Weekend Update 4/25/21

[eja]

One thing that annoyed me about the stock model is that the guard rails were too short to stay captive between the end-frames, so I cut some new ones from steel wire that are now held securely in place.  I'll post some better pics when I get the parts painted and the cars weathered.

Have a good weekend.

That is true on several Atlas tank models.  How did you get your wire through the stanchions?

[Bob]

This weekend I largely completed my second iconic Harpers Ferry building - it is a small brick building right next to the White Hall Tavern that houses a small museum concerning the time Meriweather Lewis (of Lewis and Clark fame) visited Harpers Ferry and obtained supplies.  I am noticing that photographs are unforgiving, and that I need to blend the chimney in with the rest of the brick and some other touch-up work is called for, but if I can construct one building a week (unlikely) then by years-end I ought to be able to start assembling the town. 

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[SAH]

Darn you Gary.  Just when I convince myself this 3-D printing thing is cool and all but not something I need yet, your tank car parts post taunts me.     SO well done.  Oh, and if you have a pile of Accumate couplers laying around getting in the way, PM me.   

Meanwhile back at AC&Y's stone age shops we're playing around with blue tape, tiny wire and brass stock.  New handrails for our only RS1.

[GaryHinshaw]

Beautiful work, @Bob!  Your technique is so effective.

@SAH, for the kind of detail work you like to do, you could find tons of things to use a printer on.  Hand rails are probably not one of them though, so keep pressing on.  I love to see that kind of effort in N scale.

That is true on several Atlas tank models.  How did you get your wire through the stanchions?

Right... For the corn syrup tanker, I was able to simply thread the old guard rails out of the stanchions and re-thread new .015" steel wire, but I'm also working on a Kaolin tanker upgrade.  The stock car has guard rails and stanchions cast as one piece from a very soft plastic that might as well be string (I hate those!).  For that project I actually printed some new stanchions to accommodate wire.  That is working surprisingly well; I'll post photos when they're done.

[btrain]

Installed a TCS M1 decoder in one of my Life-Like Berkshires yesterday. Used Kato’s glass set from UP 844 for the mars light housing and a warm white micro LED from Tony’s Trains for the illumination. Much thanks to John Colombo for sending me a PDF how-to for this DCC installation. [ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[Ike the BN Freak]

I've been tinkering with the 3d printer again.  This time the victim is an Atlas corn syrup tanker: I realized that with one pair of custom parts I could lower the ride height, body mount the couplers, improve the end frame detail, and correct some assembly issues in one fell swoop.   The parts retro-fit onto the tank body as so:

One thing that annoyed me about the stock model is that the guard rails were too short to stay captive between the end-frames, so I cut some new ones from steel wire that are now held securely in place.  I'll post some better pics when I get the parts painted and the cars weathered.

Have a good weekend.

Man, I could use parts like these, but for 1015s or accumates, just got way too many cars for me to want to swap to a smaller coupler now.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

I've been tinkering with the 3d printer again.  This time the victim is an Atlas corn syrup tanker: I realized that with one pair of custom parts I could lower the ride height, body mount the couplers, improve the end frame detail, and correct some assembly issues in one fell swoop.   The parts retro-fit onto the tank body as so:






What coupler are you using?

Any chance you would have these for sale?


And some comparisons to a stock model:





One thing that annoyed me about the stock model is that the guard rails were too short to stay captive between the end-frames, so I cut some new ones from steel wire that are now held securely in place.  I'll post some better pics when I get the parts painted and the cars weathered.

Have a good weekend.

[John]

Not NScale -- but @seusscaboose running his 1:1 train car over horseshoe curve

https://www.catalpafallsgroup.com/

[kiwi_al]

Just putting some more time in on the 4-8-4. A lot more sanding and putty required 

[gi-depp]

Installing  thinner sunshades on the USAX GP40-2

[bnsfdash8]

I spent some time yesterday and got my BLE SD38AC ready for paint. I also printed out the 3200 gal tank and new jack pads.

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[Mark5]

Too many 1:1 tasks eating up my time 

The announcement of the Tangent combo door 40' PS1s by Tangent left me thinking I could use something like that in N scale (they were everywhere in the 60s/70s).

https://www.tangentscalemodels.com/ps-ps-1-combination-door-boxcars

It also sparked a memory of something in my junkbox ...
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Yes, ancient AHM/Roco tooling! The model has PS ends and roof, so maybe it was Roco's attempt at one of the PS combo prototypes that Tangent just released. The main problem with that theory is that the model has a 7' sliding door whereas the NP and UP versions had 6' doors and the MILW version had 8' doors. (GN's also had 6' doors) 

NP also had a bunch of these "home built" (Brainerd Shops) riveted etc: http://idahospanhandlerailroad.blogspot.com/2012/03/necessary-freight-cars-for-camas.html

Oh well, I'm gonna foob it up for the NP PS version (400 made, #'s 3000-3399 I think ). I gotta repair that upper door track, shave off and replace the factory stirrups and such. The model has some sort of back blob stuck on the other side, so I'll have to remove that. 

One challenge is that the NP cars rode on 50 ton ASF roller bearing trucks, so should I use a 70 ton stand-in or just say "foob it" and use bettendorfs? (we'll see ...)

Paint removal is underway, gotta get back on the PC G41a next.

Mark

[ednadolski]

@GaryHinshaw - How’s the coupler height? It looks slightly higher than the stock car.

... I'll let you be the judge:

In that pic it looks like the stock model is sagging (even tho the coupler is a truck-mount).

Ed

[Lemosteam]

Thanks Jesse.  I have zero issues with shrinkage.   The prints are done on a Photon Mono with AnyCubic's basic grey resin, printed with an out-of-the-box recipe.  I tried other resins and recipes early on, but I ended up getting the best results with the most vanilla recipe.  I do have some lessons learned that I'll post in another thread, so as not to hijack Weekend Update.

@GaryHinshaw , incredible.
Anxiously. Awaiting. Information.

It appears you have solved the conundrum, with a vengeance.

[randgust]

Randy Stahl gave me the challenge of figuring out a way to power some Shapeways-printed electric boxcabs.  This is the 'hybrid' battery-electric 756.  The body and the truck sideframes are resin printed off of Shapeways.   I designed the mechanism from Tomytec parts, Atlas pickups, and a GM15A gearhead.   I designed and resin printed the frame as well as the custom cast body weight.

If anybody wants one of these either as a kit or a prebuilt, contact me - I do the frame and cast weight that fits the body shell.   The other one (with even narrower hoods) is under construction.

The low end hoods on these things really present a challenge to fit any motor at all and this is really tight.