Welcome back everyone. I hope you had a good and productive weekend. Let's see how we all did. Friday: As soon as I had published the Friday Weekend Modeling Plans thread, I got busy packing and getting everything staged for Steve's arrival. We packed his Ford Escape which ironically, I sold him when I worked at a dealership and headed down the road. First stop was breakfast then on to Galesburg. We arrived at 12:30 and started setting up with the Heritage N scale group. We had trains running by 5:00pm and went as a group for dinner. Once at the hotel we crashed. Saturday: I walked the show and picked up a few N scale and HO scale vehicles I was looking for including the Rapido Chevy Caprice and the B&M trailer then I found two Tanget cabooses one for Penn Central and another for early Conrail. Since there was only one each, I picked them both up. I think I have a Tanget Caboose addiction. After some shopping I returned to the NTrak modules and ran a medium sized B&M freight followed by my Kato Burlington Zephyr. I also visited with a lot of friends in between. The show was busy and there was a lot of full-scale trains right outside the door. We shut down at 4:00 and met as a group for BBQ before calling it a day. Sunday: With a few less people than the day before, I walked around and searched for more vehicles. I was able to find an HO station wagon and a cherry red 1967 Ford Mustang. Modeling the 1970s and 1980s in either HO or N is hard when it comes to vehicles. I need more sedans and station wagons. The rest of the afternoon was spent visiting with friends. Soon it was 2:00 and it was time to shut down and start packing. I was happy my NTrak module ran well all weekend, now I need to devote some time for scenery on it. With all the modules packed, Steve and I headed home, stopped for dinner, unloaded, said goodbye to a tired Steve and sat down to visit with Angela and the dogs. We then realized it was time for bed and poof, another weekend was in the books. So how about you? What did you do this past weekend? Let us know. We'll come back on Friday, June 30th to start the process all over again. Until then, have a good week, stay cool, be safe and as always... High Greens!
Saturday was spent indoors on account of some rain and ended up doing more unpacking until we went over and visited with some friends in the afternoon, adults played board games while the kids ran amok. Sunday I got up and spent four hours weeding the garden, which had gotten overgrown between when the last owners moved out and we moved it. I followed that up with yet another trip to the orange hardware store and spent some time fixing furniture, closet rods, doors, and door stops afterwards. But at the end of the day I decided on an HO scale track plan for my kid-friendly layout. I’m using Lance Mindheim’s LAJ as the starting point. It’ll have a team track, a warehouse, and perhaps another industry. I even decided on the freelanced railroad’s name and reporting marks, but I’ll save that for another time once I’ve got the paint scheme figured out. I think I’m going to go ahead and scenic it up nice as practice for my n scale empire later on. [mention]Jim Wiggin [/mention] thanks for reminding me about the Rapido Caprice’s. I borrowed our family ‘89 caprice wagon a lot as a kid but since I primarily work in n scale, I forgot that Rapido made those-the even came out with w burgundy wood side one that would almost an exact match to the one I drove in high school. Very excited. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Monday already??? Saturday, slept in and then went to the workbench, made coffee a lot of coffee and spent a couple of hours installing metal wheels. The wife had errands that we needed to run and that consumed the rest of the day. Sunday was filled with our normal routine and a late dinner out. About the only thing I accomplished was researching a couple of items I'd like to have and now here we are at Monday again. Hope you all have a great week!
