Weekend Update 7/26/26

[up1950s]

Well here is my story . My HP all in one is not starting up . Getting invalid signature . This started when I said ok that MS One something on ios 11 . It started placing little green checkmarks on the upper left corners of my desktop icons . Then it said “ ok lets get started “ or something like that . I  didn’t want to “ get started “ , so I ignored it till I was willing to waste the time and confusion of being a puppet to the system and deciding if I should obey all requests .
   Then the next day or was it later on , I noticed that my system wasn’t going to sleep anymore . I repopulated the power saving fields but still no nap nap .
   The next day , maybe it was Monday , I asked Google (AI) how to fix a no sleep problem . It said to hit ( IIRC) control , windows , alt , and D . I now am thinking the D is delete . Ever since then i can’t start it in up . I get thr red field with white lettering stating invalid or is it no signature , and other words . The only keys the work are the enter , and during attempting start up the f keys . Through those i was able to to some tests which pass . One thing it said was to enter any operating system . I bought an os 11 from amazon which came at 5pm tonight . Nada og twenty or so attempts .
    Mid week i got a new Dell all in one . Batteries in mouse and keyboard . I couldn’t get the mouse to work and it had no external hard drive . I sent it back to Amazon Thursday . I have a HP waiting for me with ios 10 and a slightly bigger screen which I will pick up tomorrow .
       Soooooooo thats why I The Weekend Date 775 looks like this . Post away !

[Chris333]

Microsoft hasn't been into my computer since 2017 and I love it.

[bbussey]

I finished the Showcase Miniatures / Mad-About-Cars GM 1947 Silverside bus.

[Dave V]

Weathered half a dozen freight cars with pan pastels and acrylic washes. Here's one:



Then it was steam time. Started by replacing the locomotive shell and tender shell of a cosmetically damaged K4 I picked up on eBay. I also had to remove a lot (what I guess was) cat hair from the running gear, journals, and so forth.



Cleaned the wheels and programmed her up, and she's running great while pulling by foobie mail train:



Then it was time to start the bigger project...the GHQ/Kato 2-8-2 L1s project. I plan to do a "pre-facelift" L1s, because many of the 574 engines in that class were still without a facelift into the 1950s per photographic evidence. I have yet to choose which road number, but it'll be one that didn;t get the postwar facelift right away but did get the doghouse on the tender and the wider-spaced "PENNSYLVANIA" on the tender.



For the time being it'll be DCC without sound but I'm wiring in a plug in case I ever want to upgrade.

[Jim Starbuck]

I finished this 1928 Buda 619 inspection car.
It’s very nicely printed and available at SilverSpikeDesigns.com. An STL is also available at Cults 3D.
Silver Spike was at RPM Chicagoland last year selling their line of exceptional printed modern MOW models. Jeff, the owner stopped by the Modutrak layout and asked about my small mechs. He showed me the Buda car and asked if I thought it could be powered. Challenge accepted.
The chassis is brass angle with holes drilled for Z scale half axle wheels to pass through then insert into Z scale geared axle tubes. I designed and printed mounts to hold the 6x15 coreless motor. It has a Lokpilot decoder and a TCS keepalive. The print comes with nicely detailed 24” wheels which I parted off in the lathe to make a thin overlay of the Z wheels which also scale to 24”. The light cans are turned down 1/16” styrene rod then drilled out to accept 0201 LEDs. Window glazing is .005 clear styrene.
There was quite a bit of room for lead under the roof, hood and rear.
It’s pretty small. Here’s it is next to the Whitcomb 35 Tonner.

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

Here’s a short video of it running:

[tehachapifan]

OK, Jim....now you're just showing off!

Remember when the N SW1200 sound conversion was considered tiny?

Seriously though, that's just wild!

[nkalanaga]

Richie:  Did you ever do a full backup for your computer, using either a backup program that loads from external media, or one that has a recovery media?

If you did, even if it's an old backup, reload the entire drive, and your computer should work as it did when the backup was made.  You'll lose anything that wasn't backed up after the full backup, as I suspect your hard drive is either wiped or corrupted, but your system will work again.

[Jim Starbuck]

Remember when the N SW1200 sound conversion was considered tiny?

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[Dwight in Toronto]

@Jim Starbuck  - that little rail car must represent the epitome of your many sub-miniaturization achievements.  Impressive and astounding as ever; absolutely magnificent!

[randgust]

Finished what will very well be the 'last of the Mohicans' of my CF7 custom builds.

