From time to time my unit, the Air Force Weather Agency, constructs and the raffles off a model railroad as part of the Top III Sub for Santa program. The proceeds of the raffle go to help offset the December bills for the family of a deployed or needy Airman, so that they can buy gifts for their kids at Christmas.
This year I volunteered to help organize the effort, and we settled on N scale and modern day UP/BNSF in the Council Bluffs, IA area. Walthers was kind enough to donate a grain elevator kit which I built this week:
This is a DRAMATIC departure from my usual theme, but a lot of fun. This is a great way to scratch a modern-day UP/BNSF itch without scrapping my Conrail and Pennsy!
Another member, RedGrey62, is also a big part of this charity layout project.
Modeling the Rio Grande Southern First District circa 1938-1946 in HOn3.
Tom, I guess that's what happens when I decided to go out and get pizza while in the middle of a post; I get my question answered before I press the button.
Hamltnblue, will defenitely get some of those stir sticks now. I was making mine for 36"s, and came up with a 13/32" as being the right size.
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.
Packer, they're made out of Home Depot paint stir sticks. A poster on modelrailroadforums shared his idea of one he did with a single hole. Just added more holes and a second stick to do 2 cars at a time. 3/8th drill bit is perfect for 33 inch wheelsets. Don't know what size to use for 36 inch yet. Took about 15 minutes to drill out. The splinters still need to be cleaned up. The dry erase marker is there to stop it from bowing in the middle because of the rubber band torque. It was the closest thing I had on hand and works.
Springfield PA
Packer Tom, I'm gonna have to agree with Terry.
Tom, I'm gonna have to agree with Terry.
vincent:
Read my answer to Terry on the previous page. As I said, a lot of it is luck, but a lot of it has to do with 'tinkering' my locos to make sure that they are speed-compatable. Luckily, with brass, 'tinkering' is relatively easy to do. Has to do with balancing and weight. And of course the fact that straight DC uses a LOT less starting voltage than DCC.
I figure that if John Allen could do it regularly on his DC layout, I could sure give it a try, LOL!
Tom
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
Hamltnblue, what'd you make that out of? I tried styrene and balsa but both failed. (Balsa split when being drilled, and styrene didn't like me using a power drill)
Update, moved from Hoppers to Gons...
After my article published in N Scale Magazine, I was contacted by a modeler who had several more of these cars he wanted to unload. He offered me 5 cars at no cost, provided I did one up to return to him as a Laurel Valley car. The original car in the magazine article is in the rear, two of the newer ones are in the foreground featuring loads I built from scraps I had around the workbench.I used actual scraps, bits of sprue, leftover MT shim plates, some wheels and springs and other crap I had laying around. I glued the pieces to a styrene base, then sealed it all with a wash of clear matte acrylic. Once that dried, I went over it with a few washes of black, brown and oxide red to give it a good junky look. The load is removable and also fits in my MT gons. Even the ones that are lowered!Also made with actual scraps. To get the effect of shreds of sheet metal, I scraped along the edge of some styrene with a sharp X-acto blade to get some "curly cues". These were stuffed in and among the sprue bits and other scraps I had glued to the base, then brushed some Plastic Weld over it to crinkle it all up and bond it together. Followed by multiple washes of black, brown and oxide colors to "flavor" it.I need to get more decals run so I can do the rest of the gons.Lee
Route of the Alpha Jets www.wmrywesternlines.net
C&O Fan Ok I'll bite Tom How do you control 3 locos running DC Us DCCers Wanna Know
Ok I'll bite Tom How do you control 3 locos running DC
Us DCCers Wanna Know
Terry:
Balance, weight, compatable gearing and can motors and a HECK of a lot of good old fashioned Luck. I can doublehead a lot of my steam locos with no problems, but this is the first time I really ever attempted double pushers at the end of a train.
The train was crawling at about 20 smph, without any stringling at all. However, I cut the pushers off at Wagon Wheel Gap (around the corner from the signal in the photo) because that grade out of South Yuba is one of the heaviest (2.4%) on the layout. I let the 4-8-2 take the train solo from there to Yuba Pass. Didn't want to push my luck, LOL!
But I was pretty pleased with the way my 2-8-2's performed on the grade. I might get brave and do some more pusher service in the future. I also use the "Nudge" switch on my Controlmaster 20, which gives me really superior slow-speed control.
Duckdogger, love the scenery is the are the rock striations acoustic ceiling tile?
TerryinTexas
See my Web Site Here
http://conewriversubdivision.yolasite.com/
A couple of parting shots of my 2-8-2's working pusher service out of South Yuba Canyon. And yes, in case anyone's interested, the train was actually RUNNING, with my 3-cylinder 4-8-2 at the head end. In DC. It can be done.
ukguy Karl.A Disclaimer. There was no image manipulation in the posting of this picture, the backdrop is real and the track really was on the floor.
Karl.A
Disclaimer. There was no image manipulation in the posting of this picture, the backdrop is real and the track really was on the floor.
Karl, The trestle is (as always) magnificent! (The floor doesn't look bad either!)
-Kosmo
"And the sons of Pullman porters and the sons of engineers ride their father's magic carpet made of steel..."
