Weekend Update 4/11/21

[chessie system fan]

I think an ALCO  FLEA would pull it well.

Oh yeah.   I forgot about that thing!

[Super_G]

A little late to the party, but did some painting and decalling of a few containers this weeked.
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[eja]

It ain't magic.  Don't ever tell yourself, "I've only got 20 minutes until dinner, why bother?"   Believe me, BOTHER.
Those bits of time add up to a lot of accomplishment over a year.

Max,

I fully understand and utilize this concept. That 20 minutes, however, usually goes to practicing in preparation for my next concert.  Perhaps that's why so many railroad projects sit unfinished  on my work bench.

(sigh)


Ed

[Ike the BN Freak]

I've officially grown tired of waiting on Kato to release Great Northern's Empire builder so I've decided to print my own. Between the four F units and the ~18 cars in the train I'm guessing it's low on their list due to size. If I were them I'd do the International instead since it was just five cars (of four car types) and a single E7.

Curious mostly, but why not use the Brass Car Sides sides for the train? But if you were to offer any of the cars, I could use the 60 seat coach without skirts, 6-5-2 Sleeper, and 7-4-3-1 Sleeper as these ended up in the BN business car fleet.  But I also had the sides, and just awaiting some core kits on them also.

[nkalanaga]

For extended draft gear, I second the recycled Accumates, if one doesn't want to buy Wuttermelon's 3D printed ones (they're nice, and I have them, but they do cost more than making ones own).

In my case, I made my "box" from styrene strip. 0.188 x 0.015 top and bottom, with 0.015 x 0.060 for sides, between the wider strips.  That gives very close to 3/32 inch total thickness, the same as a 1025 box, so the mounting height close enough to the same.  A piece of 0.060 rod is the post, glued into a hole in the top strip. 

Glue the two sides to the top strip, before or after drill the hole(s).  I tended to make them in long strips, a bunch at a time.  Glue the post(s) into the hole(s).  Cut to length.

Glue this to the car.  Put the coupler in, and place the bottom strip, with a hole, on the post.  In most cases, a 1/16 inch hole would be tight enough that it would stay together, at least for a while.  Once it's been tested and adjusted, glue the cover on, and trim the post to length.

[chessie system fan]

I suppose you could call it a snowballing project.  I began by researching the diner as one got passed down to CSX as its power car Kentucky.  That lead into researching the whole train just for fun.  I do have a few of the Brass Car Sides sides, but it would be just as much effort to use them with a core donor car as designing my own (I might fudge on the Great Dome though!).  Plus, the versions I have are the old shortened sides to fit Con Cor cars. Once I created a blank template car body, window variations are easy to add with the right information.  Plus, it's easier to do variations like different skirt arrangements this way too.  I'll keep you updated once I make more progress on the cars.

I have no need for it, but after this the Powhatan Arrow is high on my list. Plus I do need all the C&O and B&O cars.  And a SAL train would be fun someday...

[bbunge]

I often find I can set aside some work that I know will only take 10-15 minutes (a bit of trim/touch up paint here, a bit of glue there - that needs to dry and set) that I can squeeze in here and there.  Think about how to break your project up into small pieces.

Bob

[craigolio1]

I have always lived by the obvious, and oft-told advice: "do something every day, even if it's just 15 minutes".
Years and years of this have taught me that it is spot-on the thing that counts the most.  Sure, there are free evenings and marathon weekends when some kook is out in the garage working on a brass scratchbuilt engine for 7 hours straight, but MOST progress happens in those little 15-30 minute snippets of time. 

It ain't magic.  Don't ever tell yourself, "I've only got 20 minutes until dinner, why bother?"   Believe me, BOTHER.
Those bits of time add up to a lot of accomplishment over a year.

There is so much truth in this. I started studying for a promotional exam in sept, for an exam in March. I can only read for about 20 min and then need a break. But staring into my phone, as was becoming habitual, wasn’t giving me the rest I needed.  So I started using my 15 minute breaks, that weren’t spent on the phone or eating or whatever, down in the train room cleaning, organizing etc. This turned into electrical, drywall and paint. My exam was in the middle of March and now, 15 minutes at a time, I have a completed train room with lighting and my first two modules wall mounted! 

From this:



To this:



There’s still a ton or of organization to do as I had to build the room with everything still in it. But I’ll get there... 15 minutes at a time.

Craig

[jpwisc]

My railroad was built 10 minutes at a time. It all adds up. Just finished this N Scale plow projects. Detailed, painted, Circus City Decals.
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