Good mornin to Y'all, Saturday: So, I did in fact clean some track on my layout. I cleaned the main line and switch complex. (I left the yard alone - perhaps next weekend). Then the fun began. I set the first train in motion. She a few inches and stopped - and so on. Was really strange. As the last time I ran her - she ran great. (The head end is/was a Kato A-B-A F7 set. The A's have Economi sound decoders). So, I swapped out the head end -- same thing. The train would about an inch or two -- then stop. A few seconds - she would would start again -- a few inches and stop. What the heck. I checked each loco by it self -- good to good to go. Connect back to the train. Same cycle. I grabbed a switcher. Ran her by herself -- good to go. Put her on the train -- same cycle. So... the light bulb went off..... There must be a short. The only thing it could be --- the brass caboose. Pulled the caboose off --- the train ran beautifully. Again -- WTH-? The last time I ran the train (With said caboose) -- no problems. So, what changed - ? I then set the other train in motion -- she ran great. Woohoo!! So, for the offending caboose, I changed the wheels to MT plastic. (Should have done that, years ago) Sunday: With Saturday's mystery behind me -- I figured I'd have a peaceful hour (or so) of running trains. ---- Nope This time it was the other train. A set of Lifelike FA's (A-B-B-A) -- Did the same thing as the "other" train. Run a few inches and stop. WTH-? She ran great yesterday. So, I pulled the caboose (Yup, Y'all guessed it -- brass). The train ran great. -- Swapped the wheels for MT plastic... no more problems. So, again -- over night -- what changed - ? I did check the insulated side of the wheel sets -- the insulated wheels were on the same side of the trucks. Murphy sure has a warped sense of humor. I also messed around in the switch complex with an SP Alco S-1 Y'all have a great week, Wolf
Good morning. Good weekend of modeling. 1. Got all five control panels laminated to MDF board and ready to start wiring. This will be a long term project, now I have no excuse for not getting it done. 2. Got out the Scenic Express trees and soaked them in diluted matte medium and hung them to dry. Pretty much followed the video I linked on Friday. I have 43 tree armatures ready to finish now. 3. Then surprise of surprises, last fall I signed up for a BLI 2-8-2 Mikado. This is a BLI replication of the C&O's heavy "Mike" w/ the long Vanderbuilt tender. I ordered mine through the C&O Historical Society last fall and it showed up out of the clear blue Friday afternoon. Saturday I got on the work bench programming track and changed a few things plus put in the road number address. Put it to work. Good looking engine. There a few things on the decoder I don't like, but nothing major. Have a great week all!!
Good morning everyone, it was a quiet weekend here and I got a few little things done in the train room. 1. Cleaned off the work bench. Now how long will it stay this way ? 2. Repaired my friends Kato F7A. The LED light had burned out and that is unusual. New LED is a bright white one. 3. Repaired the circuit that automates the reverse loop on one of my staging yards. Now I can let trains run automatically over the entire layout again. Have a great week and will be back here on Friday.
Continuing with my airbrush theme, this time around as I painted the load of pipes from Black Green to Ocean Gray ( closest thing I have to pipe color right now ), I actually got close enough with the airbrush that I could see the lines being applied like on some YT videos. First time for that, to say I was excited would be an under statement I was doing so well, that I actually grabbed a tiny dumpster to see IF I could control the airbrush to only paint the sides and not the top, and guess what, success Now, to see if i can paint the top of the dumpster Black Green of course, basically Black, without screwing up the sides? And during this process the battery drained and I had no pressure to speak of. Maybe it wasn't fully charged from the factory? I think I understand the charging lights now too, I think. Took about 3-4 hours for a full charge. Constantly learning about airbrushing in general, and also how this rechargeable unit works. Click to enlarge photos. That are basically out of focus! There is also a button on the bottom of it to change it from 20 psi to 30 psi, seems like a lot for a rechargeable airbrush, but that's what the manual says, and I am having a hard time feeling the difference? No problem though, both settings work. Me happy with new toy, I mean tool Can you tell? Alright all charged up, time to go play, I mean work with the airbrush!
Not for nothing, but that seems like a great product development opportunity for the right company @Jim Wiggin
Good morning from cloudy, warm and rainy Northeast Ohio! Over the weekend, I managed to finish decaling a 1958CF Covered Hopper, a X29 Boxcar, and an 89' Piggyback Flat. Also painted a 1937 AAR Boxcar kit. On Saturday, went to club and ran my Bowser NKP RS-3's with a general freight. Biggest project was adding parts to a Proto 2000 GP7 kit. I don't like plastic grabs and lift rings so I substituted metal ones along with bending the special curved grab on the short hood that the DT&I used on their GP7's and 9's. Rick Jesionowski
Actually, collecting something model railroady is an "affinity" (fyi). I remember running amok as a kid. My cousins were over and the noise was up. My dad came into the back bedroom and said, "Don't be 'fanning around'. You'll start coughing." Who knew? Yes. I remember when Monday came last week and I hardly did anything. I hate it when cabooses commit "sabotoogy". Forty-three trees ready to finish! (I wish my loco's would appear out of this air. ) In my case, a clean workbench = uncluttered brain. I like new toys. GP-7 coming along. Friday, I don't remember what I did. I think nothing. Saturday, a visit to the model railroad club. Sunday, no model railroad stuff other than planning. Today, now working on loco bells. Very slow tedious process. Have a great week.
