Morning all,

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season!

We'll be flying up to PA tomorrow morning to visit family for a few days.  Hopefully the weather, airlines, etc. all cooperate. 

I guess I have my next project lined up for when I complete the Winter build challenge thread.  Santa likes to shop at FOS Scale Models, so he left me a couple of kits under the tree.  The Frank Lava Gunsmith will likely be the next one to hit the workbench.

Have a great one!  

Morning all,

Got my walk in first thing this morning, had breakfast and now I'm just puttering around.  Think I'll hit the workbench this afternoon and ignore the yard work I told myself I should do. 

Have a great one!

Okay, it's time to throw my hat into the ring.   

Note: Although the prizes are really neat, I'd like to add that I don't need any more kits so please, should I happen to qualify for one, give it to the next person in line. 

For my Winter Challenge 2024 thread I'm going to build two FOS background flats, Mitchell Distillers and Cookson Soap.  Both are kits I hope to use on the shelf layout I want to build.  Once I have these together, I'll have a better feel for how much real estate they'll really take up.  I plan on hand laying my track so having a definitive plan before I start construction is must.

Here are the two kits.



The contents of Cookson Soap.



The contents of Mitchell Distillery.



Before separating things, I like to mark the part number on each part (as indicated in the instructions) using a pen.  This is not always necessary if the parts are unique looking enough but sometimes it comes in handy.



Starting with a new single edge razor blade I removed the walls from the carrier sheets but slicing through the points of contact holding them into the sheets.



Then I sand the edges of the wall sections using an emery board.  This process squares the edges (the laser cut leaves a slight angle) and removes and nubs left where the contact points were cut with the razor blade.



More in a moment...

Not my Winter Build Challenge but something I'm currently working on.   Last time I visited the A&S, Tom graciously gifted me (Thanks Tom!) this FOS Kit of the Month Club, #16 Topper's Pancakes (April 2020).  I threw it on the workbench, instead of in the stash drawer(s) so I decided to go ahead and build it.  Of course, our standing arrangement is if Tom decides he wants it for the A&S he can have it back. Other SBG members can have dibs on it if Tom doesn't want it. 



I do love the Kit of the Month Club concept even though I haven't participated.  Small kits like this are a lot of fun to build and they don't take an excessive amount of time.  They can plug small spaces in a layout as well.  Here are the contents of the kit.



There are two sheets of instructions.  This one, I scanned into my computer just in case I mess up with the printed signs in the lower right quadrant. 



There are only two, Tichy windows, included in this kit.  I removed them from their sprue using a spure cutter (an invaluable tool for the workbench).



I used an emery board (nail file) to clean up the edges of the windows.  Now, some folks prefer to paint the windows while they're still in the sprues because it makes them easier to handle.  That's fine.  I just prefer to remove them and clean them up prior to painting them.  Whatever floats your boat.  There's no right/wrong answer to this.



There are only two, metal castings in this kit.  A vent, and a chimney.  I cleaned them up with a sanding stick to try to remove the 'seam' where the mold comes together.



More in a moment...

While rooting through some boxes in my garage I came across this small, starter kit from Downtown Deco.  It's a Mexican Restaurant called Rosa's Place.



Apparently, I started the kit some time before I moved to Florida at the end of 1999.  So, give or take a month or two, I've been working on this one for roughly a quarter of a century (that should make Greg feel good ).  The walls were glued together, any gaps were filled in and some things were primed.



I painted the door Light Avocado (Americana Craft Paint) using a make-up sponge to apply the paint.  These sponges are cheap and they're an effective way to apply craft paints.



I then painted the brick walls.  I use a bunch of different colors and apply them, from light to dark, as washes of varying strengths.  I'm trying to get some color variations in the walls but nothing too obvious.  



I ended up with a brick color that was a bit darker than I intended but, oh well, that's okay.  This is, after all, a practice kit and there really is no perfect color that all brick buildings match.  For mortar, I applied some Cement colored Hunterline Weathering Mix. and then wiped it off with a paper towel.



More in a moment....

Morning all,

My car dealership sent me an email telling me they were giving me a $50 prepaid digital gift card.  I took advantage of it.  After activating it I went to Miniprints and picked out several figures and a set of rabbits.  So my day is off to a decent start.  What about yours?

A little workbench time today and game night tonight.

Have a great one!

Afternoon all,

Did a little more prep, in morning, in anticipation of the arrival of Milton.  Based on Tom's comment yesterday I thought I'd better try firing up the generator.  Thankfully it started on the first pull.  I sure hope I don't need it.  Found all the extension cords in case we do need it.

Kind of ticked that they haven't picked up the yard waste the last two weeks.  One of those was prior to the the last hurricane.  Now, everyone has piles of debris set out in front of their homes that is going to get redistributed during Milton.  Sigh....

Not much else going on.

Have a great one!

Morning all,

Mowing, edging, trimming and blowing are on the agenda for this afternoon.  It'll be hot when I do it, so I'll have to make sure I stay hydrated.   

