First Project for 2020: the NMC-Wollard MB4 Coleman

My 3D first project this year is the MB4 Coleman.  These tow tractors can be found on anywhere there might be a military air base, so it's a good tractor for an airfield model or any layout with an airfield.

This project has it's roots in 2018, but I have since concluded the initial survey was too crude to be satisfied with it.  I have subsequently accomplished the survey, capturing the underframe in such detail as one might expect. 

My other projects have further paved the way forward for this vehicle's running gear work, such as three piece wheels with separate tires, rims and hubs to allow quick painting with minimal post printing cleanup.  My first iteration of wheels had the hub and the center of the rim at the same diameter, so I have had to do a lot of cleanup with a file.  It is not ideal.  Otherwise, this will soon be in my collection ready to pull around a 1:87 sized airplane.

My last steps include redrafting the hood whereas I discovered upon opening a hood that I had somehow made the lower part of the front frame part of the hood, which means the 10k lifting holes are mobile where they should be stationary.  The other issue is the present engine, which is not the correct engine for this vehicle.  A new one will be procured in short order.

I reckon 5 hours remain on the setup work..

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And the First Project of 2020 is officially done in HO Scale.

Wheeh!!

It's painful, sometimes, staying focused through that last five minute wall where it seems like the end is right there, and yet, it's not.  But now it's done.

I finally get to think about the next project...adn there's a few, to include the Well Drilling Rig in my Hometown of Dewey that has caught my fancy...onwards!!!

Water Well Driller

I'm currently awaitng my personal copy of the MB4 Coleman as a test kit, I have found it insturmental to build one myself to weed out any little issues that aren't so obvious in the virtual space...aha, ask me how I have found my errors...

Until that kit ships, I have already embarked on a new project that presented itself when I visited my dad early last year.  The local family farm in the community had a well driller on display, the same family farm that had the thresher set out to inspire my first 3D project all the way back in June of 2017.  I noted the location of the prototype at this time and since I had problems finding good plan data to make a well driller myself over the course of the past six months, I determined I would at some point return to this unit and capture it with a good measuring fit to render it in 3D.  That time was President's day weekend in February.

Alas, as I was driving up the main road that leads towards that farm in Dewey, I was rather bemused to encounter my well drilling rig a full two miles early and then behind a recently erected fence in an empty lot with some other interesting old antique mining equipment.  Upon closer inspecaiton, though, it's in the hands of a local museum outfit and this is their homesite they have been building up towards for a while now, so this is very happy news for preserving what would otherwise be nothing but scrap iron to most common people. 

My dad knew a little more about the unit than what the museum let on, whereas he refered to it as "sitting in that field over there for while."  The owners know it is essentially a homebrew sort of machine, though I dare say at the heart of it is indeed a commercially produced well drilling rig.  All around it, however, is the evidence of many years in the service of drilling wells and with it a long series of what I call "somebody's really bad day" followed by many generous "that will do" fixes by someone who owned a welder and spared absolutely no expense on appearances.  There are some truely talented repairs, grafts, and buildups on this device, throw the metal at the wall and see what the welder sticks to it!!

Anyhow, I completed a quick preliminary survey, which was woefully inadequate, because there's only so much you can measure in 30 minutes and this is a much bigger than even a three hour job.  All the same, I made do with my time and came up with this:

Up unitl about a week ago, I had been planning on taking a trip to Vegas with my wife to stay with her Thai friend who has a house there.  I thought I might see the rig once on the way up and again on the way down, two visits offering ample opportunity to gather up a handful of measurements on each visit.  Then the Coronavirus came along and I am now effectively limited to a 3 hour radius from base, no questions asked, you better not break this or we will be busted down to the initial reccommendation of a thirty minute lockdown radius.  And I thought perhaps all my dreams and desires for this weekend were dashed, because I KNEW my dad's place in Dewey is no less than 3 hours and 15 minutes away, it even used to be 4 hours before they started correcting I-10 between Tucson and Phoenix.  And then I started checking distances in Google Maps, our official unofficial distance guide, because Why Not, what't eh worst that I might find?   Lo behold, the new location of the drilling rig has played out in my favor, the distance from the Swan Gate to my subject is 2 hours and 58 minutes away!!!  I may not get a Vegas trip, but the subject is within the legal allowable limits for a second survey which means we have an expedition!!!

