Ordered 250' of 2x14ga wire from JMonoprice for $40 plus $11 shipping. Looks just like the OGR wire, except white covering.
I actually baked the Spam that was in the can. Tasty! :9
(I opened it from the bottom so as not to disturb the top, of course. Being made of thin aluminum, a kitchen knife opened it up with very little effort.)
Mitch
Today Spam, Tomorrow Scrapple!
jim pastorius posted:During WW II, the US shipped a lot of SPAM to the Russians to help feed them. They weren't THAT hungry because, they in turn, fed it to German POWs. The Germans really didn't like it either but put the tin cans to good use. One was making knives to carve wooden cuckoo clocks. So that flat car could be a big shipment of Lend Lease SPAM.
Spam, generally, was disliked in the context of those who only had that to eat. Just like almost any military ration throughout history, civilians would try a bit and then say, “I don’t know what the big deal is, this stuff isn’t bad.” Goodness knows I heard people say that about the MREs I had to eat. Throughout history, this naiveté was always countered with, “Yeah? Try eating that cold, at every meal, for days or weeks at a time!”
German troops had very little meat in their diet at the end of the war and both they and the Russians were practically living on starvation rations by the spring of 1945. I’m sure few complained much in the face of the alternative (nothing) and the iron discipline at the hands of their respective units’ Kommissar or Feldwebel. With the benefit of postwar hindsight, most former soldiers will complain about the things that didn’t seem that bad at the time.
I’ve met former German POWs (they used to have a big reunion at the Aliceville, Alabama POW camp) and many of them said they ate tons of spam but didn’t mind it much until after they got back to Germany. One did tell me that he’d vacationed in Hawaii in the 60s and when he found out what a big thing Spam was there, he threatened to swim back to Europe for fear of ever getting near another can of the stuff!
No more Spam OR MREs please!!
Yeah, I have one thing to say to anti e who thinks an MRE is just fine:
"Cold spaghetti MRE for breakfast!"
Come on now. Lee you mean to say you never liked the dehydrated Pork Patties or the cherry nut cake?
suzukovich posted:Come on now. Lee you mean to say you never liked the dehydrated Pork Patties or the cherry nut cake?
Mmmm.. Crunch, crunch..
My story came from "Panzer Leader", a colonel on the Eastern Front when captured. They ate Spam but didn't like it. A good soldier takes care of himself. My buddy & I found where the ration trailer was parked go there before dark and pick out the cans of the best. Some of the canned wasn't bad heated. I bought a little gasoline stove in town so my people almost always had hot food. Heating makes a big difference. The Germans ate a lot of stew cooked in a big pot on the bck of a wagon. The ingredients were whatever they could find.
suzukovich posted:Come on now. Lee you mean to say you never liked the dehydrated Pork Patties or the cherry nut cake?
Never had either of them. I’m a picky eater, so that means I can eat the same things over and over again if I have to. I always liked the ham slice one and on those very rare occasions we got ‘shelf stable bread,’ I could make a sandwich that, after a few days in the field, tasted better than anything from Subway (at least, it would to me at that time).
I did luck up when at one point. Sometime around 1999 or early 2000, someone determined how much MREs were costing and overnight they almost became a controlled item. The days of grabbing an extra box of them to throw into the Humvee were gone, and you had to account for each person (by SSN, no less), each day for when you were in the field. My Batt had the Defac people, so we could get warm food sent out to us if on the post (and no T-rations, either). The Government beancounters found it was cheaper to feed us real food than hand out MREs. It seemed to silly at the time, but nobody was complaining except on those occasions when we had to go to the field and then the leadership would sweat out not having enough for our people at the end of the FTX. I’m convinced those NCOs still had a crate of MREs stashed somewhere that I never saw.
To all the veterans out there, thank you for your service.
What started as a bit of sillyness by Mitchell and myself was a play on skits done by Monty Python, a British comedy Troup. If you don't know them look them up on YouTube and have a good laugh or two.
Spam was one of their more famous skits.
"I’m convinced those NCOs still had a crate of MREs stashed somewhere that I never saw."
Lee, you know we did.. lol
RSJB18 posted:To all the veterans out there, thank you for your service.
What started as a bit of sillyness by Mitchell and myself was a play on skits done by Monty Python, a British comedy Troup. If you don't know them look them up on YouTube and have a good laugh or two.
Spam was one of their more famous skits.
What he said. 
Mitch
modeltrainsparts posted:Today Spam, Tomorrow Scrapple!
