Backwoods NE in Florida

[bparrish]

John..........

You are very brave sir......................

Making the switch to all NG is very cool also. I have only about a quarter of my railroad in skinny rail.  It is a branch line to a mining district that connects to the standard gauge with team tracks.

It's fun and cool but you have gone off of the deep end ! ! ! ! !

Thanx for putting up the photos.

see ya
Bob

[cuse]

I finished dropping and connecting feeders throughout the layout and soldering an occasional imperfect rail joint and everything is running like a dream. I also got my package from Scenic Express and I wanted to share a photo of a scenery "product" I think is really good. They call it "Super Sage" and, obviously, it's simply bits of Sagebrush. I don't think it's found in this area, but if it's in your geographic area, take a look.


John

[gnatshop]

It's a shame, but we don't have no sagebrush here in Arkansas, either!

But I do remember Kathy Millat pullin' up a plant in her garden, and the roots made
a fantastic tree.
I ain't pulled up anything that looks that good, either! 

Guess we just have crappy plants for model railroading!!!!
In your case, palm fronds just don't cut it!   

[cuse]

Cutting and fitting, planning and scheming


Trestle #2 coming to life


John

[ReadingBob]

Hi John,

I really like the shape that's taking.  The stone abutment leading to the trestle really looks sharp and adds a lot to the scene.  Well done!      

[ACL1504]

Hi John,

I really like the shape that's taking.  The stone abutment leading to the trestle really looks sharp and adds a lot to the scene.  Well done!   

I agree, it's looking really good!

Tom

[Erieman]

I finished dropping and connecting feeders throughout the layout and soldering an occasional imperfect rail joint and everything is running like a dream. I also got my package from Scenic Express and I wanted to share a photo of a scenery "product" I think is really good. They call it "Super Sage" and, obviously, it's simply bits of Sagebrush. I don't think it's found in this area, but if it's in your geographic area, take a look.


John

John,

congratulations on your scale change. I was just catching up on your change and the trees you got from Scenic Express. I was in northern New Mexico about two weeks ago and drove thru miles of sagebrush. I kept thinking, should I stop the car and go pick some. Well, I had the wife and another couple in the car and they would probably think I was loco ( no pun intended), so I kept on driving. Your tree is just that, Sagebrush. I guess I should have stopped. I bought a bunch of that years ago from a company in Wyoming. Unfortunately, the company is no longer around, because sagebrush makes a wonderful tree. It's about a five hour drive to go get some, so that's not going to happen anytime soon.

Keep up the wonderful work on your layout. Did the family enjoy Arizona?

Frank / Erieman

[bparrish]

David and all...........

Yep ..... it is unfortunate that sage brush is relegated to the west.

Try this.............

Go to a lady's craft store and look in the dried flower sections for stuff like Yarrow and Baby's breath.

Then......... when you get home foam 'em up.  That is get some 3M spray contact cement.  Hair spray doesn't have enough stick'um if you are going to have any operations and people brushing against them; including yourself.

Get two five gallon buckets.  One is for holding the branches into and spraying the glue on and letting the bucket catch the over spray.  Put the color mixture of coarse ground foams in the other bucket and then splash the branch around in it.  Reapply glue until the branch fills out as you like.

Then.............

Switch to a finer ground foam with a very light color and dust that on to finish the tree.

The reason for the light foam is to create color differences between the sun lit outer areas and the darker center of the tree shadows.

I've done clinics on this stuff but this is the condensed version.

Some time I'll give you my Darwinian theory of brain cell development regarding the distillates in the contact cement.

see ya
Bob

[gnatshop]

Some time I'll give you my Darwinian theory of brain cell development regarding the distillates in the contact cement.
see ya  Bob 

The Ledbetters are way ahead of you - they've already established living proof of the correlation between brain cell
development (or deterioration) and distill-ates!
Moonshine mixed with fresh tree sap makes a great contact cement! 

[bparrish]

OK...

It works like this........

If you drown an adequate number of brain cells with the alcoholic substance of your choice, or paint distillate of your choice.......... which will go away first...... the strong brain cells or the weak brain cells.

Darwin would argue the weal ones...........

Therefore............ the more beer I consume and paint I spray........ the smarter I become ! ! ! ! !

see ya
Bob

[gnatshop]

I learn somethin' evry day!!
I never realized that Bob P. was a genuss (def. Someone that knows more crap than the average
brain can process!!). 

[gnatshop]

Ok, John - you can have your thread back!
The riff-raff have their fun for the night.

Serussy, your trestles are super and are a major focal point on your layout.
I can really appreciate the time, effort, and attentiveness that went into them!!! 

[ReadingBob]

Hey John,

I replied to your e-mail the other day using my phone but I'm not sure it went through so I'll post the answer to your question here.

The engine house is lit with two seperate series of LED's.  The positive (red) wire leads into one of Slim's current limiters and from the current limiter it then goes to the first of three LED's.  The negative (black) lead of last LED leads out.  3 LED's and 1 current limiter, each requiring 3 volts, means you'll need at least a 12 volt power source.  You can go over that, up to 60 volts if I recall correctly, because the current limiter will limit the circuit to just what the LED's require.  No math.      No resistors.      

Give me a call in the evening if you have any questions.  I'm looking forward to seeing the renovations soon.

[Twist67]

Hi,
nice change and you make good progress on the new build....keep it going.

regards,Chris

[cuse]

Thanks Guys.


Bob, got it. Thanks...I hope to have a minute to test it tonight. I think I have an appropriate power supply.


John