Oh go on! You know you wanna! Besides, think how motivated you'll be while cleaning 47 half completed projects off of it so you can have Thanksgiving dinner.
Running Bear's April 2020 Coffee Shop
- Thread starter bnsf971
- Start date
- Status
santafewillie
Same Ol' Buzzard
Good Morning Everyone. Clear and 52° here this morning. Forecast changed a bit and we're supposed to be in the 80's today after only 76° yesterday. Sure was pleasant, albeit quite windy. Slight chance of rain late Monday night, it is needed.
Meanwhile I am seeing some early flowers on some tomato and pepper plants out in the garden. Looking forward to those fresh home-grown tomatoes.
I'll take the Sunday breakfast special today Flo. The board shows ham, grits and scrambled eggs with toast. Make mine whole wheat if you could.
Thanks to one and all for the comments and likes regarding the neighborhood tour and weathered covered hopper; Sherrel, Guy, Garry, Chet, Louis, Bob, Ken, Paul, Tom, Curt, Jerome, Phil.
Short, slow day in the train shed yesterday. I did an unsuccessful project. A few weeks ago when I was repairing the handrails on the pair of GP38-2's, I encountered this.
A missing numberboard. Since I have been unable to find it anywhere on the layout, I have to assume that the shop-vac ate it.
Went through my spare parts and found an old Athearn sprue with a clear one on it.
I painted the face and added some dry transfer numbers.
A little misaligned though. Let's see what it looks like.
NOPE! unacceptable. I will have to scrape them off, or just repaint the black, and start over using a smaller font. Difficulty - I CA'd it in!
Project for another day.
Meanwhile, my next small project. Remember this addition that I did last week?
When I added the piece of backdrop, I had to move the building on the left a bit over to the right to cover the edge. That left me with excess trackage on the left end of the spur.
I was already squeezing things on this side of Velikovsky's, so by removing that excess trackage, I will now have a scale 23' between the building and the soon to be installed track bumper. That will make for easier access for the HO scale vehicles to get to the back of the business.
Maybe I'll even install that loose ground throw that I never did fasten. And then there is the road, and the grade crossing, and the ground cover; the list goes on.
Stay tuned.
Joe - Thank you very much. It is indeed quiet around here, with the exception of one neighbor who gives us two trips by each day, when he rides his Harley to the mailbox and back, a 2.25 mi round trip! Normally when I walk, there is maybe one vehicle that passes me by on the road, most days there are none.
Good to read that maybe the Covid-19 cases have stabilized in your township. It looks like we have finally had the first and second confirmed cases in our county. They surmise that the first case was actually back in early March when a now recovered person who has recently tested positive for antibodies, first felt ill but was not tested because it was never severe.
Garry - I am ambivalent about the graffiti. It is indeed stupid vandalism, but if you don't cover the reporting marks, it seems that most railroads don't really care. I only apply it because it is a fact of life in my modeling era, 1978-1994.
Terry -
Today is National Pretzel Day, a treat in itself. But tomorrow is National Prime Rib Day, an even better treat. I have one in the freezer from when they were on sale for New Years Day. Better take it out later today.
Here comes Flo with my breakfast, gotta go now.
Everybody have a great day.
Meanwhile I am seeing some early flowers on some tomato and pepper plants out in the garden. Looking forward to those fresh home-grown tomatoes.
I'll take the Sunday breakfast special today Flo. The board shows ham, grits and scrambled eggs with toast. Make mine whole wheat if you could.
Thanks to one and all for the comments and likes regarding the neighborhood tour and weathered covered hopper; Sherrel, Guy, Garry, Chet, Louis, Bob, Ken, Paul, Tom, Curt, Jerome, Phil.
Short, slow day in the train shed yesterday. I did an unsuccessful project. A few weeks ago when I was repairing the handrails on the pair of GP38-2's, I encountered this.
