Finished the sanding, and went on to pre-assembling certain groups of parts. These will also need sanding.
Then, on to chassis assembly I hope.
Since were speaking hope here. I’m hoping it will be historically and prototypically assembled with E-6000.
I’m saving this photo for when Herself asks “Do you reeeeeallllly need to buy another clamp?”
I’m going to say that the only person I know to have successfully bred them in captivity is Cliff Jennings. 
That would be for metal to wood joints. For wood to wood, I’m using TiteBond III, which went by HorseGoo XI back in the day. An early competitor, used by the V&T, was CowBond 9 (eventually “Elmers”). I prefer the HG/TB for durability outdoors, so I hope no one will detect the difference. The only reason I’ve seen on why the V&T used CB/Elmers was that they’d get a bulk discount when turning in some of the steer they ran over.
After that pre-assembly came the chassis frame assembly, which involved gluing the end and side sills together on a jig, and then clamping all that. The jig has 4 holes in the corners, which were drilled and had glued dowels inserted.
After clipping the dowels and removing the jig, this was the result.
These were clipped and sanded.
Then I glued on the walk planks…
…and, with Bill’s statement echoing in my ears…
… ran out of clamps. 
Oh well. I got over it. 
Next step is drilling all the nail holes in those walk planks. 40 holes x 12 cars… Not sure why I thought this was such a great idea, but there’s no turning back now.
After that, cleanup (glue removal, filling & sanding as needed) of the frames, and then the bin supports.
Cheers,
Cliff
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BTW Bill, I got half those clamps from Bruce, and am very grateful. And after having this many, and seeing for myself that it’s good to have this many, yeah, I say it’s worth buying them. And I may buy more.
Bruce, I’ve been using the heck out of your Craftsman drill press, and I’m sure grateful for it! It’s bearings are still tight, and it does everything I want it to. A real workhorse.
But… yesterday there was a little pop and then a smell from the motor… After that, to get the motor turning, I have to turn the chuck quickly by hand. It runs fine, no smells, usual RPM. But the motor housing seems hot (?).
Anyone have an idea on how to diagnose and fix that?
Sounds like the start capacitor went blooey?
Thanks Bob!
I found an article which affirms your suggestion.
I realized that the hump enclosure thing on the rear of the motor was a likely spot to put such a thing. And viola, a cylinder emerged, with burst plastic, and lead and whatever having spewed forth.
Back in Modesto, we’d have called this a Clue.
So while the capacitor isn’t in the parts list in the manual, it seems available.
Sweet!
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I couldn’t find the thing available by its Sears number. But after knifing back the plastic housing, and reading / searching the cap specs, bam, $12 on Amazon, perfect match.
Dang! I had my money on
- Colonel Mustard
- in the new shed
- with the un-insulated screwdriver.
The frames are all done now,
On to staining and outfitting, starting with journals / wheels probably.
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The first staining step has been a sort of pre-stain, using the ol’ vinegar+decomposed-steel-wool solution I’d made a few years back. Stinks! But works.
After testing with various dilutions, I dunked everything in a bowl of it. It’s drying, and will hopefully turn gray, with harder grain darker and accentuated.
Then will come some reddish deck stain.
The other thing that happened today was that a metal shear came in. It’s cheap and not high quality, but from reviews should shear brass reasonably well. Al was kind enough to shear my initial stock for this, but, inspired by him, I’m trying to tool up for the rest that’s needed, and also future efforts.
Sucker’s heavy, my back still hurts from uncrating it a couple hours ago and getting it on the table! Yes, I lifted with my legs, and did a team lift (with me, myself and I). Anyway, it’s dang heavy. I need to assemble & calibrate it, and (as Al did, but probably not near as professionally) modify it for repeated shearing of identical strips.
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Harbor Freight?
Has slip rolls on top, is it a brake as well?
Frames look great.
I just found a quart in a plastic coffee can that must be ten years old. I used it to stain Brunt Coal a few years ago. The huge stainless steel nuts I used to keep the wood submerged still have rust stains 
I need to move it to a leak-proof container so it can travel.
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Rick, it’s a shear-brake-roller. Several have them (3-in-one metal shear or machine); I got mine from here:
I just put the replacement capacitor into the drill press, works good as new!
Cliff;
Back in the days when Floquil was available, I usually kept a bottle of Floquil Dio-Sol to clean my brushes. That same bottle of dirty Dio-Sol was also my go to for a weathering wash. Worked really well, but I’m so sorry those paints are no longer available.
Regards, David Meashey
Rather than modifying the shear for adjustable stops (I realized it was sort of beyond me), I took the easy way out and clamped down a bar of aluminum, using a 3/16" square styrene strip to gauge it from the blade.
As long as I had enough sheet material to grab onto from the rear, and push it against the clamped bar, I was able to get reasonably consistent strips, even from 1/32" sheet.
The shear’s stated capacity is 20 ga steel, but it barely did the .03 brass. I wouldn’t try .03 steel… But since I only need .025 brass, I think it’ll do fine.
All this work so Linda’s yarn club can come over and see them running.
" OMGosh they are sooo cute"!
Did you make them Clifford?
