in2tech, Just let me use a quote from a Tale Of Two Cities; "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times". First I saw a YouTube video from Train World that showed removing the shell and without that I would never have figured it out. Looking at the side of the locomotive, right above the thin white frame stripe on 301 is where the shell and thin plastic frame cover meet. You have to pull down on than thin strip to spread the shell to remove it, I used toothpicks to help keep the shell spread apart and that really helped because there are some interlocking tabs. Let's just say it worked a whole lot better for the guy in the video than it did for me. The front truck fell out and came apart. Also at that point the thin plastic frame side broke. That was the worst of times, now for the best, I was able to get the truck put back together and reinstalled and the light kit installed and everything seemed to run well while testing it all before putting the shell back on and ran well after installing the shell. The light kit installed does look really cool and was one one of the reasons I wanted this locomotive. As I type this, the Tamyia extra thin cement that I used in surgery to heal the break is drying (the break fit tight back together without a gap but I believe this was needed to hold it together). Was it worth it? Well if I knew it was going to be this much trouble before hand I wouldn't have done it. OTOH, it's back together and the lighting is really neat and gives me what I wanted. Besides this was just MY experience and someone with more skill, experience and steady hands may not have the issues I had and think that it wasn't that bad at all. But somebody had to be first and it was my turn. Lord knows I have learned alot from the people here and it's my turn to make the contribution. Besides, it's from things like this we learn the most, right? Just let me finish with this, this is a fantistic looking and running locomotive and is well worth the purchase with or without the light kit. Ralph Edit: While there are instructions inside the bottom of the box on removing the shell and installing the light kit, it really does not make clear that you have to seperate the shell above the thin frame cover which is the height of white frame stripe. It was trying to get my finger nails between the two that caused the frame cover to break when it flexed in while pulling the shell out. I just wanted to warn others to be cautious when doing this.
This arrived about a week ago, but it is my latest purchase. Con-Cor decided to release a Christmas 2022 edition after missing 2021. A very nice looking paint scheme that is well done IMO. I have all the main Christmas cars back to the 70's, having skipped a couple of the "add-on" cars from the last two decades. Looking forward to getting my display cases back on a wall in the not-too-distant future. At least I hope not-too-distant. Surprised by the clamshell packaging. Is this standard for Con-Cor these days? Stay safe,
So I need to thank Allen of the Rock island here for allowing me to buy these 2 GP7's and GP9 from him They will eventually find the dip tank to be repainted as these 3 will be a local turns power on my layout once The switcher just followed me home I couldn't leave it out in the cold And the river boat will be renamed it's from Lindberg and is 1/163 scale
Love the ORER books. I have a couple of oldies from late 1950s - early 1960s depicting retirement of steam and early diesels locomotives.
All very familiar models to me. The Lindberg 'Robert E Lee' riverboat model was going to be a project to create the Contra Costa railroad ferry which required two of them. Too much work involved... so abandoned that idea.
I just ordered the newly announced Showcase Miniatures N scale F750 farm truck. It's a kit that builds into a flat bed, stake bed or GRAIN bed!!! I have been wanting one of these as long as I have been in N scale. These are your typical standard from the late 60s-80s grain box trucks before everyone went to the semi-truck types. I have not seen these anywhere but on their website so I guess these will be coming to a hobby shop near you soon. My wife's family farm still has theirs and I still see a lot of older cabs still in use or rusting away in old barns or parked next to them. Ralph
I finally snagged an Athearn SP bay window caboose for something approaching MSRP. Finding them under $40 is so hard I should've bought two
The two Robt E Lee models were plenty long enough, but both ends were tapered and had only one rudder on the rear. The Contra Costa has slightly curved edges and 4 rudders beneath a straight area where the tracks meet the dock on both ends. The width is also too narrow... so more cutting of the hull which would complicate alignment. Without accurate dimensions for both 'bows' it would be guesswork. There would be other accommodations to the deck work further complicate the above the water line. At that point it would be better to custom build the boat... way beyond my capability.
I was out of town for work for a couple of weeks. A bunch of things came in while I was out, which was a welcome surprise after a long work trip. 1x KCS GEVO by Fox Valley 1x TCS decoder for that loco 2x NuComp mobile homes 1x MKT 2 bay hopper by MTL; will be patched to HLMX eventually. 1x AC gondola by MTL; will be patched for WC eventually 1x CP Budd RDC by Kato; I’m going to turn this into a WC geometry car eventually. 1x set of 40’ chassis by JTC 10x ethanol tank cars by Athearn 2x covered hoppers by MTL 4x sets of spine cars by Atlas 4x carbon black hoppers by ScaleTrains Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk