A couple of pics from my now-defunct SQ8....
I decided to experiment with a pinhole lens to improve the near field of focus over the stock lens. That helped a bunch, but also cut down on the light entering the sensor. So I decided to experiment some more, but in trying to remove the original glass(?) lens, I broke it. This is all for now, but has spawned an interesting thread this week here: http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/261364.aspx
R&D can be hard, oh well
So what's on the stove with you, so to speak?
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Just Completed an up grade to a Track Cleaner car i found on ebay
Painted it MW gray added a Ring Engineering Power pick up truck
to power the surface mount LEDs i used for Marker Lights
And an internal light
I added a TCS FL 4 decoder with LED and Keep alive
Here's a video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqorBS0Tzzk
TerryinTexas
See my Web Site Here
http://conewriversubdivision.yolasite.com/
Mike, thanks for starting up and a couple of nice pictures.
Terry, sorry can't access YouTube at work will have to look at it later!
I just got back from visiting my first grandchild in California, so I have got nothing done the last couple of weeks. So I will grab an old picture from my club photos for this week.
Pennsy N1s with coal drag made up of Bowser H21, H22 and Gla Hopper Cars.
Thanks for looking!
Rick Jesionowski
Rule 1: This is my railroad.
Rule 2: I make the rules.
Rule 3: Illuminating discussion of prototype history, equipment and operating practices is always welcome, but in the event of visitor-perceived anacronisms, detail descrepancies or operating errors, consult RULE 1!
Hello all. I haven't contributed to this great thread for a while... I've been very busy with work and hockey with the boys these last few months. The picture above summarizes the little progress made on the model railroad front. Track and electrical work has been on a halt for weeks. I did manage to progress on two loco projects: a canadian nationalized mantua 2-8-2, with new motor, tender, piping and winter cab. I still have some decalwork left to do on it. Behind the Mikado is a 2-10-0 project, which is another Mantua, with a Cary boiler. Both have DCC sound and run quite nicely...
Have a great model railroading weekend!
Simon
Rick ! ... Congratulations on becoming a grandfather ! Nice photo of the Pennsy coal train.
TX Terry .... I enjoyed the video of the C&O and the new track cleaning car.
Mike L .... Intersting old photos of a now defunct model railroad.
Simon .... Your locomotives look good.
Below is a VO1000 in the City of Heartland where it just deleived some produce reefers.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Heartland Division CB&QMike L .... Intersting old photos of a now defunct model railroad.
GARRY,
Thanks! Fortunately, it's only the camera that's defunct. The pics do have a rather old timey look to them, but the layout lives on...at least the guys who'll be here for next week's ops session hope so.
BTW, if anyone does live close enough to visit, drop me a PM, I'd be glad to have your visit and we can always use another crew. I have 4 ops sessions over the next month or so (but always happy to have visitors) leading up to the Lincoln Square Train Show (a convenient 4 blocks away), when I will have the layout open Saturday evening, April 1 after the show closes for the day.
Hello Fellows, Friends and Folks...
Thanks for cranking-up this week's edition of WPF, Mike! It looks like video is going to compete with still photography in the forums with the proliferation of the mini cameras. That's good...
C&O Fan, are you still using your Mobius camera? I remember when you won a prize for submitting a video! Looking Good!
Thanks for posting the "vintage" pic, Rick.
Those Mantuas look neat, Simon. Where did you get the Vanderbilt tender on the 2-8-2? That really looks sharp!
I continued on my "Little House On The Pennsy" this week and installed some curved crossing planks and made up a road to pass by the house.
I simply slopped on a preliminary coat of green paint to cover the plywood. Makes a big difference. The road is made with Durham's Water Putty. Great product!
For "fill-in" work I made up some coiled steel cradles for some of my PRR G43 gons. I might get crazy and add some nut-bolt-washer details to them.
If that wasn't enough fun—the Wells Fargo Wagon brought Somethin' Special... Just for me
I really hesitated, but in the end, I caved in to my weakness and grabbed a pair of the Rapido RDCs. I just had to do it...
These RDCs really live up to the expectations of a "museum-quality" model! Absolutely fabulous... Maybe I see a video in my future?
Well, on to more "Great Stuff"
Keep 'em comin'
Regards, Ed
Thanks Ed. I really like your scenery work. The vandy tender is a switch from another Mantua loco, a Pacific I believe. I have tons of Mantua parts all mixed up in a box, and I sometimes forget the origin of each part! I will post a better picture of the loco when I'm done with it...
A trio of EMDs crossing Hammer Creek.
gmpullmanC&O Fan, are you still using your Mobius camera? I remember when you won a prize for submitting a video! Looking Good!
Yes i use it Quite alot Great lil camera ~!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drSCZKt4ORYhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drSCZKt4ORY
This is the video that won me a free camera
Ed:
The road, the steel coil loads and the RDCs all look great!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Grampy:
Great scene! I always admire your scenery skills. I hope that when the time comes that I can do half as well.
Some workbenches for my roundhouse and other workshops:
Cheers everybody!
Hello everyone....some good things going on already.
Well My shoulder decided not to cooperate last week, so I got back to some bench work on the block of stores...fortunately it is removeable. Again I went against My belief of not too much detail in a structure cause You can't see it anyway and went nuts, craming, people, detail. If You may recall.....I cut off 3 1/2'' off the depth of the buildings, so getting everything to fit was a challenge, especially with using tweezers to glue the figures to the floor...LOL the rest slides out. Anyway Barber shop, Plumbing store, Photo shop, Women's clothes are finished inside. Still have the Rexall drug store and corner bookstore to go, Not to mention the Miller signs for the roof...He He!
Take Care!
