Mark, The scratch built cars look great. You are getting very good with styrene. Have you considered body mounting some under slung couplers so you can get them a little lower on the bolsters? The bodies look great but there is a little too much daylight between the trucks and the floor that isn't really your fault, it's as low as you can go with truck mounted couplers. On a car that short, it really shows though. I got something off my workbench tonight, after about 2 hours of fighting with my GS-4, I got the decoders programmed and running. It's a Tsunami dual decoder setup, ala John Columbo. It was a little tricky (read as P.I.T.A.) to program but it works so much better with a DZ125 for motor control over the Tsunami motor control.
Post Number 763 This is #763 on this thread. Those Z scale guys are showing the way with 2300 posts on their thread. Holey moley! Those guys need to do more modeling and less posting! (There must be something I can say here to get them to slow down.) Actually I follow all three scales that have this type thread...H0 scale, N scale, and Z scale. Pretty good info and some amazing models shown, too! :thumbs_up:
Well this weekend I almost have the Tenwheelers done. Just have to add lenses to the back-up lights installed on the rear of the tender oil bunks. Also finally found my very thin lead sheet and cut a few small pieces to mount on the one pilot truck. Then onto the test track again and those wicked old 7 and 5/8th inch switch set on two tracks. Made it through once then I managed to notice where the derails were occurring. Out came the flashlight and some close up viewing. Seems a rerailer installed just before one was causing the problem. A little trimming and then back to running. And would ya believe 5 out of 5 sucessfull transits of both switches in each direction. I figured these units could do less than a 9 and 3/4th inch. Starting to assemble the parts and pieces for the conversion of an Old Atlas 0-8-0 into a 2-8-0 with maybe a Belpaire firebox. Still looking at both the heavy mountain and light mountain although the light mountain now has a Belpaire firebox. Think GN P-1. And lastly I now have almost finished the masters for three river and coastal vessel hulls. I'm going to use resin cast hulls and styrene scratch build the decks and upper works.
Mark, those cars are looking fantastic! Can I ask you what coupler conversion you used for your Atlas Mogul?
Yep, those Z scalers got more than a three and a half year head start! They were already upwards of 1900 posts before this thread even began! I think we're catching up quick though. Either way, there is definitely some good info and amazing models shown in all three workbench threads. Great work everyone!! :thumbs_up:
Thanks Tony. Yeah, I was trying to brainstorm how I could solve that issue after I took the photo of the two cars side by side. One car had pizza-cutters which oddly enough, made it look better than the lo-pro wheels which left a huge gap between frame and truck. Today at the WGH Train show, I found some Archbar trucks for these. Between the coupler included/trucks only, I went ahead and chose the coupler truck. For now, I'll just run them high. When I build 1013, I'll see if I can incorporate the coupler into the frame more, and depending on how well/not so well that works, I may go back and apply the fix to 1005 and 1011. 1005 remains in the paint shop since it needed a few touch-ups. Unfortunately my first coat decided not to stick to some areas and of course the extra paint I mixed just for this reason went bad. I think I ran into this same issue within the first few pages of this thread... I HATE painting! Nonetheless, 1005 is painted. Also painted the Archbars and wheels. I'll see if I can get a snap shot of it in a few hours. Gonna try to get grab irons installed in 1011 so it can be painted as well, but that may not happen until about Friday.
And here it is! Virginia & Truckee Ventilated Boxcar #1005. (link goes to prototype) Side 1: Side 2: In train:
That boxcar came together perfectly! I can also see you've started on the other boxcar as well! You could repaint one of your old-time combines or baggage/mail cars in V&T colors to run on the tail end of that train and make it a mixed. As fir that mogul, if you want to make it an accurate V&T engine, there are drawings of every V&T engine here: (follow the locomotives drawings bar at the top to #20 and #13.) http://www.virginiaandtruckee.com/ If you replace the stock diamond stack with a larger balloon stack, and if you replace the round headlight with a more correct box headlight, then your mogul can be a really close match to either #20 Tahoe or #13 Empire, depending on what your atlas mogul is named on the cab side.
Mark, the cars look great! Lemme know if you need a square headlight as i have a couple packs of the cast pieces put out by Detail Associates.
Work continues on my Life-Like 2-8-4. Below is a previous shot from test fitting the re-worked sand dome in the correct location for the C&O 2736: Here it is now, also with a scratch built screen between the pumps on the pilot deck. I still have to add new sanding tubes and the lowered head light. I used a Gold Medal Models oval number plate over the original head light opening in the front of the smoke box.
Milw Fans Don't have pictures yet, but How about MILW grain hoppers in black and orange diesel scheme. and to add insult to injury how a MILW DD-40. Stripping paint right now. and the little matter of remodeling a my layout. Will post pictures as I get them done.
This would make a great how to threat. Very interested in learning how to do this with the lack of n scale vehicles from the 70s and 80s.
More shrunk down vehicles - a '51 Nash, a '53 Kaiser, a '53 Mercury, and a '48 Chrysler business coupe.
fred HI I just redid my richmond controls fred in a roadrailer. I used a kato caboose truck and it work out great:thumbs_up::tb-biggrin:
Well this week with the 0-8-0 conversion dead in the water working on the getting the molds poured for the last two ship hulls. Plus I decided to cast some molds for some of the superstructure. And I have two mountains a light and a heavy on the work bench in pieces being converted to GN units. A P1 and a P2. And the components for a possible powered railtruck are being studied. Think Kato 11-104 chassis for this.
