I'm going to do some more painting when i get home from work in a few hours, going to take apart the older red bachmann coaches i got off ebay and paint the ends/botom/trucks like I did the two newer yellow car's then swap the 9V battery boxes onto the yellow cars and wire that up.
Think im going to swap the celestial windows too
Unless ofcorse it warms up a few degrees and/or the wind dies down then ill be dragging some track outside to figure out where to "dig more holes in the yard" as my ole man puts it
2 more days untill my turnouts get here arg! Then im going to layout track inside my house in the same basic track plan as what im starting outside (only upside down & mirrored) going from our back porch, through the kitchen, through a 15' hallway leading upto the front door and hanging a left into the living room where I currently have my 10' x 8' oval setup so i can make sure the curves and stuff work... yeah.. lol I ran it by my folks and they said it better only be for 1 day
hehe I should be okay then, i managed to paint my whole left hand but didnt get any fingerprints in the paint lol as far as getting an airbrush.. To much time and effort when you can just rattle can it
As for the shell's, I'm not much for sharp objects lol. I'd be cursing myself every day pulling bits out of my knees and elbows
As long as you wern't eating fried chicken when you were painting then it dosen't matter all that much. The most i've had happon is a run and some cool fingerprints etched into the paint.
Yes the shells are sharp but I never walk outside in bare feet anyways. It rains too much. GO RAIN!!!!
i cleaned everything good and rinsed/dried it before painting...
I think it looks good, kinda bummed now
Surface prep like in a car should be handled same way it should not just fall off, but before I understand that it was something I did not want to use by a member here. Why I can not remember. Now I use a air brush.
Toad
CAUTION: Dont use the Krylon fushion paint, latex or any of that special junk. All you need for a good black coating is a regular can of semi-flat black which you can get at Wal Mart. Trust me, those special paints are nothing but trouble and a waste of time and money.
All you need to is a regular Krylon paint spray can (for whatever color) topain your rolling stock. Just make sure to wash the parts in warm water before painting to get rid of any residue.
Mr_Ash wrote:
Mr. Ash,
Where from? I had grass on one side of my RR and so I placed the steel inground boards in. Been in 14+ yrs! Not sure how the plastic ones would hold up to weed-eating?!
Then on the other side was 4x4 steapn stones with grass/weed barrier then sharps sand to level out the stones.
Just idea
nice pix
I read that crushed shells are sharp though...
I took my tender apart today and figured out where all the screws were, was tempted to hit the coal load with a light coat of flat black Krylon Fusion paint but i didnt have any left when I finished messing with my D&RGW Pass&Comb cars
I didnt like the yellow body color steps and underside on the end of the Bachmann Jackson Sharp D&RGW cars so i took the cars apart and painted the end's w/railings, seats & stove inside, botom where the trucks mount and the outside of the trucks... my what a differance!
Also last 2 pic's are two new/used cars I got on ebay for cheep and the materials laid out for a platform im maken
Thats a very good start. I was planning to dig a trench pour crushed shells in it (common enough and it kills anything trying to grow) and lay the track down. But thats about 5 years down the road.
And some pics of my New Annie
I took off the "load" for you so you could see where it comes out.
Mr Ash!!
Garden scaling is an interesting hobby, there are as many ways to do it as there are recipies for chili. Find what you like and have at it!
Looking at your photos I'd say you are off to a good start. The weed cloth should work well and provide the unwanted growth with plenty of root grip and nutrients to keep them healthy. The B'mann rolling stock will provide you many years of operating pleasure. I use an Aristo TE with a 10 Amp power supply and it provides all the juice I could concievably want. Here is a link to a web page that will help you out a lot: http://trainweb.org/girr/tips/tips1/big_hauler_tips.html
Don't complain about your weather, it was 114 here today, down from a high of 124 last month. Next month should be more tolerable and only be in the mid 90's. Quite a cold snap.
