Workday Wednesday - January 31st

Workday Wednesday - January 31st

I received this update from Doug from the work accomplished by the WDWD crew earlier today.

All images and text comes from Doug on this day.

In Doug's words - I picked up Fred and we headed over to Gatineau joining Bill Scobie in the RGS shops to continue our work on the new Glen Hammond station.  

Here's Fred settled in to properly supervise the day's task which is to prime paint the station walls.

Remember, you can enlarge images by clicking on them and you can return to the default page by clicking outside them.

Bill had been doing some aircraft modelling so I looked over the planes on his workbench...

...while Bill shook the rattle can of flat white paint being used for primer.

Bill, in the past, used to paint locomotives commercially so he has a proper spray booth ventilated to outside.

 The wooden walls of the station had been finished with battens last week making them ready for painting.  Bill sprayed each piece with primer white

 

Bill passed the walls with an initial prime coat over to me...

...and I used a heat gun to promote rapid drying.

With the first coat dry, Bill applied a second coat of primer and again the walls were dried rapidly with the heat gun.  Here is the finished product

That completed the work for this Wednesday.  With the walls primed, Bill indicated he would apply the finish colour (depot buff) to all the walls tomorrow and also spray the trim windows and doors olive green. 

Next Wednesday, the plan is to begin the assembly of the station by joining walls and affixing them to the base.  

Thanks for the update Doug!  You, Bill and Fred are real troopers for the group.

And...while Doug was busy working with Bill and Fred for the group, I was busy building this model of a log wagon in O-scale for Doug!

This model will play a role in a huge sawmill diorama Doug and I will be working on over the next little (or long) while!  😀

Even though I began the job earlier this week, this model can be assembled quite easily in a single day at the workbench allowing time for paints to dry.  The many body is resin.

I painted and weathered the main body with "cocoa brown" acrylic paint.  Once dry I offered up a wash of black acrylic with plenty of water.  The various inner and outer brackets are installed after they were cleaned and weathered.

I painted the wheel spokes a maroon colour and polished the treads with light sandpaper.  The wheels were fitted to their bolsters after I drilled out some openings for a short metal rod.  The bolsters are lying beneath the two crossbeams.

There is an option to have the front bolster turn so I took advantage of this.  I drilled and superglued a short rod beneath the front crossbeam and created a hole in the center of the front bolster to accommodate the rod.  I'm liking the look of things thus far!

Being able to steer the wagon in any direction will provide Doug and I with options when we go to create the massive sawmill diorama.

Crossbeam timbers have been added to the existing crossbeam members and the log guides are now in place.  The tongue has been glued to the front bolster and bracket supports have been attached.  A horseshoe shaped clevis has been added to the end of the tongue.

I had no O-scale logs in my inventory.  Problems are opportunities for solutions and three older pencils staring me in the face on my workbench offered up a "Eureka" moment!

A test fit with the sawed lengths.

I scraped the side of the pencil with my old broken saw...good enough for now in my books!

The logs are painted and weathered...but I think they will need further sawing and weathering...a later project.

The finished model sans logs...

...and with a full load!

Thanks for checking in on all this fun modelling taking place on both sides of the Ottawa River on this day!

And...if you have some project you wish to share with the group, send me some pics and captions and they will appear on the blog!

All the best, Fred, Doug, Bill & Mike & the entire OVGRS clan!

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Workday Wednesday - January 24

Workday Wednesday - January 24

Doug sent me along some follow-up of the recent Workday Wednesday happenings with our affable WDWD crew.  All words are his!

The Wednesday crew had barely started back after New Years when we took an unplanned two week hiatus.  But we were back at it on Wednesday January 24.  

Fred joined Bill Scobie and myself in Bill's RGS shops over in  Gatineau (Aylmer, Quebec) to continue work on the new Glen Hammond station.  

All the wall components were laid out on the workbench.

Bill had brought out a miniature hobby chop saw for cutting the battens 

To simulate board and batten construction, we had previously decided that 12" boards would be used with 4 inch battens.  Doug Culham had cut the battens for us though we had to trim them to length.  In our chosen 1:24 scale, that would place the battens only 1/2 inch apart - however that looked too close aesthetically so we decided to place the battens on 1 inch centres.  The first step was to lay out the battens and mark their centres on a wall with the windows and doors just laid into place.

Once the wall was marked for the batten placement, we began the tedious task of cutting and gluing the battens.  I cut the battens to length using the chop saw and Bill finished the placement of the battens on the wall.  Here is Bill applying glue (Titebond 3)...

...and then placing a batten and weighting it down till the glue sets.

About this time, Pat Brennan joined us in the shop to properly supervise the work being done.

The first wall was completed and passed inspection.

All the walls were worked on in the same fashion and we ended our day with the application of battens on the plywood end grain of the front wall of the operator's bay.  

Bill looks on proudly...a job well done with coats of depot buff!  The windows and doors which Chris Ellens so beautifully 3d printed will be painted olive green - Bill has Floquil paints for these colours.

Following my posting of this blog entry, Bill sent me an e-mail to showcase as Bill says, "What Doug hadn't shown in his e-mail my way!"  Big grin!

 

The Wednesday work section went well but what Doug did not show  was other things in the shop. 

