Weekend Update 2/19/17

[robert3985]

I agree with Ed.  When I want to know what a "tree" is, I don't go look in a blinkin' dictionary or on Wikipedia!  I go out and see what IS, and I will tell you that trees here in the high desert of Utah are taller than a puny 13' feet...even the scrub oaks and junipers on the hillsides overlooking the Echo and Weber Rivers. Even the grass and cat-tails in the wetlands are way over my head...

I only have one tree on my Echo LDE, and I'd like to thank my son Ben for it...on the bank of the Weber River, and is the first of many that will go into this scene before August and the Evanston Roundhouse Festival.

Yesterday, I gave my Tokina ultra-wide 11-16mm F2.8 zoom a little exercise because I'm not too happy with the angles I'm forced to utilize taking stacks of photos for Helicon Focus to put together.  This was taken hand-held at 1/15th sec., at f22 at ISO 2000 and I'm pretty happy with the depth of field and the minimal diffraction.  Then, I spent the whole effing night Photoshopping it to where I liked it!  LOL  One day maybe I'll start sleeping like a normal human!


Photo (1) - Brand new EMD E-9's lead the equally new UP Domeliner City of Los Angeles through Echo, coasting downgrade to Ogden, Utah, 30 miles westward on a hot, Utah Summer's day in 1956:


Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[Lenny53]

Is it shrubberies or shrubs ?

ROGER: Oh, what sad times are these when passing ruffians can say `ni' at will to old ladies. ... There is a pestilence upon this land, nothing is sacred. Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.

ARTHUR: Did you say `shrubberies'?

ROGER: Yes, shrubberies are my trade -- I am a shrubber. My name is Roger the Shrubber. I arrange, design, and sell shrubberies.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I agree with Ed. 

This is an important day in my life!

But yes, trust me, my tree observations are all based on actually looking at photos (which, when modeling scenery, we're all doing, right?).
For anyone not going down the Monty Python rabbit hole, see http://conrail1285.com/winter-trees-in-n-scale/ for some references.

[BCR 570]

Yesterday I installed a Lok Pilot micro v4 decoder in my FVM AC4400 that was a Christmas present from my kids.  The locomotive now runs better than any of the others in my fleet

Hi Scott:

I was having this same conversation last night with Dave Mackinnon and he mentioned that he had recently installed LokPilot in several locomotives for customers, and was pleased to see the same standard of motor control which is in their LokSound decoders.  While my mostly TCS-equipped fleet is performing quite well, the NAR GP 9 with LokSound has the best motor control.  I am looking forward to receiving my second locomotive with LokSound this weekend when I go down to the Monroe show, as C-630M 701 is almost ready.


Tim

[garethashenden]

I've been working on a P4 model of a British Rail Palvan. 1:76. There are still several bits to add, but the underframe is getting there.





Sorry it's not N scale 

[Scottl]

Hi Scott:

I was having this same conversation last night with Dave Mackinnon and he mentioned that he had recently installed LokPilot in several locomotives for customers, and was pleased to see the same standard of motor control which is in their LokSound decoders.  While my mostly TCS-equipped fleet is performing quite well, the NAR GP 9 with LokSound has the best motor control.  I am looking forward to receiving my second locomotive with LokSound this weekend when I go down to the Monroe show, as C-630M 701 is almost ready.


Tim

One thing that I deciphered from the decoder manual was the motor auto tune process.  I did this when I first tried to operate the locomotive and it seemed to be a part of what gave it very smooth running properties.  At decoder speed 1 it can crawl almost imperceptibly.  I have another Lok Pilot to install in my BC Rail 8-40CM unit built from the Briggs kit.  It ran reasonably well despite the truck modifications, and hope the decoder will improve it further.

[Lenny53]

For anyone not going down the Monty Python rabbit hole

Most foul, cruel, and bad tempered rodent you ever set your eyes on.

[thomasjmdavis]

I agree with Ed.  When I want to know what a "tree" is, I don't go look in a blinkin' dictionary or on Wikipedia!  I go out and see what IS, and I will tell you that trees here in the high desert of Utah are taller than a puny 13' feet...even the scrub oaks and junipers on the hillsides overlooking the Echo and Weber Rivers. Even the grass and cat-tails in the wetlands are way over my head...

