Weekend Update 7/18/21

[Mark5]

I've been working hard on my HO scale module, loosely based on Pittsburgh & Shawmut's topsy turvy "spaghetti bowl" line.

[davefoxx]

I’ve been working on the railroad crossing this weekend.  This project has been sitting for months.  I finally painted the road sections, permanently glued them in place and, this afternoon, added road markings and weathering:



Tamiya paint (Deck Tan) is on order to respray the sidewalks.  I’m out of Testor’s Light Aircraft Gray and tried Dark Aircraft Gray.  I think I could have done a fade coat, but I decided to add more control joints and cracks after painting, so it needs to be repainted anyway.

More on the Carolina Sandhills thread in the Layout Engineering Forum.

DFF

[trainforfun]

Nothing photo-worthy, but I picked up Digitrax's LNWI (LocoNet WiFi Interface). It's literally plug-and-play and works wonderfully in conjunction with my old Zephyr command station. I'm JFRTMing more often as a result. 

I use an Android phone, and like the app. My brother uses an iPhone, and I thought the app was rather clunky by comparison. (Although, to be fair, we were a few glasses into the Heaven's Door bourbon by then.)

Anyway, haven't explored the functionality of the app yet, but at this point I highly recommend the LNWI.

Jim

I have it too and it's great , when friends come to my house ( well , before covid ) I simply ask them to download the app on their phones and they can control the trains when they come in .
They say it's good for about 30' in distance .
It's good for up to 4 phones simultanously , I use my old Android Samsung phones for that .
 

[fcnrwy23]

Greetings All...

I haven't touched my trains much this year, only this last month....
So, most of this is finishing up my remaining little projects....

Magnuson L-Series

More Walthers' /Magnuson L-Series (Vans in this case) projects..
I decided one should be a leaser..




Farm Tractors

I try to keep the FCN Layout up to date on things.  I have seen the Newer "Tracked" powertrains on farm tractors of late.  But, I couldn't find the "Traxx" that I needed.  So, I looked to that 3d printing site and ended up using, "HO scale" Mattracks.  They offered "N" versions, but they were way too small. since these are actually powertrain conversions for Ford F-150s.  Turn your 'wheeled" F-150 into a "Snow Bunny". (I recently found videos on this set-up, and it really works!!).  So, I took a 2nd chance that "doubling up" in size would work and it didn't turn out too bad.  Here I converted one of my many GHQ Ford Versatiles.  I have a 2nd set, yet to install...


I also, should go back and add the "Glass" to these things... 


New FCN Hoppers

I bought the parts and did, six cars last fall.  So, since I still had parts left for four more, so I thought it was time to finish them...
The cars in question are the New Gunderson 5188 cu ft grain hoppers. These were offered sometime last year, I somehow miss that.
Unfortunately, by the time I got my a$$ in gear, they were already sold-out. 
Which was disappointing, but it gave me up the opportunity for another "kitbash" project which is something, I can never pass up...



Lucky for ME!,  Atlas sold spare parts for their 5701 hoppers.  I shorten the cars, added styrene to "Bulk-Up" portions of the body and found enough Gold Medal "walkway" sets to do the job...
The FCN-versions were done in a few weeks before and after Thanksgiving, last year.
These last four cars, are going to be painted and lettered for my "fictitious" WSAX (Wisconsin Soybean Association) entity.   ** There is NO - WSAX reporting marks and the Real Soybean Association, doesn't own or lease any cars, that I can find...      I always check these things.  )
Of note, the car's data is all from the Microscale, Iowa Interstate hopper car set.  Which, IS correct for their 5188's.. (that saved a lot of time, instead of piecing all these from different sets..)


An example of one of the Cylindrical Hoppers that these new cars will replace on the layout.

Jerry G.

[learmoia]

I spent most of the day trying to get things cleaned up and organized.. which turned into.. organizing parts of my vintage collection and filling display cases that have been mostly empty since I put them up.
.. Also sorting out vintage items I have no use for... for future sale..

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]
Top Row.. some HO Items I still have..

2nd Row:
Con-Cor Penn Central Passenger Train
Con-Cor Amtrak Hudson and Model Power HW Passenger cars
Atlas Penn Central Passenger Train Need to figure out a Loco for it.. (I have a  Idea)... 
Empty.. (Not sure what I'm going to put here).

