Weekend Update 7/16/23

[OldEastRR]

The Last Pennsy Passenger Car Done





A kitbash of old Lima Pennsy heavyweights, and yeah it's kinda ragged (i noticed a door fell off) but it's got 6 wheel trucks, roof vents, Lemostream's PRR step and doors, and the very best job of applied stripes out of the many many PRR cars I rebuilt and repainted. I discovered the trick is to carefully scrape down the oversized Lima belt rail and top window rails so they barely higher than the car body. Gives a nice flat surface perfect for striping in the right places (I also recommend removing the oversized bolt heads on the letterboard).

And I discover this after I have no more PRR cars, either as projects or planned, since the Pennsy layout I had is long gone, a NH-themed one as replacement. Even tho the layout was gone I still had a backlog of these PRR projects. I guess just like a real RR orders pass cars then after the Mfg tools up for them they cancel the order but some cars are already built. 

Some PRR pass equipment did run on the NH, so these orphan heavyweights will still be rolling on the layout. (I still have enough prototypical PRR stuff to run a early-'50s Admiral).

[spr1955]

Ouch! That had to hurt.   Best wishes for a speedy recovery Richie.

[altohorn25]

I spent part of Saturday afternoon working on some N scale cars for my 1954 "El Capitan" passenger train.

I needed another baggage car for the head end, so I stripped the lettering off this Kato baggage car and replaced it with Microscale decals.

I had a big dome for the train, but I wasn't happy with the decal work that I did on it.  I picked up the prototypical Bachmann car on Ebay for around $5.00 and went to work.  I re-worked the trucks to accept Kato passenger car wheels, body mounted MT 1015 couplers, and removed/replaced the Bachmann "Santa Fe" lettering which was way to large.  With the new wheels, it tracks like a dream.

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[rodsup9000]

 Sorry to here about your leg, Richie. Praying you have a quick recovery.

 Scratchbuilt Stanford's Hardware.
Build thread is here
https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=56234.0

[btrain]

Hope you make a fast recovery, Rich!

This week I helped out with the Fort Railroad Historical Society's first-ever Railcamp. I brought over my doughnut layout (For those wondering what's the smallest car you can transport such a layout like that one, the correct answer is a Toyota Corolla.) to show the kids what skills you can pick up in modeling. I couldn't grab any photos from the lessons, but here's one from the kids about to board the train headed to the Indiana Northeastern shops, where they could get an up-close look at NKP 765 being fired up. The following day they enjoyed the sights and sounds of steam railroading during a half-day trip behind the ol' girl.

I'd like to give a shout-out to Rapido Trains, Model Railroader Magazine, Broadway Limited Imports, and Scaletrains, who all donated items for the participant's swag bags. I'd like to give a special one to Walthers, who donated some really nice HO-scale 40' boxcars to each kid! There are plans to have this event next year, so if you're interested or know someone who would be, just sign up for the email list at IndianaRailExperience.org

[jpwisc]

My parking lots were feeling naked, so I added some lines to them. Not perfect, but for a background detail… it’ll do.
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[martin station]

Karl,
  Those look really good! My wife has a CriCut and she makes my turn lane arrows, stop lines and road surface RR crossing markings and they turn out really well. What I like about yours is the nice painted on look, good job.
Ralph

[nickelplate759]

Here's SP 6001, all ready to pull the Golden State westbound - train #3.




As mentioned before - Precision Craft Models (early BLI) E7s, custom painted (Tru Color paints) and lettered (mix of Microscale and custom decals).  I added stainless steel handrails, and a working Mars light.  DCC (Digitrax) but no sound.

[craigolio1]

I made some good progress on dome windows for the Rocky Mountaineer Ultradomes.



More in the build thread.

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=56214.msg774374#msg774374

Craig.

[TrainCat2]

Virtual modeling this week. I scanned the liberty ship plans and got them into Illustrator where I could work on them. First the hull plan for the bulkheads



Next was the center keel with notches for the bulkheads.



Finally, tracing the deck outline and creating the base outline using the bottom of the bulkheads



I am going to scribe the styrene sheets using my 24in vinyl cutter. I do not expect to cut through the thicker sheets, but since I can program several passes, the scribe will be enough to finish the cut. The waterline base will be .080 styrene and I can only fit two bases on the sheet.



The keel and bulkheads will be .060 styrene and only enough room to produce the items for one ship.



The deck will be .020 styrene. I did fit two decks, hatches sets and cabin first floor.

[davefoxx]

boB,

Those plans and your parts design are neat!  Do you need to cut all the way through the styrene?  Couldn’t you just scribe and snap?

Hope this helps,
DFF

[jjb62556]

Nate , What did you use for paint on the dome...matches very good the Kato model...Jim

[craigolio1]

Virtual modeling this week. I scanned the liberty ship plans and got them into Illustrator where I could work on them. First the hull plan for the bulkheads



Next was the center keel with notches for the bulkheads.



Finally, tracing the deck outline and creating the base outline using the bottom of the bulkheads



I am going to scribe the styrene sheets using my 24in vinyl cutter. I do not expect to cut through the thicker sheets, but since I can program several passes, the scribe will be enough to finish the cut. The waterline base will be .080 styrene and I can only fit two bases on the sheet.



The keel and bulkheads will be .060 styrene and only enough room to produce the items for one ship.



The deck will be .020 styrene. I did fit two decks, hatches sets and cabin first floor.

Wow this is awesome! Can’t wait to see this one progress.

Craig

[Ed Kapuscinski]

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Busy weekend on the NC, now that I've got my fascia paint.

I'm trying a handful of different road techniques. So far, honestly, I'm not in love with any of them.

[samusi01]

@TrainCat2

Very nice. Have you considered modifying the bulkheads slightly so that you may have an open hatch into one of the holds?

Also, hard to tell given the images, but are the decks slightly longer to account for their curve?