What's On My Workbench - 9/8/2014

I haven't done anything model railroady since Labor Day Weekend when I "flew solo" with the airbrush for the first time and pre-painted some structure parts for what will become Ballantine's beer distributor warehouse in Wethersfield. I only have to mask off the concrete portion of the walls in order to shoot the red brick portion (thanks for the masking tip Haksaw).

But for my lack of model railroad progress, I blame Trevor Marshall. He did a really wonderful post recently on "the importance of a good library for any serious hobbyist" - and that got me to thinking about my own book mess stacks of books library. Especially how unwieldy it's become. It's not so useful if you can't find what you're looking for when you want/need to. The final straw was finding a book in the "recent purchases/to read" pile that - you guessed it - I already had on one of my many shelves.

You might also guess what happened next - a flurry of organizing, reorganizing, reading, reshelving, etcetera, etcetera. That project - the type of which always seems to mushroom a bit - took up whatever time I would have otherwise had the past week or so for modeling. Admittedly, that amount of time wasn't actually all that much - but that won't keep me from trying to blame somebody else for my time (mis)management.

Nevertheless, there is something "on my workbench" - actually, a few somethings. "What?" you might (hopefully) ask . . .

Well, other than the usual hobby-bench detritus, there are a few boxcar parts there on the left end that have various weights placed on them to remove some warping. They'll eventually be New Haven Railroad 30,000-series steel boxcars. Also, obscured by the phone stand, there's a 30' deck plate girder bridge done and ready for weathering. And finally, there's the (never-ending-seems-like-always-being-worked-on) Middletown Tower - my "quick & dirty" project (not). All I have left to do is glue the trim on, modify/install the staircase, and mount it on its foundation. If I play my cards right, I may even be able to get to that tomorrow night.

Or, I may just peruse the shelves of my newly-organized railroad library, pick a good book, and sit in a comfortable chair, hot beverage at my side. No wonder "armchair modeling" is so darned attractive!