Weekend Update 7/8/12

[davefoxx]

Heh, thanks, DKS!

[jsoflo]

Not much done here, and frankly lazy photos, but I finished some work on my DME SD40:



And built some Gon and flat loads:





have a good one

[mu26aeh]

R L Smith,  Looks like some nice progress being made on your new layout. 

For me, the extreme heat sent me back to the basement this weekend, though I didn't get much accomplished.  I did make a trip to LHS for some brick sheets, and some metal siding sheets for expansion of my paper mill, but now have to come up with what to build with the sheets.  Otherwise waiting for two packages with cars I bought from NSYS, including my Halloween car from MicroTrains from last year I missed for my birthday.

Adam

[NS-CRE]

I spent two very long and hot days volunteering at the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer, NC, for the "Norfolk Southern Family Portrait" event on July 3-4.  NS brought all 20 of their heritage locomotives to the event to show off.  At times it was like watching model railroaders "play with trains" as NS employees moved locomotives one-by-one to the turntable, spun them around, ran them in parade style down the track past hundreds of photographers, and then returned them to their roundhouse whisker tracks.   It was something no railfan could have ever expected a Class One railroad to do.

Pictures of the event are all over the net, and especially on Facebook, so I won't post anymore.  However, it was an excellent event that was well attended (4004 tickets were sold for the two-day event.)

Then on Saturday, July 7, a grain train showed up in town with the Monongahela and original Norfolk Southern units leading NS 1030, which was the locomotive brought to the museum to signify "30" years of Norfolk Southern.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Working on some trees this weekend.  Made a little over 50 so far.  Dipped the first batch in matte medium, dried, then painted primer grey.  Second batch just dried after matte medium.  Will paint tomorrow and may add some foliage.  Just playing with tree placement and wanted to get an idea of what the space may look like eventually when trees were added.  Any suggestions on what you guys use for foliage on super trees?

Forget the foliage! That's some great early spring modeling.

[nkalanaga]

Modeling any modern narrow gauge in N scale one runs into the problem of "no power".  The closest I've come, and actually quite suitable for 1974, is Atlas RS-3 shells on Micro-Trains Z SD40-2 chassis.  The truck spacing and wheelbase are perfect matches, and given the variety of Alco export units, they probably could have built such a thing.  The biggest drawback is the small wheels, but I can live with those...

Some of those Queensland or NZ coal wagons would look nice in Montana.  I've wondered about kitbashing them from Z scale Center Flow cars.

[wm3798]

Check me out.  I actually got something done today.  Decoderized an OMI brass SD70. 

Back under my rock now.

Lee

[conrailthomas519]

Thats going to make one Brian very Happy!   

[Hyperion]

Check me out.  I actually got something done today.  Decoderized an OMI brass SD70. 

Back under my rock now.

Lee

How does it run with the decoder?

I've never owned brass -- never heard anything remotely good about its operating ability.  But I love spartan cab SD70s enough that I'd buy one in brass if it was a good runner.

[GaryHinshaw]

Take two on my quest for Tehachapi turnouts.  Here is an in-progress shot of a #10 fabricated from proto:87 parts:



Details in the Engineering thread.  I also managed to ballast a bit more of the east slope while I hone my turnouts.  Oh, and I spent last weekend at Tehachapi trying to get photos that might work as back drop scenes.  Hopefully I can get something usable out of that, but it was great to be back after two+ years.

In other news, I made a trip to Central Hobbies this weekend for supplies.  While there, I picked up a copy of Canadian Railway Modeler to commemorate Puddington's cover story (well done!) and also got one of the Briggs NAR boxcar kits.  Very nice kit!

Mark, that snow shed looks especially sharp in the outdoor lighting.  Very impressive!

David, those trees look great!  I'm with Ed - try them out w/o foliage for a while and see if you like it.

[kalbert]

I escaped to the basement for a little relief from the heat this week and started on a dry fertilizer shed. Not too spectacular, but it's something anyway. If this heat continues I'll get some outside walls and a roof on it too. I based it off plans available on the NDSU Ag department's website.

Not much done here, and frankly lazy photos, but I finished some work on my DME SD40:

That's a real beauty!

[wm3798]

It's a bit noisier than I like, and the truck swing and frame length will require some pretty broad curves.  But otherwise it runs pretty well.  Plenty of weight, and a finicky design for the lights, but one that prevents "Fire in the Cab" effects common in plastic diesels.

Lee

[bc6]

It doesent look like I weathered my new Mi-Jack at all but I did lol, I also added a custom Pegasus Railcar Leasing decal.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I'm kinda late to the party, as usual, but here's the latest progress on my NCR Line shelf layout. The dirt is all down and brushed and ready for real ground cover.

However, the next step is ballasting, and before that I want to make sure it runs well, so the real next step is leveling it up, joining it up, running the bus wires and running some trains.

In the meantime, pics from the two ends.















And you can see how the unsanded grout technique works here. Here's a "before" picture taken after I painted glue on and sifted on a thick layer of the stuff. Tonight I went over it all with a paint brush and brushed off all the loose stuff.

[nkalanaga]

Ed:  That looks like parts of Utah I've seen...  Maybe not so good for the East, but change the roadnames and it could be used as "finished" scenery!