Today, I celebrated my first Coronavirus day off by returning to the subject for the second study, following strict protocol of sticking with just my wife and making as few stops as possible and seeing as few people as possible.  We did exactly that, and after three hours of taping I obliged the rain and the sleet and the darkness to turn in, taking with me a half dozen plates ripe with new data.  Now I just have to sit down and turn these notes into graphics, which will take the rest of the weekend, but this is the fun side of any project where it's all still new and fresh!

I already know that alas I will need to make a third expedition, but it can wait - I have plenty to keep myself occupied until then!!

Results from the Second Expedition

I spent part of my day putting my notes to digital vectors.  At this point I have almost exhausted my notes save for the main drive axle.  It is late, though, so it will have to wait for tomorrow.

I'm already making a Christmas shopping list for the third expedition, which I may try to do sooner than later since it feels like our travel restrictions will be much tighter after the coming week.  It'll be worth it, though, if it means I can have the whole thing done!!!

The Drill Will Be an Interesting Model

Benny, 

Your last post is the first of your work I have seen (I am a just now starting to get to spend much time exploring MRH). I really like the drawings you do for your projects. I looked over a few of your posts and I never see a reference to the modeling software you use. I assume it was probably mentioned a long time ago and folks who follow you already know. 

Hope you don't mind but I'd like to ask...what software package do you use for your drawings?

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I've used Sketchup, it works for me.  You may find something better out there nowadays, I haven't looked in a long time.

End of the 2nd Expedition Reel

At this point I have used up all of my notes from the Second Expedition. 

The most frustrating part are the little places here and there where I have 95% of the part but that remaining 5% is needed to actually make the part to scale.  The main drive axle has a lot of missing detail, the springs do not have enough detail to install, I completely overlooked the pillow blocks for the main boom.  All is well, though, I knew when I left that I would have to make a third Expedition to complete this model.

The Well Drilling Rig now looks like this:

 
We're at the point where it's all down to the little nitty gritty details which also take more time to record, not because they're more complicated, but because there's so many of them and even if they're smaller they still take up the same amount of time per piece.  I elected to use a freeform gas tank, whereas the prototype has a random tank from whatever truck gave up a tank to feed the rig.

Seeing how I used up the last of my notes, I decided to play around with some of my old files.  This Well Drilling rig has a cobbled together tongue and fifth wheel, the chassis itself left over from whatever truck the well driller was originally installed upon.  I dug up the M54 cab I drew for another project, keeping in mind this is a 5-10 ton cab and I would be better off using the 2.5 ton cab once I get around to drawing one.  I also threw up a set of running gear from the rock crusher series, whereas they are 10.00x20 and these tires are 8.25 x 20; it's close and in a pinch it will do.  It leaves me with something like this:

A 2.5 ton cab is most definitely on my list!!!

And so this will now go to a back burner until I have time for the Third Expedition.  It's getting there, I'm just hopeful that I'll still be able to make the trip next weekend!!

MD4 NMC-Wollard Kit

In the midst of drawing my well drilling rig, my wife brings me a key from the mail box and asks me why they left it, having never received a package before.  When I opened the box, I was overjoyed to find that my test kit has arrived! 

Here's what it looks like in the bag:

The contents were mostly intact.  Here the kit is removed.

The minor parts once separated from the sprues.

I made my hobs a separae part form the axle so I could paint them separate colors with the spray can, be it green, tan, white, yellow or black, depending on the application of the vehicle.  I have seen two of these variations.

The body, cab and hood with the first coat of paint.  For this model, I elected to first paint the whole thing desert tan, assemble these parts, and then overspray the exposed surfaces Tamiya Nato Green.  Tamiya Nato Green seems to be a bit closer to Air Force green than Olive Drab Green, even if it is a shade of olive drab that is currenlty being used.  My prototype shares this paintscheme, whereas it was likely in a down range desert location before being moved to it's present stateside location where most MB4s are currently painted green.

Some of these parts are downright tiny and I have to question my sanity at times makign them this small.  Just because I can, doesn't mean I necessary Should!!  To paint my tail lights, I used a toothpick.  The brush would be too thick!

More tiny parts.  I'm rather excited with how the beacon turned out with a single coat of translucent paint, the printed resin matchs it well.  I'm also happy to see the grill doesn't look like a piece of porch lattice, though I could just as easily use this one for a grate.  I could use it as a template over mesh if I really wanted to do so.  This run I will install it as intended.

And so here are all the parts after initial preliminary painting.

