SER Convention Pensacola Florida, Day 1

Howard Goodwin was kind enough to ride down with me to Pensacola, FL for our annual SER NMRA Regional Convention. I always enjoy hanging out with HOrn. He's funny, smart and love trains more than anyone I know.

We talked about a million things on the trip down. Here are some interesting things I learned:

Howard is using a verion of Dap's Stucco Patch material to work with foam. Part of his layout is a low profile hill. He took the 1/2" extruded foam sheets and stacked them vertically instead of horizontally, then filled in the caps the stucco patch. The scenery is strong, lightweight and very inexpensive. I'm going to get a bucket and try it. It is sandable, which makes it a candidate for adobe houses.

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=132898-68-60590&lpage=none

We were talking about structures and Howard asked me if I had tried Ambroid's Secure-It adhesive. It has some amazing qualities such as being sandable. I'm going to get a bottle and try it.

Ambroid® SE-CUR-IT (4 oz. bottle)
Description: Super-strength white polyvinyl glue designed to be sandable. A perfect glue for all arts and crafts, as well as home repairs. Bonds to hardwoods, balsa, plywood, Styrofoam, cloth, paper, ceramics and other porous materials. Hot-fuel resistant.

The whole six hours we chatted about how the Piedmont Division had grown, modeling techniques, and friends layouts. What fun!

When we got to town I dropped off HOrn at the very scary Day's Inn on Cervantes street. Somehow, I felt like he was being placed at the gates of The Inferno. Its not good to stay at a hotel in a very depressed area and not a good sign to see burgler bars on the windows. We checked out the room and he said he would stay. So I went to my Aunt & Uncle's home and had dinner with them. It was a pleasant evening catching up with them.

Tomorrow, my Uncle Tommy and I are going to the Air Musuem, then I'll be at the SER Convention about 1:00 for Howard's ballasting clinic.