Living the dream.
Hello everyone, and welcome to a new weekend!
Thursday was National Live Creative Day in the United States, that seems like a fitting day for model railroaders to celebrate!
This week my share is another project I built to keep me busy sort-of-model-railroading in the years I have been without a layout.
I built a 1:1 scale replica of my future layout out of cardboard. Kind of the ultimate version of a mock-up.
This is the Port Annabelle scene before and after:
-Photographs by Kevin Parson
It is great to know how the future layout will look, but I really wish I was building it already.
I am looking forward to seeing everyone's photographs this weekend. This thread can always be counted on to be the best of the week.
-Kevin
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Thanks again for another sendoff of a fine WPF, Kevin.
A full size mockup is a great idea. All I had was bits of masking tape patched on the floor. No regrets in the planning but a mockup is certainly a great way to go!
Bear is doing some model archeology! Good for you and so nice that you unearthed something useful.
One of my modeling doctrines is "You can't have too many signals". Thus, I decided to throw together another signal bridge this week. The top arms are tri-color LEDs and the lower two will be steady red. Good enough for my needs. I have a pair of older Logic Rail Signal Animators that will drive them:
Signal Bridge first look by Edmund, on Flickr
The bridge itself is an old AHM 'water bridge' that was part of a kit that represented an overhead tender watering system. The lattice work on the bridge was actually pretty decent for that vintage.
Signal Bridge-wide by Edmund, on Flickr
Here's the spot I picked out for it. Disclaimer: I haven't wired it yet. The aspects are photoshopped
Signal Bridge by Edmund, on Flickr
Weldbond is still drying.
Continuing with passenger car upgrades I grabbed a few of the MTH heavyweight Pullmans and added a few LEDs to their overhead lighting. While I was in there I applied a rudimentary paint job to the otherwise bland, olive colored plastic.
MTH Pullman by Edmund, on Flickr
The MTH HO passenger cars are rather well executed. It is too bad they limited their offerings to only a few car types and no diners. Still, I'm glad I got what I got when I got them!
Cheers, Ed
Good morning from sunny and mild Northeast Ohio!
Kevin, thanks for starting us out, like your mockup, I have seen a number of those in the past few years, helps keep the future layout in perspective.
Bear, nice work on changing that car into something usable, I am sure the new owner really appreciates your work.
Ed, good looking signal work and remedial work on those passenger cars, we may get some additional cars once Scaletrains gets done digesting their purchase of the MTH items.
I got a couple of new cars done this week!
First up a Stewart G39a ore jennie, painted with Scalecoat II Black Paint and lettered with Middle Division Decals, these were upgrades of the G39 cars and the air tanks and ABD Valve were moved from under the car where the heaters would damage the gaskets in those parts while they tried to get the frozen ore out during the winter. (Thanks to Ed (GM Pullman for this information)).
Another Bowser Covered Hopper kit, painted with Scalecoat II Black paint and lettered with Highball Graphics decals. The Annie originally purchased these cars to haul cement from the Dundee, MI cement plant to various locations due to the large use of cement in the early Interstate Highway program, they then migrated to the Yuma, MI sand pit delivering casting sand to the Ford Engine plant in Brookpark, OH.
Last weekend I took my Bowser C-636 demonstrators to the club and ran them with 41 G39 and G39A ore jennies on the Strongsville Club layout.
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!
Nice work everyone!
I was going to begin my NYC 12K gal tank car kitbash project, which requires (2) Tichy 10K gal tank car kits to complete. However, figuring out the best and most efficient way to cut the frames & tanks to add the scale 4' to the length of the car is proving to be pretty challenging.
I also found out that the tank dome of the model is a scale 15" smaller in OD than the prototype. Tichy does make another tank car kit with a larger dome but it's still 9" OD undersized.
Not wanting that to deter me and hoping that it would help clarify some things, I decided to go ahead and just assemble the Tichy tank car as is. Here's the mostly assembled frame for the Tichy tank car:
My small Irwin vise came in handy once again for securing & bending the 0.02" OD wire for the air line. As I stated a few weeks ago in WPF, it's one of the best $35 investiments that I've made in a while.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
Kevin, Thanks for the WPF start. Talk about creative, your mock-up is a fine example and a good way to have fun while helping avoid unwanted surprises down the road.