Thus far I have found two mistakes.  First, I failed to offset one of the tires from the fender and ths it was made as aprt of the underside of the fender.  I was able to get it loose with a knife, but it was harrowing and I have since edited the file to correct the deficiency.  The second issue is in the radiator core, which was supposed to be lose, but alas it is part of the frame.  I do believe I should make the hoses part of the radiator, and I need to design a little more to grab the headlight and taillight inserts so they're not so difficult to install.  I also need to get a red-orange shade of paint to repaint the transmission!!

Last minute Edit, I went ahead and piled up all the parts to see what I have at this point.  It's not perfect because my interconnecting parts are not completely snug, but this means there's space for glue later one.  Here's what it looks like with all the major parts assembled:

 
Otherwise, it's going together just about as well as I could have planned.

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Onwards towards finishing the MB4 kit!

Today I set about finishing the bitty parts that make up this kit, theya re tiny enough that some of them I will have to reconsider.  This part is the larger tow hitch that i have never seen used becasue we use the lower pintle hooks.  This two piece hitch features the receiver the pin; after measuring the pin with my calipers I cleaned the hole out with a #74 drillbit. 

And here it is assembled.  It's tiny, to say the least

The front axle pads are painted the same basecoat color as the rest of the unit.  In this case, this unit was originally painted Air Force Desert Tan before being painted Air Force Green, so all the internal parts on this unit are Desert Tan.

I originally painted the transmission International Orange becasue that is what I had on ahnd, but it did not look right versus my pictures.  Caboose Red is a lot closer paint match to the original's red orange.  I further replicated the wire bundle with a piece of black wire and painted the filters white, the exhaust manifold a rusty color, the turbo intercooler silver, and the rubber turbo intake black.

Here the axles are glued in place.  the tierods run through the notches, the front axle is a little harder to locate versus the rear, but the notches on the axle pads help hold it to the frame.

I then installed the drive shafts.  I should probably oversize the knuckles a little bit to assist with this part, it was near difficult to do it.

Here I have placed the wheel chocks in place and added the fire extinguishers to the cab.  Depending on where you are, the cab may or may not have the extinguishers and many only have the mounts.

I managed to get a little too much glue ont he fender while installing the electronic control box, which I had to fashion form some scrap because I managed to lose the part and it's gone forever.  The cooling hoses for the turbo have been installed on both sides of the engine to the radiator.

I am quite happy with my wheel, rims, hubs and axles being separate.  While I have decided to make this with a matched set of wheels, here's a real world example showing the wheels in mismatched colors of green and black, while the hubs are a weathered black that is now closer to gray.

And here it is all assembled.  The cab is loose in place as is the hood.

And that's it.  For the first one, it's not bad, but there's some things I will have to change between now and the next one to make it easier to assemble.  The lights, for example, could use some larger surface area behind the fender that won't be seen, and the aforementioned drive shafts could be made a little more user friendly.  I could also use a crew chief, but the driver I had on hand was simply too wide to fit in the cab.

That will about do it for the MB4 project.  I look forward to building the rest of my ramp some day soon!

Onwards to the next hill!!!

The Coal Conveyor in Alamosa

A couple years back my local club planned on a new coal loader for the new layout.  The previous coaling facility was the oddly unique FSM Branchline Bucket Coaling Station, which was very nice, but with the era moving forward it was felt that hand labor coal would be firmly out.  The powers that be then settled on the equally unique Coal loader as was found at either Alamosa or Helper and then Antonio, whereas the latter structure was moved to replace an old worn out ramp style coaling ramp trestle.

I had seen glimpses of the idea in roughly the same time frame, whereas I had a set of the only plans available anywhere and found with a google search tucked away in my project files along with a couple pictures I had found at the time.  This project for the club, though, would be accomplished in brass by one of our brass builders, and so I kept this project in deep freeze for a rainy day.

A couple years go by and this member announces he has to retire from soldering, whereas he simple cannot hold the iron and the work steady enough to make even a crude representation.  I personally rather liked the idea of this unique coal loader, and sensing that nervous feet might move to another solution, I resolved I should shelve all of my other projects and see if I couldn't get it accomplished in a short enough timeframe to maintain the club's interest in this model.

Now I could indeed build this model in brass, but every one of you who has known me for all these years knows that I cannot maintain focus on anyone project long enough to gather all of the materials together and then let them sit on my desk and languish as I get distracted by some other shiny momentary distraction.  My first enemy is bedtime followed by work time and between the two I mentally wander off into something else.  I spend hours at a time on other projects, like the churn drilling machine, and then I want absolutely nothing to do with them once I finally sit down.  Subject fatigue, they might call it, and once I'm overloaded, there's no chance I'll touch it until the fatigue passes.  It's how I am, I already know I will not finish all of my projects, hence why I've taken to selling off some of my more complex craftsman kits to those who do not have as wild of an imagination but know exactly what to do when they get such a kit in their hands.  AHA!

