Weekend update 13 December 2009

[up1950s]

Those look great.  What paint did you use to get that metal effect?

It's Alclad Chrome sprayed over a gloss black finish in several light coats. Followed up by Model Masters Sealer for metalizer.

Wow , where did that formula come from ?

When you decal them , and I know it will come out great , please spill the beens on the steps you took to do it . Whenever I try to decal , set them , and protect them on a silver surface , the end result is sooooo less silver that what I started out with . I am holding up doing a Kato Business car for fear of this graying effect .   

[sizemore]

Those look great.  What paint did you use to get that metal effect?

It's Alclad Chrome sprayed over a gloss black finish in several light coats. Followed up by Model Masters Sealer for metalizer.

Wow , where did that formula come from ?

When you decal them , and I know it will come out great , please spill the beens on the steps you took to do it . Whenever I try to decal , set them , and protect them on a silver surface , the end result is sooooo less silver that what I started out with . I am holding up doing a Kato Business car for fear of this graying effect .   

I cant speak for skytop but when I did my B&O RDC's I used Testors Master Series Satin Acrylic sprayed straight from the airbrush in a nice light coat. Looks factory.

The S.

[eric220]

No modeling for me this week; seems like other priorities keep getting in the way recently.  After my trip to Colorado for Thanksgiving, I had an unexpected trip to Tacoma, WA this Monday and Tuesday.  I've been to a few law enforcement funerals before, but nothing as big as the ceremony for the Lakewood PD officers who lost their lives on Nov. 29.

[skytop35]

Wow , where did that formula come from ?

When you decal them , and I know it will come out great , please spill the beens on the steps you took to do it . Whenever I try to decal , set them , and protect them on a silver surface , the end result is sooooo less silver that what I started out with . I am holding up doing a Kato Business car for fear of this graying effect .   

The product is called "Sealer for Metalizer" by Model Master (Testor). We tried many clear finishes over Alclad paint with the same result you are getting. Until Mike Skibbe tried this product. The sheen of the Alclad is barely affected by this stuff. Once this was discovered I went back and stripped a few completed projects and redid them.

[up1950s]

Thanks , I have ordered that Alclad Chrome #7 , I will get the other stuff also .

[C855B]

Despite having to spend Saturday supervising a server upgrade, made a bit of modeling progress this weekend.

First is the new DDA40X on the bench undergoing detailing. I have cut the "donut hole" in the frame for the walkthrough, and so far it appears that it is none the worse structurally. Debate with myself at the moment is whether to correct the too-long rear hood - there's an extra 18" or so between the sight glass and the rear. It wasn't noticeable until I started drilling for the missing grabs on the back.

A module project was needing some short hanger bolts for the legs which HD/Lowes/Ace all seemed to not carry. Found them at the Rockler Woodworking store. Wife was wide-eyed at all the great tools and project gew-gaws. Separate errand fetched the additional tie-downs I needed to haul the club modules in my box truck.

Managed to make a little headway into the 55-gallon drum of Red Caboose 57' PFE reefer kits nagging me. I picked these up during their closeout sale, sans trucks/couplers. 16 are done, sort of, with 11 more to go. The "sort of" is they're all going to need paint on their undersides (which are currently orange), but I'm not going to tackle that until I get serious about body mounting the couplers. Priority is whipping the PFE train into runnable shape.

[DocGeoff]

Lee,
You are supposed to be working on Tunnel motors and SD-45's.... What is this business of working on your own stuff?????

[sizemore]

Just so you guys know I havent totally bailed on trains since getting the GPW...

Ed Kapuscinski saw me at Kleins...and you thought I'd give you guys a picture of some progress!

Ok fine.... Have I mentioned that Microscale stripes are HORRIBLE? I should've just rolled my own stripes from Helviticarr.

I'm hoping to get the stripes finished by Wednesday so I can have them completed by the weekend for Lee.

The S.

[Zox]

By the way, if anyone wants to see some pictures from the show MARRS was at this weekend, here's a link:

http://photos.lordzox.com/index.php?album=scbc-christmas-train-garden-2009

A module project was needing some short hanger bolts for the legs which HD/Lowes/Ace all seemed to not carry. Found them at the Rockler Woodworking store. Wife was wide-eyed at all the great tools and project gew-gaws.

Tools are a hobby all their own, aren't they? Fortunately, I have to mail-order from Rockler, and the nearest (or at least easiest-to-get-to) Woodcraft is on the far side of Baltimore--otherwise I'd be even more bankrupt than I am. It's bad enough that I live only a mile from Harbor Freight...

[C855B]

Tools are a total addiction, for sure! Thankfully we keep mine in check, mostly by mocking Norm Abrams with, "You, too, can build $600 furniture with a $120,000 investment in power tools!"

>It's bad enough that I live only a mile from Harbor Freight...

Or, as we call 'em around our house, "Knuckle-Busters 'R' Us".  ;D

[BCRail_FSJ]

A blizzard and nasty cold snap in Calgary kept me inside for the last two weekends



I worked on the backdrop and continued kitbashing the Central Valley truss bridges into a box girder span.

[MichaelT]

Greetings;

Sorry no pictures just yet, but I now have about six pieces of roadbed glued down on what has been a long, LONG decision making process; between considering different scales, to considering turning the train room back into the home office/spare guest room/study, to "the fall" and recovery from surgery and rehab, I have finally settled back to trying to piece together another N scale layout.



So this is basically what I have now in the way of benchwork and base foam already in the room. This was up before "the fall", and I've added the island sections and put in the lift out for times when I just want to listen to the wheels run the rails.

Right now I'm planning an Arkansas area layout; late 70's before the Mopac went bye bye, unless I just find something that really catches my attention. I was contemplating going On30 and a narrow gauge turn of the century layout, but I just can't envision 1/48 buildings in the space. If someone that reads this has some experience with On30 and wants to give me some pointers, then please feel free.

Otherwise, I will continue to lay down roadbed and start putting track down to work on the N scale layout. I don't really have a prototype area to "model", most will be the flavor of the Arkansas River Valley area between the Ozarks and the Ouachita's.

So, not a huge announcement or advancement, but a baby step!

 ;D

[DKS]

Construction details: http://whiteriverandnorthern.net/clinic_39.htm

[Guilford Guy]

You sir, are amazing! Have you thought anymore about the Zn2 debacle?

[Coxy]

I managed to build a replacement controller (the original went AWOL 8 or 9 years ago) for this fully-functional excavator that I built around 1997 or 98. The source model is the GHQ kit, and I articulated all of the joints. It has four degrees of motion--the only movement that was impractical was traveling along the ground, for obvious reasons. As I write this, I'm working on an article that will include a video of it in action, plus more photos and a schematic of the controller.
 

Love the dirt and wear effects on this David .

Beautifully done David.