Saturday, January 31, 2009

My downtown revitalization program is now under way...


One of the hazards of doing a project is the effect it can have on previous work.

My N scale layout was given to me by a retired architect and the evidence of his craft is everywhere. The street are perfectly laid out as only an architect can, using various scenic items available to that trade. The buildings are not weathered and nicely assembled. While not accurate in every way---the sidewalks are a glaring example---it has a certain charm that I cannot in good conscience violate. In short, should this man or any of his relatives come by, I want them to recognize his work.

---But---

...it is now my layout and I am going to personalize it with some of my own additions, only with the idea that they don't take away from the original. I've added several light effects including traffic lights, working police flashers and welding effects.

With the pharmacy project completed, one thing that had to go was the wide sidewalks to either end of merchant's row as seen in the final picture of Feinstein's. I found that by moving both ends out, it gave me a space a little over an inch wide to drop a small shop in between. With that, a small pizzeria named after my two children was born, cobbled together from the scrap box with HO scale windows glued side by side and other scrap bits...

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It still awaits paint and a sign but it definitely takes merchant's row in the right direction without compromising the layout builder's style. The narrower sidewalk looks much better and now the kids have a place named for them as well.

BTW...you ain't lived until you've heard the words, "Uh oh." in a child like voice, coming from the vicinity of your trains.
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Friday, January 30, 2009

...and now at the other end of the space problem.


...Miniatur Wunderland Hamburg---turn up the sub woofers...



No space for a layout?




Thursday, January 29, 2009

Feinstein's Pharmacy, epilogue...


...I can't believe I finished one. My beloved did a fantastic job lifting the signage and scaling it down using Printshop and Gimp 2. More details on its construction can be found here...

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Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Wednesday's Word...


And all the people said unto Samuel, Pray for thy servants unto the LORD thy God, that we die not: for we have added unto all our sins this evil, to ask us a king. And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not: ye have done all this wickedness: yet turn not aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart; And turn ye not aside: for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain. For the LORD will not forsake his people for his great name's sake: because it hath pleased the LORD to make you his people. Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way: Only fear the LORD, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you. But if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king.

Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law? They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood. But the LORD is my defence; and my God is the rock of my refuge. And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the LORD our God shall cut them off.




Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Feinstein's Pharmacy, Part II


...this has been a welcome treat. I burned myself out sometime back on how-tos that greatly affected my desire to do modeling of any substance. I think I'm coming out of that funk...

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...what do you think?

UPDATE: A fellow modeler rightly asks to see the base kit before my modifications. It is originally one of two that come in a kit from Model Power. I removed the front and right sides. Other than removing the small corner glue point on the right, there were no other modifications made to the basic kit.

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As with most of my bashes, I go for what looks right and use few fixed measurements. If you're interested in doing something similar, I can give you a few basic dimensions to run with but that's about it. I hope this helps you along should you decide to do it yourself. You can follow it's progress in a more detailed manner over at the N Scale forum under sleeper33's "A tribute to MEDMAN (I was thinking)".

Monday, January 26, 2009

Feinstein's Pharmacy in Newark, New Jersey...


...in N scale. In honor of a modeler who recently passed away and spurred on by other efforts over at the N Scale forum, I plan on finishing out my recuperation by building a fairly close model of this pharmacy.

Dimensions don't need to be critical so long as anyone familiar with this location can see it at first glance and know what it is without prompting. I'll be using a Model Power hardware store as a base.

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The keys to success will lie in reproducing the wall mural, roof line and color, I'm looking forward to this and will keep you posted.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

1 John 2:18-29


(18) Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.

(19) They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.

(20) But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.

(21) I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.

(22) Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.

(23) Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.

(24) Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.

(25) And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.

(26) These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.

(27) But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

(28) And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.

(29) If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.


Saturday, January 24, 2009

The last great hurdle, ...


...the effects of anesthesia and Darvocet on the human body, has been overcome whew...

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...I know...too much information.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Monday, January 19, 2009

Surgery today...


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...which will leave me sidetracked for a few daze.

And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh. Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank.

I always pray that moments like these represent a turning point or paradigm shift in my walk with the Lord. My most basic prayer has been, "Whatever it takes to make me yours." Like Jacob, I'm facing my biggest enemies and they are a result of my own folly. With mounting debt, a shady past and a very uncertain future, I am left begging and wrestling for a blessing for me and my family that I have no right to and, like Jacob, know it all too well.

My comfort is that God is wrestling with me...not against me, and that my scars will be a point of remembrance for me and my family that God has touched me yet I live.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

The time is at hand...


I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved. And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith. Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people: Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and to him that ladeth himself with thick clay! Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them? Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall spoil thee; because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein. Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil! Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people, and hast sinned against thy soul. For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it. Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity! Behold, is it not of the LORD of hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity? For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness! Thou art filled with shame for glory: drink thou also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered: the cup of the LORD'S right hand shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing shall be on thy glory. For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, and the spoil of beasts, which made them afraid, because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein. What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols? Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it.

