My old roommate years ago had a Paasche and he loved it. I used it a few times then wound up with a Badger single action 200. I tried the Badger double action and hated it, I tossed it in the round file. I'm looking forward to playing with the new brush. I did run a bit of Vallejo through it over the weekend, wasn't bad.
I think he said he used a 40awg magnetic wire? They are tiny. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd bet the masts are a bit bigger? I'll have to lay a ruler on them. Thanks Hemi! Hopefully it'll go pretty smooth compared to the crossing signals, lol I do plan to use a tube for the wires! On the crossings I used a small black coffee stir straw that worked like a champ, it's just under 1/8" in diameter. I have to go through the cork, 5/8" ceiling tile, 1-1/2" white foam then 1/2" plywood at least, hopefully I won't hit any "L" girders? First thing I need to do is to steal power off the Crossing panel, feed it over to the area of the three signals and then bring them all together so I can use another splitter to connect them to. Pretty sure I'll need to add longer wire leads to them. Hopefully it'll all go pretty quick and smoothly.
The scene looks great to me! Had you not mentioned the base, I would not even have looked at it in any way scrutinizing that mounting. I was drawn to the overall view, and if anything less, noticing such as the nicely faded RI logo.
I came back and fixed a few things with the signal. Fixed the lean. Removed the cork base it was on before which lowered it a bit more, still a tad to high, but it's closer. I also added a couple more 1K resistors to dim it a bit. I tested the red signal and it's much dimmer with a single 1K, so I'll leave it alone. I wound up gluing a styrene tube to the bottom of the signal bases for some extra support. Once they dry I'll get the last two installed.
Quite honestly, the height of the signal is not noticeable in photos, and I would doubt if the 3' Rule could tell the difference. It looks superb to me.
Thanks, but if you look at the position of the signal target, in the left image the bottom of the target is about even with the top of the air horns. In the right image the top of the target is just about even with the top of the air horns. In reality, it's only about a 1/4" difference.
Excellent! Like how the nose logo is faded. The height is sometimes intentional. Sight lines to the signal might be obstructed by a small hill, or a grade, so the signal is taller. That's the reason why my West Crescent westbound main signal is so much taller than the others.
Thank you! Yup, I agree, there are always special instances for specific reasons. In this case, which does not show in the photos, all three of these signals will be within easy view. When I get them all installed, I'll take some pics showing the locations, which in hind sight, I should have done first I suppose. Hopefully I'll have this project wrapped up this weekend. I got the first installed, so now I just need to copy what I did two more times. Easy peasy. Thanks Muktown.
The last post I got out and tested the signal for the ripped out crossing between Fordyce and Haskell. I worked all week getting them prepped for installation and finished them up last night. As the story goes on my layout, there was a short line that crossed the Rock near Fordyce. It ran through Haskell and on the west. The short line shut down and Gavilon Fertilizer swayed the Rock to add a connection at Haskell so they could still rely on rail service. After making this happen, the Rock tore out the crossing near Fordyce, but left the signals in place for now, leaving them green for their mainline and red for the short line. As I was told, they would need to request permission to completely remove the signals from the FRA. The request is pending... For those of you who are unfamiliar with this section of the layout, I've taken some pics to help you follow along. Here's the track plan for that area. There are two green dots where the signals are located on the Rock and a red dot where the one stands on the defunct short line. The following images show an overview of the locations, followed by shots of the signals. Looking North from Fordyce. The building in the upper left hand is Gavilon in Haskell. The signal is next to the loco. Looking down the short line, the removed crossing can be seen in the middle near the backdrop. Looking South from Haskell. You can see both signals, the green on the left behind Gavilon's building and the red to the right of the unloading shed. The south signal The North signal The Short line signal
Looks about as good as can be!! The neat thing about signals is the specs for installing them. A lot of things influence the height and the angle to the rail. If the signal must be seen from a specified distance, which is determined by the ruling track speed there, they adjust the angle to match the curvature of the track so it can be seen when it must. This is more prevalent now with the Vader units. There is actually a sighting hole in the target and a corresponding rear sight behind it. The installers have a 'target' at the prescribed location and adjust the angle to see it, as well as the height. As mentioned above, height also depends on terrain. Whew, and I just wanted to say that it looked really good!