I have been working on two RugRatResins kits. They are the DH 84 DH 90 also the old Heller DH89. The neat thing about the DH 89 it was a Christmas gift from my mother about 40 years ago so finish it as the Globe & Mail “Flying Newsroom is fitting I think. 

Also working are two OzMods PC-9s. These are the early trainers in the RCAF.

 

Other things not long out of the shop are a TCA North Star a CPA North Star. Early CPA DC-3 a later CPA DC-3 and a TCA DC-3.

 

So other things are ongoing in the shop.

 

These are beautiful models, Bill! 

It's great to see an avid model railroader having broadened horizons...as Bill has exhibited.

I know these few models of Bill's are but a fraction of the aircraft he has built over the years.

Thanks so much Bill for this update!

Pat also sent along these late-breaking images from the work session.  Bill and Doug are certainly dedicated to our cause.

As is our handsome Father Fred!  Thanks Pat for these last two images as well.

Thanks, lads, for the great update.  Our railroad will be all the better for the wonderful work you fellas are doing to upgrade the structures.

Your efforts are appreciated by all!

Signing off...our Workday Wednesday crew for another week!

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada 

January MMXXIV

 

Railroad Related Activities From Pat

Keeping the Railroad Juices A-Flowing!

Hey folks.  As always it is nice to see what others are doing over the off-season railroad related.

Pat sent along these half dozen images along with a great e-mail.

Check out Pat's message to me below and in the captions in the pictures.

Hey Mike, the last few days have been enjoyable with railway related activities.  

Saturday I went to the Hobby show at Galeries d'Aylmer and purchased a few large scale cars at a reasonable price. 

Sunday was running large scale trains at George's. 

I picked Uncle Fred up for the session.

Len was in attendance too!

Today,  after working in the rail and pipeline section of the Transportation Safety Board I enjoyed some Ironwood cider in a Railway City glass. 

I acquired the cider from our trip to Niagara wine country Labour Day weekend 2022.

All aboard for railway related stuff every day!  Cheers, Pat!

Thanks a ton for sending these our way, Pat!

I've been busy as well with train related activities over the past little while.  I attended the January OVAR meeting last Tuesday evening in the midst of that raging snowstorm.  We saw some 55 folks brave the weather including many from our OVGRS group.

I brought out Fred's Canadian Pacific tankcar.  The CP never actually adorned their tankers in this scheme but we are happy that the large scale manufacturer chose to bring it out in this livery as it is quite pleasing to the eye!  I also brought along two milk trains and various other milk cars as well as the creamery I received from David Primeau which I fixed up somewhat and placed on a diorama.

Ralph Beaumont was our guest speaker and he offered up an excellent presentation on "Diesels in the Bruce".  Awesome!

The month before, our table display showcased some of John Soehner's magnificent work.

I brought out my large scale B&M 40' boxcar Paul Norton had given me and showcased the "scaled down" difference of a similar car in HO scale.

A nice view of some of John's handiwork.

A bunch of the OVAR members anticipate a great dinner.

And...a superb dinner it is every month.  

This was John's plate seeing as I take a diabetic meal without the pasta.  I get extra vegetables and they taste amazing!

In a recent blog entry I told you that I was about to embark on this O-scale project for our good friend, Doug Matheson.

Doug had ordered the kit from Wiseman Model Services.

It was a joy creating the model...thankfully in a larger scale than HO!

A great deal of the work involved cleaning the casting, painting the finicky detail parts and familiarizing myself with the terminology of all the parts.

If you review the top two images you will note how I was able to allow the front wheels to turn in any direction, left or right or straight.

With the dramatic increase in road building in the 1920's due to the rapid expansion of motor traffic, a road grader was necessary to level the road surface.

Early forms of the graders were pulled by teams of horses, oxen or even...yes...water buffalos!

Eventually self-propelled versions came into being...although Doug & I may decide to have a team of horses pull this little puppy!  This will mean all the necessary paraphernalia will have to be constructed in order to join the equine team to the grader!  That's for another day!

Finally, I am writing this blog entry after returning from an evening of skating at the Governor General's home at Rideau Hall.

This year, rather than having to reserve free ice time for groups, they have opted to open the rink each weekday evening for a free public skate from 5:00 - 8:30 and on Saturdays and Sundays from noon until 8:30 in the evening!

I'll be heading out two or three times a week for sure as exercise is so good for those identified as being diabetic.  Check out the wonderful heated building where you go to put on your skates.

Following an hour of skating, it is time to relax a little bit.

The wood stove is stoked and the place is cozy warm.  A fire is kept burning during all free skate times and there is even an outdoor fire pit as well.

The ceiling for the "hot stove" is gorgeous.

Here are Lisa, Alison and yours truly.  My daughter Alison is the Deputy Director of Visitors Services at Rideau Hall and the organizing of the rink falls under her department.

A closer view of our smiley faces!

Before and after each free skate a Zamboni clears and waters the ice.

Also, there are washroom facilities in a nearby building that is a one-minute walk from the rink. 

Anybody in our greater OVGRS family is more than welcome to come on out and enjoy what our Canadian winter has to offer.

Time to get a warm cup of tea for now!

Thanks Pat for sending along your wonderful pics and stories which spurred me on to creating this blog entry!

All the best, Pat, Mike, George, Len, Fred and all the OVGRS family

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada