Thanks, guys!
Eric: After yesterday’s electronics extravaganza, I feel more like I’m “soldering” on 
Jean-Gilles: Your models are always so full of character. That’s a fantastic railtruck, and I’m extremely impressed by your brass building skills!
Got the bed of the back part of the truck in place, started to assemble the cab, took it for a short spin just to make sure everything was ok (wow is that held together with twine and chewing gum):
Photos:
And a short video:
Cheers!
Looking good Jim. Glad to see the truck out on the rails. I see the wire and tape, But I missed the gum (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
Looking really good Jim!
Today was painting the “rust” undercoat on the truck cab and tucking away the electronics/battery.
Notes:
- I was careful to make it relatively easy to get the battery out so I could replace it
- The on/off switch and charging socket need to be pretty sturdy as the insert/remove charge plug is a bit stiff
- I haven’t figure out yet how to get the front/rear lights to go on/off. The wires are there, and there are instructions for what DCC CV to set but I haven’t figure out yet how to do that through my Airwire controller. Well to be clear: I followed the instructions (I think) but nothing happened. Anybody else figure out how to do that?
- I’m thinking of using Dennis Rayon’s weathering technique of painting rust first, then paint top coat and use a bit of thinner to remove the top coat where I want rust
- The electronics enclosure you see here will be entirely hidden with a sliding “barn door” that will open to give battery and on/off/charging access
- I’ve decided that this truck is my personnel transport (to the mine and logging areas) as well as the US Mail delivery. That (in theory) justifies having the storage area in the front and seating in the back
Here are some progress pix, and a video:
And a short run just to be sure it all still works:
Cheers!
Well, the famous “if you edit, the video doesn’t show” bug just hit me. So here’s the video I promised in the previous post:
Jim, you’ve created a unique rail truck for your RR And I for one appreciate you taking us along with you on this journey. You’ve shown that with a little imagination and ingenuity, one can build a most useful model. Are you going to put couplers on the front and back just in case you want to push or pull another car?
Thanks, Dan. Very nice. Current plan is no couplers. Not sure I have any solid reasons, but am pretty sure I don’t want them…
Jim you are into the creation of another wonderful one of the kind projects. This is headed towards another great project, thanks for sharing.
Dennis
Jim the rail truck is coming along nicely. I really like the chain drive working. My only concern is the alligator clips are not to scale(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
You can view our BAGRS monthly news letter, Trellis and Trestle, Jim has a great article about his layout.
https://www.bagrs.org/resources/Documents/TrellisTrestle_1_21.pdf
Jim, Your rail truck is great. Very imaginative.
Doc
With a little help from friends (cough Dennis Rayon, future-son-in-law cough), got some 3D things printed for the railtruck.
Gas tank (will sit on some wood supports):
And some luggage of various types for the travelers:
[edited to remove an extra picture that I somehow inserted]
Jim Rowson said:
(cough Dennis Rayon, future-son-in-law cough)
Discuss !
Rooster Cravits peeps through the blinds
Me likes (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)What about that jug sitting over there in the background?? I’m sure that will not be used for any illegal activity, hmmmmm (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)
Your future son in law is Dennis Rayon? Now I know you are a cheater. That would be the same thing as Ray Dunakin being my boyfriend
Not that there’s anything wrong with that…
I admire Dennis’ work for his cliff hangers as much as Ray’s interiors. Both are awesome modelers.
Dennis and Ray are simply awesome, each in their own unique style.
I agree Jim. We have a lot of stand out talent in our group. I am humbled to be able to learn from them.