A missing numberboard. Since I have been unable to find it anywhere on the layout, I have to assume that the shop-vac ate it.
Went through my spare parts and found an old Athearn sprue with a clear one on it.
I painted the face and added some dry transfer numbers.
A little misaligned though. Let's see what it looks like.
NOPE! unacceptable. I will have to scrape them off, or just repaint the black, and start over using a smaller font. Difficulty - I CA'd it in!
Project for another day.
Meanwhile, my next small project. Remember this addition that I did last week?
When I added the piece of backdrop, I had to move the building on the left a bit over to the right to cover the edge. That left me with excess trackage on the left end of the spur.
I was already squeezing things on this side of Velikovsky's, so by removing that excess trackage, I will now have a scale 23' between the building and the soon to be installed track bumper. That will make for easier access for the HO scale vehicles to get to the back of the business.
Maybe I'll even install that loose ground throw that I never did fasten. And then there is the road, and the grade crossing, and the ground cover; the list goes on.
Stay tuned.
Joe - Thank you very much. It is indeed quiet around here, with the exception of one neighbor who gives us two trips by each day, when he rides his Harley to the mailbox and back, a 2.25 mi round trip! Normally when I walk, there is maybe one vehicle that passes me by on the road, most days there are none.
Good to read that maybe the Covid-19 cases have stabilized in your township. It looks like we have finally had the first and second confirmed cases in our county. They surmise that the first case was actually back in early March when a now recovered person who has recently tested positive for antibodies, first felt ill but was not tested because it was never severe.
Garry - I am ambivalent about the graffiti. It is indeed stupid vandalism, but if you don't cover the reporting marks, it seems that most railroads don't really care. I only apply it because it is a fact of life in my modeling era, 1978-1994.
Terry -
Too bad. While he was sometimes controversial, he was certainly knowledgeable about northwestern railroads.
Today is National Pretzel Day, a treat in itself. But tomorrow is National Prime Rib Day, an even better treat. I have one in the freezer from when they were on sale for New Years Day. Better take it out later today.
Here comes Flo with my breakfast, gotta go now.
Everybody have a great day.
A guy at our club used to do that. Lots of interesting vids on You Tube cover it. Think trains are expensive? Get into guns. Get into guns & reloading! Makes brass trains look cheap, or at least alot more reasonable. I considered doing it but can only put that kind of money into one hobby, and this one won. I do like to shoot though, and the old West style of firearms are lots of fun. I do happen to own a couple of lever action rifles and a couple of single action pistols. They're lots of fun to shoot. when I take a break from trains I work on that hobby and vice versa. There is a Ruger .357 Vaquero on my shopping list down the road a bit.Thanks. I may look at Cowboy shooting once we get settled in the new house and stress goes down
With guns I know how easy it is to "over buy." I am a Dillon Precision dealer and used to (technically still do but have let it be for a while after getting burned out around 2012) run an online parts and accessories store in addition to Dillon stuff and my own personal collection of non cowboy oriented stuff is a little over done. Ok, a lot over done. (I have half a dozen black rifles [which aren't actually black], half built and parts waiting to be put together, and several older surplus rifle actions to make sporters from, etc. as well as almost 1/2 dozen presses). (If anyone needs Dillon stuff I can help out and help you save a little through free or reduced shipping -- not my main business any more but I am still hooked up and still help out my customer base as they need it)
Hmmm, why do I think there's a story here?
And that you're being tactful. He was...an interesting guy.
He became involved in an electronic altercation!
Morning from the Far Left!
Supposed to be 87 later on with part cloudy - was 94 for a high yesterday.
Got to run this morning to make the "senior" hour at Wally World.
The posts have been most interesting this morning! "Stones" make me shudder just mentioning them.
Supposed to be 87 later on with part cloudy - was 94 for a high yesterday.
Got to run this morning to make the "senior" hour at Wally World.
The posts have been most interesting this morning! "Stones" make me shudder just mentioning them.
