I don't think Sidd is which is too bad.
Right now 2306, 1402, and 2257 are sitting on the table awaiting dullcote. I had some extra time and decalled the 3. I'll get to 5817 tomorrow. When I get there Saturday morning, we'll have to resolder the motor lead, as it came unattached from the board.
Alex
Wow, haven't been in here for a while. Where do I start....
Since last time, I changed the theme of my layout (most of you guys probably know about this already). Still the same layout, just not the Watchinson Secondary anymore. Now it's the Watchinson Line, part of my freelanced regional, the Tri-State Railway. The layout is still the same, just not the same RR. For pix, see my flickr page (link is in my sig).
Since last time, I aquired an Athearn BB (dummy) SW1500, painted in NJT colors. It is now 1300 on the TSRy. I just need a powered chassis for it (I'll buy a powered model, and paint the shell as 1302. Then, I'll just swap the shells back and forth on the powered frame). I'm also gonna get a GP9m this weekend, and it will become TSRy 2201.
I think that's just about it. I have a few pix to upload, but that's it. I'm down the shore (It's the first day of summer!), which means no layout for the weekend. Once school ends, it'll be no layout for two months. But if I get an airbrush, more locos, and whatever else, I'll find something to do. And there's the NJCL in Bay Head and Pt. Pleasant within biking distance (and a LHS in PPB that I've never been to (next to the NJT station), so I'll have to check it out), so I plan on doing some railfanning. And of course go to the beach.
My Model Railroad: Tri State RailMy Photos on Flickr: FlickrMy Videos on Youtube: YoutubeMy Photos on RRPA: RR Picture Archives
Murphy hates me... Long Story Short, I'm completely redoing 2306, and it had the best paint (it was the decals I was unhappy with) and hoping I can finish it tonight. Right now I'm waiting for it to dry, then shooting it with the black primer, and red atop that. Pretty much the entire left side looked horrible after removing the decals, so I semi-stripped it back to Chessie Paint, and now am going to hit it again...
Guilford Guy Murphy hates me... Long Story Short, I'm completely redoing 2306, and it had the best paint (it was the decals I was unhappy with) and hoping I can finish it tonight. Right now I'm waiting for it to dry, then shooting it with the black primer, and red atop that. Pretty much the entire left side looked horrible after removing the decals, so I semi-stripped it back to Chessie Paint, and now am going to hit it again...
That sucks man. hope you get it worked out.
Joe, looking good man!
ok, my news: I have finished weathering my Family lines boxcar, and also have soldered up all the dioramas for my small layout. Also, the hoppers have the second coat sealed. I need to do several more coats of powders on those though, but they will hopefully look excellent when done! My next project will not be that bachmann hopper, rathr improving on another boxcar I weathered a long time ago. here's the pic of what it looked like when I finished it last, will add more rust etc. to even it out:
Sawyer Berry
Clemson University c/o 2018
Building a protolanced industrial park layout
Somewhat.
The new paint on it doesn't look great, but not as bad, and the decals are much better. All 4 units and the boxcar are packed for transport tomorrow.
Regarding your weathering... Work from real railcar pix. A car with undistinguishable reporting marks is a prime candidate for a repaint, and most cars don't get that dirty.
You might want to try a technique for fading wiht Dullcote and Alcohol, and then add some rust spots with model glue, fine brush, and chalks.
Spray the car with dullcote, and when this is dry use a brush to apply a thin layer of rubbing all over the car. The car will fade to a sunbleached look before your eyes. Another coat of dullcote reverses this.
For rust spots, add a bit of model glue with a toothpick, the add a bit of rust colored chalks with the other end. Use the brush in vertical strokes to bleed the rust down the car side, keeping it out of the glue. You can take more liberty on the roof. I've seen some cars with nice car sides, but a completely rust covered roof.
Peace
Guilford GuyRegarding your weathering... Work from real railcar pix. A car with undistinguishable reporting marks is a prime candidate for a repaint, and most cars don't get that dirty. You might want to try a technique for fading wiht Dullcote and Alcohol, and then add some rust spots with model glue, fine brush, and chalks.Spray the car with dullcote, and when this is dry use a brush to apply a thin layer of rubbing all over the car. The car will fade to a sunbleached look before your eyes. Another coat of dullcote reverses this. For rust spots, add a bit of model glue with a toothpick, the add a bit of rust colored chalks with the other end. Use the brush in vertical strokes to bleed the rust down the car side, keeping it out of the glue. You can take more liberty on the roof. I've seen some cars with nice car sides, but a completely rust covered roof.PeaceAlex
Surprisingly, for once, I have everything to do that. I'll try the alcohol alter today. As to the weathering on it, I wanted to just slap a bunch of powder on this one way back, lol. I think it looks terrible, and it's my own weathering, lol!
Alex, didn't know about the rubbing alcohol and dullcote fading bit. I'll have to try that out on some of the cars I have. It's kind of important since the BN had some holdings in deserts, and I have a lot of UP, SP, and SF equipment. (roads with a lot of desert trackage)
I finally got word on the C30-7, according to UPS it'll be here Tuesday. Two weeks after I placed the order. Going to Tallahasee tommorrow, hopefully I can get something.
