Weekend Update 9/30/2012

[nkalanaga]

Sirenwerks:  Another option for the missing stake pocket is to buy a sacrificial body and shave pockets from it.  One body will make a lot of replacements, so the cost per car may be less than casting, unless you already have the casting supplies.

[Cajonpassfan]

Thanks guys , the rear truck is light so the easiest way to apply pressure to all 4 wheels without reducing driver pressure was IMO add a thick wrap of Loon to each axle and after it set up I coated it with Krazy glue . The Loon is non-conductive on my tests . I still wanted more anti-bounce weight so I filled a tube with the Loon , drilled a hole in both sideframes , and skewered the 3 with a brass rod . The rear truck is now heavy enough . and non-restrictive do the Hippy Hippy Shake in all axises .

Richie? Huh?....... Loon???
Well, as long as it can do the Hippy Hippy....
Otto

[up1950s]

Richie? Huh?....... Loon???
Well, as long as it can do the Hippy Hippy....
Otto

http://www.thetroutspot.com/Loon-Outdoors-Deep-Soft-Weight_p_863.html

[u18b]

I finally got around to "patching" this CSX locomotive.

[davefoxx]

This weekend, I formed some more rolling landscape (I want to avoid as many flat and level spots on the layout as possible) and laid down a little turf.  Keep in mind this is only a base layer of turf, as this layout will be covered with trees and infested by kudzu at some point:





DFF

[Dave V]

Looking very sweet Dave!

One minor question...  Would it have been easier to paint your track prior to scenicking?  I used an airbrush so I had ample overspray when I did the main part of my layout.  Hand-painting the track in Enola was much less efficient and results less desirable.

[arbomambo]

Yes...looking GREAT!....
ahhh...Kudzu...alas, we know it all too well down here!
Respectfully,
Bruce

[davefoxx]

Looking very sweet Dave!

One minor question...  Would it have been easier to paint your track prior to scenicking?  I used an airbrush so I had ample overspray when I did the main part of my layout.  Hand-painting the track in Enola was much less efficient and results less desirable.

It would, but I've done this sequence out of order before.  I haven't installed the track feeders yet, so that's keeping me from painting the track.  Plus, I'll likely want to take the entire layout outside to avoid the paint fumes in the house.  I'll just mask off the scenery.  If some paint somehow gets on the turf, it won't be the end of the world, as this is only the base layer.

If you will recall, I was smart enough to paint the double track plate girder bridge (structure and track, which are two different colors) before I installed it, because it would have been impossible to mask off each color after installation.  So, I have painted some track.   



Thanks,
Dave

[Cajonpassfan]

http://www.thetroutspot.com/Loon-Outdoors-Deep-Soft-Weight_p_863.html

/>

Richie, thanks, I'm now fully enlightened. I knew my Hippy Hippy, but not the Loon...
I can see other applications, but at $8 an ounce, not cheap...
Otto

[MichaelWinicki]

Looking very sweet Dave!

One minor question...  Would it have been easier to paint your track prior to scenicking?  I used an airbrush so I had ample overspray when I did the main part of my layout.  Hand-painting the track in Enola was much less efficient and results less desirable.

Dave you make a good point.

One thing Dave Foxx could do to make the track painting easier if he doesn't/isn't going to spray it on, is to use the Floquil Paint Pens.  I did a lot of my track using a brush, and those paint pens greatly speed up the process and allow you to keep the ties from having to be the rail color also.

[arbomambo]

Hello all,
Last day to get any modelling work done for a week or so...
I wanted to 'rough in' the base of the ridges that will rise to either end (and completely wrap around and extend along the other side); also, roughly defining the wash and road locations that give the trestle and girder bridge a 'raison d'etre'...with the Alabama-Ole Miss and tu-Cowboy games in the background, I grabbed some scrap foam and hotwire formed the outlines you see here; now, with the base of the ridges up to the level of the surrounding foam, I can start to layer foam, in a contour fashion up to the height I feel I desire, then begin the slope shaping process. I'm having to do my absolute best to take things in a logical order; I don't want to start using sculptamold and celluclay until every portion of the foam is in proper place (I'm so tempted to start final contouring of the lower level topography-my eye isn't enjoying the temporary view).
Getting to this point is important for me to tweak my basic ideas about the ridges and how I want them to frame the scene on this side of the layout.

Thanks for looking,
Bruce

[nstars]

Enclosed some pictures of a small interim project Hans is fiddling around with. Putting a Fleischmann class 78 chassis underneath one of those old AHM/Lima shells. All recycled parts excepted for the cylinders. Loco is still a long way from completion, but is already operational. It will be a nice addition to our Keystone Central.

Marc

[ednadolski]

Trying out some different techniques for painting and weathering track.   More details in my Tehachapi shelf module thread.




Ed

[arbomambo]

Trying out some different techniques for painting and weathering track.   More details in my Tehachapi shelf module thread.




Ed

OUTSTANDING!!!!!!!!!!
 I can't imagine improving upon this result...I'm looking to achieve the same results as yours!
Respectfully,
Bruce

[davefoxx]

Unprecedented for me, perhaps, but I accomplished a second project this morning!  Over on Nscale.net, there was a thread about close-coupling Intermountain F-units.  Well, I found a pair of Unimates, and they worked great in this application.  My SCL FP7s are usually run in a pair, so I don't need automatic uncoupling.  The Unimates seem to lock tight with no slack action, too, which is good for consisted, powered locomotives.

A suggestion to watch the screws going in too far and shorting on the frame was dead-on.  In fact, I believe that I had a problem with this before I even removed the MTL coupler.  I had one locomotive that would squeal every few seconds running in one direction.  I think it's possible that the screw was intermittently shorting out but not enough for the DCC command station to trip a breaker. So, not only do my SCL FP7s look better, but they run better, too.



Incidentally, I tried to throw a scale ruler on this, and they seem to measure between 3'3" and 3'6" between the carbodies. If I remember correctly, the prototypes were 3' between units. I can live with that.



Now, I just need to decide whether to add diaphragms. But, I'll check the prototypes to see if they were still installed when the units were retired in the early 1970s. On my layout, the railroad saved this pair from the scrapper for use on executive and special trains. This is not much of a stretch, because the Seaboard System had an A-B-B-A of ex-Clinchfield F units that survived to CSX.  Now, I just need someone to offer SCL passenger cars in N scale (Walthers, you make them in HO) and an SBD office car (I'm looking at you, MTL) would be sweet!

DFF