I only have one tree on my Echo LDE, and I'd like to thank my son Ben for it...on the bank of the Weber River, and is the first of many that will go into this scene before August and the Evanston Roundhouse Festival.

Yesterday, I gave my Tokina ultra-wide 11-16mm F2.8 zoom a little exercise because I'm not too happy with the angles I'm forced to utilize taking stacks of photos for Helicon Focus to put together.  This was taken hand-held at 1/15th sec., at f22 at ISO 2000 and I'm pretty happy with the depth of field and the minimal diffraction.  Then, I spent the whole effing night Photoshopping it to where I liked it!  LOL  One day maybe I'll start sleeping like a normal human!


Photo (1) - Brand new EMD E-9's lead the equally new UP Domeliner City of Los Angeles through Echo, coasting downgrade to Ogden, Utah, 30 miles westward on a hot, Utah Summer's day in 1956:


Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

Nice work Bob.  As I write this, I am drinking coffee from the "4014" cup I picked up in Ogden while visiting a couple years ago.  You did a great job on capturing the ground color and texture of the desert there. 

[dmidkiff]

Wanted to share the method of how I soldered the handrails and stanchions on my locomotives.  I saw @SAH pictures from his RS3 and thought his solution to holding the handrail straight was so simple.  I adopted it to hold the handrails on top of the stanchions, then a quick touch with the iron and finally clean it all up with the Dremel.




Doug

[btrain]

Wanted to share the method of how I soldered the handrails and stanchions on my locomotives.  I saw @SAH pictures from his RS3 and thought his solution to holding the handrail straight was so simple.  I adopted it to hold the handrails on top of the stanchions, then a quick touch with the iron and finally clean it all up with the Dremel.



Doug

Thank you Doug for sharing this, I should of done my stanchions for my H-10-44 like this before it was painted 

[Catt]

I'm jealous.I can't solder because I can't hold on to the soldering iron long enough to do the job. My hands just relax and the next thing I know there is a hot iron headed for a landing on the lower part of my body.

The part that really hurts is I used to be damn good at it,now I have to find someone who can and will do it for me or do without. Most excellent work on those handrails.

[craigolio1]

I'm jealous.I can't solder because I can't hold on to the soldering iron long enough to do the job. My hands just relax and the next thing I know there is a hot iron headed for a landing on the lower part of my body.

The part that really hurts is I used to be damn good at it,now I have to find someone who can and will do it for me or do without. Most excellent work on those handrails.

That sucks!  What about clamping the iron to a counter weight arm? You pull down to solder, and if your grip weakens and you drop it, it slowly rises instead of falling.

Craig

[jnevis]

I'm jealous.I can't solder because I can't hold on to the soldering iron long enough to do the job. My hands just relax and the next thing I know there is a hot iron headed for a landing on the lower part of my body.

The part that really hurts is I used to be damn good at it,now I have to find someone who can and will do it for me or do without. Most excellent work on those handrails.

Know the feeling.
Used to be micro-mini certified and now detail painting is "interesting."  Anti-rejection meds suck.

[nkalanaga]

Craig:  I like that idea.  We have the same system in the factory I work at, for the electric screwdrivers on several lines.  Pull down to install the screw, turn loose, and the screwdriver rises to allow the part to be removed from the jig.

My thought was to clamp the iron to a bracket, and hold the part up to it, but yours sounds better.  Both the iron and the part would be in a stable position, and couldn't be dropped.

[ednadolski]

Wanted to share the method of how I soldered the handrails and stanchions on my locomotives.  I saw @SAH pictures from his RS3 and thought his solution to holding the handrail straight was so simple.  I adopted it to hold the handrails on top of the stanchions, then a quick touch with the iron and finally clean it all up with the Dremel.

Very nice work on this one Doug!  I've always found the end handrails over the pilots to be very tricky to solder (basically I could use a third hand).  Do you do anything similar for the end handrails as for the sides?

Ed