Being bored and not wanting to start a large project I have been finishing up little projects like loads ect. I also fixed a facia problem where there was a seam next to my computer chair that was knocked quite often and was backed at the top with only foam. I dug out a little space behind it and clamped a small peice of very hard wood I had around with wood glue as adhesive, worked great and now started to do nessisary touchup to ground cover etc. So what are you doing, big or small?
I guess my days of working on big projects are a thing of the past. I’m stuck at my computer/workbench working on small stuff.
I’m currently working on a Mel kitbash lounge car. I started out with a Athearn Heavyweight diner and a couple of donor shells. I cut out the smaller windows and added more large windows and now working on the frame.
I picked up a pair of new factory reject Athearn Diner car shells for $8 and pretty well chopped one up for this kitbach.
I plan on using the Athearn floor for the interior floor to keep the head room in proportion.
I’m going to fill the hole in the floor with #8 Birdshot for a bit of added weight.
Mel
My Model Railroad
http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/
Bakersfield, California
I’m beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
I need to prime and paint a backdrop and re-lay some track that I am not happy with. I don’t feel like doing either.
Kitbashing an ore bridge for my steel mill. Since I am in N scale I am using parts from the Walthers HO scale ore bridge and scratch building the other needed parts from my N scale parts box. It will be seven inches tall (93’4") tall and eight inches (106’8") wide.
I haven’t done a single thing related to the hobby since late February. Too many other things going on, and I like to have a clear slate of days before I return to fix something that needs it, or to embark on another chunk of the layout’s completion. I miss running my trains, but my rule is I don’t turn a wheel unless I’m in the train room working to advance the layout’s development.
Between cleaning up the winter’s mess, erecting a greenhouse kit whose instructions predict a typical completion time of ‘140 minutes’ [… [(-D][(-D][(-D] [D)] …], planting a gajillion seeds in flats, pulling weeds, spraying dormant sprays on apples, pruning shrubs and trees, hauling garden waste bags to the curb, painting our living room and arranging carpet replacement, …oy. Oh, and we had our youngest visit for two weeks with her new infant son. She has been cooped up since March last year, delivered in June, and then returned to new-mother bliss and being cooped up again. She needed a break, and my wife needed to see them, so we bit the bullet.
No trains, not for another two or three weeks. Maybe after taxes.
I left a few projects out when I packed away my train stuff 14 months ago.
I only have two left… I need to get this house work done!
-Kevin
Adding a firebox LED to a brass 2-6-6-2 Mallet to mimic an open firebox during shoveling.
I soldered two 1206 warm-white SMD LEDs in parallel:
These will backlight the firebox to mimic flicker. To let the light through the firebox I drilled #80 holes in the brass backhead:
The LEDs received a double coat of 2:1 Tamiya X-26 clear orange & X-20A thinner. I tested it on a single 1206 SMD LED with a 1.5K resistor wired to a test Loksound 5 decoder and it emits a very similar hue of orange-yellow from color prototype footage I’ve been able to find on the internet of an open firebox in a steamer.
As you can see the firebox door is closed on the model. However, the tiny holes in the firebox should emit enough light through into the cab area to give the impression that the firebox is being open from time-to-time.
In order to mount the double LED to the backside of the backhead and center it over the drilled holes, I’ve had to mount the LED inside a 0.10 x 0.25" OD piece of styrene tubing. I’ll use carpet tape to mount the tubing to the backhead. Once installed, I’ll button everything up and setup the installed Loksound 5 decoder in the 2-6-6-2 Mallet boiler for firebox flicker.
After that it’s figuring out how to best add a front headlight to the Mallet. A Mallet is trickier in that regard because the front set of drivers and headlight are a separate unit from the rear drivers, which are fixed to the frame. That means that the wires running from the decoder to the front headlight need to be “disconnect-able” in order to remove the boiler from the frame.
It was challenging enough to fit two speakers A
Hello All,
My modeling “season” is backward!
I am busiest with my work in the winter and have more free time in the summer.
To answer the question: EVERYTHING!
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Rework the spiral trestle (helix) from the upper unloading platform to the mainline below
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Re-motoring four GP-40s
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Re-lettering a GP-30-B for the BS&P R.R.
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Finish the installation of new trucks and wheels on over a dozen Tyco 34-foot operating hoppers
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Installing the trucks and couplers on a scratch built Gunderson Well Car along with the load of an oversized load of replacement conveyor belt for the coal mine
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Making the cribbing support for three flatcar loads:
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Water pump, crusher head, and generators
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Water diverging piping
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Two spans of 64- and 48-foot girder bridge sections
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Final details on the kitbashed Northern Light & Power building
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Upgrading the bridge over the mainline from the coal unloading platform
“That’s All Folks!”
Hope this helps.
My basement.
The inspector is coming to sign off on the gas line we had put in for the kitchen, which we decided to do while there’s no ceiling in the basement. Once that’s good and done, I can get back to work on the renovation.
