Weekend Update 5/24/20

[spookshow]

Cab ride through Rochelle, IL circa 2015

Jaw-dropping! 

-Mark

[Philip H]

@rochsub - just superb. Makes me wish I had bought a @TrainCat2 unloading rack or three back in the day.

[ncbqguy]

I am struck by the realism of the embankments, elevation differences between main, secondary and siding tracks, ditches, etc.   even in “flat” Illinois cut and fill figure heavily in the design and operation of a railroad.
Well done Darryl!
Charlie Vlk

[rochsub]

@rochsub - just superb. Makes me wish I had bought a @TrainCat2 unloading rack or three back in the day.

Yep, I've had those two kits laying around for a few years now.  Glad to finally get them on the layout.

[rochsub]

I am struck by the realism of the embankments, elevation differences between main, secondary and siding tracks, ditches, etc.   even in “flat” Illinois cut and fill figure heavily in the design and operation of a railroad.
Well done Darryl!
Charlie Vlk

Thanks Charlie!  You got to get down here for a ops session.  Next one is June 6.
Daryl

[ncbqguy]

Daryl—
Maybe Jim Reising and I can make it down.....
Charlie Vlk

[rochsub]

Daryl—
Maybe Jim Reising and I can make it down.....
Charlie Vlk

Just sent you an invite via Signup Genius to your comcast email.

[ChristianJDavis1]

True, but how is that worse?  It wasn't fitting together correctly out of the box.  I'd have filed it.  Or asked to borrow DKS's micro table saw.

DFF

I think he tried that on the previous attempt and it made other parts (like the roof) fit even worse, leading to a lot of parts looking worse. I believe he posted close-ups of the previous one where you can see some of these discrepancies.

[Maletrain]

I think he tried that on the previous attempt and it made other parts (like the roof) fit even worse, leading to a lot of parts looking worse. I believe he posted close-ups of the previous one where you can see some of these discrepancies.

Looking at a blow-up of the prototype picture, it looks as if the bricks at the 45 degree junctions were mostly cut the equivalent of mitering the model panel corners.  A few courses look like individual bricks might span the corner and have been cut on the outside surface, probably to provide "ties" for the separate courses. 

For a model that will be the subject of macro photography, I don't see any other option than mitering the panel brick junctions.  Possibly filling the joints with putty and scribing mortar lines would work, but seems a lot more tedious than making the other pieces fit once the brick panels are mitered.

[jereising]

Daryl, nice to see the finished product.  Long time coming, but worth it.  I love a finished layout!  Hope you've checked the plumbing upstairs...

[chicken45]

Got the roof and glass blocks in. 
Next I will darken the roof with some powders and then put the caps on the roof seams. [ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[Cajonpassfan]

Hmm, I spent a good part of two days’ worth of train time making a replacement stack for my Atlas turbocharged ATSF S2, and I’m stil not done
The shell is a metal casting, and so is the original stack base, which needed filing down, flat and level. The new stack is made of twelve pieces of styrene and a brass pin...  tbc
Otto K.

[basementcalling]

Yep, I've had those two kits laying around for a few years now.  Glad to finally get them on the layout.

One just went for over $100 on fleabay.

[dougnelson]

Looks great!  Why not just styrene strip and phosphor bronze wire?  Or even steel wire, which would be less damage prone?
Got my .25mm a couple of days ago.  After seeing it, I can run the .30mm under catenary so I ordered it yesterday.

I’m thinking of possibly using brass strips so wire could be soldered. The key issue would be how to attach either wire or thread to the strips that go around the propeller blade. Thanks again for the kit Bryan.

[up1950s]

A few weeks ago, I ordered a handful of HO scale vehicles to start populating the streets on my layout.  Most of the vehicles that I bought are highly detailed and not too ridiculously priced, considering the quality.  One exception was a Trident Miniatures Chevrolet truck, which I got because I’m having trouble finding vehicles for my mid-1980s era that are not hot rods or luxury imports.  I model North Carolina, so I need mostly ordinary domestic models.

Anyhow, this Chevy truck was advertised as blue and showed chrome parts in the online photo.  I figured it would make a good background vehicle, until I received this unpainted, raw plastic truck with no chrome.  I was able to disassemble it without causing damage, and you can see what a turd this model is:



So, I grabbed a can of Dupli-Color plastic adhesion primer and some spray bombs of paint.  I tried to use model paint that reasonably matched the color chips from 1980s Chevy/GMC trucks.  I quickly discovered that my old cans of red and yellow were bad.  Then, my first attempt with orange led to a trip into a 91% isopropyl alcohol bath, because it wouldn’t cover and had to go on way too thick.  Regrouping my efforts, I found a can of Model Master Bright White that had never been used and sprayed okay.  I also used Testors Silver Metallic for the chrome parts.  The result:



Much better, but still a background model when other cars from Brekina, Oxford Diecast, and others look like this:



At least it turned out that I didn’t waste $12.00 on that crap, after investing a few hours of labor and some paint.

DFF

N scale would do very nicely with turds like that says the Turdy Wordy Man .