Mmmm, scrapple! Uses every part of the pig but the squeal! :9
Mitch
p51 posted:suzukovich posted:Come on now. Lee you mean to say you never liked the dehydrated Pork Patties or the cherry nut cake?
Never had either of them. I’m a picky eater, so that means I can eat the same things over and over again if I have to. I always liked the ham slice one and on those very rare occasions we got ‘shelf stable bread,’ I could make a sandwich that, after a few days in the field, tasted better than anything from Subway (at least, it would to me at that time).
I did luck up when at one point. Sometime around 1999 or early 2000, someone determined how much MREs were costing and overnight they almost became a controlled item. The days of grabbing an extra box of them to throw into the Humvee were gone, and you had to account for each person (by SSN, no less), each day for when you were in the field. My Batt had the Defac people, so we could get warm food sent out to us if on the post (and no T-rations, either). The Government beancounters found it was cheaper to feed us real food than hand out MREs. It seemed to silly at the time, but nobody was complaining except on those occasions when we had to go to the field and then the leadership would sweat out not having enough for our people at the end of the FTX. I’m convinced those NCOs still had a crate of MREs stashed somewhere that I never saw.
That's funny Lee, when I was in the Corps, I was a driver for alittle while and hauled MRS's to the field before becoming an ammo driver. Me and another guy would go through the boxes and pick out everything we liked and left the rest for everyone else. I really enjoyed the beef stew.
M. Mitchell Marmel posted:modeltrainsparts posted:Today Spam, Tomorrow Scrapple!
Mmmm, scrapple! Uses every part of the pig but the squeal! :9
Mitch
Ugh. That stuff is the US version of Haggis. You couldn't get me to eat that on a dare!
p51 posted:M. Mitchell Marmel posted:modeltrainsparts posted:Today Spam, Tomorrow Scrapple!
Mmmm, scrapple! Uses every part of the pig but the squeal! :9
Mitch
Ugh. That stuff is the US version of Haggis. You couldn't get me to eat that on a dare!
I used to think the same way, but I'm a convert. You have to get the "actual homemade" stuff, not the generic stuff in stores. It makes a huge difference.
I do enjoy spam, and Monty Python!
Worst MRE I had, was the Omlet with Ham. It came in the dark brown packages, the flat cardboard cases. Half the pouch was a water type liquid from I have no idea what. They also used to have Mars solid chocolate bars in them. I had them in basic. Every day a DS with a trash bag collected all the candy from our MRE's. After great peril to myself by sneaking one and convincing the DS that my MRE didn't have any candy in it, I opened the wrapper to be sadly disappointed. The chocolate had turned a light brown sandish color, was powdery and tasted horrible. I was more than happy to turn it over to them from then on when they came collecting.
Strawberries were probably the best!
RSJB18 posted:To all the veterans out there, thank you for your service.
What started as a bit of sillyness by Mitchell and myself was a play on skits done by Monty Python, a British comedy Troup. If you don't know them look them up on YouTube and have a good laugh or two.
Spam was one of their more famous skits.
I grew up on Monty Python.
mike g. posted:Strawberries were probably the best!
Getting back to, oh, I don't know, TRAINS for a second...
Took delivery of a Vista-Dome for my Amtrak consist today:
Half an hour of cobbling the two half-pickups together, adding a second complete pickup, wiring the bulbs in parallel and spraying the roof gloss black to match the rest of the consist later:
DISCLAIMER: I DID let the roof dry for a couple of hours before reinstalling the glass and reassembly. 
Mitch
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Nice work, Mitch!
Mo985 posted:p51 posted:M. Mitchell Marmel posted:modeltrainsparts posted:Today Spam, Tomorrow Scrapple!
Mmmm, scrapple! Uses every part of the pig but the squeal! :9
Mitch
Ugh. That stuff is the US version of Haggis. You couldn't get me to eat that on a dare!
I used to think the same way, but I'm a convert. You have to get the "actual homemade" stuff, not the generic stuff in stores. It makes a huge difference.
I do enjoy spam, and Monty Python!
Worst MRE I had, was the Omlet with Ham. It came in the dark brown packages, the flat cardboard cases. Half the pouch was a water type liquid from I have no idea what. They also used to have Mars solid chocolate bars in them. I had them in basic. Every day a DS with a trash bag collected all the candy from our MRE's. After great peril to myself by sneaking one and convincing the DS that my MRE didn't have any candy in it, I opened the wrapper to be sadly disappointed. The chocolate had turned a light brown sandish color, was powdery and tasted horrible. I was more than happy to turn it over to them from then on when they came collecting.