CambriaArea51
Well-Known Member
Good morning....44 and light rain, good day for trains. Need some go go juice. Coffee Flo please.
Boris
Beach Bum
Alan: True, although I might substitute perplexing.
Willie: After a day of no change, it jumped by another 12. The new "anti-body" test appears to be swelling the numbers, a tad. OTOH, this is a SARS Virus. Its also been suggested, that the "anti-bodies" may also have come from the "Flu Shot", although that correlation will take some research. There is just so much the scientific community does not know about this Virus.
As far as testing is concerned, although my wife and I are both considered "vulnerable" due to chronic medical issues, we do not qualify to receive a test, under current regulation, because we do not exhibit "key" symptoms or indicators, so we do not qualify for a prescription. Since we are no longer actively employed, we don't qualify for testing due to "critical occupation" status. Since I didn't get a flu shot this past fall, I imagine a test showing anti-bodies, would indicate I had it and didn't know it, but I will probably not find out, eh?
On the layout front, I find myself gathering material, for a Ford Motor Assembly Plant, [ Drastically scaled down, but still 18" long], A double crossover on 2" centers leading to the passenger train terminal, and completion of the Helm Bldg. The general idea is to have something to do while the glue dries, or an escape when things aren't going as well as expected.
Operations wise, I have found that with DCC, I can set one train on it's way, and simultaneously make moves with another engine, which was not practical with straight DC. Since my layout is relatively slow speed operation, I can safely make a quick move, then get back to the primary move, before disaster occurs.
Photographer unknown, What is probably CNSE, (Canadian National to Selkirk), passes through Dorval, PQ with CN and CR power. Note VIA Rail train on adjacent track.
santafewillie
Same Ol' Buzzard
So he was basically banned. Sadly he was prone to inserting his foot into his own mouth occasionally.
It's lettering time. This is the most difficult part of the project. These decals are made by a company named Thinfilm. Pretty self explanatory right there, innit? They are very delicate. Look at them wrong and they'll wrinkle. The "City of" is all separate decals, one per word, as is the car name. It's quite a challenge to keep them straight. First car first side. At 25 cents a swear there will probably be about $87,000.00 in the swear jar at project completion. The stripes are good old Microscale.
santafewillie
Same Ol' Buzzard
OK! All of you nostalgic rock & rollers. While cleaning out a desk yesterday, I came across an ancient ticket stub from a concert that I attended nearly 40 years ago, in 1980. Note the price!
McLeod
Forest Lurker
Good Morning, Everyone! If I still had all the flowing, curly hair that I had in my youth, it would get straightened out with the high winds expected today. What a difference in conditions a single overnight sleep makes. Yesterday was calm in the beautiful blue-sky sunshine. It's 41F right now, with not much of a warm-up on the way.
Other than wheel-barrowing all my unused firewood over to the neighbors today, I'll be staying inside and doing some hobby stuff. I don't like the wind. Wind is worse than cold.
Willie - That Letraset dry-transfer crap is always hard to manage, and the fonts are never the right size. I prefer using decals scavenged from my saved sheets left over from the plastic modeling days. Wet transfers just seem a lot easier to work, if you can find the right size and color. Or print your own.
Different sized fonts do happen in the prototypical world, though:
I have never heard of a rock group called the 'Kinks'. I did attend a 'Country Joe and the Fish' concert around that time, though.
Sherrel - Thanks for the 'atta-boy' on my photographs. Cheap, modern digital cameras are amazing. Mine is just a little Canon point-n-shoot that I carry in my pocket. I remain confident that cameras are superior to cell phones for picture taking, yet cameras seem to be going the way of the dinosaur.
Alan - I know what your talking about with thin decals; it can get testy. The car looks great.
Yesterday, I talked to a nurse 'in the know' at the local gas station. According to her, there has not been a single case of the virus being recorded within our local hospital. We here are lucky so far! I expect the situation to change, though. People seem to be practicing a complete breakdown in caution. When I'm downtown, it appears that social-distancing is ignored. The population is acting like there is no virus, and the businesses are trying to act like there is a virus. The people seem to be blind to the reality.
