Weekend Update - 1-04-2009

[davefoxx]

Dave,
When I take a shot like that, I do a time exposure, then simply flip the direction of the loco to reverse to douse the headlight and number boards after a fraction of a second.  Leaves enough illumination to light things up, but not so much to blow it out.

Hi, Lee,

Yeah, that's pretty much what I did, but I couldn't get the timing right and gave up after just a few minutes.  It was either washed out or way too dim.  I attribute that to the white background of the numberboards letting a lot of light through.  All of my other locomotives have white numerals on black backgrounds, so I have never had this problem before.  I'll just take more time to get the timing right next time or relegate this locomotive to a trailing unit, if I want it in another picture. 

Thanks,
Dave

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Daniel,

The Geep 10 looks great (and so does the SW1500). Which later model cab face did you use for GP10's face? And did you lower the high nose, or use the short nose that came with the cab face you used? I have 4 GP9s I want to lower the nose on and am looking for an easy way out. (And no, Lee, I don't want the cyclops look.)

The GP10 is probably going to be an upcoming Railwire project as I think N-Scale Mag is tiring of kitbashing articles. Basically, I put a LL Canada chop nose GP9 hood on a GP18 still/walkway. The cab is an Atlas SD26 part and the front handrails are wire. It is pretty much the easiest way to get a GP10 out there. The LL-Canada GP9R was on sale at a few vendors and on-line for about $50 a month or so ago, so the whole project cost about $65 in parts.

[dwyaneward]

Latest on my first laser kit

[dnhouston]

I finally made it back into the trainroom.  Started work on a large mill, still a long ways to go...

[flight2000]

I was bored and ready to go back to work......another one from the paint shop this week.  This time, a CSX SD80MAC in the new colors.  Can anyone see which parts I forgot to add.....  :  It was late, what can I say.

I also detailed another engine, but forgot to take pictures of it.

Brian

[GaryHinshaw]

Well, my pictures look a lot like Tom's this week: no trains, just rebuilding infrastructure.  My basement now looks like this:



What's hard to see in this mess is all the work that went into this over the holidays, mostly on the ceiling: rerouting the AC duct along the back wall; covering it with a valence; install false joists for ceiling tiles (low enough to cover the house plumbing, but high enough to clear the boiler pipes which will have to remain exposed); and installing the first of several T8 lighting fixtures.  Also did a lot of paint scraping along the walls: there was a moisture problem, but that has been cleared up, so hopefully I can repaint with confidence.

To test light bulbs, I hauled out an old module I used for trying out different grass patches and plopped down several colorful item:



I then looked at it under bulbs ranging from 3000K to 6500K and I definitely like the 5000K natural light bulbs the best.

The benchwork frames sitting on the shelf are 2'x7' modules that will host the section from Ilmon towards Caliente which can be seen in the upper right corner of my track plan.  The Tunnel 2 horseshoe will be in the alcove, about 10" above the Ilmon approach, following a steady 2% climb most of the way. 

So far, I'm sticking to my 2009 resolution to build a layout...

[pfs]

Wow! creating a window leak to gain more space for ones new HO layout is serious dedication.

[lashedup]

No new updates on my Franksville modules as we decided to set up a smaller loop of Modutrak modules for the holidays and leave it up to run on for a couple of weeks. Bill and Wayne Reid stopped by on Saturday for a look and a small group of us ran trains all day for fun. We also got a few maintenance items done and fine tuning of wiring and such. Good stuff.

Merry New Year everyone.

[asciibaron]

that modular setup looks great.  any details on the yard looking module?

-Steve

[James Costello]

And that stack train?

[pfs]

Looks nice (the modutrak) against all the white and eggshell.

[Sokramiketes]

that modular setup looks great.  any details on the yard looking module?

-Steve

The yard at the far end is part of Bill Denton's New Lisbon Wisconsin scene.  Actually, that whole side of the layout is New Lisbon, there's another module that includes the last leg of the wye that isn't shown, but the town in it's entirety is 30' long.

[Sokramiketes]

And that stack train?

Domestic service 

[Mark5]

No real modeling here. I did work on some artwork for a certain decal project.

This came in the mail yesterday (thanks Bob!):



It runs nicely.  Interesting that LL seemed to have tooled this loco up without the end steps (they were banned in what - the mid 70s?). Also, the rendition of the Blomberg B is a bit off. It appears that the truck itself is identical to the GP20 trucks, so maybe I can swap Atlas trucks in and lose the excess flanges at the same time.

I'm very happy to have this loco.

Mark

[wm3798]

Mark,
The drawings for this model were made off of the surviving BL-2 at the B&O museum, so it reflects many of the later changes that were made (except the dual headlights, which would have been a nice touch for us WM fiends).

You can swap the trucks for Atlas, but the main gear at the top is a bit small, so it will float around a bit.  I've got two of these, and they are very good runners, and will pull the wallet out of Daisy Duke's back pocket.

Enjoy!  Is this getting the new paint job?

Lee