I had one leftover shell/long hood, semi finished, where the original buyer passed on before I could get it done. 

A fresh request of that exact version was a challenge, as I've been out of etched steps and rails for a couple years.  Salvaged some GP steps and did all the handrails in brass wire, one more time.... 



Link:  http://www.randgust.com/CF7242402.jpg

I can't believe I've been doing these since 2009, hundreds of kits and about 50 custom builds, and with the loss of my etcher and the 'new' GP7 version with the short nose full of electronics instead of empty I threw in the towel.  Rumors persist of Rapido or Atlas or somebody doing these, have fun, it's been a fun ride for me.

[up1950s]

Richie:  Did you ever do a full backup for your computer, using either a backup program that loads from external media, or one that has a recovery media?

If you did, even if it's an old backup, reload the entire drive, and your computer should work as it did when the backup was made.  You'll lose anything that wasn't backed up after the full backup, as I suspect your hard drive is either wiped or corrupted, but your system will work again.

The reboot disk I bought is as I found out not a full ms 11 reload . The only loss I will have is my Bookmarks , and that IS a shame too me . The rest is backed up on aging WD mechanical disk and also on a WD digital disk . i searched for a full reload disk yesterday but nada . I am starting to think that usb flash drives is the only way full reloads are now sold . Not sure if my unit will suck on that teat as it has a oem mech disk drawer . Reading that the new computers are made without disk drives to save space and eliminate what they feel is a failure prone thingy . Thanks for the helpful post .

[up1950s]

I finished this 1928 Buda 619 inspection car.
It’s very nicely printed and available at SilverSpikeDesigns.com. An STL is also available at Cults 3D.
Silver Spike was at RPM Chicagoland last year selling their line of exceptional printed modern MOW models. Jeff, the owner stopped by the Modutrak layout and asked about my small mechs. He showed me the Buda car and asked if I thought it could be powered. Challenge accepted.
The chassis is brass angle with holes drilled for Z scale half axle wheels to pass through then insert into Z scale geared axle tubes. I designed and printed mounts to hold the 6x15 coreless motor. It has a Lokpilot decoder and a TCS keepalive. The print comes with nicely detailed 24” wheels which I parted off in the lathe to make a thin overlay of the Z wheels which also scale to 24”. The light cans are turned down 1/16” styrene rod then drilled out to accept 0201 LEDs. Window glazing is .005 clear styrene.
There was quite a bit of room for lead under the roof, hood and rear.
It’s pretty small. Here’s it is next to the Whitcomb 35 Tonner.

(Attachment Link)

Here’s a short video of it running:

/>

The UP had a Budda with a B unit IIRC . What would be even cooler if it had FPV so it can actually be used as a track inspection tool . Sperry as well . An RTR Budda would sell well , at least to me 🥸

[ednadolski]

This needs a "Best Of" tag.

I finished this 1928 Buda 619 inspection car.
It’s very nicely printed and available at SilverSpikeDesigns.com. An STL is also available at Cults 3D.
Silver Spike was at RPM Chicagoland last year selling their line of exceptional printed modern MOW models. Jeff, the owner stopped by the Modutrak layout and asked about my small mechs. He showed me the Buda car and asked if I thought it could be powered. Challenge accepted.
The chassis is brass angle with holes drilled for Z scale half axle wheels to pass through then insert into Z scale geared axle tubes. I designed and printed mounts to hold the 6x15 coreless motor. It has a Lokpilot decoder and a TCS keepalive. The print comes with nicely detailed 24” wheels which I parted off in the lathe to make a thin overlay of the Z wheels which also scale to 24”. The light cans are turned down 1/16” styrene rod then drilled out to accept 0201 LEDs. Window glazing is .005 clear styrene.
There was quite a bit of room for lead under the roof, hood and rear.
It’s pretty small. Here’s it is next to the Whitcomb 35 Tonner.

(Attachment Link)

(Attachment Link)

(Attachment Link)

(Attachment Link)

Here’s a short video of it running:

/>

[CR4100]

I created a Marine Industries MOW gondola with fold-down ends, CN series 91000-91149. The brake lever needs a bit of refinement but otherwise this car is ready to go. There's plenty of room under the floor and in the center sill to add weight.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Did a little jfrtm on the BANTRAK layout stretching the legs of some power I don't run that often.

/>
[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

Also got to ride an open street car with @bbunge at the helm. Thanks for inviting me down Bob!
[ Guests cannot view attachments ]