In the late 80s only choices were Dehydrated Beef and pork patties. Frankfurters ( Do not eat if you are flying) Something that looked like Bean and frankfurters, Orange and maple nut cake, peanut butter, Cheese spread and crackers. Field pudding was the best( water, Coco powder and sugar). Main ingredient Hot sauce on everything. That was before they started putting Tabasco Sauce in the MREs . Mid 90s was when the beef stew started showing up, but at that point I was used to living off the peanut butter and cheese spread and ramen noodles. The T rats were ok just a pain in the butt to open. By the time I retired in 2013 MREs had come along way from being inedible to people fought over some of the menus. Even then ramen noodles were still the main item found along with hot sauce. Ranger MRES were the best.
Wood, Yes I always had at least 2 extra cases in my tracks, and my Humvees at all time, along with the ramen noodles. What good NCO didn't.
Lee,, counting MREs must of been a Lewis thing. We always had more than enough on hand in Germany and at Hood. Yes to extent it was based on head count but our 1sg always made sure we had extra cases on hand. And for those who did not have the pleasure you can now find most of the civilian versions of the meal in your local supermarket under brand names like Hormel, and others to including Spam.
M. Mitchell Marmel posted:Getting back to, oh, I don't know, TRAINS for a second...
Took delivery of a Vista-Dome for my Amtrak consist today:
Half an hour of cobbling the two half-pickups together, adding a second complete pickup, wiring the bulbs in parallel and spraying the roof gloss black to match the rest of the consist later:
DISCLAIMER: I DID let the roof dry for a couple of hours before reinstalling the glass and reassembly.
Mitch
Nice work, You had me worried for a minute about the paint drying first, but then again if it was brown paint it you could of called it the silver giraffe.
I've been keeping fairly quiet here this past week, except for joking with Mitch.
This doesn't mean that I haven't been working on the layout, more that the work I've been doing is a little "dry", as in, a lot of repetition.
One of those projects is uncoupler installation. There will be 74 magnets total, with just 20 left to do. Seen one, you've seen them all.
Always thinking ahead, a year ago, I wanted to figure out a way to control the magnets, so I started this topic. After a neat little discussion, this is what we came up with. I bought all the materials shortly after that, and just set the project aside. (SOP in my world)
This concoction will control the 10 magnets at Red Wing. There 10 relays, an 8 module and a 2. Cheap on eBay. It is the two little boards on the ends where the magic comes in.
This little gizmo was GunrunnerJohn's idea. It is a capacitive touch sensor breakout board. It is connected to an object, which when touched, will power the relay, thus energizing the magnet. There are 5 individual controls on this card.
I also picked up the female ends to go to the pins on the cards. Those also came from the Bay. They are sold in 40 conductor strips, but they cut apart easily.
Here's a little before and after. The move to the new dispatcher's corner is on.
Gone are the monitor, which had been decommissioned earlier this month. Also moved was my yard track occupancy board.
After some alterations on the table saw, here it is in its leaner and meaner form.
Just for good measure, I got out the vinyl numbers, and redid all the hand written channel chips. There are 39 locomotives on the layout, and more still in boxes.
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Good god Elliot....every electronics post you make makes me nauseous and my palms start sweating. Needless to say. Hats off to you good sir. Just finished catching up on your posts. Very impressive indeed. Electronics are the only thing I have found that kinda scares me lol...:/
I Concur with Teemeister: (copy) "Good god Elliot....every electronics post you make makes me nauseous and my palms start sweating. Needless to say. Hats off to you good sir"
Surgery went well. Talk soon. Salute Elliot 
Concur with Teej and Miggy. 
I'm pleased when I rewire the lights on a passenger car correctly or get an electromagnetic brakeman working right...
Mitch
M. Mitchell Marmel posted:Getting back to, oh, I don't know, TRAINS for a second...
Took delivery of a Vista-Dome for my Amtrak consist today:
Half an hour of cobbling the two half-pickups together, adding a second complete pickup, wiring the bulbs in parallel and spraying the roof gloss black to match the rest of the consist later:
DISCLAIMER: I DID let the roof dry for a couple of hours before reinstalling the glass and reassembly.
Mitch
Hey Mitch, the roof turned out looking great! Wonderful job!
Big_Boy_4005 posted:I've been keeping fairly quiet here this past week, except for joking with Mitch.
This doesn't mean that I haven't been working on the layout, more that the work I've been doing is a little "dry", as in, a lot of repetition.
One of those projects is uncoupler installation. There will be 74 magnets total, with just 20 left to do. Seen one, you've seen them all.
