SP in 1953, Daylight & Overnight

Onizukachan Nov 18, 2018

  1. mtntrainman

    mtntrainman TrainBoard Supporter

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    You can buy a 'misting bottle' just about anywhere. Pharmacies, garden shops, big box stores, dollar stores, etc. etc. 'Spritz' water or 70% rubbing alcohol as opposed to 'spraying' it. JMO

    Also...there are hundreds of 'ballasting' how to's on YouTube ;):whistle:
     
  2. Onizukachan

    Onizukachan TrainBoard Supporter

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    It’s 50/50 91 alcohol and water with a couple drops of dish soap. The mixture worked fine, but I was basically misting half the modules for a couple of inches of ballast. Was wasteful.

    Tonight I did the full shoulder along the edge of the module with the bead of glue and paint brush method, then sprinkled ballast on from a spoon. Once it started to set up I smoothed it with a finger tip, and misted wet water on and dripped a 60/40 mix of water and glue on

    I also touched up between the tracks fore and aft of the switch stand where it was a little low. Next one I do I will round the cork shoulders and make my life easier.

    A slew of tomix track and a PWM motor controller is on its way so she can layout the desired trolley track so I can mount and wire it.
     
    Last edited: Jul 2, 2019
  3. Joe Lovett

    Joe Lovett TrainBoard Member

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    I use a medicine dispenser to apply ballast. It works great for my N scale layout and it was free from Walgreens Pharmacy. They have an eye dropper with the dispenser for $3.99 on one of the aisles if you need both. I'm sure any pharmacy will have the same thing.

    Joe
     

    Attached Files:

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  4. Onizukachan

    Onizukachan TrainBoard Supporter

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    Ballasting nearly complete. I’ll give it a good brushing and vacuuming tomorrow after it dries overnight.

    I’ve been using those drink straws like come in pouch drinks (CapriSun etc) as a tool to clean the rails and ends of the ties off before the glue completely hardens. Because they are hollow they pick up the ballast instead of just moving it around.
    Worked for me anyway!

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  5. BNSF FAN

    BNSF FAN TrainBoard Supporter

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    Ballast looks good. Neat idea with the small straws. (y)
     
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  6. Onizukachan

    Onizukachan TrainBoard Supporter

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    Looking at it with un sleepy eyes and in a photo I can see a few small touchup areas.
    One of the benefits of sharing here, I see stuff I wouldn’t have seen otherwise!
     
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  7. Onizukachan

    Onizukachan TrainBoard Supporter

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    We have the start of a working railroad!
    Because of the very small overhang we used the PCC trolley to test the tracks, as well as to test the 4xAA $3 PWM throttle.

     
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  8. Onizukachan

    Onizukachan TrainBoard Supporter

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    Some of the tomix arrived, made a proof of concept piece to better learn how to do track embedded in the roadbed.
    I didn’t want to use plaster as it is messy, and styrene looked wrong to me. I used black foam and WS HO roadbed.

    I cut the WS HO roadbed down the existing off center line with a pair of sharp scissors, flipped it over and glued the angled side right to the tomix roadbed and outside of the rail with scenic glue.

    I like the larger side side of the WS foam, doing two large sides would work very well for a 3 lane road, with trolley being the middle lane.
    The thin black foam is very difficult to cut with scissors, well difficult to cut straight enough. Need one of those paper slicers to cut thin strips straight enough and narrow enough to fit but wide enough to only leave the wheel flange gap.

    When i I do it for real I’ll paint the rails rust and the tomix bed black down the middle to hide the gap a little more.

    Now for pictures:

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    And there you have it.
     
  9. MK

    MK TrainBoard Member

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    Looks good! If you can't wait, get some scalpel blades (on Amazon) that fit in an Xacto #1 handle. They cut through foam like this as if its cheese. No snagging, straight, etc. It just slices right through. Makes Xacto blades look like a butter knife. :)
     
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  10. JMaurer1

    JMaurer1 TrainBoard Member

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    My mother used to work for a surgeon and she got me some real scalpels. Experience says be VERY CAREFUL with them. More than once I noticed my project stained red only then noticing that I have cut myself without knowing or feeling it.
     
