See what a nice person I am! I contributed!
Alex
I worked till 10 last night, then got up at 6:30 this morning to finish the soldering. The whole layout is soldered and I installed one new feeder as well.
Next project: Fix the trackwork... I have a few bad joints that need filing and some switch points need it too. Now I just need to get a needle file...
After that I have to buy and install metal wheels on 6-8 cars, and install decoders in three locos. Then I have a whole bunch of locos to repaint...
In case you haven't guessed, I'm trying to get my layout ready for April Vacation when I hope to hold an operating session... And actually ready this time; all my previous sessions were basically complete disasters because of dirty track and derailments... Alex knows how bad it was! WRS should've stood for "Worst Railroad Service" back then...
A list of inprovements since then:
lol, i've done dumb things with a soldering iron. You have to watch what you're doing, i once reached for the soldering iron, but reached just ahead of the handle and held it in my hand before i realize it was burning into my thumb. You would never notice, but that was painful. Now i keep an eye on my hands at all times, lol.
Modeling Conrail, Amtrak and NJ DOT under the wires in New Jersey, July 1979.
Maintaining rolling stock can be a pain, especailly when you have piles of stuff that need something. Luckily for me it's just weathering, except it's on over 30 cars.....
Anyone use the cheap acrylic paints through an airbrush before? I though about doing a thinned coat of a dirty black color (close to grimy black, which I have) to speed up weathering my coal hoppers. I have some garbage equipment to test on it's just I haven't bothered to go out and see if my airbrush works. Maybe tommorow I will try that.
BTW, I ordered new C424 shells off of Atlas, along with some stuff for my U30C.
Vincent
Wants: 1. high-quality, sound equipped, SD40-2s, C636s, C30-7s, and F-units in BN. As for ones that don't cost an arm and a leg, that's out of the question....
2. An end to the limited-production and other crap that makes models harder to get and more expensive.
Oh the joy of maintaining rolling stock!
Glad you don't catch soldering irons Ty!
I'd have to agree with Tyler.
This is what I've been working on recently:
The CP is MDC, the N&W and B&O are P1K, and the DT&I and NP are Accurail (not 100% on that). The coal loads I made usning the leftovers from when I did 25 hoppers at once. I could proably do another 20 or so with what's still leftover. Pretty darned good for 8 bucks to be able to do over 50 cars.
I'm going to P-coal again tommorow, maybe I'll get some more cars. I've decided to use my gift card to get parts for my U30C and C424s. Dunno if $25 will be enough for everything though.
Tri-Centennial? Not exactly... I probably won't be around long enough to see them. I'll bet you $10 that there probably won't be any SD45s painted in that scheme like the Bi-Centennial though!
Carpet Smoke just smells soooooooo fragrant.
I need to resolder the decoder into my S4... Yayyyy non-fun-ness...
BTW, has anyone other than Jordan considered what Tri-Centennial Locomotives will look like?
All right, I fixed the photo. Thanks for the heads up!
I just got done soldering a couple dozen rail joints. I fixed up the whole Stude crossover dead area (BOTH mainlines were dead for at least 2 1/2 feet!) and I was in the middle of a power feed in the West end of WRJ yard when I was called up for dinner.
I learned something about safety while soldering today too... I was bending down low to the tracks (wearing safety goggles), trying to get that feeder wire to stick , when one of our cats jumped up on the layout barely a foot from my head. I was taken by surprise and put the soldering iron down on it's rest to get the cat down...but not all the way on... As I put the cat down on the floor, I bumped the soldering iron wire, and it fell off the layout, brushed my shoulder, and fell onto the floor. I managed to remember someone's advice here not to try to catch a falling soldering iron () and ducked away. The iron fell on the carpet, which started to smoke... I picked up the iron, stomped on the carpet to put it out, and wiped the iron on the damp sponge.
If I hadn't been wearing a hat and a fleece, I'd have a pretty nasty burn on my arm right now! Of course, that wasn't exactly planning ahead for safety... It's just really cold in the unheated basement!
If you've never soldered before, PLEASE don't take this that soldering is dangerous and you shouldn't do it unless completely necessary! I've been soldering for over 6 years now, and this is the only time I've even come close to burning myself. As long as you're careful, a soldering iron is no more dangerous than a toaster, for example. I've burnt myself on a toaster oven (I touched the top, not expecting it to be hot, when I was 9) but not on a soldering iron!