But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.


Saturday, January 17, 2009

Tyco GP-20 kitbash, Part IV...


Slow progress I know but, I've never wanted to be ruled by a project anyway. I took the number boards and light lenses off of a wrecked unit and installed them on the end of my 'bash. The lights do not come drilled on a stock unit...

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...but the extra work makes for a much better looking piece.

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I still haven't decided whether I'm going to trim those cast on grabs and put on wire ones or not. I haven't found a suitable match for the paint and I'm not interested in mixing any colors.

---Yeah, I know...the slot...I'll get to it...eventually.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Dude!!!...


...and I thought my stack of modeling magazines taking over the head was pushing it.

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My inner 13 year old would have a small locomotive mechanism inside of a rubber rat.

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Thursday, January 15, 2009

MDC/Roundhouse HO scale two truck Shay...


...as built by Ray over at 2 Guyz.

I had one of these back in the late 80s and I can testify that they were absolute beasts to build. There's something to be said for a kit that required a separate book published to assemble it.

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...Ray's photograph...


Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Wednesday's Word, surgery Monday...


PSALM 4

To the chief Musician on Neginoth, A Psalm of David. Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer. O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame? how long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? Selah. But know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the LORD will hear when I call unto him. Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD. There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? LORD, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased. I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.

Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.
---(Habakkuk 3:17-19)


Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Canadian National Russell wedge plow hard at work...


...from Chris over at 2 Guyz...the pictures say all that needs to be said...

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Monday, January 12, 2009

Some workaday, 21st century steam in China...


...this would have an OSHA rep wailing like a school girl over here...


Steam Train from Misha Werder on Vimeo


Con-Cor HO scale Cotton Belt GP-40...


...a correction from an earlier post. As found in the February 1990 Model Railroader magazine...

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Interesting to note that the "Limited First Run" started a full year before this ad and that, though pictured, the Cotton Belt unit is not listed as one of the units available. ---Forsooth verily, let us run to Ebay with this gem and make untold tens of dollars on said rare find.---

This one has had its handrails touched up with white paint, a practice I don't normally recommend on anything made of Delrin as it does not take paint well. The plastic is normally found on truck side frames and is used for its slippery, Teflon-like properties.

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Sunday, January 11, 2009


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And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.---(2 Peter 2:2-3)

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Marriage and hobbies...


...it can work.

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Photo by Tim Kimzey/tim.kimzey@shj.com


Train hobby, marriage both stay on track for 47 years

By Dudley Brown
dudley.brown@shj.com


Published: Tuesday, December 23, 2008 at 3:15 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, December 23, 2008 at 12:20 p.m.


MOORE -- Forty-seven years ago Herb Weiss married his high school sweetheart and began a new hobby that gave him the opportunity to be an architect, city planner and a railroad conductor.

Weiss, 67, bought a model train the day before his wedding. Since then, scale modeling has been a good way to relax after work. Now that he's retired, it's something fun to pass the time.

"He and the groomsmen sat on our living room floor and checked it out the night before we got married," said Judy Weiss, of her husband's train that he keeps on a shelf in the basement.

Herb Weiss started building tabletop models, and now his layout takes up most of their 20-foot-by-25-foot basement.

"My father said I was too old to play with trains," Weiss said of his father's reaction to his pre-wedding purchase. "I was old enough to get married, so I was able to play with trains if I wanted."

His dad died three years ago but got the chance to see how the hobby grew.

"He thought it was fine," Weiss said. "He realized that playing with trains probably wasn't the worst thing I could have done."

Weiss got his first locomotive as a kid about 60 years ago. It is also on a shelf in the basement. His current model has scenes symbolic of the town where he and Judy grew up - Sheboygan, Wis. He also has buildings and landscapes that remind him of Duluth, Minn., and Milwaukee.

Judy sometimes critiques what he does and offers tips, like how he could give rivers waves and a more realistic look by painting with popsicle sticks.

Weiss has at least 400 train cars and records information on each one that he purchases. He says models built today have more details, including sound, than his first trains. The prices have also increased over the years. He remembers spending $1.49 for a boxcar and now spends at least $35 for one.

Watching trains circle the track is only part of the fun for Weiss. Foam provides his city with grass, shrubs and treetops. He likes building the houses, hotels, factories and grain elevators that are part of the model. The buildings come in kits, and Weiss uses the parts to make his own detailed designs. He often builds models for friends, too.

"I really have to steer myself from buying more stuff," Weiss said. "That's why I like building kits for other people."

Weiss is part of a railroad group of 11 that meets monthly at each others' homes. The group has members from Tryon and Flat Rock, N.C., as well as Greenville and Greer.

Weiss also likes learning about railroad history wherever he and his wife travel, and he often looks for hobby shops when he's out of town.

