The winter weather has settled in up here on Schist Lake. Our lake has 10 inches of ice and enough snow to take the snowmobile out for a ride. Since I don't own a snowmobile, I have been out snow shoeing for exercise. When not in front of the tv or computer, I am up in the layout room working away.
I have been doing the yearly maintenance required to run the layout without too many issues. Several locomotives and cars have all been cleaned, greased and oiled as required.
I have also been working in the mine with a few items. My wife has done a bunch of ballasting, I built a bunch more poles and a Jordan models steam crane (Highway Miniatures). I previously built the shovel version of this kit which is on a diorama.
You can see the wires in this photo and the following photo.
The overhead wire is display only and is an elastic thread. I found two different types at Michaels in their beading section. I used a black thread for the trolley wire, and a clear thread for a power line across the top of some of the poles. The thinnest I could find is listed as 0.5mm which is a very thick cable at 1.7 inch scale or so. However it is easy to see so you don't reach into it.
I stopped in at the "local" hobby shop some 400km away to see if they had any buildings suitable for my layout. Since it is a free lance layout most buildings are potentially suitable. They had the Walthers Grocery Distributor which I thought would work for a corner building.
A little bit of measuring, a little guessing and I attached the "train" side to the "truck" side in a curve. The big roof is foam core and all the walls are the kit. I now have another place to drop cars off for loading and unloading.
Finally, after a number of years of using my big air compressor to provide the air for my air brushes, I invested in a $99 air brush kit from Canadian Tire that is on sale this week.
I don't do a lot of air brushing, but I am likely to do more now. In one day of testing, the compressor is quiet, provides a stead air pressure, and the air brush itself is a reasonable double action unit. Time will tell if it works well. One thing for sure it will be a lot easier to move this around the layout room than my big full size compressor.
Until Next Time
Tim
Tim Schwartz Having fun in HO
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