Next I have the whole yard to do... Better get busy!
Funny thing about the Accurail cars... I got them super-used at the shop for $1 apiece. The trucks and stuff were replaced by a guy who did his own thing. I have to fix truck mounted hook-horn couplers and screws that are about 3x too big for model railroading. Here's a picture:
That's Epic! But I see no pictures!
I'll second that, Alex! On one Accurail boxcar of mine, I replaced both of them with screws after one of them snapped, dropping...oh wait. This would sound better as a story...
*Ahem*
On one dark and stormy night, an Eastbound work train was heading up a steep mountain grade. The engineer was having trouble with wheelslip, as his train was hauling two hoppers filled with heavy gravel with only an under-weighted GP35 for power. One Accurail boxcar had the shell literally filled with metal weight (it weighed several pounds!) for reasons unknown... (It wasn't me!) As he finally reached the summit, his train was late, and risked delaying the hotshot. He headed downgrade faster than he should, attempting to beat the hotshot to the West end of double track at Dooley, where the hotshot would have to stop if the work train wasn't clear.
Suddenly, the GP35 lurched, derailing. The heavy freightcars surged forward, propelled by the heavy hoppers and the over-weighted boxcar. The locomotive was pushed aside by the snowplow behind it, and the rest of the train surged downgrade.
The dispatcher and engineer of the Westbound hotshot was alerted by the work train engineer, uninjured in a ditch beside the track in the GP35, and were able to route the hotshot onto the diverging track, giving the runaway work train a straight path - except for the sharp curve in Dooley!
The runaway train took the curve, and seemed as if it would make it unscathed, to roll to a stop on the long siding. Then the heavy boxcar's weight snapped one of the Accurail truck pins, derailing the car and jamming one end under the roof of an Atlas Station. The other end was hit by the gravel hoppers, which proceeded to derail and spill gravel all over the lumberyard and residential house's yard and pool nearby. They kept going, bowling over a tree and ending up in the pool in a strange parody of the Pink Panther... The plow, ahead of the boxcar, kept rolling on the rails. The crew survived. The rest of the cars, behind the gravel hoppers, created a massive pile-up in the lumberyard.
Damage:
The Atlas station had it's roof almost ripped off, and took several days to repair. The boxcar was repaired (with 2-56 screws!), put back into service (without the weights!), and later sold to a friend. Both hoppers survived and are awaiting a repaint, and the rest of the cars are still in work train service. The GP35 survived in perfect shape, and is soon to be sold for an unrelated reason, and the engineer was fired immediately. (I won't say who that was to protect myself the guilty...)
Here's a photo of the scene a few months before The Atlas station is barely visible above the roof of the boxcar. That pine tree is the one the hoppers hit. It's still there, but it's never been glued back down...
Nowadays all those buildings by the backdrop are gone, replaced by an open lot. There's just been too many runaways that have derailed there... I removed them to protect the cars that derail there. Now they just derail onto dirt, gound foam, and lichen, no hard plastic buildings... Nothing is quite heavy enough to destroy the buildings anymore...
And THAT's the story of the snapped truck pins! That was one of the worst operating sessions (well, not really a whole session, I only had one other operator) ever, second only to the time the Zephyr fried in the middle of it... And it was the same operator too... Neither time was his fault of course...
Anyway, now I'm off to go solder a couple hundred rail joints...
RailfanAlex, that reminds me I need to get some sort of ventilation system down here.
I went down to the LHS today with some of my Christmas money. I got 2 Erie & Lackawanna Proto 2K drop-end gondola kits and 2 somewhat messed-up BNSF Accurail hoppers. The hoppers need some work, and then I'm going to patch all of them for the Wisconsin and Southern.
Well instead of Skype, I got up and took some photos before I leave for the day...
Here is the overview:
The lighting, I use two 60 watt bulbs:
Inside the booth: There is a filter:
Behind that you have the mini furnace fan. The paint can never come in contact with the motor:
Side view:
And here is the fan. The air goes out the duct for the dryer, I just make sure the dryer is plugged back in when I'm done, or it gets pretty humid!
