Weekend Update 12/8/19

[ednadolski]

I even cast lead, for various reasons.

Well, just try to avoid filing leaded solder joints, and wash hands after handling Christmas lights.

Ed

[peteski]

Wow , I am so sorry Pete , these responses from you are not what I expected or intended at all . I apologize for unintentionally pissing you off .

I'm was not pissed Richie -  Surprised too.  If it was humor, it went over my head.  No harm done - no need to apologize.  Forg't 'bout it. We're all good! 

[tehachapifan]

That's the problem with typed communication....you miss the body language, voice inflection, etc. I didn't read anything that seemed like a jab at all, other than in fun. I've felt slighted before too when it wasn't intended. Guess that what the Emojis were invented for.

[Mike Madonna]

My latest project.

A set of SP DF1 class F3s

How they started:


Details have been added:


Ready for decals:


And - ready for service: (Weathering to follow)



Thanks,
Wolf

Wolf,

Excellent..... again 

[Guilford Guy]

moving along on a trio of bethlehem car works b&m steel car kits. underbody work up next.

[jpwisc]

More trees planted...
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[SP-Wolf]

Wolf,

Excellent..... again 

Thank you, Mike!!

Very humbling!!

Best regards,
Wolf

[daniel_leavitt2000]

I even cast lead, for various reasons.  So, please, everybody, give me some slack in case I have brain damage, now 

Seriously, it does make some sense to me to replace lead in uses where it gets indiscriminately spread around the environment, such as shot gun pellets, wheel weights that come off on the highway, and paint in houses.  But, using it as weights in things that are not chewed on, etc., doesn't seem to pose much risk to anybody.  There are plenty of things in landfills that are much more dangerous than a hunk of lead.

I think it is more an issue with getting lead off the production stream than what damage the lead itself may cause on a particular product. Lead mining is very environmentally unfriendly, and many of the sources were from Africa employing slave and child labor to fund genocidal wars. Lead is just a nasty material from beginning to end.

The only industry that still uses it is for car batteries and that is slowly changing too. Car batteries have been 100% recycled for years. We still have large stockpiles of lead sitting around from recycling of old CRT monitors and TVs, so the mining side of things is moot at this point.

[Maletrain]

Lead often gets mined with other metals, even gold.  So, we will need to continue to deal with it from coming out of the ground to wherever it goes.

And, from doing a lot of evironmental radiological analysis, I can tell you that there is a tiny bit of lead in practically everything.  For one thing, it gets there as the end point for the radioactive decay chain that starts with uranium and progresses through radium, which is pretty active, biologically.  So, that bit of lead has been in every living thing since life evolved on this planet.

When dealing with casting processes, I just make sure to do them outside, and don't stand down wind, then make sure I wash my hands and clothes before touching my mouth or nose, or eating.  Same precautions as when shooting firearms.

Soldering layout wiring is typically done indoors, so the fumes are harder to avoid, but also much less than casting, especially if you do it with the light touch that is best for keeping the joints inconspicuous.  I always treat the whole layout as contaminated with lead (and other stuff), even when not soldering on it, because there has been soldering on it before, and the lead doesn't really evaporate.  Basically the same lead precautions as for handling ammunition.

ShOphar, eye hasn't scene anny degradashun inn ma brayn. 

[garethashenden]

So much cool stuff this week!

Here's my contribution.

First, an update on my N Scale 8905:
Continuing to fight with the archer louvers that don't seem to want to stick.
Added a new access door on the cab. This was done by sacrificing a scap shell and sanding it down until JUST the door remained. It definitely hurt stripping that FEC logo off it...
And lastly, it got a decoder (and half a roll of kapton tape).
Still waiting on frankenhorn and to finish adding the updated cut levers. I tried one approach that just didn't work, so onto the next.

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I’ve found that Archer transfers stick better to paint (or primer) than they do to plastic.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

https://brooklynlocomotiveworks.com/mt-sw1500.htm

Scroll to the bottom of the page for the parts, but are either of those trucks the ones you are looking for?

Haha, the funny thing is that they have the other truck sideframes for sale separately (the Flexicoils), but not the AAR ones I need.

I'm trying to avoid buying an entire shell for just the trucks, but I JUST realized I actually may have some sitting in a box downstairs... lol.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Technically.. I just sent you some.. 

~Ian

And THAT's what I just realized! I was planning on using one of those shells for a Flexicoil variant so I think everything just worked out with the soggy box that arrived on my porch yesterday. How fortuitous!!

[diezmon]

And THAT's what I just realized! I was planning on using one of those shells for a Flexicoil variant so I think everything just worked out with the soggy box that arrived on my porch yesterday. How fortuitous!!

FWIW, I think they're an easy swap with the LL/Walthers GP-20 sideframes/trucks.  I used the GP20 trucks in my NW-5 model. 

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[up1950s]

I'm was not pissed Richie -  Surprised too.  If it was humor, it went over my head.  No harm done - no need to apologize.  Forg't 'bout it. We're all good! 

Not humor but not to hurt or upset either . Glad we got the lead out so we can quickly move on .

[trainforfun]

More trees planted...
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Nice job !!!!