It's a muggy overcast 64, but it fells warmer.
Granny and I went off to Walmart this morning, had to drive the pickup through the snow as they haven't put out the hitching post for the dog teams yet. Wow that place ain't cheap no more. A nice chat with some of the guys last night, Charlie is home from hunting bare. I hope he didn't catch cold..Happy Hump day . . . S.J.
"IT's GOOD TO BE THE KING",by Mel Brooks
Charter Member- Tardis Train Crew (TTC) - Detroit3railers- Detroit Historical society Glancy Modular trains- Charter member BTTS
Good morning. It's 69° with 99% humidity and patchy fog. It'll be partly cloudy with a high of 90°.Work continues on the grain elevator scratchbuild. I got the remaining four silos cut this morning. For those interested the way I get a straight level line around the pipe is by using a hose clamp. Tighten the clamp until it can't be pushed out of line and just slides on the pipe. Marking along the edge of it will give a straight line all the way around and if it was sufficiently tightened that line will be level. Today I'll put some tape across one end of the ends of each pipe section and stand them with the open end up. Pouring some plaster in should seal the other end. When the plaster is dry I'll pour in some glue and let it set. That should lock the plaster plug in place. If I have time I'll get started on making the walls of the structures.
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
Aloha! . Sunny and cool. A nice fall day. Still very dry. Prayers for your mom's treatment, John, and for Brutus' mom and your dad, Banks. Brutus, I love your disappearing train idea with the new Hallows train. I'm working with a college in Ireland called All Hallows. Don, that's a good summary. of options I've got float-y track so the traditional 153C works perfectly for me. Fife, I hope everything is OK with the other party in Fifepup's incident.Chuck, the Indians rule the White Sox. What a win last night for them!Jon and Don, thanks for serving in Viet Nam. Do you remember the Homecoming parade in Chicago in June of '86? It was a big deal then, even if years too late. I was one of the 300,000 spectators. watch?v=KlOlHExChT8Can you believe there's an article in that Feb. '71 MR about using LEDs to light your layout!
Doug Murphy 'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers...' Henry V.
Good Morning from Blueberryhill RR....
It is 61 degrees. Been raining since midnight. Suppose to rain all day. Going up to 74.
Today is an easy day. Good day to read my latest copy of CTT. I have a few chores to do and then relax. Lunch and a nap for sure.
Not many ballgames left. Especially for Indians.
Dining car is here with Cheerios for breakfast.
Y'all have a great Wednesday.
Chuck
Morning all. Beautiful day outside. More moving to the Box. FSIL on the way here to help.
jonadel Feb. '71 extremely relieved I was not in Nam. Third year of teaching and about to meet my bride, now celebrating 40 years marriage. Life is good, be patient. If you get the chance .... tell a Viet Nam vet thank you for your service, they NEVER got that welcome home they deserved.
Feb. '71 extremely relieved I was not in Nam. Third year of teaching and about to meet my bride, now celebrating 40 years marriage. Life is good, be patient.
If you get the chance .... tell a Viet Nam vet thank you for your service, they NEVER got that welcome home they deserved.
Well put Jon. Also, thanks for all you do for Vets. You are a great Patriot.
dbaker48 RT - I think you will end up in a boat load of trouble by the time Chief gets his stuff moved. Better plan on more shelving soon! Might even want to send the Chief a friends or neighbors address.
RT - I think you will end up in a boat load of trouble by the time Chief gets his stuff moved. Better plan on more shelving soon! Might even want to send the Chief a friends or neighbors address.
You had better watch out too!!!!!
Later
God bless TCA 05-58541 Benefactor Member of the NRA, Member of the American Legion, Retired Boss Hog of Roseyville , KC&D Qualified
Good Evening !
Don't know why you guys think the 396 was so bad. I had a 69 Chevelle SS, only had to put 2 engines in it, both done in Lincoln Illinois. What a trip that was !!
Had another enjoyable day! Took an old printer stand over to Bob for future use as a transformer table and control panel. His plan is to place a large order of track and switches at the end of the month, but I think he may be disappointed on the availability and lead times involved. Was able to spend time on my layout doing maintenance stuff. Will continue tomorrow, need to replace a LED on the top of a bridge that is out.
Brutus Kevin - IMHO, you need one loooong isolated side that will power a gate "down" the entire time that a train is in that section, no matter which direction it is going. I'm not sure about that particular gate, but that seems to be the best solution to me. There should be a way to do this.