For this reason, modeling this structure in brass myself is firmly OUT.  With that being said, I am more than proficient in the 3D environment, and it matches my personality style well with minimal setup and minimal space and material requirements.  I just need plans...

I pulled up the plans that I had saved while my colleague passed on his materials that essentially duplicated mine without either of us discussing the subject, and he passed along his notes.  First, there are zero scale plans for the Red Devil Coal Loader save for a single plan that I believe is out of the Southeast, Georgia to be specific.  This one plan is for a perpendicular loader, and it has been made in brass by OMI in 1:87 and 1:48 scale; it sells for around $300 on a good day.  Second, my colleague stated the plan itself was simply horrendous, whereas it was full of errors.  I waved these concerns off and hit the boards running, adding to this plan every additional picture that I could find of this coal loader, along with the prototype details, to see if I could knock it out before summer ends.  A tall order, seeing how I started the project on the July 5th weekend.

And so the modeling begins...

To maximize search engine appeal, I have chosen to highlight this project with its own topic. 

https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/the-ross-and-white-red-devil-coal-loader-at-alamosa-in-3d-12216386
 

Progress Report on the Coal Loader

After a couple weeks, I arrived at this:

 Progress was good, but then there came the distraction amidst a new work position and the coal loader had a little less work done with it for a couple weeks.

The Distraction: Air Conditioner Trailer with Generator

My inventory of Aerospace Ground Equipment is rather expansive but I have not added anything to it for a lengthy amount of time.  It then happened that this little gem showed up and then stayed in place for long enough for me to get my tape measure out...

I wanted to measure this a couple years back when I first saw it, but there was no way I could access it where it was sitting.  Here was my opportunity, and when it didn't move right away,  I decided the game was a foot; I could see how much I might measure before it moved.  Turns out, it was there quite long enough!!

I will come back and print this some day, but for now...there's other projects on the back burner that direly need attention... 

Truth be told there is one last detail that need to be fixed in the rear deck area, but this project is not big enough to be concerned at the moment.

Let's call it measured and done...

The Marathon Coal Loading Session

At this point it had been one month since the start of the Coal Loader project and I had gone right ahead and put my foot where it wasn't ready and suggested I might be able to get it done by September.  Logically speaking, I fall my time was spent on it, this was feasible in the first week of August, even if all I had was a line drawing and the beginnings of the main support leg.  Here is where I was on July 17th and it stayed that way until August 18th.

By August 20th, I was here:

Here's how far things progressed into August 20th.  Yes, there were a couple very productive days in here!!

It's getting really close.  We're almost out of pictorial data and headed towards Imagineering to the finish...

More Coal

I hit a wall with the coal loader.  It's not a big one, but I am out of information where I need to finish parts, and that means it's time to focus on clearing up some of the parts for printing.

The parts int he lower left corner are just about ready, the pieces between them and the main model are almost ready with some miner tweaks remaining.

The issue that has more or less put things at a standstill is this little area right here.

In short, I finished the bottom rail, but in doing so, I wiped out the places where the girders attached.  I have found out the bottom of this conveyor is a piece of sheet metal, but that means I now need to continue the underside as I have started on a cross member to see how it might work out.   Time to press forward soon, I think...That or I will work on the head and chute and let this wait!

The Churn Well Drilling Rig: Fourth Expedition

My dad has Peaches, and when he let my wife know, she got very excited and I knew we would be making a trip home.  This also meant I would have time to do another survey.

As detailed elsewhere, I hit a wall with this project.  When I came home from the third expedition, I made a little progress with my notes but otherwise I didn't want to even look at them for the time being.  The Coal Loader and the A/C Cart have both made their way between me and those notes, 

On the night before the trip, I reviewed my notes and was aghast that I had was still missing an entire axle in the model, the job boom drive axle, but then I also found out why I perhaps left it alone.  My pillow block data is all over the place - and while I may have all the necessary measurements, there's just not enough to do it easily.  I resolved that this expedition would then focus on the eight main pillow blocks, six on the main drive axles and two more on a missing axle that might have been used to hoist up and down the boom.  I also managed to hit up a roller axle on the underframe, whereas it was easy and I grabbed the numbers while I was laying down.  Easy enough.

My measurements are getting better and pulling more detail.  Here's the pillow blocks after the second expedition compared with the new pillow blocks drawn from the two recent expeditions.

