Model Train Journal

Saturday, 01NOV25
"Weekend Photos," what does that mean?
week·end
noun
the period from Friday evening through Sunday evening, especially regarded as a time for leisure.

OK! I can post some photos then.

This is a photograph of bokeh.

Here is a photo with no bokeh.

The dust on the engine and track is not real. I have never seen photo stacking do that before.

Picking up where we left off last month, window glazing installed and a basic paint job applied:



Turned out the schoolteacher had a supply of transparency sheets, so I played around with that for the better part of a day. I created a set of windows using Excel, giving each a red background. I tried printing using my HP InkJet, but just couldn't get the ink to bond. It stayed "smeary" for hours. I tried spraying them with some fixative, including a spray can of Krylon "Workable Fixatif" I found at Walmart, and some decal fixative I have. Crickets; in desperation, I even tried an overspray of Tamiya clear lacquer, but that that seemed to make the transparency sticky. Never mind, moved onto Plan B.

So I dug out one of my rolls of Tamiya 1mm masking tape and used that on some red acetate I got at Michael's. Laying out sheets of windows didn't work the best because I didn't use great precision, just sorta eyeballed it. The hotel was the worst, because I made sheets to do each side's windows. If you look closely, you'll see mullions all over the place; some in the middle, some near the top, some near the bottom of a window. Having seen a few of the originals from the 1950s, I didn't let it bother me. I think the Japanese used gold paint to create the mullions on their versions...none too neat, but effective. Howard Lamey sent me a link for some printable doors (drawn in the style of the originals). I printed three of them on plain paper and pasted them in. They should be translucent enough to be effective.

One problem for a ham-handed goof like me is cementing these acetate windows into place. I used plain old PVA, placing them while they were stuck on a finger. When positioning, it was easy to smear some PVA on them in obvious places. I hoped the stuff would dry clear and be not too obvious; it did dry clear, but one can still see the small smears. Whatever...

Remember, these will get snow/glitter treatment, so a basic paint job is all that's required. Any sloppiness will get hidden under a covering of fresh snow, lol.

So now back to the contours for the inside curved bit...should be interesting.

Paul you better hope that MAMA does not skin you alive if you get GLITTER all over the house again like last time.

Anyway I am looking forward to seeing this new tunnel and Christmas putz.

HONDO74 wrote:Paul you better hope that MAMA does not skin you alive if you get GLITTER all over the house again like last time.

Anyway I am looking forward to seeing this new tunnel and Christmas putz.

I've been thinking about that, Robert. Initial thought was to try to do it outside on the terrace if a warm day turns up. Otherwise, down to the basement. Definitely not the dining room or kitchen...learned my lesson from the last time.

Been playing around with the buildings and the contours...might only be able to fit two of them onto the hillside (the hotel looks too big, so might make a stand-alone piece out of that).

Test ran a few cars through it today...plenty of clearance. Whew...

healey36 wrote:......try to do it outside on the terrace if a warm day turns up.

Tomorrow looks promising! I've been staining an oak chair and will be out later today putting the 1st coat of polyurethane on it while working on part of a barrister's bookcase.

Hope to get some paint on a American Standard kit of a gas-electric, too. Once it gets too cool to paint, the models start to stack up until spring,

Rufus T. Firefly wrote:
Hope to get some paint on a American Standard kit of a gas-electric, too. Once it gets too cool to paint, the models start to stack up until spring,

Get the pile prep'd, load 'em up, and wander up here where there exists an indoor paintbooth, that hallmark of luxurious living...

My paint-booth is basically a large cardboard box on a chest-level shelf in my furnace room. Very low tech, with little-to-no ventilation. Things haven't changed much here since all those years ago gluing Airfix kits together in the basement. Even worse was doping those Guillows balsa/paper kits. I keep waiting for the Johns Hopkins clinical study on plastic glue induced brain damage and the lingering cough.

sarge wrote:

Rufus T. Firefly wrote:
Hope to get some paint on a American Standard kit of a gas-electric, too. Once it gets too cool to paint, the models start to stack up until spring,

Get the pile prep'd, load 'em up, and wander up here where there exists an indoor paintbooth, that hallmark of luxurious living...

When the weather shifts to too cold, I may be taking you up on that offer. I'm about to set up the trestles to work on the furniture today.

If it breaks warm enough, the American Standard gas-electric will get some paint on it. Got to get enough on the underbody section to finalize the drive install. There's a marriage of inconvenience (or let's use what's in the Armstrong cabinet...) involved.

healey36 wrote:My paint-booth is basically a large cardboard box on a chest-level shelf in my furnace room.

Can't do that sort of thing here anymore even with the exhaust fan wide open if I want to stay married.

Rufus T. Firefly wrote:

healey36 wrote:My paint-booth is basically a large cardboard box on a chest-level shelf in my furnace room.

Can't do that sort of thing here anymore even with the exhaust fan wide open if I want to stay married.

I try not to do much indoors anymore. Either the terrace out back or the garage, but neither is optimal once it gets cold.

healey36 wrote:

Rufus T. Firefly wrote:

healey36 wrote:My paint-booth is basically a large cardboard box on a chest-level shelf in my furnace room.

Can't do that sort of thing here anymore even with the exhaust fan wide open if I want to stay married.

I try not to do much indoors anymore. Either the terrace out back or the garage, but neither is optimal once it gets cold.

Exactly; warm enough in the garage today for the chair; not warm enough in the driveway even over the blacktop to paint the train car....well, not yet. All I need is 30 min of good sun....

You both know where the paintbooth is.

GRIN!

sarge wrote:You both know where the paintbooth is.

GRIN!

Yes, but the chair is on deadline and it's re-upholstery time this weekend, I expect, giving the poly good time to cure. In the meantime, the barrister's bookcase is also on deadline.

Trains are moving slowly in the shop. Probably for the best right now - feeling the seasonal disorder thing earlier than usual this year. Got the next step done in the gas-electric done today, some planning on the interior of the next structure, and poured 2 RTV molds - really hope that the old RTV works/cures. I need the parts for the bookcase....

Editing an article that honestly is providing the most convincing argument against Ops by trying to do the exact opposite. Had to jam a spoon in my ear to make the pain stop.

Rufus T. Firefly wrote:

sarge wrote:
Editing an article that honestly is providing the most convincing argument against Ops by trying to do the exact opposite. Had to jam a spoon in my ear to make the pain stop.

Ops as in model railroading ops?