sunday photo fun 070701

[FJ and G]

2nd tipper casting (squish casting, not mixed enough) went bad (1st squish went great); holes in bottom where too thin; instead of heaving it, I staged a crash off a trestle, where it now is a sedum planter (took picture as installed and watered it).

I’ve had lots of luck with sedums sprouting on their own from clippings in very little earth so I’m optimistic

Did metal casting and other castings today; still working

   

   

   

 

need a prototype photo?

 

here's the tipper I successfully cast; made to look beaten up; a real workhorse;

here's a tipper I just finished casting, paint still wet; it's 100% cast incl wheels. in the 2nd photo, even the rail is cast; that shot contains code 215 as an experiment in casting.

[Anonymous]

FJ and G-  that is awesome work you did. Very  very nice.

[FJ and G]

thanks

here's how I made the only non cast parts, the axle and housing. flat brass, flux solder, 027 rail (tubes spread with screwdriver), solder, layed 027 over brass and solder and gave it about 2 seconds of butane torch. CA attached to bottom but might screw in if problems like I've done previous ones



Incidentally, the couplers are screwed into the body. Use about a 10 or 12 gauge wire and used a 2-40 die to make an all-thread screw, which I predrilled hole in coupler and body and attached. The same wire I used for the attachment serves as the coupling post

Incidentally, the body of the tipper chassis contains BBs (from the gun) to lower the center of gravity so the tipper doesn't tip over!

Here's the squish RTV mold. It wouldn't come out of the concrete casting so I ended up breaking the concrete with a chisel and sledge to extract it. It originally was gonna be a pour mold but ended up being a squish. I used CR 600 resin but today will try some CR 900 and let it cure 48 hours. Key to squish is to slosh the resin around good



when squishing, you really do want the resin to squish out the top so you know it's completely filled up; you can make some pretty thin structures with squish. The spray paint serves as a mold release and also embeds color. Here, you can see the resin (white) that squished out the top. as soon as you remove the casting, trim this off with scissors.

When making a casting nearly completely enclosed, it's a bit challenging getting the mold off the casting when it's cured. you have to be careful and slowly work your way around.  notice that to conserve RTV and get double use I made gear castings in the tipper casting to serve double usage



here's another shot. to get the rusty edge at the top, instead of using scissors to cut the excess I used my fingers to tear it off and give it a crude look. For subsequent castings, this will give unique looks to the copies. Also, during the first fewhours the casting is pliable and you can create dents and stuff in this early stage.

incidentally if you're wondering how I got the gear castings into the tipper, I poured several layers of RTV and let them dry and emplaced the gears in the final drying, as rtv sticks to rtv, esp if you pour within a few days while it is fresh


I'm now casting an all metal tipper. Here's the lead body. I've already cast the other parts in lead but may need to use solder castings for some as lead is so pliable as to be ridiculous

[FJ and G]

oh, one more thing...

casting metal for the next tipper (same mold)

I tried to melt the large block of lead with propane torch but wouldn't melt so put in on a burner in grill outside; still didn't melt; so took the pot into the creek and got a fire going nice and good with wind howling to make it hot; it melted very nice

so

I ensured a level area and poured. Metal in large mass stays molten a few minutes when out of fire so no need to work too fast

btw if your creek is rubber, don't start a fire on it. Mine is all concrete so I can do this sort of thing







my lead rail experiment was complete flop. rails separated b/c the lead cools too quick. also, lead rails don't work b/c they fall apart so soft. solder works but hard to pour in the narrow mold. Solder frogs easier to cast b/c larger surface area and can pour quikly

yuck!


otoh, casting resin rails goes smooth; i'll keep this one out in the sun for a year to see how much abuse it can take and how durable it is; it is cr 600 but i'll try some hard cr 900 today and label the 2 rails and report back to you in 1 year with results

 

[FJ and G]

incidentally, the rail I cast is from an MTH realtrax master. for toy train gurus, a resin rail would come in handy where you want an unpowered section or for bridge guardrails

[spankybird]

 

[Anonymous]

 

 

 

 

wow your burro is beautiful, mine is kinda beat up and dont run right now.

