@laming posted:Took a short break from The Big Project, and and piddled with some cars that have arrived over the course of the past week.
Going through them and adding metal wheels, adjusting coupler heights, cutting off truck mounted couplers and installing Kadee boxes and couplers (on the gondolas), etc, etc...
Today it's back to The Big Project.
Andre
Nice , ribbed side boxcar
Ted.......Thanks for the drumhead post. Does John sell the board or did he post the pc board file?
Richard
@texgeekboy posted:Thanks for the details on the soldering equipment. I tried to do some very detailed stuff on some custom pcbs yesterday, and while it went okay I knew it should have been easier. A fine tip iron and small diameter solder should do the trick.
I too thank you, Ted. I have the fine solder and magnifier, but I need to get the fine tipped soldering iron. I will take a look at the Hakko because I have a lot of GJR parts to rewire my passenger cars.
By now most of you should know where this is going. @Mark Boyce got this correct. I don't care for the dark brown color so its off to get a can of spray paint of a much lighter flat color. Have not decided on roof shingle type or color. Looks fine in its intended spot on the layout. The building itself is only 2" deep but 16 " wide.
Jeff, I agree with you, it is too dark. You will get it looking right.
Ok - picked up a flat red primer and a hunt club green typical of painted log structures. Now which color? - I am leaning the red primer since it will be among trees. The green is a more woodsy than shown.
@ScoutingDad posted:Ok - picked up a flat red primer and a hunt club green typical of painted log structures. Now which color? - I am leaning the red primer since it will be among trees. The green is a more woodsy than shown.
I agree, the red primer would be best.
Going from on the workbench to off. Still have to decide on a sign for the upper floor. Otherwise I would have installed 2 more windows. Decided to use primer red for the logs and the hunter green for the "corrugated metal" roof. Funny how the camera makes the imperfections jump out. Not too bad for a background building made of 1/4 ply, corrugated card stock, thin balsa strips and dowels. If I do this again, I might reduce the upper roof slope to be closer to the 30 degrees of the lower roof. I was concerned over the "look" of a pitched roof on a background building. Not enough roof showing would look wrong, this "looks" a little high. Maybe add green shutters to the upper windows to dress it up a bit.
Jeff, I did not notice the high pitch of the roof until you mentioned it. Since you mentioned it, I agree it looks a little high, but I think it is quite acceptable. Your choice of colors are perfect in my opinion.
Shutters might help the look. What about a chimney?
As I keep looking at it - shutters would be the way to go - a little drab as it. Same issue with the chimney as with the roof line. I thought the chimney would be behind where the building would be cut, so would not show up. Flat roofed buildings are so much easier. Now I am thinking about stone chimneys on both ends. I would just cast pea gravel in plaster and then weather.
@Lou1985 posted:Well not exactly. You have to make one or have someone make you one. It's basically a 11.5mm square with a 4mm hole in the middle. Everything stays in sync as the cam is secured to the axle.
Lou in reading this I figured you likely make these from brass stock, but why couldn't they be 3D printed? The design is easy and you could print them several at a time, and once cured the resin becomes hard like glass. Here's a snip of the simple design file I came up with:
It's basically 11.5mm to a side, 5mm thick, with a 4mm hole as you said. I also radiused the corners to 7.6mm just to make life easier for the cherry switch activation lever. This gives a net switch stroke of 1.85mm which should work fine. If the corners were left not radiused the stroke would be 2.38mm.
I think it would also work if made in 2 pieces, and CA glued to the axle shaft in place in the truck. That would be way easier than disassembling the entire truck and having to re-quarter the drivers to put it back together. What do you think? 
Of course you still have to remove the old 2 lobe cam somehow I guess.......!
Rod
@Rod Stewart posted:Lou in reading this I figured you likely make these from brass stock, but why couldn't they be 3D printed? The design is easy and you could print them several at a time, and once cured the resin becomes hard like glass. Here's a snip of the simple design file I came up with:
It's basically 11.5mm to a side, 5mm thick, with a 4mm hole as you said. I also radiused the corners to 7.6mm just to make life easier for the cherry switch activation lever. This gives a net switch stroke of 1.85mm which should work fine. If the corners were left not radiused the stroke would be 2.38mm.
I think it would also work if made in 2 pieces, and CA glued to the axle shaft in place in the truck. That would be way easier than disassembling the entire truck and having to re-quarter the drivers to put it back together. What do you think?
Rod
What you describe is what I did. Just 3D print a cam, pop the old cam out by splitting in half with a Xacto knife, CA glue in the new cam. Done.
@Lou1985 posted:What you describe is what I did. Just 3D print a cam, pop the old cam out by splitting in half with a Xacto knife, CA glue in the new cam. Done.
Got it Lou! I did not understand you were using 3D printed cams. I somehow thought they were metal, like brass. We are on the same page; thanks for clarifying!
How does using an Xacto knife work for splitting the old cam? Can you give us a bit more info about how that is done please?
Rod
@Rod Stewart posted:Got it Lou! I did not understand you were using 3D printed cams. I somehow thought they were metal, like brass. We are on the same page; thanks for clarifying!
How does using an Xacto knife work for splitting the old cam? Can you give us a bit more info about how that is done please?
Rod
I just slice at the stock cam with the Xacto knife till it splits, spin it around and slice the other side. A chisel blade usually works well for that.
