Weekend Update 1/9/22

[GonzoCRFan]

If it's extra-cold where you're at, I apologize, hell is freezing over due to me actually doing something resembling modeling. I started thinking of ways to replicate Conrail class lights in the metal housings in the SD50/SD60s:

https://conrailphotos.thecrhs.org/sites/default/files/archive_photo/images/5657.jpg

The solution I came up with involved some K&S tubing and some red fiber optic:



The size is definitely a bit big, which might render it a moot point anyway unless I can find some smaller tubing. As a proof of concept it looks ok for unlit marker lights, but I'm not really in love with it.

[peteski]

The solution I came up with involved some K&S tubing and some red fiber optic:

The size is definitely a bit big, which might render it a moot point anyway unless I can find some smaller tubing.

Try the thin and extra thin wall hypodermic tubing at https://componentsupplycompany.com/ .  Should be able to find some much finer tubing.

[MK]

Why use any tubing?  Why not drill holes that are the same diameter as the fiber optic and just glue them flush to the surface.  (Or extremely partially extruding to give them a 3D look.)

[dem34]

Why use any tubing?  Why not drill holes that are the same diameter as the fiber optic and just glue them flush to the surface.  (Or extremely partially extruding to give them a 3D look.)

Guess to more easily represent the silver colored bracket around the lenses. But I just paint those on mine with a toothpick.

[MK]

Guess to more easily represent the silver colored bracket around the lenses. But I just paint those on mine with a toothpick.

Right.  Or use some small letter "o" silver decals though this will be a trial and error process to find the right one(s).

[Jim Starbuck]

I finished a pair of "forgotten" 40-foot trailers, and planted some weeds around them.  These are old Wheel Works kits:

  Frank

Beautiful work!
You absolutely nailed the finish on the trailers.

Jim

[amato1969]

I appreciate it @Jim Starbuck ! 

It was a quick airbrush coat of Vallejo aluminum followed by dark grey oil paint to dull down the panels.  I used some burnt umber and burnt sienna acrylics on the door hinges and hardware.

  Frank

[GonzoCRFan]

Why use any tubing?  Why not drill holes that are the same diameter as the fiber optic and just glue them flush to the surface.  (Or extremely partially extruding to give them a 3D look.)

Because the lens doesn't sit perfectly flush with the housing. So to get the right look, just painting the outside of the fiber optic won't do it.

http://crcyc.railfan.net/locos/emd/sd60m/cr5555qboards.jpg

Thanks to the helpful suggestion from @peteski I can see if something more scale-sized is achievable.

[davefoxx]

Damn, dude!  Fix that thing!  It reminds me of these guys. 





DFF

[rickb773]

I spent the weekend adding 30+ telephone poles. Unpainted, no wires just telephone poles.
In our area, wherever the tracks went, the telephone poles went right along with them.
In this case, they are probably on the wrong side of the tracks, but this way they don’t interfere with throwing the siding switches.
(If you are concerned with the track spacing, the center track was the first to get pulled up after the WWII traffic subsided.)



I also visited the large (HO) Patcong Valley MR Open House. This is an extremely well detailed club layout. Since it is HO, I’ll only include one photo here and put the rest on my blog.



This visit causes me to slide out my soap box. They are advertising for members but had no one talking to the visitors. I had to interrupt the “greeters” from their internal joshing with each other to ask a brief question and then they went right back to their inside jokes. My previous visit to a club in Brooklawn left me with a similar feeling. During an extended visit to an earlier Egg Harbor train meet the only operator that took the time to chat with the guests was Railwire’s own Cody F.



If we want this hobby to grow, shouldn’t we be aggressively seeking new blood and not ignoring the guests and looking miserable (Egg Harbor not Patcong!). There has to be fish out there we can reel in to make this a healthier body of hobby enthusiasts.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Rick, that's a really good point.

It's a common refrain from people in long standing organizations: "the hobby is dying, nobody is joining".
But then they don't do anything to actually make people want to be a part of something.

I almost wonder if it's one of the reasons why things like Freemo are ascendent while "legacy NTRAK" doesn't seem to be: it forces operators to be out interacting with viewers.

[Maletrain]

. . .
This visit causes me to slide out my soap box. They are advertising for members but had no one talking to the visitors. I had to interrupt the “greeters” from their internal joshing with each other to ask a brief question and then they went right back to their inside jokes. My previous visit to a club in Brooklawn left me with a similar feeling. During an extended visit to an earlier Egg Harbor train meet the only operator that took the time to chat with the guests was Railwire’s own Cody F.

If we want this hobby to grow, shouldn’t we be aggressively seeking new blood and not ignoring the guests and looking miserable (Egg Harbor not Patcong!). There has to be fish out there we can reel in to make this a healthier body of hobby enthusiasts.