Well, I'm getting bored with typing, so I'll leave you to those with more interesting posts, like Boris, Garry, Tom, Ken, Jerome, Patrick, Karl, Alan, Chad, Bob, Greg, Chet, Willie, Sherrel, George and anyone else I either forgot or don't know the name of.
At least I always leave a photo or two in a hope to make the post more interesting. Like this one, the ' Train Bridge over the River McLeod'. Sounds like a book, except it wasn't built by soldiers.
All have a great day. Guy
Other than wheel-barrowing all my unused firewood over to the neighbors today, I'll be staying inside and doing some hobby stuff. I don't like the wind. Wind is worse than cold.
Willie - That Letraset dry-transfer crap is always hard to manage, and the fonts are never the right size. I prefer using decals scavenged from my saved sheets left over from the plastic modeling days. Wet transfers just seem a lot easier to work, if you can find the right size and color. Or print your own.
Different sized fonts do happen in the prototypical world, though:
I have never heard of a rock group called the 'Kinks'. I did attend a 'Country Joe and the Fish' concert around that time, though.
Sherrel - Thanks for the 'atta-boy' on my photographs. Cheap, modern digital cameras are amazing. Mine is just a little Canon point-n-shoot that I carry in my pocket. I remain confident that cameras are superior to cell phones for picture taking, yet cameras seem to be going the way of the dinosaur.
Alan - I know what your talking about with thin decals; it can get testy. The car looks great.
Yesterday, I talked to a nurse 'in the know' at the local gas station. According to her, there has not been a single case of the virus being recorded within our local hospital. We here are lucky so far! I expect the situation to change, though. People seem to be practicing a complete breakdown in caution. When I'm downtown, it appears that social-distancing is ignored. The population is acting like there is no virus, and the businesses are trying to act like there is a virus. The people seem to be blind to the reality.
Well, I'm getting bored with typing, so I'll leave you to those with more interesting posts, like Boris, Garry, Tom, Ken, Jerome, Patrick, Karl, Alan, Chad, Bob, Greg, Chet, Willie, Sherrel, George and anyone else I either forgot or don't know the name of.
At least I always leave a photo or two in a hope to make the post more interesting. Like this one, the ' Train Bridge over the River McLeod'. Sounds like a book, except it wasn't built by soldiers.
All have a great day. Guy
truckdad
Well-Known Member
Willie, the first (sit down) concert I ever went to was in Bakersfield Civic Auditorium March 69 I think. Credence Clearwater Revival. The Born on the Bayou opening guitar E7th, kept going but no band?? Then the stage rose out of the floor with fog and John took it from there...… what a show.
chadbag
Well-Known Member
Actually, I think reloading is probably cheaper than a model railroad hobby. At least you can pick up used brass (or buy once fired "reasonably" and if you buy components in bulk the cost per round goes down significantly. The problem with the shooting sports is the ongoing cost of feeding your arms. (And for Cowboy shooters, the clothing and accessories). Imagine paying between 10 cents and a couple dollars every time your train goes around once or you spend more than 10 seconds controlling it at once... That is what it is like every time you pull the trigger. In my opinion, reloading, for the serious shooter, is the only way to go.
Bruette
Well-Known Member
I hope Mark comes to the same conclusion I did and is quicker about it than I was. The good people of this forum far out weigh any bad. Like I tell my kids/grandsons "nothing or nobody is all good or all bad, ask yourself, does the good out weigh the bad?"
If you ask me Everybody on this forum is far more good than bad.
Mark, if you see this, please come back, I miss you and I'm certain I am not alone.
Bruette
Well-Known Member
Willie, is that from Ticketron? I had dozens of those stubs, from the Baltimore Civic Center, Towson Center and the Capital Center. My ex-wife thought I did not need them any more and tossed then out.
