Stay warm ? Ain’t bitten by the modeling bug in a few years. Might do something historic again but not sure .
Believe it or not I’m still here, just not posting. Posted some stuff on FB, But I’ve actually been a busy boy. Converted a Eztec 2-6-0 to track power, recabbing a New Bright 4-4-0 also track powered, built a couple full on kitbash locos. Plans for the winter are to clear off the garage layout and rework the track a little and get the blasted thing running again. I havent used the outdoor layout hardly at all, its just been too damn hot here all summer, and when the sun goes down the mosquitos come out and make being outside miserable. Oh well, back to great indoors.
First up this Fall was this project I have been putting off for a couple of years. Not really on the work bench, well it sorta is a bench 
Two years ago when I repainted the house and 3 and a half sides of the shop I just didn’t want to deal with repainting this side above and below the Redding yards. But I couldn’t put it off any longer so off came all the buildings, well except one. I left the track in place and bridged over it with planks. What a bear getting up between the patio rafters to paint the main roof overhang.
Most all of these buildings have been out for 2-3 years or more and even though they are under the patio roof they still get covered in dust, spider webs, bird and squirrel leavings as well as the damp air/fog leaving it’s mark.
Now that the walls, overhang, and rafters are repainted all the buildings will be going into the shop for a once over and cleaning before reinstallation.
Many things coming into my train running season, so more actual trains on the layout fun times. Still have 2 locomotives I want to swap to RailPro, , building kits I got last year need building, I have a LOT of layout work to be done also, so it will be busy winter for me and hopefully I can get some things really done quickly as I will be having a own house for our club before Christmas!
Oh, I forgot “Get Revo into the two railtrucks I got from Ken’s estate”
Maybe clean my workbench so I can see the top … 
1 Like
Finishing up a half dozen have done projects…
Slowly expanding my layout over this summer and now with the onset of fall/winter in the next few months I plan to get some buildings done. Or at least some progress made on them.
I’m planning on scratch building a couple more AEX gondola’s this winter , going to install Railpro finally in a GP 30 , and am still experamenting with a smoke unit for a F3 b unit . I want the smoke unit to work with “fog juice” and have had some limited success .
I’ve got a manure load of things that need done.
Finish kit bashing a 7/8 porter a friend gave me.
Finish sorting out a huge pile if Narrow Gauge Gazettes, Finescale, Outdoor Railways, and other magazines so I can sell them.
Finish a 7/8 Willamette donkey with a full length shed on it.
Clean the shop out of bits, parts and junk left over from years of modeling.
Update; The Redding yards are back up and functioning. All the buildings are cleaned up and repaired, some new signage added and finally all lighting is operational, well sort of, more on that in a minute.
A couple of pictures with the early morning sun coming into the patio.
A couple of pictures at dusk showing the exterior lighting on the buildings.
OK, I discovered that my Bachmann starter set transformer is not enough to power these lights without kicking off after 3-4 minutes. There is twenty four 14 volt bulbs and even with the transformer at half “throttle” it kicks off.
So can one of you electrical whizzes out there tell me I should use without burning out all those bulbs?
Thanks
Rick
PS, maybe I should start a separate thread for that question
Rather simple, and very widely used these days…LED’s…VERY inexpensive, less than old commonly known, Light Bulbs.
You can use simple power supplies like those 6-9-12 volt things that you end up with from old cordless telephones and other throw away electrical junk. Even I figured out how to use the LED’s without problems…just use the correct resistors…etc.
One of your electrically smart friends can help you on these things.
Fred Mills
“Winter?” What is this…“winter?”
Teasing aside, now through the Mik is a period of building respite so I can give over the lanai to Halloween costume making, Thanksgiving turkey eating, and Christmas decorating. There are a myriad of small repairs to make on the Triple O, bits to sort, and ideas to contemplate. I laid out a number of possible coming projects at the end of this thread: Triple O – 2022 Plans & Objectives.
But first the Mik!
Eric
You can buy old HO 12V train controllers on eBay for $5 or so. Just try to find one that puts out more watts than the Bachmann!
Another option would be a 12V battery (with a fuse or circuit breaker.) A motorcycle battery or old car battery will work.
Thanks Pete,
I don’t want to go the battery route because they need care and feeding. I think a larger transformer is what I want, we have a train show coming next month, a good place to look for one.
Fred,
yes LED’s are great but I don’t really want to rewire 15 buildings that have bulbs that work perfectly fine
1 Like
you could use an old computer-powerpack.
https://kormsen.info/steering/bilder/trafo03.JPG
for the how-to look here:
https://www.wikihow.com/Convert-a-Computer-ATX-Power-Supply-to-a-Lab-Power-Supply
Reduce the bulb “wattage” or a garden landscape transformer as suggested.
I’ve been using a garden path power supply for 18 years now . It’s 12 volt DC and I think it’s 600 watts . It is made by Malibu It also has a built in timer.
Yep. Ex RG 345 is on my bench for the same goal. I got the tender changed out easily to an Accucraft, but the height still needs work. On the pilot he left the factory mount, but a screw is missing. The pilot was hacked a bunch and pvc added behind the beam, which fouled the wheels, to get a Kaydee to work. Need to find a screw but Bachmann still has the original couplers in stock. I left the originals on all my others and they work fine for me. Thinking about fabricating a wood pilot copied from EBT 12 for her.
Love these shots! Thanks for posting.
I have to say I have gone all battery power on my engines and rolling stock. Rail Pro for the engines and 9V battery power in the rolling stock where needed, with LED’s in your rolling stock the battery will last for a long time, I’m talking days running 3-4 small LED’s. I will be putting LED’s in all my building, etc. and powering with a small transformer set at about 9V’s power output. Remember LED’s you adjust the lamp brightness with resistors, not the power output from your power source. By using resistors you can have your brightness where you want it and one power source. LED’s are very easy to work with, sound complicated, but it’s not.
trainman