Friday: I did some homework (but not a lot) and was mostly lazy but I did order LED replacement bulbs for my halogen work lamp (because I'm thinking that we may need it if we start working on the crawlspace of the Sebring Model Railroad Club. Then, after a day of being cooped up inside, my wife and I went to wander about at Wal-mart, and a few other stores. Saturday: I spent most of the day rearranging and cleaning my bedroom. Last week we decided to buy a new sofa and recliner that would be more friendly to my wife's allergies (and spent a couple days moving and assembling them) but although the old sofa moved across the room to be used by our children and other visitors, there was no place for my faithful recliner. So, I rearranged my bedroom so that I can have a place to read while my wife is watching television. Later, we took the dogs to the dog park for an hour and half. As usual, our gang made many new friends. Sunday, was church (of course), followed by a trip to the train club, along with the cardboard boxes from the sofa and recliner, so that we can use them as walkways in the club crawlspace. I also took along two cases of Diet Mountain Dew for the club supply. While there I got the bookkeeping done, and we spent some time gluing down cork roadbed for the small yard at the grain elevator at the edge of our new port facility. There's more to do but we made good progress. In the evening, Amazon delivered the new LED lamps for my work light so I installed and tested one. It worked well and is brighter than I expected so I expect that it will work well. Hopefully, the LED lamps will not be as fragile as the halogen lamps often were.
I have so many questions. I'm only beginning to understand how reverse look electronics work... but what does your circuit do, perhaps in addition to, or alongside of, or even as a replacement for, the commercially available reverse loop circuits? What exactly does it automate? Our club has a reverse loop inside of mountain that currently isn't used (because, I think, the reverse loop circuit doesn't work - or was borrowed for elsewhere). A couple of us hope to learn enough about reverse loops, and their circuitry, to get this repaired and running again.
Moose's weekend... Friday: Reviewed documentation related to an operations session for the next day. Lots to learn. Hard to completely comprehend having never participated or even viewed an ops. session. Moose then started reviewing NMRA Civil & Electrical certification criteria... Saturday: Moose went to first ops. session ever! What fun! The yard master did not take it as a kindness that Moose's trains tended to show up at the yard limit unannounced, but beyond that all went well. Looking forward to the next session on another layout... Sunday: In the morning, Mr & Mrs Moose went to a local car show. Viewed some really nice restorations and some cars in dire need of restoration. Salivated over a pair of mid-'60's T-Birds, and discovered Mrs Moose likes their looks as well -- that could be danger-filled! Also eyed a gentleman's 1963 Riviera; it's owner offered to sell it to Moose. Yea-nooo Buicks for this Moose. Go Ford or go home! Bwaaa! (insert evil moose laugh here) In the evening, Moose started putting together a plan to earn the NMRA Civil & Electrical certification criteria ... Also took a peek at the NMRA Chief Dispatcher certification criteria; earning this certificate is not at all a priority, but reading up on its requirements will help focus Moose on learning ops. and how Moose's own layout might be adapted for use in future ops. sessions (hooves crossed)... From the car show:
Hey All, It was 102 or better this weekend in S. Texas, so a good opportunity to stay inside and get some modeling projects knocked out. I spent Friday and Saturday printing up some decals for friends for my "Wichita & Northwestern" project. In addition to sending some out the door in today's mail, I made two new examples of boxcars for the W&NW: The two with black (Gunship Gray) doors are new ideas. The 40-ft car is an Athearn RTR modernized boxcar model, repainted from a Rock Island car. The 50-ft car on the right is an Accurail model. Very similar to the plug-door boxcar, just a different door option (I think). I'll order some white decal sets for a few boxcar (oxide) red cars now that I have the sizes about right. A great thing about a sectional/modular layout is that you can just pull out a module and work on long-overdue projects when you have time. This section, with a small creek scene was among the first I built 4+ years ago. This weekend, I finally worked on some water for the creek, using a gloss medium from Golden (Gloss Acrylic Medium 500). After a recent resin pour on a different scene that never set up after two months, I though I would give this a try. The stuff goes on white, but will dry clear after a day or so... Yesterday Evening: This morning: I'll go back over it during the week and catch some spots under the bridge that I missed. OK, that's it. Have a good week All! -Bob T.
