It seems like just yesterday, but it was in fact May, before the summer even arrived that I wrote about a structure kit for the layout I had started, and building my first mold for casting parts to replace damaged ones from the kit.
Four new resin roof supports, as the majority of the castings in the kit were garbage. I built the master, and my friend Ryan did all the castings as he was making parts for kits he sells from his company National Scale Car.
Having not been in a rush, I didn’t bother to ask when he’d have the chance to cast some of the replacement parts, but we got together for dinner a few weeks ago and he had them ready for me. Today I decided it was a day to advance and project and feel like I was getting something done. I had the deck completed, other than painting/staining the deck. To do this, I decided to use some of my supply of cheap art acrylics from Michael’s. I pick them up when I need a cheap paint, as I’m trying to create the appearance of wood having different ages and levels of wear and aging on them.
Painting the deck using cheap acrylics and watering them down to spread them on the surface of the deck for the freight shed.
I used a brush that was about the same width as the boards on the deck, and watered down the paint as I went. I didn’t want a heavy amount of paint, just enough that it coloured the wood. Once I was done with the paint, I put on a wash of a golden brown stain. I am still considering a second stain of isopropyl alcohol and india ink that I keep for weathering wood. The undersides of the deck are only coloured using this alcohol/ink mix. It was a technique that was in the instructions for a kit I built years ago, and I really like the effects you can create with it, as over time the ink settles, so depending on how much you shake the bottle after its been on the shelf, you can adjust how much ink there is, and thus how dark/beaten up the wood looks.
Installing the roof trusses and roof beams. Lots of weights and little clamps being used to hold everything together and square while the glue sets. I just did all of the gluing on this with good old fashioned white glue. It soaks into the wood and has lots of working time to get things adjusted and aligned. It does mean you need to be patient as it hardens though!
I enjoy projects like this, they are a good way to shake the cobwebs off after I haven’t done a lot of modelling later. while I’m making little adjustments here and there, mostly I’m building it right as the instructions provide. It means that I can just work away and use skills I already have. I find doing things I know I can do after a break helps me be ready to make it up as I go doing things that are pushing my skills. Strangely, working on a kit helped me advance my cleanup that I’ve been doing and trying to organize my workspace, as it showed me where some things I thought I had found the right home for, weren’t the right place.
End of the day’s progress. Reached the point where I don’t have the right glues to work with the cardstock material for the roof, so stop while I’m ahead and it’s looking like I want, rather than pushing on and making a mistake.
The sun proverbially set on an era yesterday (September 2, 2019) with the last runs of the TTC’s ALRV articulated streetcars. Long after their expected lifespan, they kept trundling along serving the people of Toronto. The final two in service ran on the Monday of Labour Day long weekend giving free rides through the core on Queen Street, their primary home. I didn’t go out, I wanted the day off from doing anything that required leaving the house, and knew they’d be crazy busy, but it looks like those who go out did had a great time.
The closet is hard to photograph, but three segments of IVAR from Ikea in place beneath the benchwork for storage.
Railway Safety, its not that hard, if the gates have started to go down, and the lights are flashing, don’t cross the tracks. There is a little bit of forced perspective from a telephoto lens, and VIA Train 85 is moving very slowly as it departs Kitchener’s station heading west as the crew waits on the gates activating and going down, but this kid rushing the lights is putting themselves squarely in harms way, they don’t know that a 2nd train isn’t coming by faster on the other track, or they could have misjudged the speed of the train. As a railfan, every time I’m out at the lineside (and always off railway property, but thats a rant for another day) taking pictures near a crossing, seeing people run the crossing signals gives me a lump in my throat, I can only imagine the feeling of the crews in the cabs of a locomotive knowing that there is nothing they can do to stop or avoid a collision if someone misjudges running in front of them or stops.
Cornwall was once served by an electric freight and streetcar line. Centre Cab freight motor 17 is all that is left of that in the City. It is also facing an uncertain future, as while the City has set aside money in the budget to stabalize and start restoration, it may be moved from where it is, to another location in the City. There is also interest from other museums in Eastern Ontario in aquiring the locomotive if it is to be disposed of.
Grand Trunk Railway E-10a No.1008, a Pre-Canadian National Ralways locomotive built by the Canadian Locomotive Company in Kingston in 1910. This locomotive is preserved on a stretch of track with a wooden baggage car and coach near the Upper Canada Village in Morrisburg. And it’s on the verge of becoming homeles. The St Lawrence Parks Commission which manages the parkland along the St Lawrence River in this area is looking to dispose of the locomotive as they are no longer able or willing to maintain it. Hopefully one of several reputable groups looking at the locomotive is able to aquire it and keep it close to where it is in Ontario.