you had her bring me some sheets of Styrene
I think Craig and Devon do Devoning differently, Craig does it trying to get things exactly right while Devon just falls into research wormholes and blue link surfing. And I say that with all respect to them and their skills as modelers, and because I consider them good friends and can kid them.
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Pete,
I think Craig and I are entirely different people. Craig doesn’t really Devon. He suffers from a modeling paralysis. He gets stopped in his tracks because there is not an exact 1:29 scale offering for a particular bolt his blue prints call out for.
I’m just lazy
Are we talking hex head or octagon head, square head? Round, flat? 1/2" vs 3/8"?
Come on now these types of questions matter!
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Devon, I don’t know Craig quite as well as you do so I was trying to politely say what you did! Craig most should be grade 8 hex head , with some Allen just to mess with things but probably you don’t have to worry about metric or imperial!
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Pete,
You think it’s funny about the bolts but Devon can confirm I had him track down blue prints for a GN Snow Dozers from the archives he was at. Well I sent him there for his book research and said, hey I didn’t quite get this blue print can you double check this box and this box for me?
Someday before I die (maybe before my child graduate from highschool?) I’d like to finally finish that project. At this point it might almost be easier to start all over as I’ve lost track of where I was at.
I keep telling myself project priorities.
First order is to get the layout done (aka track laid) Then the get the equipment up and running while working on buildings/structures. Once those two things are done, I can shift back into kitbashing and scratch building projects that I really enjoy.
If you don’t believe me about the blue prints…
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0Bz7qtokb4MjUYjZPUVpwOHNVZVE?resourcekey=0-c6_aRAwZ1S3OpzuJSLwlyA
The funny thing is the moat important one I thought I missed, Devon couldn’t find either so I’m lead to believe it’s either lost or in the archives in Fort Worth.
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I’ve got 3 turnouts left to build for this layout and yesterday I fired up the mini table saw and started cutting PVC lumber for the ties. I’m going to experiment with these last 3 turnouts with PVC ties (and glue them to a hunk of PVC so nothing shifts). Even with a vacuum going to collect dust I had PVC shavings everywhere! I’m sure cedar dust is the same thing but I probably don’t notice it as much. I have all the parts on hand now, it’s just a matter of kicking myself into gear and getting it done.
I haven’t been motivated to work on the layout much lately due to the high temps (or at least for us in W. WA) so the last few weeks have been anti-climatic in terms of layout progress.
I think the PVC dust is worse because of the static cling, you can hardly vacuum it off your cloths.
It sticks to everything for sure! It’s a tad annoying for sure compared to regular wood sawdust.
Good reason to do the cutting out side in this weather, just hose off afterwards
Last night it was cut for 30 minutes, shave my head then take a shower. 
I’m pretty sure the washing machine got good use with the clothes last night.
I never did, but a colleague with lung issues warned me to wear an N95 dust mask when cutting PVC.
That’s probably good advice for anything we do in this hobby. I’m sure I’m doing worse things to my lungs by inhaling MEK fumes glueing styrene together.
Progress… Slightly under halfway done. Figured it was better to cut more longer pieces than shorter.
When you are in the grove , just keep cutting until the stock is gone!
Suggestions for PVC glue?
Weld-on 3? Regular PVC glue?
If Weld-on 3 where to find?
I’ve used standard PVC Pipe cement with good results. Cheap and available.
Lowes sells an Azek glue. Expensive and sets way too slow.
At work, where cost wasn’t an issue, Loctite HY4070. Very fast set & gap filling.
Thanks Jon.
Is it thin like MEK or thicker and spread with a brush?
Which? The Loctite comes in a syringe and is fairly thick and pricey. The Azek stuff is ball swab applied like the PVC pipe cement.
I would try your MEK on some scrap. It might work fine.
I tried some MEK on scraps and it seems to hold ok but not solid.