Building Smith Coal & Ice by Railroadkits Pt.1

Two days ago I got home after work very late. I took my car for a maintenance and missed my more less OK traffic window. I had a plan to build some models that night but after spending some time looking for the tools and supplies I finally gave up. Instead I decided put together a shelving unit, get things out of the boxes and get at least a little bit more organized. It wasn't easy. Under normal circumstances whenever I bring new thing it somehow finds its place. When everything is out of place at once it becomes huge puzzle. I managed to get about 15% of stuff organized that evening but at the same time I came to the realization that after I put in another shelving unit, bookcase, and a table I pretty much won't have room left for a layout. I'll have to make some radical changes when/if I start one.
I have been building Smith Coal for some number of moons. It is my filler project. Whenever I can't go to the next step while working on a big project or simply get tired of it I get out Smith Coal. I am not so far from the point when I will have to start turning it into diorama but it may be also the point where it stalls. I have a little backlog to take care of first.

Building Red Hook Office by FOS Scale Models Pt.1

Couple of days ago I received a text from my cell phone service provider that I had maxed out on my data. Only then I realized that the video stream I had been sending to my Roku didn't come through my WiFi connection but through the cellular network. The good news is that today is the beginning of the new billing period and the usage goes back to zero. However, from now on I need to make sure my data is off when I do screen casting.
I couldn't keep myself from building something during the move but I needed something small, something that I could possibly finish before I get back to my regular projects. FOS Red Hook Office was just the kind of project I needed. In the past I have modified in some way all Doug's freebies I have built. I didn't want to break the tradition so this build isn't exception. So far I have replaced the front wall with shingled one. To do that I had to cut new one from chipboard and glue shingles on it. I couldn't use the original because the thickness would have changed and I would have had to make too many adjustments to the other parts. I also added back door that I cut out of laserboard to match the one in the front. I have few more changes coming as well so stay tuned.

Final pictures of the Grandma's House by Campbell

Joe Fugate told me about Trainmasters TV at National Train Show in Atlanta back in 2013. I have been curious about it ever since but I didn't become a subscriber because I didn't want to watch it on a computer. Few months ago I asked Trainmasters TV if they were planning on making an app for Roku and/or other stream devices. They told me that I could use cast screen feature of my smart phone to send the stream to my Roku and watch videos on a big screen. Unfortunately my Roku was too old so I spent few months debating myself whenever I should get a new one. If not for TMTVs summer sale most likely I would still be in the same state. Actually two things happened at the same time, TMTV summer sale and Roku discount for an upgrade, so I cracked and got new box and became TMTV subscriber for a year.
So far I have watched two episodes.  I found them to be a bit too heavy on real trains. While I don't mind learning about 1:1 scale I am more interested in smaller scales. It looks like later episodes  are more geared towards modeling so it is all good. What I am missing at the moment is a chair. I am watching my TV sitting on the floor still.
I have completion of another kit yet to report. This time is an oldie. It is the Grandma's House by Campbell. It wasn't an easy build. The kit was very old. I don't know if sugar pine is brittle by itself or it was the age of the kit but I had to re-glue several wall pieces back together. Also after making the base according to drawings I found that not all wall dimensions match the drawings. Since I didn't have base material left to start from the beginning I had to sweat a bit to get more less acceptable placement of the base relative to the rest of the structure. Well, it isn't finest piece of my work but given challenges I had to go through I feel like I did decent job.
The experience with the Grandma's House raises the question whenever it is worth buying any of the old Campbell kits. Perhaps not even new as well because I am not sure if new kits are being produced using the same die cutting process and if sugar pine is still being used. It is possible that I would be better off if I obtained just the drawings and built from scratch.

Final pictures of Dill's Market by Laserkit

I have spent my last two nights at the new home. I guess I have officially moved. Last night I was assembling back a desk that will become my workbench. Unfortunately couldn't finish the job because the desk got damaged a little in the move and some parts had to be glued back together. It is still nice desk though and I don't want to ruin it so I need to find some kind of protector. As soon I get this done I will be back building models.
Meanwhile I have some pictures of the project a finished right before the move. It is Dill's Market by Laserkit. The signs are not from the kit. I thought without them the structure would look too boring so I added few.
Occasionally I get inquiries about availability of my projects so perhaps I should mention that I don't have it anymore.