Weekend Update 10/21/12

[bdennis]

Very nice D&H Units.. Drool...

[M.C. Fujiwara]

You are  not quite finished ..... need to at the rose bushes at the end of each row.   (Sort of like the canary in the coal mine for grape growers)

Great (grape?) idea!
I'll get my daughter to origami some small rose blossoms 

[SkipGear]

The official kick off to model railroad season happened this weekend in Cincinnati was this weekend.  The NMRA Div. 7 Annual Model Train show was Saturday and Sunday. Our Ntrak club set up as well as the shop I work for. Saturday was spent working in the shop and letting our newest club member and his 9 year old son run my Daylight set and Hiawatha for most of the day. My son ran his Indiana and Ohio train most of the day Sunday as well as a collection of all the MTL B&O heavyweights pulled by my little Bachmann 4-6-0. It's still fun when people ask, "That's a Bachmann????".

It's getting harder and harder to find anything to buy at a show as there really isn't anything that I want or need except time to build my layout. I did run across a plastic jewel case full of random parts. As I start looking through it, I see some side rods, then I recognize them as Kato Mikado parts. I look a little closer and see two complete Mikado detail sets, including the bells and two complete side rod sets. I couldn't get my wallet out fast enough and hand the gentleman $5.

[mmagliaro]

MAx, that Neolubbed valve gear looks mighty fine (in both meanings of the word)! 

Thanks, man!  Actually, all the parts are blackened with Jax metal blackener, cut 50/50 with water, so
that the reaction is slow, and all areas of a part have time to get black without the chemical
overdoing it and causing a layer of blackened metal to flake off, leaving bright shiny metal all over again.
That is always an issue with metal blackeners.  Some are stronger than others. 

I do use NeoLube over the blackener. 

But the blackener makes sure that even if the Neolube wears off here and there,
the metal will still be black and look good.

[nkalanaga]

Bremmer:  I don't remember ever having them.  If I remember right he sold both an SP and a generic version, and for my GN and NP units I bought the generic.

[Chris333]

Nice work 

Really improves the whole loco.

[peteski]

Thanks, man!  Actually, all the parts are blackened with Jax metal blackener, cut 50/50 with water, so
that the reaction is slow, and all areas of a part have time to get black without the chemical
overdoing it and causing a layer of blackened metal to flake off, leaving bright shiny metal all over again.
That is always an issue with metal blackeners.  Some are stronger than others. 

I do use NeoLube over the blackener. 

But the blackener makes sure that even if the Neolube wears off here and there,
the metal will still be black and look good.

Good info - thanks Max!
I've been using the old standby A-West Blacken-it and Micro Engineering's rail weathering solution. I'll have to get me some Jax!

One little thing that bugs me in that photo is that the leading truck's wheel faces are just concave with the axle not protruding from the center at all.  That just looks weird. Those are probably FVM wheels which seem to have the faces shaped that way. They look good in outside-bearings trucks but inside-bearings show their shortcoming.  They still look much better than the original Rivarossi wheels!

[Ian MacMillan]

Ive been wiring up BDL168's and doing some misc scenery all week. For now having 1.5 fewer days off a week from work, I oddly am getting quite a bit more work on the layout done. Must be the upcoming train show on Nov, 4.

More in the LE thread.

[mmagliaro]

Good info - thanks Max!
I've been using the old standby A-West Blacken-it and Micro Engineering's rail weathering solution. I'll have to get me some Jax!

One little thing that bugs me in that photo is that the leading truck's wheel faces are just concave with the axle not protruding from the center at all.  That just looks weird. Those are probably FVM wheels which seem to have the faces shaped that way. They look good in outside-bearings trucks but inside-bearings show their shortcoming.  They still look much better than the original Rivarossi wheels!

That's a good point.  I'll see what I can do... Just a small flat disk of something, cemented into the center of the wheel,
ought to do the trick.

The JAX stuff comes from
http://www.jaxchemical.com/products.html

It's a little expensive, with the shipping for hazardous materials, but you get a big bottle and it will probably outlive me.
I think I have the blackener for Iron, Steel, and Nickel, but I'm not sure, and I'm not at home to look at the bottle.
I will update later.

Chris333, thank you!  Yes, it's not 100% accurate, and the valve piston (upper) is a total foobie that doesn't move.  Only the
bottom cylinder piston moves.  But then, that's how virtually all N scale steam motion works.

[u18b]

To me, this is a minor detail.

True, a disc could be glued in place.  But the danger is it won't be centered.  If that's the case, then we would see those discs moving up and down as they roll down the track.

I guess you'd have to put the wheel in a motor tool and true it up after you glue it in place.

[sizemore]

That's a good point.  I'll see what I can do... Just a small flat disk of something, cemented into the center of the wheel,
ought to do the trick.

True, a disc could be glued in place.  But the danger is it won't be centered.  If that's the case, then we would see those discs moving up and down as they roll down the track.

I guess you'd have to put the wheel in a motor tool and true it up after you glue it in place.

For my Spectrum Connie, I just used zuron rail nippers to cut the cone flush, then a couple passes with a flat mill file. Be sure to check the gauge and road test before cutting. I found that with the light front end I had to open the gauge about .001" to keep it from derailing. I followed that up with some passes on hi-grit wet dry to remove the tooling marks. Simple KISS method.

The S.

[mmagliaro]

For my Spectrum Connie, I just used zuron rail nippers to cut the cone flush, then a couple passes with a flat mill file. Be sure to check the gauge and road test before cutting. I found that with the light front end I had to open the gauge about .001" to keep it from derailing. I followed that up with some passes on hi-grit wet dry to remove the tooling marks. Simple KISS method.

The S.

True, about the risk that the disk wouldn't be centered, and then it would attract annoying attention to itself bobbing up
and down.  Your idea about nipping and grinding is good.  In fact, that's what I've done on a lot of my Trix
k4 rebuilds... just put Fox Vallet wheelsets in, and grind the points off flat, leaving the little disc.
In this case, I somehow thought they were smooth, so I dished them all the way out.

Probably just swap out the wheelsets with 2 new FVM ones, and not grind the axle ends all the way off!

[sizemore]

In this case, I somehow thought they were smooth, so I dished them all the way out.

I'm in wonderment how you were able to get the cone so precise! Bonus points!

The S.

[Bremner]

Bremmer:  I don't remember ever having them.  If I remember right he sold both an SP and a generic version, and for my GN and NP units I bought the generic.

thanks anyways, those SP roof bells are like hens teeth