Weekend Update 12/31/17

[tehachapifan]

@tehachapifan

For a while, we had 52 & 72 link per inch in PE Brass from @TrainCat2 .   For years he was in hiatus with family medical issues, but he said he was planning to come back.  However, the last few times we've tried him, all email addresses now report as invalid. 

http://www.traincat2.com/d_detailparts.htm

So unless we develop another source, we've got 40 lpi from A-line and other, plus the 45 & 50 lpi from these guys:

http://www.floatingdrydock.com/more.htm#CHAIN

Thanks for the info!

[brokemoto]

guessing the tender is lifting the rear of the loco off the tracks

This would be my assumption, as well.  In fact, when the old MP first issued the USRA light mikado, something happened in the factory in Korea and the drawbar was misaligned.  The result was that the locomotive, was, in fact, lifted from the tracks.  MP had to reall all of them and replace the drawbar.  It took quite some time.  I have done a number of these.  I wish that I had known about the piugs, but, I am going to buy some for future use. 

The way that I do it now is to twist the wires from the locomotive together on each pole, attach a single wire which I solder to the outside two pins on either side in the tender.  I have retained the MP drawbar.  I screw an MT coupler screw into the floor of the tender to which I attach the drawbar.  I do put a piece of plastic toward the top of the MT screw to keep the drawbar end from popping off.  As most of the MP drawbars have  pincher on end that goes into the tender, I can simply push it onto the MT screw.  The older ones do have the closed end on the drawbar, so you must screw in the screw, clip off the head, put the drawbar loop over the screw, then twist a piece of plastic onto the end of the screw to keep the drawbar from popping off.  I have done four pacifics and two mikados in this fashion, including both recent issues from MRC/MP.  The half wheels live tender on those just does not get it, especially at slow speeds.  The things will stall on straight and level at anything less than forty SMPH.

MP issued the B&Os with Vanderbilts, but these Vanderbilts are SP smaller power (2-8-0 and smaller) tenders.  They are totally incorrect for the B&O.  The B&O had originals and copies of the USRA light Pacific: Class P-5, originals; Class P-6, copies.  The P-6s did have Venderbilts, but they were larger and six axle.  The originals, of course, had USRA standard tenders.  The old MP issued three different road numbers on these for the B&O; two numbers had USRA standard tenders (although one of them had an incorrect number) and one had a Vanderbilt.  MRC retained only the Vanderbilt version.

B&O had one hundred originals of the USRA light Mikado, class Q-3, including the first USRA locomotive built (which still exists, although it does not run).  All of them came with USRA standard tenders.  After 1956, B&O did equip some Q-3s with tenders from scrapped EL-3s and -5s (2-8-8-0), but those tenders were huge and had six axles.  Most of the Q-3s kept their USRA standard tenders until retirement in 1957.

In short, MRC should have used the USRA standard on its B&O issues, and, most importantly, should have made the tenders all wheels live.  MRC did finally get the message on the eight-wheeler and  mogul.

[coosvalley]

Thanks! The fans were from the four BL-2s and one F-2. The sixth GP-18 (1755) had two fans, as do most GP-18s.

I do need help for how to do an aspect of this model. I have a 3D printed housing for the winterization hatch. This needs some fine mesh. Any suggestions?

I used old coffee maker filter material. One junk coffeemaker isn't too hard to find!

[lashedup]

Great stuff this week. Nothing like the holidays to get help get some projects done!

Posted this in the DCC forum, but it was one of three steam locos I installed LokSound decoders with custom enclosures. Here is one of the “upgrades” I did in an Athearn Big Boy.



I programmed the LokSound with their latest Challenger file which sounds fantastic. The Full Throttle function is especially neat if you have some momentum programmed in (or even if you chop back the throttle very quickly) as the loco will coast a bit and the chuff sounds fall off to reflect that there is no load on the loco. Here is a clip of the sounds I took with my phone (apologies for quality and quirks!):

Happy New Year everyone!

-jamie

[BCRail_FSJ]

Finished painting the layout room.  Looking forward to starting another British Columbia Railway themed N scale layout in 2018.  Modelling in New Zealand will be challenging.  Virtually everything has to be mail ordered in from overseas.

[PGE_Modeller]

Good to see you back in the game, Andy.
Cheers,

[rochsub]

Experimenting with my new cell phone and put this video of my layout together.  Happy New Year everyone!

https://youtu.be/_hoSTFimKTU

Excellent video and superb layout.  Love the bridge and the entire canyon scene.  Don't see many box cars anymore in the USA. Is it typical to see a train of box cars in Canada or do you just like box cars.

Daryl

[Scottl]

Thanks!  I've recently seen a few trains on the local CN line that are composed mostly of boxcars but I agree they are not common. I guess I just like them as well.

[Kentuckian]

I did finish one little project, detailing the already excellent Intermountain 1937 AAR boxcar. Dull Cote, light weathering with pastels, painting the wheel faces, TSC’s, and filling in the center sill gap.

I’ve got to invest in a way to take better pics. Here’s an in service photo.

[CR4100]

This weekend was switcher-palooza for me.  I am installing Digitrax DZ126T decoders into four Life Like SW1200s and converting three of those to SW1500s. 

This is my first project in N scale and I jumped in with both feet. I have learned that electronic part is easy. Don't short the wires. Kapton tape is your friend. Surface mount components 0603 or larger are easy to work with.  I went with the DZ126T decoder after reading too many horror stories about the DN126M2s shorting out.

Adding detail parts is more difficult.  Grab irons seemingly disappear if dropped.  I also think that my #80 drill may actually be larger based on the way that the grab irons fit.  Anyway, onto the photos.

First up: Conrail 8970, the only SW1200 painted with Conrail Quality. It's a Life Like SW1200 with Trainworx grab irons and MU hoses with the U-shaped rail in front of radiator made from .008 wire. I used Micro Trains Z scale couplers because I hat how the oversize N scale couplers look on locomotives.
[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

Conrail 9620 is the highest numbered SW1500.  I added new Atlas wheels, Flexicoil trucks, grab irons, cut levers and MU hoses.  Yes, I added the front cut levers upside down.  [ Guests cannot view attachments ]

Here are the entire group, including future CRQ 9513 and CR 9589.  [ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[garethashenden]

Adding detail parts is more difficult.  Grab irons seemingly disappear if dropped.  I also think that my #80 drill may actually be larger based on the way that the grab irons fit.  Anyway, onto the photos.

A #80 drill is .0135" in diameter. The package of BLMA grab irons I have in front of me says they're made from 0.007" diameter wire. This leaves you with 0.0065" of extra hole. A #80 drill is the smallest readily available inexpensive drill size. Smaller drills are available, but they get really costly really quickly.

[CR4100]

Thanks for confirming that the hole will be about 2X the size of the wire. That explains the looseness until the glue setup.

[JanesCustomTrain]

Smaller drills are available, but they get really costly really quickly.

No, not necessarily:

0.2mm / 0.008" drill bits

Price is for 10 drills including shipping.   

Jane

[RAILCAT]

Experimenting with my new cell phone and put this video of my layout together.  Happy New Year everyone!

https://youtu.be/_hoSTFimKTU

Splendid. Good work.

[garethashenden]

No, not necessarily:

0.2mm / 0.008" drill bits

Price is for 10 drills including shipping.   

Jane

Carbide drills like those can be hard to use. They're usually fine in plastic, but they can shatter easily in harder materials.

Here are some HSS #90 drills (0.0087") they're $5 each and you have to order in multiples of 12. https://www.kaufmanco.com/itemdetail/PTD%20018690