Wordless Wednesday #421 - The Week's Progress

 

Taking the Pain out of Painting

Painting is one of my least favorite things on the planet. Well, to be a little more specific - this kind of painting . . .

Painting about anything in the house is a pain, start to finish. My OCD goes into overdrive and I never feel like I do a great job. Yeah, all those blue lines? Painter's tape, to mask off all the trim. Painful.

For the longest time, the pain of painting extended to my hobby - to the extent that I let my first airbrush languish in its box for over 25 years, way too fearful of messing up to actually use it (click here for that story). Forget about ever actually enjoying it.

In fact, the only painting I've come to actually enjoy has been on the layout. Blue sky for the backdrop and dark green for the fascia is super easy with a roller and a huge boost of progress for the time spent. And no taping!

So early this morning, now that I'm finally done with filling in the screw holes and seams, I decided to get out the roller and prime the fascia in Essex. But later this afternoon, the fun really began . . .

I actually used my new(ish) airbrush! It's a lot more sophisticated than "The Choice of the 80s" and I figured using it to seal my foam-built Dickinson coal dump with a clear coat would be a good way to practice.

Fortunately, I also had some "training wheels" along for the ride in the form of some airbrushing notes derived from a number email conversations - not to mention virtual visits - with my friend Ralph Renzetti. In one handy place, I have crib sheets for thinning ratios, air pressures and cleanup tips for all different kinds of paint.

But after today's airbrushing session, I don't think I'm going to need that much info because after seeing how easy - and actually fun - Tamiya paint is to use, I may just decide to use it exclusively.

After sealing the coal dump, I figured I'd see if any of the Tamiya paint I had on-hand would match my go-to track paint - Rustoleum Earth Brown. I've been looking for a non (or at least less) toxic way to paint the track indoors during the winter and Ralph suggested I try some Tamiya colors. I'd used them to paint the coal dump track a few weeks back and it came out well, so painting a sample color swatch was a great way to practice double-action triggering.

And my new airbrush of choice? The Badger Patriot 105, another Ralph suggestion. I actually got it during a great sale last February and had fallen into my old rut of being afraid to actually use it.

But I have to say, much to my pleasant surprise, shooting Tamiya paint through it is just about as easy as using a rattle can. Sure, there's a little more involved than just taking off a cap and firing away, but you more than make up for that in additional control. Coupled with an in-line moisture trap (shown here - and another Ralph suggestion and sale acquisition), I daresay airbrushing is becoming almost easy.

It's certainly become a lot more fun. And if you have fun doing something, you'll tend to do it more often. And while practice may not result in perfection, you can't help but get better over time.

That's what I'm counting on - and I'm already looking forward to the next time I can fire up the 'brush and paint something!

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In case you're interested, here's my nascent go-to airbrushing combo:

• Airbrush: Badger Patriot 105 dual-action, top feed, internal mix
• Paint: Tamiya, thinned 1:1 with 91% isopropyl alcohol (IPA)
• Air Pressure: 15-20 psi
• Cleanup: IPA & Windex

Thankful Thursday

A couple of weeks ago, I posted what - for this blog anyway - was an unordinary post, but something that's often on my mind when I'm engaged in this great hobby. Without repeating it all here, suffice it to say that our creative endeavors can provide much needed time for R&R&R (Rest/Relaxation/Reflection) and that time will often remind you how blessed you are not only to have that time available to you, but to have so many others that are so willing to spend some of their precious time helping you along the way. Given the feedback I've received on that post, it sounds like many of you feel the same way.

So while this isn't my first edition of Thankful Thursday (click here for that), they've been far too infrequent and - like Wordless Wednesday, which I hardly ever miss posting - I'm going to try to make this a weekly thing. There's certainly enough to be thankful for - I only need to stop and think for a moment...

I've posted here and here about the folks that have contributed so much to the progress of the Valley Line - I literally couldn't have gotten this far without them. But an update is long overdue. So, at the risk of leaving somebody out, but in the spirit of the season, here's a quick list of elves that have helped out in recent months:

(apologies that I don't have pictures of everyone - or "you're welcome" if you don't like having your pic posted)

• B&M SW1 Project
• Philip Taylor for contributing the model which has provided many hours of enjoyment, before it even enters "revenue service"
• Dave Owens & Tom Johnson for contributing decals
• David Hutchinson for contributing detail parts and additional decals (not to mention MANY prototype photos and technical information)
• Hunter Hughson and Seth Lakin for Mainline Modeler articles and additional tech info
• Rick Abramson, and John Kasey for contributing additional detail parts
• Ralph Renzetti for help with airbrushing & decaling advice (and TIA for help with weathering!)
• Scenery help

Jim Dufour

Bill Schneider (as well as for the Cromwell Diner and other structures)

• Trackwork help

Jim Lincoln (and special thanks to Randy Hammill for the scale track and office building that Jim's installing here)

• DCC and Technical Help

Kaylee Zheng

Nick Santos

• Also Lou Papineau and Alexander Wood
• 3D Printing
• Mike Redden - who's contributed countless hours from designing the girders for the Rt. 15 overpass way back when, to working on NHRR-specific details for Alco switchers (DEY-3 and DEY-5)
• Chris Zygmunt

Chris has created a bunch of cool NHRR-specific details, whistle posts and these cool crossing signs.

