Weekend Update 2/20/11

[unittrain]

Starting to work on individual scenes also just received my lines west 4 track signal bridge from Traincat it is an excellent model, great detail rivets ect! .

[mark dance]

GaryHinshaw...from the angle of your photo across to North Vancouver in your post, you may be as close as 8 blocks from me.  Let me know if you have any interest in operating on the C&W on March 14th.  I have a spot for visitors and "Railwires" are always welcome.

md

[conrail98]

I organized the disaster one side of the basement had become, redesigned a portion of the layout to have the transition between decks be done in a looping style with a couple of 1-loop helices and built the supporting benchwork for this section,

Phil

[up1950s]

Gary , that million dollar view from your trainroom looks like a great place to photo shoot your models incorporating the river and far side mountains . Could be your signature backdrop that nobody else can claim . 

[Ian MacMillan]

Twin Cities Hiawatha power (circa 1961) Still need to weather this set but I finally finished painting the FM Erie-Built B unit this weekend and even got the decoder installed.

Hotness!

[SebastianLee]

Wow great view!

[Dave Schneider]

Hotness!

I agree. This is way better than that Santa Fe stuff you tried to foist off on us last week! 

Best wishes, Dave

[GaryHinshaw]

Gary , that million dollar view from your trainroom looks like a great place to photo shoot your models incorporating the river and far side mountains . Could be your signature backdrop that nobody else can claim . 

Richie, the tragedy is that it's a two million dollar view that I can afford to rent but could never afford to buy.  But is is awfully nice.     Mark, the 14th would probably work, I'll send you a PM.  Thanks for the offer!

Bill - your MILW unit looks way better than the prototype:

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=355054&nseq=2

Of course, that shot was taken in 1970...  Really nice work, as always.

-gfh

[ednadolski]

Why waste my time bending, aligning, soldering, and cussing ...

Because it is so much 'fun'?  

That actually looks like a really great solution.   What is the size (cross section) of the actual handrails?

Of course the only other thing is that you have to have a kit specifically designed for each kind of loco.  Bernie K actually used to have something like this on the Alkem page for the SD40 and JnJ SD45T-2:   http://alkemscalemodels.net/AlkemScaleModelsImages/DetailKitExplodedView.gif   The key difference is that you supply your own wire (either solder or CA it into place) plus you have to paint/decal the sidesills.

I saw the link to your etching supplier -- Do you think maybe they could do a 'kit' for either the Kato SD70MAC or the (new) GE C44-9W (I have a lot more of the latter).  I'd have to look more closely at each of the models to see how it would work, but since the Katos have those removable walkways, I'm thinking that a kit with sidesills might actually be easier to put together.  Maybe nowadays that etching is more common, this could be a workable approach.

Ed

[Puddington]

Wow great view!

Ya, that's one of the things I miss having moved back to Ontario in 1997..... the rain and fog didn't deter from the vista you got darn near everywhere...................

[BCRail_FSJ]

3 day weekend here and I am kitbashing a bunch of old MDC Roundhouse 50' box car kits to expand my fleet of BC Rail 60' combo door boxcars.  The process is very time consuming, but the monetary cost per car is minimal as I picked up dozens of these MDC kits for a few dollars each months ago.



The 'colourful' foreground shells are the works in progress that will eventually look like the two completed boxcars in the background

Work involves separating the two main car walls from the roof and offsetting them to center the door panels.  Another car body is then used to add end extensions to the center section.   

Filling, sanding, priming still to come.     Right now this feels like a chore, but a solid 9 to 10 car block of green BC Rail 60 footers will (eventually) look good crossing the Peace River Bridge.

All other planned boxcar kitbash projects are quite simple in comparison.

[wm3798]

Hell, you could probably just stick trucks under them and let them roll... just call them "weathered!"  ;D

[Mark5]

Hell, you could probably just stick trucks under them and let them roll... just call them "weathered!"  ;D

And sell 'em on Ebay @ $50 a pop!

[kalbert]

3 day weekend here and I am kitbashing a bunch of old MDC Roundhouse 50' box car kits to expand my fleet of BC Rail 60' combo door boxcars.  The process is very time consuming, but the monetary cost per car is minimal as I picked up dozens of these MDC kits for a few dollars each months ago.

The 'colourful' foreground shells are the works in progress that will eventually look like the two completed boxcars in the background

Work involves separating the two main car walls from the roof and offsetting them to center the door panels.  Another car body is then used to add end extensions to the center section.   

Filling, sanding, priming still to come.     Right now this feels like a chore, but a solid 9 to 10 car block of green BC Rail 60 footers will (eventually) look good crossing the Peace River Bridge.

All other planned boxcar kitbash projects are quite simple in comparison.

Man there must be a lot of these old kits still around, I scored about 15 of them for a few bucks each at a show a while back too. I wonder if in 20 years we'll be going to shows and stealing up tens of new old stock ExactRail or Athearn or others?

It may be a chore but seeing the completed cars and knowing you have the only ones (and that you built them) is going to be a great feeling.

[GaryHinshaw]

Because it is so much 'fun'?  

That actually looks like a really great solution.   What is the size (cross section) of the actual handrails?

Of course the only other thing is that you have to have a kit specifically designed for each kind of loco.

It looks to me like the kit is etched from .010 SS stock, so the railings are about .010 square, which is just about where I want to be on the fidelity/strength curve.  (There is a lot of detail in the kit that is half-etched, thus thinner.)

I completely agree that this would be a loco-specific solution, but I'm fine with that (even prefer it to some extent).  I'm going to start  a new thread in the Detailers forum with some more ideas.

-gfh