3rd Row: (Left to Right)
Arnold NYC Hudson, Arnold NYC GP30, Arnold NYC S2 (Both #2), Minitrix CR H-12-44, Minitrix PC H-12-44, Con-Cor NYC E7B, Atlas NYC E7A, GATX Whale Tank (with $3.99 price tag..), GATX Beer Can Tank.

4th Row:
Con-Cor Santa Fe Passenger Train with Minitrix U30CG and U28C
Con-Cor NYC Passenger Train with Con-Cor E7 AA Set.

5th Row:
NYC Kato/Con-Cor Hudsons in chronological order, Then Con-Cor NYC C636, NYC PB1, and PA1

6th Row: (apparently I reorganized this between pictures... )
A Mixture of Vintage stuff from my Grandfathers layout and Vintage NYC stuff from the same time period.
Some Key items...
2 Versions of the Con-Cor NYC SW1500 Cow Calf Set, along with the PC SW1500 Cow Calf
2 different Con-Cor NYC Heavy Mikados, Con-Cor NYC 4-8-2 Berkshire ,Con-Cor NYC 2-8-8-2

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]
Above the Cabinet.. The Arnold Digital DCC system from the early 1990s., CNC wood sign my Dad made, and some older Micro-Trains multi packs.

Top Row: Vintage Micro-Trains Cars with multiple numbers..
Key Items: All 3 Numbers of MTL 20047, and the 3 BLW special runs, and the Pacemaker 6 pack, and all 8 numbers of the Early Bird scheme.

2nd Row:
More Vintage NYC MTL cars -- A mixture of multi numbers and Rapido Coupler releases.
Then some other Vintage cars as well as 2 numbers of the sorta Foobie Conrail Blue Boxcar, as well as the BCR version which is a BLW special run.

3rd Row:
Vintage Lima New Haven train.. which I think was technically my first Model Train as a push pull thing..
Then my ridiculous Conrail Train (still need to find the Blue Con-Cor Flat car, and the Blue Lima Boxcar)

Some other items I'd like to find..
Con-Cor Lightweight Dome - New York Central to finish my NYC Train.
Arnold NYC FA (early Metal Shell with lightning stripe scheme)

[towl1996]

Some K4 action... These all had parts from Keystone Details and PRR Parts added where appropriate. Also, two were remotored with motors and gears from the motorman.

First up is PRR 1188. This was just a carcass with no motor, so I figured what the heck,




Next is PRR 830 and 3737,




























Finally, is PRR 3768, the streamlined Kit from Keystone Details,

[nkalanaga]

W Neal:  Being a BN (former GN) modeler, I thought you meant the hopper was the improvement. 

I know the RF&P had covered hoppers, but don't remember ever seeing one in the Northwest, especially at a grain elevator.  We did see the rare eastern grain hopper, but they were delivering something to a consumer.

[w neal]

As they say;

"It ain't all about burritos and strippers hoppers, my friend."

 

[mcjaco]

I've been working hard on my HO scale module, loosely based on Pittsburgh & Shawmut's topsy turvy "spaghetti bowl" line.

Aw yeah.  A little Hot Wheel Railroad action! 

[DiggerDownUnder]

"A little Hotwheels Action" could be an understatement. Is this just part of how this Railroad was built or a large area? I couldn't picture this being done in Australia. Different anyway.

David

[ncbqguy]

I think this is actually part of one of the Hotwheels Railroad layouts.   The rails and ties are part of the molded base.  I’m not sure which set it is from, there were a couple of different ones that had layout segments.
Charlie vlk

[OldEastRR]

Wouldn't a RR-theme playset be called "HotBox" trains? 

[Lemosteam]

Some K4 action... These all had parts from Keystone Details and PRR Parts added where appropriate. Also, two were remotored with motors and gears from the motorman.

First up is PRR 1188. This was just a carcass with no motor, so I figured what the heck,




Next is PRR 830 and 3737,




























Finally, is PRR 3768, the streamlined Kit from Keystone Details,

Late to the party. @towl1996 , all of them look fantastic.

Helluva job on the 3768, an all the rest. It’s a difficult kit, to say the least. Would it be OK if I share your pics on the KD Facebook page and the PRR N Scale Modelers FB group?