Thanks Mike. I used your link to the color chart and went right passed the NYC grays. I'm glad you pointed it out. I didn't think of scalecoat because like Dave C said I remembered they went out of business. I guess an internet search for 066 NYC Dark gray wouldn't hurt.
Dave C thanks for the alternative. No hobby shop even remotely close to Myrtle Beach so internet shopping it shall be.
Hi Joe, I just did a quick search and there are lots of Dark Gray NYC sellers on the Bay!
Thanks Mike. I didn't check eBay but a Google search came up with a lot of Out-of-Stocks so I searched for Trucolor NYC Dark Gray. I found plenty of 1oz ready to spray jar at lots of hobby shops including our very own Mr. Muffin's. It's good to know I can get Trucolor but its also good to know the Scalecoat is also available via eBay.
@coach joe posted:So this Williams Century Limited observation car arrived Friday.
It wasn't the Weaver observation car I was looking for but for $10.50 from eBay it was close enough.
Comparing it to a Weaver car the bodies appear to be from the same molds. So close enough wouldn't be good enough and a future trip to the workbench would be inevitable. I figured with a little black pant on the roof and some pin stripe tape to match the Weaver striping this car would complete my Advance Section of the 20th Century Limited. I had my portable paint booth out yesterday doing some work for my wife so that future trip to the work bench turned into now. I hadn't taken one of these aluminum cars apart in a long time, if ever, so what I thought would be quick roof removal turned into a total tear down and low and behold the roof isn't a separate piece, so no quick Saturday afternoon Step 1 in the transformation painted roof. Instead it's a full blown work bench project on top of the 20-30 or so I've already got.
To paint the roof I'll have to mask off the sides and hit it with some rattle can satin black. For the striping I hoped some auto pinstriping would work. What I have on hand is a bit too wide. I think 1/16" is what I need. I notice the NEW YORK CENTRAL and CENTURY are not, painted, pad printed or decals but stickers, white lettering on gray background, that run the entire length of the car. It appears that the panels under these stickers are painted like the rest of the car. I do have some NEW YORK CENTRAL decals that are close to the Weaver cars, so I'm thinking of peeling the stickers off and using those decals. Has anyone here ever peeled these stickers off a Williams car? Any recommendations would be appreciated. So I believe my game plan for the body work is:
1.Remove silhouettes
2. Remove NYC stickers, clean any residue. Hopefully the Century stickers are not damaged while cleaning any residue.
3. Mask off roof. Clean roof with alcohol wipes. Paint roof
4. Add NYC decals
5. Clear coat
6. Add pinstripe tape
7. Reinstall silhouettes
Before re-assembly I plan to do some mechanical work. The trucks and the coupler are looser than the Weaver so the observation car rocks more and the coupler hangs a bit lower. I will try using some C clips to fill the spaces and tighten this up some. I don't really want to start drilling out rivets and replacing them. I'll replace the two incandescent bulbs with some LED bulbs I purchased from Town and Country Hobbies years ago. and put some of that shiny aluminum duct tape on the roof interior to help spread the light.
I even have a 20TH Century LTD "drumhead" on the way. Hopefully it fits.
So while the roof re-paint has stalled I did some of the mechanical work. First I had to re-solder the hot wire from both trucks to the lamp base. I replaced the incandescents with the Town & Country LED bulbs, added E-clips to take up some of the excess play in the trucks. Some tape on the top of the dummy coupler keeps it level with the Weaver couplers and the drum head is in. I had to alter Williams tail end so you could see the 20TH Century. The Limited is still partially obscured so I'm debating whether to do some more alterations. I'll post a pic when I decide how I'm going to leave it.
I haven’t had much time for trains lately but have enjoyed following everyone’s projects here. Lots of talent and inspiration!
I had some fun this week working on a Weaver B60 that needed some TLC. I couldn’t say no to the price but it had a few things to work through. Several steps were missing and the previous owner had removed the marker lights. Seemed like the perfect project for a few evenings after work.
Getting back to my BEEP upgrade after a near disaster. My water heater sprung a leak the other day. Fortunately I caught it befor the water made it out of my shop.
