Monday’s task was to complete the wiring for the street lights at Lismore. I wired in a power supply and connected them up. Perfect! I then went on a bit of a tour to identify where I needed more signage on the fascia and then worked out what I would add. So that was then printed off, ready to glue on the fascia, but not yet done. I realised that I needed to spend some time working on my semi-trailer travelling on the Summerland Way. I was dreading this, due to the initially perceived difficulty.
Never put off to tomorrow what you can do today. So on Tuesday morning I went down and added some bluetack around the 0402 LEDs that are positioned behind the headlights on the prime mover. I adjusted this so no light escaped, and then drilled holes in the baseboard for the wires from the 0402 LEDs to make their way back to the power supply and the panel switch. A test and it worked like a charm. This model sat on the layout for a couple of years, and was so much simpler than I expected.
I realised that I had found some brass wagon steps on Monday morning and I have no idea where I put them for safe keeping. So that was another distraction in my modelling day on Tuesday. So I went for a look, and eventually found them sitting in the wagon that they were to be attached to. Next task is to add some stirrups and steps to the rail carrying wagon for the upcoming August NMRA modelling comp, so I can then paint it and get on with its build. However, before I could do that, another more detailed look at the photos that I had, revealed that there was a lip under the bottom of the wagon sides. I did not have this, so two lengths of 0.010” x 0.060” styrene were added above and below the wagon sides. Last task was to work out how to add the uncoupling rods to each end of the wagon.
I was also able to show off my layout lighting progress to the boss, and wouldn’t you know it, Shelton the Photographer had stopped working. It was traced back to a wire coming off the track. So this was easily fixed. I think it was a mixture of the cold weather and the work being undertaken above this area with the lighting occurring at Kyogle. I was resting various tools, drills, soldering irons etc. on top of this track at Lismore. Note to self. Do not do that!
Normally on a Tuesday Night when we don’t go to someone’s place, we all get onto the NMRA’s Discord channel for a chat. It is amazing what we all do there. While showing some photos of the rail carrying wagon to the guys, and asking if anyone has any AN decals. It dawned on me that PK has some magic software – Photoshop – that will take a photo from an angle and make it 90 degrees straight on. I tossed him two photos and he returned serve with his adjusted images, and I now do not need decals, as I can just print out his adjusted photo image on paper (well I could do it on decal paper as well) and attach those images to my rail carrying wagon. We will see how this goes.
On Wednesday I added the coupler lift bars to my rail carrying wagon and also added all the door hinges to the wagon, even though the doors had been removed. I was also attracted by a new shiny distraction. I was looking at building a small scene on a 90mm PVC end cap for the NMRA convention. I had come up with two entries to submit. But upon re-reading the rules, I'm only allowed one entry. So one idea has been tossed. I purchased a 90mm end cap from Bunnings and I constructed the main part of the model. This was completed on Wednesday.
The plan was to paint both the model, and the rail carrying wagon on Thursday. But I motorised the model instead. But I did complete the painting of the rail carrying wagon. I then took out the yellow paint and touched up the model in the appropriate places. I also added a few of the prints that PK created to the wagon. It looked passable. I decided to reprint the photos but this time in a better quality print format. I think what resulted, once applied to the wagon has changed its end colour and currently looks really good.
On Friday I went looking for the various forms for the NMRA model comp and started to fill them in. I will ask someone to review my forms this coming weekend.
A group of us went to Paul’s place on Saturday to continue work on some corner modules. We ended up with one module basically with scatter on it. One module has been painted a basic colour all over on top of the plaster and it is ready for scatters to be applied. The other two modules have been plastered over most of them, and should be ready for painting and scatters next time we do some work on them.
Sunday I treated myself with a visit to a small model train show at Birkdale. I got there just after opening, and it was quite a busy show. Lots of people were there which I had a natter to. Some nice layouts, nice displays, and some shops. When I got home after lunch, I started working on ways to create a print of the numbers for my QR 2050 Railmotor model. This could be in lieu of doing a decal. I think I have done so, but I am unsure if the size is correct as yet. That is next week’s job to print out and test fit and check colouring. But one thing that I did discover, is that there are photos of QR 2057 railmotor both with and without a blue QR worm decal on the side. Given that I cannot seem to get a blue QR worm decal of the appropriate size, I may have solved my problem. I will now probably not apply one to these to the railmotor sides, as I have documentary proof.
This coming week, I will continue to work on my 90mm PVC end cap challenge model and work on my Railmotor and QR HO wagon. Maybe by Friday model number two will be completed.
Next weekend is the RMCQ exhibition at the South Pine Sports Complex at Brendale. I will be working on the NMRA stand fixing a scratch built timber road over rail bridge’s railings and building some new bents for it. I’m sure I will have lots of other things to build while working on the stand. Come and say Hi.
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