The prototype of this commute train back in 1981 was known as "Baxter's Choo-Choo." Baxter Ward was a L.A. County Supervisor, 1974-80. His idea for a commuter rail system eventually turned into the L.A. Metrolink.
New wheel painting jig I made using idea from another site:
Ray, your layout has really developed marvellously....it has a real railroad look and feel about it. Very nice modelling.
Using the same location, I have taken another image as the last one with the Duplex. This time, it is an NYC freight pulled by a Mikado. What is different, aside from Dad having caught up to supervise the kids, is that this image was shot in daylight, unlike my usual practice. The overhead halogens are on, but it is a bright sunny morning with plenty of blue sky-light entering the window out the left side of the image on the far wall. The black shiny boiler of the Mike has a different look.
-Crandell
Wow! It's only Saturday night and already we're on page 4! Anyway, here's what I've been working on lately:
A little more progress on my intermodal/team track. Sheet styrene is in place for all the pavement. They were all spray painted with Krylon "pebble" colored spray paint for plastic, then I went over them with an india ink & alcohol wash to weather. The section in the upper right is screwed up and I need to redo it.
Old Athearn Amtrak FP45 shell, with all the paint stripped off. Time to start modifying and superdetailing for an ATSF Super Fleet unit! The image came out too dark, but you get the point.
Old Athearn U33B model that I'm going to superdetail. The paint has been stripped off the frame and the shell has been completely broken down to it's basic components.
Dan Stokes
My other car is a tunnel motor
Karl: -----and how long is that trestle anyhooooo?????
Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry
I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...
http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/
Ray:
If you don't get the Scenery Merit Award for that work, to quote Hamlet: "There's something rotten in the state of Denmark."
That is just BEAUTIFUL!!!
Karl seeing the "choo choo" on the floor like that dramatically shows just how big that trestle is. Wow!
I finished putting up the skirt on the part of the layout that judged for the Scenery Merit Award and started to take the required photos of that part. The first photos they want are some general overview type photos. In order for me to get photos of everything as an overview, it took me 6 shots. Starting on the right hand part as you face Hopewell junction..
Engine servicing facility/roundhouse and above Cooley's Blue Ice and the pond:
Moving counter clockwise, The Town of Hopewell Junction and the Yard:
More of the Yard, Hopewell Station, and the farmland above:
Freight House, Yard Lead, and farmland:
Yard Lead, farmland, and above is Thompson Tile:
Yard Limit, Waterfalls, abandoned trackage, and hillside:
73
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
DrilineTrainManTyAnother video from me.Chasing CDLE-1 through the night Very Nice. It was all believable until the lights came on for sunrise You'll make a nice video editor someday for a TV station. Yours is better than some of the editors I used to work with.
TrainManTyAnother video from me.Chasing CDLE-1 through the night
Another video from me.
Chasing CDLE-1 through the night
You'll make a nice video editor someday for a TV station. Yours is better than some of the editors I used to work with.
Thanks for the kind words! I tried to do a just-after-sunrise shot, but it didn't work out so great (looked too much like night again) so I went to full daylight...but the shadows were much too short to look like early morning. I need to put in a dimmer switch!
Look like Ortner gons.
Flip
DingySP Good job Sawyer. Soldering seems to be one of those things (along with airbrushing) that really isn't as hard as some people think it is. You just gotta get on it and do it. Tom
Good job Sawyer. Soldering seems to be one of those things (along with airbrushing) that really isn't as hard as some people think it is. You just gotta get on it and do it.
thank you very much . Once again, sorry for the horrible quality, but hey, it's a camera that records videos. And yes, it is very easy to get the hang of, perhaps one of the simplest things to do in the hobby.
And yes, airbrushing is also easy to do, haha.
Sawyer Berry
Clemson University c/o 2018
Building a protolanced industrial park layout
Hey folks, was soldering some track and decided to make a couple quick how-to vids. Yes, I know the quality is crap, but hey, it gets the point across.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CF5J0Tf875s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWGQrnh-MnU
Don Z--
Thanks for posting those photos again--your skills at rockwork have always dropped my jaw in admiration. I really hope that you can salvage most of your MR, and I SINCERELY hope that you can get it up and running again, very soon.
Best wishes,
AggroJones Tom White-- are those fall color trees store bought? If you made them yourself bravo!
Tom White-- are those fall color trees store bought? If you made them yourself bravo!
Aggro:
Thank you, sir. Yes, I made them myself. SuperTrees and WS fall foam and really CHEAP hairspray. I still have a TON of them to do for the lower elevations.
I sincerely hope that the photos of your layout are a revision and not a complete tear-down, BTW. As you know, I'm a real fan of your work!
WM3798, saw your post yesterday, read it and wondered what the rabbits were all about. Scanning the thread today, with benefit of caffine, and the light went on. LOL.
Aggro........Yeah I still gotta ways to go. You should have posted some pictures of the layout before you rip it up. I honestly don't think I have ever seen any.
"Rust, whats not to love?"
Great work everyone! Unfortunately, I once again have nothing to show, so I'm just here to praise...
My Model Railroad: Tri State RailMy Photos on Flickr: FlickrMy Videos on Youtube: YoutubeMy Photos on RRPA: RR Picture Archives