Always thinking ahead, a year ago, I wanted to figure out a way to control the magnets, so I started this topic. After a neat little discussion, this is what we came up with. I bought all the materials shortly after that, and just set the project aside. (SOP in my world)
This concoction will control the 10 magnets at Red Wing. There 10 relays, an 8 module and a 2. Cheap on eBay. It is the two little boards on the ends where the magic comes in.
This little gizmo was GunrunnerJohn's idea. It is a capacitive touch sensor breakout board. It is connected to an object, which when touched, will power the relay, thus energizing the magnet. There are 5 individual controls on this card.
I also picked up the female ends to go to the pins on the cards. Those also came from the Bay. They are sold in 40 conductor strips, but they cut apart easily.
Here's a little before and after. The move to the new dispatcher's corner is on.
Gone are the monitor, which had been decommissioned earlier this month. Also moved was my yard track occupancy board.
After some alterations on the table saw, here it is in its leaner and meaner form.
Just for good measure, I got out the vinyl numbers, and redid all the hand written channel chips. There are 39 locomotives on the layout, and more still in boxes.
Elliot, I want to thank you for all the post you put up and how you explain what you are doing. It give us a real chance to learn from people who know. I like TJ and Miggy am not a fan of electronics, but between you, GunRunnerJohn, Stan, GGG, it is getting easier to learn and understand. Please keep up the great work and the post so I and others like me can keep learning!
I added some green foam on my pine tree bases and will spray a few to make them look like they are dying. I'll post photos later. Interesting work Elliot.
Last day to work on chaos. Yesterday made headway. Still more to do today. As the old saying goes it is hard to get twenty pounds of meat in a 10 pound bag. Sort of what I am working with but have almost got the main floor area opened up..........Paul
I am gonna go way out on a limb here and suggest (tongue in cheek) why not let the previous 285 pages of this topic pass mercifully into history, and start a new thread called something like "What Did You Do on Your Layout Today; Part B"? I have not been following the thread at all, so I have no dog in the race. But when I see a thread with much more than about 2 or 3 pages, I usually don't bother even trying to look at it. (So I should just get lost and let you all have at it, right?)
Rod
I decided to put a small cow pasture into one section of the layout where there's just an open place (originally, I made terrain forms for a road coming into that space, for a parking lot or driveway, but I changed my mind and made it an open field when I finally started putting scenery in place), and I placed the last of my static grass mats in a perimeter around that. Next, I'll put some bushes in, just outside where the fence line will be. It's not an open space that's so obvious yet, but I need to start making fence posts. The gates they used back then were two posts on each side of the opening with cross-pieces, as slots. They'd put 2-3 horizontal poles through those slots and you slid them out to open/close it. I have a good photo of a fence/gate like that to go by.
One thing is DIDN’T do for the layout was work on it very late last night, for what I think might be a good reason. I am getting over a long-running bout with a cough/sinus issue and I was RX’d something that woke me up every night I’ve been taking it (I called the Dr this morning and asked they look into an alternative as I can’t go 10 days on this with big gaps in sleep and still be able to have my mind at the office). This morning, my eyes snapped open around 2:30 AM. I immediately recognized the futility of trying to go back to sleep as I’m normally the kind of person who can go back to sleep right away if I wake up for something or just sleep right through it.
I decided not to go to the layout to do some work on it, as I think if I did that anytime I had a problem at night, eventually I might associate the layout with negative stuff (my wife thinks I’m nuts, and she’s probably right).
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p51 posted:I decided to put a small cow pasture into one section of the layout where there's just an open place (originally, I made terrain forms for a road coming into that space, for a parking lot or driveway, but I changed my mind and made it an open field when I finally started putting scenery in place), and I placed the last of my static grass mats in a perimeter around that. Next, I'll put some bushes in, just outside where the fence line will be. It's not an open space that's so obvious yet, but I need to start making fence posts. The gates they used back then were two posts on each side of the opening with cross-pieces, as slots. They'd put 2-3 horizontal poles through those slots and you slid them out to open/close it. I have a good photo of a fence/gate like that to go by.
One thing is DIDN’T do for the layout was work on it very late last night, for what I think might be a good reason. I am getting over a long-running bout with a cough/sinus issue and I was RX’d something that woke me up every night I’ve been taking it (I called the Dr this morning and asked they look into an alternative as I can’t go 10 days on this with big gaps in sleep and still be able to have my mind at the office). This morning, my eyes snapped open around 2:30 AM. I immediately recognized the futility of trying to go back to sleep as I’m normally the kind of person who can go back to sleep right away if I wake up for something or just sleep right through it.
