It's a long held tradition for me to help Phoebe carve her pumpkins. In the beginning I did the bulk of the work while Phoebe art directed. As she got stronger and able to handle the knives my helping hands weren't as required. This year Phoebe had the design nailed, and didn't need any assistance to carve. I was 'allowed' to take out the pumpkin guts however. Phoebe did an awesome job on her owl pumpkin.
Trinidad train model - day one
We've decided to build a quick study model of the Skallywag train engine to help work out all of the bits and pieces and final scale for the larger version. Actually, we'll be doing two models - one for the Hillcrest crew in California. Today I designed the routing files and set the MultiCam CNC router loose while I went on to other things. By quitting time we had two bases, frames and sets of driving wheels ready to go. I couldn't resist just a little extra time gluing one set together. Tomorrow we'll paint up these pieces and begin work on the bodies.
Pirate train engine progress
One of the last pieces we are building for Trinidad is the pirate train. Since our company specializes in only theme work (not mechanicals) we are partnering with a world renowned train builder, Hillcrest Shops from Reedly, California. These folks are building the chassis for the locomotive and the cars. The first train concepts showed the train as an 0-4-0 meaning it had no wheels in the front, four driving wheels and no trailing wheels or tender. As the train went through design it became a 2-4-0 and finally an 0-6-0. This will give the train engine an abundance of traction and keep it firmly on the trails.
As the train chassis went through various design revisions I modified the concept plans over the engineered technical drawings. Hillcrest Shops does not cut any corners as they design and build their trains and this will undoubtably be the very best pirate train in the whole world.
The train car chassis are now all done and ready to fit the bodies which are here at out yard. Now the engine chassis is in the final phases of assembly and it is pretty exciting! I talked with Sean Bautista, the owner today and he sent me some progress shots. This thing is HEAVY DUTY to say the least. The four cylinder diesel engine that will power the train is on the ground in front of the chassis.
Here's the shot from the rear. Look close at the engine in the background of the photo. It's currently in rebuild and will soon return to my favourite theme park in southern California.