The Dixie D Short Line "Lux Lucet In Tenebris Nihil Igitur Mors Est Ad Nos 2001"
Thanks for the info on the tender loads and giving me an idea of where to start with the RC/Battery setup guy's it looks like I have some Homework to do! More things to do to keep me busy this winter
So I was able to get some more work done Monday on my day off even though I had to keep an eye on my sisters kid for a few hours I was able to put him to work with a Tonka dump truck moving dirt around for me lol. He didnt actually help much but he was having fun it seemed so whatevers clever
Ended up using limestone screenings from home depot for like $2.50 a bag, bought 15 and used 12 plus 2 bags of top soil for the town area, still need to trim back the weed blocker
Mr_Ash wrote:How hard is it to convert them to battery/RC? This is somthing I would really like to do It had a tag in the front but there are no gauges or anything and it has plastic side rods as do most of the set engines it looks like
How hard is it to convert them to battery/RC? This is somthing I would really like to do
It had a tag in the front but there are no gauges or anything and it has plastic side rods as do most of the set engines it looks like
Converting your big hauler to battery/RC is not too hard once you do your homework. If you're handy with electronics and a soldering iron you can do it yourself but its not cheap. You're looking at spending $300 for the transmitter, receiver, motor driver, batteries, chargers and cables. If you're on a budget you better off starting with track power and a radio controller like the AristoCraft (Crest) Train Engineer. -Brian
Thats exactly what I was planning on doing for the wood tender! Do I need to treat the wood with anything first?
Hi Mr_Ash
That depends the local wood lines burned green wood I don't know if the DRGW did the same.
Get some steel wool put it in a jar pour cheap malt vinegar over it seal the jar and leave it for a while ( a month seems about right ).
Get a selection of different wood samples and stain them with the iron vinegar brew and see which colour you think looks right then get that wood and cut into scale two foot lengths say roughly 1" long don't be too fussy about it stain the wood to the colour you like then stack it in your tender as high as you think looks right stain before gluing together then a flat varnish to seal and protect the load.
That should do it and produce a real nice looking wood stack
For coal get a couple of lumps of coal a bag and a big hammer put coal in bag bash it till it looks the right size pieces then glue them straight to the plastic coal moulding
use pva glue in both instances with the coal you will have to give it a couple of sprays of 50/50 pva to water with a drop or two of dish washing liquid to make sure it is secure.
nothing quite looks like coal or wood unless its coal or wood
Experiment a bit before doing the real thing once its on the tender its hard to change
regards John
Train 284 wrote: I know how you feel, you want to get a new loco, but you should put track down first. lol. Been there before. Any new pics on your progress?
I know how you feel, you want to get a new loco, but you should put track down first. lol. Been there before.
Any new pics on your progress?
Havent really made any yet weather has sucked last couple weeks and when it hasnt i get stuck watching my sisters kid
I need to try and find a diffrent transformer than the stock bachmann cheepo one that came with the set he keeps wanting to run the train at full speed and keeps trying to flip the direction switch
Im off work tomorow and its saposed to "Be in the 60's!" (stupid news) we shall see lol but in the morning I plan on hitting up a couple places tryen to find somthing to use for road bed. after that pickup some bags of dirt and get back to work in the yard I still need to level out the ground next to the tracks where the buildings are going and im going to start placing the stones for the garden in back. I got a feeling my back is going to be hurting tuesday lol! Ill take pic's though
Welcome, Mr. Ash.
This is an extremely friendly board.
Les W.
Also the Engine I have (Durango & Silverton (D&RGW bumblebee colors) coal 4-6-0 #179 is pretty new I guess, It came with the D&S Freight set. Its same set they currently have listed on the Bachmann web site.
They had a simmiler set out before (seen it on ebay) that had a D&RGW engine (same colors) engine #177 which is kinda funny because the current D&S Passenger set has engine #177 only now its lettered D&S
I want that D&RG wood burner annie so bad but I think im going to have to put it off for another 2 weeks, didnt have as much cash left over after bills as I thought I would and I really need to buy some R3 curve track, 3 switches R/R/L and figure out what to do for road bed first
Lets see here...
