When Phoebe arrived to our place to day I called her to the shop. She happily complied as she almost always does. But today was special - it was the day we've been anticipating for a very long time. Since before she was born, almost twelve years ago I had been building on the train. A few years later she rode on the engine and cars on a couple hundred feet of track, but it was always me pushing and it was always very hard work! We made countless trips through the years and had a lot of fun but the question always was "When will the train go by itself?" And the answer always was "We'll work on it." Building trains it seems takes a great deal of money or a great deal of time. Money has never been in abundance and time was often scarce as well. This meant the train had to wait it's turn. Today was finally the day that Phoebe would get her very first ride with me sitting in the cab of the engine beside her and not pushing. I had put the train on the track last night and hooked a riding car behind it in anticipation of the happy occasion. Four of our crew volunteered to be our passengers. The journey was short but a complete success. Now it is time to lay the rest of the track around the yard...
Banner day for Viking ships
The sculpting of the last ship hull was done by such break and we decided to go for broke and do the keels in the afternoon. At quitting time we were putting the last touches to the sculpting of the head and tail keels, finishing off the sculpting for the Viking ships for Dubai. It's been a long haul, with the project going seven months from first design through to now. Only paint is left to do which the crew will begin on the first half of the Viking ship tomorrow. In a little over two weeks we'll be loading them for their long journey to the Middle East.
Almost a ship
After seven months of thinking about Viking ships it finally seems like this project is going to wrap. Today we began applying the concrete and sculpting the last half of the final ship. The weather was perfect, warm and cloudy with little wind. As always it was a team effort to mix the special concrete, trowel it onto the frame and then sculpt in the detail. We managed to finish the inside of the ship and get a good start on the outside of the hull. It is our hope to finish sculpting this last large piece tomorrow leaving only the two keel pieces for Friday. Then we will do the paint to finish them off.
