what is going on? - or better said, why is nearly nothing going on?
Hard to report about progress made in the ponder chair… but I will claim 2 solid ideas for my future redo. Then the heat drove me back inside, too soon for 100*F.(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)
I’m better now thanks.
John
Well let’s see for me…
Friday 5-13-16, 0730hr Quick trip to Silverton, for 315 inspection, 1730Hr Art Walk, I’ll be at the wives studio till 2100hrs.
Sat, 5-14-16, 0830hr NMRA Silver San Juan Div. meet in Farmington, I’ll show off the Taylor Tin building. 1530hr. Meet with a Steel guy for re-shaping steel braces for car 04432.
Sun, 5-15-16 RUN TRAINS.
Monday 5-16-16, Drive to Durango Co. For 04432 stuff. Pm. Get re-bent steel for 04432
Wed 5-18-16, Work session on 04432. more woodwork to Finnish.
Other then that I haven’t got much to do, other then run my portrait studio.
Edit: Oh yah, I’ve got some Aluminum castings for Emma Sweeny that I have to do some machining on.
Well actually I was kinda wondering the same thing korm. And as one of the major contributors with active projects I direct the conversation to you as well. I ain’t ponting finger we all need to get off our Duff’s and do something entertaining.
Korm, between the rain, work, and home stuff, I am moving at my usual, glacial pace. Actually, I feel that I am moving slightly faster then that, but still, not fast.
Korm Kormsen said:
what is going on? - or better said, why is nearly nothing going on?
because?
I am continuing to rebuild the shay. Not a lot of progress but some. been doodling around with layout plans. Still wrestling with method to elevate RR Without spending a fortune. Keeping up with all of Devon’s projects has become almost a full time job. I am certainly glad he is sharing them with us, though.
Oh, and lets not forget all the honey-do projects that I am required to work on too!!
If it feels slow here, there are a couple of other train forums with much less activity and interesting things happening.
We need new toys!
Greg
As I ask people who have taken a hiatus from the message board for awhile, “What it is?” “What’s goin’ down?” “What’s shakin’?” “How’s it hang…?” Well, you know. Thanks for asking, Korm!
Just finishing up retrofitting all my LGB and USA Trains rolling stock with Bachmann steel wheels. I was advised that the current crop of wheels would not exhibit any wobblers, but I’ve picked out a few that are less than desirable. Will try to fix these by punching out the plastic hubs with a pin gauge and wooden hammer, then removing extraneous flash from the hubs and see what happens. I’m very happy with the looks of these wheels (and the price at 60 bucks for 6 car’s worth) but not 100% happy that they’re not more “true”. The old adage really applies here that you get what you pay for, but many of my ‘collectible’ reefers won’t see direct California sun anyway so I guess I’m happy. Also, note to self - procure a wheel gauge for the use of aligning wheel distance on my 92421 Bachmann wheels.
Then the biggee. Not just by cost but for the labor involved. Retrofitting all my cars with either Kadee 830’s or 906 couplers. I’m still deciding whether or not to cut the ends of these cars to accommodate the body-mount couplers or just throw in the towel and fall back on the 831 truck mounts. Tough decision, but somebody has to do it. Thanks to Mr. Strong, Mr. Harris, and Mr. Watson for their valuable input regarding body-mount conversion. If I could just mass produce some styrene blocks/shims with tapped holes for mounting the coupler boxes cleanly, I’d be half way there!
Korm Kormsen said:
what is going on? - or better said, why is nearly nothing going on?
Korm, I’ve been fairly productive lately modelling-wise; I’ve working on the mining district on my layout and haven’t had time to post pictures. I’ll get to that though. I agree, though…it seems slow around here.
Dave Taylor said:
Well let’s see for me…
Friday 5-13-16, 0730hr Quick trip to Silverton, for 315 inspection, 1730Hr Art Walk, I’ll be at the wives studio till 2100hrs.
Sat, 5-14-16, 0830hr NMRA Silver San Juan Div. meet in Farmington, I’ll show off the Taylor Tin building. 1530hr. Meet with a Steel guy for re-shaping steel braces for car 04432.
