Weekend Update 2/6/22

[apudelek]

There are the ESM car sides also available, but I know my skills aren't good enough yet, so these 10-6 repaints will have to suffice.  I was pretty happy with my first one for my combined NH/PRR consists.  It look pretty great next to the MTL NH 12-1 "East Columbia" in olive green and the CCS PRR 13DBR "Lancaster County" in tuscan... Getting the "Federal" night train vibe...  A few NH sleepers also made their way to Pittsburgh onto #61 "The Pittsburgher," and #46 "The New Englander," in addition to the more commonly known Philly and Washington points.  I'm using the 1955 consist book for the NY Division of the Pennsy.  It's little stuff like this that makes me love this hobby.

[nickelplate759]

Painted up a window stripe on an N scale Kato 10-6 sleeper today. I used Badger Model Flex NH Re/Orange.  This is a stand-in for McGinnis era 14-4 "Point" series sleeper.  After a clear coat dries, I will apply some square cuts of styrene for the heralds centered above the trucks, and then I will apply Microscale decals.  I touched up the overspray on the ends (where the tape was layered) with the easy motion of a toothpick, with great success.  This is good project to get me in the mood to do more painting.

You keep saying you don't have the skill to build a car with the ESM sides, but looking at this paint job I think you do - if you can find the American Limited core kit those sides were designed for.   Something to think about perhaps?

Also, about that paint job -- I've tried ModelFlex and while I like the finish and colors a lot, I keep having problems with it clogging my airbrush (Paasche, #3 medium needle).     Do you do thin it or otherwise modify the paint in any way?

[apudelek]

George, I've had success with Badger ModelFlex so far.  I do thin this paint, about 50/50 with Tamaiya X20A.  I really shoot for the consistency of "whole milk" and it seems to work pretty well.  I've been attaining that with a clear mixing cup and watching the thinned paint run down the sides until I'm happy.  I'm sure there are others who will have different methods but this one does work for me.  I tried some Valejo Model Color paint a few months back on my last vacation and it was a complete disaster and it gummed up my airbrush something fierce.  This was after thinning it and thickening it several times.  As for the car sides... Maybe it's a confidence thing.  I'm not going to push the envelope just yet, I'm still new to the "craftsman" side of the hobby and I want to refine my painting and cutting skills, which need a lot of work.  Though I think Des Plaines Hobbies might have some AL core kits left that I might look at next time I'm down there.  Thanks for the prodding to improve.

[bbussey]

San Juan Car Company is sitting on the ALM products, including the core kits.  Supposedly they have them available even though they don't market them.  If you drop a phone call or an email on them, you may be able to secure some core kits.

We still have some 14-4 car sides available undec.  If you are skilled enough to paint a Walthers or Kato 10-6 sleeper, you're skilled enough to paint car sides.

Also, the New Haven 14-4 Point series (as well as the Beach and State series) were P-S cars.  All NH fluted equipment was built by P-S.

One more note regarding the ALM core kits:  The floor and trucks aren't the best.  Some modelers substitute Kato floors/trucks from a donor car, some trimming/filing may be required.  However, car floors from the PRR Broadway Limited set slide into an ALM core kit without modification.  The ALM/ESM/14-4 below has been upgraded with a Kato BL floor and trucks.
 

[apudelek]

Thanks Bryan.  I'll give them a shout and see if they have any lying around.

I know this car is a foob in basically every way; we can't all be the gold standard of NH N scale!!  Maybe I'll get a bit more adventurous and give a kit a shot.  Plus I don't have any sleepers in hunter green yet, so this would fit certainly the bill. And be prototypical to boot...

I know what you mean about those ALM core kit floors and trucks.  I have a few of the early Centralia offerings that used their stuff (all PRR P85 coaches) that I bought secondhand and I'm running into serious problems with the trucks and floors.  I have replaced all of the trucks with MTLs and filed the bolsters down, but they are still rather unhandy and problematic.  I'm slowly working out the issues there.  In the defense of CCS, their later stuff is pretty great and I love the sleepers that they've manufactured.

BTW, many are eagerly watching your County car build...

[bbussey]

The early CCS product used the ALM core kits, but graduated to tooling new components when they expanded the line.  The later models are welcome as they cover a lot of the PRR equipment that ran to Boston and the car names are valid.  I redo the shades but other than that they are good for my needs.

All of us who are experienced with fabricating models started by taking the leap and first building kits and then cutting up models to kitbash a model that we wanted but wasn't available ready-to-run.  The more you do, the more comfortable you get and the better you get.  I'd suggest procuring a Kato PRR Broadway Limited sleeper four-pack and upgrading your P85 coaches.  That's an easy project and a good one to put yourself at ease.

I think I've finally figured out the proper resin shrinkage offset so that the County bodies will mate properly with the Rapido floor/underframe, and also have compensated for some other quirks in the printing process.  But I may try printing some in the ABS-type resin to see if that makes a difference as well.  Still in the learning phase on what can be done with this process.

[nkalanaga]

My solution to the ALM floor issues was fairly simple.  The biggest problems I had was that they were too flexible, and didn't want to stay put, rather sliding too far into the car.

The latter was fixed with styrene blocks glued to the inside of the ends.

