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I think I have a misconception of Plaster of Paris. First, I thought dried PoP would dissolve in water. This appears not to be true. I also thought PoP was father soft when dried. This also does not appear to be true. How hard should PoP be when dry? I made some plaster cloth with PoP and...

I don't know if others have tried this. I thought WS plaster cloth was a little to costly for me. So, I decided to try to make my own. After a little experimenting I think I have something that works well. I have never used WS plaster cloth so I don't know how well it stacks up against my home...

I have some mountain sides that I am putting on an incline next to a track. These sides will be about 6" to maybe 8" tall. I have several rock molds I made many years ago. I just bought 25 pounds of Hydrocal. It seems to work well just takes a while to setup. When making rock molds and such...

Is there a puller or something to pull the flywheel off of the motor. I have tried the screw driver under the flywheel and motor. I keep bending the armature. Thanks, Dale

My next project on my layout is signals. My layout is the transition period. My layout is very free lance. MY layout is computer operated. From the internet I see that railroads used different signals in different ways. What I would like to know is where can I find what signals were used in...

I have an Athearn GP9 with factory sound. When I change the address from the default address (3) the horn does not sound continuously. In jmri it will sound in a short blast and quit with anything but the default address. The horn will not always work with each click in jmri either. I use...

I have been wiring my layout for some time now. I found some connectors that I have found very easy and simple to use. I found them on E-Bay. 100 count bags. Each takes 2 connection connectors. 1 goes to the buss wire and the other goes on the feeder wire. These are connected together with a...

I just purchased a Athearn Genesis GP9 with sound. I tried to change the address in jmri on the programming track. The address did not change. How much voltage does it take to the programming track for a sound locomotive. I have a 5 amp Digitrax DCS100. Is that enough?

I have several Atlas/Kato engine from about the early 90s. I have one that was my best runner since I bought it about 2 years ago. Yesterday I installed some lights in it. I found that the upper brush was coming out. The little retainer would not stay on so I installed a new motor. I just got...

I am looking for a road type diesel engine from the 40s or 50s. The GP-7 looks good but I can't seem to find a place that sells them. Any suggestions as to what engine and where I can get one? Thanks, Dale

I have an old HO Atlas/Kato RS-11 engine. I bought this way back in the early 90s I think. I have not used it much since then. I Don't remember how it ran back then however I think it was a good runner. I took it apart and lubed it and installed a decoder about 2 years ago. The engine runs...

I just finished wiring the track on my new layout for the 2nd time. The first time the layout worked fine except I had an area that shorted out. It was a spot coming out of a loop where the main track and an auto reverse joined. I found that I had wired the main section backwards. Fixing that...

Below is a sketch of my turnout problem area. HO scale. I have ran trains over this area with no electrical problems. Yesterday I hooked up the frogs in this area to the buss and the Tortoise machines. The frog shorts out to the main track. I have reversed the feeder wires several times and the...

I am building a new layout. It is DCC and I am using Fast Tracks hot frog turnouts. Attached is a picture from Fast Tracks on how to wire the turnout. I can see that I would need to wire the frog to the Tortoise machine. Do I need to put insulated joiners before the turnout? Do I need to wire...

I thought I would install Windows 10 today. I checked the requirements and I was good to go. I clicked on the icon and it installed very easily. All by itself. When my computer rebooted and Windows 10 started the first thing I noticed was that my icons where twice the size they were. I have 2...

I have a work bench about 9' long and 30" wide. Yes the one I waxed. I have (2) 4 light florescent fixtures hanging from the ceiling. These fixtures give me enough light on the surface of the bench. The side against the wall lights up an object on the bench very well. The side out towards me...

I built a new work bench several months ago. I finished it with polyurethane. It looked pretty go to me. It had a few nubbins in the finish so I sanded it a little and scraped it fairly smooth. Looking good, felt great. It was a little dull now so I decided to put on a coat of wax to protect...

I am putting together a Walthers steel water tower. Kit number 933-3043. I have everything done but the ladders. What color would you paint this? What color for the ladders? My era is the transition period. 1950ish. Thanks, Dale

I am building a new layout. It will be DCC and fully automated. I am looking for some ideas for how to mount the power supply, Controller and computer that will look nice. All of the cards for automation will be mounted under the layout. How do you guys mount your controllers and power supplies?

I picked up some 2" polystyrene foam today. How do you cut this stuff half way neatly?