Beautiful!.... i have 3 low trestles that need to be constructed for my layout, but I don't know who makes wooden trestle bents... Mine will be ballasted deck timber trestles... -Bruce
Yep , gave it some thought , made 2 pair , bent up 2 pair , and threw away 2 pair. We don't need no stinking guard rails !!!!! I also tried spiking the track in as well, DOAH !!!!! :frustrated: Mike
Mike the bridge looks great. ME does sell bridge track which includes smaller rail for the guardrails and makes it quite easy, but you likely knew that. Looking forward to videos of trains rolling across it. For me its trees and shrubs for a new module debuting at the January 11 and 12 GTE show. I have not planted them yet as I need some grass.
Should be a great scene, John, maybe even a good photo spot... Mike, I fully understand. I well remember the frustration of bending and soldering the pieces to make the guard rail, and it never really ended up quite straight. It just seemed such a necessary fixture at the time, but I probably would think at least twice about trying the process again...
In this case, "workbench" was my computer. Designed and mocked up control panels for the Los Angeles Division on my layout. Wanted something simple but "railroady". With DCC, I'm getting away from classic track diagrams and switches in some locations and rely instead on "macros"; track numbers that correspond to macro addresses. Punch in one track number and voila, all turnouts get lined as appropriate. Very slick... This one is for a hidden staging yard, visible on small B&W monitor. Middle of panel is for occupancy. Eventually it may get LED's, but right now, magnetic strips with loco/train id will do. Easy to use and uncluttered, I like it. Regards, Otto K.
More work detailing my Dash 9. Getting ready for paint. Hand bending wire has opened up a whole new level for me... not sure how I detailed without it.
The Dash 9 is looking great! I have 3 of those on the workbench right now, and you are right, some hand bent wire goes a long ways!
Very impressive control panel, Otto!!! Your DCC/software interface looks so slick, now excuse me while i go cover my toggle switch filled DC panel with a large cloth so it remains hidden. Robert
LOL Robert, and thanks for the compliment. I do have toggle switch panels as well, even with DCC it's sometimes more convenient to just flip a switch:
Otto... beautiful! I've been running a few more F units through the detail shop....3 more boosters, in this case...have many more to do! Microscale came through with another big batch of ATSF warbonnet sheets (for E and F units) so the Boosters are getting the "Santa Fe" lettering...I have enough 1957 pic evidence to show that a lot of B units got the lettering, to the point that I feel 'safe' adding these....knowing netter to say "never say never" and "always"....i may not add the lettering to all of my B units...only if someone can actually prove that all warbonnet B units had the lettering by 1957. thanks for looking, ~Bruce
That's a lot of B units, Bruce! Something about big lash-ups like that makes me smile. Speaking of that, I just finished peeling off all the masking tape and quickly assembling my Wisconsin and Southern GP38 (Minus decals!) for my goal of one big WSOR lashup. I accurately painted it with the correct gray on the roof and walkways (And stairs but I'm not there yet) Now all that's left is to apply decals, finish the metal handrails, touch up a few overspray spots, and install all the grab irons and little details, like on the roof. Unfortunately, I think my red came out a little too dark compared to my Kato SD40-2 units (I'm not a very good color matcher, apparently), but I already went with a lighter gray to more accurately represent the gray used on the modern WSOR paints (when they first adopted the scheme, a darker gray was used, but shifted to a lighter gray when painting their SD40 fleet), so I'm afraid to lighten it with a really thinned coat of white.. does anyone have any recommendations? Alex
Archer rivet decals applied to the ends of my three Provincial Museum display coaches: Cable car BCOL 6504 is now assembled and ready for paint. Details added include door hardware, end electrical connections, brake equipment, grab irons, ladders, sill steps, and roof vent pipe. I have yet to cut out window glass for the side windows. Tim
With the cable car for the Prince George Auxiliary built, it was time to move on to the next car to be built for the train, which is panel track car BCOL 6510. Here is a prototype photograph: It appears to be a cut down 52'-8" IL bulkhead flatcar, but the bulkhead construction, side sill arrangement and jacking pads do not match any of the BCR cars. I had planned to convert this car from a Kaslo Shops bulkhead flatcar kit, but after realizing the various structural differences I elected to undertake a full scratchbuild. Here is the underframe with bolsters, centre sills and cross-members, the end and side sills, the deck, and the bulkheads so far: That is it for this week - thanks for looking, Tim
Me too - I think that this car was probably added to the train after my chosen year, but I thought it would be fun to build. Tim
