I bought a “POSTED PRIVATE PROPERTY” sign from a farm supply store for 99 cents. I have read suggestions several times on Facebook and other sites that plastic “for sale” etc. signs from the dollar store or even corner supermarket can be an inexpensive source for styrene sheet for modeling. Just ignore the printed sign side. The signs I see at the dollar store have a thinness comparable to .01” styrene. The POSTED sign comes printed on a somewhat thicker 11” x 11” yellow plastic sheet, about equivalent to .04” styrene. Maybe the manufacturer intends it to hold up by itself hung on a wire fence. I tested it- cuts easily by the scribe-and-snap method and bonds to itself with Testor’s Model Master liquid plastic cement. Must be styrene…
I made a little styrene sign for a show that we had during a NMRA convention at an open house at my MRR that read. "Thieves will be shot, survivors will be shot again" It never ceases to amaze me how people just cannot keeps their hands off of stuff.
Received my very first batch of N Scale Kato Unitrack today, just a small selection to test curve radii and turnout performance. I run mostly 1960s and 1970's power with 40' and 50' cars, so small radius curves will hopefully suffice in my modest space.
Running that sort of equipment SHOULD allow you to run as low as possibly 9.5" radius but would definitely get away with 11"
Bought something for my train room at the outdoor and garden department of a big-box home improvement store today: a red brick for 58 cents. I keep a photoflood light on a tall stand in my train room for photos I take almost every day. Top-heavy, it has fallen over twice, broken its bulb and even damaged layout a little. Tying brick around base should make it bottom-heavy and less likely to take a fall.
Recent items in last week-couple of Railbox additions, Garbage Flat and containers, a number of little detail parts, doors/barrels rust collection for one of the 50' gondola's, 40's/50's or so small logging truck, Back-Hoe to clean out the saw dust at the mill and some dirt fill loads-have too many coal cars so figured I'd convert some to dirt and Ballast.
I bought an MRC #1530 Prodigy Wi Fi unit. This unit enables one to operate using an I phone or an Android as a throttle and turns any MRC Prodigy system into a completely wireless system. The cool thing about it is that, unlike other systems, you don't need to hook up a computer or a separate Wi Fi modem and you don't need JMRI. Hooks up to a MRC Prodigy system with one wire. You do need to download the Wi throttle ap to your phone but you have to do that with any of the systems. There are two versions of the Wi throttle. Wi throttle lite is free and the regular Wi throttle costs $10.00. You get more features with the regular Wi throttle. According to the information from MRC, this unit will handle up to eight throttles and is expandable by adding another unit. Most people and clubs for that matter, will only require one unit. Retail price is $129.99 but online shops have them discounted to as low as $79.99. Most shops are sold out as is MRC but the people at MRC told me they are expecting more in by December 1. Yeah, I know, we have all heard that before from manufacturers. There are some you tube videos on it if you want to check it out.
I don't think that is styrene, though. If it is polyethylene, it will be hard to glue. I used some tops to make spacer shims for for flanges along rails at grade crossings, because I found some that were the NMRA spec thickness. Glue was not sticking to them, so I was not concerned about glueing them down.
Interesting -- I didn't know that. I used it as a kid, but I can't recall much more. I've used spent gift cards and old credit cards for grade crossings. They cut fairly easily and are the right thickness for N.
Inkaneer, I used WiThrottle before as my first DCC controller. I used Sprog for the DCC. I loved the wireless ability but I really missed the tactile feedback of having nobs and buttons. The flat glass of my iPhone of course offered zero feedback. It was still very cool to be wireless. Very fun.
I received my Showcase Miniatures Nn3 tank car kit Friday. Here’s my progress so far. The deck edge on the left needs to be glued down better. Paint touch up and weathering are next.
Just received Release #16 of Lowell Smith's American Freedom Train. Only one more car to complete the train !!!
I'm assuming that's an Aston Martin DB on the trailer?I got this Atlas GP35 Saturday. I'm going to paint it as Western Pacific #3003, the only WP GP35 painted in the "Pumpkin" scheme.
