Bill
"Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig"
Bill: I love the pictures of the new layout and golden spike ceremony.
A new edition of Weekend Photo Fun will be starting again tommorrow. Would you please post these pictures in the new thread when it opens?
They will certainly generate a lot more interest in the soon-to-be-new thread.
Thanks!
-Kevin
Living the dream.
May 16, 2020 marked the completion of track and wiring on my new model railroad, a 6' x 1' shelf switching layout based on Scot Osterweil's "Highland Terminal". It's my first model railroad, actually. Track is Atlas code 100 flextrack and sectional pieces and Peco small and medium radius turnouts. Structures seen in the photo below were kitbashed by a friend who was a model builder at an architecture office we worked in many years ago.
2020-05-16_08_Operations-ready by Bill Wilcox, on Flickr
Here is the only known photo of the driving of the last spike (yet to be painted gold) at 5:50 pm CDT, 15 May 2020. Railroad officials of questionable scale observe the momentous event and then head off to have a beer. No social distancing required when you are a plastic based life form!
2020-05-15_TheLastSpike_SidingB by Bill Wilcox, on Flickr
The first test ops session with all track in operation took place on 17 May. The layout was designed for small locomotives and 40' cars. Here's a small locomotive (Bath & Hammondsport S1 #4, an Atlas model) shoving large cars around as the engineering department looks on.
2020-05-17_01_Ops-panorama by Bill Wilcox, on Flickr
EdThose look sharp! It took about 8 of the 0603s before I got the pressure adjusted on the surgical clamps, I have two clamps one adjusted to hold a 0603 and one for a 1206.I’m afraid if I tried using a copper clamp I would get more solder on the clamp than the LED or the LED would end up soldered to the copper clamp.I also ground the tip of the surgical clamps flat on the tip so they have more grab for the LEDs. I bent the handles of the clamps to adjust the pressure on the LEDs, just enough pressure to hold the LED without dinging it. The solder doesn’t adhere to the stainless steel clamps.Super gluing the LEDs to the rear of the headlights first also works pretty good. For dual headlights I make sure the LEDs are placed anode to cathode to put them in series.I bought a tow truck off eBay and it arrived today and I was able to get four 0603 LEDs wired without a problem in about 30 minutes (like the picture above).Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
Renegade
Those railroad crossing lights are badass! I had to show that clip to Judy. I also could appreciate how you painted the highway on the wall and made it look like it goes over a hill and it creates an illusion the foreground goes down a hill before it goes up the hill.
P.S. Everydays a weekend day in lockdown land
TF
RR_MelI finally settled on surgical clamps to hold the tiny LEDs.
I staretd out soldering my own. Like Mel says, you need "helping hands". Some of the forceps I have seem to have too much grip, I'd be afraid of crushing the LED or messing up the insulation on the wire. Those other holders with plain alligator clips are too flimsy and the teeth on the clip don't hold the flat LES or the ultra-thin wire well at all.
I found these flat-nosed alligator clips to be ideal:
https://www.amazon.com/Toothless-Alligator-Copper-Plated-Microscopic/dp/B0187MIUU4
I crimped and soldered them to short lengths of solid copper, #10 or 12, I forget — but this allows me to position the clips for best positioning of the wire — and stuck them in a block of wood. I can hold the LED in one and the wire in the other. Then just a light touch of the iron and that's it.
Now, of course, I buy most of my SMDs with the leads already attached. I'll have to get a photo posted.
SMD-clip1 by Edmund, on Flickr
SMD-clip by Edmund, on Flickr
I usually have the solder pad facing up but for the photo I grabbed one that I had already soldered and didn't want to bend the wire too much.
Cheers, Ed
Renegade1cI’ll never complain about the tiny LEDs again, I have nothing but congratulations on soldering 175 tiny 0603 LEDs!!!!I finally settled on surgical clamps to hold the tiny LEDs. Since I’ve been doing it that way I have only screwed up two, before this way it was terrible.
I tweaked the clamps until at the proper thickness of the LED there was very little pressure on the LED. I screwed up close to a dozen until I got the correct pressure. Last evening I soldered 8 of the 0603 LEDs successfully without dinging one, 8 in a row!!!MelMy Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
RR_Mel
I know your pain! My refinery scene I posted a couple weeks ago have over 175 of them and none were prewired. I probably lost at least 60 while making them until I finally got my system worked out (a pair of tweezers holding the LED and the Tweezer held in my 3rd arm soldering jig.)
I really need to find a spool of #30 gauge wire in green. I have red but having to check polarity everytime is annoying.