That's my theme now, too! I just ordered the same one from Amazon. I'll get the feel of the thing and soon visit the LHS for paint and other stuff. Fun is in my future! I had three Crown Vics among others. Yer preachin' to the choir, rev'rend!! You can't beat the law of entropy. Organized things naturally tend toward a disorganized state. In plain language, it will soon be a mess again...
Good weekend! Friday: Went to see a musical put on by a local theater company. My son's roommate played violin in the orchestra so that was fun. Good time. Saturday: Busy day. Started with a couple home tours. Then we got a few groceries and retrieved some model railroad stuff from the storage unit. Made mushroom fajitas for dinner. Later I organized the locos and track for Sunday's big event. Sunday: Started work on the Dogbone on Countertop and Eastern Railway. Took a break before completion for some crepes on the village green. After returning home I finished the layout and hooked up the power supplies. Success! All nine locomotives worked. Had a few scares along the way as I learned things about the latest decoders. I remember being proud to figure out how to change the CV to start the Mars light. Yesterday I met the "Hold" function. Also experienced two-stage startup sequences. Someday I will have to figure out how to remap all those functions because the manufacturers still haven't agreed on what goes where. At least the light, bell and horn are set. I think. Family portrait: L to R: 3 Rapido F40PH-2D, Scale Trains GTEL Turbine, RailSmith/BLI F5, F3A/B, F3A/B, Kato FEF-3, Kato 2-8-2 Mikado The F40's were part of the Canadian release, the Turbine I won at the convention raffle, the F3/F5 part of the NCL series, the FEF from the TB marketplace and the Mikado NOS from a vendor at the convention. All but the Mikado are sound equipped. Without a test track, or any track, these have been collecting over the past three years without knowing if they worked or not. While not a torture test, all ran smoothly. The various simple functions worked and I learned a little about different decoders quirks. Finally, I was able to enjoy the Canadian as it negotiated the countertop while skirting the gas range. Got done what I hoped. Now I need to put stuff away again, complete a few other projects and then put the test track back together. Stay safe,
I did not make it here yesterday as the wife had a rough weekend. She was having trouble with her breathing starting late last week. She called her allergist, but they told her to contact her primary. She contacted her primary only to find out her doctor left the practice and none of the remaining doctors were willing to help here over the phone or via a telemed visit as it was Friday afternoon. Looks like she is going to be searching for another practice. Saturday things started out well. We went to the produce store and a nursery. After the nursey she had a coughing spell that brought us home. The rest of Saturday was uneventful. Sunday started out well. She replanted one of the window boxes that the squirrels had destroyed and I planted the plants we got Saturday in the front garden. Afterwards we hung out on the front patio and then went inside and did a few small chores as the weather looked threatening. As the evening wore on her coughing spells increased in severity. She also began to experience the chills and took her temperature which was over 102. At that point we headed off to the emergency room. After 6 hours there and a bunch of tests they determined she had a major sinus infection but no pneumonia. After a couple of Tylenol and an antibiotic we were on our way home getting there about 3 AM. Yesterday I went tot the pharmacy and picked up her meds. With the antibiotic she is feeling a hundred times better. Somehow despite all the drama I did manage to replace the couplers and add screws to the coupler clips on five Athearn cars.
Got started installing my HOn30 log car trucks.Had forgotten to check for having the proper wheelsets. For once I was lucky. I actually have more than enough on hand. Then spent more time filing my boat racing button collection. Wound it all up with a many hours long back and forth messaging with a BNSF conductor acquaintance. Nice and relaxing. The way it should be!
It doesn't look like much but it seemed to take forever to build this, and there is more to do. I still need to add wire runs, backdrops, trim the subroadbed and fit the upper level subroadbed. This section is 28"x8' double deck to facilitate the east end of West Colton on the lower level and Indio staging on the upper on my SP in the IE N scale layout. Model Railroading will be fun once all this heavy construction is done. At least that's what I keep telling myself.