 

[Dave Connolly]

[Frank53]

Those guys must be breathless Dave - he chased him all teh way to my house:

 

[csxt30]

Graet pictures Everyone !! I have a short clip of Amtrak 56, Lake Shore Limited going by our mainline at MP 128 !  I'm thinking the last car is one of those private cars !!

http://s94.photobucket.com/albums/l112/csxt30/?action=view&current=DSCF0877.flv

Thanks, John

[highrailjon]

 David, Your outdoor RR is looking great!!!!!

Here's my attempt at weathering a stockcar.

[Anonymous]

very nice highrailjon.

 

i like your weathering job

[Dave Connolly]

 Frank, the hobo must have had a good lead at one time. He had time to put a fresh set of clothes on.

 hirailjon, the weathered stock car looks great. As does everything else in the pic.

[1688torpedo]

  Frank-  The Hobo in your photo must be the Bionic Man to have run so far & fast.  Dave- I hope you're careful with the Lead Castings so you do not get any Lead Poisoning from them. Take Care.

[kpolak]

Finally got the crew to start on the new-to-me 2025.

Here's the before.

Ordering the parts this week. 

Kurt

 

 

[raymans]

 

 

 

 

[spankybird]

Jon - great job on the weathering.

Ray - being a true lover of diecast cars, very nice!

We have some very nice pics again this week!

 

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Bill!  I'll be posting video in a few minutes.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1152100247809221575

[Sturgeon-Phish]

Here is a paddle boat we saw the other day.  The stacks are in the travelling position

and the layout with some fun effects

 

[railfan23]

Great pics everyone. Here is my patriotic contribution for the week.

[Anonymous]

Another video of my basic layout.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6111211493204650272

[highrailjon]

 Raymans, That model A is awesome!!! Who made it and are there any left? Thanks, Jon

[Frank53]

A few new additions arrived this week. A couple of really nice and unusual flat cars have made their way to me in the last couple of months. They're interesting and funky and have spurred my interest in this post war line that I previously had not paid much attention to:

The Helium Transport

The submarine car:

and the railway truck transport car:

[Anonymous]

A few new additions arrived this week. A couple of really nice and unusual flat cars have made their way to me in the last couple of months. They're interesting and funky and have spurred my interest in this post war line that I previously had not paid much attention to:

The Helium Transport

The submarine car:

and the railway truck transport car:

 

  Wow, never took you for the postwar sort.lol. Now you got to get an aquarium for your submarine.

[csxt30]

A few new additions arrived this week. A couple of really nice and unusual flat cars have made their way to me in the last couple of months. They're interesting and funky and have spurred my interest in this post war line that I previously had not paid much attention to:

The Helium Transport

The submarine car:

and the railway truck transport car:

 

  Wow, never took you for the postwar sort.lol. Now you got to get an aquarium for your submarine.

Well, I'm thinking BATHTUB !! 

Thanks, John

[Blueberryhill RR]

Just took a few minutes to look at the posts on this thread. You guys have some great photos. Love looking at them.

Chuck

[FEClionel]

Frank,

I recently started focusing my postwar attention to later 50's early 60's. Lots of fun stuff - love the submarine car - I'm really starting to appriciate the AAR trucks as well(quiet and smooth). Look forward to some future posts!

 

-Geoff 

[raymans]

Jon it is Minichamps that I found on Amazon.com but they show none left at this time.

It is a very nice well detailed model I think was around $50

 I hope this is a sign of what we may expect in the future.

and by the way your stockcar weathering looks great.

I have an Aztec airbrush and Badger compressor, but have not had the courage to try weathering as yet. The more I see here the more I want to try it.

[Anonymous]

great photos everyone.

[Frank53]

It is a very nice well detailed model I think was around $50

Better to beg forgiveness after the fact as I pirate this photo of ray's with those great Lehigh Valley Hoppers in the background:

That car was worth every nickel.