(and you don't need to tell me the basement is a mess, and that theres mold on the ground... I know that, I know the basement isn't finished, that would be why I don't have a huge layout down there!)
Sawdust. I plan on sawing lots of wood, and sharpening lots of pencils, and airbrushing them with aluminum and shades of rust, to make a shredded metal load.
Well I was out all day guys, I didn't get your photos!! I didn't plan on going out, but I have no control over grandparents. You kinda have to go do the corny things they ask you to do...
And it's a little dark to take them now, there's not enough light in the basement to get an ok shot. I'll take 'em in the morning, if I GG doesn't convince me to get on Skype. (in other words, that means I'm not going to be there GG!)
Welcome green_elite_cab! I like your equipment roster, especially the PL42AC and the GP15-1.
Jordan, hope you get those parts soon!
GG, the gon looks good. Are those pencil shavings?
Well, the MoPac Bulkead is OOS, and the D&H Gon is back. I salvaged the trucks from the Bulkhead, and with a bit of glue and paper, got the Gon rolling... (Yeah, that's our fix for everything)
I added a little decking until I ran out.
I don't think anything I run is straight out of the box. They all have details, have been repainted, or have some kind of altercation. High Five for being different Chris!
What's up GEC.
I usually buy RTR b/c, well, it's avalable and pretty darn cheap for me. Of course, there's only one pre-assembled structure on my layout (N scale bachmann farmhouse). Not to many N scale kits out there that are easy to find (not saying they aren't out there, but when you can get a boxcar RTR for about $7 or $8 bucks (w/o shipping though), that's a pretty good deal). I figure when my 4x8 is done I'll probably either start building more kits or working on the extension I have planned (if the space is there to do it).
Sawyer Berry
Clemson University c/o 2018
Building a protolanced industrial park layout
Well I ordered some more parts today. I ordered another set of 18 x 78 latched doors. Cannon and Co doesn't list there 22 x 65 plain hood doors, so I ordered two sets of latched doors, I'll fill in the latches with modelers putty. I also ordered a new cab from Cannon and Co. I ordered a non-DB blister and a Front and Rear SD45 truck assembly from Athearn. I'm going to re-do the SDL side frames. My first set I made turned out ok, but I think I can do better.
My Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/JR7582 My Flickr Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wcfan/
green_elite_cab Other kits are getting abit outragous, but i do them anyway. Here i'm building Smokey Valley GP15-1s into Conrail units using Cannon & Co parts to replace some of the less accurate parts of the original kits. As far as i'm concerned, these blow away the Walthers GP15-1, and cost a whole lot less to build. I also have IHP Arrow III Electric Multiple Units that are a huge hassle, but very much fun. Even though these kits are a long way from being finished, they add much fun to my modeling, since my 4x8 is just about out of room to add new things.
Other kits are getting abit outragous, but i do them anyway. Here i'm building Smokey Valley GP15-1s into Conrail units using Cannon & Co parts to replace some of the less accurate parts of the original kits. As far as i'm concerned, these blow away the Walthers GP15-1, and cost a whole lot less to build. I also have IHP Arrow III Electric Multiple Units that are a huge hassle, but very much fun. Even though these kits are a long way from being finished, they add much fun to my modeling, since my 4x8 is just about out of room to add new things.
Looking good! That makes me want to get going and order those parts for my SDL39! I need a new cab (I kind of screwed up, I'll use this cab for my Missabe SDM), and I need some more hood doors.
GEC: I've seen most of this stuff before, but it's been a while. Nice to see that there's still modelers out there who don't just buy RTR stuff!
I almost never buy RTR, but not because I love to assemble it or anything. It's because of the price. I can get an Athearn Blue Box kit for a fraction of the price of a similar RTR car. The detail lacks, but with a little weathering it looks acceptable and someday I may get around to detailing my rolling stock...
Of course, I do have a ton of scenery to finish, soon to be three locos to install decoders in, solder (or re-solder) 1000+ rail joints, ballast the entire yard, paint and decal most of my locomotive fleet, "patch" some freight cars, paint and decal three buisness cars, convert 15-20 cars to metal wheels, scenic a mountain (literally, Mt. Allen), plant a couple hundred trees on said mountain, finish three ponds, build two rock faces, finish scratchbuilding a road bridge, and a city to finish. Oh, and I also have to squeeze operating sessions in between all that work so that I don't go crazy... Ah, the joys of having a large layout... Maybe until I'm ready for op. sessions, I should hold work sessions...
