HO Scale - What's On Your Workbench?

A Couple of In-Progress shots of my Lehigh Valley X58 Boxcar kit.



Here I have added all the brake lever guides, brake levers and rods, the small lever with out any rods, is for the hand brake connections which will be added later. The trucks are added temporarily now, to protect the brake gear while other detail work is going on.



Bent and installed the end ladders on both ends of the car, also installed the coupler pockets and couplers at this time.

Thanks for looking!

Rick Jesionowski

 

Some more in progress shots on the X58 Boxcar.



I have installed the hand brake rigging which extends up to the hand brake on the left side of the picture,



Retaining Valve Airline installed running from the ABD Valve and running down the right side of the car to the brake end of the car.



End of the car showing the retaining valve airline, hand brake rigging and the hand brake platform.

Thanks for looking!

Rick Jesionowski

 

Holey Moley, Rick - are these actually gonna work? I'm expecting to see tiny brake shoes as part of a fully operational brake system! Just kidding - but wow - what a project!

 

Posting for those that might have this issue:

I have a friend at the RR Club with an Atlas Dash 8-40BW locomotive. It completely died on him and would not run, no sound, lights or anything. I brought the unit home and got it to reset on a D.C. Test track I set up. (QSI sound is reset on D.C. Regardless if the unit is either). I got the unit to start with lights and sound on DCC but when I tried to get it to move it would spool up and then immediately die again. I found I could tilt the unit off the track for a few seconds and it would start up again, then immediately die when I tried to move it. I thought possibly there was a loose wire inside or some type of intermittent short.

So I removed the shell (no easy feat as those of you with these know) and checked all the wiring for pinches or bare spots or loose connections. No joy there. So without the shell I put it back on the track and lo and behold it powered up with lights and sound. So I tried to get it to move, died again. I started to lift it off and it started back up. So being the stubborn person I am, I tried getting it to move again, it stopped after about 1 second. I tapped the back end over the truck and she started right back up.

It got me thinking I had seen a similar problem with my BLI SW-1500 with the pick-ups in the trucks. I had to go to conductive oil to solve the issue.

Atlas uses a pick-up that is located on the back of the side frame and actually has a hole that the axel shaft outboard of the wheel fits into. I pried the side frame out on one of the trucks and saw that it was dry as a bone. So I got out my conductive oil and hit all 8 of the contact points with a bit of oil on an ultra fine applicator. I also lubed the motor shafts in the same manner.

The unit will now crawl around the layout on speed step 1 with no stutters.

The owner of the unit was sure it was fried and was considering getting a new decoder from Atlas to replace the one it has. I have had issues with the QSI sound decoders as being quirky sometimes but they are really nice sound units. The good way outweighs the bothers. But I have noticed that every once in a while I need to reset them to factory defaults.

So I guess the moral is, keep the pick-ups clean and lubed for good operations.

If this helps someone, I'm glad I posted it.

Take care all,
Dale

 

I am in the process of weathering an Athearn RTR GP35. It is currently on my workbench awaiting some more layers of weathering. This is a photo of the rooftop weathering progress.

 

Ironically Atlas locos are one of the manufacturers that I've never had an issue with... however this is not an uncommon problem in my experience, the latest I had the same issue with are Athearn SD70ACEs and Walthers Proto SD45

As well as cleaning wheels on locos I now clean pickups too... lack of use is as bad for pick ups and lots of use for wheels. with time all metals "oxidise" to a greater or lesser extent and seems prevalent on the now generally accepted form of pickups in the side frames.

 

Just off the bench, a formerly NL&G boxcar. Now patched to AGR. This is an Athearn BB car I purchased on an auction site. Weathered with water-soluble oils, Pan Pastels and acrylics.

Thanks for looking,
Dale

 

Love the paint out

 

A work in progress...



...kickin' it "old school"...

Mark in Oregon

 

Thanks for the kind words guys! I got some more in the works. I'll be back soon

 

Dale, great rust weathering! I like it a lot.

Mark, looking forward to seeing the project progressing!

 

In progress, Walters Trainline GP 15-1 Frisco. Added a rotary beacon and sun shades. Weathered with black alcohol wash, Pan Pastels and Acrylic Paint. I have a bit more to do by touching up around the headlight and darkening the rear stairwells. Then removing the liquid mask from the windows and lights.

Thanks for looking!
Dale

 

Thanks Jim, I've had this one for a couple of years. I decided to put together a little peddled freight to run at the club with it. I have a W/V caboose to go with it. I plan on fixing that up as well. It will also come in handy if I decide to do some back-dated ops on the POCR.

I'm getting some light-bleed through the cab roof I have to deal with, and the couplers need some work. Once I get all that done she will get some run time in.

The low speed is decent.

Dale