mlehman ... "Drone Flight to New Zealand" Talk about a flying visit Mike, is that drone an off shoot of “Project Aurora”?Smile, Wink & Grin
Bear,
It's the Little Drone That Thinks It Can
So I figure it might as well think big, trying for some place warm, interesting, and full of great RR heritage, although its battery is far too puny to get there. And most flights are lucky to end in a controlled crash of some sort. Doesn't bode well for it flying over the layout, especially with the hinky Rotate trim. But the new drone is supposed to be much more mature in behavior. We shall see. At least the current drone is an enjoyable diversion while the slow boat from China steams along with the replacement...
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Finished weathering and adding reflective striping to some of my rolling stock. Hope it looks okay. :)
-Jon
mlehman zstripe Those tiny SMD's they make now are the cat's meow! I have been using them...until I started with the PICO ones. They are about 1/2 the size of the ones You have... I have the 8'' lead ones with a resister already wired for 6-12 volts. No need for the rectifier circuit, for I am using straight DC. I have already gone through 40 of them, from Evan Designs. At about 1.90 in bulk. They state that they will last for 2 years, constantly on. Frank, If it were me, I'd throw another resistor on the leads and then they would likely last forever...
zstripe Those tiny SMD's they make now are the cat's meow! I have been using them...until I started with the PICO ones. They are about 1/2 the size of the ones You have... I have the 8'' lead ones with a resister already wired for 6-12 volts. No need for the rectifier circuit, for I am using straight DC. I have already gone through 40 of them, from Evan Designs. At about 1.90 in bulk. They state that they will last for 2 years, constantly on.
Frank,
If it were me, I'd throw another resistor on the leads and then they would likely last forever...
Mike,
Your right.....but they are so tiny with magnet wire.
I wish I could put a resistor on Me! LOL.......... As they are now, they will more than likely out last Me.
Take Care!
Frank
mlehman... "Drone Flight to New Zealand"
Cheers, the Bear.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
zstripeThose tiny SMD's they make now are the cat's meow! I have been using them...until I started with the PICO ones. They are about 1/2 the size of the ones You have... I have the 8'' lead ones with a resister already wired for 6-12 volts. No need for the rectifier circuit, for I am using straight DC. I have already gone through 40 of them, from Evan Designs. At about 1.90 in bulk. They state that they will last for 2 years, constantly on.
SS Expressthat's the one aspect of model railroading I have yet to tackle.
You will be very happy with the results once you get into lighting. It is dirt simple. You need an LED (or incandescent bulb if you prefer), a resistor and a power supply. Once you have the basics down, you might want to look at using Arduino mini processors to give you enhanced lighting effects like random off/on lighting in structures, but if you never go there you will still be very happy with what you can do with just LEDs.
Regards,
LED 'nut' Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Middleman,
Really great job! Those tiny SMD's they make now are the cat's meow! I have been using them every where. Looks like You have the NANO one's in the lamp shades. I too have used them until I started with the PICO ones. They are about 1/2 the size of the ones You have in the lamp shades and are just as bright. Warm white looks like incandesants and if You want to channel the light, it will fit deeper in the lamp shade. I have the 8'' lead ones with a resister already wired for 6-12 volts. No need for the rectifier circuit, for I am using straight DC. I have already gone through 40 of them, from Evan Designs. At about 1.90 in bulk. They state that they will last for 2 years, constantly on.
http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/smd-chip-leds.html
Middleman, that's the one aspect of model railroading I have yet to tackle. My dad was pretty good at doing all that lighting and super-detailing and he usually took care of that end of the railroad on our HVBL. He would have loved to see that lighting arrangment in the cab of your steamer. Nice work you got there. Maybe I'll try a building or switch tower for my first attempt. Thanks for sharing those lighting and detail pics.......good stuff.
Rich
SS Rich: Thanks. The very small LEDs now available make it so much easier to install them in lamp shades,class lights,etc. It's nice to know that when I do these,I'll(probably) never have to replace them.
Nice work on your coal loads,BTW.I have a lot of gon's that I need to fill with coal,limestone,etc.
Mike: I'm sure you'll get the kinks ironed out of your drone project. I pretty much swore off anything joystick related many years ago,after consistently being destroyed by my very young son when we'd play video games.
Peter: Your buildings,streets,waterfront scene are all terrific.I'd love to see larger photos of them(hint,hint).
Phil: Good to see you back on WPF.Beautiful job on the engine.Any video?
Mike
I've designed the control board for my Stanford, CA, layout. Just need to buy some toggle switches and I can build it.
And this may not look like much, but it represents showing my son how operation will work when we get actual track laid.
Happy railroading!
-Donn
Unfortunate events? Yeah, could happen, that's why I'm taking it slow. I think it's a bit crazy, as I suspect some others think I am. Gotta break the eggs if you plan to make an omelett...
-matthewMike - Can you change your camera's settings? If you can increase the ISO you can use a faster shutter speed which should help with the blur.
matthew,
Nice work. No matter how modest the project, WPF is here to support you as Bear noted.
