Well THE SAINTS drew with THE PIES on Saturday arvo. Did not see that one coming! Well I will have to do it (drink beer, nibblies, etc) again this Saturday arvo (what are the common folk doing!?!)
As for getting in some shedtime, I did get to the shed but the missus had some other thoughts how I was to spend my time yesterday. By the time the chores and 'jobs without notice' had been done, it was to late to do anything.
Oh well, at least I was able to keep going with building the station (Friday and Sunday nights) which is my priority at the moment.
Since the last blog entry I have been fairly busy but have still had some time to spend both on my layout and my son's layout. Kensington Hill on Illavearf is progressing with the scenery. I am pottering around with a Noch static grass machine to see what it can do. I think I have to do some more practicing as some of the grass isn't great. At nights I have been progressing with the construction of the station building. Still a way off yet. Then it will be the platform before anything else. Have to have somewhere for the trains to stop! If I get a chance this weekend, I will take some updated photos of Illavearf.
Now for the reason behind the blog title. Lachlan's layout is starting to take shape. The mountain/tunnel looks pretty good and it is yet to be sceniced. I have an order from MB Klein coming in from the States with a stack of Bachmann building kits that apparently are click fit, so I am hoping that Lachlan will be able to build these with a little help from Dad so that he gets a sense of satisfaction from building something himself. As such his layout has reached a point that I think I will write about it away from my Musings page which I am keeping for Illavearf and general musings. I came up with some names for the layout; Twin Peaks, Bear Lake, Beaver Lake, Bear Springs and Beaver Springs. Lachlan liked the last one and so the layout has been named. I have made a new blog, beaver-springs.blogspot.com, which has a link off from my 'Links of Interest'. So in due course I will upload some photos of his layout and blog about his layout from this site.
I am a tad peeved with MRRC as no word for two weeks now. I sent another email chasing them up. Then there is DCC Concepts. I am waiting on some LEDs from Richard, but still nothing. A chase up email has been sent without reply.
Well Saturday arvo is the AFL Grand Final, so more then likely I will be planted in front of the TV drinking beer, eating munchies, and barracking for St Kilda. Why the Saints? Well my team the Lions didn't perform well this year and as Collingwood is the other GF team I am in the ABC camp (Anyone But Collingwood!). So maybe Sunday will see some shed time, hopefully on both layouts.
GO THE SAINTS!
This week I was able to get a few things done both on my layout and Lachlan's. I knocked off early Friday arvo to come home to get the mowing out of the way but this idea was knocked on its head after rain had bucketed down and soaked the yard. Well to the shed to spend some quality time with Lachlan finishing the plastering of his mountain. It actually came out pretty good. I must think of a name for his layout and start a blog for his layout seeing as though I see to be chatting about it more than my own lately! Why quality time? Well the club's AGM was going to be on Saturday arvo and he wouldn't see me for a few hours.
Craig (from ca55ino.blogspot.com fame) , a work colleague and clubmate popped over for the first time on his way to the club on Saturday morning after receiving an invite from me earlier in the morning to come over for a looksy of the layouts in my shed. Craig lives about 50km from me on the south side of Brisbane, so a visit from him is a momentous event!
I received my parcel of goodies from Scalerail in the UK on Friday. So some stuff (fences, signal box and water tower) to build and place on Illavearf's Kensington Hill side.
Gary from MRRC is apparently waiting for the new US distributor of ESU to settle in before asking about the dodgy EL Class decoder file.
Richard from DCC Concepts finally replied to the order for the LEDs for the 44 Class, as well as some green ones. These I am going to use for an idea I have for the Kensington Hill mimic board. These should hopefully arrive this week.
I also started the station for the Hill side. This is a Scalescenes freebie from a past Hornby magazine edition that I think will suit quite well. Once this is done the platform will be next. Once these are installed I will then have a better idea of the available space for the remainder of the village or station surrounds.
Until next time.
I will do a bit more scenicing of the Hill before posting some more photos.
Well my Fathers' Day weekend was fairly reasonable. I was able to continue with the scenery on Kensington Hill by planting some trees of different heights, try some Noch Wildgras for looks, and fix up a few small things. An hour or so on Sunday morning I spent with Lachlan on starting the plastering of the mountain on his layout before cleaning up and heading off to the in-laws for lunch and a few drinkies!More plastering will need to be done over the 'chux' foundations of the mountain on Lachlan's layout (still yet to come up with a suitable Alaskan oriented name).Through the week I emailed DCC Concepts to order the LEDs for the 44 Class. I am still to hear from Richard about the order.I also contacted MRRC about the EL Class Select decoder again. Gary advised that apparently ESU's distributor in the States was changing hands and he had to try contacting the new mob. Bodes well for a timely resolution!!I also ordered some fencing and other items from Scalerail in the UK to improve the scenery on the Kensington Hill side of Illavearf. I will have to start scratchbuilding the station and platform so that the rest of the environs can be planned once the remaining 'real estate' is known. I know I have to also sort out a cattle/sheep loading yard and goods shed on the sidings. Well until next time, I hope all the Dad's had a nice day today.
