Coming along nicely. I've passed on this kit so far because of the extra painting required. This is making me reconsider. Your idea of a sheet decal for that wall is a great one as well.
I think you would really enjoy it. And actually after starting work with the paint pens, and looking from normal distance, not really that bad, and kind of rewarding. Although I was freaked about it at first. I created a thread just for it as to not overload this are with messages only about this kit. And so we can talk about only this kit and help each other. https://www.trainboard.com/highball/index.php?threads/walthers-dq-grill-chill-n-scale.139824/
I have been quiet lately, so here are some "workbench" items. I found the images on the internet, made decals, applied to cars. 1st one is a complete foobie but it is a new tail end FRED equipped car for my Boeing fuselage train : 2nd car is a doublestack. The YRC container is prototypical, the lower container was "decorated" by a disgruntled employee ? ? 3rd is another logo that I actually found in FedEx web pages. The upper container is to recognize the Albuquerque Balloon Festival and to celebrate "The Land of Inchantment". What could be better than the New Mexico Railrunner, Balloons, and the Sandia Mountains in the background. Love that Albuquerque!! Getting ready for the Fair Show in 3 weeks. Lot's to do but all fun things. Stay safe, be well, Carl PS: Yes I really screwed up the spelling. Fixed now ! C
well 6 hrs of print and the floor is done only for me to scrap it and make a new floor with a pit in between the tracks. (why didn't i think of that before i printed the first one ) any who looks ok i think its a bit too high so i modified it in the other one im going to print . should be 5 hrs for that one and i should have the roof too. oh the joy waiting for printer
Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...Carl ??? Is the word 'Enchantment' intentionally spelled wrong on your container. A play on words perhaps ?
No George, "the devil made me do that". Actually I just plain ole mucked up. I have changed it now. C
Just finished installing some light boards in the new passenger cars. These boards are designed for easy install in Kato which is where I started using them. Still not too bad on these Fleischmann cars. The one main difference is kato uses two brass pickup strips that run the length of the car on either side. Fleischmann uses two car weights divided lengthwise which double to conduct electricity. The issue with this latter config is that I can't solder wires to them. To get around this I repurposed some old loco brass pickup strips and cut them into 1/2" segments. I then soldered the pickup wires of the light board to them, bent each strip in the center slightly for tension then sandwiched them between the interior floor and weights. I think once I figured out how to do this it's easier than kato as I don't have to do a more complete disassembly to get at the pickups. I should add for those who may not be familiar that these boards I am installing have built in decoders so they can be operated through the command station. I set them up in a consist with whatever loco I want to pull them with so the lighting will sync with operation of the locomotive headlight. Pretty slick I think. Also they can be ordered with up to 6 extra caps for dead/dirty spots on the track. In this case I only ordered my boards with 3 extra caps since each truck on the car provides pickup on both rails. If I were picking up with one rail per truck I'd go with having all 6 caps installed. This end car came with a decoder already to allow DCC control of the reverse/forward effects of the marker lighting. I tied in an analog light board to one of the function outputs to get interior lighting.
Very nice freddy_fo ! ! Something new for my workbench is this 3D printed airplane parts railcar. I think this is a resin print and it is perfect. I am seriously thinking about applying the SP color scheme although it doesn't fit the current era. But, I am an SP guy and think it is cool. I may just "bleach out" the colors to represent an old car. Thanks for looking, be well, Carl
Well with the recent addition of a coal fired Thomas I decided to give the layout and very small coaling facility designed for a small area. No plans, no pictures, no prototype that I no of. Just some cardstock now and my vivid imagination. 100_1299- by John Moore posted Sep 9, 2021 at 6:11 PM
So I finished my Nightmare hill today. Which is good since it will be part of a display this weekend. I can already hear Jack singing… It really isn’t all silver, there is glare that makes it look like it has way more than it really does. The silver is to show highlights from the moonlight. And of course there are the pumpkins Dining room lights on, Lights off.
Made a lot of progress in a few hours and almost have the car unloader section done. 100_1300-2 by John Moore posted Sep 9, 2021 at 8:10 PM 100_1301-3 by John Moore posted Sep 9, 2021 at 8:10 PM
Got a little more done this evening. Now to figure out how to load the engines coal bunker. 100_1302-1 by John Moore posted Sep 10, 2021 at 8:00 PM
I made the decision to use the SP Hydra-Cushion scheme on this car. On my next car I may use the yellow LTV scheme. Here it is with a coat of primer and clear gloss sealer and ready for the decal. The tube on the chassis floor is to stiffen it so it will not warp. The large decals are so I can get pieces of the red/grey for the ends of the car. Today is 9/11 - Never Forget ! ! Be well, Carl
Well I am now working on the electric crane and clam shell bucket that loads the coal into the tank engines coal bunks and have just attached the base for it. 100_1303-1 by John Moore posted Sep 11, 2021 at 4:41 PM
So my workbench is going to be busy here soon. Found out my modules are wired backwards to the club I’m in. Thankfully I used terminal blocks so these changes are easy to make.
Last week I decided to work on some modules and this small yard extension was first on my list. The yard tail track was to short and a built a longer module to replace so this was a prime target for a revamp. So I removed the tail track and cut a creek across it for a try at water. We'll see how this goes. I gave up in the heat last week and should be below 100 today and plan to make more progress.
