Workday Wednesday Developments for November 22nd

Workday Wednesday - November 22nd

Doug e-mailed me the pictures and captions for this Wednesday's developments with the "off-season" WDWD crew.

Below is the text of Doug's e-mail.

My thanks to Bernie (Goodman) for his help on Wednesday and also for the many photos he shot of the goings on.

 Fred was up early to stoke the fire in the shop wood stove.  By the time I arrived, Bernie was already there.  We got straight to work.

I wanted to test fit a new "plug" for the base of the roof on the CL station tower.  It is nominally 8 inches square but a test fit revealed it was a touch too big along one side.  It will be cut down a "hair".

Next Bernie and I turned our attention to the stonework of the station.  The track side of the station was not too bad as we had glued a loose cornerstone previously.  A bead of silicone was run in along the base of the station wall track side and the wall that faces out at Craig Leigh.

The station was then carefully turned around so that the "street side" could be worked on while the silicone set up.  The station front faces toward Peter's Pond and bore the brunt of the weather.  It had some serious deterioration to repair, the ugliest of which was the stone framing around the front entrance. 

I will go through a short sequence of pictures to show how Bernie and I repaired the stonework.  Initially, some full stones were carefully fitted into the big void and glued in place with exterior construction adhesive.

These large stones fill the void but lack the keys to fill the small openings.  Unfortunately, the bin of old jigstone castings did not contain any keys in stone just in bricks.  The solution was to carefully chisel a piece of stone to the right size.

Bernie earned his master stone mason certification by fitting the keys in place and gluing them there.  A similar process was used to make a number of other repairs especially at the corner of the station.  With the stonework repairs completed, we set aside further work on the station to let the glue set up completely.  Next week, we will complete the stone repairs on the station by running in grout for the mortar lines, drybrushing the newly introduced jigstones and finally by adding silicone sealant along the base of the front wall.

While we were working, a couple of visitors dropped in.  First in was Chris (Ellens) who brought along the three axled O scale passenger truck that he 3D printed for me.  It is an exceptional piece of work

Chris also showed some examples of gable ends that could be used on the proposed GH station.

While Chris was there Doug (Culham) came in.  The three of us had a lively discussion about 3D printing trucks as Doug had also asked Chris to make some large scale arch bar trucks.

Doug had come to discuss batten sizes for the board and batten construction of the new GH station.  He brought some samples and we eventually decided on scale 1x4s in 1:24 scale.

 I had cut the walls for the new GH station at home and brought them along.  They were stood up to give a representative idea of the station.

Fred and I discussed the roof possibilities as well as door and window considerations.

In other news, this coming Saturday morning at the St. Lawrence Division of the NMRA meet, OVGRS member, Mike (Spike) Hamer will be co-presenting a clinic on "Freelancing" model railroads with Alex Binkley, Tom Badenoch & Normand Levert.  The foursome will lead a panel discussion on modelling freelanced railways following their presentation,  We hope to see many of you there!

That was a day's work so Fred, Bernie and I enjoyed a few moments relaxation around the old wood stove.  

Just as Mike so often does, I'll conclude this segment with a shot of our host Fred.  

My thanks to Bernie (Goodman) for his help on Wednesday and also for the many photos he shot of the goings on.

Stay safe and healthy everyone!  The WDWD crew of the OVGRS!

Gaston Moreau - A Great Man

Gaston Moreau - A Great Man

Pat Brennan attended the visitation and funeral service for our dear friend, Gaston Moreau.

Below are a few images Pat sent my way to share with the group as a blog entry.

Thanks Pat for taking the time to drive up the Ottawa Valley to pay your respects to this great man!

Pat took this image of the wonderful display covering the many interests and hobbies Gaston enjoyed in his lifetime.

Here we see a lovely diorama Gaston had constructed using the coniferous trees he used to build from scratch.

Pat indicated that he believes the wooden guitar acted as Gaston's urn.  That would be oh so fitting as Gaston was a great guitarist, singer and performer.  Chris Lyon and I have experienced the pleasure of making wonderful music with Gaston in the past.

Thanks for sharing these images and captions with us, Pat!

A few years back I was a clinician alongside Chris showcasing our models while Gaston set up his tree-making table just down the aisle from us.  Here is his diorama once more.  

This image showcases his booth area for tree making with many trees carefully placed in bags for sale.  Indeed, many a local model railroad has some of Gaston's trees adorning their forests...mine included!