So after a false start and fail...I'm back on the lighting install. One end is done, working on the other now. Headlights will control based on direction, and markers will be fed from track power.
The headlights are off in this shot. They have a reflective background and the camera gives the appearance that they are on.
The FC board has a cab light output that will go in next.
Bob
Projects have stalled here, both scenery and workbench. Things have not been turning out quite like I had envisioned or are just much more complicated then I thought. That combined with the passing of my cat Linus, my constant train room companion although he had little interest in the trains, has put a damper on activities in the train room. Here's a picture of the 20TH Century Limited "drumhead" I mentioned in my last post. Still not sure if I want to remove another horizontal bar from the bottom so the "Limited" can be clearly seen.
@coach joe posted:Projects have stalled here, both scenery and workbench. Things have not been turning out quite like I had envisioned or are just much more complicated then I thought. That combined with the passing of my cat Linus, my constant train room companion although he had little interest in the trains, has put a damper on activities in the train room. Here's a picture of the 20TH Century Limited "drumhead" I mentioned in my last post. Still not sure if I want to remove another horizontal bar from the bottom so the "Limited" can be clearly seen.
Looking good Joe! Keep up the wonderful work!
@coach joe posted:Projects have stalled here, both scenery and workbench. Things have not been turning out quite like I had envisioned or are just much more complicated then I thought. That combined with the passing of my cat Linus, my constant train room companion although he had little interest in the trains, has put a damper on activities in the train room. Here's a picture of the 20TH Century Limited "drumhead" I mentioned in my last post. Still not sure if I want to remove another horizontal bar from the bottom so the "Limited" can be clearly seen.
Sorry to hear of the passing of your train room buddy. They do attached themselves to our hearts; even though cats demonstrate that your interest are beneath their dignity. I would suggest that something on your layout have the designation of Linus. Perhaps “The Linus Luncheonette” or “Linus Lane”.
Jay
My darned Legacy controls aren’t workingso got to find the board lol don’t worry we’ll get you back on the track!!
@Dennis Holler posted:
My darned Legacy controls aren’t workingso got to find the board lol don’t worry we’ll get you back on the track!!
A bit crusty Dennis. Looks like it's all there at least.
Bob
@coach joe posted:Projects have stalled here, both scenery and workbench. Things have not been turning out quite like I had envisioned or are just much more complicated then I thought. That combined with the passing of my cat Linus, my constant train room companion although he had little interest in the trains, has put a damper on activities in the train room. Here's a picture of the 20TH Century Limited "drumhead" I mentioned in my last post. Still not sure if I want to remove another horizontal bar from the bottom so the "Limited" can be clearly seen.
Sorry to hear about Linus Joe.
Bob
@Dennis Holler posted:
My darned Legacy controls aren’t workingso got to find the board lol don’t worry we’ll get you back on the track!!
Love it - old 2RO calls to me. I have a "similar" (do not know the brand) 1930's NYC H10 Mikado that I installed an ERR Cruise Commander in, and it ran "like butter", but the small driver flanges/narrow tires could not handle the switches (your driver flanges look promising). The flanges looked like a maybe, so I went ahead. OK off the switches.
I noted and liked the Pre-War Lionel 700T trucks from the 700E's tender on your loco.
Okay, don't laugh at me guys but THIS is the very first time i have even taken the shell off of a train never mind replace 4 tires! She had been stored for years and when I went to it, her tires flew off. I was so nervous but knew that I had to do it. I didn't particularly enjoy it though and was afraid that I would screw something up but......IT RUNS!
MIKKI
Good job! I just finished replacing the traction tires on my MTH GP45. Although not hard still seems like the job should be easier, LOL!
Mikki, no laughing here! Traction tires can be a problem installing depending on the engine. You did a great job!!
Well done! 
Mitch
Finally got around to converting the old AC incandescent lights in my Buco 4 axle passenger carriages over to LEDs.
With the help of gunrunnerjohn supplying me with his tiny AC to DC voltage regulators, and picking up the rolls of LED strip lights on AliExpress, I was ready to give it a crack!
The original Buco lighting system was one 18V bulb per carriage, suspended from the top of the carriage via a stiff piece of cardboard. The wiring is "daisy-chained" between each carriage, and power is supplied from an outlet at the rear of the larger 304 and 314 Buco loco's. There are no pick-up rollers on these Buco carriages.
