Recent content by Capndick

I know that was a lot of work, but they look terrific. Dick

I have a number of them on my layout...some walthers and a few from Bar-Mills, check them out. The kits from bar mills aren't cheap, but the realism is much better than plastic. Dick http://s167.photobucket.com/albums/u156/Capndick/

I have a tsnunami in my bachmann K-4, it came set up for a 4 digit address...it made me crazy till I tried that....I left it that way. Try inputting it 4 digits. Dick

There was a tutorial on the net that showed how to build a TT using the Atlas drive and some gears from model race cars to obtain the right angles, I tried to get it for you but the link is broken....the atlas wouldn't line up with the roundhouse, so by selective gearing it can be...

I had a track problem with a switch the other day that we've all seen..corrosion at the rivets. engine stops and a slight push on the rivet fixes it, right?. I took a small dab of soldering flux, resin not acid and put it all over and around the rivet, then a few drops of alcohol, I figure...

That's a cool idea..I have a couple of those..one is powered, don't run it because I'm all DCC. Dick

I saw something awhile back where a guy used the metal from a toothpaste tube to fabricate hinges, I think it was HO..easy stuff to work with. Dick

I have a Spectrum K-4 with tsunami sound and it is one of the best runners I have. The best running steamers I have are BLI's, a Hudson and one of the hybrids. I picked the Backman up for well under 200 bucks from one of the online outfits, programming it to utilize some of the features was...

Some outfit makes a track tester that is nothing more than a grain of wheat bulb mounted in a piece of plastic with a wiper on the bottom for each rail...you could make one in 10 minutes using 2 track connecters for the rail sliders.....solder the bulbs wires to them and CA or epoxy them to the...

A pic would be good...from what you posted trying to resurrect something that doesn't have a solid framework to begin with will run you out of the hobby pretty quickly, it will never be right. I'd salvage any good stuff and start from scratch using accepted practices. Dick

Put a tiny drop of walthers Goo on one end of the spring and let it set up in the coupler shank....then you can slip the spring in with a flat screwdriver. any contact cement will do, we're talking a tiny dab, just enough to keep the spring from escaping. Dick

This months issue of RMC has an article on building a magentic un-coupler that rises and lowers with a motor.

Another thing to consider is do you want to just watch trains go around in a circle or switching interesting to you? There are a number of switching track plans that would fit great in your space. You could build a heckuva waterfront industrial operation with many possible industries and...

Sure looks like an old Athearn or perhaps Silver Streak to me. I have a few of those old timers, they were nice kits. If the frame is assembled out of stamped pieces rather than a one piece casting, I'd go with the above, the others I think were cast. Dick

Personally, I wouldn't buy either. Broadway Limited has the best IMO. I have a Hudson and a Mohawk hybrid that run like Swiss watches and sound great. I also have a Bachmann Spectrum K-4 with tsunami sound that's great. My Mantua Hudson is nice, but old tech..doesn't run well on DCC because...