Weekend Update 3/21/21

[chuck geiger]

A pre-cursor of the next layout, this is Anita, AZ MP44.8 on the AT&SF (BNSF) Grand Canyon Division. Working on an LDE that would encompass BNSF, as if the line stayed operating under BNSF. I really want to follow Jack Burgess minimal but super effective scenery modeling on this. After riding the GCRY and posting pics and the layout at Bearizona, Ed told me to model this, he came to me in my sleep as Darth Vader from the planet Vulcan playing Van Halen on a Walkman. So we will be working on this over the next few years. We will be going back and forth from Page to Yuma several times per month until retirement. Pretty pumped. I will begin a new LER (Engineering Report) when I begin the process next weekend. The Shed/Shop will be air conditioned!!!!!!! See Yuma Summer heat.






Anita will be on a straight section, this plan was the first draft.

The Hermosa Hacienda - Our retirement home. We are closing on this home in Fortuna Foothills
(Yuma, AZ) next Friday.

[glakedylan]

hey, Chuck...congrats on the new residence. it looks like a great place.
I like the tree in the front and the total SW look and feel of the location.
how wonderful.
your next build looks quite interesting, as well.
will be following as usual.


sincerely
Gary

[svedblen]

Chuck, Interesting track laying there. Very thin ties, and sitting also very tight. And no tie plates? Or is all this only a illusion due to perspective?

[svedblen]

@ednadolski, I love your tapered tie plates! A feature I really have missed on the commercially available plates. But as You have pointed out, you really need to be a track nerd to notice and appreciate that. But I am so that’s fine. 😀😀😀 Looking forward the actual turnout build.

[chuck geiger]

hey, Chuck...congrats on the new residence. it looks like a great place.
I like the tree in the front and the total SW look and feel of the location.
how wonderful.
your next build looks quite interesting, as well.
will be following as usual.


sincerely
Gary

Thanks Gary - Here's more of the Hermosa Hacienda:

[Jbub]

I have an aunt that lives in Yuma. You'll need that pool for sure.

[jmarley76]

A little weathering and decaling going on. Micro-trains 60' excess height boxcar and two hoppers. The two hoppers are old stock Atlas 2-bay hoppers that have been chopped down.

[delamaize]

Been really busy lately, But I was able to get a few things done in the last few weeks.
First and foremost, I finally was able to finish the benchwork and trackwork for a basic around the room layout. It's just a plywood prairie right now, and I'm not planning anything crazy, Mostly just a place to JFRTM. It is built modular, So I will be able to take it with me, if I ever move, or want to change things up. 4 of the modules are built to oNe Trak standard, the rest are my own standard, and are only 4" wide. Trackwork is all ME code 55, with one ME switch, and another Peco Inslufrog. This is the first time, in a very long time, that I have been able to run trains at home, Let alone long trains.

I did quite a bit of testing with my traditional "first train," Which is usually a consist of the equipment I have had the longest. So, in this case, an old Kato SD40, Which was the first "Good" loco I ever bought with saved allowance, and a small collection of freight I have had kicking around since I was a kid. Then came the first run of my Close enough NP NCL.

Video, Now in Potato Vision!

While digging though things in my train room, I came across one of Bob Knight's (TrainCat) H30 Covered hopper kits that I had forgot about. So I started working on it. Was able to get lost for a few hours, and made a ton of progress. I know he use to recommend that you build his kits with CA, but all the CA I have has gone bad/dried out, and I wanted a challenge, so I decided to solder everything I possibly could. I only have one picture, But I'm pretty happy with the progress:

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[mrhedley]

I had to delay work on the Bergen National Laser station kit after discovering what looked like some pieces that were cut wrong.  These were the canopies around the station perimeter.  The wood pieces are affixed to two pieces each of cardboard.  I took the attached photo and sent it to Dave at Bergen by email.

He was quite surprised, confirmed my suspicion, and offered to cut new pieces for me.  At first I considered just trimming them, but on examination I noticed that at least two of the pieces required bending for the roof slope, and the preformed bend lines were on the side to be trimmed, so I agreed to the new pieces.  They showed up Friday, I painted them, wrapped them in wax paper and put them under books to dry to limit warpage.

I didn't like how the roof colors turned out.  I didn't blend the colors well when I painted the main roof sections that replaced the original missing parts, so I wiped it all down carefully with isopropyl alcohol and repainted it all carefully.  I hope this addresses some of the feedback I'd received.

 Once the canopies are added, the shingle caps and the roof valleys all have to be added, and a final coat of paint added.  Then it will be all be weathered with a light ink wash and pastel chalks.  But probably not until next week.  It's spring like here today and a bike ride beckons. 

Ron

[Roger Holmes]

Ron-- I have really gotten into Pan Pastels for weathering the last few years.  I am currently trying out a set of AK weathering pencils for small weathering touches.  They were featured in RMC a few months back. You can moisten the tip and they become paint-like.

[Angus Shops]

In the my weekday evenings this week I spent some necessary time cleaning up all the little boxes and drawers full of bits and pieces, tossing what would never find a use (a tricky concept I know, but I had to lighten the load) and organizing the ‘good stuff’. Included were a bunch of freight cars that had been sidelined for various reasons, including wrong era, minor damage, and ‘no known reasonably close  prototype on the CPR’. A pair of MT 50’ straight side flatcars with CP lettering were in the later group as most CP flatcars had fish belly side sills and these cars looked out of place. However research revealed that CP had built about 1000 42’ flatcars with straight sides in the mid and late ‘20’s. 300 or so of these cars were still in service in my late ‘50s era, so I set about shortening these cars and adding a fish belly center sill. It wasn’t quite as straightforward as I was imagining but they look pretty good if you don’t look to closely. I even managed to preserve most of the lettering on one side of each car. My layout is a point to point around the walls with no reverse loop so in theory these cars will never have to show their ‘bad side’, but I will reletter the cars some day. All in all, 8 cars were returned to service; the rest had salvageable parts removed and the hulks junked. I still have a seriously over weathered IM boxcar to clean up and replace a lost ladder on and an IM tank car kit that defeated me during the assembly and has never been finished.
Geoff

[mrhedley]

Ron-- I have really gotten into Pan Pastels for weathering the last few years.  I am currently trying out a set of AK weathering pencils for small weathering touches.  They were featured in RMC a few months back. You can moisten the tip and they become paint-like.

Thanks Roger.  Are they easy to remove if it doesn't turn out quite as planned?

[bnsfdash8]

I did some more work on Sandy Creek. I redid the underbody details with printed parts, patched unneeded windows, and added some roof details.

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[Roger Holmes]

Ron-- I'm not sure that it would be easy to remove Pan Pastels from painted paper shingles.  It is easy to remove Pan Pastels from plastic surfaces with a wet tissue so if the shingle paint is hard enough it might be doable.

[R L Smith]

 

Ron, that scene of Binghamton is fantastic!  I spent alot of time considering that area, and ultimately decided I could not pull it off and set my layout further west (Corning to Bath). Now I see that I should have tried harder to make Bingo work...

Can't wait to see how this progresses!

Ron