Above is the "restaurant" car (they were painted red as per the protype) showing the "daisy-chain" wiring system to power each cars light, and the single light globe suspended on cardboard providing illumination???
Above is a photo (very poorly taken, I admit) of the incandescent light emitted by the single light globe.
So installing the new LED's, I needed to maintain the "daisy-chain" wiring to get track power all the way down the consist to the last carriage, so the small (Buco HO) plugs were retained at the ends of each carriage.
I took a "tap" off the positive (+) and negative (-) leads inside each carriage to power a lighting board (supplied by gunrunnerjohn), and then leads from the board to power the LED strip, which was cut to suit the length of the carriage. See photo below.
I glued the strip of LED's to a timber skewer that fits perfectly at each end, in grooves in the tinplate where the original "daisy chain" wires were located.
I finally completed the conversion to all six (6) of my Buco passenger carriages yesterday, and the difference is night and day (pardon the pun)!!! See photo below.
I use one of my Williams GG1 loco's to pull this train, as it has got some "grunt", so I needed a transition car with a knuckle coupler to hook-up to the GG1, and a drop-link coupler at the other end to couple to the Buco carriages, hence the MTH "Milwaukee RPO" carriage that also has the roller pick-up to provide track power for the lighting system.
Just love the conversion, with no "flickering" of the carriage lights as the train transverses the switches, and the illumination inside the carriages can now be seen!!! I didn't have to worry about seats or passengers visible through the windows inside the carriages, as this was well beyond this Swiss manufacture, back in the early 1950's.
Full credit must go to gunrunnerjohn for helping me with this conversion, for supplying the circuit boards, and pointing me in the right direction about which rolls of LED's to get. Thank you John!!
Peter.....Buco Australia.
Peter, your Buco cars look great! I did the same with my cars last year, but didn’t have the situation you had. All my cars have pickup rollers.
Thanks guys, and Mark, for your responses.
I'm about to build another Buco "special" passenger car........I take two single axle passenger carriages, cut them in half (length-wise), join the halves carefully, and then place them on a long freight chassis to create a different type of passenger carriage never built by the original Buco company.
I will add the new LED lighting kit, and let you guys see the results.
Stay tuned.
Peter.......Buco Australia.
Peter, it took me a while to lock into what Buco is. The red lights will enhance an already nice car.
Beginning to replace the green windows in my scale Polar Express heavyweight cars while I wait for LED lighting. Planning on following @gunrunnerjohn and @Rod Stewart guidelines. 
Great idea, @VADarthDad! Upgrading the lighting did wonders for my two other sets. I like clear windows myself. You just gave me another project; put LED lighting in my Polar Express. I have all the parts left over; no excuse now.
@VADarthDad what did you use for your window replacement. I have a couple of Lionel heavyweights that could probably use the same treatment
I basically followed this:
https://ogrforum.com/topic/169233314718525698
used double sided tape from Amazon and clear film.
Gennel 3mm x 25m clear thin double sided strong adhesive acrylic tape and banltre 12 pieces 6 mil blank template mylar
I haven't posted anything in a long time. I haven't been involved much with trains or the hobby outside of running a coal drag a few times around the outdoor shelf layout. Last year, I restored a lamp post that was in desperate need of repair. I converted it to a railroad theme using an old RR kerosene lamp that someone electrified. I installed a solar flame bulb and lightly frosted the glass to soften the flame. I had a steam locomotive silhouette that I used as one half of a weathervane on the top. A friend gave me a diesel silhouette and I asked if he could get another one. While waiting, I decided to use the one I had as a stencil to make my own back-to-back silhouette using a 1/4" thick piece of composite decking, eliminating the company logo. This is my current progress.
Very nice looking work, Don!
Thanks Mark.
Very elaborate lamp post you made there Don. No confusion about your love of trains.
That's awesome Don! It is really professionally done. Is the finish just painted or did you have to coat it with something so that it can withstand the weather?
Thanks Coach Joe and Phil.