A gentleman watches as Gaston goes about the business of creating another coniferous tree!

A master craftsman he was!

We will miss you deeply, Gaston!

Pat just sent me these next two images showcasing Gaston's layout at the Arnprior Train show.  Gaston sold the layout to our good friend, George.  In the above image we see Len chatting with Bob.

Pat also found this write-up I made for one of the four dioramas I created with Doug.  Gaston's trees appeared on the General Store section.

Here are some older images I found of Gaston's layout. 

I'm not sure if the railroad had been handed over to George at the point in time when I snapped these shots.

I believe this was Gaston's CP large scale locomotive. 

The layout was highly detailed. 

Some of our OVGRS friends operated their locomotives on the layout.

Quite the nice setup! 

Looking good! 

Lovely. 

The trees to the right were made by Gaston.

I planted them on a slight ridge on the General Store module Doug and I designed and created.

Gaston's trees certainly added a nice vertical element to the scene.

An overall look.

The four dioramas in O-Scale as seen on display at OVAR at the May 2022 meet where I presented as guest speaker.

Gaston, you will be deeply missed!

Keep playing those tunes and serenading the angels in heaven, my man!

All the best, Gaston's railroad friends in the Ottawa Region

Workday Wednesday Magic - November 15th

More Jigstones Magic From the WDWD Crew

Doug just sent my way his account of the tremendous efforts the Workday Wednesday crew put forth this week in rejuvenating our stone structures for the railroad.

All of these accounts are written by Doug with the great photos submitted by Bernie and Doug.  On behalf of the entire OVGRS family, thanks lads!

Wednesday morning, Fred rose very early and fired up the wood stove in the shop.  When a few of us (Bill Scobie, Lawrence Watkins, Bernie Goodman and myself) arrived shortly after 9:00 AM, the shop was warm and cozy.  The task for the day was to complete the Scobie's Fine Foods building from Craig Leigh by making a new roof.  

My thanks to Bernie as he and I took turns photo-shooting the repair process.

 Bill started off the process by laying the two main roof pieces out on some very heavy styrene sheet stock.  I didn't get the thickness but it may have been as heavy as 1/8 inch.

Using the old adage of measure twice and cut once or as is usually in our case, I cut that three times and it is still too short!, the roof pieces were trial fitted and then trimmed a bit for a good fit.

Once the roof pieces fit satisfactorily, contact cement was brushed on both the sub roof and the styrene roof pieces.

Next, then two roof pieces were glued in place - with contact cement you only get one shot to position the piece so we were careful to "get it right"

  

                                and then the other side

With the roof in place, it was time to consider the roof cap over the peak.  Bill has a brake - a hobbyist version of the ones used by the sheet metal installers.  His plan was to bend a piece of styrene to fit and then hot glue it in place.  Fred has some reservations!

Here is a photo of the brake Bill used to bend the styrene

The roof cap bent and ready to install.

Bill "hot glue" Scobie in action applies the glue to the roof cap

And then the roof cap was put in place and held as the glue set.

There were some tense moments as the crowd had doubters on the strength of hot glue

 

With the roof cap in place it was time to fabricate the strakes to complete the roof.  Bill cut them and I applied MEK

Then the strakes were put in place on the roof and more MEK applied for a secure bond.

That completed the building

It was decided that painting the roof could be done in spring outside...the building was stored in the narrow gauge shed where it had room to slide in.

Next Wednesday, work will continue on the Craig Leigh station.  Lawrence spent some time making a repair to part of the station before the main building was moved from the Annex into the shop.

 As the session ended, there was a brief discussion on how to proceed with a replacement station for Glen Hammond.  The new station would be built in 1:24 scale as a single story with a waiting room flanking the operators bay on one side with a baggage area on the other.  The exterior would be board and batten.  Based on this, construction will start after the Craig Leigh station is repaired. 

Thank you Doug, Bill, Lawrence, Bernie & Fred for your tremendous efforts in the "off-season" which will ensure we have awesome structures in great shape when we open the railroad for train operations next year!

In other news, check out these amazing passenger trucks Chris has been working on for Doug's O-scale passenger car.

They look fabulous Chris!

As always, I will keep everyone updated on any developments from our devoted WDWD team!

All the best, the WDWD crew of the OVGRS, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada