Weekend Update 10/23/11

[central.vermont]

Jon, I love it. Are you going to go with the origonal colors or will it see green and gold?

Funny ya' say that. John had  the same idea when we were putting it together.    
Gonna give it some thought!

Jon

[rswinnerton]

Ed - Z scale decoder with CVs set at noted above. Then use fibre optic and cut the end of the strand at about a 60 degree angle. Hide it under the roof and just cut a tiny notch in the carbody for it to go in. Then paint the fibre black except for the end. Voila! With the cable painted black, you won't even notice it. Also, if you're using a decoder, you could light the interior of the caboose. perhaps a decoder dimmed 12v bulb.

The possibilities are endless. ...

I got the legs built for one section of my layout. I'll post pics when there's something cool to look at.
Russ

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Some steamy shots from both layouts to go with the 100+ deg. heat in my garage today:
 




Hope you guys are having a chill weekend!

[seusscaboose]

Jon, I love it. Are you going to go with the origonal colors or will it see green and gold?

+1

[seusscaboose]

for me, I saw the FVM Hiawatha run on the ol' pike, saw the FVM tribute ES-B's...   NICE!!!   PLUS got a chance to watch some Big Blue run around...   

all after chasing a phantom short circuit for an hour... loads of fun!

[dwyaneward]

Slow work on the layout, but some progress. Still working the first control panel and staging switch machine controls

More panel wiring



Staging Control Wiring - Diode-matrix and track power relays



Switch Machine Termination wiring to CAT 5 push-down block.

[BCRail_FSJ]

Just upper deck benchwork carpentry for me this week.  Nothing photo-worthy yet.   Worst  part of a double deck layout..  building benchwork ...twice...

[ednadolski]

Made some progress on my NSVA Build-A-Truck model:

Wow Daniel that looks fantastic!   Nice work!

Ed

[cv_acr]

Started work on a new scratchbuild project. No photos yet so I'll simply throw in this teaser shot of the prototype:



I got two sides done so far...

[SkipGear]

Nothing photo worthy, been painting and working on resin kits all weekend. Worked on 3 B&O I-12's and painted the boiler for a Fine-N-Scale NYC Empire State conversion.....3 times. Our shop recently got the full line of Alclad paint in stock and I have been toying with some of the special gloss coats and clears for their metalizing paints. Unfortunately they don't agree well with Polly Scale acrylics.

Attempt one - Straight Parma RC Acrylic Black (already dries with a decent gloss needed for the stainless effect)
Result - Paint shrunk into every scratch and imperfection in the resin boiler shell. Decided a primer would help fill the scratches.

Attempt two - Floquil Primer coat, Polly Scale Steam Power black, Alclad Gloss coat.
Result - Primer dried for 12 hours in a warm room before attempting black. Black shrunk and crazed on first coat, second coat cleaned it up, clear brought back the crazing.

Attempt three - Back to the primer. Going to let it dry 24 hours before applying Parma black then the clear another day later.

The tender, which was done with the Parma Acrylic RC black and then clear coated with the Alclad worked fine without a primer.

[Philip H]

First, I managed to turn a perfectly respectable Atlas CP mechanical Reefer into this, thanks to the modern miracle of 91% Isopropyl alcohol:



Then I started in on my build for the N Scale Vehicle Association's R-190 Challenege:



While I am a tad behind Daniel, I hope to end up duplicating a grapple truck as seen in many south Louisiana sugar cane fields during harvest season.  Of course, that will require more then a few of Tom Mann's rust techniques . . . .

[cv_acr]

First, I managed to turn a perfectly respectable Atlas CP mechanical Reefer into this, thanks to the modern miracle of 91% Isopropyl alcohol:

I also managed to turn 3 HO Proto2000 flatcars and 3 gondolas into undecorated models following a 3-day soak in 99% isopropyl alcohol.

[Scottl]

Ditto with my former BNSF loco shell.  Love the 99%.

[sizemore]

I am close to making my first set of phosphor bronze handrails, still trying to determine the best way to perform the last bends necessary while they are not on the model (hard to explain). I completed handrail installs on my JnJ wagon top caboose, hopefully I'll have it ready for the paintshop this week. Also installed two decoders in some FVM ES44's but need to change the LED's to Sunny-Whites. Finally I worked most of the weekend, so my only real fun was on Sunday with Pale Rider (aka my Dad). We went to a Jeep show at Union Mills, to check out Ford and Willy's finest vehicles. Found a correct dizzy for my second GPW for $30, big win! Then we went up the hill to Gettysburg to check out Tommy Gilberts then west to Mainline Hobby in Blue Ridge Summit, all the while rail-fanning the WM a little bit.

The S.

[Dupesy]

Jon, is that a B&M lock?  Cause you never know when some jerk railroad employee might come by.  You'll wake up with your mailbox lined-and-locked in the reverse position.  With Form D authority, of course.