Phil, the post is mostly from a wood porch post. The base and top are composite decking to help deter water damage. All are painted with exterior water base paint, except for metal parts. They are coated with black satin enamel. The etched lettering, done with a router, is also painted with the same satin enamel. I did some touch up this morning, and when dry, I'll run the belt sander over the surface for a final finish. Since the sign boards are composite, I don't think a protective coating is necessary.
@SuperChiefer84 posted:I'm currently working on this Legacy B-Unit. I had an extra Santa Fe plated #22A shell and picked up one of the infamous easter egg blue NYO&W 6-85204 F3B powered with sounds/smoke. I also have tank, side frames, frame and ladders in silver. May or may not swap frame to silver.
Update to my previous post. The Santa Fe b-unit swap is finished! I used the guts from a 6-85204 NYO&W B unit and the 6-85189 shell I bought from Lionel. Everything went great except a wire pulled loose from one of the switches and had to resolder.
The original Lionel 6-85189 b-unit is hard to find and expensive when you do. Trainz has one listed for over $900 with shipping right now! All in I spent about $400 to make this one.
I noticed on the NYO&W B unit the smoke stacks are glued on upside down and all the end ladders were backwards. They were also backwards on my Santa Fe's which I corrected. You may want to check yours if you have this F3 run from 2017. They should line up with the handrails on the corners of the body.
I did some add ons to my new RK /WM ps3 Pacific after digging through my engine ' boneyard ' .
WHEN NEWLY PURCHASED........
AFTER THE ' BONEYARD ' EXCURSION..........finally a backup light , doghouse and up and over ladder.
Still have to lookon the internet to find some rear lanterns and the proper marker lights wired with the connector for the MTH tender board .
Since the ps2 and ps3 boards in the tenders have the open wired connectors already present , I'll have to find about about five more lantern pairs and wired red markers to connect to them on some of my other steamers..........🤔...just when I couldn't think of what else to do in the layout room.
God Speed all. 
I picked up a MTH Babylon Trolley from Trainland this week. These are all plastic and very light so I added 5 oz of weight. It runs much better now and has enough momentum to flip the bumpers at low speeds.
Bob
@RSJB18 posted:I picked up a MTH Babylon Trolley from Trainland this week. These are all plastic and very light so I added 5 oz of weight. It runs much better now and has enough momentum to flip the bumpers at low speeds.
Bob
Nice addition Bob. I may do that on mine as well.
Is that an extra 5 oz of weight?
Thanks,
John
@Craftech posted:Nice addition Bob. I may do that on mine as well.
Is that an extra 5 oz of weight?
Thanks,
John
Yes- 2.5 on each side. The larger weights are .5 oz/ smaller .25 oz. I get them at Harbor Freight.
Full disclosure- I first applied the weights on the bump mechanism and had to move them to where the are now. 
@RSJB18 posted:I picked up a MTH Babylon Trolley from Trainland this week. These are all plastic and very light so I added 5 oz of weight. It runs much better now and has enough momentum to flip the bumpers at low speeds.
Bob
Looks good Bob. What a treat (or curse) to live near Trainland.
Gene
@Genemed posted:Looks good Bob. What a treat (or curse) to live near Trainland.
Gene
Yes it is.....not for my wallet tho.......
Nassau Hobby is also close........I'm spoiled.
Thanks
@RSJB18 posted:Yes- 2.5 on each side. The larger weights are .5 oz/ smaller .25 oz. I get them at Harbor Freight.
Full disclosure- I first applied the weights on the bump mechanism and had to move them to where the are now.
Thanks Bob.
John
Bob, nice fix for the Bobylon Trolly! 😃
My current project is this MPC, ICG U boat I bought last week. It was in fair condition and needed a lot of TLC. It wouldn't run when I got it. It was missing the brake wheel and the speed nut/spring/dished washer on the rear mount post that wasn't mentioned in the auction. The frame had a lot of rust and the trucks and sideframes had some rust and shiny spots. I cleaned and reblued the frame. I need to decide if I want to add another treatment of bluing or if I want to paint it. I touched up the bluing on the trucks and sideframes. Apparently this was a carpet runner. I removed a lot of hair, fur and carpet fuzz from the powered truck and gears. The motor was disassembled, cleaned and relubed. Two of the trumpets(?) were broken on the horn and had to be glued back on. The reverse unit was not working properly and I tracked that down to a ground issue. I soldered a wire from the reverse unit to the e-clip on the rear truck and that resolved that issue. I am waiting for the parts to mount the truck to come in and I have to finish up the frame, then this one will be ready for service.
