Running Bear's December 2019 Coffee Shop

[PNKFLOYD]

The McWane Science Center owns this t-shaped Lionel O scale layout built by Alvin Kessler over 25 years ago.There are three tracks that run on timers alternating around so only two trains run at a time. Thomas the Tank engine mesmerizes the very young men and many young girls.

 

[tootnkumin]

MIL (96 yo) didn't take kindly to it; she is accusing us of stealing her old bed and selling it on ebay

Take heart. At least she's keeping up with the times.

 

[Beady]

That's the only way to have a relationship with whiskey!

Beady - there's no iron like old iron and up close makes it even better. great photo!

The Mrs. and I have been to Bronners. That place is amazing. She's been throwing "hints" around about going back Maybe in the spring.

If you've been to Bronner's, you undoubtedly know about Zhenders and the Bavarian Inn, two places to absolutely stuff yourself to the point you can roll home without a car.

 

[Espeefan]

The maintenance/prep work continues. Once you get a few of these done you have to keep going. They don’t look right without the treatment anymore!

 

[Alcomotive]

Well I made it back home this morning at 6:00AM. I drove straight through with a few stops along the way. Fast enough to stay ahead of the storm. I did hit a lot of rain in Virginia and parts of Maryland and Pennsylvania. I left Etowah NC @ 1:00pm lol. So I slept about 3 hours then got up and returned the rental car in the snow storm. Home now... cozy next to the fireplace. I put 2,288 miles on the rental with 43.6 mpg not bad! I got to meet up with Jerome and Terry in Spencer NC at the North Carolina Transportation Museum (the old Southern RR yard with round house) Good time by all. Got a late lunch afterwards. Good full day! It was a great place to meet up with Jerome and Terry! I will post some pics later when I get them downloaded. So tonight I will just relax and prepare for tomorrow's crazy weather and going back to work.

 

[chessie_system3]

Evening fellers. I hope everyone is doing well. Working on updating wheels on some of my hoppers. Now I have in my possession some metal wheel sets that are non magnetic. All of my other metal wheels sets will stick to a magnet. They are grey in color until I clean them up. Anyone have any ideas as to who the manufacturer is? Sorry for the poor lighting in my picture. It doesn't really show much of a difference between the two sets. The bottom is one I've cleaned. The top is one I haven't cleaned yet.

 

[santafewillie]

Evening fellers. I hope everyone is doing well. Working on updating wheels on some of my hoppers. Now I have in my possession some metal wheel sets that are non magnetic. All of my other metal wheels sets will stick to a magnet. They are grey in color until I clean them up. Anyone have any ideas as to who the manufacturer is? Sorry for the poor lighting in my picture. It doesn't really show much of a difference between the two sets. The bottom is one I've cleaned. The top is one I haven't cleaned yet.
View attachment 41877

First guess is either Walther's or Athearn. Front and back views would help. I can't really check until tomorrow though,

 

[MikeInHubCity]

Good morning all. Welcome to December, only 24 days till the fat guy comes. Today is simply beautiful! Bright and sunny 68 degrees, low humidity and a northerly breeze. I'm guessing train time will be at a minimal for a few weeks what with shopping, decorating and visiting. I did receive a Kato road crossing. It isn't American, but I placed it towards the back and it gives the impression of one. It was a gift, and it's the thought that counts. Later.

I have no inclination of taking a trip to Texas. So no presents for the Hobo!

 

[IronBeltKen]

Good evening Shop Dwellers. 39*F, calm, and soaking wet here in central MD. Looks like my region just barely dodged the winter storm bullet, I don't envy any of you who had to drive home thru this crap!

Hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving holiday.

I've got a whopping case of the Sunday Blues this evening, partly because of the weather but mostly because I have to return to work in less than 12 hours after being off for 9 days straight. It's a regular and predictable phenomenon, I'll feel better once I get Monday behind me.

Last week I mentioned I was working on an area of my layout with static grass. I found a way to blend-in different lengths and colors of grass by simply quik-swapping different grasses in the applicator while the same layer of glue is wet. This took lots of trial-and-error experimentation and also required occasional use of a Woodland Scenics Model-Vac to quickly pull up unexpected blobs of fibers without disturbing the ones that were already planted. I'm pleased with the appearance of the grass, but the target area is still far from finished because it needs some trees and shrubbery in the right locations to make it look 'natural.'

On Saturday I went to MB Klein's order-pickup booth (remnant of the former retail space) to get some WS pre-made trees I ordered on Wednesday (the shorter ones at the left in the above photo). I didn't know they still had an active kiosk for placing last-minute orders, so I decided to take advantage of their Black Friday sale and get a built-up Walthers Cornerstone water tower. I placed it behind the warehouse to add interest to an otherwise visually-bland scene:

This entire past week I was totally immersed in this project (except during mealtimes and hauling in firewood), that's why my participation in this thread has been spotty at best.

 

[Trussrod]

Good Evening to all.

Hello Flo, Francine, how about coffee and a slice of Mincemeat pie to start of this Christmas Holiday Season !! Yes, whipped creme on top sounds good.

The weather here in Central California has been wet and cold, last nights temp dropped down to 31°F with a high of 51°F. I'm not sure of the amount of rain over the last several days as I haven't ventured out back to read the rain gauge.

Unfortunately with my sore Left leg joints and muscles I haven't felt like getting up on the roof to try and repair a few areas so I've had to keep emptying drip pails which has kept me busier than I care to be especially having to use a cane to walk.

I've enjoy the comments and pictures.

Hope all have a good week ahead.

 

[max diyer]

If you've been to Bronner's, you undoubtedly know about Zhenders and the Bavarian Inn, two places to absolutely stuff yourself to the point you can roll home without a car.

