Weekend Update 11/1/20

[C855B]

Got another 3 signal masts completed:


This batch includes the first dual-head mast, a build that was made vastly easier by using thin-walled stainless tubing for the mast, making the chore of threading 8 LED leads a breeze.   Now if only I could put them to work in an ops session...

Exquisite results, Gary. What paint are you using? In the comparison I seem to be losing detail sharpness with the Vallejo.

[railnerd]

Just finished another "Virtual" operating session at my HO Club (https://siliconvalleylines.com), but this time things were a bit different.  After upgrading our Internet service, we were able to add a live YouTube stream in addition to our usual OBS/GoogleMeet fun. We even had a special guest, Andy Ambrose, who ran the "El Capitan" from London, UK!

Our club does a mix of DTC and "laid back" radio dispatching and in addition to the remotely operated "through trains," we had two local operators running some switching jobs. We had two folks dedicated to re-railing trains. (Our local health department set a hard limit of 5 folks in our layout room, which is classified as a "museum")

We streamed the whole session live…. probably makes sense to go back and do an edit, but for any of you masochists out there willing to fast forward through a 2 hour 17 minute, an unedited stream, here's the link:

-Dave

[GaryHinshaw]

Exquisite results, Gary. What paint are you using? In the comparison I seem to be losing detail sharpness with the Vallejo.

Good question, Mike.  I'm using Vallejo as well.... (I love their paint!).   Here's a rundown:
- Stainless steel parts are hit with a thin coat of Tamiya metal primer, thinned a bit with laquer thinner.  (Except I don't prime the half-etched target face.)
- The signal body is brush painted with Model Air Aluminum (71.062).
- The target plate and visor are brush painted with a 3 to 2 mix of Model Air Black Grey (71.055) and Light Grey (71.050) to get a faded black.
- I use a micro brush for the mast and target plate, and a soft sable brush for the rest.  I'm actually very surprised and pleased how well the Model Air applies and covers when brushed.

Here's a close-up in harsher side light, to give you a better idea:



Your printed heads stand up very well to such scrutiny!!

[C855B]

Aha! La différence! I'm brushing Model Color with a 10/0 spotting brush. I also apply a Black Gray undercoat on the body to defend against light leaks and... shuffling his feet... have to admit globbing it on a bit. I'll pick-up some Model Air and enjoy the better results.

And thanks!

[craigolio1]

This came up in the F40PH thread.

My nearly complete F40PH-2C by MK. This started as two LL F40PH shells spliced and detailed to match the HEP generator equipped engines. The shell is mounted to a modified B32-8 chassis which is very close to the prototype truck centers.

The shell is reinforced with strip lead. It's heavy... Very heavy. Knowing how bad inside bearing trucks roll, I'll need a lot of weight.

There are issues... The Q fans are not recessed as on the prototype. The fuel tank, battery boxes and air tanks are phoned in and not totally correct. Finally the cab lacks the unique square cab side windows of the real thing.

The engine will get full Loksound treatment as there is plenty of room for a speaker. The current board is a placeholder to test the drive train while adding weight. Eventually the class lights will work.

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Great idea with the sheet lead! I have a project where I will look at this idea.

Craig

[craigolio1]

Got another 3 signal masts completed:



This batch includes the first dual-head mast, a build that was made vastly easier by using thin-walled stainless tubing for the mast, making the chore of threading 8 LED leads a breeze.   Now if only I could put them to work in an ops session...

Oh man I need these. I havnt been following. Is there a thread where I see the build, and poss links to parts?

Craig

[ednadolski]

Oh man I need these. I havnt been following. Is there a thread where I see the build, and poss links to parts?

Please, yes!  A dedicated thread that can be bookmarked (and tagged as 'Best of') would be fantastic!

Ed

[jereising]

The scratch of Villa La Paz (or according to Bing Maps the Kern County Preventorium) continues - minor stuff remains:



Here we have it with the roofs off:



Now on to the satellite buildings...

[peteski]

This came up in the F40PH thread.

My nearly complete F40PH-2C by MK. This started as two LL F40PH shells spliced and detailed to match the HEP generator equipped engines. The shell is mounted to a modified B32-8 chassis which is very close to the prototype truck centers.

Very nice Daniel!
I would love to make one of those myself, and yours shows  me how to do it. But with all the projects I have already, I might never get to building one.
The only thing that throws me off a bit is the pebbly surface of the paint. Or is that some sort of photographic artifact?

