Weekend Update 11/25/12

[up1950s]

UP 819 progress

I have always quartered by eye in the past , but I am trying this simple method I thought up . Probable been used by others , but I never say it . A .025 PB wire in bent on the end to stick into the crank pin hole , then aligned over the axle center and centered to the other side by a bit point in the driver disk web design . I then trued and gauged the wheels in a close to quarter position . I then Krazy glue both ends of the wire . We all know we can break away the Krazy glue off of metal and engineering plastic , even when we don't want to . I then took a 2x2 block of pre-determined to be square enough , and sanded a corner off . That allowed the driver whiskers to touch the block closer in to the driver tread . I then trued and gauged the wheels in a close to quarter position . Then I placed the set on the block making sure both whiskers were flat against the block their whole length ( without bending ) I snuck some green Lok-tite where the axle meets the collared gear hub . I let that dry and re-applied more green Lok-tite , and freed any bearing resistance that some green Loc-tite may have caused from the first application . I then drilled through holes and pinned with a good pre-soaking of green Loc-tite . I also re-freed the bearing from the second application of green Loc-tite . After that dried a day I ground down the pin overage to the collar , and applied another coat of green Loc-tite , and addressed any bearing freeze again . When that all dried another day I addressed the bearing again and made sure it was good to go . Lastly I removed the quartering whiskers carefully as I intend to reuse them on the other 3 drivers once my rods and tubes come in the mail . The good thing about this is even if the drivers are a blond one out of quarter , they all are , and thus mater not . Time will tell .

[elnscale]

NJ International Train Shed: http://www.njinternational.com/IMG_4647-1.jpg.









This was an unplanned addition to my layout but when it was released, I thought it would fit well at the end of a track in my yard. Fit perfectly on the tracks without modification. I will have to extend the yard out to the right so there is some frontage for the trucks to pull up! I also removed the horrible bit of flashing that can be seen on the platform in the first photo. No idea how I missed that when painting it.

It's a nice model with plenty of detail. The instructions leave a little to be desired since they are basically a poorly executed exploded parts diagram. Difficult to figure out what some of the parts were.

[rochsub]

Finished the Proviso control tower.

[Puddington]

Fun week......more about that later....

We worked on another of Brian's great Insulated/Heated boxcars..............



These cars are outstanding; especially when aged like a fine wine.... (so to speak)

A bunch of IM CP Rail (blah !) multimark 40's got the "treatment"....



One got the "phosphate" spill conditioning....





Now; I know it's the "Thanksgiving Weekend" for our US friends (Happy Turkey Day mates) but on Wednesday, it was "Christmas" here in Peterborough.....

Geoff Gooderham, the amazing lower mainland BC creator of all things CPR Passenger has struck again; and this time; "it's personal"..............



My "pride and joy" of scratchbuilding has been my "Cape" series Solarium-Buffet-Sleeper "Cape Breton"... I have always loved this car but longed for a better version....

"Merry "Geoff" Christmas Mike.... Geoff has tooled a cast shell and it's outstanding... he sent me one of the first; primed, painted and ready for me to have some fun....



The shell is excellent; rain gutters over the doors, rivet lines and belt lines, thin walls and window frames..... more than I could have ever hoped for !

I have started building the car interior....









I have added 15 figures and a full solarium/observation lounge interior, plus a basic cabin interior..... here's what it looks like now....



The model is tooled to use the new MT 3 axle trucks with the offset bolster hole and it runs like a charm. The ride height is excellent. I now can focus on the shell and begin to detail and decal it....

I think she will be the "Cape Churchill" but time will tell............ 

Thanks Santa Geoff........... I believe in Santa !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Bart1701]

Here are some photos of the newest business on my layout. It's named after my brother Bob who is an avid RC Airplane modeler and also builds scale model planes and boats. I was always the one who was into trains and also built scale model cars. The store's claim to be the World's Largest Model Train Store may not stand up in court...but, in my model railroading universe, this is the only Hobby Shop in existence so it would technically be the largest in that universe.





Thanks,
Bart

[lock4244]

I finished the chassis for my first M420, which included removal of the bronze contact strips and directly wiring the wipers to the light board. My soldering skills are not the best, however I've managed to complete the task without ruining anything (so far)... just test ran it and all is well. Maybe in the coming week I'll be back onto the shell and actually start gluing stuff. Also, prepped another two B30-7 chassis for the M420 shells, including all the grinding, filing, and drilling and have another set of wipers all wired up.