The demo is 99 percent of the way there. I still have about 20 old nails from the furring strips to remove. After that, the new circuit for the sump pump can go in and I can decommission and remove old circuit. There’s also so remaining wiring left behind in chunks to pull out. In some places, there is wire stapled to a joist, but neither end connects to anything any more. Have to pull all that out.
You guys still have ambition. I’m just working on my first cold beer of the day.
Trying to recover from weekend back surgery.
What? Are these posts about actual model railroading projects? Did I stumble into the wrong forum?
On the workbench now are a set of Walthers Canadian bulkhead flats that are gaining weight using “Liquid Gravity.” Tried to find the company that once produced custom weight sets for freight cars, but they are not to be found.
I’m working on coverting or modifying some passengers cars…some into different types and some into baggage and other head-end car types. I’ll also be including at least three scratchbuilt postal cars, and a few fairly extreme changes for some Rivarossi coaches, which will become wooden baggage cars…this involves 17 or 18 cars, and will finish my passenger car modelling,
A few scratchbuilt freight cars may follow, or I might instead do steam locomotives. I have ten of those, six to detail to represent six different prototypes.
There are also two brass locos that will get scratchbuilt tender bodies, as the stock ones are incorrect for the locos being represented.
Of the remaining two, one is a simple upgrade of an old John English Pacific, while the other will be a scratchbuild of another particular prototype.
The start of the passenger car stuff can be seen HERE, but this particular “Challenge” will run to June 1st.
Wayne
Repairing a Spectrum Shay. The rear truck is fine. The front truck is repaired with a new set of NWSL gears. The center truck has the NWSL gears pressed on but they need to be moved to the left in order to fit the front universal joint. Last but not least is to cure the power pickup issues and create either a coal load or an oil tank top.
Two Proto 2k tank car kits to assemble.
I just scored an old Kadee skeleton log car kit NIB not assembled (obviously). I think I’ll assemble that first. The plastic logs need a bit of work to make them look more like wood.
I was momentarily tempted by an Intermountain F7B undecorated kit but no chassis of any kind so possibly not worth the effort. I already have an ABB consist of F7P. Still, CAD$20 for a NIB never touched complete kit seems cheap. Comes with window glass and metal grilles…
I’m continuing to build my all foam shelf layout, DCC. I have 19’ of benchwork with track laid out for testing. I have the shelf pilasters and brackets for the rest of around the room (another 20’ plus a 30" duckunder/lift out which seems to me should be a bridge of some sort, shame somehow to let such a deep canyon go to waste) and the foam materials I need, mostly. I have the track. I should have the time just as soon as I …
Re-design and reassemble our 18’ x10’ U shaped table top and foam Riser layout into a 9’6" x 23’10" L shaped DC layout, sort of still a bit U shaped (although as the British would put it more like it’s gone all pear shaped…).
We had to turn the 4’x9’ table at one end of the U 90 degrees and the other end 5’x10’ table also 90 degrees to fit properly. The track over the table joints all needs to be re-laid. We had to cut the 5’x 10’ table into three pieces to get it out of the old basement so two new joints were created. We now have to cut 2’ off the end of the 9’x4’ other end table to fit. Considering we are basically turn
Current project is two HO scale Conrail X72 boxcars. Started with two Life-Like Evans 50’ boxcars from Toys-R-Us. Modified the underframes to achieve the correct height and add cushioned underframe coupler boxes. Currently waiting for the new paint to dry and loose it’s odor before applying Champ decals.
Working on the Walthers Modern Lumber Transload kit…
https://www.walthers.com/modern-lumber-transload-kit
It happens to be a nice looking kit. However, it’s made for code 83 track, not code 100. Looks like a little shim work will make this fit on the tracks just fine. I like the look…
Neal
In addition to struggling my way to the end of my second year in Architecture school, I’ve been finishing up work on a Kaslo Shops N Scale SD50F Kit, pretty much just have to get some decals, do some light weathering, get the windows in, and do some wiring work on the chassis I got with it. Also, on a bigger scale, with the NEB&W I’m FINALLY starting work on our competition piece for Walthers’ National Model Railroad Build-Off this weekend! While we may still be separated from the majority of our railroad (it was dismantled as part of a move in Spring 2019 and hasn’t been moved into our new space due to Covid and other issues), we at least are working again, so that’s fun and exciting!
I built one of the Kaslo Shops SD50F kits. They are a little challenging, but with patience mine came out pretty well. Custom painted it for the BNSF in the H1 paint scheme.
Back in 2004-2005, when I first got into HO scale modeling, I bought most of my current locomotive roster, both steam and diesel, 41 locomotives in all.
I have just completed a project that I started in January of this year to fine tune the lighting on all 41 locomotives. When I first bought each locomotive, whatever the lighting functions were out of the box, I went with.
So, this current project included installation of LEDs to replace incandescent bulbs, proper functioning of headlights and Mars lights in forward and reverse directions, and documentation to indicate the proper F-keys on the throttle to control the light functions.
I am amazed at how screwed up the lighting functions were out of the box on my locomotive roster. But all is good now.
Rich
Nice. Mine’s in a scheme I devised for my fictional B&CCS. 
