Weekend Update 6/1/14

[basementcalling]

Well Gang,
last installment on this one until the setup at the regional convention on Wednesday....
It's been a pretty fun 'ride'...if I had  had two more weekends, I would have done just a little bit more....no time to weather the track to my satisfaction (that will have to be done by the club if they so choose)

The weather here is a little 'iffy' today, but I was able to finish it up...legs now have the adjustable T-bolts mounted, wiring harness is complete and color-coded to the hilt!...and I was able to give the vertical rock surfaces a nice black wash, and consequent drybrush....really adds depth to an otherwise monochromatic, flat surface, and blends the color of the vertical outcroppings...
 (the only thing that I'm not completely satisfied with is the vertical rock face-entirely too 'two dimensional'...even with the constraints of the trackplan, I could have given it more depth and varied the height along its face-it would have been quite easy to do this, and I'll definitely incorporate it into the Kingman Canyon layout and any other mesas and buttes I'll build)

Thanks for looking,
~Bruce

That red car is a bit out of scale for the module, but otherwise that's outstanding work.   

[CBQ Fan]

It will be a mass-market fully-deco'd ready-to-run item available sometime this year.

What is the timeframe for these cars?

[bbussey]

What is the timeframe for these cars?

Built in 1958.

[rickb773]

I have spent a good chunk of time running all the cars on my layout to prepare for a first operating session. Pulling out those with broken couplers and those that do not want to stay on the rails. My FVM B&O wagon top vividly sparked all the way down the track. Is that due to a bad set of trucks or some other reason?

[conrail98]

I went to an operating session last night and put up more hardboard for backdrops today. I also finished rostering all my cars. I now realize I need a lot more of certain types and have a lot of things I no longer need so expect some trading post entries from me in the next few weeks,

Phil

[MichaelWinicki]

Did my first body-mount coupler operation today on an IM 40' boxcar.

First I lowered the ride height by filing down the bolsters.

I then cut the coupler boxes off the trucks and installed MT 1015's.  Had to use flat-headed screws that come with the Accumates.

Faded the paint some and then weathered using pastels.

Also have included an image of the same car next to an unlowered IM Deluxe Innovation 40' boxcar. 

These are nice boxcars, they just look kinda funny when compared to other boxcars that are more accurate when it comes to ride height.

[BCRail_FSJ]

Still playing around with the photo diorama thing.   Brought stock Atlas 3901 and 3902 out of their boxes for this shoot.

[sizemore]

Did my first body-mount coupler operation today on an IM 40' boxcar.

Also have included an image of the same car next to an unlowered IM 40' boxcar. 

Those are IM? They look like Deluxe Innovations cars the way the door is inset and the details look molded on.

The S.

[wazzou]

Those are IM? They look like Deluxe Innovations cars the way the door is inset and the details look molded on.

The S.

Most definitely Deluxe Innovations boxcars.

[ryourstone]

Looks just like a project I once did. DI cars for sure, these are a good match for PRR class x46a.

[Chris333]

Back from the dead!

[wazzou]

Back from the dead!

An extraordinarily long absence for sure.

[PAL_Houston]

Now entering "Miller-time" zone.
It's 5 o'clock SOMEWHERE!!

[nkalanaga]

Rick:  Sparked?  Unless it has metal trucks, and the insulated wheels are on opposite sides from each other, this is a new one.  I've seen sparks at switches, where the points and stock rails are too close together and opposite polarity, but never an N scale freight car sparking on plain track.

If the trucks have some kind of pickup system that would be the same as metal trucks, but that seems unlikely on a plain boxcar.

Does it, maybe, have a metal underframe?  If the wheels are touching a metal floor it could be shorting through there. 

It could be bad insulation in a wheel, and the wheelset is shorting the track when it makes contact, but that would indicate very poor contact.  If it was good, consistent contact it would either blow the breaker or overheat the wheels, probably melting the truck frame.

Larger scales used to have problems with shorts through the couplers, when they used metal couplers in metal draft gear on metal cars.  One had to make sure that any car with the wheels insulated on only one side had all of the insulated wheels on the same side, AND that the cars coupled to it were insulated on the same side.  I don't remember ever seeing a metal N scale coupler, so that probably isn't the problem.

If you find the cause, please let us know!

Other than those I have no idea.

[MichaelWinicki]

Those are IM? They look like Deluxe Innovations cars the way the door is inset and the details look molded on.

The S.

You're right!

And I stand corrected!