"It's been on the top of his mind at all times," Judy Weiss said. "Trains have been involved with every vacation we've taken."

"She always knows where I am - by a railroad yard or in the basement," Weiss said.


Friday, January 9, 2009

Helvetica - The Tour...


I wonder if he has a cat?



Thursday, January 8, 2009

Hotwheels 1/87 Ford Mustang GTs...


...well...close enough to 1/87 anyway... They make an acceptable Foose type build with the larger rims and carved wheel wells.

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My first car was a '68 Mustang Coupe, Indian red, gold stripe, Rally wheels and rims...sigh...

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Wednesday's Word, C. H. Spurgeon...


We do not expect to see the world lifted up to become more and more absorbed into the Church, The union of the world with the Church was never the object of our religion. The object of Christ is to gather to himself a people from among men; it is not the lifting up of all, but the calling out of the some, the making of men to differ, the manifestation of his special and discriminating grace, the gathering together of a people whom he has formed for himself. In this process morality is promoted, men are civilised and improved, but this is only indirectly God’s object, and not his immediate end; the immediate end of the gospel being the salvation of the people whom he has ordained unto eternal life, and who, therefore, in due season arc led to believe in him. The world, to the end of the chapter, will be as much at enmity with true believers as ever it was. Because “ye are not of the world, therefore the world hateth you,” this will be as true when Christ shall come as at the present moment. Let us expect it; and when we meet with scorn and persecution, let us not be surprised as though some strange thing had happened unto us.---From a sermon entitled "Barabbas Preferred to Jesus," delivered October 16, 1864.

-----<<<<<>>>>>-----


Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Warhammer Lionel...


...beats Hogwart's Express any day.

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Not exactly the Christmas train around your granpappy's tree, is it?

Monday, January 5, 2009

4-8-8-4 "Big Boy"...


...in paper! Easily one of the finest models of its type that I've seen...

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Photo collage by Kooklik


Sunday, January 4, 2009

Theology 101...


Rule #6: "All" means all that's all all means.

"It's not the parts of the Bible I don't understand that bother me, it's the parts I do understand."---Mark Twain

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.---(Proverbs 3:5-6)

Yesterday found me curled up, sobbing like a school girl as my gall bladder had a fit. Today finds me facing surgery in the next couple of weeks with no insurance and no finances to speak of.

But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.---(Malachi 3:2-3)

The refiner's fire was slowly heated up to force all impurities to the surface where they can be skimmed off. The refiner was finished when he could see his reflection in the molten metal. Fuller's soap was a whitening agent in processing wool, a process that included beating the wool and scrubbing with Fuller's earth, a concoction of urine and clay. In short, processes that folks like Joel Osteen and Rick Warren quietly step around but that are necessary if we wish to be brought before the Lord...

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.---(1 Peter 1:3-9)

I don't know how often I'll be posting over the next couple weeks. I do pray that neither I nor you dodge the refiner's fire or the Fuller's soap that may come this year...blessings, grace and peace to you and yours, Br'er Shaygetz

Friday, January 2, 2009

Utah 31, Alabama 17...


Thank you, Utes...you have the undying gratitude and admiration of LSU fans everywhere.

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Stuff for the new year...


Personal...
---Yes, I am ordained, no, I choose not to operate in it at this time. My ordaining pastor has left the faith in a big way, leaving me to question the ordination's legitimacy.

---I used to write a political blog, which has left me with a nervous tick and an overwhelming desire to bite mainstream evangelical celebrity pastors and leaders on the ankle at first sight...really, really hard.

---Now you can say you know someone who's been kicked out of his home church. Yup,...a Baptist one...me...imagine that.

---I spent less than $160 on the hobby last year, a large percentage of which was for postage to get otherwise free stuff mailed to me.

Blog related...
---No advertisers or banner ads, thank you. Tax time is hard enough without the added burden of another income. If you want to make it to my "Vendor Endorsements for which I Receive No Compensation" menu, just be a good vendor, word gets to me eventually.

---The flag counter has given me a greater sense of responsibility with blog writing and, for me, the open door to the preaching of the Gospel to every tongue and nation. With that in mind, I will be making more resources available through the link menus to the right, one of the reasons that they have precedence over the modeling related ones.

---To close all doubt as to why I write this blog...

Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.

May you and yours have a blessed New Year.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

LSU 38, Georgia Tech 3...


Mike the tiger says that hornets taste like chicken, too...

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1:80 scale Fleer Collectible 2004 LSU College tractor/trailer set.


2009 Favorite picture countdown, 1 and 2...


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I like how clear this picture of my Mamod TE1a came out and how the motion was frozen so well. Yes, it was propped on a block, but the desired effect worked.

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Even the cloud cover fell into place on this shot of my Rivarossi 4-8-8-4 "Big Boy", though I'd have to question the authenticity of a Boston and Maine hopper following behind a Union Pacific engine...