I know the weekend is over but here is my weekend project.
You may have to click on link to see the video. https://flic.kr/p/2j3t11p
The crossing gates are NJ international driven by 4 servos. The whole system is driven by a Ardiuno Nano.
Colorado Front Range Railroad: http://www.coloradofrontrangerr.com/
Kevin, Allan, and TF ....... Thanks for commenting on my photos.
Kevin .... Cascade Northern cars look good.
Bear and Mel .... Maybe you can get a train to stop on a dime. Heads I win. Tails you lose.
Peter .... Your bulkhead flatcar looks real. The Rapido bus ad is news to me, but conratulations.
Allan .... I like the station scene with the RDC.
Paul .... The E6 looks very nice.
I already commented on other posts.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
KevinI like having 18 wheelers on my layout. In the late 60s early 70s I serviced two-way radios in the La Luz Lumber Co trucks, they had a large fleet of 18 wheelers special built for the 7½% mountain roads.My layout is my history from the 50s, a major part of the 50s was the Sacramento Mountains in Southern New Mexico. The railroad logging ended in the late 40s and logging was done by truck.I don’t know one manufacture from another, just big tractors to me.Currently I have 9 rigs with 1mm incandescent bulb lighting on my layout. Because of the old waiting game for materials I work on vehicles and figures at my workbench to fill the void. When I couldn’t find a source for the 1½ volt micro bulbs I'm now using LEDs.After going through my vehicle bin box I came up with a handful of trucks. As I don’t remember the trucks having sleepers in the early 50s I remove them then I shorten the chassis.These are my current project. TFI don’t use an Optivisor, just can’t get used to the bulky thing. I use my regular reading glasses with either X2 or X3 flipdown magnifiers. Since my cataract surgery I don’t have problems with my eyes. My problem is shaky hands, holding a super hot baseball bat and trying to solder #36 Litz wire to a 1mm LED ain’t easy.I was hopping that I could take some pictures at my diorama but that’s been slow going. Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
Good morning
Looking at everyone's work over coffee this morning... As always, some nice craftsmanship here!
Jimmy, The Pittsburgh & West Virginia looks tedious with all those red lines, I would never attempt it
J.R. The Sperry Railwork building looks great, Nice scratchbuild!
Rick, Great job on the freight cars, love the semis.
Mel, I just gots to knows what optivisor you use? I can't wait to see your lighting effects when you're done, please show.
Garry, Always a pleasure viewing your railroad scenes. Great job on those bridge piers, they look like real cement
Kevin, As always, great job on the decaling! I cannot find Cascade Northerns on eBay. No wonder you make those in conjunction with your Stratton & Gillette cars.
Bear, I always love your humor
Peter, What can I say that I haven't already said before? Many times prototypical railroad photos don't look as good as yours And congratulations on your success with Rapido
Allen, That is some awesome facia work and I love the Black River Station scene.
Paul, I know you didn't use duct tape to fix that but no wonder many consider it a tool. The bridge scene overlooking the station looks great.
No pictures for me to post this week as I'm a bit short in the game. I will be kit bashing some deck plate girder bridges to post on next week's WPF.
Nice work and have a great day everyone
Allan: I love the Atlas railway station model. I have a scene planned for my layout that will include the Atlas Passenger Station, AHM Ramsey Journal Building, and the Tyco Ma's Place Restaurant. Three iconic models from my childhood.
Paul: I really like your passenger station scene also.
Mel: Your work on the headlights for the Peterbilt 379 (maybe a 359) is simply insane. I am amazed.
Peter: Just a side note... there is not a "U" in Peterbilt. It is a very commonly mispelled brand, like Volkswagen. Everybody loves Peterbilt 359/379/389 tractors. Those big semi-circular fenders and grille mounted headlights are iconic, as is the V shaped windshield. That massive four slot square chrome grille can be spotted easily in a crowd. Really, it is the Harley-Davison Heritage Softail of highway tractors.
A classic in red and white.
HO-Velo Mel, Looking forward to seeing that Peterbuilt on a darkened road, can't quite put my finger on why Peterbuilts have always been my favorite tractor.
Mel, Looking forward to seeing that Peterbuilt on a darkened road, can't quite put my finger on why Peterbuilts have always been my favorite tractor.