We stopped and ate on the way up to Frankenmuth. Found out about the two restaurants after we got there. Next time we will eat there. Thanks for the recommendation.

David - I need to get on the roof, also. Like you I haven't felt like climbing up there, but I have to clean the wood burning stove's chimney out and clean the gutters - again.
I hope you manage to get your roof leaks repaired.

 

[max diyer]

Howdy everyone!

Chet - is this your layout? I found it searching for MRR photos and liked enough to save. Thought it might be yours.

No activity this early in the morning, so I thought I'd post some photos.
Here's two of the same trestle in Cuttingsville, VT

I'll be back later today . . .

 

[bnsf971]

Good morning. It's cloudy and 40.

 

[tootnkumin]

Howdy everyone!

Chet - is this your layout? I found it searching for MRR photos and liked enough to save. Thought it might be yours.

No activity this early in the morning, so I thought I'd post some photos.
Here's two of the same trestle in Cuttingsville, VT

I'll be back later today . . .

What road/s are they? They all seem to have the same or similar Logo (green loco's a bit different). Can't make out a reporting mark. Seem to like a variety of paints as well.

 

[santafewillie]

Chet - is this your layout? I found it searching for MRR photos and liked enough to save. Thought it might be yours.

Naw! Cannot be Chet's because the builder left out the stairway.

 

[max diyer]

Your probably right Willie. There's not enough details. Chet wouldn't post a photo like that. Silly me - lol

 

[Patrick]

Good Morning all,

Had a decent weekend. Saw all but 1 grand kid as it was her dads turn for the holiday.

We mostly had drizzle on Thursday, but did end up raining Thursday night, We got less than an inch.
Got the decorations up for Christmas. We purchased this home a little over 5 years ago, I go all out when decorating...lol. My thing is to simply put 4 lighted wreaths over the garage and front door light fixtures (a 24" wreath goes over perfectly). No ladders, no extension cords, just unscrew the light bulbs as use a socket outlet and I'm done.

I did get some more boxes cleared out in the train area and ran a couple of trains on the big loop. I found that my favorite steam engine (an 0-6-0 switcher) is having some intermittent derail issues, but not all the time nor in the same places. I think the problem is in the way the engine was built. My 2 main E-7's don't exhibit the issue.

beady: Nice picture of the Pere Marquette 1225. That was the engine that inspired "The Polar Express". Its last surviving sister Pere Marquette 1223 is on static display at my original home town of Grand Haven, MI. As they do Christmas trains with it, were you able to ride?

bnsf971: In relation to your post #691 in the November Coffee shop, I have an upgraded Sam's card as I get our prescriptions cheaper than the insurance price by enough to make the upgraded card pay for itself. We pay $4 a month ($12 for a 90 day) instead of our insurance plane of $35 for a 30 or $50 for a 90 day supply. Between us we have 4 scripts, so we save a lot more than the $55 we pay for the upgraded membership.

 

[Espeefan]

I experimented with a couple of new mediums this weekend. I tried some Tamiya panel line accenter. I could probably make my own if I experimented enough to get the ratio right, but it's really nice the way their stuff creeps down the panel line. I also tried water color pencils. They are a little tricky, but effective. You can draw on the surface then work the paint in with water, or do what I did, take a very fine brush, wet it, and touch it to the pencil point to pick up color to apply. This one works better for me.

Here's the Tamiya accenter:

This car is an el-cheapo Bachmann. I used to use these in airbrush classes. It's had the coupler and wheel treatment, trucks painted, flat coated, a wash of 20% weathered black, a coat of Paynes Gray extra dark Pan Pastel, and the water color pencil for the rust streaks. Not perfect but the techniques are good ones I think!

 

[Patrick]

I experimented with a couple of new mediums this weekend. I tried some Tamiya panel line accenter. I could probably make my own if I experimented enough to get the ratio right, but it's really nice the way their stuff creeps down the panel line. I also tried water color pencils. They are a little tricky, but effective. You can draw on the surface then work the paint in with water, or do what I did, take a very fine brush, wet it, and touch it to the pencil point to pick up color to apply. This one works better for me.

Here's the Tamiya accenter:
View attachment 41880

This car is an el-cheapo Bachmann. I used to use these in airbrush classes. It's had the coupler and wheel treatment, trucks painted, flat coated, a wash of 20% weathered black, a coat of Paynes Gray extra dark Pan Pastel, and the water color pencil for the rust streaks. Not perfect but the techniques are good ones I think!

View attachment 41881

What types of paint do you use for airbrushing? I bought a cheapo Tester's kit to experiment with, but I haven't purchased any paint. I'm leaning towards acrylics, as my son is allergic to paint fumes. I'm at a waiting point on my wiring, so I thought I'd try my hand at weathering some cars as I have a lot of older plastic wheeled Tyco and lifelike cars I've picked up over the past year.

 

[Espeefan]

What types of paint do you use for airbrushing? I bought a cheapo Tester's kit to experiment with, but I haven't purchased any paint. I'm leaning towards acrylics, as my son is allergic to paint fumes. I'm at a waiting point on my wiring, so I thought I'd try my hand at weathering some cars as I have a lot of older plastic wheeled Tyco and lifelike cars I've picked up over the past year.

I use it all! The CP car was airbrushed with Testor's Dullcote, but if you want to keep fumes down their "Acryl-Flat" works very well. The weathered black was Floquil, but there are acrylic equivalents. You might want to consider water colors. I have taught weathering for years with Iwata's Com Art weathering set. The paints are airbrush ready, easy to spray, and will wash off if you don't like your results. There's not much overspray either. I've weathered cars at the kitchen table. Here's the set. it contains some washes that go on very light, so you have to take your time but the results are very good.

https://www.hobbytown.com/iwata-com-art-colors-weathering-kit-iwa810015/p163214