Weekend Update 11/27/11

[up1950s]

 
UP 4-8-2 7869 progress
 

 

[bbussey]

Beautiful work Rich.

I finally got the roof and underbody work done on three heavyweights.  New free-standing roof vents and fans, new wire rain drips over the doors, and ice-cooled air conditioning equipment on two of the models.  New diaphragms and #1015 couplers relocated inward.  Centersill extended to fill the space gap between the trucks and body and remove the airspace.  Interiors painted light tan.  FVM wheelsets.



PRR Lake Maitland from the MTL 10-1-2 sleeper runner set, a correct car name for mechanical air conditioning. 



PRR Samuel Adams 12-1 sleeper, relettered from the stock release.  Also sanded out the visible tooling lines on the roof.



NH Maude 28-1 parlor, lettered and reworked from the painted/undec model.

Just waiting on steam drain pipes to complete all three cars prior to some light weathering.

[chuck geiger]

Working on Coyote Wells section of HCD SD&AE layout. Track is in and
weathered. Basic scenery starting. I paint the foam with a desert beige
color, strain real desert sand, vacuum and then paint the sand to reflect
the beige color.

[wcfn100]

Working on website stuff and got to do some actual modeling as well.

One of the best looking EMD schemes.  I still have some tweeking on the lettering and striping to do and I need to add the openings behind the wire on the F3 drawing.  The CGW had three main paint schemes and at least two experimental schemes.



Got both ends glued on, the floor sectioned and one end of the roof done on the baggage.




Jason

[packers#1]

FINALLY a couple of updated overview pics

[BCR 570]

Limited progress on the outfit cars this week.

Car #4 has lingered behind the others due to the long wait for parts from Intermountain, and the difficulty encountered in building the centre sills.  I built two from .040" x .040" angle (which had to be assembled from styrene strip) but one fell apart during assembly and the one pictured below is not good enough.  I will try again this week.  Also pictured are the inside ends for the carbody.  The 'B" end has been keyed for the Intermountain end:




Car #3 - While building the new sides, I began to ponder exactly how to cut out the Intermountain sides and get the floor and ends filed or sanded down to the exact interior width.  It occurred to me that an easier approach might be to build a replacement floor and inside ends in styrene, which is what I have done for car #4 . . . . . so I did:




This car thus becomes essentially a scracthbuilt model with Intermountain ends, roof and underframe.  The inside ends are keyed for the Intermountain outside ends and the floor is keyed for the Intermountain underframe.  The original body will thus not be used at all.  I hope to get it assembled during the coming week.  I also did some work preparing the grab irons and ladders for installation on cars #1 and 2.


Tim

[rogergperkins]

This is the MTL RPO as it comes undecorated.  It is not assembled which makes painting it less complicated.
I have two others that I painted over the roadname and relettered for Baltimore and Ohio.
I am considering doing this one in B&O Royal Blue.

[wm3798]

Started working on the PPG plant for Cumberland...




Used scraps and bits to build the pellet storage bins.  Track is laid out, and ready to take cars.  Just need to build the main structure.

Also doing some more tinkering with decoders and such, and whipping up a few things to sell on Ebay for the Santa Fund.  Stay tuned for further developments.
Lee

[Dave V]

Lee,

Your resourcefulness is inspiring!  I love you can recycle just about anything and make it look like it was always meant for that purpose.

One thing gets me about that bottom shot.  The reach.  I know not everyone who visits your layout has had spinal fusion, but that fantastic deck bridge scene in the back looks like it may as well be a mile away from the layout edge.  I assume the chasm between the bridge and Cumberland will be an access hatch of some sort?

[wm3798]

No, it's not an impossible reach, a step up on the little folding ladder helps.  there's way too much going on below decks to allow a permanent pop up, but I'm still engineering the scenery, so it's still a possiblity. 

Worst case scenario is a major wreck coming out of the impossibly tight 24" helix behind Cumberland, but so far that possibility hasn't presented itself.

I'm planning to hit the Dollar Tree to see if I can get one of those old lady can grabbers (that just sounds wrong, but you know what I mean!) to be able to reach back there.  For construction, I'm planning to work from the back wall out, and use some lift out panels to allow for wiring lights, detailing and cleaning.

Lee

[wazzou]

I'm planning to hit the Dollar Tree to see if I can get one of those old lady can grabbers .

Lee

Some old ladies have nice cans.   

[chuck geiger]

If not check out the AS SEEN ON TV aisle at Walgreens and Wal-Mart, I've
seen them there or buy a powered scooter on TV and they'll give you
one.

[Dave V]

You laugh, but I bought the Billy Mays Gopher right after my back surgery and it's great!  I've even been able to put my shoes on with it.

[wazzou]

You laugh, but I bought the Billy Mays Gopher right after my back surgery and it's great!  I've even been able to put my shoes on with it.

R.I.P.

[Chris333]

Over on the Z scale layout of a N scale door layout I started adding my rock cut using rubber rocks. I had just glued them in minutes earlier:



Quick mock up of the feed mill/coal/fuel dealer:



Had to do something while I wait for more rail.