 This fourth expedition turned out to be just the ticket to get my notes thawed out.  Here's all the pieces I drew up today, along with last nights work.  These crucial details will go far for the model...

The new pillow blocks have allowed me to finally establish the location of each main drive axle, and here they are much closer to their final placements than they were before.

 It's time to get some running gear under this thing.  I have the measurements, I just need to make good with them!!!

Moving into Autumn

This weekend I blew the dust off another project.

I've been working on an early 1940s Cedarapids asphalt spreader kit and I've had it here since mid June.  It simply hasn't been a huge priority, what with the Coal Loader taking the main stage.  Today, it's time.

They never look like much in the raw material.  Nestled inside the main component are the detail parts.

I removed the detail parts and then stuck them to a piece of cardboard to prep for paint.

The paint changes so much!

 
I then used some black paint to touch up the details.

This kit has two choices of front wheelset, I chose to use the treads.

For axles I used straight pins.  I would have preferred to find some that are 0.5mm in diameter, but the pins I found tonight at the store were closer to 0.7mm and I could tell.  A micro drill bit would have solved this issue, but for this night I didn't pull out any further tools beyond my knife and a couple tweezers and the snips for shortening the axles.

I use a common pair of throwaway snips for this work, no necessity getting out the big guns.

I then used the pointy end of the pin to pin in the wheels.  The treads are easier than the smaller wheels, which is perhaps why I decided to install them.

I then set about with the rear wheels.  Once all were in place, I further trimmed the excess.

I then flipped it over and set about installing the seats, the steering wheels, and the control wheels. It wasn't too bad, though I should consider adding more wheels to the kit in the event of breakage or loss during construction.

And that's about it.  Until I draw up an Athey elevator, the hot asphalt mix will have to be delivered right into the hopper.

And that will be it for this quick little project!

Very nice detail. Also seeing

Very nice detail.

Also seeing the process from start to finish is a treat.

Is this model on a layout now?

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When I get my layout up, there will be a place for this scene...indeed, there will be road product being made from start to finish...

Another glimpse at the Asphalt Source

Our asphalt spreader is getting it's composite from somewhere, more specifically in any case a Bituminous Mixing Plant or by more modern conventions an Asphalt Batch Plant.  The bituminous mix is a combination of aggregate and bitumen, the oil based binder, that today we simply call asphalt.  For a more thorough, concise difference between Asphalt and Bitumen, see here:

Difference Between Asphalt & Bitumen | Bitumen vs Asphalt | NK Asphalt

This scene was nice enough before my new found knowledge, but things have changed.  The hoppers with feeder to the right is supposed to feed the black cylinder below the dust collector, and we're using a set of elevators to do it, the smaller unit is hiding behind the oil tank.  The output from this dryer then enters the hot elevator which takes it to the top of the plant.  There it feeds it into a mixer where oil from the tank in the foreground is pumped via pipes into the pugmills and the aggregate solution is then read to exit the discharge hoppers into awaiting trucks...or...rail cars?

It turns out that your asphalt mix could indeed be delivered directly to a railroad source into gondolas to be delivered wherever the railroad goes.  I would presume this would be a cold mix by the end of processing and perhaps rewarmed on site or through a facility closer to the destination.

Yes, I thought the same thing when I first saw this, "They didn't put finished asphalt in gondolas...." but there you have it, right in undated (1940s-1950s) company literature.

You can see some of the aforementioned pieces of equipment, such as the oil source (29), the feeder conveyor from the Charging Hoppers (2), the Dryer (7), the dust collector (9), the hot mix elevator (11), the overhead bin (15), the pugmill mixer (19), and the discharge gate (19). 

Now you might ask just what does the Walther's kit have in common and what is it missing, and I dare say someone at Walthers possibly combined the ground handling equipment of an asphalt plant with a cement discharging tower!!  Yes, that tower in Black Gold would more appropriately be a Redi-mix cement outfit and Not a Black Gold Asphalt plant!

The G series (G50C or so) plant in the previous pictures is a very handsome unit, and it would be a fine project, but for now I have chosen a more modest machine: the Cedarapids Model OM-S Omnimixer. 

This little portable unit could be set up at any convenient location between the aggregate source and the work site.  I officially started this little unit when I went to Thailand in the summer of 2019, and so it has been a long haul to get to where I am now.

