Weekend Update 2019/09/08

[Missaberoad]

It's true.  I've lost my mind.

Nice... Your "backshop bobbers" are very reminiscent of David A Bontrager's cabooses from RMJ in the 1990s.

[BCR 570]

More progress on a trio of boxcar projects.

Thanks to a helpful Micro-Trains employee, I was able to acquire a second rare 37000 series shell for my USRM double door boxcar project.  Changes include cut down 'AR' corner ladders, 'BL' corner top grab iron, end hand holds, body mount couplers and trucks without.  These cars are now just waiting on revised prints of the double doors prior to painting:




My two ex-BAR boxcars are complete.  Changes include new 3D printed IDE ends, new 8' doors, extended door tracks, holes filled in roof, 'AR' corner ladders cut down, body mount couplers, and Atlas Barber trucks without:




And two ex-SOO boxcars rebuilt by USRM are also complete.  Changes include 8' panel doors, reinforced bottom side sill, gusset plates either side of doors, cut down ladders at 'AR' corner, 1015 draft gear in Atlas boxes, and BLMA 70-Ton trucks:




Tim

[railnerd]

Had some fun operating on the Columbia & Western today…

[nkalanaga]

Rick:  I'll bet that was a chore to find.  I would have assumed a loose feeder.

JohnB:  While not up to modern standards, those old CC passenger trucks aren't bad, especially if you can get the REALLY early, Kato made, ones.  They came with 35 inch wheels, close enough to 36 to look right.  When CC started making their own they switched to 33 inch, and raised the truck bolster to compensate, which makes it hard to put larger wheels in them.  But the trucks themselves look as good as any of the MT trucks.

[ednadolski]

I think that if you printed these using black resin, it would make easier to block the LED light from shining through the resin.

How about airbrushing a base coat of TCP Aluminum?

Ed

[peteski]

How about airbrushing a base coat of TCP Aluminum?

Ed

Sure, that helps, followed by black paint, followed by whatever the final color is.    I've done that on translucent items back-lit by LEDs.  The problem is the edges of the casting.  Paint pulls away from the edges resulting in a very thin layer of paint which still lets the light shine through.    But with multiple very light coats (which go on almost dry) it is possible to make the translucent object light-tight. 
But this is all made much easier if the item in question is opaque, or dark color to begin with.

[C855B]

Let's see what happens with the black resin before we go on conjecturing what is or isn't going to work.

Some things to consider. First is additional research revealing these resins are transparent (clear) to begin with. Colors are pigments in suspension, and earlier info about the black being transparent or translucent is apparently a factor of pigment density. IOW, gray (or whatever) will have similar issues, if we do in fact have issues.

Second, be forewarned that pre-application of paint of any color may be its own problem during assembly. The design under consideration is intended for friction fit of the LEDs into the pockets. Painting before assembly will scrape off paint in the pocket. Then there's this little dilemma, we are depending on soldering wires onto the LEDs after they have been pressed into the back of the head. If they're painted, I tend to believe that soldering heat becomes an issue, already knowing it's not an issue with the base resin.

Patience, grasshopper.

[spookshow]

It always bugged me that this sign didn't light up like the prototype -



Well, thanks to Peteski, now it does -



It also looks about a million times better now -



So, thanks Peteski. You da man! 

-Mark

[Mark W]

black being transparent or translucent is apparently a factor of pigment density. IOW, gray (or whatever) will have similar issues, if we do in fact have issues.

Here's how translucent Anycubic Black is:


https://i.imgur.com/o7nTyuA.jpg

Anycubic Gray is significantly less translucent.  Of course, a full brightness LED is still going to blow it out.  Judging from the signals around here, turning down the LED brightness is going to be the best way to prevent light bleed.  A lot of the railroad signals I've seen lit up  during the day are surprisingly dim. 

[peteski]

It always bugged me that this sign didn't light up like the prototype -

Well, thanks to Peteski, now it does -



It also looks about a million times better now -

So, thanks Peteski. You da man! 

-Mark

Thanks for the shout-out Mark. The sign looks great on your layout!

[GimpLizard]

It's true.  I've lost my mind.

At least you had one to lose. Unlike those of us who wait what were we talking about? 

[Dave V]

After many, many months of procrastination I nutted up and started scratchbuilding the RGS Ridgway roundhouse.  It's built entirely from styrene.  Dimensionally, it's exact to prototype except I kept it to the original 5 stalls (2 were added later for the Galloping Geese on the west side).  The wedge of lighter color brick above the rear window on the east wall is prototypical...apparently there was some sort of damage (roundhouse fire? partial collapse?) that dates way back to the teens, not long after it was built (replacing the original one on the north side of town).  I did use the earlier style doors by Grandt Line (some time in the late 20s/early 30s the doors were replaced with two-panel windowless doors).  It’s a very tight fit for a K-27 with snowplow...I made the openings to fit the Grandt Line doors...and they’re EXACTLY the width of a Blackstone snowplow. I feel a scrape or two when housing the engine is totally RGS-like so I’m not losing sleep.

I also must have bumped business car B-21 (the "Edna") while test fitting the roundhouse so if it looks derailed...it's because it is.









Since I don't like the engineering involved in making removable roofs for complex applications (this roof will have 10 individual panels), I instead make the entire engine house one solid block that is kept in place using locator blocks on the interior, painted black and glued to the layout.  It's worked really well for the Rico engine house, so that's my plan here.

[C855B]

Here's how translucent Anycubic Black is: ...

Figures... I already ordered a (small) bottle of black. Back to eBay we go.

I just confirmed white sorta comes-up short on "opaque":



   

[rochsub]

For those interested in N scale train operations.

[milw12]

More progress in Chillicothe this week, mounted the cassette, and ran the first op session 





And there's a new layout thread-

Lucas