Today I was kind of in a funk. I did get the wiring problem worked out. I believe I missed labeled a track feeder at it's terminal board end. I should have noticed two feeders labeled No.4. I must have done that earlier in the week when thought I fixed the problem. I kept the layout in the operating possition and worked on the terminal board underneath while sitting in my lab chair kind of twisted around and looking up. I had a difficult time seeing the slot in the bright shinny terminal board screws. Last month my optometrist told me my vision had changed quite a bit, but not enough to be alarming. I guess he was right. I ran a couple trains and had my first slow speed meet. Electrically everything seems to be working properly. Mechanically I'm having a problem with a track switch and there are a couple large rail gaps that I need to address. Trains pull fine over them but pushing is not always successful.
MADE A LITTLE PROGRESS I swung the layout around 180° to make a paper template for cutting out the removable section of scenery. From this vantage point it was easy to see a high frog wing rail on the problem track switch. The gaurdrail sticks up high enough to stall a slow moving locomotive. I can't blame Kato for this issue. I have two switches point end to point end. They are kind of twisted due to the sharp climb up to the coal & lumber dealer. The spur to the lumber dealer climbs about ½" in 12". I'll only be shoving a car or two a time up the hill. I haven't had any problems with that. The switch at the top of the grade suffers from a low frog and can sometimes stall a locomotive running at slow speed. Coulda, shoulda, woulda, fixed that switch before I installed it. Next up; installing a parallel connector in the track feeder and switch motor wiring running to the back of the layout. This is a backfit since I decided to rip the layout in two.
MAKING ROOM FOR CONNECTORS I laid out my cut line for bisecting the layout. The 7ft ruler was in the attic when we moved into This Old Dump. Any other of you older gentlemen know what it was used for? I thought for surveying until I saw one in an antiques store. My great, great grandfather would have used one. Next I cut out some of the glued on foam sheeting to make room for terminal boards and parallel conector. It was tough pulling up the glued on foam. That's it for now, Have a Good One!
IN SUPPORT OF THE LUDITE HARD DRIVE Today I took a little break from the train room. Last night I spilled my organizer full of wire terminals all over the poorly lit attic stairs so today I cleaned up that mess. The Ludite Hard Drive When my wife and I purchased our first home together I had 6 pickup trucks full of model train magazines to move. That summer I decided to pare down my magazine collection. I went through every issue and cut out any articles I thought I would want for future reference and sorted them into files based on subject matter. I've been doing this with hard copy magazines ever since. As I mentioned on a previous post, after discovering I had purchased a few Kato Mikado, spare drivers and GHQ PRR L1 conversion kits a dozen years ago, I've decided to give Acme HCD a PRR theme. Seriously, after being out of the hobby a few years I didn't know I had these locos and kits. I did some internet research and saw that in '07 and '08 there was an in depth series of articles written about this conversion but the there are no back issues available. Ebay had one issue available. While cleaning up the wire terminals I spotted the Ludite Hard Drive and thought, since I have the L1 kits and the spare Kato Mikado drivers, I must have read the conversion articles at some point. Perhaps I saved them in the LHD. I brought down the LHD, I guess you could say I down loaded it! I pulled out the PendAFlex file named PRR Locos, the folder named Loco Upgrades and bahm! There they are. All three installments of the Kato USRA Mikado to PRR decapod conversion. My point is, having info in digital format is good, but sometimes having well organized, old fashioned hard copy at your fingertips is just the ticket. I must admit, for years I've envied the Brits that build their locomotives from kits. I understand these GHQ kits aren't easy but I'm looking forward to the challenge in the future. Have a Good One!
So last night I read through my material on the PRR I1. It turns out I don't have the extra side rods and crank pins needed. I do have most of the 1950's RMC series of articles on scratch building a locomotive. If I haven't located the side rods and crank pins by the time I'm ready to do the mods I guess I'll have to finally learn how to use my old hobbyists lathe/mill. The locomotive conversions are not a priority. I've put all my reference material, locomotives, kits, and parts in their own designated drawer in the flat file cabinet. I'll revisit it when I need a break from layout construction. So back to work on the layout. My next step is rip cutting the door and filling the voids where I make the cut. This would have been easier to do before the track went down, for sure, but when the track went down I didn't plan on moving the layout on a regular bases. Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome! Well, I'm keeping my fingers crossed and away from the saw blade Have a Good One
"Ludite" hard drive! That's funny! And so true for this 'oldhead' as some of the grandkids say..... As for the side rods, photo etched brass is an option for something new to learn. Or doing a Max Magliaro, and just cutting them out and filing away until they are correct. Either way, am looking forward to seeing what you come up with, being a mild Pennsy type guy....
