Gidday All, Well it’s that time again and I should be shouting “Hurrah” , but its not been a great week , w**K wise, and it’s not over for me .[sigh] One aspect if my job that I loathe and detest is troubleshooting intermittent electrical faults. The only thing that I am really certain about concerning electricity is that if I touch the wrong terminal when the right switch is on, I make an excellent conductor to ground.[:(] (don’t be too concerned I only play with 12 or 24 volt systems).
Oh no!! , what on earth is the Bear rambling on about now???!!!, you say. Well I’ve always thought that electric locomotives are soulless, efficient certainly but just not for me. [tdn] But f I was ever to model European railways it would be because of one loco, and no it’s not one of those smart steam locomotives with their black and red livery that ran on the Deutsche Bahn.
I give you the Swiss Crocodile…
… and yes it’s electric.[:$] (note: this layout is still very new, the owner/builder is current scratch building the overhead catenary).
Thanks for starting Bear, always liked electrics, my club in Toledo had a portable Trolley layout that was the hit of any exhibition it was at.
Here are some cars I managed to finish this week.
Eastern Car Works 1958CF Covered Hopper Kit, added airlines for brakes, removed cast on sill steps and install A-line steps. Painted with Scalecoat II Boxcar Red and lettered with Herald King Decals.
Robbins Rails 50’ PS1 Boxcar Kit, replaced sill steps with A-Line steps, painted Scalecoat II Boxcar Red and lettered with Champ Decals.
Although Atlas has just released this car, one of my club members asked if I had ever done it, I said no but I had an undecorated Branchline Kit and some decals so I said I would replicate the Atlas Car. Car assembled with substitute A-line Sill steps and then Painted with Floquil Signal Red and Platinum Mist, then lettered with Mark Vaughn Decals.
Ooooh, don’t tempt me with electrics. I’ve seen Crocs up close, they are way cool. I’ve already been thinking about electrifying the Silverton Branch…oops, now the steam fanatics are looking for a rope and a tree![:O]
Rick,
Really like the MP car.
tomkat,
That highway is great!
Caught the mid-day passenger on the Cascade Branch.
I’ve been arranging things at Camp 10. Looks like some construction coming soon to this area, as I plan to install high line rig to lift poles out of the valley beyond.
If things looked a little bushier in the first pics, there have been trees going in all along, somewhere around 2,500 or them now.
Before
After
Finally finished my Campbell Durango Coaling Tower after looking at it for three months sitting half finished.
Final placement will be different, working on the arranging now. I also need to get more Ulrich SMD LEDs to build the overhead lamps that will hang on the coaling tower and a nearby light pole. Decided I can scratch-build the sandhouse, so stay tuned for all that.[:)]
Its been a busy week on the BRVRR. My grandson and I attended the Medina, OH train show last weekend and picked up a couple of items, one of which is the PRR N-5 caboose below:
The caboose, shown here at the end of a coal train, is a nice little Bowser kit that went together without a hitch. The only addition I made was some .010-inch clear styrene in the window frames. Next are some metal wheels to add to the weight.
In addition to building the caboose, I updated my website with some new photos and two new videos. Come and see!
WPF is always the best thread of the week. Thanks for sharing everyone.
Last Christmas one of our decorations (a wire frame deer with lights) wasn’t working, half the lights weren’t working, so I went out to see if I could fix it, I was following the wires for the lights. Turns out a wire had pulled out of the light, leaving the contacts exposed. So I touch the wire and of course I got electrocuted (with the energy that comes from the wall outlet), man did that hurt, should have unplugged it but didn’t, and I painfully learned that lesson. Always make sure you remove the energy source i.e unplug it when working with anything with electricity.
I saw one of those Crockadiles in Europe last year Bear, but it wasn’t running.
Here’s a little Intermountain tank car kit I put together this week. Can you spot the missing tiedown strap? I saw it come of the sprue but I dunno where it went, searched high and low for it. And I was working out on the patio which is nice and clear. If I’d been at my normal workbench there’s no chance I’d find it.
Other side
There are some very fine castings in this kit. Now for some oil leaks and dirt!
Why do I get this horrible feeling that I’ll be reading a new post, Electrification of the Silverton Branch, complete with photos, while I’m still mucking abaht deciding where to drive my first track spike. [sigh] [(-D]
Not to worry. I believe, as in the 1:1 world, that budget limitations are going to put a halt to any such sacrilegious efforts.[2c] The Bemo raw material I’d need is nice, but pricey.
