I haven't died ...

Well, no new photos today, but a little bit of an update. I have not done a lot of work on the RR per se, but for the last month I have jumped into 3D modeling with Google Sketchup with both feet. I have produced several models and had them printed by Shapeways and it is, I must say, very cool. The coolest is my drop in Atlas O to P48 conversion bolster for their Roller Bearing trucks. It makes a several hour job into a several minute job. I got them back from Shapeways and they dropped right into, with no modifications required! I now have a set of RB's with 33" wheels for a boxcar done and one with 36" wheels done. I would have done them both, but I am saving the one on the sprue for the O scale show in Chicago, where I will be speaking about 3D modeling and the future of the hobby. Jeepers, and I've only been doing this for a month!

I hope to have more photos up soon, but I have had issues with the old computer not wanting to upload photos from my iPhone. It seems that when I updated the software, it caused issues with the phone, which, of course, should have been fixed ... I think it is a plot to get everyone to buy new iPhones!

Since I mentioned it ...

Here are some photos of the Motrak Models structure I built for the review in O Scale Trains. It will be appearing in the June issue, for those who are interested.

First off, we start with the four basic walls. I sprayed these with cheap spray paint from Wal-Mart. It's great stuff and something like $0.97 per can, or maybe $1.98, either way, its cheap and works great. These walls were assembled with canopy glue and held together while I was watching TV, in a recliner (but I wasn't reclined as I recall.

Next came the rafters, a nice feature of this original run kit, later runs will have the rafter tails.

Next the roof. I laid out 3M transfer tape on the roof to hold down the construction paper that I used for the rolled roofing. Of course, I used a little canopy glue under the edges where there is no tape to ensure that the roofing stayed down everywhere.

This is the completed structure and is one of the photos that will be appearing in the article. It was easy to build and it was a nice change of pace from what I am normally doing ... which is nothing. What with going to train shows, working and being sick since the beginning of December. Ugh ....



Something has happened ...

It isn't much, but it is something! I was at Mike Rose's on Monday night, doing a little ballasting and repairing of a couple track issues. To make a short story shorter, he gave me a small amount of tan colored real rock ballast. Why tan? You ask? Well, the inside of the curve at Cresco, PA has different colored ballast on it than the other, uniform gray side. I had tried making a wash an coloring the ballast on that side, but I was not satisfied with the result. So Mike's ballast did the trick and I hope I have enough to do this one section up.

When I arrived at Mike's he was screening some ballast that he had gotten from Scott Mason, who had gotten in from Ken McCory's. Well, he gave me some of the coarse stuff to try on my layout. I'm not sure about the color ... and it is a little large, but I will use it as accents in other areas ... Let me know what you think ... if you can really see it.

I suppose I should upload some photos of the structure I just completed ... hmmm