First up is swapping the monitor out on this PC.  When I retired the company wanted the laptop back but not the monitors.  It'll be a slight upgrade.

I really need to update my build thread too.  I'm making some progress.  It's starting to look like something.   

Have a great one! 

Morning all,

Everyone must be busy this a.m.  I'm about to watch a YouTube video on cleaning the lint from inside our dryer before I attempt to do it myself.  I knew how to do it on the previous dryer, but this one is configured a bit different.  Wish me luck!  Maybe some workbench time afterwards.



Have a great one!

Morning all,

Western omelets, hashbrowns, toast and assorted other goodies are awaiting!

Good news for us this morning.  We saw a deposit in our checking account to replace the money someone stole from us (a little over $2K).  I hope they caught someone.

I spent a little time on the mobile home kit yesterday.  It's starting to come together.  Fun build but I'm looking forward to wrapping it up and getting started on something else.



Have a great one!

Morning all,

Sunday breakfast buffet is all set up.  Scrambled egg, bacon, sausage links, hashbrowns, bagels & toast. Coffee, tea, OJ at the end.  Help yourself.

Adding windows to the walls of the mobile home.  Soon time to weather the walls.  Streaks of grime and some moss green near the base.



Have a great one!

Morning all,

I'd say T.G.I.F! but it no longer means as much to me. 

Did my walk this morning.  Going to visit friends later on this afternoon.  We'll get haircuts and then go out for dinner.  in between now and then I think I'll hit the workbench.

Dave, here's another picture of that old sign.  This time I moved the dumpster out of the way for you.   This building has since been torn down so all that lovely art work has been lost forever. 


Have a great one!

Morning all,

Did my walk first thing this morning.  Then spent some time reading a book, "Code Talkers", my brother lent me.  Interesting book about the Navajo Code Talkers in the Pacific during WWII.  After lunch I think I'll hit the workbench for a spell.

Here's an old picture, most likely taken during my college days back in the late 70's, around the Enola Yard.



Have a great one!

Morning all,

Rainy day here in Central Florida with some of the outer bands of Debby passing through the area.  Still dealing with an ear infection so I think I'll call in sick today.  Oh, wait.  Never mind.  Think I'll do nothing today.   

My old hometown has (in some cases had) a lot of interesting structures.  


Have a great one! 

Morning all,

Let's try this again.  I opened the club house yesterday, but nobody showed up.  I took a shower.  Maybe the breakfast buffet wasn't good enough to entice anyone to come in.

More decaling work today.  That and a movie or two.  I already did my walk.



Have a great one!

Morning all,

Lunch today with former co-workers.  The percentage of retired to those still working for the company is tilting heavily in favor of the retired guys.  We'll show pity towards those still working. 

I was applying more decals yesterday.  There are two sets of shelves, each containing four shelves.  These are 3D printed and have bottles, cans, etc. on them.  Adding labels to the cans proved to be a little tricky.  I'll resume later.  Thankfully there are plenty of extra decals else I'd be in trouble.



Have a great one!

Morning all,

Yard work today.  First, breakfast with friends.  Then the heat/humidity of Florida in July while I mow, trim and edge.  For bonus points I may clean out the gutters in the front if I have any umphf left in me after the yard work.

I take pictures like this one to remind me of the debris that might be found alongside the tracks.


Have a great one!

Morning all,

Wife got me up early to go for a walk.  Two miles is my limit (years of riding an office chair took its toll).  Now I'm stiff and sore.  Next up is a visit to the eye doctor.  This afternoon will likely be a wash, workbench wise, given he'll dilate my pupils.



Have a great one! 

Morning all,

Bagels, smear and tea this morning!  Help yourself.

Think I'll spend time at the workbench this afternoon.  The weather forecast is a 50% chance of rain every day for the coming week.



Have a great one!

Okay.  Time for my next adventure.  Two kits, both from Interaction Hobbies.  The Ventoura Mobile Home and The Meth Lab Detail Kit.  When I showed the latter to my wife (a big Breaking Bad fan), she insisted I buy it (with the optional Walt and Jesse figures of course).  Even though it doesn't fit the era I hope to model I bought it so now I have to build it!

Don't expect frequent updates to this build thread.  As you'll see, there's a lot of 'details' that make up the lab.  I'll be painting (and decaling) those details for quite a while I'm afraid.

The mobile home package.  For what it's worth that's Edward G. Robinson on the TV.  I was watching "Key Largo" while I unpacked this to take pictures.   



The Meth Lab Detail kit.  Okay, the picture is a little blurred but the link I posted above takes you to the web page where you can see a bunch of pictures of this one.



The mobile kit home comes with a nice instruction book, sheets of laser cut parts and templates/part lists.



The Meth Lab Detail Kit comes with a nice instruction book as well along with all kinds of goodies.



In particular a lot of 3D printed parts.  



That's exactly where I'm at right now.  I need to clean up the parts and devise a plan as to how I'm going to approach painting/decaling them.  I may need a trip to the hobby shop as well to pick up some paints.  

Thanks for following along!