MODELING It's Monday 02/13/12, Weekend Modeling Accomplishments.

Jim Wiggin Feb 13, 2012

  1. Jim Wiggin

    Jim Wiggin Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Well its happened again, another Monday is here and as the dust settles we come together to see our progress and accomplishments from the weekend.

    Didn't get much done Saturday as I went into the office to get some things done, but Sunday was devoted to the layout. It doesn't look like I got much done but it is progress nonetheless. I installed the Route 11 / ridge that will be a natural scenic divider. At only 2 inches high, it doesn't look too impressive. However even in it's current state, it has broken up the "see the whole layout in one blink." The real ridge is actually part of a bigger hill, bull dozers flattened out an area in the 1950's to make way for Route 11. Once I have the area covered with tall trees, the effect will be complete. I also ripped up the track that was on the opposite side of the layout and will be laying new track for up to three industries.

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    An ok weekend in the end.

    So, how about you? Any layout updates or reports from the shop? Anyone attend any shows? How about some railfanning? Leave your comments and progress shots below and let us know how you did. We'll get together again on Friday the 17th and do it all over again. Oh one more thing, for those of us who share our lives with a special lady, don't forget that Tuesday the 14th is Valentines Day. So treat your lady to some flowers and dinner and let her know how you feel. Our lady's put up with our trains so treat her special.

    ​High Greens!
     
  2. MisterBeasley

    MisterBeasley TrainBoard Supporter

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    Ah, it's starting to take shape, Jim. I love it when a plan comes together.

    I spent a lot of time, but made less progress than I'd hoped. I brought my magnifying lamp up to the trainroom and started looking at my installed girder rail more closely. As it turned out, I hadn't done as good a job of keeping it in gauge as I thought. So, I ended up prying most of one side of the rails up and re-laying them. I'm still working on that. I've been using CA to hold the rail sections down, but I think I've got to switch to something with more working time. Getting it right involves putting it in place, checking with the NMRA gauge and then adjusting the position, something that's pretty tough if the glue is already set.

    But, I did get the approach track glued in place and fed with power, and I got some power to the street-running track as well. Still some soldering to do, though, to get good connectivity all along the tracks. Those 4-inch sections of girder rail mean lots of solder joints.

    Since our predicted 3-6 inches of snow never accumulated more than a few flakes, I took advantage of the mild, dry outside weather to finish up the first of my rib-side Milwaukee boxcar kits. I was all done except for decals and weathering, so I had a chance to spray Dul-Coat without stinking up the garage.
     
  3. BNbob

    BNbob TrainBoard Member

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    Finally added lading straps to my scratchbuild Flex-i-Beam flat:

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    I used yellow plastic electrician's tape cut to length and sliced off 1/32-inch strips.
     
  4. RBrodzinsky

    RBrodzinsky November 18, 2022 Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter In Memoriam

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    I got the road along the river basically done, adding in a rock/boulder embankment below it.

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    and, got the road extended up and over the bridge, including striping.

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  5. Mark Dance

    Mark Dance TrainBoard Supporter

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    Painted a lot of rock and a lot of water. The Kootenay River scene on the C&W is coming together but still much much to do. A caboose hop from Nelson on its way to Castlegar.


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    Have a great week everyone.

    md
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 13, 2012
  6. retsignalmtr

    retsignalmtr TrainBoard Member

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    I went down to my towns museum to work on the layout Saturday. I ran my track cleaning slider car around for a while. I replaced the P O S original couplers on the RS2 that runs on the layout with Kaydee #5's. and I also picked up the wire I need to run a new DC buss for the main track
     

    Attached Files:

  7. Mike VE2TRV

    Mike VE2TRV TrainBoard Member

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    Did a lot of coupler replacements on freight cars I picked up at a model RR flea market a couple of weeks ago. Did the Athearn and Roundhouse cars first - they're easy. There are a few truck-mounted ones that I'm planning to do soon and will take a bit more work (and cussing). ;)
     
  8. SteamDonkey74

    SteamDonkey74 TrainBoard Supporter

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    I got the trickiest part of the cork down on my On30 sawmill module. It took a bit of extra time because for some reason the foam surface heaved upward a bit, so I took a Dremel plunge router attachment and even it up with the edge of the module. I also soldered feeder wires to my track and puzzled out how I am going to power the frogs on the turnouts.
     
  9. PGE-N°2

    PGE-N°2 TrainBoard Member

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    Mark, those pictures are absolutely breathtaking! That scene is incredible, even in it's current stage of production. The colour gradation creates a strong perception of depth in the scene, and you bridges look stunningly realistic.
     
  10. GP30

    GP30 TrainBoard Member

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    Finished lightning for the bottom level. Still need to paint the middle level benchwork.
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    Also worked on the US 21 overpass. Still need to work on raising the bridge up on the abutments. Funny how similar it is to Mr. Wiggin's set up!
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  11. TWhite

    TWhite TrainBoard Member

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    I spent the weekend re-newing some older DC open frame motors with new rare earth magnets on some of my older brass loco stock. Generally, these are locomotives where replacing the open-frame with cans would necessitate new gearboxes and drive trains. So far, I've replaced the old magnets in 6 locomotives--4 articulateds, a little PFM Rio Grande 4-6-0 and an old Max Gray MT-3 4-8-2. Can't believe the difference--starting voltage has gone WAY down, and the locos now begin at a 'creep'. It's also cut down on the noise and often fearsome top speed of these motors. So, if you've got some old DC open frame motors that need 'resuscitation', the rare earth magnets are the way to go. Got mine from Micromark. Two packages are enough to do 10 locos, and the price is pretty reasonable.

    I have no idea how these would work with DCC conversions, as I'm still strictly DC, but the difference in the running (and pulling) capacity of these locos is remarkable.

    Tom
     
  12. mu26aeh

    mu26aeh TrainBoard Member

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    Managed to work in my coal mine, and shot 2 videos. Added sound to one of them, they can be seen in the N Scale forum, under N Scale Modern CSX layout
     

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