Weekend Update 3/27/16

[Santa Fe Guy]

Rod, sorry to hear the news about the layout, but so glad to hear that John will get the rr back up and running at his location. After seeing your modeling in the mags over the years it was great to see and operate on your layout last year. You have really hit a benchmark with smooth operation and great scenery, and such a great group of guys down there to work with. Wishing you the best on whatever you decide next.

Gordon Bliss    Santa Fe - All the Way

Hi Gordon. Thanks. It was great to see you down under. Good to that the SFRSD will survive. John is very happy to have acquired the RR
Rod.

[chuck geiger]

[R L Smith]

I took pix of some JD tractors on flats on a train pulling into Enola yard just a few weeks ago and took close-ups of the tie-downs.  I don't have my camera card with those pix on it with me right now, but will post them here over the coming weekend.

Ron

[arbomambo]

I had a chance to replace the Bachmann E-Z-Mate couplers with some MT 903/905 Z scale couplers. It's not a real difficult task as the entire MT coupler actually fits right into the box used by the Bachmann coupler. One must remove the screw mounting post, then use an appropriate length screw; I used a shortened MT screw. Also, the MT 905 box is longer and the back protrudes to the rear a little more, so I milled notches in the 'shelf' part of the mechanism frame to allow easy clearance when removing the shell from the mechanism.
I also removed the cast exhaust stack so I could replace it with one available on Shapeways (generously provided to me by Otto!!!) I simply masked around the roof panel then removed the stack with a chisel blade. The styrene is suitably soft and careful chiseling produced a smooth surface.( This is going to be far more difficult to do on the Atlas S2)  I filed the base from the Shapeways stack, sanded the correct bevel, the CA's the stack to the panel. Before I applied the stack, I was concerned that it was too short; but it doesn't look bad once it's in place...I'll mask the panel, spray it black, then carefully paint the stack Tamiya Flat Aluminum...
 I also plan to add the canvas sunshades to this one; I'll make sure to document the progress.
Once again, a very nice offering from Bachmann, and a STEAL of a deal, with DCC!
Bruce

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Looking good!
FYI: You can chop off the back of the MTL 905's almost all the way up to the screw hole & not affect functionality.
I did it to a couple of locos (can't find my photos right now) after Chris333 showed how it's done.
Then you don't have to mill the frame any.

[arbomambo]

Looking good!
FYI: You can chop off the back of the MTL 905's almost all the way up to the screw hole & not affect functionality.
I did it to a couple of locos (can't find my photos right now) after Chris333 showed how it's done.
Then you don't have to mill the frame any.

Thanks for the tip!...
that is really good to know, and will come in handy for all those Kato F unit pilots!
Bruce

[Bendtracker1]

Almost forgot to post the updates and "how to" of the flats.
Here is the link to the new blog post.

I followed what he [the author to the link found in the blog post] did with the exception of scraping the decks and moved right on to applying the white paint that was diluted just enough so that it flowed easily but didn't run. I applied the paint to decks without applying any dull coat for added tooth. It seemed to grab just fine.






I used a bottle of brown and black acrylic as I wanted the decks to still have a brown color. After the white coat dried, I applied the brown/black wash coat directly over the white wash. I thinned it down but not quite as much as I did with the white undercoat. This I brushed on and spread it out randomly and let it dry. I went back a few times and added a stronger dose of un-thinned black and brown and spread it out a bit so as to give the look of oil spills and non bleached wood. I think I could give them a bit more of this treatment because to my eyes they look a little light yet? As someone said elsewhere "Try using a coat or two of India Ink wash to make things pop a bit more" Then I'll sealed them with a flat finish.








In retrospect, I suppose one could go back and make some large scrapes or even "Chip" in some of the existing boards to show some damage or heavy use like Chuck did, but for now these will work. Regardless it's a vast improvement over the stock deck.
BTW I did these without dismantling the cars. I tried to clean off the metal parts on the deck, but wasn't too worried about it as they will receive weathering sooner or later.

The next step will be to attack the cars with weathering to make them look worn like the decks.

[chuck geiger]

Thanks Allen and Ron. My first attempt to do this. I tried the guy with the white paint and water followed
by Dyna-Flow fabric paint and it didn't look right. I probably need to put alcohol on a cloth and wipe
the deck. Need tie down pics and Allen those decks rock. Less is more with this I guess.

[chuck geiger]

The deck on my car doesn't pop because of the color of the car, white. If it was red or yellow
it would look better. Excuses - Gonna wipe down and try again. I love my Railwire, to burn
and learn.

[unittrain]

Trying to expedite the truss bridge a little, attaching diagnals on center portion hope to have this project done in a month or two so I can work on the scenery on the module where this bridge will cross my double track main that represents the Conrail former Pennsy Cleveland pittsburgh line. Its set in 1979 this bridge was abandoned by PC in 1968 so will be abandoned on my layout, it was built by Pennsy and NYC in 1910 it was a joint effort between the 2 railroads but only NYC used the line. Hope to hand lay the mainline on the module also need some Jos trees!

[chuck geiger]

Got the deck looking like Allen's. Pics today.

[R L Smith]

 

Got the deck looking like Allen's. Pics today.

Here are the photos I took in mid-February. I'm amazed to find there is no blocking on the deck; chains only.  I hadn't noticed that when I first saw them.







This was one car in a long string of flatcars with 3 to a car.

Ron

[coosvalley]

Thanks for posting these,, I was wondering if you'd see 2 different models shipped together, and there are 2 different models of JD's on there......I want to put one of the bigger modern Athearn JD tractors and a pair of Wiking JD's on a flatcar...These pics help greatly!

[Bendtracker1]

Got the deck looking like Allen's. Pics today.

Looking forward to seeing the new pics Chuck.
You say yours "Didn't Pop" cause the car is white?  If the deck was darker I think it should pop ok?

I used White like the author, then added black/brown unlike the author.  But he was going for a real GRAYED out wood for the deck, whereas I was going for a more faded deck.  Recently Philp H mentioned something to me about not using white, but instead using an OFF white or sandy beige.

This makes sense as this is the same thing Gary Hinshaw did in his Fading Fast technique.  If using a white paint for the fade, it will almost look frosty.  An off white or sandy beige should help tone the fade down.

If you got yours to look better, leave it, but on future attempts, you might try an OFF white or sandy beige.
I'm going to on the next batch.

[chuck geiger]

Allen I used your technique and it works perfect.