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.
On the alcohol thing, it worked ok, but it looks more like salt build-up than anything. however, now I can scrape all that off, and the powder as wll, and start anew. Which I think I'm going to do w/ those hoppers (screw up ONCE on a coat of semi-gloss, and the car is wrecked).
I ordered my track and rail joiners from my LHS today. should ahve it next weekend. Also got some stuff to paly around w/ creating a river.
I think that might happen if you have chalks underneath it. Try it on a clean car, it should work better.
I found these on Tyler's Photobucket... >_<
The ops session went well, with only two derailments. The Post Ops Session screwing around was disastrous. 31 Car freights don't work well on 4% grades, and 22" radius curves, with 5 locomotives thrown in various places on the train.
Ops session derail caused by a car picking the switch
Ops session derail caused by bad track
Post Ops derailments...
Lastly, All the painted WRS units. Sorry to steal your wind Tyler, but those pictures needed to be seen!
In the two and a half years that I've been a member of my club, I've never seen so many derailments! How can you guys have all that in one day?
And at the club, the only way we managed to flip cars on their side is when there were head on/rear end collisions!
All kidding aside now, the paint looks nice on the WRS units. Close up pictures please!
Grrrr. I was almost done with a post, and my internet closed itself-again.
GG-Excelent work on the WRS units! Now it looks like a railroad-not a random assembly of various locomotives!
Sawyer- Great job on the boxcar and the layout!
I have an old boxcar that I recently retired, that I was going to use as a shed in the yard. Since it will be repainted anyway (it's currently in Conrail paint with a crapload of graffiti), maybe I'll try that Dullcote/Alcohol weathering thing.
I ordered 2201 this afternoon. Since it's the holiday weekend, it'll probably be here towards the end of the week.
To make a long story short, I have to make a change in my plans. Instead of getting a second SW1500 and making it into 1302, I'll make it into 1301.
Guilford Guy
Who's this geek here? Great going Alex! Way to fail! lol, just kidding. I like the WRS units.
My Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/JR7582 My Flickr Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wcfan/
Alex, In the MR club I was a member of, that was an hour's worth of derailments. Almost always the tracks fault.
GG, WRS units look good.
Tyler, since GG stole your thunder on posting the pics, how do explain the red numberboards on the GP30? Taking a page from protoypes could yeild it as a rebuild or experimental loco.
BN had a few units with Red and few with Yellow numberboards. The Reds were used on C33-7s and C36-7s (rebuilt C30-7s; rather rare), IIRC,both Reds and Yellows were used on other engines when they were used as experments to try different fuels or oils; red for Texaco, yellow for Shell. I saw the latter a while back, bbut I lost the link.
I wasn't looking forward to redecalling numberboards, so I used the stock ones which happened to be red.
The only derailments at the session were the ones at LeBlanc Cement, and De Lery Pulpwood. The switch to the De Lery and the switch to LeBlanc are both faulty and need to be worked on. Wrestling 30+ heavy/light cars over a 4% grade, around S curves, and with locomotives pushing, and pulling, and stalling causing slack to run in and out, usually stringlines cars, or shoves them off the edge.
Jordan... No idea?
ns3010Now it looks like a railroad-not a random assembly of various locomotives!
Now it looks like a railroad-not a random assembly of various locomotives!
Actually, now it looks like a war zone... I've still got Alex's sand spill in Mascoma (formerly New Poland), pulpwood in the river in Canaan (formerly W. Formanek), and a 36 car train strung over the pass.
The only thing I have to say in my railroad's defense is that, the only derailments caused by bad track were the one in Mascoma, and the few in Canaan.
The rest were caused by a 36 car train with three locos on the front and three pushers behind the caboose, and enough 22" radius curves to make one and a half full circles! Even with the locomotive speeds perfectly matched (which they weren't), the friction of that many cars going around the 4/3 circle curve at the summit, plus the 4% grade, is enough to stringline the cars closer to the head end, and shove the ones closer to the rear off the tracks on the outside of the curve.
And Alex completely rejected my idea of a midtrain helper, until I added one about 10 cars back from the head end, and it worked fine until we split the train, and both tried to rejoin it... The head end backed up, the rear end went forward, and we dumped some cars off the tracks. If I hadn't planted trees at the edge of the layout, I'd have several cars on the floor right now!
We finally cut off the rear end helpers and added some mid-train helpers, and made it over the pass (almost) without incident.
I've now limited train length to 15 cars, long enough to require helpers, but short enough to make it over the hill if both the head end and helpers are working together.
EDIT: Alex, I think you had too much fun causing train wrecks...
Here's a link to the operating session report thread.
Results - My first operating session
Tyler: Glad to hear that your ops session went (mostly) well.
I was going to ask my parents if we could stop at a hobby shop on the way home tomorrow, but I spent all the money I had on sunglasses, and I went to Wawa (best place ever!) for lunch. But I went job hunting today, so hopefully I'll make some money this summer (if I get a job, and I already "w**k" at a place on Saturday nights [it's a kind of "if they need you and if you can come" job]).
