[video=youtube_share;Kj--y9DCIQg]http://youtu.be/Kj--y9DCIQg[/video] A short clip of both my loksound equipped engines and my non-sound mogul. The mike doesn't like the one tight curve I put in, so that will have to go. Lessons learned, non-dcc friendly switched can be adapted with a little bit of work. paint at the inside of the converging rails before the frog helped keep the wheel flanges from shorting them out. Also painting the back of the wheels on the engine and tender helped. Keeping the wires between engine and tender flexible with a u-shaped bend is probably the easiest way to keep things copasetic in tracking. And, getting the 11 back from the CB&M wasn't as difficult as the mgmnt thought it was going to be, good ole Ole Svenson snuck over there with a large bag of lutefisk, which had the effect of chasing off all the offending roads employees to a few hundred yards upwind! As can be seen in the video, Ole is the current engineer and he was told to expedite getting that train/engine out of the yard!! And quickly
Ooooo. Your microphone placement was excellent. That first steamer passing gave quite a nice Doppler effect.
Thanks Boxcab! Just placed my vidcam over the track by about a half inch, sounded good! F7A- Lighting? Lighting? Currently the exterior of the 'Trainshed' is my priority, so lighting is just cobbled together with some old incandescent fixtures. Long term plans include a mix of both fluorescent tubes, daylight shade in 4 foot lengths alternated with 60 w incandescents to give the world that glow. I expect to have about four circuits so I can light up in sections and just enough to do what work I am doing, or to set that evening scene or bright daylight scene. Yup, planning things to some extent!
Merry Christmas to all!!!! Nope, ain't dropped off the world. It has been a BUSY year since I have been here! My work life has been busier than ever with repairs and remodeling for multiple folk. Two of my sons, aged 16 and 18, have kept me hopping with automotive work. One of which is a 1961 Buick LeSabre rebuild which all my boys have had a hand in and my youngest, 16, ended up with. Fun, but time consuming! Train time has been watching and filming trains, primarily here in Montana. Also have been getting the trainshed into shape. When I post up some pics, well it will be unrecognizeable on the inside! Got the sheetrock and wainscot done, ceiling up, floor down and mostly arranged! workbenches set up and heat and 32 inch tube etc! Anyway, will be back with more of the No Profit and Broken Hopes RR adventures!
[video=youtube_share;ziLaXf0QlJg]http://youtu.be/ziLaXf0QlJg[/video] Ok, hopefully this will work, it's been a year since I did this upload stuff........ The opening shot is an antique ticket and timetable cabinet from a Mandan, ND depot. This is the interior progress in the Trainshed. Walls are sheetrocked and painted sky blue with only the windows to trim in yet. Wainscotting applied and a nice wood floor put down. Still debating wether I will carpet the floor or just put a finish on it with throw rugs. Have outlets run down at the floor level in 4 different circuits. The ceiling is insulated and has a layer of foamboard, blue, attached to the new trusses. Heat is provided by a woodstove and backed up with a couple of infrared heaters. The finished layout area is about 9'4" by 23' on the woodstove side. A bit longer on the workbench side. The quick flyover of the practice RR is just a teaser! And, yes there will be more info out about that loksound equipping going on with that NP Northern. Suffice it to say, the speaker will be in the smokebox, and that makes a noticeable difference when it is operating. Yep, another teaser....
[video=youtube_share;jFsd9sNvPgs]http://youtu.be/jFsd9sNvPgs[/video] And, just for fun! Did find ti...idst all of the last years work! Enjoy!!:)
The above pics are some progress pics of that mallet. I added a small stay alive cap to the Loksound module, that helps a little bit, but definitely it needs to be a larger capacity cap! The space limits of N-scale size tenders limited my space to put something bigger in. If anybody knows where I can get a higher F rating cap of the same physical size it would be greatly appreciated. The feed pipes to the second engine were just way too small for the NP's 4500's, so those got upgraded with some metal piping. The cab and pilot are GHQ from the W-3 set and more details from that will get added as this thing gets worked some more. It is currently running around the little layout to get all the kinks worked out before final detailing, which I find to be a good idea. I am fully capable of destroying the little details without setting myself up to kill them earlier! The tender body itself needed sanded down, the gaps filled and a few other things to de-NW it and give it an NP feel. The hardest part was pulling that beautiful little brakemans shack! Thanks for any input and enjoy!
The trainshed looks good. Now I dont feel so bad about taking pictures of the front of THE RV and my work area...LOL. The steamer looks good. I like watching others trains roll by ** I put cheap hardwood flooring in THE RV. I am so tired of losing little parts to the carpet gods !!!! ;-)
George has a great point about carpet in a trainroom/shed. One other consideration is the scenery mess made during that activity is incredibly difficult to clean from carpet (ground foam, oversprayed paints, glue/water mix, dripping glues/water mix, other scenic materials being gravity-checked....). I have a small HCD layout and the room in which it was set up had cheap linoleum flooring. I made a mess (especially with the snow scene) and the dusting for Hydrocal powder would have been difficult to clean from carpet, especially once it made contact with water droplets--can you say concrete? Small parts, scenic mess, ease of maintenance points to a smooth, simple floor. Linoleum might be cheaper, too. If what you need is something soft under foot, buy a couple quality anti-fatigue mats.
Just happened on your thread and liked how you've taken the trailer and made it your train shed and how you've managed to upgrade it. Enjoyed your videos too. In a few years, my wife and I will be retiring to the Tacoma, Washington area and we are looking for a large enough yard to have a small outbuilding for a shop and layout for me. Right now I have a small bedroom that is serving as my trainroom. Will be checking your thread often to check in on your progress and I may steal a few of your ideas.
Hemi - have thought about that and will probably just go with throw rugs and just varnish the flooring to protect it. Mike - steal away the ideas! A separate place is nice. The only thing I don't have, but would like to have, is plumbing. Enough said there! Been building a bit of scenery over the last couple of weekends. Have been pondering how to set up the joint here and hide a 'tunnel' that doesn't exist in eastern MT! Enjoy! will post more when actual mudwork goes on......
:sweat:George, I get it! My shed is a mess yet! The big pile in the middle is a combination of trainshow stuff and my model RR stuff. Yup, it's a bit of a mess!! Just posted some sketches in the layout design forum, input requested. Be easy on me fellas! Got some more scenery work done this week. I think this end has a better effect at the hills out here than the other end. Fun, fun, fun!!
Thanks! The color tones down to the proper hue after a wash of india ink and some weathering. Yes, weathering.
Better pics after the india ink wash. I don't know the proportion, just mix in water and isopropyl til I like the color. Yes, a busy day on here for me, and even more so on the RR!
Love the train shed. Wish i had that in Florida. That way when my wife thru me out, i could've hooked it up and came to pa. Lol. Love the scenery progress. I will be following your thread so keep it coming Joe
Have been busy practicing scenery skills while also working with some input on the new layout plans on the planning thread. And yes, one of my sons did help his cousins 'decorate' over on the CM&B, just clowning around! So here's a few pics,and keep an eye peeled for that rare 'High desert striped Geeraffe! '