Three cheers for the Bear, Helping a fellow modeler is time well spent, while adding a special layer of fun and satisfaction to the project.
Ed, Wish I could dip into your boundless well of modeling energy and know-how.
Rick, Always fun seeing your models. Found your info about the AA hopper hauling casting sand extra interesting. Now I can add a little more traffic to my foundry with an open-side hopper still languishing in it's box.
Tom, Appears you've got lots of creative fun going on. Last night while trying to bend an etched metal windshield wiper it flew from my tweezers into the hinterland. Behind the eight ball crawling around the floor looking for the tiny wiper got me to thinking about that vice you mentioned.
Better to be beside the eight ball.
Thanks to all the contributors and viewers. Have a good weekend. Regards, Peter
Kevin: Wow, I'm impressed with your planning work. I probably should have done that for my layout!
Bear: I always liked those PFE cars. Glad you could salvage it.
Ed: Great job on the signals. I wish I could convince my fellow club members to put some on the layout.
Rick: 41 ore jennies, that must be quite the scene!
Tom: Looking forward to see the completed kit
Peter: I love that hot rod!
Here is some narrow gauge action on my layout:
IMG_20230910_113830b on Flickr
I still need to paint the bridge abutments...
Simon
Beautiful work and scene, Peter!
HO-VeloLast night while trying to bend an etched metal windshield wiper it flew from my tweezers into the hinterland. Behind the eight ball crawling around the floor looking for the tiny wiper got me to thinking about that vice you mentioned.
Two photos for you...
Irwin bench vise:
Bifurcated LED flashlight:
The Irwin vise can be attached to/detached from your hobby bench for convenience. I was given a knock-off of the above LED flashlight but it's GREAT for recovering those small lost parts! You can wear it around your neck or your head. The LEDs cast a good strong light and the bifurcation helps those parts stand out more. Can't recommend either one highly enough.
More progress on the Tichy 10K gal tank car this past evening: Tank, dome, strapping, and braking added...
Only peripherals (handrails, grabirons, ladder, placards, trucks) remaining. Should have it completed later today.
Interesting discovery: The strapping that came with the kit is clear - even though the assembly instructions state "white styrene strip". Still fits. And it makes it easier to see the adhesive behind the strapping during assembly.
Good morning
Thanks for hosting another WPF Kevin. I've always loved mock-ups. I'm remembering that full sized layout moch-up you did years ago. Moch-ups are a good way to figure things out for sure. You certainly took the concept to the extreme on that one
If my recollection serves me correctly, Steve had contacted you via email, considering your project for the magazine.
As always, some great looking modeling here gentlemen. Thanks for the shares.
Nothing new from me lately, but I'll post some old stuff to at least be a participant this week.
Bridge #4 was my favorite bridge to build. Determining the bridge width coinciding with the footing placement was a difficult challenge.
For some strange reason, the supports were made before the bridge. They looked way too freaky parallel to the roadbed, but at an angle to the bridge. They ended up being a waste of time, but still looking for a place to use them.
This was the first mock-up. There was just too many discrepancies in projecting the footing positions up two inches from a 2% grade.
Here's the bridge sides with a revised deck stencil. Parallelograms were made symmetrical on both ends.
Keeping the corners plumb, here's the mock-up solution that finally worked, accurately transferring the support positions from the roadbed edges up to the bridge.
The bridge deck was built to the appropriate width that was determined earlier.
Barbecue skewers were used to double-check the footing locations before they were drilled.
Here's the actual bridge set on grade to confirm the footing locations. When all was said and done, the bridge positioning was slightly different as a result of the 2% grade. The cork also had to be removed, and readjusted on either end of the approaches.
Dr Wayne helped me out quite a bit, showing me several methods how to make bridges removable. Doing ballast and scenery will be easier later on. Removing the bridge if maintenance is ever needed won't ever be a problem either. Thanks Wayne
PAINT ME! PAINT ME!
