What's New on the PRR Panhandle 2.0?

[G3750]

George,
I say this jokingly but some nit-picking rivet counter will probably be upset that the walk-way over the top is missing.
I Saw that bridge many times and did NOT notice the walk-way until my uncle, who worked in that area for the Pennsy, told me about it.
I asked him if he had ever been on top of the bridge. He answered "I am a track man not a bridge man so officially the answer is no".

C'mon, Roger. Don't you know better than to feed my OCD?

About 3 years ago I heard about (and then met) a guy who makes O scale Pennsy hairpin railing. Why? So I could put it on the bridge, of course.

Unfortunately, since the bridge isn't true O scale, it wouldn't look correct. Probably "S" scale would be more appropriate. He doesn't make them in anything but O.

But, since they are in disrepair anyway, I'm not worried about it. See the railing hanging down?

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George

[healey36]

I've often wondered why there's not much, if any, photo-etch parts/details offered for 1/48 model railroad projects. Seems there'd be as much of a market for it as there is for super-detailing plastic models.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I've often wondered why there's not much, if any, photo-etch parts/details offered for 1/48 model railroad projects. Seems there'd be as much of a market for it as there is for super-detailing plastic models.

A lot of stuff comes & goes rather quickly being generated oft times as surplus to a personal modeling project and is not sustained over time. That reminds me that I need to order resin for a casting obligation,

[healey36]

What, you're making resin castings now? Where do you find the time, Rufus, lol?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

What, you're making resin castings now? Where do you find the time, Rufus, lol?

Nothing new, actually. Been doing resin castings for at least a decade; put out a few trolley kits, lots of detail parts, and then some work for others.....

[G3750]

Updated 7/25/2018:

There are a lot of things in motion at the moment.

• I am in the process of shellacking the remaining wood components (sheets and 2 x 2's) still to be installed.
• The remainder of the masonite divider will be installed along with 1 table surface.
• I have placed the order for the rest of the lumber to be used in bench work construction. It should arrive on Friday.
• I am preparing the garage to receive this lumber and shellac it.
• The corrected sections of the backdrop are scheduled to be printed and arrive here early next week.
• I am going to take down the backdrop sections currently on the train room walls and store them in the workshop (to protect them from a certain bad cat ). The new backdrop sections will go there as well.
• Wall preparation will begin sometime next week or the week after.

Things are moving!

George

[G3750]

Updated 7/27/2018:

Lumber order arrived today.

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Woo hoo!!!!

George

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Updated 7/27/2018:

Lumber order arrived today....
Woo hoo!!!!

George

Hi George, You and I had exactly the opposite reactions when our lumber orders arrived.
My reaction, which I voiced out loud to myself was, not "Woo hoo!!!" as yours was, but, "Uh oh."

And when the order of twenty 3/4", 4'x8' sheets of plywood, and all the 2x4s cut-to-order for the legs and framing and cross-bracing, had been off-loaded into the garage, I further thought to myself, "WHAT have I done!? Maybe, I better donate all this to some charity." I was chickening-out, but just for a moment.

Then, I began to construct the first 4'x8' unit, legs attached and all, which took me 1hr 20min. (!!! ), lying flat on its top surface. I wondered, "How am I going to upright this thing without breaking the legs off?"

My wife was passing through the basement from having parked her temporarily driveway-exiled car and offered to help upright the table. Zip! Flip. All was well, with the first of twenty platforms completed and my "confidence" restored.

From that first day, onward, she has been a true partner when the layout was concerned, giving solicited advice and even gifting me with quite a number of scale locomotives (!!!no less!!!!)

P.S. All that raw lumber smelled great!

[G3750]

Frank,

I have to admit to just a moment of concern, but that didn’t last. After all:

• I have a plan.
• Like yours, my wife is very supportive.
• In 3 weeks, a good friend is spending 4 days helping erect the bench work.

It’s surprising how fast the bench work goes up once you start, as you noted.

George

[Mitch]

[*]In 3 weeks, a good friend is spending 4 days helping erect the bench work. [/list]

George

By which time all the pre-delivered studs and plywood will be warped and twisted from varying degrees of humidity making life more difficult than you've expected.

[G3750]

Perhaps, but they are being shellacked tomorrow.

[G3750]

[*]In 3 weeks, a good friend is spending 4 days helping erect the bench work. [/list]

George

By which time all the pre-delivered studs and plywood will be warped and twisted from varying degrees of humidity making life more difficult than you've expected.

Actually, before then the wood will be shellacked and stored in a humidity controlled area.

Jealousy is unbecoming, Mitch.

George

[Mitch]

Not jealous in the least. I know if you buy framing lumber from the "Big Box" stores here, there's reason to suspect that what they call "kiln dried", ain't. And even the best of lumber yards stack quite a lot of the framing lumber outside, subject to all changes in humidity. But I've picked through stuff at Lowe's, and what they call "Top Choice", stacked inside the store, still warps or twists in the truck bed on the way home. If not used immediately, you can be in trouble.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Perhaps, but they are being shellacked tomorrow.

What does the shellacking accomplish for such lumber and for such a project, George?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

But I've picked through stuff at Lowe's, and what they call "Top Choice", stacked inside the store, still warps or twists in the truck bed on the way home.

What do you do, drive through the car wash on the way home? I've never had lumber do that from either Lowe's or HD. Yes, both and regular lumber yards have questionable lumber now. Pine boards I bought from HD were labeled as imported from Sweden. Cheaper to import lumber from Sweden than cut our own.......

What does the shellacking accomplish for such lumber...

Besides coloration and stuff for aesthetics, it can be used to seal and hence stabilize the wood to moisture. George, being an accomplished modeler and DIY'er, is of course making up his own shellac that he sourced from his own lac bug farm in Thailand.