Weekend Update 3/30/25

[craigolio1]

I'm sorry I missed the tour this time around, I had to work a Saturday. It doesn't happen often, but of course the Saturday of the tour, I'm at work. I really consider your layout one of the highlights of the tour, and it's MOLDULAR! You guys have done it right! All the modules blend into the next one. Great job guys!


I sent in some photo's to Rapido for the "Rapido and Me" section of their news letter, and am quite flattered they choose one to be included.

Thank you for your kind comments. I saw your photo in the news letter and thought it was a great shot. I sent in a few pics of Rapido models running on our railroad from Saturday.

We’re always looking for more people to add modules to our setup. Even just a 2ft. That’s how I started. Our club is very chill and not political. Great group of people who just like to run trains.

And on that note, if we are displaying and anyone can make it…. Bring trains!  Friends are always welcome to operate.

Craig.

[Jesse6669]

Not much modeling as I was road-tripping cross country, but I did see some interesting stuff along the way!  Just a small sample from the iPhone.

[ Guests cannot view attachments ] Nevada Northern Railway shops (former Kennecott Copper Co.) in Ely, NV
[ Guests cannot view attachments ] Former Mt. Rainier Scenic GP10 at the Smokey Valley RR Museum in Abeline, KS

[dandopinski]

Hi Iain, one car will be Sherritt-Williams anhydrous ammonia, maybe two. And the other two will be plain CNTX LPG. I'm not sure if decals exist for S-W so it might be a custom paint. 

[jpwisc]

It was a simple weekend. I modernized an older MicroTrains car. Added a bunch of weight, body mounted some TruScale couplers and gave it a light weathering. Small win as was airbrushing piles of mow equipment
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[draskouasshat]

Nuts!  I never measured the model drivers, just assumed they would be good enough for a USRA Heavy 2-10-2, which I am thinking had 63" drivers, based on the Wikipedia article.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USRA_Heavy_Santa_Fe  I was not thinking that the drives would look too small.  I am surprised they look too big, though.

OK, I just measure the drivers on one of my models, across the tread, not the flanges, and got about 0.390", which is 62.4" in N scale.  So, it really doesn't look like the driver diameter is a visible driver height issue for the model of a B&O S1a. 

However, model vendors often make oversized wheel spacing to accommodate oversized flanges on models.  So, I measured the distance between the model driver axles #1 and #5 and got 1.840", which is 24'-6" for N scale.  The USRA prototype was 22'-4".  So, the model is scale 2'-2" too long in the wheel base.  In N scale, that is only 0.1625" too long on the model for the USRA prototype.  Drawings for the B&O S1a show the same driver spacing as the USRA version.

So, if that is how the model vendors are going to space the 63" or 64" drivers, I don't think we are going to get any better scaled mechanism for a B&O S1a, or a USRA Heavy 2-10-2, for that matter.

Since you will only consider a stretched Kato mike frame, I guess we are not on the same page about making a shell that would be readily useable by a lot of modelers.

Hopefully, somebody else will make a "good-enough" B&O S1a shell for the Con-Cor mechanism, eventually.  The Con-Cor USRA shell was apparently "good enough" for that model to sell, and it problem is the same for the B&O version.

Spookshow rates the Con-Cor model well for the mechanism, but poor for electrical pickup.  Because a B&O S1a would require a completely different tender (a vandy like the Dimitrains 6-axle version), the pickup issue will be addressed during the tender modeling if/when the loco shell becomes available.

cool. whats "good enough" for you isnt good enough for what i like to produce. if you want to commission a model, ill gladly draw one up for you.

Drasko

[dandopinski]

So looking at the prototype picture, the end ladders connect to the walkway-not into the body like the model so I'll see if I can fix that. Also there are collision endplates and placard holders. Not doing that this weekend as I'm going to the Calgary Train Show. Yahoo!

[Scottl]

@dandopinski I'll be at the show as well.  I wonder if there will be other TRW folk?

[Iain]

Hi Iain, one car will be Sherritt-Williams anhydrous ammonia, maybe two. And the other two will be plain CNTX LPG. I'm not sure if decals exist for S-W so it might be a custom paint.

Who makes the CNTX LPG decals?

[dangerboy81]

Thank you for your kind comments. I saw your photo in the news letter and thought it was a great shot. I sent in a few pics of Rapido models running on our railroad from Saturday.

We’re always looking for more people to add modules to our setup. Even just a 2ft. That’s how I started. Our club is very chill and not political. Great group of people who just like to run trains.

And on that note, if we are displaying and anyone can make it…. Bring trains!  Friends are always welcome to operate.

Craig.

Thanks Craig, I have some info I got from you last year, you guys do seem like a good bunch of guys. I just don't know how much I can travel to train shows. I do think about it now and then.

