What did you do on your layout today?

M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

Another one of my midnight epiphanies...

Noodling about with the "Little Mitch" project, and fitting an F3 shell to the GG-1 chassis: 

It occurred to me that the lines simply weren't right, even if it was cut to length.  Then,  I had a Bright Idea: 

I'm rather surprised nobody had thought of this before!  Or if they have,  I hadn't heard of it... 

'Course,  now I gotta figure out what to do with a couple of Williams F3 shells... 

Mitch 

Well Mitch, the little Joe shell had occurred to me, but I thought you had something a little more far flung in mind. Of course, I didn't know you had one in your stash. That actually looks cool. Makes your job a lot easier.

I see you've dug into some of the goodies as well. Hours and hours of fun.

M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

Another one of my midnight epiphanies...

Noodling about with the "Little Mitch" project, and fitting an F3 shell to the GG-1 chassis: 

It occurred to me that the lines simply weren't right, even if it was cut to length.  Then,  I had a Bright Idea: 

I'm rather surprised nobody had thought of this before!  Or if they have,  I hadn't heard of it... 

'Course,  now I gotta figure out what to do with a couple of Williams F3 shells... 

Mitch

                                 liking this one Mitch,  pretty cool

              maybe put 2 F-3 shells together back to back,

                                   then split the frame, and lengthen to fit... ???

M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

Another one of my midnight epiphanies...

Noodling about with the "Little Mitch" project, and fitting an F3 shell to the GG-1 chassis: 

It occurred to me that the lines simply weren't right, even if it was cut to length.  Then,  I had a Bright Idea: 

I'm rather surprised nobody had thought of this before!  Or if they have,  I hadn't heard of it... 

'Course,  now I gotta figure out what to do with a couple of Williams F3 shells... 

Mitch 

Oh, I like that, alot !   Can you elaborate on how you did it, Mitch ?

Lee, The trailer really looks nice with the decals and mudflaps!

Brian, You never know who is watching!  Oh oh!  You may be giving Mitch ideas!  He is dangerous enough as is!!  

Old trainmaker, those turned out looking great, Looks like you bought them from Lionel! Nice work!

Mitch, I really like how you think out of the box! Looks like its going to be a nice engine and that you might have just ordered it!

Lee D. Nice work on the trailer! I was probably looking to hard, but it loos like you tried the center panel for the decal and then moved it to the front! Great choice!

Jim, I understand, if you did make the door swing out then you could always use a lift bridge in that area!

Brian, nice picture once again! Don't worry your to smart to let your other job know that you are working undercover for Google! LOL

mike g. posted:

Old trainmaker, those turned out looking great, Looks like you bought them from Lionel! Nice work!

Mitch, I really like how you think out of the box! Looks like its going to be a nice engine and that you might have just ordered it!

Lee D. Nice work on the trailer! I was probably looking to hard, but it loos like you tried the center panel for the decal and then moved it to the front! Great choice!

Jim, I understand, if you did make the door swing out then you could always use a lift bridge in that area!

Brian, nice picture once again! Don't worry your to smart to let your other job know that you are working undercover for Google! LOL

Mike you may not remember but me and my son hand built that bridge.   That alone is reason enough for me to keep it : )   

Yall should check out Pintrest if you haven't.   Never thought it would be useful ..  But you can find ANYTHING on there!!  

Jim

mike g. posted:

carsntrains posted:

mike g. posted:

carsntrains posted:

Wow you guys are great on all the detail work!!! I decided to stop working and see what was going on! On my tablet so I can't type much! Figured I'd post a scary picture to show what a big change that removing that bump out made!!!!!

Jim

Jim, how come you still have a bump in the lower left corner?

That's where the door swings in Mike!! 😁

Jim

Jim, can you reverse the door and have it swing out?

Jim, I reversed a door this weekend... It is not hard to do.... Plan looks great!!

