rough cut ties Still playing with ties. I guess you could say my hands are tied until I get this done!wink:
Thanks but the last part was a bear with the drawbar. Finally made one totally from styrene. I was also concerned with taking off the metal on the bottom for the lead truck affecting the performance. There are no traction tires on this little gal and little room to add weight if at all. Somehow with the cab fabrication and mounting all the stuff forward along with the new pilot I ended up a little heavier than when I started. Somewhere on the horizon is to recreate my original cab forward from an old 0-4-0T laying in the loco parts box. That will be a 2-4-0.
It'll be a pleasure to see that made. One of these days I'll find some way to wrangle up a little 0-4-0 or 0-6-0...
N scale CN SD60F nearing completion. Atlas SD60 mechanism, Kaslo resin cab with open, see-through dynamic brake fan and air intake grills, open cab with visible crew and control stand, open rooftop fans with BLMA blades, equipped with DCC, high stand working porch ditchlights and sound (speaker in tank). Pieces of Code 40 rail under the shell reduce the "air" visible between truck and shell typical of Atlas-based models. I've put a lot of fine detail on this unit, esp. the near-scale sized handrails, so the "N scaleness" of the front end is given away by the normal N scale MT 1015 coupler. It looks worse in real life than in the photo. On the rear, I've attached a Z scale FT coupler which makes it a little more difficult to be sure this is an N scale model. I intend to replace the front end coupler too, but it's not an easy task for various reasons related to space available. There's still some detail work like trainline hoses, wipers, window glass, paint fade and light weathering, but my second of these units seems to be working out. I just thought I'd show it now as it's pretty as a picture already. Oversized handrails and couplers, the N scale detail frontier! Richard Marcinkowski
ram53: That is a great model with all the detail. Really good work. :thumbs_up: I finished my pedestrian walkways along the near edge of the roadway bridge. That completes a 4-5 year project. On to the next one! I've been without the sidewalk for so long I doubt anyone will even notice, but it just bothered me more and more. At last it is back in place with the traffic, too. Maybe I will replace that paper mock-up yard tower next. Maybe that will start to bother me, too.
Back at working on my small fleet of 6 drivered locos. Older Bmann 2-6-2 has had a troublesome rear pick post for tender power. Newer ones don't have that issue with a split frame and a decent drawbar post. So I got rid of those brass strips that had the tabs on either side of the drawbar post. Those were too flimsy and constant problems, plus they would not work right with the newer Bmann tender. So after a little filing and cutting a shallow channel to run some wires, I split some brass tube, trimmed to right length and soldered my newly discovered earbud fine wire to each. Cleaned off the brass motor and wheel contacts where the original brass strips attached and soldered the wires. A little tweaking of the brass wires off the new tender drawbar and filling a narrow channel at the base of the split brass to act as a retainer and done. Works much better now. For whatever reason I had to do a small shim of the drawbar where the retaining clip hold the brass pick-up wire to get rid of any play vertically. Probably because of the shortness of the loco post and lack of a bottom ledge. I also filled a small grove at the base of the brass on each side which serves to keep the drawbar wires from sliding off.
Finally starting to clear the workbench of small steam. First loco is the one with the new drawbar post and new Bmann all wheel pick-up tender. Both it and the middle GN loco have had the cabs extended slightly to hide that danged stickout motor. The middle has had a Belpaire boiler built and some more detail parts, plus a MP Vandy tender adapted to fit it. The last loco is the last one of my Ten Wheelers to finally get a smaller tender, another Bmann new all wheel pick-up. A touch of paint, some decals here and there and the workbench will be clear to begin another project.
Thanks. I was glad to get that job done. It wasn't nearly as time consuming to do it as it was to decide just how to do it. Also notice the plexiglass panels at each end of the bridge to protect it from persons in the aisles. I do think that it is safer like that.
A few of my compleated projects Just a few. Im always working on more but never get around to taking photo's. Photos of my Amtrak Cascade comming soon. Paul PnP Trains
Some recent projects exiting my workbench: The BN hopper was fun... used Sophisticated Finishes to add the rust to the hopper interior. Have since given several of my gondolas and hoppers similar treatments. And yes, the ICG 7547 is 'prototypical' - ICG purchased several ex-PC GP9s from MBTA for rebuilds and a few got ICG lettering as they were pressed into service. Still needs some additional weathering and details so it may be heading BACK to the workbench soon!