Alex, I was actually able to make something out of our attempts to make the grade with 36 cars... Now I just need to give it a cheesy title like "MUST SEE!!!! TRAIN DERAILS ON CAMERA!!!!!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5k701eD9eo
Tyler, Good to see that ops session went well.
Regarding your 36 car train, I've ran 50+ car fast freights up 3% grades before with out problems (gratned the engines were all on the head end; and I had about 4-2 times as much power as was needed). Does that extra 1% make that much of a difference? Or could the helpers be running too fast? I don't know much about using helpers on Model railroad since I've never used them (I should, my prototype did like 5-8 engines on the front, and 2-4 on the back based on the youtube videos I have)
Went to Pensacola today, but came back with nothing. Wishing I would have stayed home and worked on some of my stuff. Despite that I finally found that tube of silicone sealent that has been evading me for a while, so I should be able to finish GP35 2507 soon, and improve the sound quality of my SD9, which was my first sound install. The SD9 has a NCE DA-SR, with a MRC sounder wired to the track pick-ups on the DA-SR. The speaker is a box speaker with a baffle that I cut the closed end off so I wouldn't have to modify the weight. Then I used Double-sided ducttape to secure it. Turns out the tape isn't airtight. Silicone would fix that. I'm thinking of putting in a soundtraxx and replacing the speaker with a oval one; but that'll wait (like I am for that C30-7 to arrive)
I also came up with a solution to the dilema regarding an engine I bought a few months ago. That Sound-equipped U30C with the 2nd gen EMD sound. I figure if I can get lucky enough to pickup a few SD40-2s at the Pensacola show, I could proably throw the decoder into one of them. The C30-7's sound will suffice for the U30C and U33Cs.
The grade is a piece of cake. It's the curve that kills you! That curve is almost a 3/4 circle, and you've got the head end pulling on one end, and the friction of the 20+ cars before the helpers on the other end. That's a sure-fire situation for a stringlining wreck.
The only way to get out of that is by placing mid-train helpers every 7 cars or so, which unfortunetely brings up the problem of individual control. If both engineers had DT400s with duel throttle knobs, it might be possible, but with just UT4s (one knob) it's impossible to control that many locos at the same time.
Okay, that explains it. The grades I was on with the 50+ car trains only did a 1/2 circle, straight about a foot and a half, than another 1/2-circle. (Yes, it was a helix). Would using broader curves (like 30" and up) make it easier? I ask because I have been wanting helper operations for when I build a big layout of my own (many years down the road). Throwing all the helpers on the head-end would probably work, but it isn't really prototypical:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CntEdKRnz5Qhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMQX7Pd7F80http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygab6YnYrOI
All those vids are of BN coal drags. They have a bunch of engines up front and around three in the back.
I really like that last video. Pretty neat show, with the helper cutoff and all.
I really have to stay with this thread. I have one more section of roadbed from my 4x8 layout left, I'll probably get that tommorow, then it's on to purchasing more code 83 flextrack. I am modeling Central Pennsylviania Lines (as I've said on the Teen MR forums.) Listening to A7X right now, gonna go up to a friends soon. I'm gonna be modeling patchouts untill I get a can of propelant. That'll be when I get to State College next. My order of AIM weathering powders is in at the LHS, and it's on to weathering then! YAY! I don't know if I'll include the NS interchange on my layout. Well, gotta get my clothes ready so untill later.
I HAVE 6 LEGS! 2 are people legs, and 4 are layout legs. Next weekend I'll get a 4x8 sheet of plywood, and build the frame. Then that weekend or next I'll install the legs and maybe add the foam.
Sweet demonwolf.
GG, can't wait till you start building scenery. great work on the WRS units too!
Tyler, nice operating session.
ok, I'm gonna end up playing around w/ that river stuff next weekend, as well as checking out the code 55 track. Also, I will eventually get to sketching the other side of my 4x8.
GG, I'll try that on a car that lacks powder,. as of now, that boxcar is among the lord knows how many things I need to strip paint off of. anyone got suggestions for a cheap paint stripper (other than brake fluid!)
Sawyer, I would go with the code 55. I am back at the house now, and I am gonna get some mountain dew, then go down into the basement, and rip the rest up. I will sub to this thread. I don't know if you guys know this, but I'm NS9708 on the teen mr fourms.
demonwolf224Sawyer, I would go with the code 55. I am back at the house now, and I am gonna get some mountain dew, then go down into the basement, and rip the rest up. I will sub to this thread. I don't know if you guys know this, but I'm NS9708 on the teen mr fourms.
I've already ordered it.
Nice Saywer!
demonwolf224Nice Saywer!
thanks. like I said, ordered through my LHS. should be here Wednesday or Thrusday is what the guy said. I'll pick it up this weekend.
Also, my move into the bonus room of our house will be permanent until I go to college, so I'll more than likely be able to convince my parents at some point to let me add onto my 4x8.
This also means that the room color will be changed from the purplish color it is now to something else. i'm thinking New York Mets blue and orange, lol
Sawyer, 70% Alcohol makes a good paint stripper.