I think you might be right!! When I listed those trains it made me think why did I buy the Kato sd40-2 when it really didn't fit in with everything else I have? Well when on a road trip I noticed in some towns if you took away all the cars, trucks, and franchises you would think you were in 1920, so I thought on my layout I could do the same thing, just change a few things and go from 1920 to 1980 within minutes! Thats my story and I'm sticken to it. Besides all that I want a FVM CN Gevo really bad, I just have this thing for red, black, and silver(grey) and thats the only reason why, silly huh?!
More foam Ok all the main line track is glue down and feeders ran, time to fill the rest in with foam so I can get more plaster cloth down. which leads to getting the sidings figured out. In these shots I'm showing how I cut the side of risers and added packing peanuts to create the terrain. This is the left side. This is the right side with some of the plaster cloth started. The whole layout a few steps back. I didn't originally plan on using all Woodland Scenics foam like this because of cost. Back in 2008 when the recession hit a certain GREAT big distributor had an inventory reduction sale( I think they panicked a little or needed cash because of the stock market ) and I was able to get ( through a friend ) ALOT of stuff for around 1/3 of the retail cost! I also started to cut the sides of the roadbed off. When I glued it down I didn't follow the track good enough and it looked horrible with the track not being in the center. The next update will be what it looks like with plaster cloth down.
Got a lot done! Ok inthis update we will see track painted and ballast in the tunnels, 2 of the sidings installed, the first train run, the first problem, and plaster cloth over the packing peanuts! The buildings in these pictures were ca,d really fast nothing is painted a weathered. I was in the process of kitbashing the turntable but put it back together for these photos. Hope you all enjoy! This is my first real problem, but an easy fix. The train hits where the tunnel portal is going to go. More in a minute!
Here she's hungry and thirsty And these two shots so you can see the plaster cloth over the packing peanuts Well that's it for today,ENJOY!
Nice update. Great looking work. However, try and stay inside the lines when you use that black paint.
My crappy kitbash of a fugly turntable. I started this kitbash by painting the deck to look like wood. I then cut the metal strips on the bottom, I'll solder feeders to these at time of installation. I then cut off all the nipples or nubs or whatever their called all the way around except for where the roundhouse goes. I used strip styrene to make walls to protect the edge of the turntable and painted them to look rusty. I used a piece of styrene to make a deck for in front on the shed. To get the wires to the motor I drilled a hole in the gearbox bottom, removed the existing motor wire screws, ran the wires through, soldered to motor. Is this a great kitbash? NO but I think it will look better once the ballast goes in. I'm not done painting the styrene for the deck but set it in place for these pictures. When done it will match the color of the turntable deck, or at least closer than it is now. ENJOY!
Scenery whats that? Ohh yaa all that stuff in the cardboard box in the corner collecting dust! Hmm, I think it's going to be a while before I get to that. Lets see I need to finish the sidings and tracks around the turntable. Then I need to finish building that mountain and get the track and feeders installed on it. My goal is to get all the track wiring through the layout before I build the control panel or even think about scenery. I'll probably paint all the plaster cloth a dirt color though because I'm already sick of seeing all that WHITE!
I also try to do this as soon as possible. It also makes progress shots much more appealing as the white tends to wash out any details between everything. :thumbs_up:
Taking a moment to talk about track & locomotives. Unfortunately this update doesn't include any photos. Last weekend I finally had the chance to run trains on my layout and thought all was good, well except for that tunnel portal that will need to be moved over. Note I only tried 2 Kato engines and nothing else. I was reading RBrodzinsky's The JACALAR RR Benchwork begins! thread about how he was having problems getting all his trains to go across his new bridge in both directions. It made me think I had better do the same,these are my results by manufacture. Keep in mind all of these are new never used & your results may vary! Kato, I have sd40-2, f7 a's & b's, pa's, & gs4. All of these ran my entire layout flawlessly! No issues! Athearn, 2-6-0, 2-8-0. I have 2 of each, all worked perfectly! Atlas, gp38-2, gp40-2. These worked perfect right out of the box! 2-6-0 Mogul. Wheels were out of gauge to wide, adjusted all is fine. Surprisingly this little steamer had 0 pickup issues! WOW is that thing fast! 2truck shay's. I have 1st & 2nd run shay's. The 1st run shay ran smooth, made a little noise, not bad & lifted it's wheels through some of the turnouts but not all, 0 pickup problems. The headlights seemed a little dim. The 2nd run shay made a ton of gear noise, almost sounded like it was derailed but it wasn't! After about 3 inches the headlight went out. I stopped it there. AtomicVette mentioned in the Atlas Shay thread to make sure the motor was snapped to the frame properly, I took his advice & opened that tiny thing up. I immediately noticed the headlight had come unsoldered. Under my magnifying glass I could see the brass gears were mashed as tight as possible into the plastic gears for the trucks. So I checked the motor as suggested, nope that wasn't it, the motor was snapped in just as it's supposed to be. Hmm what could be causing this? It was the frame, it was slightly bent up a bit at each end, so I gently bent each end down a little until I could see light between the gears. I tried it out on the track, smooth & perfect! Soldered the headlight back on, that thing is tiny! I now have a lot of respect for you guys that hardwire n-scale decoders! Put the whole thing back together,took me about 20 minutes just for each coupler! Ran it on the track, Guess what? The gear noise is back like I never took it apart! Arrg! But the headlight was nice and bright! Well this time I decided to take both shay's apart. Sure enough the frame was bent back a little. It seems to be the body making the frame bend when all 4 screws are in tight. I also noticed that the 2nd run shay's led headlight was a lot brighter than the first run. So to make an already long story short, I ended up taking the bright backup light from one shay & the dim headlight from the other & switching them. Note if you do this you have to wire them the opposite way because of which lead the resistor is solder to. When I put the body's back on I left off the 2 rear body screws on both shay's and they are both as smooth and quiet as Kato's! After checking wheel gauge the first run shay still lifts it's wheels through some of the turnouts, but not as many. More on this in a few minutes! Bachmann, Spectrum 2-8-0, 2-6-2, & 0-6-0. All 3 of these annoyed me to no end! All 3 the wheels are out of gauge and putting them in gauge binds the side rods! The 2-8-0 runs flawlessly everywhere except some of the turnouts it lifts it's wheels at the frogs! The 2-6-2 & 0-6-0 are just doomed for a cardboard box somewhere! They both lift their wheels at all the turnouts. They both make banging noises at some of my rail joints. They both don't run slow very well & have horrible pickup problems! Well after these findings I figured now was the time to take a better look at my track work! First I looked at all of the turnouts. Hmm all the frogs seemed fine. Upon better inspection its the frogs guard rails that are different on all most every turnout. The gap and depth of each one is a little different. Also on inspection I noticed every where the Bachmann trains where making the banging noise was were flex track was connected to sectional track. Time to get out the file! I filed out all the guard rails on all the turnouts! At the rail joints it wasn't my track laying but the rail height is different on the flex and sectional track that is the problem. I then filed these the best I could! Now all my locomotives go around the track nice and smooth & no more lifting wheels at turnouts! The 2 Bachmann steamers still have major pickup problems at the turnouts, other than that nice and smooth. I really wanted to do an update about my sidings with some nice photos for you guys but thought this was more important! If you have any comments or suggestions please post them! The next update will be titled, How layouts can be the pits! Got any ideas on what you think I mean?biggrin:
