It's a well known fact that I love tools. Over the years we have gathered a good assortment for just about any job imaginable. There are a few I don't use every day but it is comforting to know that when I need them they are handy. A number of years ago I acquired a giant, antique anvil. It's a real beauty. I use it often, but Peter loves to dispute that fact (somewhat disparagingly I might add). He has, on occasion, even wondered aloud why it remains in the shop. Recently, when cleaning out the shop he instructed the crew to take the heavy anvil off it's custom made block stand and tucked it into the corner. His excuse was the anvil was taking up far too much room. I of course knew better. Yesterday, he was fashioning a metal crown for a sign he is creating and wondered how he would shape the metal. I suggested he use the anvil and a hammer, as it always works well for me. And so he did - with great success. I suspect that the old anvil is now one of Peter's favourite tools. I wouldn't be surprised to see it all polished up and sitting on the stand in it's rightful place very soon.
TEXTURE MAGIC - WOODGRAIN goes on sale
In the last few days I've been adding to, tweaking and testing the new woodgrain textures. There was a little last minute sorting and labeling today. Then we declared the collection complete and I gave the files to Peter for uploading to our website. It is now officially gone to market. I also finished routing our first paying project using three of the new textures. We are pleased with the result. I look forward to seeing what everyone else does with them too.
Fabricating endless bits and pieces
I spent the bulk of my time today making sparks in the shop today. I kept the plasma cutter busy at cutting brackets and pieces for the front assembly of the train. I welded on the pieces as fast as they came off the machine. By quitting time I had the boiler in place as well as the smokestack and related rigging along with the armature for the remaining hand sculpt. There's still the front number plate frame to fabricate and the whistle pipes to weld into place and then the crew can finish off the sculpting. We've had to make a few changes and alterations as necessitated by the realities of fitting everything mechanical inside the body but it won't be long until the train engine looks a lot like the model we built so long ago.