Kevin - IMHO, you need one loooong isolated side that will power a gate "down" the entire time that a train is in that section, no matter which direction it is going. I'm not sure about that particular gate, but that seems to be the best solution to me. There should be a way to do this.
From his post I believe Kev is not available for a few days, anyway.
As I understand there are three possible ways of connecting the Signal Crossing , each has their own disadvantages....
- Using the Lionel 153 IR Controller. The problem I have with this unit is trying to keep the IR beam adjusted correctly for both ambient light changes due to time of day, and length or range of the beam. I have a pair of them and worked with them for days. They would function differently in the daytime as compared to night, always adjusting them. Got to a point where the color of the passing car became an issue. Finally, gave up and now use them just to turn on an accessory. They were especially difficult if using them with multiple tracks.
- Second method using the old Lionel 153 Contactor. That was the one that would clip on to tubular track, and the track had to be able to move with the weight of the passing cars or train to activate. Obviously required a lot of "loose" track, and it too was a pain to keep adjusting all the time. Result was it just wasn't reliable. And especially with light weight cars.
- Third and most reliable IMO is the old "isolated/insulated" rail method. This is very easy with Ross or Gargraves, but doable with tubular track. Requires insulating one of the outside rails, so that the two outside railes are isolated from one another. Then when the car goes by the metal wheel and axle complete the circuit for the device. Unfortunately, with tubular track with metal ties the rails will not stay isolated from one another without modifying them. As I understand the operation, the signal crossing is activated when the circuit to close the gate is completed by the presence of a "shorting" the two outside rails together. Thus providing "ground" to the device that activates the motor to lower the gate, and light the lights. Once the gate is lowered the lights will stay on until the gate is raised. This is done by removing the "ground" from one circuit and connecting it to another circuit within the unit. Example: when the car leaves the isolated section, ground needs to be supplied to the "open" gate circuit, which also turns off the lights. This seems like its more complicated but not really.
Both the 153IR and old 153 Controller function as relays. They both have NO (normally open), and NC (normally closed) contacts.
To get the full advantage of the Signal Crossing, will need to control the power coming into the devices. To do this a relay and bridge rectifier will solve the problem. (Est cost Realay $5-$10, Bridge Rectifier $2.) Then will be able to run two crossing devices, This will also accommodate trains running in both directions. Hopefully will be able to run trains in Both directions as well.
So should be able to get it working when he comes back.
Hope everyone has a Great Day tomorrow,
Prayers for all, hope everyone stays healthy.
Don
Cloudy and high 70's today, with thunder storms rolling through tonight.
My All Hallow's Eve tender got back from Lionel Service today. Turns out that the tender was operating normally. The problem is in the instruction manual. The manual gives instructions for features on the tender that never made it into production.
Going to start working on the halloween layout for the museum this week.
All for now.
Boy howdy guys - rain and storms here in Saint Louis tonight!
JOHN - many prayers for your Mom and a good recovery without any more cancer! Missed you the other day.
Prayers are out for all for healing, seems we have a lot in need right now. It's been a tough year.
Last night I won a new in box C10 2005 Lionel Halloween General with tender. I actually have one already, but the price couldn't be beat at $99. Now I will have a small fleet of them Maybe I can do a disappearing train illusion with one going one direction and the other on another level going the other direction?
TARDIS is ready and I'm driving, we'll drop off extra banilla tonight as it seems to be needed!
RIP Chewy - best dog I ever had.
Jim,
i did my homework and found out that the difference is like 4% on the efficiency. Long tubes require lifting the engine and all sorts of engineering to fit. With the shorty's, all I have to do is replace the starter with the late model gear reduction one and they slide right in. And the bonus is that my cast aluminum Mopar Performance valve covers fit with the headers. I'm going for the retro '70s vibe and the 4% difference isn't going to affect the performance of the car, if at all. Seems like stock just isn't in my DNA....
I put my 275-60-15's on the back and I have 235-70-15's on the front with MoPar Police issue wheels and dog dish hub caps. The offsets are perfect and the plain wheels don't reveal much. I'm upgrading to 2.5" tubing with either Flowmasters or Magnaflows. I want a rumble, not a racket. I have a Holley Avenger 680 carb to replace the old Holley that I had and the "upgraded" Edelbrock 1406. The Avenger carb is better suited to my application. Now if I could only find a nice 3.55 sure grip gear set......
Just need like $600 more dollars and my completed divorce......
I am the monster in your head...And I thought you'd learn by now, It seems you haven't yet.I am the venom in your skin --- Breaking Benjamin
Good link Doug. I'd seen it before but it's still good.