The late seventies and early eighties were great times to see shows. It seemed like there was a hard rock/heavy metal show every weekend, often more than one!
Greg@mnrr
Section Hand
Good Morning Everyone....sunny here in Wisconsin.
Received word yesterday that the Contractor is going to remove the shot up cabin sliding door and replace it with the new door on Thursday. Finally after a month's time for the door to be manufactured and waiting for better weather. We'll go up to the cabin on Saturday and do some cleaning in preparation for staying over night.
I purchased a Proto SOO GP38-2 many years ago and it sat in storage and I really forgot about having it until perhaps a month ago. It's a sister to the "Rust Bucket" locomotive I showed photos of on the Forum. I decided to install DCC in the locomotive which seemed like an easy task since it was a Plug 'n Play.
I when to open the locomotive and the instructions were typical to remove the couplers and then there were "Two" black screws to remove and then just slip the shell off the chassis. Well there was I think six black screws and the ones that needed to be removed were hidden under the truck assemblies. Of course, these two screws were the last I removed.
Once opened there was two lamps in front and two lamps in back. I could identify then as forward and reverse lamps and the other two were for number boards which were not intended to be illuminated. I planned on using a Digitrax decoder designed for this locomotive and it would be a simple matter of "Plug 'n Play". Wrong!
I ran the locomotive on DC and it ran very smooth in-spite of the gear towers being over lubed. However, both the forward and rear lights operated in either direction.
I attached the Digitrax decoder and the forward light illuminated and the locomotive moved along and then stopped I could smell the distinctive, burned decoder smell.
Checking the internet, I read somewhere that the number board lamps were incorrectly wired and they would burn out decoders unless they were either re-wired or removed. I cut the lamps free and installed a NCE decoder that I had in stock. I was very careful to use Kapton tape to secure everything and I neatly folded the excess wiring and secured the wires with Kapton tape. The locomotive moved slightly and then I could smell a a second burned decoder. A strand or two the forward lamp was touching the frame and shorted the decoder. Some how the strink wrap was not totally around the solder joint.
Moving along....I hard wired a Digitrax decoder and tossed the decoder pin connector that came with the locomotive. Again, I was careful and discovered the Red lead wire from the motor was breaking off. The solder job didn't look like a factory job. I replaced the Red wire and re-soldered it to the motor. I wanted to check the lower motor wire, but I couldn't loosen the motor which was attached by four plugs. There was no way to remove the motor the plug were soldily secured in the frame.
I then reassemble the decoder and neatly wired the unit and did testing at each step of the project. I replaced the incandescent lamps with bright, white LED's. I planned on using Kadee #148 Whisker couplers, but they were too short so I used long shank Kadee Whisker couplers and they looked and worked fine.
The locomotive ran smoothly on DCC and with no noise. I reassembled the locomotive and it looked great and ran even better.
I left the towers alone even being over lubed. Looking forward to maybe replacing the axle gears if the originals prove to be defective and crack.
I suspect that this was a returned locomotive and resold as NIB. for the following reasons:
- The gear tower being over lubed with a high quality grease, not the typical factory grease that could harden over time.
- The loose and re-soldered motor lead.
- A package of buyer supplied detail parts that didn't belong ot fit the locomotive.
- The instruction sheet was for a different model of a GP38-2 since the parts diagram was close, but not correct for this model.
- The motor plugs appeared like they were glued in place.
All in all this locomotive is a smooth runner and has great details and will be a great road switcher. In the future I'll install a operating cab strobe light. Today, I do a light weathering using Pan Pastel Balck on the grills and stacks and a rub of white to tone down the plastic look and sharp, SOO lettering. Some day I'll do a light weathering of the trucks and fuel tank.
End of a long story and a three session decoder installation which was my worst decoder project in history.
I have to run...going for a ride with the wife's and get some fresh air.
