Once again, I am happy to be starting the weekly edition of Weekend Photo Fun. I do love this thread and the way it brings the discussion forums back to a fun place for all. I believe it is the best thread every week.
I have added a new undecorated model to my projects collection. I was completely unfamiliar with this model until one popped up on eBay last week. I bought it for next to nothing, which was probably a high price. This model looks like it would have been right at home in the $1.00 bin at a train show.
This is an el-cheapo AHM trains set quality composite gondola, but for my modeling, it is perfect. I will rebuild it into a detailed model with all the usual added detail.
This freight car is made the way I wish all plastic models were manufactured. There are no details. No ladders, no grab irons, not even any sill steps.
The molded on detail that is there looks pretty good. The rivets and bracing all look well rendered to me.
This is great because that means none of that cast-on detail needs to be removed like when upgrading a Blue Box model or similar. On the brake wheel end of the car there is the only molded on grab iron on the entire model. I wonder why one was put here.
When I build this model, I will sand the ends smooth and make my own end bracing and details with lots of rivet decals.
The trucks and underframe are ridiuclous for a composite gondola. It has roller bearing trucks and a cushioned underframe. In fact, there is more detail on the underframe than on the rest of the model, right where no one can see it.
OK, I started this edition of Weekend Photo Fun with a cheap undecorated train set model. I am sure everyone can do much better than that.
I can't wait to see all the posts this week.
Last week was one of the best Weekend Photo Funs yet.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Thanks for kicking off WPF, Kevin. It sounds like your gondola will provide lots of cheap entertainment...hours of fun at a moderate cost.
I've NOT been working on the railroad, all the live-long week.
So, I'll post some before and after photos of one section of the eventually completed layout.
IMG_4890 by Paul Ahrens, on Flickr
20200424_090128 by Paul Ahrens, on Flickr
Paul
Modeling HO with a transition era UP bent
Good morning from cloudy and warm Northeast Ohio!
Keving, thanks for starting us out, looks like a nice project you have going there.
Paul, the scene looks great compared to the before picture, keep up the good work.
Got some stuff done this last week:
Tichy GSC 52'6" Flatcar kit, Painted with Scalecoat II Black paint and lettered with Mask Island Decals. The prototype was a PS-4 flatcar, but the only PS-4 car available is a 60' car. It is amazing how many common cars of the 50's and 60's are still not available in model form. The NYC had 200 of these cars in general service.
IMRC 50' PS-1 Boxcar kit, substituting A-Line Sill Steps for the plastic kit ones. Painted with Scalecoat II Boxcar Red paint and lettered with Mask Island Decals. The Southern Railway had several hundred of these cars built in 1955 and used in general service.
A couple of weeks ago I took my Scaletrains GE C39-8 to the club and ran them with a some trailers on Spine Cars and some of the converted boxcars that I recently finished. Since the C39-8's ran long hood first on the NS these were commonly called the flying nuns due to the large radiator overhang.
Thanks for looking!
Rick Jesionowski
Rule 1: This is my railroad.
Rule 2: I make the rules.
Rule 3: Illuminating discussion of prototype history, equipment and operating practices is always welcome, but in the event of visitor-perceived anacronisms, detail descrepancies or operating errors, consult RULE 1!
Thanks for starting WPF Kevin. I can hardly wait to see the gondola when it's finished.
Love before and after, the layout looks great Paul.
The cars look really good and so does your layout Rick.
Not much to show from me last week but the accomplishment of expanding the end of the layout where my afterthought was too crunched together by the bridge was huge.
I am finally ready to lay my new track and the track I moved over will have room to go in the tunnel as planned now.
Keep the pictures coming, looking great guys!
TF
Kevin, the gon looks like it has some good possibilities!
Paul, I think your layout, and the room, looks fantastic.
Rick, your churning out cars constantly is amazing. I like the way you do a bit of research for each one. Very nice!
This week I got a few things finished. The first is an old MDC Devil's Gulch & Helengon boxcar, the second is also an old MDC Gorre & Daphetid Ventilated boxcar. Both have Kadee trucks, couplers, and S scale turnbuckles (The HO turnbuckles are too small for me!), and light weathering. On the GD car, I made new door tracks using styrene because the original were much too short, and some quick and easy crates inside using wood and some produce labels printed from the computer.
Chuck - Modeling in HO scale and anything narrow gauge
Prayers of rememerbance for those who lost their lives on 9/11/2001
Kevin ... Thanks for starting weekend photo fun.
Paul .... Your before and after photos are interesting.
Rick ... I like the flat car, boxcar, and the NS intermodal train.
TF ... it is good to see progress on your layout.
Chuck ... Your MDC boxcars look very good.
..
Below is a series of pictures showing a coal train I operated this week.
First is some switching of loaded cars at the mine.