PeterMe too. It will have to be on my bench. My new vehicles are 12 volt input and my layout is 1.3 volts. I’m working on a diorama for taking pictures and it will have both 1.3 volt sockets (incandescent) and 12 volt sockets (LED). I’ve had all kinds of delays on my diorama but yesterday I received the material I need to finish the road so maybe next weekend.Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
gmpullmanFishbowl Bus scene
Thanks Ed and Kevin, It's been a thrilling experience having my city bus scene come to Jason's attention via the MRR forum and then onto Rapido's website and newsletter. But now my head needs deflating.
GMTR, Nice fix lining up the windows, amazing how just a little off line or out of perpendicular catches the eye in our modeling efforts.
Hoping everyone has a good remainder of the weekend, regards, Peter
I thought I would squeeze this one in. This is the radiator for my HO Peterbilt with four 0603 LEDs headlights
This was a 6 hour job today. This is the first time I didn’t ding any of the tiny LEDs. It’s also the first time I have glued the 0603s in before soldering the wires on them.I finished the cab with the amber clearance lights yesterday. Next is painting the cab then reassembly.Mel
My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
I enjoyed all the modelling, ideas and photos again this weekend.
I completed some repair to one of my LifeLike Proto 2000 E6s. Cracked gear noise had been evident for some time but my priorities were elsewhere. Today I completed replacing the wheelsets with the correct (11 tooth) Walthers replacements for the early E units. As I described in a separate post, when I changed the original QSI decoder to LokSound Select (for the dual motor sounds and other reasons) I had wired everything with minimal leads, which made it rough to get the weight high enough to access the truck clips and to oil the motor bearings. Today I simply added a longer truck wire system on each side to allow future maintenance. The extra wires simply folds away under some tape.
Anyway, #994 is back in service. I now realize how annoying the noisy operation had been, wishing I had attacked this annoyance earlier.
20200517_155855 by Paul Ahrens, on Flickr
20200517_191222 by Paul Ahrens, on Flickr
Paul
Modeling HO with a transition era UP bent
Lots of inspiration again. I pried the new backround building apart last night and altered the offending sidewall to line up the windows. I added cast concrete style corners in place if the brick cornerpieces and I think it looks better. Still need the roof and some details plus lighting.2nd try by J.R. Mitchell, on Flickr
Jimmy - Thanks for starting WPF this week.
J.R. - A good looking building.
Rick - Good looking cars a susual. Nice scene with the DT&I Train.
Mel - TINY! Beyond me.
Garry - Grate photos. Love the West India Fruit and Steamship Co. car. Not something you see every day. Thanks for sharing.
Kevin - A couple of nice cars.
Bear - Good one. We need the levity.
Mel - Bravo.
Peter - Another one?
Its quiet on the BRVRR front. Started to install a new lighting buss. Boring. I'm going to have to draw out the circuit before I cut anymore wire or drill holes.
Something from the archives. Old Berea/Black River Station from 2012.
Keep the photos and ideas coming guys. Thanks to you WPF is always the best thread of the week.
Remember its your railroad
Allan
Track to the BRVRR Website: http://www.brvrr.com/
Peter: As always, your scene is great... and another congratulations for the Rapido advertisement.
HO-VeloThanks to all the contributors and viewers, have a good weekend and regards, Peter
Peter,
Congratulations on having your Fishbowl Bus scene chosen for the Rapido advertisements!
Regards, Ed
Jimmy, thanks for opening the WPF with your paint and decal project update.
GMTR, Wish I had the option of not handling the rolling stock on my switching layout, so it is that the laying on of the hands has become a study in patients, judiciousness and a delicate touch. I try to be selective in keeping the more fragile cars on the rails. As an aid to handling, but at the expense of storage space my small fiddle-yard has open area and wide track centers. Whether at the work bench or the layout I often remind myself; 'Think before you act.' Still, like Kevin says; there's gonna' be boo-boos. Btw, nice industrial look to your yard and structures shot.
Still got bulkhead flat fever. A previous victim of my weathering experiments this old MDC Roundhouse model has been recently spruced-up, or should I say down, also added stirrup steps, end platforms and cut-bars.
Thanks to all the contributors and viewers, have a good weekend and regards, Peter
GMTRacing I have a question. Do you manage to run without touching them much?
I did touch my train cars quite a bit when I was running my layouts.
I swapped out the freight cars in the yard between sessions. This rotated my rolling stock on the layout. This was also a big part of the decision that my final layout would include a carfloat. It seems more OK for the freight cars to swap out on a car float between operating sessions.
I keep the more fragile freight cars on the layout. All my boxcars can be picked up by gripping the doors. Brass tank cars will be OK, but Kadee tank cars cannot be touched at all. I also use metal grab irons and A-Line stirrups as much as practical.
I use Kadee's magnetic hands-off coupling/uncoupling system.