Woodson posted:

mike g. posted:

carsntrains posted:

mike g. posted:

carsntrains posted:

Wow you guys are great on all the detail work!!! I decided to stop working and see what was going on! On my tablet so I can't type much! Figured I'd post a scary picture to show what a big change that removing that bump out made!!!!!

Jim

Jim, how come you still have a bump in the lower left corner?

That's where the door swings in Mike!! 😁

Jim

Jim, can you reverse the door and have it swing out?

Jim, I reversed a door this weekend... It is not hard to do.... Plan looks great!!

We had to reverse the door on the closet that I reduced to half its size by removing that bump out lol   My son did it actually so his gun safe would still fit in there, but it turned out fine.  I kind of like being able to walk into the room without "entering" the layout.  And folks can come in and see it without doing the same.

Jim

M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

Another one of my midnight epiphanies...

Noodling about with the "Little Mitch" project, and fitting an F3 shell to the GG-1 chassis: 

It occurred to me that the lines simply weren't right, even if it was cut to length.  Then,  I had a Bright Idea: 

I'm rather surprised nobody had thought of this before!  Or if they have,  I hadn't heard of it... 

'Course,  now I gotta figure out what to do with a couple of Williams F3 shells... 

Mitch 

At least you’re keeping it “in the family” with the Pennsy shell... does that make it incestuous??? 

P.S. maybe no one mentioned it because we were collectively afraid of what desecration your fertile imagination might come up with... for once, at least pants won’t be out of place   

Thanks everyone for the nice comments  The holders were drawn in freecad and if anyone wants the stl. file I'll post it here or send me an e-mail and I can send the freecad drawing.  I think I might try doing a holder for my 990 remote also when I get some time.

Mark:   I thought about printing out a bunch of them and offering them up on the forum there really easy to make and they don't use a lot of plastic just time on the printer I just set the printer and check it when I think about it

Mitch: those engines look great I was thinking of trying to fit a 6 wheel truck on the rear of a williams F3 or F7 to try to make it look like an FL9 but I don't think it will fit, nice work though.

Jim: If it can be bumped, dropped, Hit or any manor of destruction I will do it the holders seem to be pretty rugged for just plastic but time will tell.

Lee:  The Trailer looks awesome, makes me want to repaint one or two of the free menards box trucks that are sitting around in boxes.

Again thanks all and keep up the good work this forum is a wealth of knowledge and skill

Gary

briansilvermustang posted:

M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

Another one of my midnight epiphanies...

'Course,  now I gotta figure out what to do with a couple of Williams F3 shells... 

Mitch

 

                                 liking this one Mitch,  pretty cool

              maybe put 2 F-3 shells together back to back,

                                   then split the frame, and lengthen to fit... ???

 

You might be on to something, Brian... a Razorback Bi-Polar   

Trying to clean up some 2500 cars I've collected on the cheap.  This one had some gouges that were deep and dark.  I worked on it a bit but may have more work to do.   

Any tips? 

I started with a dawn dishwater soap and automotive compounding past bath using a soft bristle brush and then  moved on to very fine wet sandpaper working from 400 grit to 800 grit.  I think I may need to file these gouges down a bit then sand them more working to finer and finer paper to smooth them out.  This car was had cheap so it is my test model.

bostonpete posted:

Trying to clean up some 2500 cars I've collected on the cheap.  This one had some gouges that were deep and dark.  I worked on it a bit but may have more work to do.   

Any tips? 

I started with a dawn dishwater soap and automotive compounding past bath using a soft bristle brush and then  moved on to very fine wet sandpaper working from 400 grit to 800 grit.  I think I may need to file these gouges down a bit then sand them more working to finer and finer paper to smooth them out.  This car was had cheap so it is my test model.

 

First nice layout!   

On the aluminum cars (very nice) I would sand them like you are doing.  Get the scrape out.  Then take a polishing pad or an automotive buffer to it.  

