Weekend Update 5/26/19

[johnb]

Wow , people would pay some green for that B&W . Are you going to channel her to do your backdrops ?

just wait....I have something unusual planned for this weekend

[up1950s]

Made a little more forward progress on the TTrak Challenge modules...



Note that the window air conditioner is the DPDT slide switch that turns the power to the lighting on.

Lee

Hidden in plain sight .

[JMaurer1]

last week, my 13 year old daughter looked at my supply of cheap acrylic paint and followed a Bob Ross video and painted some not so happy little trees...her first attempt at painting...

Very unhappy trees but a very dramatic painting. I think that they are HER paints now. Seriously, cold, stark, chilly, bitter...and impressive. Happy I made the stupid joke about Bob Ross.

[JMaurer1]

BTW, you can now find every episode of The Joy Of Painting online now. I've D/L the ones I needed to help with my backdrop paintings.

[GhengisKong]

Yep.  It will be on the kato mech though

Do you have any pictures showing how you did the F-unit style numberboards?

[John]

No modeling for me this week -- In my Navy life, I was a Meteorologist -- (with a face for radio - that's why I got into computers )  -- On Saturday, I traveled to Dayton Ohio to visit family .. I when in town, I always stay near Wright State University -- at one of the many hotels on Col Glenn Hwy . Dave V is familiar with the area. We were staying at the Hampton Inn -- across from Nutter Center ..  I got a chance to do some Storm Chasing -- or rather -- the storm was trying to chase me -- fortunately -- it missed -- BARELY! 

Monday night, my cell phone went off with a tornado warning .. flipping on the TV, I could immediately see on the Doppler several indications of circulation on the monitor.  The storm that was of most interest to me was near Trotwood, heading east @ 35kts .. 

https://www.wcpo.com/weather/breaking-down-the-storms-that-produced-tornadoes-near-dayton has some really good images .. I've annotated one to show how close I came to being a target of one of the EF3s .. I was able to track the damage from Page Manor (USAF Housing area), along Airway Drive, toward 675, where it took out a high power line then jumped the interstate -- fortunately for my wife and I, it moved East-Southeast (~110 degrees) through some new residential areas near Fairfield Mall, crossed Grange Hall Road, and then in the area south of the Mall --

[Philip H]

@John - g;ad you are ok. FYI the local NWS folks are doing post storm surveys and can always use more eyewitness data.  If you want to contribute your professional observations, pm me and I'll see about getting you in touch.

[lv4142003]

Iain, what does your personal text mean and did you get A&EC decals made?

[chesapeake490]

Hey John,
Glad to see you are ok. I used to work in Fairfield Commons about 5 years ago. When I was 14 I was on a golf course in Cincinnati when the super tornado outbreak hit here and in Xenia.

[glakedylan]

John, thankful you are ok and the tornado missed the hotel.


also, remembering those who suffered loss and/or damage.


the TV images were quite alarming


sincerely
Gary

[strummer]

While this is really fodder for the Crew Lounge, I'll break the rule and add to this OT excursion. 

These "Pho" restaurants with off-color names seem to be sprouting everywhere.

One opened in New Hampshire recently, after stirring up some controversy.  Washington Post had an article about it(not fake news). 

...  ...

That's so funny!

Mark in Oregon

[Angus Shops]

I built one of the Kaslo FP9 kits and fit it on a GP38 chassis. It’s not as bad as you think. If you rethink your decision let me know.







Craig.

Thanks Craig,

I've tried to look for pasts posts related to your FP9, but I can't seem to find them, and I do have a few questions...
Firstly, I thought the Atlas GP 38/38-2/40/40-2 family all have the same mechanism; did you need to remove material from the inside of the Kaslo shell to get it to 'sit' properly? And how did you deal with the fuel tank; I am assuming that the basic tank shell should be retained to hold the copper strips in place and support the new shell, but the fuel tank is way too big in all dimensions. I can see that yours is much smaller than the one that comes with the Atlas model. Is yours a filed down version of the stock Atlas part, or something else? Lastly, how did you deal with the couplers and the headlight?

After thinking about it, I don't think the Kato Milwaukee Road FP7 is as simple a conversion to a CP version as one would initially hope. The second headlight could be removed easily, but I'm guessing that changing the pilot from the 'passenger pilot' to a 'freight pilot' would not be as straightforward. I think I'll go back to looking for more Intermountain units...

What to do becomes a bit of a calculation. If repowering the existing FP's with a new mechanisms will cost 'X' dollars plus a bunch of work, while replacing them with new units will cost roughly the same but with less work, then replacement seems to be the best option.

My "retired FP's" will likely not be removed from the layout, but will be used to populate the engine facility at Field.
Geoff

[wazzou]

Ok, one more before this goes completely off the rails....
a Siding on my 4ft Ntrak module is listed as
Beecher Tool and Die   

Sorry, couldn't resist, it's my favorite.

Greg O.

Funny, I always heard it as Beecher Tool and Go Blind.   

[MK]

Damn!  Now I get it!!!!!!   

[DKS]

Then there's this place in Trenton, NJ:

https://www.bizwiki.com/liquor-stores/5065142/hyman-liquors.htm