Weekend Update 2/28/16

[craigolio1]

I do not think that I have seen one of the BC Hydro Railway cabooses modelled in N Scale before - good work Craig.

Not many free evenings during the last two weeks, but I have completed fabrication of the low side walls for the flatdeck end of crane idler BCOL 6502, and the rectangular fuel tanks which sit inside them:




This is a test fit of those parts to the deck:




Tim

Thanks Tim.

What's going on in the filled in end of the boxcar there? Is that to represent stacks of cribbing and such?

Craig

[craigolio1]

Finally finished my wind turbine train thanks to talented Shapeways designer David McConnell who created the masts, nacelles, and hubs.  Here's the whole train:



A closer shot of just the masts, hubs, and nacelles:



The neat thing is, you could build a complete turbine with the loads on this train - David designed the parts to fit Mark Watson's blades.  You could even power it, I suspect!  Here's a shot of the base and middle mast sections:



And finally the hubs and nacelles on heavy duty flats, also available from shapeways (David also included the shipping fixtures):

I love this train. N scale tricks the mind into not seeing just how huge these parts are. I see them going byy neighbourhood on trucks. Even just the blades are massive. Awesome job.

Craig

[jereising]

Interesting comment, Craig.

I thought about building one assembled but even though I have a large amount of space, just one of these puppies would dwarf everything else.  They are HUGE!

[Puddington]

That's too awesome... wind turbine train....

I've done some more mill construction.... paper machine building is near complete...



Here's an over view of the mill

[ednadolski]

Finished my second SP SW1500 kitbash, shown here coupled to the original bash....

Outstanding work in these!   Looks great on my 4k monitor   

Ed

[bnsfdash8]

Finally got paint and decals on the whale bellies.

[eja]

Finally got paint and decals on the whale bellies.

That's a different car ....

Who makes them and what do they carry ?

[Santa Fe Guy]

The roof is not attached yet as I am not happy with the color. I miss grimy black in a rattle can. I have found no other color even remotely close yet. It was my goto for steel bridges and roofing. Everything I have tried is just too gray and flat black is too black. I also need to add some landscaping between the sidewalk and the building and some signage. It's going to be a machine shop for a small engine service area.

Tony, Take a look at Tamiya Nato Black. I too miss weathered black however this is not too bad as a replacement. It is used by military modelers for weathered tyres.
Rod.

[bnsfdash8]

That's a different car ....

Who makes them and what do they carry ?

It's a GATX pressure slide hopper. They gained the name whale belly because of the unique shape of the body. They were mainly used to haul cement.

They're a resin and etched kit from Kaslo.

[BCR 570]

What's going on in the filled in end of the boxcar there? Is that to represent stacks of cribbing and such?

Craig

The blocks of styrene is to prevent the resin body shell from changing shape on me.  When I cut into a spare shell for practice, there was significant warpage.  The styrene has kept this one in good shape.  I plan to install a lead weight on the floor and will likely install the upper styrene blocks above.

No onto the lumber racks below the underframe.

Tim

[craigolio1]

Finished my second SP SW1500 kitbash, shown here coupled to the original bash....

Do you have any shots of the interior prior to assembly? I would love to see your LED placement and wiring as I am embarking on lighting projects for several locos and need more inspiration.  I'm procrastinating by building a caboose instead.

Craig

[craigolio1]

The blocks of styrene is to prevent the resin body shell from changing shape on me.  When I cut into a spare shell for practice, there was significant warpage.  The styrene has kept this one in good shape.  I plan to install a lead weight on the floor and will likely install the upper styrene blocks above.

No onto the lumber racks below the underframe.

Tim

Good call.

[basementcalling]

The roof is not attached yet as I am not happy with the color. I miss grimy black in a rattle can. I have found no other color even remotely close yet. It was my goto for steel bridges and roofing. Everything I have tried is just too gray and flat black is too black. I also need to add some landscaping between the sidewalk and the building and some signage. It's going to be a machine shop for a small engine service area.

Tony, Take a look at Tamiya Nato Black. I too miss weathered black however this is not too bad as a replacement. It is used by military modelers for weathered tyres.
Rod.

Lowes. Their Val spar spray can called blindfold is dead on for grimy black.

[mighalpern]

hey puddington
when you say paper  building, just exactly what  is that?  I like the look, is that available to download somewhere?
may thanks
miguel

[tehachapifan]

Do you have any shots of the interior prior to assembly? I would love to see your LED placement and wiring as I am embarking on lighting projects for several locos and need more inspiration.  I'm procrastinating by building a caboose instead.

Craig

Sorry, Craig, I forgot to grab photos of the decoder install prior to installing the shell. It was quite a chore getting everything stuffed and tucked so the shell would seat down properly, so I'm reluctant to pull it off until I really need to. If that happens any time soon, I'll be sure to grab some pics.

....Actually, the original unit has fewer wires to tuck as I did not add LEDs for the number boards, so I can more easily remove and reinstall the shell on that one. I'll see if I can get some pics of that unit tomorrow.