[mu26aeh]

Added to my birthday MicroTrains Halloween Graffiti train.  Please stop choosing autoracks for Halloween related graffiti cars, plenty of other hoppers and boxcars to choose from



Also working on some new grain hoppers, had decals printed a couple years ago.  Something not released by anyone in N scale yet

[C855B]

... Also working on some new grain hoppers, had decals printed a couple years ago.  Something not released by anyone in N scale yet

Incobrasa? 

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Very nice Daniel!
I would love to make one of those myself, and yours shows  me how to do it. But with all the projects I have already, I might never get to building one.
The only thing that throws me off a bit is the pebbly surface of the paint. Or is that some sort of photographic artifact?

Yeah I think that's a gain boost on the iPhone camera. The surface is eggshell without any noticeable orange peel. I've run into this before with the iPhone. It tends to be more pronounced when using a salt and pepper surface like my desk there so I think there is some wierd AI at play.

[C855B]

Oh man I need these. I havnt been following. Is there a thread where I see the build, and poss links to parts?

Not much to follow; no thread to be found, just scattered posts in Weekend Update, and his and my layout engineering threads. This is a project Gary and I have been working on in fits and starts over the past year or so after we discovered the signal heads on the otherwise great Showcase Miniatures kits couldn't handle the available R-Y-G LED inserts, including their own, without a whole bunch of microscopic carving (and rending of garments in the process).

So I drew on my experience with live 1:1 signals (and in-house examples of same), polished my 3D CAD skills, and started "drawing" signal heads, more or less as training wheels for my (then new) Photon. I've been doing just the replacement heads designed to work with rr-cirkits.com LEDs, the rest are Showcase parts. 'Cept the mast; we figured out that ngineering.com 0.032" thin-wall stainless steel tubing (as Gary mentioned) makes wiring much easier than the Showcase brass mast.

I adjusted the modeling of specific prototype signal heads (US&S H-2 and H-5) to fit the Showcase parts, so truthfully they're about 10% oversize. Gary's examples are with the H-2 as used by SP over Tehachapi. The H-2 is press-fit for the RR-Cirkits LED, the H-5 accommodates it and the Showcase LED as well. Gary's promised an example using the H-5 for the one or two ATSF signals at Kern Junction... right, @GaryHinshaw ? 

For the died-in-the-wool signal aficionados who absolutely must have GRS' SA heads? No joy - the head is too narrow for the available 3-color pre-wired LEDs, so I haven't drawn 'em up.

What I suggest is to order a couple of Showcase kits to get your feet wet. If you find them to your liking and want to try my amateur-hour 3D-printed heads, send a PM and I can drop a few in the mail for you.

[GaryHinshaw]

Just to follow up briefly: yes this project has had many false starts and less than satisfactory results, but I'm super happy with where it's at now, thanks in large part to Mike's printed replacement heads.  @C855B have you thought about contacting Showcase about these?  If they could use or copy your design, it would put their kits over the top in terms of quality.  (Of course I understand if you're not interested.)

I'd be happy to start a thread covering the build, and the lessons learned.  I still have many more to build, but all the steps are now clear, so that would be timely.

And yes, an H-5 or two is coming to Kern Jct soon!    (Waiting for the ladder stock to come from Showcase.)

[learmoia]

For me, more JMRI setup stuff with the local club.   We got operations setup to do switch lists fairly accurately..

My next project, was solving my frustration in the inability to filter switches by location in Engine Driver, and I wanted to fix that.
The Switch Table has a Location field but that was blank with no way to add location names to select (and there wasn't much/any clear documentation on it)...
I thought.. Maybe I need to build a panel..
.. SO I built a panel
... and programmed all the switches to it.. NOPE..

So I asked on JMRI groups.. and turns out.. the Switch Name format needs to be LOCATION:SWITCHNAME  With : as the default delimiter.

I didn't need to build a panel
And I didn't need to map all the switches to it..
 

Well...
We now have a panel that controls all the switches.

Learned a few things...
You can't (easily) transfer data from a Windows based JMRI (off layout) to a Pi based JMRI (on layout) without creating a bunch of error messages for things in one panel that don't exist in the other.
You can't (easily) merge a Windows based JMRI panel to a Pi based JMRI panel without introducing the same issues.
You CAN (not easily) merge the panels by reading the XML code and copying the associated drawing data from the drawing panel to the switch panel and saving the switch panel.
You can associate a crossover to 1 switch decoder that controls 2 switch machines, or can associate it to 2 decoders that control 2 switch machines
You can't build a crossover out of individual switches and associate both switches to 1 decoder that controls 2 switches.
You CAN modify the XML code to put the same decoder name in both switches on the panel and it acts like a crossover.

~Ian