Weekend Update - 9/19/2010

[TrainCat2]

Andrew, no bending at all. This is the result of the etching process to 3 different material levels for each side. Each structural piece is actually two halves bonded together to form the detail on both sides.

[atsf_arizona]

Foto Fun 2010 09 19

Good stuff like always, everybody.

This past week, I had a great visit with David Kaplan, guy I met
at this summer's N Scale Convention in Houston.  It is the greatest
thing about this hobby... meeting other model railroader people that I
would never have met otherwise. 

As for modeling.... for me, I updated my layout web site within the past 2 weeks:

http://home.comcast.net/~j.sing/Peavine_Layout_Overview.html

While all the photos have been previously posted, What's new is:

The 2010 update section:

http://home.comcast.net/~j.sing/Peavine_Layout_Overview.html#Updates_1Q2010





The DCC section:

http://home.comcast.net/~j.sing/Peavine_Layout_Overview.html#DCC

Bottom line there:  there Kato Unitrack Unijoiners, at 8 years of age, appear to be slowly
introducing more and more resistance.  Hence, those of you building permanent layouts with Kato
Unitrack, my advice would be to follow PowerSteamGuy1790's recommendations and solder as
many feeders as possible, if feasible, to every piece of Unitrack.  While overkill in the beginning,
based on where I am now with my layout, if I were to do it over again that is what I would do.

And finally, more photos in the Unitrack ballasting section:

http://home.comcast.net/~j.sing/Peavine_Layout_Overview.html#Kato_Unitrack







There's so much more to do, and so little time.

Have a good week, all.

[Andrew Hutchinson]

"no bending at all. This is the result of the etching process to 3 different material levels for each side. Each structural piece is actually two halves bonded together to form the detail on both sides"

Thanks for the explanation Bob. It looks amazing. It really caught my eye since I am working on something that needs similar attention. I have a large concrete covered steel structure filled with very visible trusswork that I am piddling through and I since have gone back and forth on what to do for the trusswork from painting them on .015 acetate to soldering a 2D representation of them together out of DA brass stock. If I were to even try to etch it I'd still be on the computer plotting coordinates this time next year so I am going to go with the flat stock but it is nice to have some inspiration to go on such as what you have displayed. 

Andrew Hutchinson

[SecretWeapon]

[wm3798]

Stopped in at Star Hobby on the way to the ball game on Saturday (MBK was closed for Yom Kippur) and picked up one of the newish Bachmann flatcars with load.



It's got the big boxing glove semi-automatic coupler, but I really like the metal wheels they're using.  While not as finely done as FVM, they're not bad... especially when for the same $8 you get a freight car with them... 

The car is indeed comparable to the Atlas Trainman car, although to my eye it rides a bit lower out of the box.  I'll be nipping off the truck mounted couplers and replacing with 1015's or whatever's required to get a good coupler height.  The load is pretty nice looking out of the box, but I'll be adding some black thread to simulate some cable tie-downs.

While the stake pockets are pretty bulky, I like that they've used more accurate lettering than Atlas uses, especially for the reporting marks and car number.

Other than that, nuttin.

Lee

[SAH]

More progress on the Black River section.  Here's a peek.  The whole thing next week (I hope).

[DKS]

Very effective use of a photo for the backdrop. Most excellent.

[up1950s]

SHA , that scene is awesome .

[wm3798]

SHA, I'm getting more and more inspired with each photo you post.  Your attention to detail is amazing.  I love the cribbing, and the texturing on the abutments.

@John Sing:  You mean to tell me that Unitrak is flawed?  I wonder if the process you apply to ballast it and improve its appearance is a part of the equation of the deteriorating connections?  I'd think that apart from the joints where the two sections of your layout come together, there shouldn't be much wear and tear... interesting.

@Pud, the horse car is going to be a nice addition to the fleet...



The other highlight of the weekend, apart from missing railfanning with Ed by about 4 blocks, was stopping in at Nobles on S. Charles Street and getting a beer from my favorite a$$hat bartender...  Thanks for the hospitality, Tim!  It really took the edge off of the drubbing the Orioles got from the dreaded pinstripers.

And don't worry, Tim.  I won't tell anyone that you were listening to Hannah Montana... as long as you don't tell anyone I was drinking Bud Light!  

Lee

[esa123]

It was a very long and tedious week on the layout spent mostly mounting servos and track wiring, but I can finally run trains. Now I just have to find where any shorts or hiccups are hiding!

This pic shows a complete picture of all wiring underneath my central module.


Left hand side of module. All my electronics are mounted on the removable board seen in the lower half of picture. This includes two Tam Valley Octpus servo controllers, and three Hex frog juicers to power route the 13 frogs on this module (and a few more on subsequent modules). Servo wiring to the temporary control panel is seen in the upper half.



Close up view of my temporary control panel. It's nothing more than a block of wood with double sided tape that holds each servo fascia controller. If you're curious, numbers on the back of each controller tell which octopus they're connected to, with the individual turnout markings located on the other side.



Two octopus controllers that are mounted inside/underneath the layout. Mounting them to this platform allows easy access for servicing.





Here's the panel with everything tucked under the layout.


The terminal strip (white) is where all direct lines from the frogs of all turnouts on the this module are collected, then dispersed among the three Hex juicers.



Obviously the wiring needs to be cleaned up and I still have to build two more modules but the electronics with those will be much simpler. Then it's finally on to scenery!!!!

Best wishes,
Erik

[bigford]

i bought a bnsf c44 this weekend and goofed with a hopper
somebody pmed about where i got the mtl hopper from
 and i just chuckled to myself about it. 2 pumpkins

[up1950s]

Ok somebody is apt to make a glow in the dark pumpkin hopper .





AND THESE
http://www.threadsofimagination.co.uk/default.aspx?CategoryID=186

[SirTainly]

This weekend, as well as going to the West Coast Railway Museum - photos on thursday once I've done some editing, I completed what I hope will be the final version of my camera train. It can be seen here on Tim Horton's layout:



The latest addition is a car to carry the connector, which I probably could replace by shortening the wires, but my soldering isn't great so it's an acceptable compromise.

Here's the receiving gear, connected to a usb, TV to PC adapter which allows the image recorded from above to be shown on the screen and recorded. On the test run the adapter seems to get interference from the hard disk running when recording but I'm hoping this can be resolved by moving the adapter away from the PC by way of a usb extension cable.



The car will be going with me to the Victoria show next weekend so hopefully it'll run well there.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Not much for me this week. I finished detailing the last two MDC tank cars. I should have a new post on that thread soon. I went to Boston on Sat to take photos of South Station. The book I mentioned did not have any usable blueprints so I am back to square one.

I just finished decaling the 4th X72 boxcar. Only two more to go.

[Philip H]

I feel like a sloth . . . .

All I did this week was order (and receive two days later) some 2mm and 4mm Silflor "Late Summer" static grass from Scenic Express.  THis week I plan to test various mixing ratios, to see if I can get closer to prototype then the bright green "Summer" stuff I started with.