i got six cats on my bench right causing a major pet problem they want to play with all the little peices to a couple of freight car kits. i guese its time to sic the dog on them,!!!!
Good to see I'ma not the only cat person on board here. That doesn't mean I don't like dogs as I've had my Newphies and Labs. Recently six kittens arrived and absolutely enjoyed my work bench. Yesterday, they headed out of here to good homes and a happy future. Thankfully. Work bench? What's on it? Loads of N scale locomotives, passenger cars and freight cars. A few friends, HO scale locomotives sitting here waiting for parts and DCC decoders. One will end up with sound. A few N scale projects with older LL's, Trix and MP's locos waiting for new Kato chassis's. Heck, I'm so overwhelmed with stuff to fix I'ma about ready to trash it all and start over.:uhoh: Grin! Got to get to work.
Robbert - do you use a magnifier to do that? You definately must have a steady hand to get those little details!
Eagle2, i don't use a magnifier, just my ayes(still young eh) and i sure have steady hands, for the eyes ,and other small details, i hold my breath so i don't screw it up. this is how far i got now: and an other figure i painted a few days ago: Robbert
Today I just picked up a used Atlas/Kato GP-9, NH 1206. First generation split frame. Read Spook's review, wheelbase sucks. For $20 do I care that much right now? Are any current parts applicable to this loco? Walkway/handrails, new PCB's w/LED's? Truck gears were dry, no lube at all. Have to open up frame and check all that. Would a Scale Speed motor drop in to this? Joe D
It is my understanding that the wheelbase is close to correct. The problem is that the shell is "stretched" to fit over the same frame that was used for an earlier Alco RS locomotive. The end result was a goofy looking locomotive with the wrong proportions. There were a couple of aftermarket retro frames that reposition the trucks so that they don't look so bad. Here are both the old with a retro frame (bottom) and the newer model with the correct shell dimensions.
Whats on my workbench right now ? A pad of paper and a calculator ! Trying to figure spacing for my Walthers 130' turntable tracks. The template gives a nice 10 degree spacing at the edge of the rim...which is fine...if I want 4 track per quadrant. 1 at 0...one at 30...one at 60...one at 90. But trying to figure 5 tracks and the spacing at the rim of that table is ALMOST driving me to drink !! The template doesnt have 22.5...45...67.5 . At the moment...I believe I will set tracks at 0...45...90 and then eyeball the 22.5 and 67.5. Or just leave it at 4 tracks instead of 5 per quadrant. As someone said before on another post...all this math makes my head hurt...LOL. As an aside...I ran trains all day while calculating...the 'noise' was soothing
Russ, do you know who made those frames? Took loco frame apart, clean inside, but dry. A 'lil dab of white grease on worm, some oil for motor, and I'll put it together. Wheels are heavily oxidized. What's best to clear that up? Thanks. Joe D
JnJ Trains and N Scale of Nevada both had "correction" frames for the Kato Geeps. Unfortunately, both are out of business; so probably pretty tough to find nowadays. -Mark
Mine were made by N Scale of Nevada or something like that. I believe they are long out of business. I still see retro frames at swap meets every now and then. Just running the locomotive will usually get the oxidation off the wheels. Sometimes a brass wire brush wheel cleaner like Trix and Microtrains used to sell will speed up the process. If they sort of pick up enough power to get things rolling, you can drape a coffee filter over the rails, wet it with some lighter fluid, and place one truck on bare track while the other is over the paper. The spinning wheels will polish themselves. Swap the engine around so you can clean the other truck. Here is what I use. The shaver thing is for cleaning crud off the rails.
Finally finished the RLW Nn3 conversion to a N scale Class A. But of course Murphy did raise his ugly head for one more swing at me. Had used Micro Mask on the window sheet plastic to protect it after dull coating. It and the thin plastic plus dull coat saw to disagree among themselves with the result that I finally got the glazing out and went with Kristal Klear for glazing. Photo and flash gives the impression the the green in the windows is outside the frame but it is all inside. Top of the roof and oil tank are both cluttered with the assortment of tools, axes, shovels, push broom, cribbing, ladders, and chain. Front pilot has manila hawser, and a water bucket and shovel on it. A shot of all three Class A locos, with the RLW conversion in the center, showing the assorted clutter on the locos ranging from rerail frogs to tools. One has a hose reel and suction hose for firefighting. One of the two peviuosly built Class A loco from scratch has now been retrofitted with a Bmann 44 tonner chassis and the last is awaiting a new 70 tonner mechanism. The old LL SW mechanisms will be disassembled and consigned to the parts box the keep my small fleet of them running. Other than a little weathering I'm done. Time for a drastic departure from the RR stuff and going to go back and pick up on my long ignored coastal and river fleet of vessels for the future harbor scene. A quick postscript. The repowered scratchbuilt Class A weights in at just a shade over 2 oz. and the RLW Class A with it's metal body weights in at 3.25 oz. Tomorrow I'll play with it on the test track to see what type of grade I can pull and how many cars.
Cleared the workbench and cleaned up this AM. This PM broke out the test track and some cars to test the RLW Class A conversion powered by a 70 tonner mechanism. Smooth mechanism that just needs a little more break in time to get smoother. Same with the scratchbuilt Class A that was repowered with a 44 tonner chassis. 4% grade with ten cars is the max. Drops down to 4 cars at 6%. With the 2nd Class A as a pusher I can get 14 cars up the 6%. Some of the cars were my 34 ft. log cars while the rest were made up of some 40 ft log cars and bulkhead flats also 40 ft. All cars had loads and some of the cars were not as free wheeling as I like. Once I get the wheels rolling better and If the consist stays all 34 ft log flats with loads, the actaul car count up grade will probably increase some. Still have some minor coupler tweaking to do on both but in all I am happy with the performance and I still have room to add some tungsten if I feel I need more performance. None of the Class A locos have traction tires.
Darn John, you are really going ape over those logging locos. Looking good. As for me, somehow this unplanned project sneaked onto my workbench this weekend. I had an old Atlas Rivarossi smooth side Baggage RPO (I think it was a Monon conversion of a hospital car prototype) It has nice rivet detail on its side so lends itself well for heavyweight kit bashes. I cut up a baggage car for the ends, floor, doors and roof. Had the decals so was ready to go.
Looks good Russ. Is that one of the metal etchings used for the RPO section mail catcher? I'm only up to about 11 or 12 logging locos compared to my regular loco roster of about 50 not counting B units. If I ever get the new layout built it could probably be best described as a logging, mining, and quarrying show that happens to have a mainline railroad run through it.
Thanks. Yes that is a metal etching left over from one of the M & R car sides sets. The stirrup steps are also left overs off of etching frets. So your mainline railroad will just be background scenery for you logging operations.
RIP, John. Just put a newer skew-wound atlas motor I had laying around. I had it's bag labeled as "fast RS" I know it's not a scale/slow speed motor, but skew wound should have less cogging at slower speeds? It was a direct drop fit. Should have it all together and on track later. Have to call atlas for handrails for Japan loco. Think I have a newer light board with leds that will fit. Got BLW to order MT 1155 pilot kit. Need to print # boards. It's fun tinkering to improve/fix something Joe D
