I haven\u2019t posted anything since April so I thought perhaps I should report about what\u2019s going on.\u00a0 Unfortunately I\u2019ve made very little progress since my last post.\u00a0 If you recall, I was going to paint some scrap Masonite panels Sky Blue, then use that to practice some techniques for painting clouds.\u00a0 Not long after my last post, I procured the paint and rolled it on the Masonite practice panels.\u00a0 Now I was ready to start painting clouds.\u00a0 Well, not quite.\u00a0 I discovered that my old airbrush hose had dry rotted and was leaking, so I ordered a new hose.\u00a0 I went ahead and ordered a 10 footer so I would be able to move around better.<\/p>\n
In the interim, I had to get into truck buying mode as my old 1998 F-150 was definitely showing its age and I decided it was time for some new wheels.\u00a0 I spent the next three weekends checking out the local car dealerships offerings.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t find a single vehicle that even came close to being what I wanted, but fortunately my local Ford dealer was able to locate a new F-150 at an out-of-town dealership that was almost the perfect match for what I wanted.\u00a0 A week later, I had my new ride.<\/p>\n
I had arranged to be off work for four days during Memorial Day weekend, and I had planned to do my practice clouds that weekend.\u00a0 Right before my vacation time, the next roadblock occurred . . . my back went out!\u00a0 And it went out without any warning or provocation on my part.\u00a0 I had a similar back \u201coutage\u201d back in late December through early January.\u00a0 I had scheduled two weeks of vacation for the Christmas and New Year\u2019s holiday and that happened on the second day I was home.\u00a0 I was unable to do anything in the train room the entire time I was off . . . a real bummer.\u00a0 To have this problem again<\/em> during this, my very next vacation was extremely disappointing and aggravating to say the least.<\/p>\n But there is a little positive news to report.\u00a0 I wanted to establish a baseline elevation around the train room to aid construction of the layout, so I built a water level to accomplish the task.\u00a0 I picked up a 20\u2019 coil of 3\/8\u201d clear vinyl tubing and found an old small plastic trash can out in the garage.\u00a0 I drilled a hole in the side of the can near the bottom, then stuck the end of the tubing in the hole.\u00a0 A liberal coating of GE silicone caulk around the joint on both sides produced a water-tight seal.\u00a0 I set the can on a stool in the middle of the room, filled it with water, poured a bit of food coloring and a few drops of dishwashing detergent into the water, and I was in business.\u00a0 The coloring made the water easy to see, both to verify there weren\u2019t any bubbles in the line, and to see where the water level was when the tube was held up against the wall.\u00a0 The detergent helped break the surface tension of the water so it stayed level in the tube (didn\u2019t creep up the sides).\u00a0 It worked great!\u00a0 I made marks on the walls about every 8 feet.\u00a0 Then at one mark, I measured 47\u201d up from the floor (that was to be my benchmark elevation).\u00a0 I measured the distance between the water level mark and the 47\u201d mark.\u00a0 Finally, I went around the room measuring this same distance above all the other water level marks to get my 47\u201d benchmark all around the room.\u00a0 The whole project went quickly and smoothly.\u00a0 Yes!<\/p>\n And there\u2019s more\u2026<\/p>\n I had ordered some cloud stencils back in early May and after examining them, I determined that the cardstock from which they were made was just too flimsy to hold at the wall while spraying.\u00a0 So I ripped some \u00bc\u201dx1-\u00bd\u201d strips from a 2×4 scrap, then stapled a strip to the top of each stencil.\u00a0 That added the needed rigidity so the stencil could easily be held up near, but not touching the wall.<\/p>\n This past weekend I got a little cloud practice in.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t feel up to making-up the spray gun, hose, regulator and big, ole\u2019 air compressor.\u00a0 But I did have an old rattle can of white paint sitting in the garage, so I thought \u201cI\u2019ll just shoot some of that for the heck of it\u201d.\u00a0 And I did.\u00a0 The first panel I shot came out so-so.\u00a0 I studied it for awhile and decided on a few corrections I should make.\u00a0 I shot the second panel with much better results.\u00a0 A few things I learned from this:<\/p>\n Overall though, I\u2019m relatively pleased at what I\u2019ve done.\u00a0 But I want to get in significantly more practice before I tackle the real backdrop.<\/p>\n As I write this, my back problem is still significant, but I hope I can at least take short and easy steps to keep things moving.\u00a0 I have simply GOT to see benchwork and track this summer!<\/p>\n -Jack<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I haven\u2019t posted anything since April so I thought perhaps I should report about what\u2019s going on.\u00a0 Unfortunately I\u2019ve made very little progress since my last post.\u00a0 If you recall, I was going to paint some scrap Masonite panels Sky … Continue reading \n