Scattered Thoughts . . .

I put together a few comparison "before and after" photos of my large scale trolley and my large scale steam locomotive.  I've been wanting to do this for awhile but never got around to it.  Having just working on the trolley again, I figured it was a good time to capture some "after" photos and then compose "before and after" comparisons. In each comparison photo, the top photo is the train in its stock condition from the factory before I did any work on it while the bottom photo shows the same train after I rebuilt it, repainted it and added details. So, this first comparison photo below is of the trolley.  I purchased the trolley a little over a year ago and immediately started planning for an upgrade and rebuild.  It was not running well when it arrived at my door because the motor had a split gear.  I immediately replaced the motor with Bachmann's replacement drive but, disappointingly and unexpectedly, the brand new assembly still ran quite ...

I captured a few more photos of the trolley this morning and thought I would add them to the blog since they are better than last night's photos. Actually, I wasn't too happy with some of my first photos after working on these steps and the front and rear bumpers.  The light wasn't that great yesterday which made for some mediocre photos.  This morning, the light was a little better in the living room so I captured a few more photos.  This photo, below, is a better shot showing the new bottom step I added.   The next two photos are just better views of the trolley from front and back.  The light on the trolley only lights for the direction it is traveling but, in these photos, I know it appears as though both the front and back headlights are lit all the time.  The front headlight is only lit when in "forward".  The rear headlight is only lit when in "reverse". This last photo is a good photo showing the rear bumper.  I know that these new b...

T his morning, I made quick work of rounding down some sharp edges on the newly installed wood bumpers for my large scale trolley.  Then I put a quick coat of charcoal-ish colored stain.  It is looking much better now! I thought I had blown off all the dust I created by filing and sanding down edges but, clearly, I missed a bunch of dust! I added the bottom step and the triangular-shaped support holding up one end of the bottom step.  I did this on all four of the entries to the trolley.   Maybe tomorrow morning I'll attempt to make four grab bars for next to each of the sets of steps.   I'm waiting on some detail parts for this little detailing project to arrive.  I ordered an air tank for the rear bumper but it might be too large.  If so, I'll need to find a smaller one.  I'm also waiting on a horn and coupler gearboxes.  The coupler gearboxes will fit in well on these new bumpers.  I'm still not sure where to place the horn ...

I did some more work on my large scale trolley yesterday and today.  This is the same trolley we have on our mantle for Christmas.  I've never really been happy with the rounded front and rear bumpers that this trolley ships with and I felt the trolley was missing a step for passengers stepping up from the street so I went about trying to resolve those problems today.   First, I started making the front and rear bumpers to replace the rather toy-like bumpers.  Well, actually, I started by cutting off the front and rear rounded bumpers.  The original front bumper can be seen in the first photo below.  Then I designed a new bumper to be made using wood.  I wanted a chunkier narrow gauge look so I used wood for this.  Anyway, the photo below shows the front rounded, hollow bumper that I cut off... Below, is a photo of the new bumpers being glued up... Below is a photo of the front end after I cut off the manufactured front bumper.  I could...

S heila and I were both sick with a stomach virus this Thanksgiving.  For me, it started Wednesday evening...  for Sheila, it started on Thanksgiving day.  On the positive side, it only bothered us for approximately 24 hours each and, today (Friday), we each got our appetite back. We missed the planned usual Thanksgiving dinner at Sheila's dad's house since we were both sick.  We ate very little this Thanksgiving Day.   Today, Friday, we both got our appetites back so we finally had some food and actually had an exceptionally nice and tasty dinner! I slept most of the afternoon today to make up for all the sleep I lost while feeling miserable and nauseated through the night the night before Thanksgiving.  I was awake long enough here and there to watch bits and pieces of the University of Dayton blow #2 ranked UConn off the court at the Maui Invitational Tournament.  That was an extremely impressive win and it made both of us quite happy! ...

S heila and I started our Christmas season last weekend by decorating the outside of the house.  The weather was ideal for spending time hanging lights and wreaths so we jumped on the outdoor Christmas decorating.  While we were out there, I also winterized the sailboat and pulled out the snow shovels and roof rakes.   This weekend, we finished our Christmas decorating by decorating indoors. We always try to get the outdoor decorating done in good weather...  ie, temperature in the 50-70 degree range...  and last weekend was quite nice in the 50s.  It was actually nice to spend some time outdoors for a change.  (I don't get outside much anymore due to my health and crappy Waterbury weather.)  I have absolutely no desire to be out there in the cold...  or when it is wet (most of the time)...  or damp...  or even too hot! We had pulled out all the decorations last weekend and we had intended to get the indoor decorations done too...

A s I do every Christmas, I set up a six foot section of train track on our mantle.  I usually have my O scale trains on two tracks set up here for Christmas.  These are Lionel-sized trains.  This year, however, I decided to set up my newly completed large scale trolley (F scale) on the mantle which is more than double the size of those O scale trains. This trolley I've set up on the mantle is the one I just finished rebuilding this summer for our new garden railroad.  It is really a pretty nice model now that I completely rebuilt it.  The beauty of this train is that is it wireless which means I don't have to fuss with keeping the track clean...  there is no need for a power pack or transformer...  there are no wires...  there is no need to deal with finding a nearby outlet.  I placed the track on the mantle and then placed the trolley on the tracks...  that's it...  ready to go.   I ran it back and forth a few times to m...

I haven't done any macro photography in a very long time...  perhaps a couple of decades...  so I tested some of my photography gear over the past few days to see what works best for macro photography when using some of my newer gear. Although I have quite a bit of photography gear, I actually don't have any macro lenses.  Macro lenses allow you to get closer to your subject due to the closer minimum focusing distances that macro lenses provide.  I do, however, have some extension tubes which also can shrink the minimum focus distance which allows me to focus on objects that are much closer to the lens than without an extension tube.   Getting closer makes your subject appear larger in the frame (obvious, I know, but I had to mention it).  Lenses oftentimes only allow you to get as close as three feet or so.  With some lenses, you can only get as close as ten feet.  It is difficult to get a close-up view at those distances so adding an exten...