As for the camera, it's got auto settings that aren't really user-accessible on a drone that goes in the palm of your hand. I've been advised that more light will increase the shutter speed. But a better camera on my new drone will help when it arrives. One of the main problems I need to solve is this one, though, as drones can be dodgy little critters (even when the trim settings all work, which they don't on this one, making for some challenging training), which is why there's blur in the pic despite my best efforts in training to hold a steady hover. Video works a little better, for instance this one entitled "Drone Flight to New Zealand":
SPOT0030 - Drone Flight to New Zealand from Mike Lehman on Vimeo.
-matthew I hesitate to offer my humble attempts
It's been a while since I've been on the forums. It's good to see the great work you all have been doing.
My contribution is this brass Shay. I went to a train show and bought a box of parts. After a few months, this locomotive emerged.
It runs well and I feel pretty good about how it's turning out, especially for a "backshop" project.
Phil, I'm not a rocket scientist; they are my students.
Rick, Thanks for the WPF opening and views of your exemplary rolling stock modeling.
SS Express, Nice coal loads. Making freight car loads is such a fun and satisfying part of the hobby.
Still being under the weather has me reaching back into my photo library.
Thanks to all the contributors, regards, Peter
Everything looks so good, I hesitate to offer my humble attempts. This morning I put together my first Micro-Trains coupler and body mounted it to a reefer
Mike - Can you change your camera's settings? If you can increase the ISO you can use a faster shutter speed which should help with the blur.
Great work everyone! Rick, you must have a room full of cars by now
I have nothing new, but since Photobucket is playing nice today, I dug out this photo.
WC 6677 pulls car from the siding to add to it's train, before moving on.
Mike.
My You Tube
tbdanny,
I stand corrected. Can't argue with your logic.
Remember its your railroad
Allan
Track to the BRVRR Website: http://www.brvrr.com/
Middleman, I'm diggin' the use of those LED's. Gives some realism to the nightime effect.................
Happy Weekend! Great work from all involved.
Mike: I admire your chutzpah... Me + drone + layout = a series of unfortunate events.
Finished my coal tower and sand house this week:
EDIT: There are several ladders which won't be installed until the landscaping is done.
'Got the LEDs installed,too:
Please keep the good stuff coming(no law against posting more than once!).
Added some new coal loads to the fleet. This attempt was a little better than the last one I did. I tried a new technique from a video I watched and I am pretty happy with the results so far. Less mess too!!
Rick, now that I can see the photo, that NACC car turned out pretty nice. It's really the thick roof thats the most noticable. I wonder if another roof part would fit?
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
Good stuff from everyone. A pair of SW7s at work.
Undec yeah, I suppose they didn't make many. But from casual observation, I've seen the painted NACC box cars fairly often on Ebay, sometimes for attractive prices. I found mine on Ebay about a year ago for about $20 which was a deal considering now nice it is. I imagine if you keep watch, with some patience you'll find other painted ones for a similar low price as I did. The Walthers version - mainly due to the roof and ends was not nearly as fine.
Jim,
Trying to find an undec Athearn is like trying to find MH-370, nobody knows where one is. Also have not been made since 2004, so I used one I had in stock.
Rick
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!
BRVRR tbdanny - Its a start. I think I would have used smaller ballast.
tbdanny - Its a start. I think I would have used smaller ballast.
It's a blend of Woodland Scenics coarse and medium grades. The layout is in O scale. Given that it's a backwoods narrow gauge operation, I figured they'd just use the rocks they could find lying around.
The Location: Forests of the Pacific Northwest, OregonThe Year: 1948The Scale: On30The Blog: http://bvlcorr.tumblr.com
dti406 Walthers NACC 50' Exterior Post RBL Rick Jesionowski
Walthers NACC 50' Exterior Post RBL
Rick Jesionowski
Photo is X where I am now so I'll have to check it later but is that NACC the same car Athearn produced? The Athearn version had a much more finely tooled body. I had the Walthers D&RGW NACC 50' box car and the roof was very crude and thick. I sold it and replaced it with the Athearn version which had nice fine grab irons and roof.
Thanks Rick for starting off WPF. Those are some good looking cars.
GP9_Man - Good stuff there. Your Cassandra Crossing is great!
Casey - Your little Reading loco is a jewel!
Jimmy - Lots of work there.
Mike L - Drones? Beyond me!
Garry - Great looking Burlington car. Good Work.
Tony - Nice photo.
From the BRVRR:
NYC F7s #1821 & 1814 with a coal drag, hustling around the curve at the west end of the layout.
Keep the photos and ideas coming guys. Thanks to you WPF is always the best thread of the week.
Excellent pics everyone ! Hope your Friday 13th is smooth without bad luck.
Here is an early morning shot from Hazard yard on my EK Subdivision.
Tony
EK Sub in HO Scale
I've completed the first stage of scenery on my layout, painting and ballasting the track: