The Carolina Sandhills Lines in HO Scale

[davefoxx]

I need to get back to the U18B project, which needs the rear headlights, Gyra Light, and red emergency light installed.  A special thanks has to go out to @robert3985 for pointing out J-B Weld’s SuperWeld that cures with what I guess is a UV light applicator.  This stuff works great!  Gluing these 0402 LEDs to the rear of the headlight lens is still fiddly, but once I got them lined up and zapped with the light, they’re surprisingly rugged.



If these install successfully, I may even go back and redo the front headlights, to fix some light bleeding, in addition to adding some robustness.

DFF

[davefoxx]

I got all four LEDs installed in the rear headlight casings of the U18B and have tested the rear headlights, Gyra Light, and red emergency light.  At least until I stuff the mechanism back into the shell, everything is working and programmed properly.  Headlights are not directional, so they can be controlled independently. I did make the Gyra Lights and emergency lights at both end function directionally off of F5, because they would never be lit simultaneously on both ends.  This is also because there’s a limited number of lighting functions when using the ProtoThrottle.  When activated, the flashing red emergency light functions while stopped, and it is extinguished with the Gyra Lights beginning to illuminate when the locomotive begins to move.



I’m not particularly looking forward to cramming the wires into the shell, because there’s a f*ckton of them- eight wires from four LEDs at each end of the loco.  Borrowing from a manufacturer’s tip (Athearn, IIRC), I used a pieces of shrink wrap (unshrunken) as guides to keep the wires under some organization.  Oh, and thank goodness for the Decoder Buddy and its removeable Connector Board.

DFF

[davefoxx]

Okay, that went surprisingly uneventful, as the shell dropped right into place.  Here’s the lighting description from my previous post in the form of a video.  Please note that the red lens is much more apparent in person than on a crappy cell phone video.

DFF

[davefoxx]

With the shell back on for, hopefully, the final time, I installed the sunshades and horns.  Intermountain has the horns in the wrong place, well, at least for the Seaboard Coast Line years.  In the later Seaboard System years, I’ve seen photographic evidence of the horns moved to the front of the cab roof.  In the SCL years, though, the horns were installed behind the cab, on the long hood.

That hole in the roof may not go to waste, though, as I need to install a firecracker antenna in just about that spot on the cab roof.  Sadly, I don’t have anymore, so I’ll have to order a few soon.  I like to keep these in my stock of parts, because it’s easy to snap a firecracker antenna off unintentionally.



DFF

[mcjaco]

I have buddy that just uses a small piece of wire and keeps the insulation on part of it to make his own firecrackers.  Easier and cheaper if they get broken off.

[davefoxx]

I have buddy that just uses a small piece of wire and keeps the insulation on part of it to make his own firecrackers.  Easier and cheaper if they get broken off.

I’ve done that, and, in fact, have one constructed in that manner installed on SCL U36B No. 1776 (the bicentennial unit).  When I tried again yesterday, I couldn’t come up with a sufficient size wire that I could work with.  I found replacement parts from Tangent Scale Models that are metal.  I’ll probably order a few, because they look much better than my wire firecracker antenna and will be much more durable, too.

Thanks,
DFF

[davefoxx]

ACWR GP38 No. 3802 is rolling down the grade into Aberdeen in full dynamics with a cut of cars for interchange with the SBD and the A&R.  Technically, this locomotive and especially the paint scheme is an anachronism in the SBD era, but it’s too damn nice to even worry about those niceties.  Kudos to Rapido for this release.



DFF

[davefoxx]

A good chunk of my fleet is pulpwood flats and woodchip hoppers.  I have a siding for pulpwood (although I still haven’t cut any twigs into pulpwood yet) and have really wanted to add a wood chip loader facility to the layout, but I always thought I lacked the space.  However, it occurred to me this morning that I might could shoehorn in a siding on this curve.  While I’m not particularly ecstatic about the wood chips being loaded directly opposite from the pulpwood loading site, I think there’s just enough space to have a small row of scrub trees between the mainline and the new siding, to spread this out a little.  Something like this:



I’m 99% certain that the mainline is a 24” radius curve, so a 36”/24” left hand curved turnout will drop right in, if I’m careful with cutting the mainline’s rails.

DFF

[davefoxx]

Foam construction is so easy to work with sometimes.  Bye, bye, hill!  Just need to spread a little lightweight spackling to smooth the scars on the base and trim the fascia, and deconstruction will be complete.



DFF

[Chris333]

So much for the part where you ask us what we think   

[davefoxx]

So much for the part where you ask us what we think   

Heh, once I’m committed, stay out of the way, and, this way, I can’t chicken out!  Seriously, I’m convinced this will add needed capacity and ops to the layout without contributing to a spaghetti bowl look.  I need a destination for those cherished wood chip hoppers.

DFF

[Chris333]

I like it too. But you post an idea. 30 seconds later foam dust everywhere 

[davefoxx]

I like it too. But you post an idea. 30 seconds later foam dust everywhere 

And it did get a little messy.  Nothing the ol’ vacu-suck couldn’t take care of, though.

Thanks,
DFF

[Dave V]

DFF

The texture in this shot is everything. So well done!

[davefoxx]

The texture in this shot is everything. So well done!

Thanks, Dave!

DFF