Weekend Update 4/30/23

[Ed Kapuscinski]

That was an awesome module. I was there today. Asked a gentleman standing there "Are you John from Railwire" and he said no, that John (you) would be there tomorrow. Thought I saw Ed K manning a table but wasn't sure if that was him.

It was indeed. I was helping my friend sell off some of the collection I sold him 15 years ago when I was working at Kleins. I liked the "Circle of Life" aspect, and when a friend asks ya for help, ya help him.

[Lemosteam]

Added the final section of the elevated main trusses (that lead) a fictitious bridge from Long Island into NYC. Soldered it all together, feeders down through the left bridge abutment. Tested the power to the track and it is FINALLY complete after eight years. Ballast on the berm is next!

[spookshow]

I had the opportunity and honor of evaluating a VERY rare brass N scale set for a friend.
R32 Subway cars worked a whopping 58 years in New York City and were only retired in 2022!!!
I can't get over the fact that this was last year.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R32_(New_York_City_Subway_car)

Top speed is pretty fast like a lot of older N scale stuff, but very nice indeed.   
(I think my friend might be selling this soon.)

Gosh Ron, no need to be so coy - of course they're mine, and thanks a million for sprinkling some of that patented Bearden fairy dust on them for me! 

Cheers,
-Mark

[carlso]

I have been upgrading, or maybe I should say attempting, the KATO light kits installed, by previous owner, in a KATO Daylight 18 car consist. He did not attach the amber diffuser on the LED and I do not care for the extremely non prototypical results. Here is a sample:


So, I began with this:


I used these to replace the as built power feed for the LED. I used the small rectifier, 2nd from the top, also not shown, I made  5-100uf, 20v caps into a bundle, then attached to the stock light units:


Here is where I am at today. I have not reassembled completely because I have some Z scale people coming to inhabit the cars :


I am anxious to get this wrapped up, soon.

Be well,
Carl

[draskouasshat]

A little late to the party but my weekends are from Wednesday to Sunday every other week. I drew up an AC-3 for the LL mallet mech and an ATSF mikado for the kato mech. Work continues....

Drasko
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[nkalanaga]

Samusi01:  Make just the log loading portion for the Wheels of Time Piggy Packer and I'd buy at least one.

I have two of the things, and could convert both of them, but one would be enough.

[Cajonpassfan]

I've been learning how to carve rock faces on my friend's HO PCL 2. Making progress...
Otto K.

[peteski]

I have been upgrading, or maybe I should say attempting, the KATO light kits installed, by previous owner, in a KATO Daylight 18 car consist. He did not attach the amber diffuser on the LED and I do not care for the extremely non prototypical results.

That should give you nice flicker-free lighting.  But I'm curious why you rebuild the entire circuit, rather than just making small modification to the existing Kato boards, like we discussed in https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=55669.0. The Kato board already has a bridge rectifier on it.

[Wolf N Works]

HEMTTs are looking great. Working on printing some out now, thank you for these.

Did some decoder work for a local (the LokProgrammer really helps out vs. JMRI!) - wouldn't mind seeing these Rapido units in N scale at some point.

(Attachment Link)

The LeTourneau I printed a few weeks ago now has a friend, as I check the various versions for printability:

(Attachment Link)

The orgy of printing continued, but no painting... don't hold your breath, I might get the time to paint them next month.

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From last week's weekend update, I can offer a (slight) improvement - this week's family photo is the real deal, not some CGI image laboriously created by my poor laptop, which doubtless has learned to fear hotel rooms for the abuse perpetrated on it.

(Attachment Link)

There are loads, as well, for the loads: various flat racks.

(Attachment Link)

The first tranche is now up at Thingiverse, where the file I greatly modified to generate these is located; see here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6000358

As the various versions are tested, they will be uploaded and/or updated.

[chessie system fan]

Well, I just finished printing an older car to see if the roof issues were present.  They weren't, so the problem is with my design somewhere.  Back to the drawing board they go. 

[Ed Kapuscinski]

It's funny, I wonder if it's a design issue that wasn't apparent with less precise machines.

[chessie system fan]

Ed, I thought of that possibility too.  If the old cars that printed great on the old printer printed poorly on the new printer then that would have been my excuse.   

[peteski]

Well, I just finished printing an older car to see if the roof issues were present.  They weren't, so the problem is with my design somewhere.  Back to the drawing board they go. 

When you look at the CAD drawing in whatever app you use, does the roof surface look faceted or is it a smooth curved surface?
Like others have mentioned, in the digital world curved surfaces (or circles) are usually represented by a series of short straight lines. 

[jagged ben]

When you look at the CAD drawing in whatever app you use, does the roof surface look faceted or is it a smooth curved surface?
Like others have mentioned, in the digital world curved surfaces (or circles) are usually represented by a series of short straight lines.

Only when rastered. 
A proper CAD program stores a circle as a point and radius and uses that to render.

I know nothing of details, but one possible culprit is the 'slicer' software.

[peteski]

Only when rastered. 
A proper CAD program stores a circle as a point and radius and uses that to render.

I know nothing of details, but one possible culprit is the 'slicer' software.

Well ok, in "professional" CAD programs, but most modelers use "CAD-lite" like SketchUp or TinkerCAD. In SketchUp circles are series of straight lines.