Frank
gmpullmanI really hesitated, but in the end, I caved in to my weakness and grabbed a pair of the Rapido RDCs. I just had to do it... These RDCs really live up to the expectations of a "museum-quality" model! Absolutely fabulous... Maybe I see a video in my future?
Ed, at Boothbay, we got our B&M Rapido RDCs a few weeks ago. They are really great. About the only problem we had was the pilots were a bit low, snagged on a turnout frog, and broke off. Easy repair with some CA.
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
Mike, Thanks for firing up another WPF and your interesting pinhole shots.
Ed, Nice shot, simple yet real, house and lone tree against the billowing clouds, automobile coming down the road, the obscure figure at the rear of the caboose, all of which speaks to me 1930s America.
Frank, Great seeing your elaborately detailed interiors. There's certainly lots of enjoyment to be had designing and constructing tiny interiors, not to mention the challenge of installation.
Completed this Downtown Deco structure, fun build, but had to compress the depth some to fit available space.
Thanks to all and regards, Peter
Frank:
I love the interiors! They look great! Very inspiring.
Peter:
Your Downtown Deco buildings are fantastic! Your reduction in depth is seamless - its so good I have to take your word for it. I can't see any seams at all.
Here are my latest efforts at equipping my roundhouse project - bench vises:
They are huge next to the HO figure, and they are rather crude, but I'm not about to try to make them any smaller. From a couple of feet away they will look fine. The one on the left is a Preiser HO scale model. I will try to put handles on them.
This is the recent batch of vises next to my first attempt at an HO scale vise. In reality it would be about three feet tall! Maybe I can sell it to an O scaler:
Dave & Peter,
Thanks for Your comments.
Dave Your vises look great....maybe You can try to sand the edges of the jaws some....a little rounder. Sand paper or file. For the handles, drill a small hole in the end for a piece of music wire, brass rod or phospher bronze wire and put a drop of CA gel on the ends.....that's iffin' You want to go that far. That's what I do for the gear shift knobs on My truck models......something You really can't see most of the time.....but I'm nuts.
Peter....I think You do outstanding work...especially the detail/painting.
As a side note.....one guy in the plumbing store reaching for something off the shelves....I dropped 10 times with the twissors, trying to position his hand about 1/16 from the wall....the wall slides out, with the rest of the lighting, also the roof is removeable. I learned some new words that day....My Dog even looked at Me weirdly..Huh! LOL
zstripeFor the handles, drill a small hole in the end for a piece of music wire, brass rod or phospher bronze wire and put a drop of CA on the ends.
Hi Frank,
I tried to use a #80 drill to drill holes for the handles but I hadn't let the vises dry long enough so I started to break things off. I'm bad for that - not being patient enough. I like your suggestion of using a drop of CA to form the ends of the handles! Thanks for that. I'll go at them again tomorrow or Monday. Next project is to build a few anvils.
Cheers!
hon30critter zstripe For the handles, drill a small hole in the end for a piece of music wire, brass rod or phospher bronze wire and put a drop of CA on the ends. Hi Frank, I tried to use a #80 drill to drill holes for the handles but I hadn't let the vises dry long enough so I started to break things off. I'm bad for that - not being patient enough. I like your suggestion of using a drop of CA to form the ends of the handles! Thanks for that. I'll go at them again tomorrow or Monday. Next project is to build a few anvils. Cheers! Dave
zstripe For the handles, drill a small hole in the end for a piece of music wire, brass rod or phospher bronze wire and put a drop of CA on the ends.
Dave,
You're supposed to drill the holes before they are on.......Who woulda' thunk'? I believe I have been there before....LOL.
BTW: The guy in the truck had to be installed through the side window after the cab was glued to the base chassis..He also has his legs and feet....talk about a New vocabulary! LOL
It would be interesting to model this. If only I had the space.
I am once again late to the party...... Some great and interesting stuff in here this weekend!
Been getting a little bit more done on the scenery I have been creating for Keuka Creek. A few weeks back it looked like this:
Little by little adding trees and greenery to the area:
Almost there now. Will be adding more shrubs and such to the area, but this is about what I am looking for:
73
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
SouthPennIf only I had the space
South Penn
That's quite a Y,Y,Y. I'd say lack of space is also their reason for this tangle of track. Interesting.
Thanks for sharing.
Richard
I installed the handles in the vises. I used Frank's suggestion to put a dot of CA on the ends of the handles to make them more realistic:
Talk about a fantasy car, a project I'm working on. You've heard of Amtrak "CABbage car", well my current build is a HEPage car. An F7b, stripped of it's prime mover, and rebuilt with a Cat series 3412 gen set with 480V, 3 phase, AC, to be "Amtrak compliant", to add to my passenger fleet.
The fans and grills are at the PO waiting for me to pick up. I have a Walters diesel dress up kit to add the grabs. I'll be scatch building the fan hatch, which I've experimented with a way to make the dimples to represent the bolts.
I'll be adding the graps and hand rails after I finish the fan hatch and fans, and the car primed. Mike EDIT: The body shell and frame are Athearn. I'll probably keeps the plastic wheels, as I don't plan to add any lights.
I'll be adding the graps and hand rails after I finish the fan hatch and fans, and the car primed.
Mike
EDIT: The body shell and frame are Athearn. I'll probably keeps the plastic wheels, as I don't plan to add any lights.
My You Tube
Mike:
Interesting project!
hon30critterinstalled the handles in the vises.
Dave, As is said, "everyone has their vices", and yours sure look good. Gonna look nice mounted on your benches. And with the jaws open they can have some work clamped in them.
Thanks and regards, Peter
Peter,
HO-VeloAnd with the jaws open they can have some work clamped in them.
Do you know what? I hadn't thought of doing that!
Thanks for the suggestion and the positive comments!