Well, i figure i'd drop some photos of my modeling stuff. Since i'm fairly new here (i only participated in these forums way back in the day) I'll introduce myself. I'm 19 (almost not allowed on the thread, only one more year to go), and i model Conrail and NJ transit (loosely, since i'll run anything from Pennsy to the newest NS and CSX models).
This christmas i got a couple new things that help out alot, including this tripod. this thing is amazing for takeing layout pictures, since it can latch onto or stand on almost anything. (note the NJT PL42AC. It was the first one sold, and with decals coming out around this week, and frames already available, this model will probably be rolling soon)
Then again, you probably want to see the trains, so i won't leave anyone hanging. U23B 2735 switches the yard. This photos would be nearly impossible without the above tripod.
The trackmobile is great fun, i'll tell you that. Most people don't even believem me when i tell them it has a motor, and are even more so blown away when I tell them it has a decoder!
THis is a recently completed scene on my layout.
I build lots of kits. I tend to think i'm moving against the popular flow of the hobby as far as RTR goes. Some models aren't to tough- This PL42AC and the E60MA i built were not particularly challenging.
And of course, with all these electrics, I have to have Catenary! Gotta love those Pennsy E44s.....
I hope you enjoyed the photos!
Yeah, they are pretty toxic... I plan on getting duplicates of the colors in acrylic, for the moment.
My current Walthers order includes Polly Scale CSX Yellow, Polly Scale Vermont Green, and Modelflex Rust.
How Ironic, that I am modeling two prototypes with essentially the same colors!
Alex de Lery, get on skype!
Guilford Guy Yayyyy Paint!
Yayyyy Paint!
Whatever you do, don't open the jar if you are in California! ( hint, hint)
In all seriousness, thanks for the photos GG. I'll get you guys the spray booth photos tomorrow probably. Just remind me if they aren't up by evening!
Picture Time!
I couldn't get a good picture of the FGLK knife, due to metal reflecting light... (Who'da Thunkit?)
LVRC Boxcar I'm using X-mas money to order paints and whatnot, so this is going to get a lot of rust. It hasn't had a new paint job in 30 years, so a lot of fading as well.
I've actually had this car a while. Its a Walthers Solarium Observation. From all the train shows its gone to, the railings on the rear platform, and all the steps have subsequently been anihilated (this thing is like 3 years old, thus 14 or 15 shows). I need to order parts from Walthers, and it will be getting painted and detailed into a freelanced LVRC Business/Inspection car. (Headlight and ditch lights on the tail end. )
CCRR Decals
LVRC Decals
These were bent in transit from Rhode Island, but I think I can salvage enough for 1 RS3 and the Observation.
Shop Switcher
I really need to get around to scenicking the work bench.
Alco under major rebuild
This is going to be CCRR 105.
A new shell is to be ordered from Atlas, as well as new handrails, and some small detail parts. I have video evidence from last years Springfield show, of the handrails being manhandled. >_< The old cab was in pretty poor shape, so we won't talk of that. The current hood is a test subject for different rust colored paints. (I'm still mixing for that dark rust color, needs a lot more black)
I agree. If you can get one custom painted, go with a Kato. If you find one already in BN, it's a nice bonus!
No modeling today, I was working at the LHS, and I got stuck with another 2 decoder installations/inspections.
I'll do them by Tuesday, and get some photos.
I wouldnt waste your money with the BLI SD40-2's. They are junk, dimensionally and to the ear. The sound isnt even from an SD40-2 645-16 Cylinder engine. If your getting an SD40-2, get a KATO. KATO still has the best frames for SD45's,SD40's, and SD40-2's, and you can get many on Ebay for 60-75.
I'd appreciate it RailfanAlex, erlier in the month we went to Altoona and a got a Badger Model 250 Airbrush for weathering. I borrowed Basic Painting and Weathering for model railroaders from our library and it says to have good ventilation, and I didn't feel like paying $300 for a spray booth, so now I can build one!