MODELING It's Friday, April 6th 2018: Weekend Modeling Plans

Jim Wiggin Apr 6, 2018

  1. Jim Wiggin

    Jim Wiggin Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    It's time to stoke the pot belly stove, pour some coffee or tea, grab a donut and pull up a chair as we gather around to see what the weekend will bring as far as our list of model railroading projects. There is snow in the forecast (again!) for east central Illinois so the danger of yard work for many will be kept at bay, at least til May......

    Saturday: I'm off after work tonight to set up at the former Lincoln Square mall for the Champaign based Midwest Central NTrak club's annual train show. I had planned on bringing the small table top B&M themed switching modules but progress has been slow so I worked with the show coordinator to bring my three Galesburg City Job modules. So like the previous show, I'll be running CB&Q and maybe some BN over the weekend as well as meeting up with some of my friends.

    Sunday: Is day two of the show and will have me running more equipment before taking it all down Sunday afternoon.

    So how about you? What is on your to do list for the weekend? Locomotive maintenance, structure work, maybe just running trains. Whatever your plans, please let us know. We'll re-group on Monday the 9th to see how and what we all did. Until then, have a safe weekend, have fun and above all else...

    High Greens!
     
  2. Philip H

    Philip H TrainBoard Member

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    I'm participating in the MOW Modeling Challenge on TRW so I have to get out my Brandt kit and get all the sundry stuff together. I also have a couple of cardstock models I intend to try out - I've done them form time to time over the years and with the underlying graphics getting better and better I have another couple I intend to tackle.
     
  3. SP-Wolf

    SP-Wolf TrainBoard Supporter

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    Saturday: Continue to work on my H24-66 Trainmasters. With some encouragement from some fellow modelers, I am going to add the steam generator air intake and exhaust detail to the top of the short hood. Perhaps, I will do some work on my layout.

    Sunday: I am going to my friends house -- he is going to help me put together a power point presentation for a clinic I will be putting on in a couple of weeks for a local NMRA meet. Out at the Orange Empire Railway museum.

    Hope Y'all have a great weekend!!
    Wolf
     
  4. Rocket Jones

    Rocket Jones TrainBoard Member

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    Friday night and Saturday are supposed to be windy, with some rain and snow mixed in, so I've decided to take a "train" day. I'm planning to put down some dirt and ground cover, and I've got a stack of scale lumber cut and stained to build a dilapidated shed. This is my first board-by-board construction in N scale, so it could be a wild ride. I also have a switch on my old chainsaw that I need to salvage and set up to test those mini-magnets.

    Besides all that, I've got about a three page list of projects; some small, some rather involved. Sometimes it's nice to just pick one and work it to be doing something a little different for awhile.
     
  5. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    Continuing the design of my control panel for my new N Scale railroad. Bought a scrap sheet of flat black laminate on the cheap from a local supplier and produced two small test panels yesterday using it on 1/8 In plywood. The test panels are extremely strong, durable and lightweight. This weekend I hope to drill holes and test mount several LEDs and DPDT switches to check panel appearance and confirm how I want to lay out the turnout circuitry behind the panel. I'm using Rob Paisley's circuit for Kato turnouts.

    I'm a DC guy, but I love messing with carpentry and electronics, so am thoroughly enjoying this designwork.
     
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  6. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Can we see a couple of photos? :)
     
  7. Kevin Anderson

    Kevin Anderson TrainBoard Member

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    Yesterday I hit my LHS and found four kits I need and ordered one more. But those aren’t my plans for this weekend. I will get nothing done until Sunday. That is when I will start rewiring the power to my turn table motor. We will see what happens.[​IMG]
     
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  8. HOexplorer

    HOexplorer TrainBoard Supporter

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    Work on my last model railroad endeavor, a diorama. Jim IMG_0957.JPG
     
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  9. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    There's not much to show quite yet, but maybe something soon. I'm also puzzling over how I want to mount the control panels (one for turnouts, one for blocks) on the main control board. I'm thinking of hinging the panels (with their wiring) above an angled base, sort of like an old portable writing desk as seen below, but much smaller in scale. I'd put one on each side with the power pack in the middle. I think it'd look nice and not be terribly expensive.

    upload_2018-4-6_19-37-40.png
     
    Last edited: Apr 7, 2018
  10. bremner

    bremner Staff Member

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    Thinking about going down to the tracks with a tape measure, pencil and paper to measure the last Southern Pacific structure that is still standing in Casa Grande, AZ

    https://sopacincg.com/the-last-sign/
     
  11. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    I wish I lived nearby to help bremner. That's a worthy task and hopefully we'll someday see a scale structure on your P.E. line.
     
  12. bremner

    bremner Staff Member

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    Thanks for the offer. I might take my 12 year old with me, and I think that I have enough parts...
     
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  13. HOexplorer

    HOexplorer TrainBoard Supporter

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    Some work before the Masters. Jim

    IMG_0958.JPG

    IMG_0959.JPG IMG_0958.JPG IMG_0959.JPG
     
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  14. bremner

    bremner Staff Member

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    Hardcoaler likes this.
  15. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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  16. VinceP

    VinceP TrainBoard Member

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    Starting over after the neighbor set my rental place on fire free basing.

    Hoping to have a pic up soon of a SBD mow tankcar that I will be working on as soon it gets here from California.

    Nice work everyone.
     
  17. Jim Wiggin

    Jim Wiggin Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Vince, that sounds horrible!
     
  18. VinceP

    VinceP TrainBoard Member

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    When life deals me lemons I always get mush.

    Just now will be completely starting over with a clean slate.

    The rental properties moved me into another place they have.

    So the dogs and I have a roof over our heads.

    Back to modeling at least hoping to very soon.
     
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  19. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    I successfully completed my first fully soldered prototype today, using Rob Paisley's circuit for single coil solenoids as in Kato Unitrack turnouts. It took several iterations to get the panel indications correct with Green LED on for normal route, Yellow for diverging, and to have the toggle switch lever up for normal route and to maintain Kato's black/red plug polarity so that I'll not be cutting or swapping wires around under the layout. This is just a hacked up test panel. My layout panel will be flat black laminate with 1/4" high white numbers above each control.

    Most of the circuit guides use red and green LEDs, but I thought yellow was more suitable than red for a diverging route as seen by an Engineer under normal operating conditions.

    My circuit layout:
    2018-04-16 001 Turnout Controller - for upload.jpg

    Normal route indication:
    2018-04-16 002 Turnout Controller.jpg

    Diverging route indication:
    2018-04-16 003 Turnout Controller.jpg
     
    Last edited: Apr 17, 2018
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  20. Kurt Moose

    Kurt Moose TrainBoard Member

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    Hmmm, that'd be a nice box for a Z-scale layout!:rolleyes:
     

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