Weekend Update 1/1/12

[ai5629]

In regards to those Life Like X72's, I would be game for replacement underframes to make them better looking cars.  As far as the "clunky" strirrups, I have replaced mine with MTL stockcar stirrups (1081).  While not 100% accurate, they look really nice compared to the stock stirrups.  I have been finishing up four Athearn 53' GSC flatcars that I painted and decaled Conrail  a while ago.  I only needed to add the couplers, wood decks and brake wheels.  I used Accumates in MTL 1025 boxes which I "goo'd" to the ends.  I choose this route to avoid the "slinky" of the 1025 , the 1025 box provides for maximum swing of the truck due to its design, no screws to file down and no paint to match.  I added Rail Power Products wood decks (I will use the ESMC ones when I run out of these) that I weathered with Micro Mark Age It Easy 80873 grey.  I can get away with 70 ton roller bearing trucks since a good bit of these cars had their trucks replaced by Conrail.  FVM metal wheels and Gold Metal Models brake wheels and that is how you change a $12 car into a $30 car.  Thanks.

Jeff

[kalbert]

Instead of going all in on the "big" shelf layout of the Richmond Pacific, I decided to start a little smaller to brush up on my skills.  The track plan is loosely Lance Mindheim's "The Beginner" from his shelf layouts book.  That big white thing the beginnings of a scratch build of a cement plant here in Richmond.

Cruddy cell phone camera...


In it is MUCH brighter than that in person!

Awesome work! Looks familiar! Mine's based on Byron Henderson's San Jose Switcher (http://www.layoutvision.com/gallery/id25.html) Have you got more info on your project online? I love following and seeing progress on stuff like this.

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Installed & scenicked the oil loading platform, pump & office sheds:





Still need a lot of little details scattered around.
(Like wind-blown n-scale newspapers trapped in weeds, people, etc.)

Now onto finishing the board-by-board cannery for the "real" layout 

[sizemore]

ACME Labs has been somewhat busy. Wrapped up most of the decaling on the B&O I-5 using Skipgears decals, should be wrapping it up this week. The wheel shop also changed out about 15 NE caboose wheel sets and a tank car.

And some spy shots from the Skunkworks were leaked:



The S.

[wm3798]

Got a rear facing headlight into an Arnold N scale S-2 (reported previously elsewhere).  Currently working on experiments to get a working light in the nose...

Lee

[cv_acr]

Nothing for me. My brother and his family was in town for almost a week and I spent most of the holidays over at my parents' place hanging out with the whole family.

Trying to get back into some of my various car projects now. Currently casting a whole bunch of parts in resin for several of those projects. (One car project requires 10 copies of a particular mold)

[nscalemike]

For me this past week has brought the end of the old layout and the beginning of the new layout.  Benchwork is progressing nicely and I am real excited about the new and revised plan and can't wait to start laying some track.  See the Layout Engineering report on the IC/CN for more details.

Mike

[John]

I spent the weekend cleaning up some wiring under the layout and all main cables labeled .. all the turnout frogs are powered, power isolated the steel mill area and dropping more power feeders .. next week, another BDL-168 goes in on the other lower half of the layout ..

[dwyaneward]

When from this



to this



and then to this

[Scottl]

Hi all,

Happy New Year!  No modelling for me over the holiday, just sun and drinks in Mexico.  However, I consider myself having passed a modelling test of sorts.  Enroute home, I visited my favorite hobby shop in Toronto and saw one of these (on sale, no less):



Canadian National ES44DC
Road #2220, 2228, 2235, 2249
Factory black/ red-orange, lettered, lights, ditch lights and marker lights on both ends
OMI#: AA-1264
Scale: HO Scale

It was a crisis of faith, no doubt.  It took everything I had to walk out of there empty handed. 

I think I just passed through the fire and passed the test, for now.

[Brewmaster]

Awesome work! Looks familiar! Mine's based on Byron Henderson's San Jose Switcher (http://www.layoutvision.com/gallery/id25.html) Have you got more info on your project online? I love following and seeing progress on stuff like this.

Thanks!  This is the only picture on the internet at the moment.  I left my camera at work (teacher...off for a couple weeks) so have not been able to document with anything other than my cell phone camera.  School starts tomorrow so I can get some better pics.  I like that little layout.  We are working with similar dimensions (12x80).  Not all of the industries have been figured out yet.  The only one for sure is the Cemex plant in the foreground that I am working on scratch building.  The rest are just structures I had leftover from my last layout.  I am still keeping the Richmond Pacific theme so will probably include a scrap yard (SIMS Metals) and oil factory (California Oils Corp) and  a lumber yard (Channel Lumber).  That leaves one more spot for an industry which I think will be the Safeway distribution center.  It is now closed but I'll fake it because it will allow a good variety of boxcars.

I miss the long trains and destination oriented operations of my last layout (it had 100 feet of track between the two major towns) but this one has been fun to operate.  I haven't settled on a scheme yet but like his method.  I am going to use cassettes and your idea of staged switch lists.  Each cassette could be used in the same order with an assigned switchlist...hmmm.  Easier than dealing with cards.

[muktown128]

I expanded the yard and double tracked the mainline and moved the sidings to the other side of the layout. I think this will work out better than the original track plan. The additional track came from a shelf type switching layout that I recycled.

     

The next steps will be to install the cork roadbed and wiring.

Scott

[Bremner]

I'm not worthy, but what the hey....





http://sopacincg.com/time-for-some-locos/

[chuck geiger]

Yes Brem - Bloody Noses

[CSXDixieLine]

Since all of my work took place on Monday of the extended holiday weekend, I am a bit late to the weekend update. I worked on the Etowah River bridge scene, installing 1/4" plywood for the river bottom and cutting out the spline roadbed to make way for the 42" bridge span:



I then re-installed the spline roadbed on cleats attached to the risers at each end of the bridge. This span will serve as a temporary bridge until I can build the real thing at a future time. The temporary bridge will allow me to focus on my next priority: getting all of the lower level trackwork completed. Cork roadbed installation was started as soon as the temporary bridge was in place.

Jamie

CSX Dixie Line blog: http://csxdixieline.blogspot.com/