... Bachman has made the tenwheeler for eons (yes I can't spell, live with it) and on each one they improved there product. Its not hard to difererncate, 1st is the green and silver ATSF plastic everything, 2nd red and silver ATSF with metal drivers, 3rd wassomething to do with the gearbox, 4th was the many stilles, and then (I think) is the annie which has better evrything. Almost all came in sets, so you would have to tell us when you bought em. They all work and for radical bashes 1 and 2 are great becouse there only 15.00 +s&h on evilbay wile fixer upers are the 3-4 range. For the wood just undo the screws inside the tender releasing the plate, and fab another from stirene and glue real wood to it.
Mr_Ash wrote:how well do those decals hold up vs the elements? I allways thought dry transfer would be better for outdoors
how well do those decals hold up vs the elements?
I allways thought dry transfer would be better for outdoors
They hold up just fine. If you spray them with a UV resistant spray like I do, they will last forever, so this is nothing at all to be worried about.
Personally I hate dry transfers, hard to keep them straight, I find the water slides so much easier.
Sounds good. Trust me the Annies are well worth the money. You can get them form St. Aubins in Las Vegas for $100 plus whatever it costs for shipping, which is a really good deal.
Regarding the different roadnames, it is very easy to make up some decals for your locomotives, coaches and freight cars, etc. and re-letter them for the Durango and Silverton. I recently got started in doing this, and it only takes you a couple times practicing with the wet slide ( I think thats what they are called) decals and you will have it down. Try finding someone with an ALPS printer to get you some. I am fortunate enough to belong to a garden railroad club, and one of our members has an ALPS printer. I can get a sheet of decals for $1 to cover the cost of paper.
If you cannot find someone with an ALPS printer, I would recommend purchasing decals from Stan Cedarleaf from MLS. They are little more expensive depending on what you want, although unlike me you can get a wide range of colors and even logos.
http://www.trainweb.org/pcsrr/indexx.html
Train 284 wrote: Hi Mr_Ash, Looks like you have a great start there. Keep it up. As with you, I had to negotiate my right-of way with my parents, but it has all worked out and I have about 130 feet of track and expanding to about 200+ feet by next year.....or at least I hope so. Just a comment on your expansion in your latest track plan. Watch out for the WYE in the bottom right corner. That is gonna require special wiring if you are running track power. Otherwise you will run into some problems. Overall, the Bachmnann locomotives are good quality. I would recommend however for your next locomotives purchases, to forgo buying more train sets and buy the locomotives seperatley, and get the Annies with more detail and better drives. The have D&RGW paint schemes.
Hi Mr_Ash,
Looks like you have a great start there. Keep it up. As with you, I had to negotiate my right-of way with my parents, but it has all worked out and I have about 130 feet of track and expanding to about 200+ feet by next year.....or at least I hope so.
Just a comment on your expansion in your latest track plan. Watch out for the WYE in the bottom right corner. That is gonna require special wiring if you are running track power. Otherwise you will run into some problems.
Overall, the Bachmnann locomotives are good quality. I would recommend however for your next locomotives purchases, to forgo buying more train sets and buy the locomotives seperatley, and get the Annies with more detail and better drives. The have D&RGW paint schemes.
Yeah I have been thinking about the WYE... and the 2 sidings also... since i suck with electriconic's im going to be plain and simple about it and wire each siding & the section of track in the WYE between the mainline and the station siding all with seperate power supplys. I did this with my old HO layout and it worked fine, just use rubber connectors or whatever for those sections and have them each wired up seperate. Just need to pay close attention to whats set at what so your matching speeds when going from one section to the next
My next to engine buys for sure are going to be the more detailed Annie's, both D&RG first the wood version then the coal "bumblebee" one second, main reason behind wanting the Durango & Silverton passenger set is so I can have 2 coaches with "Durango & Silverton" road name insted of the D&RGW ones sold seperate, that and my current engine would be getting a backup. Im going to use the D&RG engines for passenger service and the D&S engines (from the sets) for freight & MOW
Plus thats another sets worth of crappy bachmann track to play with in the house
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