One source of recently realized aggravation has been the fact that while my brochure with decent pictures is from 1962, the detailed dimensional drawing of two sides of the plant is from 1965, and some details were either changed or simply omitted by the draftsman to avoid confusion or oversharing plant details.  Never the less, I have persevered, above all else against a rambunctious attention span fed by a marathon sessions that run until modeler's fatigue sets in (or bed time comes due, the worst interruption ever) and then no progress happens on one project for weeks because it's just not the most interesting thing at the moment

I started this week with having to finish integrating the feeder above the pugmill, figure out the upper bitumen metering pump, finish the integral electric motor drive, draw the aft inner end of the pugmills, draw the interlocking transfer drive, and finish off the hot elevator.  And then I had to finish off the wheels, because this is a new wheelset and I Hate Painting one piece wheel rim-tire assemblies...and here's where we are at:

 

  As of now, there's this small matter of getting the detail on the backside of the pugmill, which will be only barely viewable under the feeder and behind the power unit in the picture above, and then finishing off the bitumen metering pump again under the feeder but towards the opposite side of the machine, and it will be...done? 

I might finish another project in 2020?!

Two and a half more weeks, and it's Here we come, 2021!!!

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The Omnimixer has officially ended the Rough Draft phase and has moved towards corrections and cleanup.  There's a lot of it, but I'm a long ways closer to a final model than I have ever been.

It may seem trite or overzealous to add in all of this meaningless detail, but it really does make the final model all the more intriguing when the detail is all present.  Last night I tackled the gearing on the pugmill. Tonight I finished off the backside of the bitumen metering pump, the last missing piece.

It's all in there, somewhere...

I will be drawing in the pulleys and belts in due time, after my work with the Rock Crusher, I've determined it really is best to dray them in place, even if they are a little larger than what is possible with wire.  In this case, there'd be too much wire to put in place!

Another night of Leave is gone.  4 more remain.  And then, next week will be filled with...well, a surprise of all new sorts!!!

M26A1 Remix

My initial version of the M26A1 felt really narrow, and after a little research I have found that it was indeed a bit narrow.  I made a couple adjustments and since I was already revising this work, I also revised the roof. A layer of tissue soaked in glue should make for canvas.

The new cabs came in today.

I may have erred on the side of going too much, because now they feel just a wee bit too wide.  I may also have to revise the model and put a cage around the thinner parts so they print straighter, whereas there is a warp throughout the upper structure.  Oh well, another project for another time...I don't even have time to get it painted right now!!

White/Corbitt/Brockway 666 Quickway Crane

Some of you may remember this project:

Before I left Korea I finished up the base to mount the crane onto the truck.  The problem is, this crane is European and more fitting for a Russian truck versus my American truck.  And I do have the Russian Cabs.

What I really want is the Quickway body...and after a couple years of collecting reference resources, I finally have something in taking shape.

I'm thinking sometime early 2021 I will have this all the way worked out and my engineering corps will have their crane.

Why not right now?  Oh boy...

The Big Move Up

Let us review a couple statements from the beginning of this blog:

2020 have been a great year for new projects, and I did indeed complete one all the way through to the end - the MB4.  I also have a lot of great material that is very close to being complete, and if it hadn't been for a much larger project, maybe I would have more things done over last week and next week. That hasn't happened.

My wife is pregnant with our first, and we have been apartment living since she got here last autumn 2019.  I knew I would be looking into buying a house here come mid spring, but the baby is due right about then and that could be a bad time to be moving and juggling a newborn.  And then the kicker: my storage site increased my rent.  The game was afoot.

I had already been kinda looking at houses this last couple of month, but not anything serious beyond maintaining a list of favorites.  It's a true sellers market right now, anything good lasts days before going contingent, and that generally means it is as good as sold - it's a bad time to buy a house.  And then I saw something that perked my interests, rather two houses, one with a big yard, and a second with a lot of inside space.  The kicker that sent the contract offer hands down was the shed in the back yard with light and power.  That alone is a big deal in my world.  The rest of the back yard is a 25x25 concrete slab ahem basketball court...yep, you know what that can be used for!!

So the last week and the next week will not be spent doing much modeling work.  I'm moving into a house with room and space for everything that could be a project.  2021 will feature a stabilized home front and plans for a layout!

First order of business, between moving loads (I have now moved 9 with my truck, with 1.5 storage units left) has been removing four rooms of carpet and installing vinyl woodgrain print in its place.  I finished the first room tonight, which just so happens to be the office, but there's still three rooms left.  all in due time!  and yes, the carpet stunk to high heaven - thankfully it's out!!!

Your 3d Models

Will you be posting any of your stl files somewhere to share?