Weekend Update 12/11/22

[up1950s]

https://railroadforums.com/forum/index.php?threads/modern-cn-bunkhouse.14930/

https://saveitforparts.wordpress.com/projects/lesser-known-and-obscure-railroads-of-alaska/#livengood

https://historicsoduspoint.com/buildings/railroad/railroad-y/

https://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/ND-01-SL3

http://atsf.railfan.net/structures/bunk.html

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_carriage_at_railway_bunkhouse_at_rear_of_Rogart_Station_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1205398.jpg

https://www.capcocustombuilders.com/products/bunk_houses/bunk_houses.asp

https://www.sinemaxproduction.com/site/canadian-technical-solutions-cts

https://lifetimebunkhouses.com/

https://www.diamondspecialtyvehicles.com/36bnk-10pv/

[Dave V]

As part of my effort to dramatically increase the size and quality of my backdrops, this new section--the Ophir Needles--arrived this week from LARC Products. The top of the Needles rise nearly 30" above the railhead at Ophir. Backdrop segments on either side will also eventually be enlarged, but I'm doing this piecemeal to keep the costs in the noise and because it's quite tricky to install a self-adhesive backdrop behind finished scenery.

[tehachapifan]

Dave, it's safe to say that you are the best scenery modeler that I have ever seen! Absolutely stunning work as always!

[bbussey]

Finished painting the pier trestle and the swing bridge deck, and weathered the bridge abutments.

[Dave V]

Dave, it's safe to say that you are the best scenery modeler that I have ever seen! Absolutely stunning work as always!

Thanks! I don't know about all that...I just try to make stuff look like other stuff. But thanks for swelling my head! 

[Jim Starbuck]

So I’m building the mechanism for the CGW TR2 calf.
The chassis is a LifeLike SW1200 with the cab end milled narrow to fit the shell. The fuel tank weight was also milled off to make room for the speaker. I want to put a Loksound Nano decoder in it so requires a 7mm coreless motor and small diameter worms to lower the motor centerline which makes room for the decoder above. The concept is the same as as the earlier LifeLike installs I did.
The stock trucks work fine but instead of using the small diameter mod 4 Tomix worms which are no longer available, I decided to use Bachmann S4 worms which are finer mod 3. The problem is the tower gears in the stock trucks. I really thought I had it when I found a fine tooth double gear that was a direct drop in with the large gear matching the Bachmann worms. Score!!!….not so fast… the small part that drives the inner truck gears while the correct diameter and pitch is a 12 tooth when I need a 14. Damn! So close!
I had some spare gears that worked for the worm but nothing that matched the small part so I faced off the stock gear liberating the small part then drilled .25mm holes in both and pinned them together with .010 PB wire. With a little shimming and a small styrene bushing the stock truck is fitted with a tower gear which now matches available worms and everything meshes and turns freely. It was a lot of fiddle work and partly just to see if it would work. Photos show the stock parts on the left and modified at right. So far so good.

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[nkalanaga]

That's taking "kitbashing" to a new level!  Many people change the gears, but I don't remember hearing of anyone actually cutting and splicing a gear.

[garethashenden]

Working on the riverbed. Its coming together slowly. Been a long time since I really did scenery work and I don't think I've modeled a river before. There's a learning curve but its enjoyable.

[peteski]

I had some spare gears that worked for the worm but nothing that matched the small part so I faced off the stock gear liberating the small part then drilled .25mm holes in both and pinned them together with .010 PB wire. With a little shimming and a small styrene bushing the stock truck is fitted with a tower gear which now matches available worms and everything meshes and turns freely. It was a lot of fiddle work and partly just to see if it would work. Photos show the stock parts on the left and modified at right. So far so good.

Jim, you never fail to impress me with your mechanical and electronic work!

[Jim Starbuck]

Jim, you never fail to impress me with your mechanical and electronic work!

