MODELING It's Friday! 02-10-12 Weekend Modeling Plans.

Jim Wiggin Feb 10, 2012

  1. Jim Wiggin

    Jim Wiggin Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Friday is here once again as we move through the month of February during an unusual Winter here on the East Coast.

    I was supposed to be in Champaign Illinois (read home) this weekend but work had other ideas. I'll be working on the layout and continuing the project that is clean, organize and auction.

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    I started basic scenery this past Monday. I think if I can finish the road north of my intersection, I can then start on the middle of the layout. The center of the layout is divided by NH route 11 and is situated on a small hill, 3.5" (130' in N). This will act as a natural view block and is exactly the same layout in real live. I'll use a piece of pink foam I have to cut the pieces and hopefully get the south side of Depot street to meet Route 11. I would like to get all the styrene on the roads done and airbrushed.

    So how about you? Continuing projects? How about shows? Any full scale rail activity? Post your plans for the weekend with pictures if you want, and let us know what you'll be working on this weekend. We'll get back on Monday the 13th and see how we all did.

    ​High Greens!
     
  2. MisterBeasley

    MisterBeasley TrainBoard Supporter

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    During the week, I finished laying the girder rail for street running, and fit a piece of Code 83 flex track to join it to the rest of the layout. I gave it a brief test earlier in the week, pushing some cars across and then running a short engine and a trolley.

    I was happy that it worked as well as it did. It looks like the spots prone to derailment are all at section joints, so at least I got the gauge right. These will require some work. I was also kind of amazed that the track conducted power so well, since I haven't soldered any of the joints yet, and the only connection is the thin alignment wire and the butt connection. I only had one joint that I had to bridge to get power all the way to the end.

    So, I hope to get the bad spots fixed and the track joints soldered, along with some feeders. Then, I'll start measuring and cutting the cobblestone sheets (also from Proto 87) that will form the streets around the tracks. I've got 3 more structures for the area that aren't even started yet, and the ones that are almost ready still have some detailing. The engine that will be running there is an 0-6-0T tank engine, with little room for a sound decoder, so I'll be installing a SoundBug either in one of the buildings or under the layout. I'll have to program that as well. I may try putting together a custom "sound project" for it that will add some ambient seaport sounds like seagulls to the engine sounds.
     
  3. FLG

    FLG TrainBoard Member

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    buying some decal paper from a LHS to finish up two projects that have been idol for some time
     
  4. retsignalmtr

    retsignalmtr TrainBoard Member

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    I was going down to the museum in my town to work on the layout but with the expected snow it may not be open. So I will probably check my HO equipments wheelsets and coupler heights for an upcoming Greenberg show in a couple of weeks.
     
  5. TWhite

    TWhite TrainBoard Member

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    I'm going to continue replacing old magnets in some of my open-frame motors with newer 'rare-earth' types. I remotored 4 brass locos so far--2 PFM Rio Grande 2-8-8-2's, 1 Akane 2-8-8-4 and one Max Gray Cab-forward 4-8-8-2, and the results are simply astounding as far as slow speed control, increase in pulling power and decrease in motor noise. I was originally going to replace the motors with cans, until I read about the rare-earth magnets--a project which for these locos would have meant some serious re-gearing--but now I don't have to. I've got enough of these powerful magnets for 5 more locos, now the only thing I have to do is decide which ones, LOL!
    Tom
     

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