[Raege]

I’ve actually been wondering how many folks, or if any, represent actual people on their layouts? I create figures of people who’ve influenced me, and try to capture their appearance adequately.
I “figure-bashed” my boss from my very first job (had to swap heads so it looked like him).
Without question I’ll have a figure of my pops and probably my younger self as a throw back to a visit to my prototype town.
Planning to have a @Trackjockey05, a @Raege, a @SF Gal, and 1 British car with a Jon Grant (don’t think he’s a member here).

It’s my plan to have little “moments“ of life recreated to share next gen. How well I’ll get the figures remains to be seen as it’s a bit off in future. I think it’s pretty awesome you kit bashed your boss!
One day you will see a kid in orange smock scraping 8 inches of produce rot and decay from an empty supermarket dumpster spot Into a trash cart. Good times 😉

 

[SF Gal]

Who's this guy ?

Mr. Bill was a cartoon character on a American television show called Saturday Night Live when it was the show to watch.
Here is one of the cartoons in a series of shows Mr. Bill was on....

 

[Gramps]

That's got to be from back in the 70's, maybe early 80's, thanks for posting. When the show first started it was called "Saturday Night" because Howard Cosell had a late night sports talk show called Saturday Night Live. This show would open with the line "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!" When Cosell's show folded they added the "Live" to the name.

 

[SF Gal]

As posted in my profile, this post will be a bit on hold....Convertible weather, gardening, glamping, cycling, and shopping has me off to enjoy outdoor activities. Only rainy days has me indoors, usually catching up on being a homemaker. Hopefully finding time to continue to go through my locomotives to clean, repair, and lube. I need to find 5 of the best, in the lot of 23, to install the 5 DCC decoders I have collecting dust. Might take me all summer.... sigh

 

[Magic]

Convertible weather, gardening, glamping, cycling, and shopping has me off to enjoy outdoor activities.

glamping ❔ Is that some sort of blond thing?????
Sorry you said no blond jokes.

SF Gal enjoy your outdoor activities but don't forget us here on MTF.
I really enjoy your post.

Magic

 

[SF Gal]

Thanks for the nice and fun comments Magic!
Glamping is kind of a girl thing but you really need a Glamper!

I like to reminise about camping with my Grandparents and how much I enjoyed playing house in the camper. Helping Grandma peel apples to make a pie in a dutch oven on the campfire. Helping Grandpa collect firewood and hang a clothline for towels. I learned how to crochet and macrame, I remember playing spades, go fish, and canasta on the dinette during a evening rains, and riding my Grandmas JC Higgins bicycle to the camp store to buy some penny candy. Today, Glamping is just my speed and a great get away from todays terrible realities. Besides, most campgrounds have wifi so I will usually have a chance to check in, here on MTF! Happy Glamping!

 

[OilValleyRy]

Is that your 5th wheel glamper?! It looks like an ice cream store!
If somebody pulled up to me in that thing and asked me if I wanted some candy, “uh. Yeah.” I’d be on a milk carton in a blink!

 

[Stejones82]

I hear ya, SFG, Summertime, summertime, sweet, sweet summertime. Blasted grass keeps growing, Must be off to chase "the little white ball," Bikes and walks and arboretums. I haven't done any significant layout work since before my surgery the first week of May. And that also necessitates Phys Therapy. But good thing I live in Minnesota - it won't last long!

My wifeykins considers "glamping" as staying in a posh hotel or nice resort!

 

[Gramps]

That trailer looks in great shape! Was it your grandparents trailer from when you were a kid? We used to go camping in a pop-up when my daughter was young then got back into it when the grandkids came along. Good times.

 

[Lemonhawk]

I remember those metal chairs from way back!

 

[SF Gal]

....Was it your grandparents trailer from when you were a kid? We used to go camping in a pop-up when my daughter was young then got back into it when the grandkids came along. Good times.

No, their Shasta is long gone, I am afraid. I think glamping builds character at a early age. Without derailing my own building my train layout thread and getting too far off topic, check out these five companies who will refurbish old campers to better than new! See this link, RV Magazine.



.

 

[Chops]

Do you know of anyone who might refurbish my '65 Ranchero? Been having a terrible time getting proper mechanical help.

You asked about making HO hay bales. You seem like a do-it-yourselfer, but if you feel lazy, I found this at Hobby Lobby if you feel...slobby, as in lazy.

www.sceneryproducts.com

 

[SF Gal]

Gosh Chops, sound like a nice car to restore. Where do you live? There are those on TV, like Speed is the new black, aka...Classic Car Studio Custom Shop out of St. Louis, The Guild of Automotive Restorers...aka Restoration Garage out of Bradford, Ontario, Counts Customs out of Las Vegas, Damascus Motors aka..Junkyard Empire in Damascus, Maryland, or Iron Ressurection, aka...Martin Bros Customs out of Johnson city, Texas.
There you go...spend your money!!!!
And you sure know how to spend my money.
I had to head over to a cousins home in Bloomingdale, Illinois and there is a Hobby Lobby there.
I am a really busy with refurbshing 15+ yr old locomotives and continue collecting items for my farm.
So I figured the purchase might be worth my time and effort trying to make realistic bails.
Besides, I don't know how to drive a tractor....

So I got lucky.... and the store had your item, Chops....

So in the basket it went...

Over $90 later I got the bales ,hobby clamps, farm animals, plastic plant looking ball (disassemble and use for brush scenery) some more floral wire, a cutting board, some lace ribbons, jewelry, and glue. This is the train stuff....

