The L1 Project and Some Other Stuff

I know, I have absolutely been beating the lack of PRR steam topic to death lately. I promise, this is the last time I'm going to kick this particular dead iron horse. The situation is definitely improving. Broadway Limited is releasing their long-anticipated M1 4-8-2 this December. And guess who per-ordered one.  But it turns out there's another option for us. GHQ makes a nifty little kit to convert Kato's USRA Mikado into a PRR L1 2-8-2. A nice looking shell on top of Kato's legendary, rock-solid, bullet-proof Mikado mechanism? Who could ask for more.

Now, this kit is not for the faint of heart. It contains a lot of tiny detail parts, most of which require drilling to fit. Also, the mechanism and tender chasiss both require a good bit of modification for the shells to fit. CA glue is needed to fix all the parts together. I opted for Loctite gel super glue, which worked perfectly for this project. Normally I loath working with any type of CA, but this stuff seemed to get the job done.

The shell itself is made out of pewter and adds quite a bit of heft to the locomotive. This may significantly improve the locomotive's pulling power as a bonus.

The next step is to spray the locomotive with automotive primer before the final coat of paint. Then decals and weathering.

Work has also been progressing on the scenery. I've gotten nearly the whole mountain covered with lichen. I really do like the way this came out.

This was another quick project I took on today. I've accidentally left the layout power on a few times. So I decided to give myself a little reminder to turn it off before I leave the room. I bought this cheapie light fixture, mounted it to a cheapie junction box and ran some 12-guage lamp cord over to the master switch. I put a plug on the cord and plugged it into the main power strip. Now when the layout power is on, so is this light. Since I turn off all the other lights before leaving the room, this will be very noticeable.