Yes, things still get broken.
snoz by Bear, on Flickr Seriously Mel.
snoz by Bear, on Flickr
Seriously Mel.
I love the rolling stock you are all showing. Mine is mostly straight out of the box or older bits I got at train shows from the bargin bins. They look just right but I have a question. Do you manage to run without touching them much? I have a few detailed pieces but I either put them all away or tied them up in the yard before because just coupling/uncoupling tended to knock bits off. I admit also I am sometimes clumsy.
Taking pics of my layout as it goes along is helpful. After looking at the new building pictures, I realized the end and side windows on the base don't line up. I will correct that before I add the roof and other parts but I will need to determine the best way to do it without destroying the building. Back to the drawing board on that one.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Jimmy: Thank you getting us going with Weekend Photo Fun. I am very ware that N Scale is small, I did it for years, and painted hundreds of pieces of N Scale equipment. You did a good job on your locomotive. T Track does look like fun.
JR: Your new building looks right at home on your layout, nice.
Rick: I am completely in love with that DT&I boxcar! Your work on the extra bars for the door mechanisms looks very good. That is a great detail to add to tis spectacular looking freight car.
Mel: I do not think I could ever do anything with LEDs that tiny. You can always amaze me with your work.
Garry: I am so happy to hear the boxcar is well travelled and serving you faithfully. It really looks great on your masterpiece of a layout.
I am sharing a CASCADE NORTHERN gondola in basic black this week. I think this one was built from a Mantua model, but I am not sure. It was quite a while ago that I started this model.
I shared my CASCADE NORTHERN boxcar a few weeks ago, and this gondola car used to second size of decals on the sheet. The decals were printed by Donald Manlick.
This is the CN boxcar from a few weeks ago:
Keep the photo shares coming! May is already half way done.
Jimmy ........ I know what you mean about N-scale being small. However, you did a good job with the lcomtive.
JR .... Your building looks great.
Rick ... Your freight cars look great. I like the CNW PRIDE gondola. I don't think I have seen one before. I like the DT&I boxcar and GP38-2's.
Mel ..... Those LED's certainly are tiny.
....
For today's photos, here is a train I am currently operating. It is a CB&Q-GN run through train which originated in Heartland on my layout, and it has GN Alco locomotives. At the head of the train are some boxcars which originated in Florida and moved to Heartland via connecting railroads.
The first boxcar is a well-traveled Stratton & Gillette car which sometimes appears in my photos. The second boxcar is unique, and it is owned by West India Fruit & Steamship Company. It advertises railroad car ferries between Florida and Havana. Obviously, this dates before the Cuban Revolution lead by Fidel Castro. The model boxcar is an old Varney product in very good condition.
My last photo shows, the train farther along as it crosses The Mrs. Hippy River. It will soon pass through Prairie View on its way to West End.
Good morning from partly cloudy and mild Northeast Ohio!
Jimmy, thanks for starting us out, nice work on that P&WV stuff.
JR - That is a good looking building!
I managed to get some stuff done this week.
This is McKeen Evans/ACF Boxcar kit that I extensively modified based on a conversation I had on the Modern Freight Cars List regarding the lack of a model for a new decal that Mask Island Decals did. I did several modifications to the McKeen kit, including cutting out the poorly done underframe and replacing it with a Details West Hydrocushion Underframe as the protoptype had that type of underframe. Substituted a Brachline Diagonal Panel Roof for the poorly executed one on the McKeen kit, added the extra rodding to the plug doors as the prototype all had 4 rods on each door and added Moloco End of Car Coupler extensions as they are the best on the market. Car was painted with Scalecoat II Armour Yellow, Boxcar Red and Silver Paints and lettered with Mask Island Decals. The car was one of 20 in this class and was assigned to the Campbell Soup Plant as noted by the 1090 code above the car number.
Next up a Walthers 65' Thrall Gondola kit, made the same modifications to the kit that the C&NW did to a varied bunch of Thrall, Pullman Standard and Magor gons, adding the high ends to 40 of these cars. Car was painted with Scalecoat II CNW Green and lettered with Herald King Decals. I sort of made up where all the lettering goes as there are no pictures of the Thrall car I could find, just the Pullman Standard car and it has a different rib pattern. Car was used in transporting crushed auto bodies for recycling.
Since I did the new Campbell's Soup car, I have a picture of some DT&I GP38-2's with a couple of the predecessor 40' XLI boxcars that were also used in Campbell's Soup service along with servicing the Libby's plant in Leipsic, OH.
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!