• Podcasts specifically, and Lionel Strang & his A Modeler's Life podcast specifically. Lionel has created a rich & extensive community of folks from all walks of life with a wide variety of skills that are all eager to help each other with their projects and generous with their time - usually offered with a healthy side of good-humored ribbing. Anyone who follows the Valley Local Facebook Group knows I owe a lot to the folks on the AML Wednesday Night chat, not only for their insight but their company as I labor at the workbench.

While I've thanked my regular crew elsewhere, apologies in advance if I've forgotten somebody on this list even though I tried to limit it to just this past year. Like most of you, there are countless others we can think of that have offered a bit of advice at a critical moment, some helpful feedback on a process, or have in some other relatively small way helped us make some additional progress on our layouts. I know you'll join me in offering our thanks to all those that take the time to give back to the hobby and help us all along.

It's sometimes easy to take for granted all of the generous people this hobby introduces to us, so let's take some time this week to thank those who have contributed something to our efforts, who have spent some of their valuable time to help, influence, inspire, and inform us.

Finally, thank YOU for continuing to follow the blog, for your comments and feedback, and especially for your patience when I'm not posting as often as I'd like. While I do the blog primarily for my own future reference, having the benefit of your experience and encouragement makes it even more worthwhile.

Here's hoping you and yours are having wonderful holiday season.

Wordless Wednesday #420 - Decaling the SW1

 

Continued Progress on the 1109 & Coal Dump (and even the 0967! Conversion Part 1)

As I hinted in last week's Wordless Wednesday post, I've been making progress on many different fronts lately and I'm in that rare state of "flow" where everywhere I look I see opportunities for progress rather than feeling overwhelmed. And it's a wonderful - although often fleeting - place to be: where any obstacle you meet you either figure out a way around it, or you pivot to something else. This way, you usually get to do whatever you happen to be in the mood to do at a given time, and if you're enjoying what you're doing, you're likely to do it more.

And you make more progress.

Here's what I've been up to since my last update:

I starting converting a NOS P2k S-1 into NHRR DEY-3 #0967. First step is to make it "truly" DCC ready by isolating the motor. This involved removing the motor and soldering a new orange wire to the lower motor brush tab/washer (which had previously gotten its power through the frame). I also had to remove the old orange wire between the PCB and the top of the frame.

I plan to install a Loksound v5 decoder and Power Pack. In the photo above, you can see where I think I'm going to put the PP.

In addition to the decoder and capacitor, I'm also installing a custom-fit Scale Sound Systems speaker. The install requires removal of the top weight, but that's only a loss of 1.5oz - a small price to pay for the resulting free space. I plan to do some more-detailed posts on this conversion a bit later.

My bench time tends to be during weeknights so I can reserve larger weekend blocks of time for the basement. Segueing from DCC installation, I got back down to Essex a little over the weekend to make some more progress on the Dickinson coal dump. Part of that process required removal of the fascia so that I could trim it to match the terrain and open up the area where the dump will be.

As for the dump itself, I painted a base coat of my "concrete" color on the walls and bulkheads/piers and "pavement" on the ground/floor. The black will be covered in dirt, cinders, and - of course - coal. I'm now trying to figure out how best to weather the concrete. I plan to do all that before installing it on the layout and gluing the track to it.

Pivoting from painting back to the bench, I got some critical decals from David Hutchinson to get me over the finish line with B&M SW1 #1109. Here, I've cut out all the necessary decals - including numbers for the headlight number boards, which I had to cobble together. Those four tiny bits are the four #9s I need - and they're only 1/32" wide(!)

I then spent the rest of the evening with the stove going, listening to 1940s Christmas music, and doing all the decaling on one side of the loco. Notice the reference photos, also courtesy Mr. Hutchinson.

As you may have guessed, as is often the case, when one is busy making progress, posting to a blog takes a back seat. But as much as I enjoy sharing my progress with you here, there's something I enjoy a bit more - and that is making even more progress to share :^)

Here's hoping you're enjoying this holiday season and that you're able to make some progress on your projects too!

Rosie says: "Get back to your bench!"

 

Hindsight 20/20 14.0 - Saturday, December 10

After a little hiatus - and, literally, back by popular demand - the virtual clinic juggernaut that is Hindsight 20/20 will be next held Saturday December 10th, from 11:30 - 6:00.

As you can see from the schedule, and typical of a Hindsight agenda, there's a real treasure trove of clinic offerings - four on each side of a 45 minute break, for a total of 8 great clinics - covering a wide range of modeling subjects. Unless somebody agrees to swap with me, right after the break at 3:15p yours truly will be covering an attempt to adapt prototype operations to a prototype-based layout.

Best of all, all of this wonderfulness is free - you just need to sign up here.  Of course, though there's no charge, it isn't truly "free." It definitely costs the organizers actual coin, in addition to their time. So there's a tip jar if you feel so inclined and want to see these events continue.

So make plans now to join us for a fun day where you don't have to get in your car or a plane, travel long distances, and get a hotel room to see a great slate of model railroad clinics. Heck, you don't even have to leave your living room couch. Bunny slippers optional - just be sure to have a nice beverage on-hand. I recommend hot cocoa in keeping with the season...

 Hope to see you on the 10th!

Wordless Wednesday #419 - A Week of Progress on Many Fronts