I will post some photos later this weekend... which will be a first for me. Not much time to work on the M420 over the weekend, though, as it's getting cold outside and I've some railfanning to do. Also have get all the work assignments set up for next week, so that'll eat a few hours of MY weekend 

[up1950s]

Bart , is that cool hobbyshop scratched , awning as well ?

[BCR 570]

Pud:

I saw Geoff's solarium car in the local hobby shop and figured you might be in for one.  I believe there is also  a new heavyweight CPR diner . . .


Mike:

Good to hear of your progress on the M-420.  We ran Jeff's at the recent train show and it performed well.  I look forward to pictures.


This week included a short stint in hospital so less modelling time for me of late, but here is what has been accomplished during the last two weeks:

Jeff Briggs painted and weathered my model of the Highway 97 Overpass, which is shown here with a 50' boxcar and tractor-trailer for size reference:




Meanwhile, on the layout, I have glued down the sub-roadbed and trackbed either side of the highway, drilled holes for feeder wires, cut away the roadbed to make way for the bridge, and installed the support blocks for the bridge:




My two Minibox tool cars (BCOL 993020 and BCOL 993024) are now complete.  Here is an oblique view of BCOL 993024:




And finally, I have finished building my fuel supply flatcar PGE 1104 and it is now ready for paint:




Tim

[GP38-2freak]

NJ International Train Shed: http://www.njinternational.com/IMG_4647-1.jpg.









This was an unplanned addition to my layout but when it was released, I thought it would fit well at the end of a track in my yard. Fit perfectly on the tracks without modification. I will have to extend the yard out to the right so there is some frontage for the trucks to pull up! I also removed the horrible bit of flashing that can be seen on the platform in the first photo. No idea how I missed that when painting it.

It's a nice model with plenty of detail. The instructions leave a little to be desired since they are basically a poorly executed exploded parts diagram. Difficult to figure out what some of the parts were.

Wow, this kit was made or better, still is made by the german company KIBRI...I will look through my boxes as there must be at least one unbuild kit of this shed...but it contains a better parts diagramm than older ones

Tim

[up1950s]

Pud your use of the universe turned out to be a gigantic success .

[Kisatchie]

Pud your use of the universe turned out to be a gigantic success .

Hmm... Kiz's part of the
universe is a black hole...

[elnscale]

Wow, this kit was made or better, still is made by the german company KIBRI

Tim, it has Kibri stamped on the underside of the base. In fact, here it is: Kibri 7450.

All in all this is an excellent kit. I do have some work still to do like filling in some holes in the uprights seen in the near end, wash in some weathering on the concrete, populate it with goods and people etc. Where it is a bit hokey is on the roof with the large window. Doesn't quite look right without there being framing on the large window. Also the 4 small windows were too big.

I changed most of the colors of the kit except for the sliding doors and the drain pipes. My son and I debated the color for the latter. I ended up leaving them green, but painting on some grimey black and rubbing most of it off with my fingers before it was dry. It took the shine off and brought out the detail of the joints. So the green is ok.

[elnscale]

Radical Flats from Kingsmill Enterprises... I picked these up at the Columbus N scale weekend back in May. A card stock that you cut out and mount - I put mine on black foam poster board from Office Depot. They were quick to do: cut, cut, mount with rubber glue. They server to break up the background skylines. Some of them, you have a bit more depth on too. I think I paid about $4 per sheet for them at the show. They are $5 per on the website. I think I had 5 sheets here.

One sheet:


One sheet (need to hide the roof line joint with a marker pen):


I think there are three sheets here:


First one again:

[mark dance]

Those building flats are sweet.  Perfect for my limited clearance behind Nelson yard.  Unfortunately I couldn't get their ecommerce web site to recognize Canadian provinces, although apparently it recognizes Canada as a country which is reassuring

Lots more weathering but I think Puddington has beaten me to the punch with all the CP boxcars.  I weathered the remaining FM locos, Nelson yard switchers, the Celgar mill 44 tonner (I use for wrangling chip hoppers until I figure out how to power my Trackmaster! ), and a couple of BN/GN F units.  Also about 60 cars the majority of which were the ubiquitous CP 40' XMs. 













So progress after two months stands at ~90% of the locos (43 of 48) and ~60% of the target cars (260 of 450).  On track to finish the fleet by new year so I can get on to something new!

Have a great rest-of-your-American-Thanksgiving to our American friends.

md

[OHCR 4218]

A word to the wise about the falts, cover them with something when doing balast work. we used them in our yard on our club travel layout. A close encounter with some wet watter tie dyed the buildings quite nicely. 

Brandon