Weekend Update 8/1/2010

[atsf_arizona]

Old photo from several years ago:



(N scale)

Have a good week, all!

[wm3798]

Spent the weekend camping at Pocomoke State Park... great weather, good times.  But before I left, I got a schpritz of paint on the Kingsford Charcoal plant now abuild at Thomas, West Virginia...



Also wrapped up a few decoders, and painted a couple of passenger cars that had been lingering.

Came home to find yet another box of locomotives ready for surgery...  No rest for the weary!

Lee

[bbussey]

Got a number of projects in the works that are waiting for various components, so I get to advance them as parts become available.  I was able to put a few hours work into an M&STL double door box that is based on an HO kitbash article in the first issue of the CNW Historical Society's online modeling magazine.  This is the project I had in mind when I etched the Creco doors.  I don't have any 020x060 styrene for the bottom sill, so it's on hold until I pick that up.



I did manage to put Pennsy G22 (no sub-class letter) decal artwork together for the slightly modified TrainCat car, and got the car painted and decaled.  Still waiting on MTL brown Andrews truck frames scheduled to arrive this week to finish the model.



I wanted an Erie caboose for my eventual Erie/NH interchange at Maybrook, and Chris was nice enough to give me his in-progress bay window that he had abandoned.  I adapted the model to his newly-designed trucks, redesigned the end sill detail and moved the couplers out.  Still have stuff to do, but once the end sill assemblies are attached the hard work is done.



And finally, a discussion last week on the Yahoo NScale boards about the prototype for the MTL stock car being an NYC car prompted me to pull this out of the old collection and lower it, body-mount couplers and add FVM wheetsets.  I'll add the missing second deck at some point prior to weathering.



The Erie/B&M milk cars are on hold until I find someone who can print decals in deluxe imitation gold at a reasonable cost.

[seusscaboose]

Had a few people over on Friday to run trains... fixed a few track drops on Friday night and had an all around good time watching a train do a loop in 45 minutes.  Nice.

Did some trackwork on Saturday (replaced #7's with #10's in the yard) and dabbled in some scenery.

Sunday I cleaned up a reverse loop hiccup i was experiencing (dropped some more leads and problem solved) and started tightening up my wiring under the layout (taping off exposed wires).  This evening i cleaned up the layout (topside) and cleaned out some wheel sets on some NKP switchers (amazing what a good cleaning will do for operational ability of a 4 pole motor).

Not much picture worthy, but trains are running smoothly and that = fun!

EP   

[Packer]

Trying to minimize outdoor time with the temperature being around 100 and a heat index of 120...

Put together a circuit for my test track so I can cycle between my Zehpyr's programming and main, and a DC thottle to run trains that aren't decoder equipped yet.

I tried fixing my 2 Katos, but was only able to get one working right. They were really noisy, so after lubing I checked the worms (had too much slack) and took the motor brushes out to check, each one had a busted brush.  I bought some thrust washers and kato N scale brushes (pics looked like they might work; can't find HO anywhere) to try to fix them. Well the brushes and springs were too short. Using the one working motor, I tried adding the thrust washers, which helped a lot. but they were still too noisy.

Also tried messing with a Kato motor to quiet it up (howling like mad and really smelly). I succeded after a long and drawn out struggle of dis-assembly and reassembly. I took it apart to clean it out since it was really noisey. I tried to re-assemble it, but a magnet broke. So I took the bell housing and the core and stuck it into the other motor. Well some of the tabs on the case broke. Take everything back out, switch some of the magnets around and re-assemble the whole thing. only to have one of the wires to the commutator break.  > Take the core out and switch cores around. I did end up with one motor that works okay and isn't very ozony (have to be close), maybe I just have to re-break it in after an overhaul like that. Some reason I've don't seem to have good luck with Katos...

I'm gonna try moddifying the frames on these so that I don't have to deal with the weights flopping around. I glued them down, but it's a bit tedious to pry them off every time I have to take the worm cover off. I think I can screw them to the frame.

Edit: brushes are in a small ziploc bag, can't use so if someone needs them I have a set doing nothing.

[SAH]

Still working on paint & weather for the Black River bridge piers.


The abutments for the Spencer Mills Rd bridge are cardboard.


Constructing cribbing for the Spencer Mills Road bridge retaining wall


Experimented with using the photo to fill the space under the bridge.  Need to print it in color to get the full impact I think


The Coon Creek culverts,  Not yet weathered or highlighted.  The culvert stock is a lipstick case I got from my Mom many years ago. 
It has been riding around in my parts cabinet for ever, waiting for just such an application.


Also did the time machine thing on Satruday running trains in eastern PA via Mike Pennie's 1960's era PC layout.  Great fun.
Have a good week all.
Steve

[Dave V]

[skytop35]

Finished my first TrainCat kit, now it's off to the paint shop. Anyone know a good color match for B&O stockcars?

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Willmodels 70's Chevy work truck painted for Conrail.

The Chevy next to the GHQ F250 work truck.






Willmodels 97 Accord, 80's Camaro and 90's Grand Cherokee next to a CMW Impala



I'm working on my tank cars. I added a Con-Cor 56' tank to the list. This one has been upgraded with GMM parts and new saddles made from styrene.




I have also been working on a fleet of X72s. Here are the first two:



Most of the decals are on, but I have not cleaned up the paint yet. After cleanup, the models will be sealed, and weathered.

[BCR 570]

Man, those etched details are awesome!   Can't wait to see what they look like painted and weathered!

Ed

Ed:

The end sill assemblies come with the kit; the ladders are from BLMA as the kit ones were too flimsy for my liking.


Tim

[unittrain]

I got a few buildings near completion will have pics soon! PRR's MV TOWER and a B&O scale house.

[conrail98]

Nothing for me. Went to the Marion CRHS event then kept driving out to Minnesota,

Phil

[fulltritty]

I don't have a layout anymore, so I went up to my Dads in NJ since my Uncle from Florida had come up for the week where I was running a 4 CSX locomotive, 30 car HO train around his recently finished mainline on his new layout. For those of you who know me, don't worry, I haven't gone over to the dark side.  ;D

[Ian MacMillan]

Nothing for me. Went to the Marion CRHS event then kept driving out to Minnesota,

Phil

Fun drive, I've done it several times. You went though my old stomping grounds in Tomah.

[lock4244]

Just got back from our AZ/NM vacation... nothing like going to the desert during the monsoon (her idea, not mine). Rain every day. But, the sun always shines on old ALCO's (or MLW's).

Model related, dropped by Wig Wag in Albeq... whatever. Wow, N scale galore, like a world that forgot about HO! Had a nice chat with George and I may have picked up an item or two...



[ Guests cannot view attachments ]