Amtrak train derails in Phila..

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The Summit H0 KFC Restaurant kit arrived today http://www.summit-customcuts.com/kfc.html.

This is all you get in plastic bag:


They have no three-dimensional molds but it is all laser cut styrene. Only some tilde are engraved in the otherwise plain white surfaces.

The marginal low quality print black & white instructions are not very helpful to get the trim strips right.


The US price is about $80 and the German retail price is close to 100€ about the same inclusive 19% VAT.

An interesting kit of a modern structure of a $25 value.....

An unpleasant surprise:
The milky main walls are not made from styrene. All my styrene glue does not work at all. It is like water on iron.
I found "Pattex Special" (made by Henkel) is a glue that works. It is mix of the usual styrene glue and CA glue.

I'm repainting a Rivarossi diner car that I bought from another modeler's estate. He added the extra kitchen door on the side, probably to better match a prototype Canadian National car but try as I might I can't find a close match on the internet or in my library. Can anyone help?

I thought I might semi-match the 'white' café-bistro cars but those had a rounded 'turtle' roof where as this has a clerestory.

What is your preference in "environment" for your trains?

Why did you choose it? Did it match a prototype you liked, or is that an environment you truly prefer? Do you model your layout after the region you live in?


I have my own theories about this, but I want to see what people think.

I am just curious, if anyone here has ever modeled or considered a rapid transit line for your layout? Do you own any rapid transit models?

While I'm not personally into modeling subways and things (other than the few I've taken a ride on in my life), I do sometimes consider it, especially for prototypes that have a serious amount of surface time. Even though they may not directly interact with a regular railroad, they often travel close by or even right next to regular lines.

In an urban, or even semi-urban environment, there is potential to add a little bit of extra "action" with a subway zipping past on some elevated line. This could be easily automated on a separate line from the rest of the layout.

There is also the "human factor" in the sense that many of these trains will see more people in a week than some of our prized mainline "big railroad" prototypes will see in their entire lives.

Had a brain-f..t this morning...
How about adding a "Like/Dislike" button to the postings (a la Facebook), to show the poster you appreciate their post (or not), without having to write out an often trivial response..?? This, of course, as an option only. The "Reply" option would still be available.
Just sayin'...

DoctorWayne mentioned sanding cork roadbed down to baseboard level. I had to do this on my layout this year.

I used a piece of extruded styrofoam insulation. I had a piece 2" thick and 2' x 8'. (The 8' is irrelevant).
The rest of the apparatus is 2 wood strips, 1/8"x1"x24", some pins, a Woodland Scenics hot wire cutter and some rulers and pencils. The wood should have a fine grain and be solider than balsa.
I drilled a bunch of holes in the wood strip. I needed a ramp to go from 3/16" to 0" in 2 feet. I marked the one side at 3/16" and pinned one end of the strip. Then I pinned the other end right at the edge. Then repeat on the other side. I re-checked the 3/16" with a piece of wood.
Note that if there is a grain it needs to go the same way on both sides and best towards the narrow end.
Now take the hot wire tool and side it down the side of the wood. You now have a ramp.
If the ram needs a curve, it can be cut into so that it bends.

Notes:
I finally found some basswood strips. I had balsa, but the hot wire cuts into it and shaves bits off the edges. I couldn't get basswood longer than 24"; the balsa was 36". I painted the edges of the strips with clear finish and then sanded then.

I also needed to extend some 1x2 girders to support backdrops. I had some foam packing that was in 3/4" or 1" thickness and some L-girders with 1x2 wood. I clamped the foam between the L-girders with the edge level with the bottom of the L, the cut it with the hot wire.

We're planning to do a forum software update on May 22nd. So that evening, we'll lock the forum so we can run a backup and upgrade. The upgrade won't make any changes to the look or funtionality to the forum so no worries about relearning where everything is. However, we're going to make a few changes ourselves.

When we come back online, you will find:

The gallery will be gone for good.
We're going to bring back the chat room (hooray!). I know many of you have talked about bringing this back for quite a while now.
Some folks have brought up an interest for a program called Tapatalk. I don't know much about this but apparently it will make things easier for those of you who access this forum on your mobile devices.

That's it, really. We'll give another warning before the 22nd.

Seeing as no one seems to have much to offer for the WPF, I'll join the crowd with more "not much to offer".

While I'm not currently working on the roundhouse at Mount Forest, I decided that it was finally time to intall the Tichy coaling tower which will serve it. It's been sitting around, built, for probably at least 20 years. Because the run-through tracks will sit on a concrete pad which is part of the tower's foundation, I added a half-length of cork road bed to either side of the pad. Once the glue has hardened, I'll use sandpaper to taper the outer ends right down to the plywood layout top.
Here's a view from the roundhouse area, with a couple jugs of limestone ballast to keep things in place:



...and looking north, with two containers of hopper coal (Black Beauty blasting medium) making an impression:



This area is going to eat-up turnouts pretty quickly, so my next step will be to finalise the track arrangement, to get an idea of what will be needed.

Wayne