Second, two SD's lead a train away from the mine and onto a bridge.
Third, the coal train stopped in Blackhawk where a Zephyr is at the station and NP F-units arrived with an ore train.
Fourth, the train continues eastward.
Last, the coal train arrives in the City of Heartland.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Kevin - Thanks for the great start this week! Looking forward to seeing what becomes of that gon. Always nice to see the train set stuff get some detail
Paul- Nice before and after! Really shows how far the layout has come
Rick- Always nice to see your custom work, I hope my first attempt is that good! I also really enjoy NS unit, I came across an older RTR SD60 for $50 so I got it. It doensn't belong on the layout but it's nice to run every once in a while. Used to see some NS units on CN trains up here on the IL/WI border. Miss the black and white, they looked good running with CN.
TF- Nice start you have there! Can't wait to see progress
Chuck- Nice looking boxcars! Nice detail and weathering
Garry- I always like seeing your layout, very nicely done. Still need to add a Burlington to my roster!
As for me this week, a trip to my local hobby shop gave me these 2 WSOR DD boxcars! I had never seen them before so I had to get both of them! I only got around to weathering one of them, But I think I'm going to leave one clean with weathered trucks and frames.
My walthers american crane also came in yesterday! Was very happy to win it for $20 on ebay. It's a tricky build that I have not finished. Now that all my paint and decals are in for the SW7, I can get started on that. I primered it yesterday and masked half of it this morning before work. I also gave the cab a test spray to see how it acts. I'm very happy with my choice of paint. Can't wait to see more pictures this weekend! Why is every thing a link?!
My walthers american crane also came in yesterday! Was very happy to win it for $20 on ebay. It's a tricky build that I have not finished.
Now that all my paint and decals are in for the SW7, I can get started on that. I primered it yesterday and masked half of it this morning before work. I also gave the cab a test spray to see how it acts. I'm very happy with my choice of paint.
Can't wait to see more pictures this weekend!
Why is every thing a link?!
Paul: I like the before and after pictures. Photos like these are great for showing layout progression towards completion.
Rick: I have built probably 20+ of the Tichy flat car kit. It is a great kit that assembles easily into a very nice model. It is the second most popular freight car in my collection with the Kadee PS-1 being first. The freight cars are beautiful as always
Track Fiddler: I still love your awesome unusual bridge set up on the curve.
Chuck: Good job on the improvement of your MDC boxcar kits. I have a couple of John Allen tribute pieces also.
Garry: There is always happiness in seeing beautiful pictures of your layout.
Ringo: It is very good news that you have found paints you are happy with.
Plenty of weekend left for everyone else to jump in!
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Kevin, Thanks for another interesting start to WPF. Where some would see junk, you see possibilities and a blank canvas.
Paul, Yes indeed, nice before and after.
Rick, Looking good. I'm but a hack with an airbrush, but your beautiful paint jobs have me thinking about trying some Scalecoat.
TF, Good to see your progress.
Chuck, A most handsome pair of boxcars, especially like the GD, curious as to era?
Ringo, Good going with your projects. A trip to the hobby shop can be good for the soul while lightening the wallet.
Garry, Your pics are always pleasing to the eye, ahh, coal country, I like it.
And the Bear, what can I say, a quad hopper full-o-fun!
Another week of Le Tour, Allez! Allez!
Thanks to all the contributors and viewers, have a good weekend, regards, Peter
Thanks for the great start Kevin, your Gon is going to look nice after you bash it a bit.Like your layout Paul, if I had gone with a smaller layout in the house I could have worked on it more often than a bigger one it the HOT garage.Rick, Very nice boxcar, lot of nice scenery on your layout.TF, the bridge guy . . . looking very good.Chuck, I love your boxcars, really love anything G&D! John is my Model Railroad Mentor.Gary, Stunning layout!!!Ringo, really like that crane!Peter, your attention to tiny details always amaze me.Yesterday I received 10 pre-wired 0402 LEDs that had been lost in the mail for about 5 months. Just sitting there looking at them I got a wild hair thought. I decided to use one in a HO figures hand as a flashlight. Looking through my batch of Mel figure castings and the one that caught my eye was a female missing her arms.I found a right arm so the left arm was my target. I cut a groove from her arm pit down and out the bottom of her right foot. I twisted the LED wires tightly and pressed them into the groove leaving about a ¼” with the led from her arm pit. I used about 8 coats of True Color Primer on the wires to fill the gaps then 600 grit sand paper until it resembled a female arm.
For a shaky hands Mel it went pretty well. First project in quite a while that I didn’t screw something up, even the painting went well I only had to retouch twice which I think might be a record.
The LED looks pretty good at 50 microamps.Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
Thanks for another great start to the WPF, Kevin. I'm sure your gondola will be a work of art when you're done.