I'm starting to wonder if I'm afraid of paint. I've painted a car before, but never a small model railroad bridge
Looking forward to seeing more pictures here this weekend. They're always fun to see, and I've always learned things from everyone's work here.
TF
Tichy 10K gal tank car kit....completed:
Definitely a learning experience...
Thank you to everyone that has contributed so far. We still have a few hours left in the weekend. Plenty of time for more people to share something.
Bear: I wasn't there when Scale Rails Of Southwest Florida moved into their permanent location, but I would bet lots of neat treasures were uncovered. That is a nifty old freight car. I really enjoy the old train cars I have upgraded for reliability and run every once in a while.
Ed: Great work on the signal bridge. You are right, the lattice on that bridge is very good looking, especially considering the vintage of the original model. Branchline and MTH both failed me with the lack of a complete variety of heavyweight passenger cars. I believe I will just be upgrading my Athearn heavyweights and stick to the original plan.
Rick: Great models as always. I have been looking for one of those Ore Jennies in undecorated since you posted one in here. They seem to be more rare than alligator feathers. I think I will reconsider that as a future project and maybe scratchbuild a gravel car inspired by the look of these Ore Jennies.
Tom: Fantastic work on the Tichy tank car kit build. It certainly has more detail than my Lambert brass tank cars. I am very impressed. I will probably attempt to build one of mine eventually, but not for a long time. Thank you for the updates throughout the weekend.
Peter: That is a great little hot rod model. Was it built from the Jordan kit?
Simon: Beautiful photograph of the narrow gauge train heading over the trestle. Wonderful.
Fiddler: That is great work on the bridges. You have done amazing work getting them to fit into unusual spaces with special circumstances. The closest I have done to anything like that was building the Central Valley bridge kit.
gmpullmanNo regrets in the planning but a mockup is certainly a great way to go!
I have never successfully drawn a track plan that looked like I wanted when built. The worst was an N scale layout I helped design for my friend Paul. When built it looked nothing like we expected. A drawing just does not translate into a 3D layout. Too many surprises when scenery starts to get built.
dti406I like your mockup, I have seen a number of those in the past few years.
SGRR layout #4 was the first one I built a full-scale mockup for. Progress on that small layout was slow moving over more than a decade. Many of the mock-ups got more paint and detailing as stand ins.
HO-VeloTalk about creative, your mock-up is a fine example and a good way to have fun while helping avoid unwanted surprises down the road.
That is the idea. Unfortuntaley, I have bought a lot of new (better) kits to use instead of the kits I used for the mock-up. Some stuff might not fit the same now.
snjroyWow, I'm impressed with your planning work. I probably should have done that for my layout!
I hope it will turn out to be time well spent.
Track fiddlerI'm starting to wonder if I'm afraid of paint. I've painted a car before, but never a small model railroad bridge
Your bridge will probably need to be airbrushed for it to look right. There are a lot of nooks and crannies that need to be reached. You can always box it up and send it South for paint.
Let's all keep the good stuff and helpful responses coming. I am looking forward to it all.
Great to see an American win the Vuelta. Might just take a little red jersey spin on my bike this afternoon in celebration.
Simon, My eyes were so drawn to the nice train, bridges and scenery didn't notice the unpainted abutment.
TF, Looking forward to seeing the paint job, bet it'll look swell.
Tom, Thanks, I'm going vise shopping soon. Own a LED head-lamp, but didn't think to use it during my lost wiper search, btw found the wiper just as I was about to give up. Your tank car build looks great.
Kevin, I'm cheating, the hot rod is a RTR Artitec model. Ran into something similar with my town mock-up, ended up with a couple unused kits and head-scratching after becoming enamored with DTD structures. Also my grandson suggesting a gas station led to more shuffling and a fun scratch build, named after him.
Have a good Sunday. Regards, Peter
SeeYou190 Rick: Great models as always. I have been looking for one of those Ore Jennies in undecorated since you posted one in here. They seem to be more rare than alligator feathers. I think I will reconsider that as a future project and maybe scratchbuild a gravel car inspired by the look of these Ore Jennies. -Kevin
Kevin, you're not watching very well, the car I posted today was one of six just picked up off of E-Bay in the last month.
