Lost in the weeds?

This week’s post is about the lead picture featured above. What is notable about the picture is that there are two “plantings”. Also in this picture are new porch railings. Both of these represent another milestone for The Omega Scale Railway. The plants on the left are Crepe Myrtles and on the right are a “rare variety” Hydrangea. Readers will note that omscaler is taking a certain amount of liberty with this description. Regarding the porch railings, even though there is a balcony railing on the Hamilton House hotel, these railings are a new, more delicate design. This is the reason that part of them appear damaged. They were warped during installation. Omscaler thinks more damage may occur if a repair is attempted. Steadily moving ahead, omscaler

 

Congratulations to The Omega Scale Railway!

Wow! Has it been six years? Way back in 2017, the first blog post was published. Time has flown. A lot has been accomplished. Sometimes it seemed like it was all uphill. However, the results were worth it. Omscaler is very proud of what has been done. As has been referred to, there is still more to do. To the devoted readers and visitors, a heartfelt big Thank You. It is omscaler’s hope that you have been inspired to try something new yourself. At least I hope so. Regarding last week’s post, the porch rails have been installed. The foliage effort still needs doing. We gonna’ do it. Since this will post on Valentine’s Day, I hope all you ”Valentiners” have a good one. From my heart to yours, omscaler

 

A scheduling we will go.

Hello again, readers. Omscaler is sharing more details this week. Something new we are trying out this year is more detailed scheduling of projects. This week we plan to work on foliage. As readers will understand, this is a new area for omscaler and so far, results have not been up to standard. We plan to keep trying. Another mini project is to retro fit porch rails on the bungalow. Omscaler believes he has a plan to get this done with a neat appearing outcome. We shall see. The previously mentioned Union City module will be worked on as well, we hope. A few other things are in the mix too. See you down the line, omscaler

 

Just a little insight

Omscaler is taking a little time on this post to give readers some input on one of the upcoming projects. The name of this project is the Union City module. Union City is located in North Western Tennessee. The tracks are still located on a North/South orientation. The GM&O ran trains daily from points North to Mobile, Alabama. Local switching was also prominent. Just east of downtown the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis crossed the GM&O. At this crossing was a small union station. To bring readers into the planning, omscaler has made a paper foot print measuring one foot by three feet. The idea is to make graph paper outlines of both the track works and relevant buildings. This should give us an accurate way to place everything. More to come, omscaler

 

Job complete!

At last, the latest fifty-ton hopper is done. The side sheets, both inside and out, are laser cut. Improved reporting marks are on the sides. Improved end frames have been developed. An overall neater appearance is seen. This may be more evident regarding the side ribs. On the downside, daylight can be seen over the center beam. Omscaler will still put this hopper to work on The Omega Scale Railway. Freight gotta’ move! Next project looks like foliage. Moving forward, omscaler

 

More slow and steady progress

Hello again faithful blog readers. This week is still about the fifty-ton hopper. The new end frame building method looks like it will do two things. One, look more prototypical. Two, be somewhat stronger. This method does take longer to do. Hence, omscaler may not have completed the hopper when this is posted. I will keep you posted (bad pun). Some foliage building trials are still scheduled as well. Getting in the trees, omscaler

 

Off to a good start

I would like to thank all the faithful blog readers. This blog probably does not seem as “user friendly” as some others but that may change in 2023. At this point, omscaler is doing an “improved” fifty-ton hopper build. This will make a dozen of this car type. Very appropriate for the part of Illinois being modeled. New features include clearer reporting marks, neater side ribs, a slightly longer center beam and laser cut sides. Assembly of this hopper did take a turn for the worse. As the internal slope sheets were being put in, a misalignment occurred. Omscaler decided to live with the mistake even though the length of the beam cover sheets was not equal. Too much damage would take place if this were redone. However, omscaler had an idea about how to prevent this problem going forward. This idea will eliminate one component and two cuts. It strikes omscaler as odd how the ideas for improvement happen after the fact. I guess it is a “mental mystery”. We are still going to work on foliage this very week. Barring the unforseen. Looking to the future, omscaler.