Paul, nice before and after. I like the roads you've put in.
Rick, that's an impressive picture of your NS locomotives pulling the trailer cars.
Track Fiddler, that's pretty neat work of adding some inches to the layout to get the track to fit right. Looks good!
Chuck, your boxcars look good. It's a nice scene with one door partly open and equipment inside.
Garry, great scenes on the layout of your Burlington coal cars. I especially like the Zephyr -- I'm partial to passenger trains.
Ringo, great looking boxcars. It'll be interesting to see your SW7 after you finish. I'm not sure what's up with your links.
Bear's cartoons show up again! Thanks.
Peter, your Tour scenes are really something. You inspire me to try different things that I've never considered.
Mel, what can I say! That's amazing work. Your work with tiny LEDs is impressive.
I have not done much this week. I'm working on a scratchbuilt Tastee Donuts shop, but I just finished cutting out the windows, so there's not much to look at. I decided to post another picture of my strip mall I saw something similar in a kit, but decided to make my own -- I thought the kit was a little high priced. I got 50 of these N Scale cars for $4.00. It took a long time to get them, but for the price, I like them. My wife gave me the theater for Christmas. I didn't like it, but a gift is a gift, and she thinks it looks good.
York1 John
Kevin--The brake wheel is so Lilliputians can win Darwin Awards.
Paul--That came out really good. What's on the other side of the layout?
Rick--Interesting about the "Flying Nuns". Nice work.
TF--That certainly counts.
Chuck--almost my entire fleet of road stock is MDC "Old-time" kits. I haven't even thought about modifying them yet. I'm thinking I will install the track and stuff first. I hope I can do as well as you did.
Garry--Is that your layout or a club? In PA I had 3 layouts I regularly operated on. Zero in Arizona. I miss it.
RIngo--I was hoping to get a closer look at the two boxcars post weathering, but I couldn't get to that picture. Looking forward to seeing the SW7.
Bear--You should have your own column.
Peter--I'm beginning to think the purpose of your train layout is so you don't look weird playing with a bike layout.
Mel--that is really cool.
John--I'm with your wife. The theater looks good. The strip mall ain't half bad either.
I have been working on my lumber mill for the past week. I'm roughly following the Muir Models Nevada City Lumber Yard plans, but it didn't come with any materials. Evidently the guy who sold it to me on eBay forgot to mention that he already built it. So, I'm milling the lumber out of popsickle sticks and coffee stirrers.
The first floor is about 80% done. The lower roof and office don't get done until the second floor is done. My next step is decking the second floor with scale 2x6's.
The only modification worth mentioning is removing the rear overhang and putting in a receiving dock. Meyers gets all his lumber from the Rock Ridge Mill, and it's close enough he could hit it with a rock off his second floor deck, but they deliver his orders on a flatcar.
Maybe it will be done in time for posting next week.
Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
RR_Mel...shaky hands Mel...
RR_Mel ...shaky hands Mel... Amazing MeL by Bear, on Flickr
RR_Mel ...shaky hands Mel...
Amazing MeL by Bear, on Flickr
I finally made the big time! Thanks Bear!!!!Shaky HandsMel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
RR_MelI finally made the big time!
I have reason to believe that you made the big time, along time ago, without the hinderance of the Bear.
Kevin, Ringo, Peter, Mel, John York 1, Chip, and anyone I missed: Thanks for comments about my pictures.
Ringo ... The WSOR boxcars look good.
Peter ... I love the Le Tour photo.
Mel ... Your work with LED's and figures is amazing.
Chip ... it is my layout. Thanks for asking.
Bear : ... LOL
I can't believe I didn't post my picture.
SpaceMousePaul--That came out really good. What's on the other side of the layout?
Chip, here is an earlier "before" pic and several "after" views of the 2020 essentially completed layout:
20130922_171427_resized by Paul Ahrens, on Flickr
20200913_074851 by Paul Ahrens, on Flickr
20200913_074904 by Paul Ahrens, on Flickr
20200913_074958 by Paul Ahrens, on Flickr
20200913_074921 by Paul Ahrens, on Flickr
20200913_074937 by Paul Ahrens, on Flickr
20200913_075018 by Paul Ahrens, on Flickr
20200913_075027 by Paul Ahrens, on Flickr
Kevin - Thanks for starting WPF this weekend. Judging by past experience, your gondola will be a work of art when finished. I, on the other hand, would squirt some paint on it, change the couplers and call it good.
Paul - Good looking layout.
Rick - Great looking cars as usual. Thanks for the background info as well. Great photo of the GE C39-8's.
TF - Progress. Looks good to me.
trwroute/Chuck - Good job on the cars.
Garry - Great photos. Really nice layout. I enjoyed the tour.
