I know there's a few members in the Southern California area aboard this forum, so I'm making it known, the WPM meet for 2009 is scheduled for Saturday Sept 19th, at the San Bernardino Santa Fe Depot, 1170 West Third Street, San Bernardino, CA 92403!!
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Hope to see you there, I'll be there displaying some recent handy work, hope to have the ES44DC, C6044AC, & E9 trio back this year, and in addition my trio of Copper Range Baldwins, and some other various items.

Has your wife or better half been watching those home improvement/landscaping shows? If they have, your in trouble!
My wife has been watching them all winter and walking around looking at the house and yard. Yesterday we went and bought two rolls of weed blocker, three five gallon buckets of red lava rock and four buckets of crushed rock ( we don't have a truck so this is in the trunk of her little Kia ). Next she wants to get some landscaping timbers. I can see what this summer is going to be like allready and I think this is only the beginning!
!#&*%! TV shows.

Loren

This is my scratchbuilt Ore Hill station that I did for a challenge on the "other forum". I built it using a picture from the early 1920's and is completely scratch built using styrene. Well for the challenge, I also did some scenery work, so I can use it for pictures. Someone on the "other forum", asked if I was going to incorparate into my layout.
Yep....I did.

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Here is my rant for Dullcoat vs. another product Called Valspar Bartop Touch Up Lacquer Clear Flat Finish i discovered, that really will save me alot of money, and works a heck of a lot better then Testors Dullcoat! (at least this is my take on it)

I dont recommend dullcoat for anything, it always takes off alot of my weathering, no matter what i use, if its a wash, or chalks.... It always takes alot of it off and makes it disappear like its eating it. Dullcoat is a Lacquer, and i discovered bo matter how far i stood back with the tiny little can, it always "ate" my weathering powders and made them disappear for the most part.

I brought this up with my uncle, who by the way has been a custom painter/carpenter (he also does some AMAZING art work paintings!) and he was telling me that i should get some Valspar Bartop Touch Up Lacquer Clear Flat Finish (yes thats the entire name of the product lol). Since there was a Vista Paint near my grandmas house, she took me over there and i got a can, $7.50 total for a 12.oz can! How much is that Dullcoat crap? Almost $4.00 for a 3.oz can? give me a break! lol

I used this new Valspar stuff on all 3 of the structures i just built and weathered, and NO eating of the chalks occurred, granted i still stood 10-12" back from the model and applied a light mist to the model, which is the key to getting a good flat and even coat/finish. I would highly reccomend the stuff to anyone who is using Dullcoat still, first of all, your way overpaying for the tiny little can, you get 4 times as much for maybe a little more then double the cost of the tiny little 3.oz can of Dullcoat!

Of coarse, this is just my opinion on Dullcoat, if the stuff works for you, then by all means, keep on using the stuff. If you would like to try this Valspar stuff, if you have a paint retail store near you, they should carry it....

Okay, my rant about Dullcoat is over lol

I have to say thanks to tomustang for telling me about this place. It's a great place to get some shots fo main line action and yard transfers (Allentown yard is just next door). Here's a few pics to give you a feel for the place. There are two bridges right next to each other that give you plenty of photo possibilities.

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I decided to start working on this little mini layout again...this was one my grandson & I started on a year or so ago...
Originally, we were going to build it as a layout for his HO train set (Thomas The Tank) but now we've decided to do it as an On30 mini layout...
Here's the track plan...(nothing too complicated here, huh?)

Here's a shot of the bench work...

Here's some progress shots of how we cut, stacked & carved the foam scenery...

I'm having a little decal problem and could use some help.I just painted up quite a few older PS-2 Two bay hoppers in multiple scales in CSX tan.that is where the problem starts.

The scales I am working in are Z,N,and HO.I have the Z scale decals,but so far have not been able to find any N or HO decals.

Can any of you steer me in thr right direction to find these decals.I need enough to do 4 cars in each scale.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give,and no Micro-Scale does not have any.

Im hoping someone can help me out here, i just got 14 Roundhouse 5-bay Rapid Discharge Hoppers lettered for CSDU and CSDPU, and they all have metal weight frames that "lock" into the under body of the cars. This is where the holes are drilled out on both sides for mounting the trucks and the coupler covers on, only there not nearly deep enough and i can only get the screw to turn like once around in the holes before they stop dead and will not turn anymore.

The screws they come with are not very long to begin with, 5mm long flatheads. Should i get new screws for each of these? How can i fix this problem? Am i going to have to drill out each of these holes? If so, whats the best way to do this? Tap and dye? What size whole should i drill them out to if i have to do this? Again its a metal frame these wholes are in, so if i have to re-drill/extend the holes, i would have to have to go through metal.....

Any help is appreciated, and thanks in advance.

An intriguing statement for a topic. Well, there are many times when seemingly totally unrelated paths end up crossing. I'm in the engineering "jobshop" field and am involved (in a very minor way) with the rebuilding of a section of catenary for what was once the Reading Railroad (my Alma Mater as far as modeling goes). One of the items was the suspension clamp to hang the wire. I had in my hands a copy of the part, a casting, and I was amused. I have designed and drawn countless parts in my day. It tickled me to read the drawing (look at all the lines) and transform them in my mind's eye to behold the part. The date of the drawing is 1924. That's a few years prior to the Reading's electrification expansion into the territory where this rebuilding project is to take place. If it wasn't for the politics of spending money I wouldn't have had the chance to have a look at this fabulous, and to most- insignificant antique of a drawing and consider the fact that today's technology can not replace what once was- but will make a new part, cheaper, faster, and better(?). We'll see. I was just thrilled to go over that drawing though. And now it's a must to go and shoot some photos of the caternary as it still hangs on those original castings.

Mark

Hi Guys and gals

I've been very busy with my new job.

I've also gotten some good local responces from key people who want to guide me with the start up of my rail tourism business in South Africa.

Will let everyone know how things are going hope you are all well.

Regards