Wasted Effort

There's a fairly large open spot along the condensary spur between the condensary building and the creamery that seemed ideally suited for something like a coal dealer. And I had a kit squirreled away that I felt would be an ideal fit for this spot. Don't ask where I got it - it's entirely possible it showed up at MR as a review sample - more likely I picked it up at a train show for a price I couldn't resist. (If I paid more than a $1 for it I got ripped off). The "list price" on the thing was $75.00!! 

I thought with relatively few parts this would relatively quick project - something to fill the open area between those two buildings until I could devote the time to a more detailed Finescale Miniatures coal bin kit I have for this spot. 

Saturday evening I dug out the kit. It's a resin kit. The large pieces, such as the boards on the sides and ends of the bin, are actually nicely detailed. So I pulled the various pieces out of the box and arranged them on the table. 

Step one in the instructions went on about "Some flash may be present" and "to carefully trim away" any flash.  Here's what "some flash" looks like:

And it didn't help that this wasn't some more modern flexible resin - this stuff was like the old Westerfield "glass" resin - only much thicker with huge gates that were larger than some of the parts!  And in many cases it was difficult to discern the line between "part" and "flash." I should have surrendered right then and there but I persisted and spent most of Sunday afternoon (it was too hot and muggy to do anything outside) clearing the flash. Frankly I thought things were looking pretty good. 

What's not evident in the photos was how the parts were warped and twisted. I tried my normal assortment of tricks to straighten and align the resin parts. This usually resulted in the brittle, hard resin breaking and shattering. But I pressed on. 

I started trying to attach the leg assemblies to the bin walls and managed to break the taller leg section in a couple of spots. Frankly that helped since gluing the pieces back together got rid of more of the warps and twists.  Then I noticed the leg assembly was considerably longer than the bin - and shorter than the other leg sections - so even without the warp the thing simply wasn't going to ever fit right. 

I decided to let the model sit for a couple of days - sometimes stepping away from a project helps solve whatever problems you're having. 

Not in this case. 

So last night I came to the conclusion that I'd wasted an entire afternoon and a couple of evenings of modeling time on this thing that would never produce a satisfying result. 

So I cut my losses and did what I should have done as soon as I removed the pieces from the box - I pitched the thing. Guess I know why this company never did a second kit ... 

July 5 - Progress Report

Progress on the hay barn at Griffiths Farm. I might add a farmhouse "up the road aways…." But I finally got the lower level windows, doors, and trim in place. And planted the wire tree. 

Considering this was a holiday weekend (Happy Independence Day!) I didn't get a LOT done on the layout. Besides, I have a small group of guest operators coming by on July 18 for an operating session so I really don't want to dive into any major messy projects until that session has concluded. Once that session is done the plan is to finish the areas that I plan to have judged for the NMRA AP Program scenery certificate. (I run hot and cold with the whole MMR/AP Program thing. But I figure I'm pretty close to knocking out three certificates - Electrical, Civil, and Scenery - so I might as well. At that point I'll reassess whether I want to pursue what would be for me the last two certificates.) 
Even without the MMR certificates I'm so close to getting some sections of this layout "finished" that I'm determined to do just that. 
The barn scene I've shown several times was one of those "90%" done projects - the doors and lower windows weren't installed, and the tree adjacent to the barn was simply plopped into place. 
Friday morning was spent finishing up the structure itself - I even "dug" a hole and planted the tree.
The Williams Creek area has progressed with a creamery building (a Branchline kit with a scratch built boiler house addition). But the scene needs something else. 
I can't think of anything more New England than a country store. I'd had the sub walls for a BEST Trains country store (The Trussel Store) on the layout for more than a year. Finally this weekend between other obligations I got the clapboard walls painted and painted and glazed the windows. 
Progress!

Walls with windows for the country store. The mullions on one of the large laser-cut large store front windows simply wasn't there when I removed the pieces from the wood sheet. Need to repair it. 

Not entirely sure if it will be placed in front of the mainline in Wiliams Creek or between the track and the backdrop - either position will require "adjusting" the scenery a little but I think it will be a nice addition to the scene. I'm going to hold off selecting exactly where to place it until it's assembled. See the photo below for the two possible locations. 

As far as color, I toyed with painting it plain white - but the creamery is white. I also toyed with ochre yellow, which was a very common color on older rural New England frame buildings (see the BEST web site for a photo of the store in that scheme). In the end I settled on barn red with white trim. Should really pop. 
I plan on adding a simple interior and some lighting to this structure - partially for the MMR thing (you get extra scenery points for "lighting") but mostly because I think it will be neat to have a chance to do a "nighttime" shot or two. 

A light construction project for this week. I've stripped most of the structures from Waterbury in preparation for a short work session Tuesday evening. We're going to re-do the fascia around the lobe end of the peninsula (above) to make it a smooth curve and straighten out of a reverse curve in the fascia to add a few inches to the scene at Waterbury (below). 

A little bit of major construction is also on the agenda for this week - luckily it won't impact the upcoming op session (actually should be finished well before then). I've never been pleased with the fascia on the lobe end of the peninsula. Frankly it looked awful. John Paganoni is coming by Tuesday evening to help resolve the issue with the curved portion of the peninsula. At the same time I'm going to straighten out a weird "reverse" curve in the present fascia - essentially making the fascia straight and adding 6" or so to the front of the layout. I'll save what I'm planning to use that additional depth until another post. 

Op Session Preparations

Time to put away the tools, scenery supplies, etc.. and get ready for my next operating session which will take place on Saturday June 27. 
Christine has the most important responsibility - making lunch! Provided that goes well most of my crew are willing to forgive a host of problems! 
Seriously, I do want the layout to operate well, and since I've been doing a lot of work on the railroad and the structures and I have something to show off to those who haven't been here since the last session. 
In the meantime, I have to get the track cleaned, make sure the locomotives and cars are all staged. So there is paperwork and layout prep involved. 
There are two or three little projects I want to wrap up on the layout - mostly adding some more scenic texture and trees in a few spots to make them look a little more finished. 
The last few sessions I've been doing "preps" as the crew came down the stairs. Going to avoid last minute scrambles this time. 

What's been happening - Wiring, new car, new automobile, and a firehouse....

I've been getting some wiring completed on the Richmond side of the peninsula (and wiring makes for compelling photographs, which is why you haven't seen many posts this week!). I'm also putting some finishing touches on the Resin Car Works chemical tank car - will do a separate post on it in the next few days here and on the freight car blog.

The other big project this week had nothing to do with model railroading - my 10-year old car picked last Thursday to develop a bad leak in several key places...

Without going into too much detail, it was going to cost more than the car was worth (by a factor of 2x!) to repair it so I ended up shopping for a new car. Not my favorite thing to do....

All that is behind me though.

An ongoing project (something I can do in front of the television) is researching the various structures needed for the railroad. At this point I'm trying to locate photos of the Randolph Vermont fire house (currently the town museum) - the building with a tower just north of the depot. Specifically, I'm looking for photos that show the door/window arrangements on the side and gable walls as they looked in the 1940s/50s - I believe at one point it may have had large "firehouse" style doors that have been replaced but the contemporary building doesn't make the arrangement obvious. After studying it for a while David Emery feels the building as it now stands is pretty much original - or at least relatively unchanged from my modeling era.

Hoping someone took a photo of a train and got more of the building in the foreground or background than I've found to date.

If I can't find that, we'll go with the current arrangement. The firehouse, and the coal and ice dealer from last week's Wordless Wednesday, will be key elements in the Randolph scene.