Weekend Update 4/12/20

[nkalanaga]

jpwisc:  Why the different fans for radiators and dynamics?  Different diameters, or the manufacturer just wanted to complicate things?

[wazzou]

Sorry about accidentally locking this one guys! I blame... My dumb fingers.

Idiot!   

[wazzou]

jpwisc:  Why the different fans for radiators and dynamics?  Different diameters, or the manufacturer just wanted to complicate things?

Volume of air moved for each unique situation.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Sorry about accidentally locking this one guys! I blame... My dumb fingers.

I saw it locked, so I made popcorn. Very disappointing.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I saw it locked, so I made popcorn. Very disappointing.

Sorry to disappoint! lol

[chicken45]

Sorry about accidentally locking this one guys! I blame... My dumb fingers.

***** this. I'm cancelling my plaid membership. I'm not paying to have the Weekend Update accidentally locked!

Also because of this, I'm changing scales.

[Dave V]

***** this. I'm cancelling my plaid membership. I'm not paying to have the Weekend Update accidentally locked!

Also because of this, I'm changing scales.

Scale change is only authorized under plaid membership.  So you're gonna have to choose, Hoss.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Ok, inbetween f***ing up everyone's weekend, I did some modeling work.

While waiting on some structure details I decided to work on my PC commuter fleet. I started by tearing the cars down and painting their interiors. Everything got a coat of gray. Then some got blue seats, some got green seats and some got brown seats. I know blue was accurate and I guessed on the others from hints in photos.





Then I started adding shades to one of the PRR cars. These are done with masking tape and while they look great in person, seen at 3x on the screen here shows me I need to go get some of them more "square".





The photos I've seen show a mix of cars with shades and without so I'll probably do the same, but I'm going to add them to at least one or two more cars. I also need to find a way to get these awesome balloon roofs to sit tighter down to the bodies.

[chicken45]

Ok, inbetween f***ing up everyone's weekend, I did some modeling work.

While waiting on some structure details I decided to work on my PC commuter fleet. I started by tearing the cars down and painting their interiors. Everything got a coat of gray. Then some got blue seats, some got green seats and some got brown seats. I know blue was accurate and I guessed on the others from hints in photos.





Then I started adding shades to one of the PRR cars. These are done with masking tape and while they look great in person, seen at 3x on the screen here shows me I need to go get some of them more "square".





The photos I've seen show a mix of cars with shades and without so I'll probably do the same, but I'm going to add them to at least one or two more cars. I also need to find a way to get these awesome balloon roofs to sit tighter down to the bodies.

I would like to see you patch in those bathroom windows and turn them in to fbRs. And the best part is you don't even have to do a good job because it's Penn Central and nobody cares! The worse it looks, probably the better. Just fill in the bathroom windows and drill a hole in one of them.

[wm3798]

I may have to try the window shade trick.  That looks good, and obscures most of the hard work you put into the upholstery.  I see you're accurately modeling empty seats.  Did you also include full ashtrays?

I'm not familiar with the balloon roof.  How does it nest into the car?  Is it separate from the window strip or integral like the old Rivarossi cars?  One trick I've used is to create a small friction "dimple" with the tip of a soldering iron so the part snugs down and stays down.  Possible if there's enough of a bite between the roof and car side. (Easy with the window glass cast with the roof)
Lee

[John]

I've been working my way around the layout power all the frogs from the switch machine ... slow and tedious, but needed .. also cleaning up some of the wiring as I go ..  next up .. is dropping more track feeders ..

Also fixed some of the code 55 turnouts that are starting to go bad .. for the frogs that have lost contact, I gently loosen the frog with a soldering iron, then I drill a small #76 hole at the back of the frog where the rails diverge and solder in a new piece of solid copper wire, which I then connect to the original feeder .. seems to work .. I'll report back in 2-3 years on this fix ,

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I would like to see you patch in those bathroom windows and turn them in to fbRs. And the best part is you don't even have to do a good job because it's Penn Central and nobody cares! The worse it looks, probably the better. Just fill in the bathroom windows and drill a hole in one of them.

That's a good thought. Although I really don't want to have to try and match the stock paint. Even weathering doesn't hide all sins...

I may have to try the window shade trick.  That looks good, and obscures most of the hard work you put into the upholstery.  I see you're accurately modeling empty seats.  Did you also include full ashtrays?

I'm not familiar with the balloon roof.  How does it nest into the car?  Is it separate from the window strip or integral like the old Rivarossi cars?  One trick I've used is to create a small friction "dimple" with the tip of a soldering iron so the part snugs down and stays down.  Possible if there's enough of a bite between the roof and car side. (Easy with the window glass cast with the roof)
Lee

It's a 3D printed part that sits down on top of the whole thing. These cars have an outer shell (the, well, shell), a flat weight, the interior, two loose window strips and then a roof. The roof on the regular cars has some detents that hold it in, but these replacement roofs don't have those. Right now it's just a friction fit that works pretty well, but not perfectly. When I'm done messing with the car I'll probably add a little Walthers Goo and keep them clamped tight until it dries.

[johnb]

Scale change is only authorized under plaid membership.  So you're gonna have to choose, Hoss.

in that case, I am definitely not getting plaid memberships....

[C855B]

... Also fixed some of the code 55 turnouts that are starting to go bad .. for the frogs that have lost contact, I gently loosen the frog with a soldering iron, then I drill a small #76 hole at the back of the frog where the rails diverge and solder in a new piece of solid copper wire, which I then connect to the original feeder .. seems to work .. I'll report back in 2-3 years on this fix ,

I'm doing a similar fix to the rail jumpers - trace which end is not making contact, then drill from the back. I was dropping a little bit of solder in the resulting hole (very fine tip iron), but discovered good results from using an awl or other fine pointed tool to swage the edge of the hole, pressing it against the rail. So far so good, but like you say, we'll see just how well this "keeps" in a couple of years.

[dem34]

Not much, did a quick DCC Install on an old Atlas RSD 4 and watched it go roundy round on a temp Kato setup since my order of code 40 rail has been lost to the ether.