including notching out the fascia. I also had some 3/16 cork sheets arrive and have started filling in some ground for the mine area and a mining camp (still looking for names from the area) at the lower left in the photo, neighboring the creek. A little sculptamold, some creek carvin', and we will be reading to get beyond the pink prairie stage.



Hope you all had a peaceful weekend,

-Bob T.

 

Bob, looks like you're off to a good start. I did just think of a spot I could go to and grab some pictures that might give you some scenery ideas for this new module.

Some mining camps close to Cherokee and Weir:

Sinclair
Kramer
Atlas
Kirkwood
Chicopee

Some other names on the other side of Pittsburg:

Litchfield
Midway
Alston
Finks
Barber
Gross
Coalvale
Yale
Cockrell