Weekend Update 11/28/21

[eja]

daniel_leavitt2000:  Do you know why they put the road number on  the roof?  I've seen that on containers, tank cars, and a few other cars, to make loading and unloading spotting easier, but not on a locomotive.

Many transportation agencies do this to assist law enforcement organization to identify a bus or train that has an issue from the air.

[johnb]

Still working on the boiler and tender

[nkalanaga]

Eja:  OK, that makes sense.  I was thinking of just railroad operations, but in a major city law enforcement would be at least as important.

[leinad]

Upgrades include: switching to 100T trucks and lowering the ride height; body mounting the couplers with 3d-printed pockets and LEZ couplers; adding a crosswalk (integral with the coupler pocket); replacing the goofy inset stirrups with 3d-printed replacements; painting the roof walk supports in the body colour; and finishing off with some basic weathering. 

Hi Gary,
Well done, i also have a dozen cars to upgrade.
Is there a tutorial to lower the cars? Could you explain how you did it?
Thanks

[muktown128]

Dude!  Those cars (including the track and ballast) look like prototype cars!  At least to my eyes. I can't believe this is N scale!

Peteski - I was thinking the same thing.

Gary - WOW! just WOW!  You nailed it with the upgrades.  Those hoppers look fantastic.

Scott

[unittrain]

Those BNSF hoppers had me fooled also  thought they were real, modeling at its best.

[gi-depp]

@GaryHinshaw : Very impressive job, the hoppers looks outstanding.

[skytop35]

Made some progress on the C&NW Baldwin DR 6-2-1000. Started adding details to the shell. Jim Starbuck built the mechanism and I scratchbuilt the fuel tank, water tank and battery boxes. ESU sound and a keep alive cap are installed. Hope to get it painted soon.
 

[peteski]

Made some progress on the C&NW Baldwin DR 6-2-1000. Started adding details to the shell. Jim Starbuck built the mechanism and I scratchbuilt the fuel tank, water tank and battery boxes. ESU sound and a keep alive cap are installed. Hope to get it painted soon.
 

That looks like a wonderful model, but I also wonder how good of a puller will it be with just the front truck powered?
If it were me I would have likely used a larger motor (either larger coreless, or even one of the Life-Like "meaty" 5-pole brutes they used in their F7s).

[GaryHinshaw]

Thanks guys.  Of course there are plenty of visual clues that these are models, but I agree that the photo of the middle hopper has the illusion of realism, which is the best I can hope for in N scale.  The low camera angle helps a lot, as does the fact that the middle car is sandwiched between two other finished cars and the surroundings are washed out, so there are no obvious visual cues.

RE lowering: the only step there is to swap in Atlas/BLMA 100T trucks.  The trick is then body-mounting the couplers.  The small LEZ couplers make this easy, but they're niche.  I'll post a note in my long-running body-mount thread shortly with some more details, and thoughts about what I would do if I were using MTL couplers.

And yes, Ed, I'll send you a .pwmo file today (for printing on a Photon Mono).  If anyone else wants that file, please PM me.

[Tom L]

That looks like a wonderful model, but I also wonder how good of a puller will it be with just the front truck powered?
If it were me I would have likely used a larger motor (either larger coreless, or even one of the Life-Like "meaty" 5-pole brutes they used in their F7s).

If I remember correctly, the prototype only had one powered truck as well. Beautiful job!

Tom L
Wellington CO

[skytop35]

That looks like a wonderful model, but I also wonder how good of a puller will it be with just the front truck powered?
If it were me I would have likely used a larger motor (either larger coreless, or even one of the Life-Like "meaty" 5-pole brutes they used in their F7s).

It only needs to pull 3 passenger cars which it does so it's good. As mentioned the prototype only had the front truck powered.

[peteski]

It only needs to pull 3 passenger cars which it does so it's good. As mentioned the prototype only had the front truck powered.

Well then, a single powered truck and small motor make sense.

[Philip H]

Scenery starts. Unsanded grout over Nutmeg craft paint. I put the grout down over some dilute Mod Podge and then misted with water mixed with isopropyl and a couple drops of dish soap. Hopefully it dries hard.

[Jim Starbuck]

That looks like a wonderful model, but I also wonder how good of a puller will it be with just the front truck powered?
If it were me I would have likely used a larger motor (either larger coreless, or even one of the Life-Like "meaty" 5-pole brutes they used in their F7s).

Don’t let the size of the motor fool you. I’ve used a dozen of these in various applications. It make more than adequate power and runs super smooth and quiet. For this build there wasn’t any reason to use a bulky motor. I did make provision by counter boring the flywheel to expose enough motor shaft to easily connect a rear driveshaft but it isn’t necessary.