Distraction progress

My Had's McCulloch Chainsaw shop is moving along at a good pace. The only thing I am having a hard time locating is HO scale chainsaws. A few companies have made them in the past, but they do not look currently available. I have a few hobbyshops I plan to try in the next few weeks and I hope to find some sort of solution. In the mean time I have got all the windows and doors in place on the model and now plan to finish the interior detailing. I also need to figure out my wiring plan for the LED interior lighting. I plan to use Nano LEDs, now I just need to figure out how to get them to work right. I have a few more shots of the build under the Projects in Progress page, or you can click on the link HERE.

 

Getting a date

I have been narrowing my focus down on what time during 1968 I wanted to model. As I have looked through traffic patterns and observed some of the other happenings on the line it looked like fall was a busy time on the Trunk with the added Potato harvest traffic . It also appeared that building materials and other products continued to move in the autumn months so I would have lots of cars to move. I am still trying to narrow down the exact date of the start of the potato harvest, but did find a good article about how the harvest was off to a slow start. So as of now I am looking to model some time between mid September and mid October. One thing I found was that on September 10th 1968 a steam engine from Rayonier was taken down the Oregon Trunk and stopped at the shops for servicing. It was dead in tow, but would make for an interesting move. Here is a clipping from the September 11th 1968 Bend Bulletin showing the unique move.

More distractions...

I saw a posting on one for the Facebook pages that Monster Model Works was having a sale. I spent some time looking through their products and after looking at one of their new offerings, which was a medium size auto shop, I found they also had a very tiny building called Triple J Repair. I really have no use use for the building, but had heard Jimmy and others talk on a few different Podcasts about their innovative products, so I bought it. I am currently working on a house for my Free-mo modules that I was going to try to have completed by April 1st, but it just was not keeping me motivated. Not sure what my problem is, but the project is just annoying me. I grabbed this little kit, put the walls together and spent the evening painting it. I was also able to use some of the excess material to build an interior wall. If you look at any of my other projects you will see I have a weakness for super detailed structures. While the paint dried I went through my various boxes of stuff and found enough parts that I am going to change the building into Had's McCulloch Shop, chainsaw sales, service and rental. So here is the building as it stands, if you want to see more "in progress shots" click HERE.

A little more organized...maybe...

In an effort to help organize my projects a little better and to help keep track of them I have modified some  of my pages to show all the none SP&S stuff I am working on. Most of these projects go hand in hand with my efforts to model the Oregon Trunk, but a few are just because I want to have them. As I get more information and complete more models I will update each page under the specific railroad heading it belongs to.

So if you are interested in seeing what other projects I have in the works check these new links out:

SP&S Locomotives

SP&S Equipment

Great Northern

Union Pacific

City of Prineville Railway

Modeling on the Road

With my new job, I have lots of time to sit around hotel rooms and waste time. I decided that my time would be much better spent actually building model railroad stuff. So I dusted off an old wood toolbox I had, loaded it up with tools and gathered a project. I took the show on the road and so far I am happy with my decision.

Here is my tool box, opened up and ready to get some modeling done in my hotel room. The only thing I am going to change is the lid of the box, I plan to make it taller so I can store my glue and paint upright. I also plan to add some dividers in the drawers to maximize the space.

2015 Goals

I saw someone else post their goals for 2015 and I thought it may be a good idea. I have thought about it for awhile and decided that I did not want to make my goals to lofty or unrealistic. I also did not want to make the goals to easy as it more about getting things done then just checking off boxes.

1) Complete the Railroad Line Forum's Challenge / Laserart Company House #1
2) Get the upper storage shelves in the "Train Shed"
3) Start the preliminary electrical work on the "Train Shed"

It is not a lot of goals but it should give me a good list of things to get done this year.

I may update my goals each Quarter and add to them, I will keep updating as I can and I hope to start checking things off the list soon.

New Year, New Plan

With the start of the new year and starting to finally get settled in a routine I have started to plan ahead for 2015. Although my progress on the "Train Shed" will be slow to start there is plenty to keep me busy as I gather materials and work on the mundane parts of getting a building "train worthy." My first order of business this year was to get my tool box organized and loaded full of essential tools. Part of my new job requires me to travel, so I will be spending time in a hotels. I used a larger wooden toolbox I received around 10 years ago and had mostly been filled with tools I was not using. After a quick swap and reload it is ready for the next trip, except I did not have a project to work on.

Not saying that I did not have plenty of projects, I just was not sure which one to choose. While dealing with my dilemma  I say that Railroad Line Forums was kicking off a "Challenge." I had participated in these in the past and thought I would join in. The "challenge" I decided to participate in was to take a kit off the shelf and build it. Since I do not have a place to run trains, building a freight car did not make much sense. I did come across a small house kit I got last year for Christmas that I had not built yet. It is a Laser Art Company House #1. It is an easy enough build and easy enough to modify. I plan to add some windows, change up the front porch, and a detailed interior and lighting.