Weekend Update 11/8/20

[altohorn25]

Here is a mid 1930's version of the Milwaukee Road Olympian.  This was the premier overnight train between Chicago and Seattle.  Modified Model Power 4-6-2 Pacifics and custom painted and lettered Micro Trains cars (coaches, diner, 1 parlor, and sleepers).  The baggage car is a modified Atlas car shell that I got from Joe Valario quite a few years ago.  I added Fox Valley 36" metal wheels and Micro Trains 905 Z scale couplers for better prototype accuracy.  Modelflex paint and decals by Streamstyle Graphics (out of production).

[altohorn25]

Here is a mid-1930's version of the Milwaukee Road Day Express (precursor to the Morning and Afternoon Hiawathas) which ran between Chicago and the Twin Cities.  Heavily modified and painted Model Power 4-6-2 Pacific.  All the cars (with the exception of the modified Atlas baggage car) are custom painted and lettered Micro Trains cars.  Fox Valley 36" metal wheels and Micro Trains 905 Z scale couplers have been added.  I also added non-working marker lamps and an end gate in the vestibule to the last parlor car in the consist.

I'm really pleased how the locomotive turned out for this train.  I would loved to have seen this in real life back in the 1930's.

[CBQ Fan]

Here is a mid-1930's version of the Milwaukee Road Day Express (precursor to the Morning and Afternoon Hiawathas) which ran between Chicago and the Twin Cities.  Heavily modified and painted Model Power 4-6-2 Pacific.  All the cars (with the exception of the modified Atlas baggage car) are custom painted and lettered Micro Trains cars.  Fox Valley 36" metal wheels and Micro Trains 905 Z scale couplers have been added.  I also added non-working marker lamps and an end gate in the vestibule to the last parlor car in the consist.

I'm really pleased how the locomotive turned out for this train.  I would loved to have seen this in real life back in the 1930's.

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Do the cars need modifications for the installation of the 905 couplers?

[reinhardtjh]

I've been thinking about investing in Helicon.  I have an iPhone and a Mac, although, if necessary, I have a PC that I use for my LokProgrammer.  Any information that you can pass along would be greatly appreciated, e.g., photostacking software.

There is a Mac version now.  I don't think that was always the case.  Both have the same version number on the Helicon download page so hopefully they are feature equivalent.  Occasionally they have sales.  I bought the Helicon Pro lifetime package, currently $200 for $149 a couple years ago when someone ( I think Bob Gilmore) alerted us to it.

Unfortunately I haven't done much with it as I have a Pentax DSLR which doesn't work with the remote portion and I haven't taken many pictures.  Some day though.

[bnsfdash8]

I've been doing more work on CN 8952.

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[altohorn25]

Do the cars need modifications for the installation of the 905 couplers?

Not really.  All you need to do is add a small spacer so that the coupler is lowered a bit and will mate up with the MT coupler height gauge.  I use Evergreen HO scale 2x12 strips (part #8212 I think).

You can use the same mounting pin and hole that the original 1015 used (you can use a screw if you would like as well).  The baggage cars and mail/baggage cars need a new hole drilled just inside the stock hole in order to get the correct distrance between the cars (even with the 905's, the stock hole leaves the cars too far apart).

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[nickelplate759]

Finished SP Golden Cloud in Golden State colors.  Kato 6-6-4,  Tru Color paint, Microscale decals.

[mu26aeh]

Still slugging out 1:1 scale on the addition

[davefoxx]

@mu26aeh,

What is this area with the unfinished block going to be?  A stairwell that will be backfilled around?

DFF

[mu26aeh]

@mu26aeh,

What is this area with the unfinished block going to be?  A stairwell that will be backfilled around?

DFF

Yes, this will be the entrance into the basement from the garage.

[Dave V]

Lower level track for the Colorado Midland version 2.0 is all in and all wired.



So now I can JFRTM.



Up next...bridges.  I'm scratchbuilding trestles now.

[mark dance]

More messing around with Hedge-Cam 2/Helicon in Nelson yard...





Have a great weekend!

md

[Cajonpassfan]

Mark, that’s just stunning...
Otto

[GaryHinshaw]

@GaryHinshaw,
I've been thinking about investing in Helicon.  I have an iPhone and a Mac, although, if necessary, I have a PC that I use for my LokProgrammer.  Any information that you can pass along would be greatly appreciated, e.g., photostacking software.

Thanks,
DFF

Thanks DFF.  As John notes, Helicon Focus (HF) is available for a Mac and is very easy to use.  You can get a demo copy and try it free for 30 days.  You can take photos with your iPhone and port them into HF and get pretty decent results fairly quickly, so that's worth trying right away.  There are two issues though: 1) the process is somewhat cumbersome since you have to manually take a series of photos on the phone by tapping on different portions of the scene to focus on them, and then manually manage the files, and 2) the focal length of the iPhone's camera (and hence the field of view) change slightly when you refocus, so you get some small artifacts when you stack the images.

Helicon Remote (HR) is a separate program (also available for a Mac) that automates the workflow of actually taking the pictures and managing the files.  At the moment, it only interfaces with Canon and Nikon DSLR's (via USB), so that may not be an option for you.  In any case, the way it works is that you have the camera's view on your computer screen, you select the near and far points of the field you wish to focus on, it figures out how many exposures to take to fill the field, then it takes the pictures and ports the files to a folder on your Mac.  Optionally, it can open HF and start the stacking algorithm.  It's a huge simplification of the workflow.
-gfh

[C855B]

Helicon Focus is amazing and a huge leap in technology... however... especially in our photo niche, where is the advantage in DoF over, say, a decent fixed-focus SLR lens, bright lighting and high F-stops? I.e., the "Stan Lytle approach" (a few of you might understand that reference).

Of course there's the significant advantage in "democratizing" high DoF, where the poor optics of smartphones and other snapshot cameras are compensated by algorithms. But there is a cost in artifacts and, it could be argued, some loss of image accuracy. To me it's like the old studio trick of a smear of Vaseline on the lens to "help" with figure photography.