[dandopinski]

Hi Scottl- I'll be hanging around the Prairie Shadows booth with Jeff and company.
Iain- Sorry that should be NCTX. Microscale Decals makes 'em. 60-235,60-236,60-4236 and 60-5019 for starters.....

[craigolio1]

Thanks Craig, I have some info I got from you last year, you guys do seem like a good bunch of guys. I just don't know how much I can travel to train shows. I do think about it now and then.

I only get out once or twice a year. But it’s really fun when I do.

Craig.

[Sumner]

Short update...



Above the caprock to the left has been highlighted with some different shades of the base colors by adding a little black or white to the two base colors that were used plus mixing the two colors together a little differently. I take the base colors and put a little of each on a cottage cheese lid pallet along with a little white and black and then mix away on the lid until I see something I like.



Take the loaded brush and brush most of the paint off onto a paper towel and then use a partially dry brush technique to apply it for the highlights of darker, lighter or different shades of the base color into the crevices and rock faces.
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To be continued…....and a link to this backdrop and scenery work ( HERE ) .
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A link to this whole build ( HERE ) .
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Sumner

[Maletrain]

cool. whats "good enough" for you isnt good enough for what i like to produce. if you want to commission a model, ill gladly draw one up for you.

Drasko

I think I'll wait for somebody who actually likes the idea and wants to print and use the shells him/her self.  And, you said you would only do it for a stretched Kato mike frame, not the Con-Cor frame, anyway.

I think you do spectacular work, so the following quibble is not meant to be demeaning - but it does point out that "perfect" is more in the eye of the beholder than your post seems to appreciate.

You have posted that the Con-Cor USRA Heavy 2-10-2 mechanism is "perfect" for the model shell you created, apparently because the axle spacing matches the prototype.  You have said that the model drivers are scale 79", also perfectly matching your prototype.  But, those are apparently the flange diameter, not the tread diameter, which more closely matches the 63" USRA prototype and the 64" B&O prototype, both of which had smaller axle spacing.  So, in effect, you model has undersized drivers with oversized flanges.  Not "perfect", but acceptable to you. 

Others might think that the drivers look too small above the rails, compared to other observable elements on the model.  They would look "right" on the USRA or B&O models, but then the axle spacing would look too long.  So, not "perfect", either.

Personally, I think that the design of a B&O shell for the Con-Cor mechanism requires the designer to look at the prototype to see where visually identifiable  feathers appear in relationship to each other, and try to maintain those relationships in the model shell.   For examples, where the smokebox front, the beginning of the lagging and the bands in the lagging are located with respect to the cylinders and the drivers tends to define the "look" of the loco, even if they are somewhat compressed or elongated to make that work with the elongated frame that was produced to accommodate the model's oversized driver flanges.  The sand domes, etc., would be placed according to those bands.

To me, the most obvious not-prototypical aspect of that mechanism for the B&O model is going to be that the mechanism uses Walschaert valve gear instead of the Baker valve gear used by the B&O, anyway.

But, it would sure look better to me than just running a USRA Heavy instead of a "mostly" S1a.

[draskouasshat]

I think I'll wait for somebody who actually likes the idea and wants to print and use the shells him/her self.  And, you said you would only do it for a stretched Kato mike frame, not the Con-Cor frame, anyway.

I think you do spectacular work, so the following quibble is not meant to be demeaning - but it does point out that "perfect" is more in the eye of the beholder than your post seems to appreciate.

You have posted that the Con-Cor USRA Heavy 2-10-2 mechanism is "perfect" for the model shell you created, apparently because the axle spacing matches the prototype.  You have said that the model drivers are scale 79", also perfectly matching your prototype.  But, those are apparently the flange diameter, not the tread diameter, which more closely matches the 63" USRA prototype and the 64" B&O prototype, both of which had smaller axle spacing.  So, in effect, you model has undersized drivers with oversized flanges.  Not "perfect", but acceptable to you. 

Others might think that the drivers look too small above the rails, compared to other observable elements on the model.  They would look "right" on the USRA or B&O models, but then the axle spacing would look too long.  So, not "perfect", either.

Personally, I think that the design of a B&O shell for the Con-Cor mechanism requires the designer to look at the prototype to see where visually identifiable  feathers appear in relationship to each other, and try to maintain those relationships in the model shell.   For examples, where the smokebox front, the beginning of the lagging and the bands in the lagging are located with respect to the cylinders and the drivers tends to define the "look" of the loco, even if they are somewhat compressed or elongated to make that work with the elongated frame that was produced to accommodate the model's oversized driver flanges.  The sand domes, etc., would be placed according to those bands.

To me, the most obvious not-prototypical aspect of that mechanism for the B&O model is going to be that the mechanism uses Walschaert valve gear instead of the Baker valve gear used by the B&O, anyway.

But, it would sure look better to me than just running a USRA Heavy instead of a "mostly" S1a.

Youre a trip! if you want to commission a a shell of your B&O S1 to go on a concor mech, ill send you my paypal. 

Drasko