One thing I hate about this store is I can NEVER leave the store without spending a Jefferson. Sigh!
I also been chugging away at fixing cleaning more of my 15+ yr old loco's.
This one is another Proto 2000 Lifelike and I took it apart, cleaned and lubed all the gear and put it all back.
Still runs like garbage...seems like the bearing blocks will not stay in their square metal holders.
So I have to open it back up and disassemble the trucks to see what is going on.

Hope to have a update tomarrow or soon as we are now in the heat wave and the basement is nice and cool!!
Back working on the Railroad! ....for now....
A Work in Progress!....Stay tuned!...

 

[Chops]

You been busy between macramé and glamping. Spent my summers loading hay bales by hand. Really devastating, dusty work under a hot sun. But followed up with a cool swim in lake; ah, it was good. Interesting contraption going on there. Never seen the like of it, before.

Well, they say "boat" means a hole in the water you throw money into, or, "Bust Out Another Thousand," and this old Ranchero has been a cash vacuum. I'm looking at an easy 10k more for interior and body work, and am pondering running the gauntlet and taking it into Juarez, Mexico, right across the Rio Grande from where I live and maybe get the work done for 5K. Doing business in Mexico is not for the faint of heart. A lot can go wrong.

 

[SF Gal]

Glamping and Macrame' is coming soon enough. Sounds like you have a plan for the Ranchero, good luck with that!
Well I found the communicator on the motor was pretty dirty on the GP7 and I spent a lot of time trying to clean it up with contact cleaner. The engine runs better (wonder if dielectric grease on the communicator is a good idea?) and I have it all back together when I started thinking of putting a DCC decoder on it before I put the cover on, decisions, decisions. Trouble is I have 4 or more really nice locomotives I haven't touched yet.
So I got curious of a cheap Life like engine I have (gifted engine) and it is engineered like the old Mantura Tyco locomotives in that it has a motor in the truck and the other truck is just additional pick up....

Here is the motor in the truck, a pretty simple cheap looking configure. It does say LifeLike on the gas tank! ....

The plates are just weights...haven't figured out how to disassemble yet but I did find very dirty wheels. I cleaned the wheels and got it running. I think I will put back together the GP-7 and make the decoder decision another day. 2 more locomotive cleaned up and ready to run in there original configuration.
We will see what tomarrow will bring.

A Work in Progress!....Stay tuned!...

 

[Chops]

Definitely cute enough, but worth a decoder? Bit like throwing pearls before swine, no? The Campbell's Soup caboose turn up on eBay from time to time. it was part of a set, methinks.

 

[SF Gal]

Yes, the Cambells soup engine is part of a cheap set as I have a lot of cheap grocery item train cars to go with it. None of it will see my layout. It was free gifted stuff that was destine for the trash. I am planning on putting a set together with all my old train cars and selling it as a kit. I just have to find some cheap precut turns and straights to include in it from a flea market.
Today I put together the GP7 and set it in the working pile.
Next I popped open a Athern F7A loco with a dummy B unit with no motor.
I was suprised I already had a decoder in it! Then I remembered doing this one....

So I cleaned the F7A up and ran it on a DC test track, worked really smooth.
So I put it on the DCC layout and fired up my 16 year old NCE Procab for the first time in 10 years!
Can you say OMG! So I went thru my loco list and #39 wasn't listed. I tried #0039, #039 and nothing.
Hmmmm...time to break out my Spectrum Dash 40 with a know good loco number and it ran wonderfully!
So my NCE controls still works!!!!! But I got a feeling I will need a new Eprom for todays new decoders...we will see.
As far as the Digitrax DH123 decoder in the F7A unit, I have no clue why it isnt working.
I will try reprogramming it after I re-read my NCE directions...it's been a long time since I messed with it!
I might have to buy a new DH123 decoder, if they still make them?!?!

Next up, a AHM GP7 locomotive made in Yugoslyavia...ug!
This is another poorly designed locomotive gifted to me as it wasn't running and missing a cab roof.

I found one truck has a inner wheel brass contact for one side of the truck only! The other truck has the other side contact for power from the opposite rail! So only 2 wheels per truck contact one rail or the other...no wonder this didn't run. As soon as I cleaned the wheels and brass wheel contacts, the engine ran flawlessly. Clean and greased all the gears. Added couplers but the hoses had to be cut down to allow clearance for the truck slop when in forward and reverse...just too much play causing the torque to push the trucks down causing the couplers to move up or down...patheticly engineered! So glad it is another gifted locomotive!
As far as the missing cab roof, I started fab work from a plastic tube I saved from a spool of cord.
Measure, cut, measure, cut....

Did the sides, it was finikee....

Trim out the windows, paint, add air horns on the roof and call it good.
The engine runs okay but I will think long and hard about converting to DCC and putting this one on the layout.
Probably another one I will put in the sell pile.
I am beginning to understand that my purchases of Proto 2000, Kato, and Spectrum locomotives exclusively from 2005-2008 were choices dictated to me by model railroad club members during my time learning about DCC. It was good sound advice for the time though. It wasn't cheap to buy these locomotives back in the day. And that was without decoders! Decoders were $80 each just for 4 functions. Ah, at least we didn't have to pre order our stuff like you do today....life was good, miss those days.
A Work in Progress!....Stay tuned!...

 

[Chops]

SF Gal: Patron Saint of Lost Model Railroad Causes

 

[Chops]

SF Gal: Patron Saint of Lost Model Railroad Causes

Please give me first refusal before you bin any of that cheap "grocery store" trash.Occasionally, some of those promo items, like Chef Boyardie, off the cuff, will fetch some coin. For lunk heads such as myself, the kool factor is what we care about, not its resale value.

 

[afboundguy]

SF Gal: Patron Saint of Lost Model Railroad Causes

@SF Gal I can totally relate to this as well!!! I don't even want to start counting my projects...