My club is having its open house season right now (and just got a masking requirement mandated by the Governor for next weekend).  Typically, the HO group has individual members walk along with a radio throttle as they run several trains around the layout, at least observing signals, but not doing any switching.  That tends to attract prospective members.  We always get a few visitors who follow a member running a train for multiple laps.  But, what really hooks them is when a member hands one of those following visitors the throttle and lets them run the train (with supervision).  We also sometimes have a separate weekend when people can bring their own equipment and run it on the club layouts (G, O, S, HO, N available). 

During these open house weekends, the N scale layouts just runs trains in circles from the "towers", and the visitors come look, talk to us, then gravitate to the HO layout.  So, I want to add a radio throttle to the DCC N scale layout and use a section of track that could take a train from the yard to some industries, do some switching, and go back to the yard without ever getting on the mainlines, but still traversing about 2/3 of the layout.  I think demonstrating a bit of "ops" would be a much better hook for new members than just seeing the trains run through the scenery.  The HO layout is the only one that currently does ops on a monthly basis, and it has half the members in the whole club, even though the O layout is about as big.

We also have a detail hunt, with a card that lists several small scenic details (e.g. hobos around a campfire), with places for the visitors who find them to write what scale layout they are on.  It seems pretty popular, even though we usually don't give any prize for finding them all. 

The idea that seems to work is to show visitors that there is much more fun in model railroading than making trains run in circles - and that it is something that they can do.

[Point353]

I almost wonder if it's one of the reasons why things like Freemo are ascendent while "legacy NTRAK" doesn't seem to be: it forces operators to be out interacting with viewers.

There's only about two feet separating the NTRAK operators from the viewers, but the operators have to be willing to interact with the viewers.
Better yet, have the club members who tend to sit inside the layout shooting the bull instead walk around the layout interacting with the viewers and seeking out new recruits.

[robert3985]

If it's extra-cold where you're at, I apologize, hell is freezing over due to me actually doing something resembling modeling. I started thinking of ways to replicate Conrail class lights in the metal housings in the SD50/SD60s:

https://conrailphotos.thecrhs.org/sites/default/files/archive_photo/images/5657.jpg

The solution I came up with involved some K&S tubing and some red fiber optic:



The size is definitely a bit big, which might render it a moot point anyway unless I can find some smaller tubing. As a proof of concept it looks ok for unlit marker lights, but I'm not really in love with it.

Red class lights??  Class lights being used as both class and marker lights??  What's that all about?  In the photo, the following engine also has red ones...do they turn 'em on when the engine is on the rear running in reverse??  What happened to white and green class lights on the front?  My knowledge of class lights and marker lights stops at December 31, 1956...so what's goin' on here??

If you need red marker lights in the classification light position, then red MV lenses would seem to be the best bet....if you can find any. 

Next bet would be to drill out the lamp portion of the cast-on class light...just enough to form a little depression...paint it bright red, then mix up some 5 min Epoxy and put a little blob of that in the depression over the red paint...let it form a lens.  I've done that many times on cupola mounted marker lamps, and it looks pretty good for unlit lamps. 

If you need a red lens, then mix up some red enamel in the Epoxy...that'll do the trick, but test it to make sure it harden before doing it on your model.

Another possible way, would be to drill out the cast on class light lens as I previously described, paint both the little depression you've made and the surrounding cast-on hardware bright silver, put a blob of clear 5 minute Epoxy in it, let it form a lens and harden up, then paint the hardened blob of Epoxy with DecoArt Glass Paint in red which you can buy at Michaels which is used for faking stained glass.

GOOD LUCK!

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[EL3632]

This visit causes me to slide out my soap box. They are advertising for members but had no one talking to the visitors. I had to interrupt the “greeters” from their internal joshing with each other to ask a brief question and then they went right back to their inside jokes. My previous visit to a club in Brooklawn left me with a similar feeling. During an extended visit to an earlier Egg Harbor train meet the only operator that took the time to chat with the guests was Railwire’s own Cody F.

If we want this hobby to grow, shouldn’t we be aggressively seeking new blood and not ignoring the guests and looking miserable (Egg Harbor not Patcong!). There has to be fish out there we can reel in to make this a healthier body of hobby enthusiasts.

Something you might not know about the N Scale Gathering event in Egg Harbor is that we do exactly this with the younger members of the hobby. The 4H club (ages 8-18) and other young members of the hobby, either from other clubs, or the public, are invited to run trains on every layout, get a signature from a representative of each one, and after they complete every layout they get a door prize, which is usually a locomotive or some pieces of rolling stock. I run this event and it is incredibly popular with the kids.

Also, anyone and everyone can come to Gathering and run trains. You don't have to be a member of a club, just bring a train (or buy one there) and run on a layout. I advertise this in commercials for this event uploaded to YouTube (example at the bottom of this post). This aspect of the Gathering is advertised in this video, as well as our other outlets. I like it as it is one of the more fun aspects of the Gathering and I love seeing everyone get involved and run trains.

I would also like to apologize for the poor quality audio mixing and me sounding like I am yelling in this video, I feel more comfortable recording lines now and I know how to better mix audio, so the next one will be better!