Good morning Curt, Rick, Jerry, Mike, Dave, Larry, Karl, Philip and the rest of the crew that drops in later.

Curt, thanks for the coffee and breakfast Curt, it seems that the pool work is never done.  Looking forward to your new build updates.

Rick, safe travels

Jerry, Beach or bench after the chores?

Mike, enjoy lunch with your daughter.

Dave, sounds like you had a successful day working on the clinic.

Larry, hope you make it to the bench.

Karl, did you get your Starlink issues worked out?

Philip, enjoy your day.

Currently 15c (59f) and overcast with rain in the forecast.  Bin arrived yesterday, cleanup starts today between the raindrops.
No modeling yesterday as we went out for dinner and by the time we got back, it was getting late.  We shall see what tonight brings.

Have a great day everyone.

Good morning Mike, Curt, Rick, Larry, Karl, ACLTom, James, Dave and the rest of the crew that drops in later.

Thanks for the coffee and breakfast Mike, hope you're feeling better and that the bug goes away real soon.

Curt, hope Badger gets better soon and I'm looking forward to the kit build.

Rick, enjoy your hike today.

Larry, enjoy dinner with Ellie tonight.

Karl, more PT, they must really like you.

ACLTom, nice score on the books, enjoy dinner later with Pam.

James, hope the operating shift goes well.

TomO, sorry to hear about your brother, I'm sure he will beat it. 

Dave, hope you make a lot of progress on your clinic today.

Currently 17c (63f) and raining here.  The 20 yard waste bin should be arriving later today and the new shed kit should be delivered tomorrow.  Seeing as I have a 4-day weekend I figured out that it would be a good time to replace the back shed.  I did managed some time at the bench last night even though it wasn't in the plan.  I cut all the required vertical posts to size and added the proper angles to the bottom of them and I started assembling the first bent.  Not sure what tonight will bring.

Have a great day everyone.

Good morning Curt, Larry, Mike, ACLTom, Karl and the rest of the crew that drops in later.

Thanks for the coffee and breakfast Curt, hope your KIR kit arrives sooner that expected.    I'm also looking forward to the build.

Larry, It must be haircut day, as I'll be getting one this evening.  Hope the yard isn't torn up too much.

Mike, If you start dragging your feet later today, you could always make yourself an espresso.

Tom, enjoy going through the books, hope you find a couple of treasures.

Karl, I see that it didn't take long for Cracker Barrel to see the light5, enjoy your day.

It currently 15c (59f) and overcast with rain in the forecast this afternoon.  No modeling last night as I've been busy doing other stuff.  We shall see what tonight brings.

Have a great day everyone.

Good morning  TomO, Karl, John, Dave, Larry, James, Jerry, ACLTom, Curt. Karl, Mike and the rest of the crew that drops in later.

Thanks for the coffee and Breakfast Larry.

Going to keep it short today as I have another busy day.  It's currently 16c (62f) and cloudy.  Construction bin is set to arrive Thursday so it will be there for the weekend construction.

Have a great day everyone.

Good morning TomO, Curt, ACLTom, Rick, and the rest of the crew that drops in later.

Thanks for the coffee and breakfast Curt, it's great news that your KIR kit is states side.

TomO, sounds like your whirlwind trip has been a lot of fun.

ACLTom, have fun in the train shed, looking forward to your next project.

Rick, sounds like you had a great day yesterday.

Currently 17c (63f) and partly cloudy here, it's shaping up to be a great day.  No modeling yesterday as I decided to do other things, not sure what tonight will bring.  Have a 4 day weekend coming up so I need to prepare for the planned construction project.  I need to demolish the existing shed so that I can replace it with a new shed.  First order of business is to rent a bin so that I can get rid of the old construction material (and a few other things), will be looking into that today.

Have a great day everyone.

Mike,

I have no experience with the PM4 because I have never used one.  I do have a PM42 that has been working flawlessly since 2007.

Dave, the belts look excellent.

Tom,

Great job on the marker lights they really make a difference.

Can't wait to see what the next project is.

Good morning Larry, Curt, Rick, Mike, ACLTom and the rest of the crew that drops in later.

Thanks for the coffee and breakfasts Larry, and Curt, one can never have too many choices.  

Larry, Glad you had a good day with your daughter yesterday, enjoy your time in the train room today.

Curt, hope the chores are easy ones.

Rick, enjoy your hike today.

