Weekend Update 8-17-2008

[John]

Another week has passed .. what have you accomplished ..

[DKS]

The replacement access panel for Naughtright is under way.


Began scenerymaking around the coal trestle.

[wm3798]

I whipped up some trees for the Francis Branch...


Lee

[Puddington]

Nice trees Lee.... wow !

After an absence from the modelng bench to enjoy our long, wet spring (we traded summer in for an extended rain soaked spring it appears) I decided it was time to dry out and attempt a smoothside sleeper for my Canadian Pacific consist.

I had almost resigned myself to the fact that I'd have to make custom sides (after trying to see what could be done with the new Walther's 10-6, I gave up) when I came upon a small stash of undecoratred Kato coaches I had from a LHS close out years ago...... could you make "this" out of "that"....



The windows were the right size, a major plus, but it would be a challenge to fill so many windows, the ones left would be slightly off in position and there are no "flairs" at the ends, like the "Cloverdale" (ex NYC-Pullman) had........... ah, what the heck.... "close enough "is" ..........let's rock.....

Filling the windows was time consuming - Tamyra putty is good to work with and "scotch tape" on the inside makes a good thin backing to work with.....



The belt rail was sanded off, as was the roof peak and details. Several coats of putty and lots of sanding resulted in a reasonably smooth side. Only one window was required to be cut on the other side and was done so with little issue.



This will give you an idea of what a "bondo bucket" she is.....

The flairs at the ends were cut from a Bachmann super dome, sanded and then added. - see below.

The painting process is always interesting with Canadian Pacific tuscan - show me three CPR passenger cars and I'll show you three different colours... I decided to try and match the photograph best I could so I mixed Scalecoat CPR tuscan and TH&B tuscan 3:1.... after several coats with the air brush this is what we had....



Close but too purple for my eye. I then mixed the existing paint with a wee bit of PRR tuscan and SOO red and lightly applied a few coats - it helped dull the purple and add that touch of red to the overall effect.

I wanted to retain the Kato windows as they have those nicely painted silver edges - I cut the window strips apart and individually glued them in. Passengers and window shades in the CPR green-blue shade were added as well. The under carrage was weathered and couplers rusted.....





I need to run a "Cloverdale" name on the laser printer at work this week but she's already seen revenue service on the Samuel Ridge as part of the "Dominion Revisited" consist.......



This project has inspired me to use the Kato car for a "Grove" class sleeper as well; but that might wait for a while - I'm still getting putty off my fingers !

[atsf_arizona]

Hi, all, for me this week:

Closeup of a Key Imports N scale Q2 Duplex 4-4-6-4:



Amazing.  I can't even see some of the detail in person, I have to take a picture,
then blow it up to see it.  I cannot imagine how the Korean Samhongsa craftsmen
do what they do. 



More on this Pennsy loco at Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRR_Q2

And the story behind how USA duplex steam locomotives came to be in
the first place (promoted basically by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in the 1930s):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duplex_locomotive

While with the benefit of hindsight, we can see that the problems that the Duplex
were meant to solve, in the US were more effectively solved in the
conventional 2-cylinder steam locomotives.....

That fact was not yet known or apparent in the 1930s, when the Duplex concept
was being promoted by Baldwin's Ralph P. Johnson, their chief engineer.

Enjoy, and have a good week!

[Kisatchie]

I sorted through some freight cars, getting them ready to put up for sale. Anyone interested in assorted Micro-Trains 50' boxcars? How about a bunch of Atlas and Micro-Trains ACF 4-bay covered hoppers?

Oh, and my wife and I went to New Orleans Saturday and got ourselves a dog to keep our two cats company.

"Hmm... more competition
for me..."

[Mark5]

I started laying out my track plan on my sub sub roadbed (plywood) and made some cuts. Got pissed cuz the Ribbon Rails 15" curve template is out of stock - even at Walthers (my tiny layout had 15" min radius).

[wm3798]

Get 18" of string and a thumbtack... :
Lee

[3rdrail]

I had a 2 ft. x 2 ft. piece of plywood lying around that I used a yardstick with holes drilled into it, a nail and a grease pencil to draw templates, which I cut out with my saber saw. Have also been using the grease pencil to draw track centerlines on the plywood base of the layout.

Lee's idea doesn't work too well on a shelf layout -  hard to get the thumbtack to hold in midair.  ;D ;D ;D

[Mark5]

Get 18" of string and a thumbtack... :
Lee

Lee, that's great for drawing circles but not very useful for laying track ...

Mark

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Not really photo friendly, but I mostly finished wiring my latest oNeTRAK module, and smoothed out the cut styrofoam with some spackling compound.

[up1950s]

Thats a fantastic shot of the Francis Branch Lee , could be many roads , some in the Pacific Northwest . A Shay would look great there as well . A perfect vista to showcase your power .

Added many photos to my Picasa site , still retaking , and adding shots .

[Chris333]

Bachmann announced a On30 railbus based on one of my favorites. Looks like about $140 for it  So why not try one in N scale.

It will be battery powered and is about 2" long.

My theme music:
http://www.buffalocreekandgauley.com/LOCOMOTIVES/BusB/RailbusB.html
http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n255/Chris333_33/bus001.jpg
http://picasaweb.google.com/ErieChris333/On30/photo#5219261434432802098

[nscalesteve]

I did receive this picture from a friend in the states (thank you Randy)...



...and did try to model them. yes, another Peabody Coal Company paint scheme...
(...I have no idea how many different schemes were or are out there, eventually I will have painted them all)

two Kato ALCo RS2 #702 and #703, painted and detailed for the Peabody Coal Company.










hey Puddington, see, there is not everything bad with Kato, you were able to create a very nice sleeper out of it, well done...

...Bruce, very nice Francis Branch shot, impressive

[71jeep]

Hi All....

Just finished this up its an F30D from Alan Curtis now n scale kits I think it came okay I have another ten or so to really perfect it  ;D