Weekend Update - 10-7-2007

[John]

Ok .. lets see what you have been up to.

I am working on a 1Trak module set for the GSMTS in Timonium this next weekend. I have lots of work left to do. The modules are the end loop. I am putting a small paper mill into it. I will also be able to reuse them in the layout.

[img width= height=]http://lh4.google.com/acsxfan1/RwgXYGa_03I/AAAAAAAAB3Q/Uc6_LfoAW3w/s800/IMG_2287.jpg[/img]

[atsf_arizona]

Hi, all,

Here's a few N scale photos from the 1st US-themed Model RR Convention
in Germany, Oct 6-7th, in Rodgau, Germany (near Frankfurt).

http://www.us-convention-brd.de/indexe.htm

The modelers and attendees are mostly from Germany, but there are people here
from France, from Switzerland, and I'm sure a few other countries in Europe
as well!

1. "Somewhere West" in N scale:






5. Some people:



6. The venue:





Here's a couple of videos on that great layout:

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Thank you to Lucien Wiss, the builder of the incredible scenery,
to the layout owner Daniel Roth, and to Eugene Haensler and Stefan
Wagner, all for showing me around.  So very special to meet all
of you.


Clearly, the world is getting closer together every day... we all
share so much commonality on our planet Earth. 

My special thanks to Horst Meier, the lead organiser, for his kindness
in making my visit so very special.

[wm3798]

The modules look great.  Can't wait to see how it turns out... maybe I can see them in person, who knows.
John Sing, that's an amazing piece of work there.  But where's the Traveling Trainmaster?

Did some more tidying up work in preparation for the big Ops Session in three weeks...

I added a little work area for Ed the Yard King.  As you can see, I fully tested the beer capacity of the work desk.

I also added some fascia to the temporary loops to clean that up a bit.

I still have to relocate a couple of throttle jacks, then the track cleaning and card sorting begins!

Lee

[3rdrail]

Didn't get much done railroading-wise this past week, but managed to finally get decent photographs of my two best scratchbuilt boxcars. Perhaps because I have always liked them, they were the first I attempted to photograph, using floodlights. Anyhow, the angle of the Sun will shortly prevent me from setting up my diorama on the deck until next March, so I grabbed the opportunity to try for some better shots. The IRPCo. car is now over 30 years old and won first prize at a division NMRA meeting in Tucker, GA, in the 1970's.

[wm3798]

Those cars are still great looking, Gregg.  Did you start with wood or styrene?
Lee

[Lenny53]

Gregg;  That Intercolonial boxcar is sweet.   

I managed to squeeze a little railfaninng early Friday evening, the shadows are getting longer and the sun sets earlier this time of year. Not a lot of freight at the time but VIA was putting on quite a show at the start of the Thanksgiving long weekend including pressing Rennaissance cars into service on the Montreal / Ottawa runs.



Anyway, time to go put the bird in the oven.

[sparky]

I added a little work area for Ed the Yard King.  As you can see, I fully tested the beer capacity of the work desk.

Lee, you know as well as I do, that is not beer.  Were you desperate, or did you get that High Life for free?  Almost any free beer is worth drinking.

[SquirrelHollow]

I spent the last week hopping across the southern U.S. to retire my helicopter.
Davis Monthan AFB is a sad, sad place.

She flew in under her own power, and did a great job getting us there.  Sadly, she's likely to never fly again.  The only hope is a DRMO sale to a civilian company in about 20 years.  Either way... she still went proudly into that good night, after outliving her designed life-span by 5.5 times.

Put to bed for the last time:



Two sisters in life - and death:



After a few weeks' wait, they'll meet the same fate as their older sisters:





Last but not least....  Interesting effects caused by a running helicopter, a wind-blown hand, and a cell phone camera:

[Catt]

This is from Saturday,a GP38 hi hood project #1 of 2.N scale of course  ;D



 Got the little beastie painted this am.I'm out of glosscote or she would have a bit of shine to her.ATLAS must have matched their CSX blue with Poly-Scale because as you can see it is damn near a perfect match



Now I just have to wait for the rest of the parts to show up from ATLAS.

These will be special service Grande Valley units.

[John]

Nice Pave Low ...

[3rdrail]

Those cars are still great looking, Gregg.  Did you start with wood or styrene?
Lee

Lee, the Illinois River Packet Co. car is almost entirely Northeastern wood, plus brass wire, paper and Strathmore board. The InterColonial, built 25 years later, is wood, styrene, and brass shapes for the Z-bracing. The basic form is basswood, most of the exterior is styrene and brass.

[engineshop]

Nice helicopter picture Robert.

During the Cold War, your last picture sent to USSR would have produced a stir in the Communist War Department.

[tom mann]

On Saturday, my wife left for the mall to get her hair done.  I was alone with Baby, and she napped for the whole time my wife was out!  So, I worked on this:



I wrote down what I did and posted more photos in the Weathering Forum.

[Chris333]

Slowly adding more to my Nn3 2-8-0:

The walkways look a little thick, maybe I will re-make them.

Started with a Marklin 8896 chassis, put the motor in the tender:


Wanted to backdate the C-16 kit so Started my own boiler:


Here are the first movements she made:

/>Still working out the kinks. and soon I will need to build the valve gear.

[tom mann]

Chris, that looks really good.  She runs nicely, too.