*
Time for me to call it a night. See y'all tomorrow.
Just came across a real cool link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=KcuDdPo0WZk
Enjoy !
Remember the Veterans. Past, present and future.
www.sd3r.org
Proud New Member Of The NRA
Fife,
Ouch. As bad as that is, it could've always been worse. Fifepup is probably more shaken than anything.
Rich,
Seeing that first pic of your Road Runner made me think of the Charger that Bill Hickman used to try to escape Steve McQueen for some reason.
What's your take on shorties compared to longtubes? I am thinking about some Ford Racing shorties or BBK tuned length shorties for Christmas. Don't want longtubes because that would require a retune, and that is out of the question.
Just for the record, although I am a Ford guy, I wouldn't mind a Hemi powered Challenger. Dodge really nailed the retro look just as Ford did with the 05-09 Mustang. Don't need a "Mustang" or "Challenger" badge on the fenders to tell what they are.
Was going to hunt down a set of 2440 series postwar pullmans for the 675/2025 with the money I made selling, but the Probe has other plans for me. It has been stumbling under load, and I can't get a definite reason. With 197K, it could be the distributor, stuck EGR, bad pressure regulator, or blocked converter just to name few.
Evenin' All.
Hhmmm, Feb 71 I was going to school on GI Bill and working in the "Jig & Fixture" shop at Rohr Corp. The major projects at that time were for DC-10 and S.F. Bart Car assembly.
jonadel If you get the chance .... tell a Viet Nam vet thank you for your service, they NEVER got that welcome home they deserved.
Jon, That is a scab that I don't believe will ever heal. Sent you an e-mail regarding a question you had asked.
Started another halloween project for the museum, this time in G gauge for the mantle on the wall in our area.
Kev, Loved the Goat but I always had a preference for the 65, maybe because that's what I had. On Sunday afternoon coming back from the munchkin's baseball game we passed a gorgeous Shelby Cobra on the freeway. Don't know about you but I would be paranoid as **** driving something like that on the road, mega $$$$.
Continued prayers for all our friends & families.
Great pictures Rich and cool cars. Always wanted a convert. I had a slant 6 in my 1966 Cuda. Not fast but had a nice flat back storage area under that big window. A nice place for two to sleep.
FIFE My daughter took two years to get in her "first" but it was a total and I was in GA. when I got the call she was in the ER.4:30AM Left Griffin GA at 5:00 AM and was home at Marseilles IL. at 1:30 PM to find out she was okay and was DUI when she crashed. Things could be worse. My Son I forgot how many times he tore them up but he paid for all of his cars but the first one.
So any damage, Make him pay. Olny way they learn.
BTW, I will leave you guys on your own for a spell. I got some things I have to tend to. Later.
Joined 1-21-2011 TCA 13-68614
Kev, From The North Bluff Above Marseilles IL.
Fife----I feel ya, buddy.....
1 of 824 1970 Road Runner Converts made, mine is 1 of 179 with the 383/4 Speed combo.
I bought this car in 1979, the asking price was $650, it was not running, in a garage, top torn and back window out, for $600. Me and a couple of buddies came back with a Holley carb, retimed it, and it fired up. We drove it home with plates from another car and no insurance.
First iteration had a new top, headers, bigger carb, N60-15's in the back and G70 15's in the front on aluminum slots. Cheap body work and I opted for Black Metallic instead of the "Sherwood Green".
Second iteration was done cuz I was t-boned by a teenager in a Ford Wagon . Better body work and better paint. We found a '70 Satellite and took a K12 saw and quartered the car for the passenger side q-panel.
Third time was a full resto with stock wheels and tires, stock exhaust system. For my wedding....
Last time was in 2000 I redid the interior.....and in 2012, here she sits in a heated garage...just waiting for shorty headers and another exhaust system...
1971 Dodge Demon
This was my first real "race" car....short story is I made my racing mark with the 225 slant six, found a '73Duster 340 and grafted all the go fast parts onto my car, Found a 360 and major mods later ran low 13's 110 MPH...on the street....had to sell it cuz my wife was divorcing me in 2002....and I regret it everyday. I LOVED that car.
The first four silos. Four more to go.
Evenin' boys. Wellllllll, the fifepup made it 2 weeks before rubbing fenders with a parked car at the local McDonalds... He still got his bacon egg & cheese McBagel. Unfortunately, compound didn't erase all of the boo-boo.
...
Well I'm getting started on the elevator project. The first step is to mark off the sections of the silos so they can be cut. As the photo below shows the marking has been done. Please forgive the crudity of my lines. My hands are not as steady as they used to be.More photos will be forthcoming.