Sun, 5-15-16 RUN TRAINS.
Monday 5-16-16, Drive to Durango Co. For 04432 stuff. Pm. Get re-bent steel for 04432
Wed 5-18-16, Work session on 04432. more woodwork to Finnish.
Other then that I haven’t got much to do, other then run my portrait studio.
Edit: Oh yah, I’ve got some Aluminum castings for Emma Sweeny that I have to do some machining on.
Sooooooooooooo, you took Tuesday off?? Geez, come on, Dave.
(p.s. I’m getting to where I can’t stand the art walks we have up here on First Fridays; they’re turning into a bunch of lookie-loos entertaining themselves for free. It’s been bad for months. It’s like I’m running a museum for them. If your wife paints some more train pictures, I hope you post them here.)
Dan Hilyer said:
Keeping up with all of Devon’s projects has become almost a full time job.
I am not sure how to respond to this. I am either ambitious, stupid, full of crap, or a combination of all of those things. Between the fifteen projects I have started and haven’t completed and the 100 others I want to start I am not sure anymore what I am doing or trying to accomplish.
Isn’t it about time for MIK 2017. . .
John Passaro said:
Korm Kormsen said:
what is going on? - or better said, why is nearly nothing going on?
Korm, I’ve been fairly productive lately modelling-wise; I’ve working on the mining district on my layout and haven’t had time to post pictures. I’ll get to that though. I agree, though…it seems slow around here.
Yeah John your exempt. You have been busy
reading the answers some disturbing thoughts pass through my head.
we are getting old and lazy. (and the youngsters among us have little kids, that compete for their time)
we dont’t buy much new staff, to brag with.
most of us seem to be married, so that the hobby gets the back-seat behind darling-does and work.
we are still burnt out from the hectic contest in jan/feb.
and, the main reason for the low tide is rooster, who is afraid to make the dangerous step to post 10,000!
talking about poultry… what has become of the adventures of the greenfooted rooster? got he caught in Kentucky?
I’ve been busy, I just haven’t taken photos of what I’ve been up to. Here’s a quick sample.
1) Rockhill Iron & Coal “Dinky” #1
Ebay basket case purchased for not a whole lot. Repaired and repainted. (The “repair” part of the process is in the current GR. The “repaint” will follow next issue.) Fitted with an 11.1v battery, and a TCS WowSound decoder driven by an Airwire “Convertr.” The RI&C did own a small Porter 0-4-0, though it was a heavier version than this.
2) Tuscarora Timber Co. M-2
This is what happens when there’s new technology (Tam Valley Depot receivers) that enable you to start experimenting with many of the latest DCC decoders available on the market, but your daughter won’t let you use “her” Bachmann Davenport as a test locomotive to play with them. Fortunately, Trainworld had them for a good price, and I had birthday money to spend. This still has a few minor little details left to go on it, and then it’s off to the paint shop. Zimo MX645 decoder with Tam Valley Depot’s DRS1 HiPower receiver.
3) Tuscarora RR #10
If you haven’t noticed a pattern yet, I’m currently on a “I want to try a whole slew of new decoder technology” kick. I’ve had TRR #10 for quite a while, though I don’t run it all that often. It was fitted with the Crest Revolution with an old Sierra sound system. I’ve gotten spoiled with the latest technology when it comes to sounds, and when Soundtraxx released a 4-amp version of their “Econami” DCC decoder, I had to give it a try. The Revo/Sierra combo was yanked in favor of a Tam Valley receiver/Econami set-up. My full review will be in the next GR; suffice to say, it’s pretty slick.
4) East Broad Top M-4
Historically speaking, the EBT M-4 is a small Plymouth that came to the railroad in the 1970s. This is purely a “what-if” locomotive, and has ties to both my recent fascination with new sound decoders, but also the NW-2 (narrow gauge) project I did for my dad’s railroad, and also a 70-ton Porter diesel that currently runs up on the Georgetown Loop. I found drawings of that loco, and it’s just too big (think standard gauge on narrow gauge trucks), so I kind of blended it, the SP’s “Little Giant”, and an Alco S-2 to come up with this loco. It’s the trucks and hood from an LGB White Pass diesel, with a widened frame and new cab.