Jim

Mark thank you 

Mike. You are right I had a old REA Diamond there with the words under it I never liked it and REA never had it that way so I figured I would give it a up date thanks for the complement 

Gary. Thanks for the complement 

Call box installed. Paint drying on the W post. The lighting makes it tricky to get a clear pic of the call boxes.

The call box and W post signs look great, Andy!!

Big_Boy_4005 posted:

Well Mitch, the little Joe shell had occurred to me, but I thought you had something a little more far flung in mind. Of course, I didn't know you had one in your stash. That actually looks cool. Makes your job a lot easier.

Yus!   

I see you've dug into some of the goodies as well. Hours and hours of fun.

Yep!  Got most of 'em beaten into something resembling operating order.   

briansilvermustang posted:

              maybe put 2 F-3 shells together back to back,

                                   then split the frame, and lengthen to fit... ???

Or possibly adapting a Williams scale GG-1 chassis...   

Dan Padova posted:

Oh, I like that, alot !   Can you elaborate on how you did it, Mitch ?

Believe it or not,  that's a drop-on fit!  I just have to figure out where to attach bossess to the EP-5 shell...   

Apples55 posted:

At least you’re keeping it “in the family” with the Pennsy shell... does that make it incestuous??? 

P.S. maybe no one mentioned it because we were collectively afraid of what desecration your fertile imagination might come up with... for once, at least pants won’t be out of place 

old_toymaker posted:

Mitch: those engines look great I was thinking of trying to fit a 6 wheel truck on the rear of a williams F3 or F7 to try to make it look like an FL9 but I don't think it will fit, nice work though.

Thankee!   

Apples55 posted:

You might be on to something, Brian... a Razorback Bi-Polar   

Mitch 

Andy, Nice detail to the layout! Looks great!

So today I went on a mission to find a car for  CARSANDTRAINS AKA (JIM). Well the outcome was not good but I did realize I have to much stuff for my layout. So I will be selling off any building and other stuff I don't need. The way I found out was unpacked most of the boxes and put them on the layout. Here is what I have sofar. I still have boxes of auto and trucks to put out but that can wait!  I also realized the I might delete one section of yard track so I can have room for a road! 

Enjoy the pictures!                                          

Mike, Isn't it amazing the stuff we have!  It seems like it isn't much until we collect it all together.  I have a spreadsheet with all my engines, rolling stock, and buildings with the purchase prices.  Most of my engines were bought used, so they show the 'used price'.  I cut my inventory by 45% in the last year, and I still have more than I really can use on the layout planned.

Today, I took down the Christmas layout table and move the rest of the boxes to the family room.  Now you see it...

Now you don't!  

We will move some of the items in the family room to this room.  It will be much warmer for my wife with her jigsaw puzzle table in the spare bedroom instead of a cold family room. 

Mike, No backs were injured in the making of this film.  

Not just today but over the last 3 weeks. Went from lightning stripes to zebra stripes on this Lionel GP9 B unit. So I've now got an ABA set of Santa Fe Geeps.

Mark, that's great news! I am also glad no back injuries were encountered !

Lou, the engine looks really nice! Wonderful work!

Lou I like the looks of that GP9 

The garage where my layout is not heated properly so I brought these guys in for the next couple days super cold weather on the way to the ozark foothills 

mike your layout looks great as well as all the rest of you who posted pics. Thanks for sharing your pics 

carsntrains posted:

mike g. posted:

carsntrains posted:

Wow you guys are great on all the detail work!!! I decided to stop working and see what was going on! On my tablet so I can't type much! Figured I'd post a scary picture to show what a big change that removing that bump out made!!!!!

Jim

Jim, how come you still have a bump in the lower left corner?

That's where the door swings in Mike!! 😁

Jim

That hump in the lower left looks like a constant source of stringlining. Can you just go straight? 

