Weekend Update 12/31/17

[coosvalley]

Joe the Pioneer Valley switcher is cool need a photo of it at the mill!!

Thanks John! 

I got as far as you see, and then the deep cold came, and now I'm doing some looooong days at work, I can't wait to get back to decaling these little suckers! Hope you are doing well!

Coosvalley, I see you replaced the molded-on handrail on the SW9/1200 with wire. Very nice! On my SW9 I've also started, I was planning on being lazy and leaving the cast one there but now you have me reconsidering (not that I'm looking forward to carving these off of yet another shell  ).

Thanks for noticing!. I left them intact on my SW1s, but those are cast fairly fine.On the LL model it is just too chunky for me to ignore!..Slow work with a brand new #11 blade

I am honored to have won the coveted golden acorn award. I'd like to thank all the little people, some from Preiser, some from Woodland Scenics


Keep the switcher madness coming!

[peteski]

When and why did this change?  No complaints here, just don’t want to get my hopes up if it is temporary.

At some point, unannounced, yesterday as far as I can tell. It was discussed in the Lounge (under what we want for 2018 thread).  I also hope it is permanent (probably until we start seriously misbehaving and the moderators decide to reinstate the silly system). 

Chris333, those are some fine Photos of your layout!

And more nice work from everybody else. And if you miss the silly up-votes (you Facebook junkies  ), here are some golden acorns for you (BTW, that is an excellent substitute). But I still that a short written attaboy is better than any up-votes.

             

[Jim Starbuck]

This isn't far enough along for pictures but keeping with the switcher theme here's future Milwaukee Road H-10-44 #1804.
Shapeways had a Black Friday sale but unfortunately I ordered this in FUD instead of FXD. The sides are a mass of crosshatch patterns requiring a huge amount of sanding.
I sprayed it with a coat of rattle can auto primer to help fill the surface and serve as a guide coat for sanding.
I shaved off the louvers and panel lines in order to sand the sides smooth. They will be replaced with Archer HO louvers which are a perfect match.
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[ednadolski]

Maybe that's what is going to replace the voting system.  Good work gets golden acorns 

Err, sorry to be the contrarian grump but that would be worse than the upvotes:  same thing just with more noise to sift thru.   

Ed

[Scottl]

Experimenting with my new cell phone and put this video of my layout together.  Happy New Year everyone!

https://youtu.be/_hoSTFimKTU

[BCR 570]

Wow - great work Scott; you have captured the look of the Fraser Canyon so well.  I am going to have to learn how to shoot, edit and post videos at some point.

Tim

[Dave V]

And weathered a loco:

I love me a narrow-gauge 2-8-0!  Very well done!

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Worked on about half a dozen projects this week and will be adding posts though the weekend.

First up:
MP Pacific with a Bachmann tender.
I wanted to keep the Bachmann wiring harness for two reasons. It allows me to disconnect the tender when needed and will be easy to add a decoder in later. The Bachmann wiring harness uses standard 1.27mm 6pin connectors, which are used in computers and other electronics. I found a pack of 10 on eBay for $3 shipped from China. I also bought 3' of .6mm heat shrink tubing.





The solding job was a bit above my skill set, but I got it all connected in one piece. It does work, but after putting everything together, the engine has no traction whatsoever. So there is still more work to do.

[garethashenden]

I've been working on a B&M low nose GP-18 for a while. I started it in January, but only picked it up again shortly before Thanksgiving. I've used an Atlas GP-7/9 (I don't remember which) shell with the nose from an Atlas SD-26. I had to graft the front of the cab from the SD-26 to the GP-7 rest of cab, that still needs a bit of filler. I've been wanting to add brass handrails to a model for a while, and I'm really pleased with how these came out, although they need some cleaning up. Still got a ways to go, but it'll get there.

[nickelplate759]

I really like the GP-18, especially since it has the four 36" fans that the B&M recycled from trade-ins (FT?).

[garethashenden]

I really like the GP-18, especially since it has the four 36" fans that the B&M recycled from trade-ins (FT?).

Thanks! The fans were from the four BL-2s and one F-2. The sixth GP-18 (1755) had two fans, as do most GP-18s.

I do need help for how to do an aspect of this model. I have a 3D printed housing for the winterization hatch. This needs some fine mesh. Any suggestions?

[Mike C]

Worked on about half a dozen projects this week and will be adding posts though the weekend.

First up:
MP Pacific with a Bachmann tender.
I wanted to keep the Bachmann wiring harness for two reasons. It allows me to disconnect the tender when needed and will be easy to add a decoder in later. The Bachmann wiring harness uses standard 1.27mm 6pin connectors, which are used in computers and other electronics. I found a pack of 10 on eBay for $3 shipped from China. I also bought 3' of .6mm heat shrink tubing.



guessing the tender is lifting the rear of the loco off the tracks.



The solding job was a bit above my skill set, but I got it all connected in one piece. It does work, but after putting everything together, the engine has no traction whatsoever. So there is still more work to do.

[SandyEggoJake]

Now what I need is some reasonably-sized chain to span between handrails over the drop steps. I have some 40-links-per-inch chain that I had planned on using (and looping over the little handrail end extensions I intentionally left there), but it is still a bit too bulky looking. Ideas?

@tehachapifan

For a while, we had 52 & 72 link per inch in PE Brass from @TrainCat2 .   For years he was in hiatus with family medical issues, but he said he was planning to come back.  However, the last few times we've tried him, all email addresses now report as invalid. 

http://www.traincat2.com/d_detailparts.htm

So unless we develop another source, we've got 40 lpi from A-line and other, plus the 45 & 50 lpi from these guys:

http://www.floatingdrydock.com/more.htm#CHAIN

[ednadolski]

Nice work on this!  Are you going to do the end pilot handrails as well?   True it can be tricky but JMHO the results will be worth it.  The TSCs look great too. 

One other suggestion: fill those holes in the cab sides with a bit of styrene rod, and then drill new/smaller holes to accept the handrail ends.

Ed

[wazzou]

@garethashenden - The grille right behind the cab on the fireman's side looks a little crooked but beautiful work.