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  11. Onizukachan

    Onizukachan TrainBoard Supporter

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    Great suggestion. The thin foam is very hard to cut straight pt as it moves around, even under a new blade.
    I’m happy to try going old school with a scalpel. Haven’t owned one in decades! What blade were you finding success with? The round tip #10, the #11 or something else?
     
    Last edited: Jul 17, 2019
  12. MK

    MK TrainBoard Member

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    The ones I have says "Miltex by Kai" on the package, Made In Japan. Each blade is individually foil packed (and I'm assume sterile). They the cutting edge is like #11 blade with the top a little curved. Fits a #1 handle perfectly.

    Unfortunately I didn't buy these as it was a from a R/C club member who passed away and he was living by himself. His kids just opened the basement to us and said "Take what you need before it goes into the dumpster."
     
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  13. Onizukachan

    Onizukachan TrainBoard Supporter

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    No worries, I ordered a good scalpel and #11 blades of amazon.
     
  14. JMaurer1

    JMaurer1 TrainBoard Member

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    Use a metal straight edge and push hard enough to smash the foam down flat. Use #11 and cut away. Usually once the foam is unsmashed the foam sides will be inside of the edges in a C shape (but not that pronounced).
     
  15. Onizukachan

    Onizukachan TrainBoard Supporter

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    Nothing major to report:

    I bought a $1 plastic pencil box at Walmart and installed the DCC++ and raspberry pi in it as my portable power system.


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  16. Onizukachan

    Onizukachan TrainBoard Supporter

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    50FF5782-C978-4D28-8D8A-40F556CBA2D3.jpeg

    Also ran 4449 on it, good way to find problems!
     
    Last edited: Jul 23, 2019
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  17. Onizukachan

    Onizukachan TrainBoard Supporter

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    Didn’t do any real model railroading, but did find that at very low speeds the tender on 4449 was shorting coming on or off the plasti frog on the atlas customline turnout, but only in forwards! In reverse it had no issue!
    I honestly couldn’t tell which end of the frog, so I filed the rails a bit to increase the gap slightly and then cheated and painted about an extra 1/4” beyond the frog between the rails and atop them with rail paint as an insulator. No more issue with 4449.
    Though I do plan on checking if one of the wheel sets is out of spec with the nmra gauge tomorrowIsh.
    I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to put the scalpel blade in the handle, but the plain blade worked nicely to slice off the slight dome left on the mars light where I made my own lens with Krystal Kleer.

    I also got my tomix bridge in today. Don’t get excited! It’s not that gorgeous double track bridge, but rather a small trough girder bridge (not thru girder, those are taller!) that would be suitable for a small creek or a finger of a pond as it has no real height at all. Or crossing the wier of a small dam.
    I thought it jsut looked cool as all heck, and like something that looked right for the envisioned scenario in San Medina Ca.

    EBay photo,
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    Last edited: Jul 24, 2019
  18. Onizukachan

    Onizukachan TrainBoard Supporter

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    Fooled around with the GS4 again now that I have DCC operational on the module.

    Also, major difference in sound between WS foam roadbed and not. I can confirm the sound of track on cork is about the same as direct mounted track. I think I will have to switch over to WS for the trolley as a result!

     
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  19. Onizukachan

    Onizukachan TrainBoard Supporter

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    I got the tomix chassis for my birthday (the 27th) and after extending the wheelbase to the second position and installing the LL (longest) rear frame extension... Enjoy the comparo shot.

    EBEBDD14-3BD4-4BA1-9996-CABA694BB75F.jpeg

    Up next is Krystal Kleer windows, LED headlight, driver, and replacing the trolley pole itself with fiber optic so I can have the simulated spark at the end from an Ngineering catenary spark module.
     
    Last edited: Jul 28, 2019
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  20. BNSF FAN

    BNSF FAN TrainBoard Supporter

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    That definitely looks cool!
     

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