Well after learning theres a right way and wrong way to lay the boards for the flooring ( the other day ) I took up last night what I had down ( not much about 3' deep and 16' wide and redid all and continued and I'm about at the 7' deep by 16' wide area and did some of the moulding still have more to go but as said this si a slow go as I can prodject.
Wife asked what I was getting my self for christmas this year another trains set I said I don't know yet when it gets close I will decide well that was about 2 hrs ago well just bough some post war trains which I will be getting soon which I think I will say its my christmas present to my self lol in the set ( all cars and engines have original boxes )
There is a ZW Transformer which will need to check out and the best part in this deal is in original boxes is 2356 AA and 2356C Southern A-B-A yes!
Theres 10 cars and a # 50 gang car and lots of track and other accesories I'm going to be tickled when this comes in . Just hope wife don't get to upset lol probabbly not will tell her we can goto her auctions she likes up the road next tuesday I'm off there having them.
Well time to call it a night
Life's hard, even harder if your stupid John Wayne
http://rtssite.shutterfly.com/
anjdevil2 KRM - nice goat.....for a GTO ....like the '67's alot, had fun messing with the Judges.....baked 'em real good with my '70 roadrunner. Pictures to follow......soon!
KRM - nice goat.....for a GTO ....like the '67's alot, had fun messing with the Judges.....baked 'em real good with my '70 roadrunner. Pictures to follow......soon!
Rich, To me MOPAR in the day= tin cans, plastic and vinyl interiors with big engines that blew up. But very fast due to no weight. My favorite was my friend's 70 Cuda 440 6 pack, stupid fast and a ton of fun till it shattered. Worth a ton of money today because they where throw aways in their day. My Uncle had a 1969 Roadrunner fun for sure! My 73 Charger was okay but only a 383 4V auto. I now drive a Dakota.
Nothing blew up faster than the Chevy 396 but the MOPAR bottom was not too strong. Pontiac and Olds were too strong so they could not spin as fast. Can't wait for your pictures.
We had a nice sunny day and it's still 68. Nothing special today But I enjoy each one. Banilla will be waiting for the thingy....S.J.
Jon
So many roads, so little time.
hscsltb KEV nice layout ! Love the aluminum control panel.
KEV nice layout ! Love the aluminum control panel.
Thanks Harold.
hscsltbFebruary 71 I was 4 years old probably making my mom very tired.
February 71 I was 4 years old probably making my mom very tired.
Good afternoon. I had breakfast with my father this morning. Scrambled eggs with bacon, sausage, toast. While he was cooking that I got a load of laundry started. We enjoyed breakfast then I put my laundry in the dryer. We then loaded up the power chair batteries (both dead as a doornail), my mothers clean laundry and a small shopping list of things to pick up and headed off to town. First stop was Lowe's. While my father went to the animal clinic to get the flea stuff for his dogs and cat I went into Lowe's to get the PVC pipe I need for my scratchbuilding project. I bought two five foot lengths of 2 3/8" outside diameter thick wall PVC pipe, closest I could find to 2.5" OD. Grand total of $11.13. We then went and turned the old batteries in and got new ones. Dropped my mothers laundry at the nursing home then took care of the remaining small items on the list. Got back and got my laundry out of the dryer then helped my father put the power chair back together then put the charger on it. Came home and unloaded my laundry and PVC pipe. Now to get on with the planning for the scratchbuilding of a concrete grain elevator. And why am I building that? Just for the heck of it.
February '71 - Sophomore in High School.....
John - Neons? They are cheap, economical and easy to wrk on...with the right tools.... Tell Tomasz I said Hey!!
Both the wagon and the pulsar are on craigslist....I, of course, got the prerequsite "I'll pay you more with a ceritified check" scams....Have a interesting trade for the wagon.....details to follow...no real interest in the pulsar, even at $850...go figure.
Here in the great Capitol of New Jersey it's 69 and breezy...abundant sunshine....
for all in need.....
That's all from here...check back later
I received my November issue of CTT magazine today. I must say that this is a great issue. My congratulations to the Staff of CTT for a fine job done. I am going to enjoy reading it.
dbaker48 KEV, - Sent you a couple of emails.
KEV, - Sent you a couple of emails.
I sent you a Youtube link. also attached this video.
Don, I got it figured out for one way travel. Was thinking I could just add another section of isolated track but I think doing that,,, one would just cancle the action of the other.
Tink about it Okay?
watch?v=9EJuQBsHKBc&feature=youtu.be
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