CTValley - Thanks for the offer, but your tutorial makes it easy even for my 10 tthumbs!!
Edit: Even the ones that can't type!!
lvanhen wrote:CTValleyRR - Thanks a lot for the tutorial!! It's copied into my 'puter!!
If you try it and get stuck, shoot me a PM and I'll try to help out!
Connecticut Valley Railroad A Branch of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford
"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." -- Henry Ford
Medina1128 wrote: cbq9911a wrote: I have a home-made fixture made of scrap 1x lumber nailed and glued into a U shape, into which I put scraps of foam rubber to make a cradle on which I can work on a loco upside down without holding it or damaging it. I have 2!
cbq9911a wrote: I have a home-made fixture made of scrap 1x lumber nailed and glued into a U shape, into which I put scraps of foam rubber to make a cradle on which I can work on a loco upside down without holding it or damaging it.
I have 2!
So is that like, "You're not a real modeler until you make your own jigs and fixtures!"
Useful to have, aren't they?
when you look at prototype pictures of your models and compare them to the models only to find out they look way different!!!
when you look at cans of empty beer/soda and think "this would make a GREAT billboard"
or when you look at your sons new Estes rocket and thinks, "hmm i wonder if i can use this as a Saturn V rocket for my new Aviation and Rocket Science Museum"
(not that i have a son....)
or when you decide to go modern and throw away a couple of ribbed side hoppers not knowing that all you had to do was replace the bentendorf trucks to roller bearings XD
Army National Guard E3MOS 91BI have multiple scales nowZ, N, HO, O, and G.
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
lvanhen wrote: CTValleyRR wrote: cbq9911a wrote: You have a transition car with a British hook and loop coupler at one end and a Kadee at the other, so that Thomas and his friends can pull your unit coal train. Or you spend 4 hours on Christmas Day trying to swap the British hook and loop coupler on THOMAS and JAMES for a Kadee #5....Please let me know how you did that!!!
CTValleyRR wrote: cbq9911a wrote: You have a transition car with a British hook and loop coupler at one end and a Kadee at the other, so that Thomas and his friends can pull your unit coal train. Or you spend 4 hours on Christmas Day trying to swap the British hook and loop coupler on THOMAS and JAMES for a Kadee #5....
cbq9911a wrote: You have a transition car with a British hook and loop coupler at one end and a Kadee at the other, so that Thomas and his friends can pull your unit coal train.
You have a transition car with a British hook and loop coupler at one end and a Kadee at the other, so that Thomas and his friends can pull your unit coal train.
Or you spend 4 hours on Christmas Day trying to swap the British hook and loop coupler on THOMAS and JAMES for a Kadee #5....
Please let me know how you did that!!!
Slightly OT for this thread, but here goes:
Honestly, if I'd done it on Christmas Eve, after the little dear was in bed, it probably would only have taken an hour. Between constant visits from the 4 yr old asking "Dad, are you done yet??.... Are you done YET???!!! ... NOW are you done????" and the little bumps on the arm resulting in "***, now where is that knuckle spring... do I have a spare?" or " Now I have to assemble the coupler all over again."
First, at my age, a pair of 2.5x magnifying glasses is very helpful. Also, I would have sprung for the pre-assembled #5's if I had to do it over.
I have a home-made fixture made of scrap 1x lumber nailed and glued into a U shape, into which I put scraps of foam rubber to make a cradle on which I can work on a loco upside down without holding it or damaging it.
Take a small phillips screwdriver and remove the hook and loop (sounds like Velcro, doesn't it?) coupler. If you're a pack rat like me, save the screw (a 0-40), otherwise chuck the whole thing. The screw is rather short (1/4"?), because the hook and loop coupler isn't very thick.
At this point, I had to assemble my Kadee #5; my lesson learned was to buy the preassembled version. Even though I have a jig for putting them together, it's hard to do with an impatient child checking on your progress every 2-3 minutes.
Use a longer 0-40 screw (3/8", IRRC) through the center hole of your #5 and insert it until the coupler pocket is seated against the loco frame but still has some play in it (there is only a thin strip of plastic at the rear of the loco on which your coupler is resting). There are two plastic pegs which the old coupler used to maintain alignment, but a #5 and its pocket fit neatly between them. Put a drop of CA adhesive at each side of the pocket where it touches the loco rear (NOT the screw hole) and let capillary action draw it under the coupler. CAREFULLY (unless you want your fingers to be part of the final assembly) hold the coupler straight and finish tightening the screw (pay attention, because the torque from tightening the screw will tend to turn your coupler out of its perpendicular alignment).
I originally thought I would have to reinforce these coupler mountings, but they have held up under the beatings from a 4 - 5 year old surprisingly well as is. I've converted every car in the Thomas line-up (12), including 3 locos, and have had only one failure in 18 months, and that was on one car on which I tried to re-use the original screw, which was too short.