Greg
##########
Received word yesterday that the Contractor is going to remove the shot up cabin sliding door and replace it with the new door on Thursday. Finally after a month's time for the door to be manufactured and waiting for better weather. We'll go up to the cabin on Saturday and do some cleaning in preparation for staying over night.
I purchased a Proto SOO GP38-2 many years ago and it sat in storage and I really forgot about having it until perhaps a month ago. It's a sister to the "Rust Bucket" locomotive I showed photos of on the Forum. I decided to install DCC in the locomotive which seemed like an easy task since it was a Plug 'n Play.
I when to open the locomotive and the instructions were typical to remove the couplers and then there were "Two" black screws to remove and then just slip the shell off the chassis. Well there was I think six black screws and the ones that needed to be removed were hidden under the truck assemblies. Of course, these two screws were the last I removed.
Once opened there was two lamps in front and two lamps in back. I could identify then as forward and reverse lamps and the other two were for number boards which were not intended to be illuminated. I planned on using a Digitrax decoder designed for this locomotive and it would be a simple matter of "Plug 'n Play". Wrong!
I ran the locomotive on DC and it ran very smooth in-spite of the gear towers being over lubed. However, both the forward and rear lights operated in either direction.
I attached the Digitrax decoder and the forward light illuminated and the locomotive moved along and then stopped I could smell the distinctive, burned decoder smell.
Checking the internet, I read somewhere that the number board lamps were incorrectly wired and they would burn out decoders unless they were either re-wired or removed. I cut the lamps free and installed a NCE decoder that I had in stock. I was very careful to use Kapton tape to secure everything and I neatly folded the excess wiring and secured the wires with Kapton tape. The locomotive moved slightly and then I could smell a a second burned decoder. A strand or two the forward lamp was touching the frame and shorted the decoder. Some how the strink wrap was not totally around the solder joint.
Moving along....I hard wired a Digitrax decoder and tossed the decoder pin connector that came with the locomotive. Again, I was careful and discovered the Red lead wire from the motor was breaking off. The solder job didn't look like a factory job. I replaced the Red wire and re-soldered it to the motor. I wanted to check the lower motor wire, but I couldn't loosen the motor which was attached by four plugs. There was no way to remove the motor the plug were soldily secured in the frame.
I then reassemble the decoder and neatly wired the unit and did testing at each step of the project. I replaced the incandescent lamps with bright, white LED's. I planned on using Kadee #148 Whisker couplers, but they were too short so I used long shank Kadee Whisker couplers and they looked and worked fine.
The locomotive ran smoothly on DCC and with no noise. I reassembled the locomotive and it looked great and ran even better.
I left the towers alone even being over lubed. Looking forward to maybe replacing the axle gears if the originals prove to be defective and crack.
I suspect that this was a returned locomotive and resold as NIB. for the following reasons:
- The gear tower being over lubed with a high quality grease, not the typical factory grease that could harden over time.
- The loose and re-soldered motor lead.
- A package of buyer supplied detail parts that didn't belong ot fit the locomotive.
- The instruction sheet was for a different model of a GP38-2 since the parts diagram was close, but not correct for this model.
- The motor plugs appeared like they were glued in place.
All in all this locomotive is a smooth runner and has great details and will be a great road switcher. In the future I'll install a operating cab strobe light. Today, I do a light weathering using Pan Pastel Balck on the grills and stacks and a rub of white to tone down the plastic look and sharp, SOO lettering. Some day I'll do a light weathering of the trucks and fuel tank.
End of a long story and a three session decoder installation which was my worst decoder project in history.
I have to run...going for a ride with the wife's and get some fresh air.
Greg
##########
PNKFLOYD
Mikey
Willie- They gave me a lidocane local to dull the experience but it still was not pleasant....nor after it worn off when I got home.Ooooh! I hope that you were completely sedated!
I was ALMOST ready to try it without the "numbing medicine".
- Status