I started with this. the tender is not original to the engine. both baught seperately.
Eneded up with that. Now DCC ready. of course it has a few teething issues. Cannt find a coupler with a narrow crawbar to fit the opening. the drawbar between engine and tender is 1/8 inch to short. it cannt handle even a 24 inch radious without the tender binding. I need a jumper for the decoder buddy mother board to test the engine in DC for shorts. Then I have to answer why the gear box keeps knocking itself out of line with the motor causing it to bind. at least on the work bench it does. minor teething issues
Next addition to the postwar layout is this post war factory from plasticvill. bachmann hasnt changed the plasticville line in like 60 years now.
I end with these two accurail kits.
shane
A pessimist sees a dark tunnel
An optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel
A realist sees a frieght train
An engineer sees three idiots standing on the tracks stairing blankly in space
SeeYou190 I have been looking for one of those Ore Jennies in undecorated since you posted one in here.
One of these on ebay now:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/204432589090?hash=item2f9921c122:g:l4IAAOSwW6Nk0urc&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAAwOIX1ml5onyh1ZysuwKIx0W13wjm24rdO2tx2NoayIwKc7slY%2BjPsZjUfuDZIgQTEyqqnod%2FOLdRiF8qF0tsuBw7lE%2BwBMvAfxylcIbhb7%2Bs%2FgfpzpsZHHmpjD2ovp7c1V0MhHuDiDewMjXzDdxBwqiMSNf4%2FfDCMIvVpyOSxLnr2zAd4uVsSdY0AfO1%2FCcpUTCCMpzuGep%2BRpGmlUw6sBbqfQ3fppgaDmN5Gs%2F2fCz111hGHl6VMeFETQCxyG4LIw%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR4Ch-NnUYg
Plus a number of decorated models.
Or you can search for a Bowser model of the same thing.
JaBearLots of really Good Stuff this WPF.
Couldn't agree more! Hope the trend keeps up!
A few updates:
Rick, I too was curious about the reason for the AB equipment on ther end sill instead of the usual place. I saw some older G38bs with shields below the brake cylinder and AB valve that aroused my curiosity, too. Lots of good photos at the C-R historical site. Not all in PRR paint but a good reference for these cars:
https://conrailphotos.thecrhs.org/index.php/photos/cr-500181-class-g38b
More photos:
https://conrailphotos.thecrhs.org/galleries/ore-jennies
I seem to recall an article somewhere about modeling the spray-on foam that IIRC Penn-Central tried for a while. I remember seeing hundreds of these cars along the lakefront and over in Kinsman Yard.
Tom, I, too was looking for additional task lighting. So far I haven't been enamored with the 'wearable' types but yours look to be doable. Recently I began a dive into finally adding some of the hundreds of Walthers grab irons to some of my rolling stock, including about 32 Troop sleepers plus now some express cars and other passenger equipment.
My first foray was a type of book reading light:
LED Clip light-B by Edmund, on Flickr
While it is a clever design, and possibly great for night reading it just didn't have the lumen output I was looking for.
LED Clip light by Edmund, on Flickr
My recent attempt has been more productive. I'm really getting to like this guy:
Task Light planB overall by Edmund, on Flickr
It doesn't stand well on a bench but has a strong magnet in the base so a bit of a steel weight cured that drawback:
Task Light planB weight by Edmund, on Flickr
It charges through a USB-c cable, the COB light has two levels and a third click of the switch turns on a nice spot light at the end.
Task Light planB by Edmund, on Flickr
I might get another just for general 'handy' work. https://a.co/d/2Wc604J
Great contributions, everyone! Similar to the Bear, I occasionally open the box to one of my Tichy tank cars, quietly sigh, then put the lid back on. Just not ready to jump into that commitment just yet Excellent results, Tom!
Kevin what about Walthers ore cars 932-4406 or Roundhouse ore cars and I think Athearn made a few