Weekend Update - 12/16/2007

[John]

another week, another update ..

Some pics and video from the B&O show

[img width= height=]http://lh5.google.com/acsxfan1/R2WuyXtiL3I/AAAAAAAACKk/HPvnFWMtQHI/s800/IMG_2482.jpg[/img]

[img width= height=]http://lh3.google.com/acsxfan1/R2WvE3tiL4I/AAAAAAAACKo/rthRic68WX4/s800/IMG_2484.jpg[/img]

http://www.youtube.com/v/ZXhgpBqv5TM

[central.vermont]

John,
The video doesn't work. Says it's no longer there? ???
Jon

It was probably still processing ..

[bambuko]

John,
The video doesn't work. Says it's no longer there? ???
Jon

works fine for me ??
Chris

[Sokramiketes]

These gons are pretty scary out of the box between the glossy paint and the huge rivets.  A little dirty, and a little dullcote seems to tame those problems enough to make it layout-worthy.  I ended up carving away the bolster on the truck to lower it, rather than messing with the one on the body.  Athearn uses those shouldered body bolsters with a screw, and I didn't want to modify that... so there's about half the thickness removed on the truck side.  Brought the body mounted couplers to the right height, so I'll leave it at that.






Also started on a pair of NWX reefers from Intermountain, trying to make them a little closer to the Renton rebuilds they're supposed to emulate:


New side sill, shortened doors, scribed and riveted belt rail added, etc.


And finally, early stages of some Milwaukee C-liners, now with second headlight added.

[atsf_arizona]

SNFF 2007 12 15

Still working on the GP7B project slowly (started it back in Sept
and still working on it).

I'm doing the handrails next.  While there are many good ways to do it,
including doing complete wire stanchions... I'm taking the following less
time-intensive (hopefully!) approach.   Will post next week how they turn out.









Will update the overall thread on this project later when I have time, including
the actual installation of the handrails.    That thread is over at: 

http://forum.atlasrr.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=40783

Have a good Holiday week, all!

[atsf_arizona]

SNFF 2007 12 16

GP7B project continues, here's the outcome of the handrail install.

Not the greatest job, but I learned a lot for future projects, and I made
peace with the outcome be deciding that from normal N scale viewing
distances, it'll look OK:



Later on, when I have more time, I'll update the step by step 'experiences'
thread with some more details on how I got here, and what I learned.

Good thing that model railroading is not a game of perfect! 
It's more than anything, a learning (and fun) journey.

Have a good week, all.

[central.vermont]

And finally, early stages of some Milwaukee C-liners, now with second headlight added.

Mike,
I'm just starting on drilling the holes for a second headlight
on some Milwaukee Erie builts and was wondering what you
used for the second light. It looks to me like brass tubing?
If so what size are you using?
Thanks, Jon

[wm3798]

Put the decoders into Bob's F-unit fleet this week...  It's been fun running all those covered wagons!


Lee

[Catt]

Something old.One I built and one I bought.

This one I bought on Train-Bay several years ago.It is an old ATLAS/Mehano SD45 shell on a streched KATO frame.I don't know much about it except it runs like a KATO should.




This one I built. The hi short hood is the rear hood off of a junker LifeLike GP38.The rest is pure KATO.If I were to do this again I would use the SD35 short hood from ATLAS that way I could mount the bell in it's rightful spot.


Something new (started today)



This one will get CNW yellow and green with a blue patch on the cabside with GVR on it.

Sorry about the sucky pics.

[GonzoCRFan]

These gons are pretty scary out of the box between the glossy paint and the huge rivets.  A little dirty, and a little dullcote seems to tame those problems enough to make it layout-worthy.

The problem isn't that the rivets are too big, the problem is Athearn painted them by dipping them in gallon cans of latex paint. Actually, it's not latex, because I had to use commercial-strength paint stripper to strip the one I have. But if you do go to the trouble of stripping one, you'll see that the detail on those cars is actually rather decent:



Above is a quick shot of one I stripped and re-painted.

[Sokramiketes]

And finally, early stages of some Milwaukee C-liners, now with second headlight added.

Mike,
I'm just starting on drilling the holes for a second headlight
on some Milwaukee Erie builts and was wondering what you
used for the second light. It looks to me like brass tubing?
If so what size are you using?
Thanks, Jon

It's 1/8" dia soft brass tube, probably from K&S.  All the tube I found had pretty thick walls, so I went around the inside of this stuff with a #11 blade to thin the wall down a bit on the front face.  It's just a chamfer on the inside front edge, but it gives the illusion of a thinner diameter tube.

Drilling it out to decrease the wall thickness might be another option.

[Sokramiketes]

These gons are pretty scary out of the box between the glossy paint and the huge rivets.  A little dirty, and a little dullcote seems to tame those problems enough to make it layout-worthy.

The problem isn't that the rivets are too big, the problem is Athearn painted them by dipping them in gallon cans of latex paint. Actually, it's not latex, because I had to use commercial-strength paint stripper to strip the one I have. But if you do go to the trouble of stripping one, you'll see that the detail on those cars is actually rather decent:



Above is a quick shot of one I stripped and re-painted.

Hey, look at that.  They really are rendered crisply under all that paint.  Nice.

[Day One]

Nothing picture worthy for this week but I've embarked on a new project and new aspect of the hobby for me. I've picked up a trio of Kato SD-45 off ebay and will be detailing, painting, and adding loksound sound decoders. I love the look of deisels w/ free standing detail and these will be my first units that I'll custom paint and detail.

I really just started last night by starting a parts list and measuring the frames to see if the loksound decoders will fit.

[kiwi_al]

This is a BN SW1 built from Randy's shell and has a kato cab fitted so that kato NW2 glass and headlights can be fitted.

It's still a work in progress but I only got this far...



 ;D ;D ;D

[qantaqa]

currently roundy-rounding my recent HO acquisition: a very used conrail high-nose diesel (some damage to the details) and had an opportunity to watch some operation on a dcc on30 layout, all sound, all steam, all cool.  tomorrow brings some operation on another dcc layout, this one HO.  man, some of these people i'm getting to know locally have some really cool layouts.

enjoy a tall glass of holiday cheer, y'all

cheers!