I decided not to go to the layout to do some work on it, as I think if I did that anytime I had a problem at night, eventually I might associate the layout with negative stuff (my wife thinks I’m nuts, and she’s probably right).
That is a great picture and a cool gate. Reminds me of some pictures Ive seen of a local here "Smokey Mountain" or as they called it "Old Smokey" Ran a 2-8-0 consolidation until the late 50s when it was parked in favor of a 44 ton switcher.
Lee, I have to agree with CARSNTRAINS, great picture and I think the pasture will look as wonderful as the rest of your layout.
ROD, I think this is a great resource for those of us that are still learning, its a great place to look back and see what others have done and per there post it give you someone to as advice on how they did it or if they would do it differently. I personally think it should stay.
mike g. posted:ROD, I think this is a great resource for those of us that are still learning, its a great place to look back and see what others have done and per there post it give you someone to as advice on how they did it or if they would do it differently. I personally think it should stay.
I agree fully with Mike. Rod makes an understandable point in regard to someone walking into this thread new (heck, I came in long after this thread was opened), but any “PT2” version would just be the same (hopefully) never-ending thread of the awesome stuff everyone is doing with their layouts (and sometimes the occasional deviation, like I contributed to on Spam and military rations).
There’s really no way around this other than to have individual threads for each ongoing project, and who’s going to read all of them?
No, like Mike, I thing this thread should stay as-is, as I see all kinds of new stuff from people I’ve seen before, as well as new folks showing their new stuff. This is the primary thread I enjoy the most here, as it almost reads like an ongoing model railroad magazine issue.
p51 posted:mike g. posted:ROD, I think this is a great resource for those of us that are still learning, its a great place to look back and see what others have done and per there post it give you someone to as advice on how they did it or if they would do it differently. I personally think it should stay.
I agree fully with Mike. Rod makes an understandable point in regard to someone walking into this thread new (heck, I came in long after this thread was opened), but any “PT2” version would just be the same (hopefully) never-ending thread of the awesome stuff everyone is doing with their layouts (and sometimes the occasional deviation, like I contributed to on Spam and military rations).
There’s really no way around this other than to have individual threads for each ongoing project, and who’s going to read all of them?
No, like Mike, I thing this thread should stay as-is, as I see all kinds of new stuff from people I’ve seen before, as well as new folks showing their new stuff. This is the primary thread I enjoy the most here, as it almost reads like an ongoing model railroad magazine issue.
Well said, I agree, this thread should stay as it is!
Dave
Thanks guys!!! What I'm doing with that technology seems kind of scary or intimidating, but if you can hook up a Lionel accessory, you can do this project too. There was a time, not that long ago, that it would have frightened me.
This gizmo has infinite possibilities, and can be used to control anything! There is no need to understand the internal workings of the unit, simply apply the correct voltage (5VDC) and connect the inputs and outputs. The outputs are connected to the relays, which also run on the same 5VDC. I plan to get a couple wall wart supplies to run these. The inputs can be wired to almost anything. The company that makes these units did a demo using an apple (the fruit, not the computer). Here's the link.
The real beauty of this system is, once you have the relay connected, you can use AC or DC any voltage. The relays are SPDT, so you can do things like turning a signal from red to green easily. you can gang relays together off the same sensor to do multiple things with a single touch.
Mitch, I would think this would be right up your alley, using unusual objects to control stuff on your display layouts for kids. You'd have to try using a giraffe as an on/off switch. (Not kidding)
Cost is pretty reasonable. The card is $7.50 for 5 inputs, they also make a single. Add relays and other misc parts, and it comes out to around $3 -$4 per circuit. It's not about the cost, it's about the fun.
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Rod, as one of a small handful of members who has been posting to this topic since page 1, I say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. While there are some drawbacks to having a topic this large, as long as the software can handle it and the management doesn't mind, why change now?
Gaining access to the middle pages isn't easy, but in reality, the action can be followed by reading just the last few. People are able to jump in anytime, and they do constantly. Personally, I've grown accustom to looking for Jim's avatar to find this topic. It was a brilliant idea he had four years ago, and it seems to have stood the test of time.
I finally picked up the daylight fluorescent bulbs for over the layout and replaced the "warm" bulbs that were there. The lights are much better but I have decided I need another set near the back of the layout. I will head to Lowes to pick up another fixture tomorrow, and since I already own 2 extra bulbs it should be an easy install.