The flexibility was fixed with two 1/16 x 1/4 inch brass bars, from K&S, glued to the top of the floor.  Yes, it does make it hard to add an interior, but not much more so than the supplied weight, and running the bars the full length of the floor keeps it straight.  They also add more weight, which helps tracking, and using two bars leaves the center clear for the truck screws.

[nickelplate759]

Yes, the ALM trucks weren't great.  For the NH 14-4, I used Rapido trucks - they make the correct 41-BNO-11, and they roll very nicely.

I did get some core kits from SJC a few years back - but just the core (ends, roof & floor).  They didn't have the rest of the detail sprues.

[sd45elect2000]

Yes, the ALM trucks weren't great.  For the NH 14-4, I used Rapido trucks - they make the correct 41-BNO-11, and they roll very nicely.

I did get some core kits from SJC a few years back - but just the core (ends, roof & floor).  They didn't have the rest of the detail sprues.

I have several gallon bags of the detail sprues if anyone wants some.

Randy

[apudelek]

Never thought about those Rapido 41-BNO-11's... That's a good idea.  I may have a spare set from tweaking my 8600s. 

Styrene inserts for the shells is another winner in my book.  I have a P85 body that came apart from the floor and I was weighing my assembly options.  However, I may try to get a Kato floor and trucks to do this.  I don't think I can ruin a Broadway set, but there are the 20th Century 4 car sets out there that may be acceptable.  They're beautiful cars but I'd feel better knowing it was the Central that I cannibalized from...

In the meantime, I clearcoated the sleeper and the GG1 for decaling.  Either later today or tomorrow I will be painting some trucks, roofs, and diaphragms black for some other equipment, plus the ones for the sleeper.

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[bbussey]

You don't have to "ruin" a full Broadway set ... just pick up a four-car add-on set.

[apudelek]

Right that's what I meant.  Even so, I need a couple more 21 roomettes.  The 4-4-2s however I could convince myself to part with.  But there are more of the Century 4 car sets available right now it seems.  Going to look into the Pullman car specs for the 12BR Port and 10-6 River series to see if they would fit the bill.  But my money is already in for a couple of P5a's, plus with my schedule the way it is, means I may sit on this for a bit.

[bman]

I have several gallon bags of the detail sprues if anyone wants some.

Randy

I've been looking everywhere myself. I'll send ya a pm to work it out thanks!

[delamaize]

Super late to the show this time. But, My "weekends" don't always line up with Saturday and Sunday.

aaaaanyways.....
First big project, Reworking the mountain line on my N trak module. First time out, clear back before COVID crap took hold, we found it was odd that for all the tracks to line up, the module had to be laid back at a 10 degree or so angle, and even then, the outer main was high, inner was aligned, and branch was low, with the Mountain line being aligned. 2nd show was our Christmas show at the Wa. State History Museum, and we had the same issue. Fast forward to the Puyallup show last month, and the same issues came up, along with the discovery that the mountain line was about 1/4" too far back.
I grabbed our official club alignment template from x600, and went to work. Yup. Mt line is 1/2" too high. So, apart it comes!!
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I've cut down the risers to the right height, so that is right now. But I have some other work to do before reconstructing the mt line. my siding that comes out the back is going to get realigned. Its gonna extend towards the end of the module. and come out the backdrop at 45 degrees. I'm doing this to make it possible to have a staging track that can clamp to the back of the adjacent module. Some of us in the club like to do small opperations on the branch line, and this will allow for more options. Not to mention making changing power easier if someone has a long session, and wants to rotate out power.

another series of projects I have been working on came up after acquiring some stuff from the estate of one of our members. I have been tinkering with a GHQ Z8 kit, and some other small projects. Did some speed matching of some locomotives. But the cool project is this:

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I picked up 2 Kato EF57 locos from the estate. One was already decorated for Milwaukee road. So it got a decoder, and went into the fleet. (FYI, TCS CN-GP works in these EF57, Some minor milling isn't required, but does make things easier, and cleaner) The 2nd EF57 was a project that our departed member was working on. the shell was 2 F unit shells joined back to back, with some electric details added to the top. I had planned on finishing this project, but I discovered the shell that was on it, was cracked in several places, and didn't fit well. Then I remembered an article from an old issue of N scale Magazine (July/Aug 1992). This article was on scratchbuilding a Milwaukee Rd Little joe looking locomotive the author called "Go Joe." I dug out my old copy of the magazine and read though the article again. Then I bought some old FM shells, GG1 Pantographs from Kato, and scavenged some parts from the kitbashed shells. Above is where I am at now. I see some things I want to change now that I have looked at it for a few days.

I have not been able to do train stuff in a while, so this has been a nice few weeks.

[bbussey]

Right that's what I meant.  Even so, I need a couple more 21 roomettes.  The 4-4-2s however I could convince myself to part with.  But there are more of the Century 4 car sets available right now it seems.  Going to look into the Pullman car specs for the 12BR Port and 10-6 River series to see if they would fit the bill.  But my money is already in for a couple of P5a's, plus with my schedule the way it is, means I may sit on this for a bit.

The 20CL floors may not fit the ACL core kit however without modification.  They will work of course with a little effort.  But the BL floors are a drop in.  The BL four-packs aren't that difficult to procure.