If the plastic melts you've left it in the heat too long. You would do this with the oven open and you watching the material at all times. Yes, its boring. Temperature settings on the oven should be under 200° better if around 150°. A heat gun would not let the plastic soften evenly. As soon as the plastic softens and begins to droop over the form (like half a stovepipe) you pull it out of the oven and let it cool. REMEMBER TO OPEN THE WINDOWS WHILE EXPOSING PLASTICS TO HEAT. At the first sign of smoke you've failed miserably and you will not be allowed within 150 feet of the oven for five years. This a variation on how vacuforming is done. If you had access to a vacuforming table do it there but most of us don't I've never seen the lights. How do the lights work? But that's a lot of track cutting and wiring to make it work like I think you intend to do it. And how do you stop them from turning on again, once the first set of wheels has passed? ThirdCoast IHP is now selling the L cars as kits at a much lower price. A Tomix/Tomytec TM-04 or KD-25 chassis is a perfect fit with a little trimming. If you flip the power contacts on the trucks and remove the cones, you get fully functional inside bearing trucks. Bandai B-Train Shorty trucks trucks match the Tomix ones in wheelbase and size. If enough people ask Joe, at Island Modelworks to produce his fine HO L cars in N, he says he will. I'd love to get my hands on some 2000 series cars. And here's a fake 6000 made with Bandai B-Shorty body and Kato power and trucks.
I suffered through Metro's initial construction as they blasted their way under Bethesda. The system initially opened in '76. . Now the new Silver Line to Dulles is a-building and has Tyson's Corner all torn up. They just decided to go with an underground station at the airport, as the cheaper surface station would have been too far from the terminal (i.e., useless). By the time they finish it, I'll be outta here and in AZ (I hope). Can you say "Super Shuttle"??
askclifford, be sure to wrap some yellow caution tape around the elevator or an escalator or something, odds are that there are a couple Metro stations somewhere with something broken on it. And I just have my bachelors for architecture, I would need a masters degree and to pass the exams to actually be an architect. What am I then? Just a guy that's good at drawing and making models of buildings, I guess!
That sucks! I know a few commercial architects, and at one time wanted to be one. So, now that you have your bachelors in architecture, what is your current occupation?
Well right now I unload boxes from trucks while I look for a better job and look at maybe going back to grad school. Good planning on my part in graduating during a recession I guess!
ThirdCoast When I temped at Bankers Life one of my fellow graphic artists was trained as an architect. Maybe that's an area to look into. Was my info on the L cars helpful to you?
ChicagoNW yup, but I think there was another thread I was reading about the Chicago El that had the same info. I have checked out their website, but for now a model of the El isn't high on my list of priorities (I still need more Soo Line stuff, heh!). Plus I'm still hoping someone comes up with a model that doesn't involve quite as much piecing stuff together...but we shall see. Have you lived in/around Chicago?
Until 10 years ago I had lived my whole life there. Born on the North side grew up on the Southwest side worked Downtown and in the NW burbs and South side. Went to ITT to become an archi but studied ENG instead, hated it and started doing graphic design at several different newspapers. At the Hyde Park Herald I pasted up the story about this community organizer with a weird name (even for Hyde Park) running for the state house. I've always wondered how far he'd go before the politics wore him out. Went into the corporate world. They stranded me southwest of Atlanta. The L cars are as tough to build as any Lego project. Probably was me there too. I post a lot about them. For more generic subway trains the Bandai B-Train Shortys are great and cheap. For just under $200 I've got two 2-car and one 4-car trains coming from Hobby Search Japan. They'll snap together in about a half an hour. I hope you find all the SOO you are searching for. Always thought that white with red swoop was cool. Are you in Milwaukee or somewhere else on The Lake?
There might be a few vaguely similar elements, but the DC Metro stations have a standard, identical design whereas the LA Metro has a unique look to each station.
Wait, that was a joke? ThirdCoastRail: Amtrak is always hiring locomotive engineers here in Philadelphia. They provide on the job technical training. $60,000 start, $85,000 max
That's probably true, while I've ridden the DC Metro several times, I've only been on LA's once, took the Red Line from Wilshire to Hollywood and back one afternoon (my first time on a subway, actually). I thought I remembered one of the LA stations having coffered ceilings somewhere, but I could easily be wrong.
