Recent content by Red Oak & Western

Have her check and see if a "gathering foot" is available for her machine. It will make her life much easier.

I looked to see if you referenced your title in any of your posts. Seeing the mill reminded me of my favorite line from the BBC's adaption of Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South: Margaret Hale after touring a cotton mill: "I think God has forsaken this place. I believe I have seen hell, and it...

I'd do it in the down right position, with the top of the sign even with the top of the windows.

I, too, start with the What's New page. I check out the posts I'm interested in, then click "Mark forums read" so that when I come back, New will be new.

Many, many years ago I was a member of an NMRA Special Interest Group (SIG) called the International Car Exchange (ICE). I participated in two "trains" and still treasure the photos other members took and forwarded to me of my car on their layout. I would love to participate (here it...

Thirds on Scalecoat. If you read any of my other finishing posts you'll see I'm a fan. I, too, thin Scalecoat 1 to 1 with thinner. I use the Scalecoat thinner for mixing (its actually a blend of xylene and toluene) but use whatever I have on hand (lacquer thinner, xylene, VM&P naphtha) for...

Dave, Thanks for sharing. I'll have to schedule time to watch it this weekend. Even though I am the God of Operations on my layout, I like to pretend I have at least a passing idea how the prototype operates.

I'll second everything Willy said. Though I am a bit biased. I started out in HO in 1966 and haven't changed scales since. I started with diesels (since most steam was brass and way out of my price range) but in the mid '70s switched to traction after a visit to the Orange Empire Trolley...

First - congratulations on being able to work on the railroad with your daughter! Being an HO scaler, I'm not all that familiar with N scale. But in HO some switches route power and some don't. It could be the same in N. Try setting all the switches for the main route, then check the power...

The only thing that would have made it look better would have been to use Milwaukee Road boxcars. ;) Nice job!

I've replaced all my fluorescents with LEDs. I used full spectrum 5k bulbs. It takes a little while to get used to them, but now they appear (to me) to be pure white. For photography, I set the color balance in the camera (Nikon) to 5200. The pictures come out just as I would expect.

Aside from your guess that you have defective housings, the only other thing I can think of is: are you positive the contacts haven't been inserted in the housings up side down?

Best watch what you say about eBay!!!!!

I'm sure this is obvious and you've looked at it a dozen times, but ... are the contacts installed in the proper orientation? None of my power poles have any wiggle in them at all. For reference: http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Public Service/TrainingModules/Technical/Anderson powerpole.pdf (I...

NO, NO, NO, NO!!! Never, ever, ever, solder a Power Pole connector. For them to work properly, they must be crimped with the proper Power Pole crimping tool. Then they work perfectly. I have been using Anderson Power Poles for over 20 years and have never had any problems with them. Full...