Thanks Peteski!
I looked at this a little more this morning and decided the worm driven gear was too small so I made another one out of the double gear that had the 12 tooth secondary. Ah, perfect! Just what I wanted.
I built it on a mandrel of 1/16 styrene rod in a pin vise. Popped it off the mandrel and it immediately disappeared. I’ve now officially spent more time unsuccessfully looking for it than it actually took to build it. Arghh! Time for a break.

[garethashenden]

Thanks Peteski!
I looked at this a little more this morning and decided the worm driven gear was too small so I made another one out of the double gear that had the 12 tooth secondary. Ah, perfect! Just what I wanted.
I built it on a mandrel of 1/16 styrene rod in a pin vise. Popped it off the mandrel and it immediately disappeared. I’ve now officially spent more time unsuccessfully looking for it than it actually took to build it. Arghh! Time for a break.

I wonder if 3d printing gears would be a viable option for this sort of situation. It would definitely depend on the resin selected since a lot of them are pretty brittle. But it would give a lot more options for making exactly what is needed rather than whatever can be found in the parts bin.

[davefoxx]

My daughter, Aly, and I had a big talk about her trains.  She has the little N scale layout and a Lionel O scale Polar Express set.  We’ve decided that, during our Christmas break, we are going to build her a table to get her a more permanent place for her O scale trains.  She has a much easier time running the O scale trains, because, if she knocks the N scale trains off the track, she needs help rerailing and coupling the train.  Man, I detest Kato couplers.

Plus, she’s very artistic, but it’s easier for her to build things in O scale at her age than in N scale.  She has a boatload of trees we can use and other toys (like an O scale Herbie the Love Bug) that she can play with on this layout.  We just ordered a Lincoln Log set as a Christmas present for her to build Santa’s Workshop.  She also wants an O scale Foam Depot.  Challenge accepted.

Anyhoo, we starting playing around with her track pieces to figure out what we can build as compared to what size table we can fit in the basement.  We’re a little short on track today, so we couldn’t complete the inner loop.  But, that’s okay; we have a loop of track presently under our Christmas tree, so we don’t need to purchase any track.  We definitely want a passing siding, and this track plan would fit on a table that is about 56” x 96” with the track center about 5” from the layout edge.





Earlier in the year, we built a layout on the floor that used every piece from her Polar Express set, a passing siding expander set, and my Thomas set.  Those s-turns were no problem for these trains! 😆



I know some on TRW may turn their nose up at three-rail Lionel FasTrack, and I get it.  But, if this keeps Aly interested in this hobby even just enough that she continues to spend time with Dad, I’m okay with that.  While her N scale layout may continue to be dormant for a while, it will likely be stowed under the O scale layout and kept for future use.  We’re not trashing it.

Oh, and if you’ve read this far and are still here, here’s another sneak peek.  Simultaneously with the construction of Aly’s layout, I will be starting my own On30 layout on a second level under my HO layout in a shadow box style of construction.

DFF

[BCR 570]

Progress was hampered by illness this week, but I managed to complete the decaling of my six NSC gondolas:




Tim

[GimpLizard]

But, if this keeps Aly interested in this hobby even just enough that she continues to spend time with Dad, I’m okay with that.

DFF

"Train up a child in the way (s)he should go: and when (s)he is old, (s)he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6 KJV 

[Dayliner]

Bit of a change of pace from layout (re)construction this week, as I was able to complete assembly of one of my rolling stock kits.  This is the Briggs Models 71' bulkhead flatcar, which will be painted Action Red and numbered in the CP 317xxx series.  Painting will wait while I complete a series of 8 40' double-door E&N boxcars, also Action Red.



Meanwhile, back on the layout, the wiring board under the east end of Lake Cowichan has been removed to the workbench and I have started wiring everything up.  Here the singlets, which will drive the servos, have been connected to what will be the auxiliary bus, which runs along the bottom of the board.  Next, the frog juicers will be connected to the track bus.  The track bus will then be prepared to accept the feeder wires and the board reinstalled under the layout.