Ringo58 - Unusual box cars. Good luck with the SW7.
Bear - Great stuff.
Peter - I aways enjoy your Tour photos.
Mel - Your work with LEDs and miniatures is astounding! Great!
York1/John - I like the strip mall. You got a great bargain with the cars. Wish I could find a similar deal in HO!
Chip - Good luck with the lumber yard/mill. The progress looks good to me.
Bear - You got something to light up. More than I could have done.
Paul - A good looking layout. It appears much larger than it actually is in photos. Good job.
Not much new on the BRVRR. I updated my website after much too long a hiatus this past week and I did get another structure wired into the lighting buss I've been working on. Shockers Electric at night.
A couple of project for the long cold winter: I must pay more attention to details.
Something from the archives. One of my favorites: NYC Mikado #9519 appears from behind some track side pine trees near the Black River Tower on the inner main line on the BRVRR.
Keep the photos and ideas coming guys. Thanks to you WPF is always the best thread of the week.
Remember its your railroad
Allan
Track to the BRVRR Website: http://www.brvrr.com/
The tears are buried from last night and my little niece CC just loves her Uncle John
You would need a much bigger shovel to bury the memories from that little girl
That's my CC
And I love her so much she will never go without anything as long as I'm alive
You should see her feet spark when they hit the floor in the morning I just laugh the whole time I'm with her
Trust my words! She will get into model railroading
She already is and asks everyone where I am when I'm not there and has a locomotive I gave her
SpaceMouse RIngo--I was hoping to get a closer look at the two boxcars post weathering, but I couldn't get to that picture. Looking forward to seeing the SW7.
Sorry I normally take many pictures of my cars post weathering. I'm not sure why I didn't include any here!
Heres the fully weatherd boxcar
This one is just the underframe and trucks
Still a few hours left for more weekend photo phun! ( see what I did there )
Column by Bear, on Flickr
My new screensaver is a sign that says "Don't Feed the Bear."
Paul--That's a layout to be proud of. You thinking of starting over yet?
Allan--I would love to do nothing but detail work for a couple weeks.
Ringo--The more think about it, the more I like having one weathered and one clean. Nice work, BTW.
trwrouteThis week I got a few things finished. The first is an old MDC Devil's Gulch & Helengon boxcar, the second is also an old MDC Gorre & Daphetid Ventilated boxcar.
Man ! I love old timer boxcar's !!
I got a bit done to my logcar today...
I have a bit of touch-up painting to do, then some decaling, then we get to the "weathetizing .
Rust...... It's a good thing !
Allan ... Thanks for commenting on my puctures. Your lighted building looks good.
Chip... Your building project looks good so far.
Timmy... I like your log car.
Paul ... More nice layout photos from you.
Peter: Thank you for another interesting bicycle racing scene.
Mel: The flashlight project looks amazing. Great work as always.
John: The strip mall and theater scene looks very good.
Allan: Those Tichy Kits will make for excellent winter time projects.
Fiddler: I wish I had a CC to distract me from trains. You are a lucky guy.
Ringo: That weathered boxcar looks incredible. You did a job to be proud of.
Timmy: That log car is interesting. You are going to have a problem. If you load it up, you will hide what a cool car it is. I have a couple of gondolas I run empty because I am so proud of how the interiors turned out... like this one:
Sorry if I missed anybody, I hope we all had a great weekend. See you guys in a few days for another edition of Weekend Photo Fun!
Well I haven't done anything on the HO scale front for a while but I have made progress on the G scale trestle. I finished all 26 bents and have now started on the stringers and deck of the bridge.
Above are the stringers put together. I used a 3D printed drilling jig to drill all the holes. The whole thing is bolted together like the prototype.
One side of the jig is used for drill into the redwood stringers. The other side is used to drill out the aluminum splice plates. I used a hammer and a vice to bend all the splice plates to a 10 degree angle using my digital protractor to check them all.
Here is a close up of the splice plates holding the stringers together. I have not yet cut the excess screw length off yet.
Lastly I cut and installed over 200 ties so far.
I used a set of ties to build temporary clamps to hold the stringers in the proper location while I glued and nailed on the ties.
Finally I installed the first 5 bents on the stringers/deck of the bridge.
The bents are attached via screws and glue similar to the prototype. I did have to get a bit creative since the screws lined up almost perfectly with the nails used to construct the bents. I ended up shiting them over an 1/8" to the inside to be able screw the bents onto the stringers. I'll post a topside photo when get more done.
The first section of the trestle will be built in 3 sections. Once I get each section built I will splice them together and install them in place. This allows me to build the majority of it at my bench.
Colorado Front Range Railroad: http://www.coloradofrontrangerr.com/
Renegade: That is impressive. The drilling jig sure looks like it made the construction a lot easier. Please share additional pictures as it gets installed.