Charlie

Well I’m  finally going to call this trailer done I drilled out the rear tail lights and added some red plastic lenses and painted the flaps and bumper guards enjoy the pics hope I will have it on the layout this weekend for some better pics. Thanks for all the likes and complements on this build.

Lee, I love it, but how about NAPA in yellow on the mud flaps??

Looks great, Lee!!

modeltrainsparts posted:

Lee, I love it, but how about NAPA in yellow on the mud flaps??

I might try this. My boss owns a old REA trailer I took some pics of it last year 

That would work - or you can find NAPA logos all over the internet or just go to your local NAPA store and pick up a free copy of the current "Real Deals"

Great job Lee! Looks wonderful!

Lee, i have a stack of old business cards with NAPA logos on them, email me and i'll send you a few to play around with.

Haven’t done much lately.  The wife and I decided a few weeks ago that we would start painting the interior walls of our house.  Yesterday we painted a small bathroom and the pantry.  We put it all back together this morning.  This afternoon I fired up the pellet stove in my garage and repaired a Fastrack lighted bumper LED that I toasted a year or so ago when installing a diode to make the LEDs last longer.  I still have quite a few lighted bumpers yet to do.   This additional diode was suggested by Gunrunner John.  

Larry

modeltrainsparts posted:

Lee, i have a stack of old business cards with NAPA logos on them, email me and i'll send you a few to play around with.

modeltrainsparts posted:

Lee, i have a stack of old business cards with NAPA logos on them, email me and i'll send you a few to play around with.

My email doesn’t work well here’s my address 683 Weiss Rd Park Hills MO 63601 United States thanks I will have a use for them I will probably use them on another truck or trailer thanks again 

Larry, sure sounds like a fun weekend! LOL But at least you have heat in the garage!

lee drennen posted:

modeltrainsparts posted:

Lee, i have a stack of old business cards with NAPA logos on them, email me and i'll send you a few to play around with.

modeltrainsparts posted:

Lee, i have a stack of old business cards with NAPA logos on them, email me and i'll send you a few to play around with.

My email doesn’t work well here’s my address 683 Weiss Rd Park Hills MO 63601 United States thanks I will have a use for them I will probably use them on another truck or trailer thanks again 

Will mail them tomorrow.

modeltrainsparts posted:

lee drennen posted:

modeltrainsparts posted:

Lee, i have a stack of old business cards with NAPA logos on them, email me and i'll send you a few to play around with.

modeltrainsparts posted:

Lee, i have a stack of old business cards with NAPA logos on them, email me and i'll send you a few to play around with.

My email doesn’t work well here’s my address 683 Weiss Rd Park Hills MO 63601 United States thanks I will have a use for them I will probably use them on another truck or trailer thanks again 

Will mail them tomorrow.

Thank you 

In case anyone's interested,  this is what happens when an air whistle from a 1928 Philadelphia subway car, covered in 50+ years of grime and dirt, gets highly polished... 

Mitch 

This set hasn’t ran since August so I finally got her on the main .. https://youtu.be/f_AAiXioshw

M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

In case anyone's interested,  this is what happens when an air whistle from a 1928 Philadelphia subway car, covered in 50+ years of grime and dirt, gets highly polished... 

Mitch 

Leave it to you to toot your own horn, Mitch  

Now all you need it a tank of pressurized air to test it!!! Looks great.

As an experiment I made a trackside switch indicator for an Atlas remote turnout in an area not close enough to see whether the switch was correctly deployed.  It would show a white sign for through traffic and red for diverging.  I posted the OCD details on the structures forum.  It is not designed to be anything cosemetically close to real structures, but just to help my switch operations.

I began the disassembly of SF 15", polished aluminum passenger cars.  This will be slow going to avoid damage to the polished finish--wearing latex gloves, nothing that could scratch the finish remains nearby, etc.

I'm also waiting on a resupply of wet/dry sandpaper and putty to continue bodywork on TCA convention cars that are donors for a GN Empire Builder.