It’s documented that GE went to the EBT in the early 1950s with a proposal for diesels to replace the aging mikados. Had the EBT opted to go that route, the operating vice president of the railroad said he would have continued the “M-#” numbering series, which at that time ended with M-3, as opposed to numbering them #19, #20, etc. So, if I go with the “what if” route, this will become EBT M-4 to honor what the EBT management said they would have done. (I will, however, depart from the basic black which was to be applied.) I supposed I could also call it “Tuscarora Timber M-3,” but I’m still not quite convinced the TTCo would have had need of what scales to a 50-ton locomotive.
5) Tuscarora RR Caboose #1
About a year or so ago, there was a thread on here discussing the Bachmann 8-wheel caboose, and whether it measures up well in 1:20.3 Coincidentally during that time, I was given a Bachmann 8-wheel caboose, so I decided to upscale it to 1:20.3. Here’s where that process stands right now. That’s still mostly the stock Bachmann caboose, though raised the sides about 5/16", and relaminated them with new scribed siding, reducing the number of windows and adding a sliding door to one side, a la the Tionesta Valley cabooses (The Tionesta Valley RR ran in Northwestern PA, not to be confused with the Tuscarora Valley RR which ran just east of the EBT, and who did not have cabooses.)
6) EBT Box cars #109 and #114
These are both rebuilds of sorts. The box car in the front started life as an LGB stock car. Try as I might, I couldn’t get past its obvious resemblance to D&RGW stock cars, so it never looked in keeping with my modified Bachmann stock car modeled after an EBT stock car. So, the obvious solution was to convert it to a box car, right? (Hey, collectors, your c. 1975 green stock car just became a little more valuable.)
The car behind it is a lengthened Bachmann box car that I first did a number of years ago. Problem was, I laminated the car with 1/32" Midwest scribed wood siding. Thin wood sheets and rain don’t really play well together. I will say, that the wood panels warped very neatly along the scribed lines, and the car began to take on “character” as various boards began to look warped and slightly askew. That was good for a while, but it just kept getting worse, so I ended up scraping off all the wood sheet, and replaced it with Evergreen styrene.
Both of these cars, though built from models ostensibly scaled to 1:22.5, scale out very well for c. 1870s Billmeyer and Smalls frieght cars when measured to 1:20.3.
#7) Delton Hopper rebuilds
No pictures of these, as they’re nowhere near far enough along for that. I’m adding horizontal sheathing to the long sides of the cars, and raising the sides up about 3/8" overall. That’ll give me 3 styles of early wood EBT hoppers.
So, lots going on, but little time to write about it and post photos.
Later,
K
Wow Kevin you are busy as usual.
I haven’t been doing much that is news worthy. I did finally cut a third access hole in my long tunnel, repaired and painted a few buildings and had a train pulling a few laps yesterday but beyond that not too much. It is finally warming up a bit here in the Northeast so buildings and details are making it back onto the layout. There is still need to rebalast and level a few areas and tidy up.
I do plan on getting the engine house and turntable out this weekend.
Not much going on.
Well, lets see, I could spend time photographing what I have been doing, more time editing and resizing them, more time uploading them and yet more time posting verbiage to go with them but in the end I find I get more done away from the computer than on it. If that makes me a selfish SOB, so be it !
Well…I am trying to get a laser cutter to work ( have been for a couple of days)…so I can cut some wood for model buildings. etc.,
Huh! — I have arrived at the “Where’s the lumphammer”? stage with it…
(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)
Spring has sprung and I’m right back where I left off from last fall… rebuilding the IIRR
http://largescalecentral.com/forums/topic/22149/iron-island-rr-take-two?page=1
The scene remains the same…
And, No Nico, I didn’t get a hair cut.
-Kevin.
Working my day job, part time job, still working on the railroad(have a long thread on it in picture forum), and now cleaning up from a flash flood. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-yell.gif)
