Don Quixote

Thank you!

There's a name for this, but I don't recall it. So far things are a lot tighter.

I wanted to do the smaller one 1st, because it just seemed like a better kit. (UGEARS) I started the bigger one because I needed new glasses. I'm back to the smaller one now. The big one uses a spring, while the UGEAR uses rubber bands. We shall see.

Wondered what you  meant by R2D2:) I can see painting that. What brand is that? I saw a clock that looked interesting, too.

I'm getting frustrated and going back to the smaller Ugear.

Started out great, but with the 2 missing parts it's loose and out of alignment. I thought about painting, but that would detract from the fact that it's made of wood.

The Ugears model I have looks to be fantastic. The instructions are far better and the little I played with was very tight. No metal dowels with plastic grommets that move.

Smoke stack. It's supposed to rotate. I'm a bit skeptical, everything is so loose.

I'm missing a couple parts to the piston housing (Cylinder?) on the passenger side. The parts won't set in as well as they should so that side is rising a little. Hopefully something else goes on that will help bind it. The company doesn't do spare parts. Made in China. Probably not worth shipping. The model was only $50

Piston housing on.

There is already some slop in the rest of the wheels, that one doesn't even line up with the rest. I guess I'll put another grommet or two in since there's no way I could make a filler to match.

Wheels on! Those orange grommets are a bear to install. Very tight fit. Once you get it started you can tap it on with a small hammer. The kit comes with parts to make a tool that pushes the grommet down to the right length. Notice the wheel on the left is missing a part compared to the others. This is the way the instructions read. 2 wheels have gears, 3 wheels have the round whatever and the one has nothing. It's sloppy and doesn't line up with the rest of the wheels. I triple checked the instructions and read all the way to the end, but I see no alternative. There aren't any parts for it either. I don't like it. The axle is supposed to be flush but as you can see, it's not. What do you think of the idea of putting in a few more grommets to compensate?

Thanks, we miss that house in Michigan. Couldn't see another house. N.H. Kinda cold?

Lateral move, or maybe smaller. My shop is the garage so I imagine that'll stay similar. We moved from a house on 10 acres in Michigan, to .17 acres here in California. I can see into my neighbors house and hear the wife screaming at the husband and kids. Dogs barking day and night, stereos day and night and no noise ordinance.

Same neighbor has 4 cars and parks in front of my house. Wife parks in the garage and I want to park in front of the house, but I have to park across the street. Public parking.

We bought this house when my wife worked 40 miles away in one direction and I worked 30 in another. A good middle ground. Now she works closer to where I worked, and I retired. (Do to medical issues) But the impetus for the move is retirement for the wife. Just over a decade to retirement age for the wife, living on one income with limited savings, we owe 20 years on this house. We can get a similar size house outside of town (5 acres or more and no nearby neighbors) where she now works for 50% of the cost of this place. We plan to take out a 10 year loan so we have no house payments when she retires.

Why am I building choo choo trains instead of ships? We're moving in May and I packed up all my tools. These models require no glue, sand paper or anything. All I need is an exacto knife and some candle wax for the gears.

Go here to follow the steam engine.

Looks like this model will go fast. What little I got done on the smaller one, took me 3 days. I did this in 3 hours.

Incidentally, this engine uses a metal spring. The smaller one uses 15 rubber bands. Looking at the gears they hook up to I can't see how I could possibly fist more than 2 rubber bands. Even that will be a challenge.

Looks like another part will shore up the front of the cab.

One must be very careful of the orientation of parts.

I don't know why the pics are upside down. Guess the phone isn't that smart after all.

A14 does not fit onto A16 tightly. I'm assuming they are doors, because they are on hinges. I had a devil of a time getting the A14 into the slots.

This is the 1st of 2 model trains. This is larger than the crossing I built . I started on the smaller one, but lost a lens to my glasses. Seems I need a new prescription. I need to use my magnifying glass to see the instructions, but I can at least see the parts to put them together. The other train is about half the size. And so are the parts:)

It was surprisingly challenging. I'm starting on the steam engine now. THAT's interesting!

That was fast. I expected it to be, but I'm glad I did it before the engine. It was surprisingly challenging.

Onto the steam engine now. I expect that'll take a while.

These laser cuts are incredible.

Wife got met this for x-mas.

She also got me the steam engine, but I figured I'd start with what should be easier to get the swing of building from the instructions.

I'm coming on that as soon as I'm done painting.

My scroll saw is a dremel product. It's not deep enough for that. I fear I'll have to make them smaller pcs.

I'm using an aqua marine blue. It's my Granddaughter's favorite color. It's also what color my house it painted.

Around the outer edges. It's an artifact from not using a flash which I thought would distort the image further.

It's supposed to be an aqua. No mixing, it came with the kit.

Not too far off. Dunno why the picture shows the dark splashes. I'll spray her down with a satin finish to dull it a bit. I don't want it flat though.