Mike,  Have fun working on the lights, sounds like you are making great progress.

Tom, hope you have a successful day in the train shed.

Currently 21c (70f) and cloudy with rain in the forecast today.  Its a good day to stay indoors.  Have laundry to do to today and then visit my mom this afternoon.  Hopefully later today I'll start making the bents for the pier.

Have a great day everyone.

Wow Larry, just when you think it can't get any better it does.  The buckboard turned out great and the fascia really makes the scene stand out.

Thanks for the comments Jerry, Curt and Rick.

I've worked in construction all my life so that might have something in the way I do things. 

Managed some more time at the bench today, mostly at the computer.




These are the plans that come with the kit.  The issue is that it is to long and too tall for the space I have for this structure.




This is my version of the structure.




I cut out a copy of the template and glued it to the land contour template to make sure that it would fit properly.




I cut out another template and glued it to a piece of foam core.  This was in turned covered with clear packing tape.  This will prevent the white glue from sticking to the template.  I usually make a styrene jig but I've seen Dave Meek of Thunder Mesa Studio fame use this method multiple times on his videos.

Now I need to find the track crew so that I can get them started on the pier construction.

Thanks for looking in.

Thanks for the comments Curt, Larry, Dave, Rick and Jerry.

First time my scale shoes have been complimented.    Probably the last time it will happen too.

Time for the second update from Yesterday's work, going to call this one......

Sent out the Survey crew.

Now that the bridge crew has completed adding the bridge shoes to the bridge I can now figure out the height for the timber pier.



First up was temporarily install the bridge to to see where the bottom of the bridge would be as well as the position of the bridge shoe that will need to rest on the pier.





Using some squares and rulers I made a template of the land form.





I used the template to cut out and refine the template that will be used to make a scale drawing of the bents.

Next up is making the scale drawings.

Oh, while all this was happening,





I found time to stain the lumber required to make the pier.  I used Hunterline's Burnt Umber weathering mix for this.

Thanks for looking in.

Good morning TomO, Curt, Mike, Dave, Larry and the rest of the crew that drops in later.

Thanks for the coffee and breakfast Tom, condolences for you bowling friend.

Curt, now that one kit has arrived you can get to modeling again.

Mike, you will like the Mount Blue kits I have a fleet of boxcars from them.  I've built a couple already, but have at least another half dozen to do, along with some flatcars.

Dave, sounds like your modeling room is damp as that is usually the cause of epoxy taking longer to set up than usual, or it could be that it is past it's expiry date.

Larry, Have fun with your daughter today.

Currently 21c (70f) and partly cloudy today.  Managed some time at the bench yesterday and already posted an update.  Have another update to add which I'll add later today.  Right now I need to get some work clothes and then take Gracie for a walk.

Have a great day everyone.

Some progress was made yesterday so it's time for another update......


If you look and any steal constructed bridges you will notice that there are bridge shoes between the bridge and the support pier.  Bridge shoes are critical as they allow for the expansion and contraction of the bridge due to temperature differences.  This prevents the bridge from buckling and/or damaging the bridge supports.  On end of the bridge is fixed while the other end moves freely.

I figured if I'm going to do it right I better add the bridge shoes.  

First up was to get the bridge shoes and I only had N scale one which would be way too small for my bridge, so an internet search showed that Walthers made a set that would work, but my local supplier didn't have any and getting them elsewhere would be costly and I would have to wait for them so I decided to make my own.  I found plans online but I also found 3d printing files (stl) for them online st Thingiverse.



The files were for a HO bridge but looking at the dimension in the slicer software they would scale out to 2' high which seemed a little to tall for me  so I printed them out at 12" high and 18" high.  While the 12" high ones looked good they seemed too small under the bridge while the 18" high ones looker right.

As a side note, because these pieces were small and delicate I printed them using my resin printer.  They were printed using Anycubic water wash resin, which is a lot less hassle that using resin that used isopropyl alcohol for washing and clean up.




I painted the bridge shoes black grey (Vallejo 70.862)  I don't use black is it is to stark and never looks right as the colour is overpowering.




The shoes glued to the underside of the bridge.




A close-up of the installed bridge shoe.

Next up is figuring out the height of the bridge pier.

Thanks for looking in.

Thanks for the comments Dave, Rick, Curt, Jerry, Kyle, Greg, Larry, Mike and Philip.

The track laying process was real relaxing, now it is on to the next step.