@ScoutingDad posted:Going from on the workbench to off. Still have to decide on a sign for the upper floor. Otherwise I would have installed 2 more windows. Decided to use primer red for the logs and the hunter green for the "corrugated metal" roof. Funny how the camera makes the imperfections jump out. Not too bad for a background building made of 1/4 ply, corrugated card stock, thin balsa strips and dowels. If I do this again, I might reduce the upper roof slope to be closer to the 30 degrees of the lower roof. I was concerned over the "look" of a pitched roof on a background building. Not enough roof showing would look wrong, this "looks" a little high. Maybe add green shutters to the upper windows to dress it up a bit.
Jeff- The roof height suggests a usable 3rd level, not attic space. Add 2 or 3 doghouse dormers with gable roofs.
You'll thank me later......
I agree on adding shutters too.
Bob
Between 4/24/22 and 5/6/22 I made a few posts concerning my assembly line construction of 4 baggage carts for a diorama I was working on....here's a detail shot of the final setup.
Korber Roundhouse just about complete
Great job Alex, that thing is a monster. I hope that's for local pick-up because shipping that could be a nightmare.
I'm working on a wood roof for my PRR theater car kitbash/scratch on another thread. Having fun.
@coach joe posted:Great job Alex, that thing is a monster. I hope that's for local pick-up because shipping that could be a nightmare.
Hi Joe,
Thanks for the kind words, yes it is for pick up. It actually is gone already.
Thanks, Alex
This perfectly illustrates why I didn't have room for a roundhouse on my TT! 
That sucker is HUGE!
@Alex M posted:Hi Joe,
Thanks for the kind words, yes it is for pick up. It actually is gone already.
Thanks, Alex
Darn, I was gonna come by and pick it up Alex! Beautiful work BTW!
Rod
The roundhouse looks great, Alex!
Waiting for a new armature for my un-cataloged FA . The shell is in perfect shape. Excited to get this running!
Now ready to head to the paint department...
Finally snagged this old funky MOW kit in an auction. Lots of fun in the building of it. Multiple bags of wood and metal parts, amazingly organized for construction with three sheets of instructions/inventory. Have since added further details, like nbw's at the ladder rungs, additional brake rigging, centering springs for the dummy (O3R) couplers. Accumulating possible details for those open bins...any suggestions on what would be appropriate??
Since I haven't found any prototype info for this contraption, paint and decals are wide open for consideration.
This is the sort of project that makes the hobby fun!...IMHO, of course.
KD
This pile of stuff will eventually be a 3rd Rail Cab Forward TMCC upgrade with all the trimmings.
@gunrunnerjohn posted:This pile of stuff will eventually be a 3rd Rail Cab Forward TMCC upgrade with all the trimmings.
Pile of stuff????? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
@dkdkrd posted:Now ready to head to the paint department...
Finally snagged this old funky MOW kit in an auction. Lots of fun in the building of it. Multiple bags of wood and metal parts, amazingly organized for construction with three sheets of instructions/inventory. Have since added further details, like nbw's at the ladder rungs, additional brake rigging, centering springs for the dummy (O3R) couplers. Accumulating possible details for those open bins...any suggestions on what would be appropriate??
Since I haven't found any prototype info for this contraption, paint and decals are wide open for consideration.
This is the sort of project that makes the hobby fun!...IMHO, of course.
KD
That thing is incredible.
I finally started on some CNW heavyweights to go with my Premier CNW Hudson. CNW passenger cars are few and far between, so I decided to paint my own using east to acquire K-Line PRR heavyweights as a base. First up are a coach and diner. I've only got another coach, a baggage car, a Pullman, and an observation car to go. Decals are from Protocraft, which are made by Microscale.
Actually just came off the workbench. Installed @gunrunnerjohn 's passenger car LED lighting kits in my Williams 15" aluminum SP daylight set. No more flicker! And he was nice enough to include an adjustment on the board to control the brightness. I really appreciate that feature since I like to dim the lights in the cars that have silhouette windows.
This little guy has made his way back to the work bench. I've decorated one side, need to do the other side and figure out how to mount RMT handrails into Kusan holes. I finished decaling this side and I don't think I can paint the step and foot board edges yellow without it looking horrible so I tried some old pactra Trim Tape I had. I got the two front, bottom steps and front right footboard done, the third and top steps became a nightmare. The excess Trim Tape came in contact with some of the decals while I was trying to align and affix it to the stairs, removing some of the yellow safety stripes and even the road number. Now that I've got new decals back on I'm going to clear coat this side before working on the other side.
I've added an EMD Builder's plate and a F on the front end of the frame since I took this picture.
You could always heat the mounting tabs and just push it into the mounting holes.
Found a good deal on a set of MTH streamlined cars. Only problem was, they were NYC. They're currently undergoing renovation as stand-ins for the PRR's "Congressional" (yes, they're not made by Budd, but we're on an austerity budget). One is off in the "workshop/kitchen". Still have to add the stripe below the windows, and the name/number boards...
Recent quickie:
LTI 4-bay that I have had for years. Kept hanging around. I like these. It had plastic trucks and a not-so-impressive SP scheme.
So-o-o-o - I put on die-cast Lionel trucks (drop-ins), "fake-patched" the particulars, Dullcote #1, added a repaired panel, weathered with a simple water/alcohol/craft acrylic wash, Dullcote #2, a bit of dry pigment on the trucks
I like it. Not high-end, but scale-y.
On the bench or off the bench? I've added the sign, shutters and a large field stone chimney. dabbed pastel chalk on the roofs and followed with a light spray of clearcoat. Clearly off the bench in this image.
@Scottie Chimney and shutters per your suggestions. I was originally thinking side chimneys, I prefer this style.
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