I might just be able to fit one into the budget. Since it’s convertible from HOe to HOm, it should be an easy conversion to HOn3 (which is in between the other two, Euro narrowgauges.)
In the meantime, I did finish up the new $20 turntable.[:)]
Well, you may have been expecting this, so here it is.
I was also excited to see how the Blue Hues played on one another, & I like it.
I have been painting my IC&E units with Tamiya TS-44 Brilliant Blue, then decaling, Dullcoating, weathering, & a final coat of Dullcoat.
To me this is looking good. I believe the Microscale DM&E Stripes also show a nice Marigold color more than the other models, the BLI is really bright yellow. I found a good touch-up color for the Microscale stripes is UP Armour Yellow. Now you see it…
I also see in my lineup that if I want to model older DM&E units, the Scalecoat II Conrail Blue is a really good fit, to my eye it was too aqua (greenish), but I have been convincing myself I am going Green-Blue color blind with age. Perhaps not. When mixed with the Athearn factory units, it actually looks very acceptable.
The way I paint these is to buy rattle cans, & then shoot them in to hard Acrylic Cups, (flexible ones will melt), then pour into an Iwata airbrush & shoot.
If you click on the picture to enlarge it & look at the Scalecoat II model you may see what seems to be sand in the paint, well that is an accident, I reused a cup, & the paint reacted with the old dry paint, & killed that one, it will have to go into the paint remover tank, lesson learned. Use a new cup with Scalecoat II.
I hope this helps some of you, if you want to custom paint your models.
Thanks for looking!
Garry,
Many thanks!!!
I have been slacking since going back to work, & hearing about the Factory releases some 2½ years ago, sort of took the wind out of my sails…
Garry, Thank You!! for always contributing, & showing us a unique & interesting aspect of your layout on the CB&Q, I always enjoy your shots & great layout!!
Thanks for being a positive motivator, & supporting us!!!
I appreciate it, & I know others do to, Thanks Garry!!!
Happy November everyone! It’s been a while, I had too much going on to find time to contribute lately. I see a lot of nice work here once again! Bear, that’s a nice Crocodile! Also, it looks like the modeler has a nail in every tie. That’s extreme modeling! Rick, your kitbashing skills are exceptional! Tomkat and Mike, nice scenes! Jacon, very nice! That old diamond crossing sign is nice too! I actually have an original wooden one disassembled and stored in my shed. Someday I hope to reassemble it. It’s huge though.Curt, another nice scene! Allan, nice N5 caboose! We have a real N5 just like this at the rail museum. We have it painted in the Pennsy orange scheme of the 1960’s. Nice tank car Alan! you’ll probably have to make a tie down strap out of brass or styrene. Michael, nice excursion train! that Allegheny shouldn’t have any trouble hauling it! Chad, nice lineup! your custom paint scheme is sharp.Garry, another classic shot! You always do good work. Last week we started to replace an old mountain top that lifted off to access a corner of the layout. The original was constructed of paper mache with poly fiber covering it. It’s been on the layout for about 24 years now, and it was becoming an eyesore. The new mountaintop is blue foam and sculptamold with a base paint of acrylic turf colors, ground foam and super trees with Noch foliage. Here it is:
I was pleasantly surprised to see that MR chose to use a photo I posted in the gallery for the newsletter:
Congrats on the choice of your pic! That’s an honor.
Garry,
Actually, you really do make a point of encouraging others. It’s appreciated and we can always use more of that.
Chad,
I think it’s an interesting range of shades. With weathering and age, they probably duplicate the variety seen in real life.
Michael,
That scene is really coming along nicely. It’s a dramatic crossing[Y]
Bear,
Whipped together the quick and dirty, rough cut of Camp 10.
Had to do some leveling and grading first. Quick and easy with Sculptamold, which is why I love the stuff.
I already had poles made I use for loads, so chose a pair to act as the A-frame for a high line going down into the canyon beyond.
I used various types of “cable” had on hand. The only notable innovation was using the black elastic cord as the guy wires for the A-frame so they’ll always be taut.
I modeled it for now with it pulling an unseen log up the hill beyond the line of sight. Once I get a nice set of tong and some nice pulleys, I’ll rig them to the lower main line just as it lowers a pole onto the heap.
Got a lot of detail to add - bark, chow-hall, tools and figures, etc – and a siding of course! For now, it looks finished even if it’s not.
