All you easterners are asleep or working the graveyard shift, but it is just after midnight on the left coast, so it is Friday.
Here is a new addition to the Seneca Falls stable of engines. It is a BLI Brass Hybrid UP TTT-6. It is a nice looking engine, sounds really good. A bit of a problem getting the front tender truck to stay on the rails. So far the lead axle was a bit narrow, but I believe it to be the truck, itself, maybe the spring,…not sure. I’ll keep working on it.
Here she is working the mine spur to Sentinel Coal.
Great scene. Is it a specific region of the UP or are you protolancing?
If you work out the problem with the front truck, please post it. I’ve had the same trouble with a Spectrum Niagra and haven’t figured it out yet. I thought it was a problem with some Bachmann’s since I had an old Consolidation with the same problem but apparently that is not the case.
Not much from me this week, just working on facia boards. It’s something I should have done a long, long time ago. Anyway, isn’t it amazing how much they add to the railroad. Here’s a before and after of one section.
Thanks, gentlemen. This is the lead truck on the tender, not the pilot truck…not sure if you understood that, John.
I think I nipped it early this morning…near 0100 hrs. I removed the tow bar and put a very shallow S-kink in it so that the end with the towing holes was perhaps 1/16" lower to the rails, maybe even half that. I also found a small shallow block cast onto the rear face of the frame below the running plate. The lower edge of that block, metal like the frame, protruded past the frame’s lower surface, the one against which the tow bar would move or slide. I filed it down a bit and rounded the corners so that the towbar won’t snag as it swings left and right. In a very short confirmation test, before my eyes gave out last night, the tender rode better and did not derail at the same spot.
I have had to alter the angle on towbars with other engines. The Rivarossi Allegheny comes to mind, and for the same reason as the towbar riding up too high on the tow pin to the extent that it sometimes lifts the front of the tender right off the rails.
The Young valve gear is new to me, and I enjoy watching it. BLI have a really sweet engine with the UP TTT.
I built this model of the Los Angeles River that can be clamped against the fascia board and used for photography. It was made from a cardboard box material and painted with Latex paint. Modeling the Los Angeles River
Thanks for starting WPF. If the tender continues to give you trouble you might try loosening the pivot screws on the lead tender truck about a quarter turn. That may help the truck to settle onto the rails a little better. And remember this illustration:
If the wheels are in gauge but off center the truck “crab-walks” on the rails.
I love the GD-30J, but wouldn’t it be called SD-30? Course that’s looking at it prototypically. I’ve also considered remodeling a GP30 with out the side blisters thinking they were for dynamic brakes, which I would not want or need, but then realized those blisters might not be for dynamic brakes. The main design attribute of the “30” that I like is how the long hood is taller than the cab and flows over it.
I also liked the MOW converted Amtrak car. That car is very cool looking and now I want to model one myself even though I would have no serious use for it [(-D]. Unless city/industrial park scenes have a use MOW equipement.
Thanks Don: Is that the yard that RT 83 crosses over? I based mine on the old concrete bridge that carries old RT 30, now RT462 over the Susquehanna River.
Sorry for the oversight earlier, John, but I forgot this question. It is protolanced and looks okay by accident. A happy accident as it turns out. [(-D]
Grampy, from what I can see of yours in your photo it’s going to be about the same color maybe only a little darker green. BTW, is that the track power light that I see on your Digitrax UP-5 on your facia?
Hi Jarrell: I was trying to match the WS dark green scenery products. IMHO I think you’re making a great choice. And, yes that’s a UP-5. I actually had 2 shots like this, I noticed the UP-5 after I posted.
Well all, here we have my first ever attempt at weathering. It’s a work in progress.
First photo is an old Tyco car I had from some of my first cars waaayyyy back in the day (70’s). It’s shinny as all get out and figured it would be a good one to start with.
These next are photos of the FIRST coat. Oh, haven’t gotten to the wheels yet :o Now just waiting for the dulcote to dry and move on to the next layer…
Side 1
Side 2
End 1
End 2
Top
Not totally happy with it, but hey, still figuring things out. Think I like side one better than side two. But the ends and roof are STILL shinny! More dul needed eh?
I’m getting a far greater appreciation of your all’s weathering work!!
