I finally painted my fascia.  I went with flat black, which I think really helps it to disappear.  When I get around to building the valance, I think the layout will really stand out like a display.  the black also looks good with the black computer and black Zephyr case.

Before painting, I spread spackle and sanded all the seams, holes, etc, so that I would have a nice smooth surface.  It's far from perfect, of course, but the flat paint helps hide that.

Let me qualify this by saying that I have NOT tried it yet, though I do intend to.

Pilot trucks on HO scale steamers bother me.  They don't do the job they are supposed to (guiding the engine into a curve) and instead flop around getting in the way and making it hard to get the engine on the track.  If only there was a simple way of centering them..

I feel like hearing myself talk, and I have a soapbox sitting here, so here goes.. feel free to ignore me.

Inspired in part by RAGC's conversion of a Tyco pacific and the desire to clean up a project backlog (and maybe fund some other projects!), I've started construction on Southern Ry.

I was bored last night, waiting for glue to dry on a locomotive project, so I started looking for something to cut up.  When the muse is upon me, strange things have been known to happen.  In this case, I came across an old Life-Like 40' box car that a friend had given me.  If you've never seen these cars, they're the best sort of toy train junk - out of proportion, clunky details, holes in the body to mount the frame, and of course really crappy trucks and couplers.

Here's one I found on E-bay: