WHAT’S ON THE WORKBENCH AT THE MOMENT

Have you ever done something silly? Here was a $20 ATSF MTH Doodlebug, stripped of motors and boards, that I bought at the MTH parts booth at York, 2004. I decided to be "smart"and do a GM&O D'bug dummy for "free". I had all the materials. So...

Labor. It's all about labor. I did add the GM&O-correct headlight engineer's visors, and radiator louvers (which came out OK, if I do say so myself). Chassis repaint. Tedious work - straight stripes look so innocent on the decal paper. Ditto straight masking. The road name spacing is not correct for the GM&O Doodlebugs, but the MTH/Lionel body shell is also not correct for the GM&O, so I chose a cleaner look.

And I've still got a dummy - but, one motor is enough for a D'bug, and I have another cheap PS1 version out of which I will rob 1 motor...eventually.

Maybe I should remove the black-painted masking tape from the headlight lens....

Looks good. It's nice all it took was your expensive labor!

@D500 posted:

Have you ever done something silly? Here was a $20 ATSF MTH Doodlebug, stripped of motors and boards, that I bought at the MTH parts booth at York, 2004. I decided to be "smart"and do a GM&O D'bug dummy for "free". I had all the materials. So...

Labor. It's all about labor. I did add the GM&O-correct headlight engineer's visors, and radiator louvers (which came out OK, if I do say so myself). Chassis repaint. Tedious work - straight stripes look so innocent on the decal paper. Ditto straight masking. The road name spacing is not correct for the GM&O Doodlebugs, but the MTH/Lionel body shell is also not correct for the GM&O, so I chose a cleaner look.

And I've still got a dummy - but, one motor is enough for a D'bug, and I have another cheap PS1 version out of which I will rob 1 motor...eventually.

Maybe I should remove the black-painted masking tape from the headlight lens....

Live it. Great job D500

@mike g. posted:

Looks good. It's nice all it took was your expensive labor!

Hi Mike,

IMHO, projects like this are fun, not labor.

But I get your point

My Harmonized K-Line Hudson is now complete and ready for the layout running test.  Pat (Harmonyards) did the chassis-ectomy, mounted the Cruise Commander, and installed a bracket for the chuff generator.  I added GRJ's chuff generator and super-chuffer boards, wiring everything up.  It runs quite nicely on the test stand.  I especially appreciate the Rule 17 headlight control and the smoke control of the Super-Chuffer.  This is such a pretty model.  While the final cost wasn't trivial, it was well worth it.

Lousy videography (smartphone) but one gets the idea of how it runs ... 

Yours looks great, Karl!  I’m sure it runs even better!

HI @KarlDL I am with marm what a beautiful engine, I hope you will post a video of it running when you get a chance!

While not a major project, I thought I'd upgrade the speaker system on my WbB Congressional GG1. I added a driver and used the child-proof lids (MRP 18D 45-400) from a couple of pill bottles with the threaded liner removed to create 2 upward-firing acoustic suspension speakers. I was careful not to damage the edges of the lids when removing the liners and cemented the drivers in with contact cement:

The front speaker is based on the original WbB 2" driver and the rear is based on a nice German-made 2" driver from from Visaton:

I found that, even with extended running (1 hr!) of the traction motor cooling fan and bell sounds with the loco in neutral, the True Blast board, particularly the output triac, didn't overheat with the 4-ohm load from the two 8-ohm speakers wired in parallel but produced a LOT more sound with a "stereo" effect, especially the Leslie A200 airhorn. I mounted the speakers to the chassis base with 3M "Dual Lock" pads so the speakers could be removed for loco maintenance:

I did have to modify the front and rear cab windows as shown below and cement them in with CA to keep them clear of the speakers. I could have left them off to get even more sound out, but that compromised appearance:

So, here's the finished product "sounding off" before departing. Unfortunately, the cell phone mic doesn't do her justice so you'll have to take my word that even the fan sound can be heard over the wheel noise of my pre-Bachmann Williams reproduction PW Congressional set when she's pulling it at speed:

Now I hope I can find a "derelict" JLC G that has had zinc pest destroy the trucks to get the boards and flywheel tach to upgrade the electronics of this beauty.

While working on my girder bridge project, gotta have a side project going to pass the time waiting for paint and glue to dry.

I'm making scrap loads for a couple Menards gondolas. These cars are so light weight that they won't stay on the rails. I'm going to put weights on the bottom of the load. I used a stainless steel scouring pad.

Bob

@RSJB18 posted:

While working on my girder bridge project, gotta have a side project going to pass the time waiting for paint and glue to dry.

I'm making scrap loads for a couple Menards gondolas. These cars are so light weight that they won't stay on the rails. I'm going to put weights on the bottom of the load. I used a stainless steel scouring pad.

Bob

Looks good Bob, I am glad you said it was a scouring pad. At first I thought it was a bunch of shavings.from a drill press!

One of the major reasons I am not making a whole lot of visible progress on the layout. Yet another idea started nearly a year ago. Built a cardboard mockup of a freight house, placed it in position and did not a whole lot else except look for the "perfect" windows.

I wanted the look of a window wall between concrete posts, but had a hard time finding these that would meet my design idea. A set mounted 3x2 gives me nearly 12 inches in section width enough for a box car to unload. This is going to be a "big" building 36x8x16 tall, but nearly 1/2 is servicing my lower yard - it does not stick up all that far to be objectionable. Each floor is 22 feet high, common for buildings of this age.

On the right are the individual window units, about 1mm thick, plus the 1mm frame. Brick molding is added around the perimeter to bring the assembly thickness to 3mm which happens to be the thickness of the building baltic birch plywood. (Maybe I should consider 3mm MDF)

Another mockup to decide the appropriate window arrangement. I decided this is what I was looking for. Now to order freight doors and windows and doors for the other side. I'll have to sneak up on the height of the first floor to work in the freight dock at elevation with the box car doors.

BTW - the windows do not come with glazing. The mullions have 3M peel and stick backing and are meant to be stuck directly to whatever glazing you choose. Nice for me not to have all the supporting stuff in the way if meant for single panel installs.

It's going to look great when it's done Jeff!

@RSJB18 posted:

While working on my girder bridge project, gotta have a side project going to pass the time waiting for paint and glue to dry.

I'm making scrap loads for a couple Menards gondolas. These cars are so light weight that they won't stay on the rails. I'm going to put weights on the bottom of the load. I used a stainless steel scouring pad.

Bob

Great idea Bob, haven’t seen that before. You’re always thinking of projects to keep the mind working. Are you planning to weather it?

Gene

@Genemed posted:

Great idea Bob, haven’t seen that before. You’re always thinking of projects to keep the mind working. Are you planning to weather it?

Gene

Yea- I'll spray it over the weekend if the weather cooperates.

Thanks

3rd Rail J1d Hudson received a Cruise Commander upgrade, eliminating the TAS motherboard and motor driver.   Reused original Lionel Railsounds 4 sound card, with a Lionel RS motherboard/power supply card.  No issues with the TAS fan-driven smoke system.  Original Hall-effect tender wheel sensor used for chuff rather than a reed switch and magnet.  Everything works as it should.  Unfortunately, the drawbar seems to have taken leave at some point, so no train hauling until I can find or fabricate a replacement.

@RSJB18 posted:

While working on my girder bridge project, gotta have a side project going to pass the time waiting for paint and glue to dry.

I'm making scrap loads for a couple Menards gondolas. These cars are so light weight that they won't stay on the rails. I'm going to put weights on the bottom of the load. I used a stainless steel scouring pad.

Bob

As usual, ingenious Bob.

This is a picture of what I’m running into the past several months, great friends going to their eternal home and on my work bench are their trains, looking for a new home. I’m inspecting, testing all of these nice trains as they will be going to new homes, somewhere, someday, somehow…. It’s fun work, just sad… Happy Railroad Everyone

@leapinlarry posted:

This is a picture of what I’m running into the past several months, great friends going to their eternal home and on my work bench are their trains, looking for a new home. I’m inspecting, testing all of these nice trains as they will be going to new homes, somewhere, someday, somehow…. It’s fun work, just sad… Happy Railroad Everyone

Larry, it shows that you're a great person and friend for doing this for your friends and their loved ones! I wish you luck in your work and please take time to enjoy the engines and cars you are testing.

Just off my workbench yesterday are these two LIRR cars (Crew and Tool):

Here are the "before" pics:

Here is my "complete" custom painted LIRR train:

Made progress on my scrap load today in between Honey-do's......

I added another 1/2 scouring pad glued to the base pad. Sprayed the whole thing with a dark bronze rattle can. Got lucky with a 58 degree day here on LI. About a 1/2 hour after I finished, the wind picked up and the temps dropped about 20 deg. and are bottoming out in the 20's tonight

Then I gave it an acrylic wash with dark brown, black, and a drop of dark red.

Still debating if I can call it done or not.....

Thoughts?

Bob