This coupler mounting is way too low for NMRA standards (you have to bend the trip pin WAY up to clear turnout frogs), but all the Thomas pieces are the same height. Making a transition car (I used a cheapo IHC boxcar) with a standard height coupler at one end and a high-offset shank coupler at the other neatly solves this problem (I had to shim the coupler pocket down with a couple of Kadee fiber washers to get a solid mating). Thomas and Friends can now pull any car in my collection (well, 5-6 of them at a time), much to the delight of my 5-year-old.
When you have memorized the Walthers Reference Book...
( I know about the first 245 pages)
Sawyer Berry
Clemson University c/o 2018
Building a protolanced industrial park layout
alconut7 wrote:.. you have a funeral for the new Proto model that you dropped... in a lake... thats twelve feet deep... but not before diving in and trying to find it.
That's why my locos wear water wings and only swim in the shallow end.
Nelson
Ex-Southern 385 Being Hoisted
Tell your friend to buy Home Depote stock, you are getting ready to start a new bench!
I hate Rust
Your 68 Road Runner is sitting out side because your garage is full of layout! (this will be fixed)
600 watts a side stereo system is playing train sounds. (sure get some odd looks from people walking by)
You swear two years ago you would never spend over $60.00 for a engine! Then find your self with a $600.00 PCM Y-6b pulling a drag on your layout. Sure made the $300.00 BLI's seem like a steal.
You take your train tool box's to work with you for the slow times.
You have cars and engines shipped to where you work so you won't hear it from the wife!
Co worker that does not care about trains, knows what a SD40-2 looks like!
There is a test track at work in the bathroom!
There is also 2 FP-45's in the bathroom at work! Some day I will bring them home.
You have 40 + RR mags at work and the current Walther's catalog as well!
Other customers think you work at your LHS, and you help them!
You know what your LHS has in stock better than the owner!
LHS owner gives you a discount, and lets you cash your self out!
When you day dream about wining the lottery, first thing you think of is the new Train Room.
You know when you are a Train Nut when you stop listing on this post but still have 20 plus iteams in your head.
Cuda Ken
No... you didn't?
I'd like to hear THAT story!
Inquiring minds want to know!
Rotor
Jake: How often does the train go by? Elwood: So often you won't even notice ...
galaxy wrote: ...you scratch build a scale model of your own house.....and the house you grew up in
...you scratch build a scale model of your own house.....and the house you grew up in
Oooo...that's scary! I've been planning that!
On my layout, I do have an HO scale Chevy van custom painted to look like my wifes camping van at the campground , a model of my Dad's (now mine) mid '70's Dodge pickup, and will soon have (thanks to ePay) a custom painted model of my race car on the layout.
A related topic would be...
YOU MIGHT BE A MODEL RAILROADER JOKES!!! (Like "You might be a redneck" jokes, but with modelers.)
You might be a model railroader if...
You pick up an AC-DC record and look for where it says DCC
You sleep with a soldering gun beneath your pillow
You spend 132 and a half full days anualy in your basement
You think 1:1 is overrated
You spent your honeymoon railfanning
Your dreams invove wiring Decoders
You've ever gotten carpul tunnel twice in a single week
Do you have any?
(P.S. Sorry for pirating your post)
boston1943 wrote: You say all seven swears in a row at a piece of benchwork.
You say all seven swears in a row at a piece of benchwork.
Don't forget:
locomotive that doesn't run
burnt out decoder
That dang knife blade that slipped.
You spend immense amounts of time on 5 model railroading forums.
Your desk is covered with half-finished projects.
-G .
Just my thoughts, ideas, opinions and experiences. Others may vary.
HO and N Scale.
After long and careful thought, they have convinced me. I have come to the conclusion that they are right. The aliens did it.
Bundy74 wrote:You buy a 25 or 50 lb bag of clean sand from Home Depot so you can easily make a small gravel driveway...for one house
Sadly enough, I've considered that.....
Modeling whatever I can make out of that stash of kits that takes up half my apartment's spare bedroom.
You cut the tip of your finger off trying to make scale lumber on a scroll saw, because your to cheap to go out an buy it [believe me it hurts for a long time].
http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/4309
-You take into serious consideration the pros and cons of buying MMI HOn3 K-27s and a Tsunami Decoder instead of just buying a Blackstone... and vise versa...
-When you look at over 10 places for the cheapest price on said products.
oleirish wrote: OR untell your fingers are raw and sore from "N" scale rail joiners!!!! JIM
OR untell your fingers are raw and sore from "N" scale rail joiners!!!!
JIM
AMMMEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNNNNNN to that. A little off topic here, but i found a good way to aviod that is take your xuron track cutters, and use the little holes cut in the handles to squish them on.
dale8chevyss wrote:You get your kid brother to lick the rails when your DC pp is on full. (I know I'm cruel but the idiot did it!)
I gotta get mine to do that (he's almost 7). ;]
You spend an hour on the internet, comparing prices of several hobby shops for one particular item. (I have done this)
You go out to the local gun club with that piece of crap, won't run locomotive, and take care of business, then get home and open the package the UPS man brought, taking the new locomotive out. (I want to do this).