Badlandnp, That's the author of the 07 &08 RMC articles. Max Magliaro. Thanks you just saved me a trip up stairs. I still need to list and credit the older articles. I won't get to the hands on portion of the locomotive projects until this summer at the earliest. I'm working on finding some parts and more refence material. I'll probably do a Minitrix K-4 up grade first. SWIMO wants to see some scenery and structures first.
I'm taking a break from the layout it's self and building an old RAILHEAD kit, Liberty CO-OP Granary, Kit #73-22. This old kit is has cardstock walls, etched brass windows and doors, cardboard tube for the silos, 400 grit sand paper for the roof and corrugated siding for the truck shed. The kit had no strip wood for bracing but I'm going to brace it thoroughly. Guessing by the kit number of #73-22 I'm guessing it was first produced in 1973. If anyone has more info about this old kit please chime in. The cardstock is all die-cut. A couple window openings are a little crooked but I think the window trim will hide it. The walls are still flat and so far all pieces I measured are have less than 1/64" variation in width between the floor and the roof. It has been many years since I've built a structure and I've only done a couple in cardstock or cardstock additions. So I'm going to relax, listen to A Night to Remember by Walter Loyd, about the sinking of the Titanic, and see how things work out. I'm pretty sure I'll have a better night than the passengers and crew of the Titanic. Have a Good One!
Thanks! It is a similar style to the O scale Korber Models #315 grain silo kit. RAILHEAD kit has fewer silos but does have an attached office.
Since I know nothing about a granary or grain elevator I may use the wrong terminology. Today I made some progress on the workhouse portion of the kit. I'm cutting wooden bracing from miscellaneous pieces of strip wood from a Kappler craft lumber pack. Using all the same size strip wood for bracing would be easier but I'm using whats on hand. Going forward on the other sections I will sort out several like size pieces Cutting through little tabs left at the top and bottom of each window Cutting stripwood bracing. Touch up sanding braces to final length on my Dickson sander. This was built from an 1980's model train magazine. It's basically a shooting board. Mine is a little big for working in N scale. Here are the pieces I've braced so far. I'm using E6000 for the first time. It is working out well for me. I like the amount of open time it has, but is still relatively fast driving. In the future I may try thinning it out a little. I tried a gel acc glue but did not like how I could not make adjustments one the pieces were joined. I don't have any thin acc glue to apply after braces are clamped into position. I think that may be the way to go on final sub assembly glue up. I'm glad I finally have an update to post. I can't believe it's been almost three weeks since I worked on the layout. Have a Good One
When I compare this to the silos on your layout I have feelings of inadequacy! Actually I wasn't going to build this until I saw a built up Korber kit on YouTube. I'm thinking this will be a stand in until I build a fruit and vegetable wholesaler. Then it may become a coal silo until I build that kit. Who knows.
Who makes that black antique looking device for cutting equal length stock? Never seen that one before.
MK, I don't remember. There are no markings on it. I can cut 90° much more accurately with this than my Midwest miter box. There are screw a holes for mounting to a bench or board. When I'm seated at my work bench I mostly work on the catch tray with a board across it. I'm thinking about mounting the cutting fixture and my sanding fixture on a board that would replace the catch tray on my watchmakers bench. That way I could just pull the board out and flip it over to cut and sand or use the bottom of the board as a work surface.
I finished adding bracing on two of four sub assemblies. Here I have the workhouse and rail overhang subassemblies temporarily held together just to check fit of the bracing. Today I sorted through the Kappler Craft Lumber pack until I found a half dozen or so pieces roughly130" × .070". No special reason I picked that size other than it was the first size I found a half dozen or more. I think drawing the bracing pieces on the inside of the walls and making a cut list will speed things up a little. I don't want to rush but I would like to see a little more progress each work session. I also need to take notes on lessons learned so I can apply them when I scratch build a couple larger industries. Namely a fruit and produce wholesaler and possibly a moderately sized coal mine. That's it for this update. Have a Good One!
I masked off gluing surfaces and sprayed interior walls with a medium gray primer. I started gluing up sub-assemblies. Then I temporarily assembled the structure I mixed some Durham's Water Putty with primer to form a paste and began filling seams I'm going to let this dry a few days before a light sanding and base coat of paint. Next I'll paint the windows and doors. Have a Good One!