I decided to apply some more bluing to the frame on the ICG U boat. After a coat of WD40 I think it looks good and I will leave it as is. The parts for the truck should be in tomorrow, so this loco should be back together tomorrow night.
The Rock Island caboose has been a pain. I clear coated it four times before it came out right. I kept getting white spots in the clear coat. I threw out the old clear and used a new bottle and it came out okay. I upgraded the light to an LED and used some red clear on the marker lights.
The frame and shell on the loco have been clear coated. The shell will get built up and the fuel tank reattached later this evening. I have to paint and clear coat the pilots then this loco will be ready for reassembly and for its first run in its new livery. I decided to leave the sideframes as is since they are natural metal and the prototype photos I found show them as having been gray, so they are close enough as this is just a toy train.
I took the truck parts off of the RI loco truck to get the ICG loco completed. It has had some time going around the track and is running great. I think it came out really good. It looks and runs a lot better now.
I got the RI loco finished up except for some small details and the missing truck mounting hardware I used to get the ICG loco done. As luck would have it, the parts didn't arrive today. Hopefully tomorrow. It has been running around the layout and is running great. I am glad this one is done. I don't enjoy the painting process all that much anymore. The end result is nice and I have a unique loco that wasn't available in this livery from the factory. So in the end it was worth the effort.
This is my last update on these projects. On to the next project. I am not sure what that will be yet. I have lots of stuff to do.
@RSJB18 posted:I picked up a MTH Babylon Trolley from Trainland this week. These are all plastic and very light so I added 5 oz of weight. It runs much better now and has enough momentum to flip the bumpers at low speeds.
Bob
Thanks for sharing this great tip Bob. 
I didn't have the room for the larger weights that you have installed. I had 4 larger nuts and a round fishing weight on top of each nut on the 4 corners in the white areas.
While the weight wasn't as heavy that you used, it was enough to make positive bump switching at slow speed every time now .
Thanks again sir.
@Dallas Joseph posted:Thanks for sharing this great tip Bob.
I didn't have the room for the larger weights that you have installed. I had 4 larger nuts and a round fishing weight on top of each nut on the 4 corners in the white areas.
While the weight wasn't as heavy that you used, it was enough to make positive bump switching at slow speed every time now .
Thanks again sir.
Sometimes it's the simple fixes that solve problems Dallas.
Happy to add to the knowledge base...😁
Bob
I’ve worked to do all the minor things I’ve been wanting to do. I’ve cleared the area as you can see. I am putting any new projects on hold until after the New Year because I’ve shifted my efforts to my layout. I’ve moved my small test track from a spare bedroom floor to the larger game room floor as well. This is so I can add some more track, and a couple of inner loops so it can amuse my 1 year old grandson during his upcoming Thanksgiving visit, to be followed in a month with a longer Christmas visit. While working on projects is very interesting and satisfying for me, this has a much greater upside!
Cleaned out one of my basement storage areas and prepared two freight cars for donation to a used train store. Preparation involved replacing trucks and wheels.
Here is the almost finished model of the church we were married in 40 years ago. I still need to but outside lights for the dots, but it is essentially finished.
Here it is on the layout.
Mark, that is a great structure, job well done my friend.
@Jim Teeple posted:Mark, that is a great structure, job well done my friend.
Thank you very much, Jim!! That is a great compliment! 😊
Nothing on the workbench for now. I cleaned it all off. The boss of the house has claimed use of it for the next month for doing Christmas arts and crafts. That's fine, I got enough to do with wiring under the layout, a fresh coat of paint on the layout from making multiple changes, weathering Fastrack rails, and roadbed to keep me busy.😁
One of the many things that I love about this hobby is that there are many different aspects to work on. So when you get tired of or frustrated with a certain aspect you can switch over to something else.
With that I had to take a break from working on the layout wiring, so I went back to detailing some rolling stock. 🙃 I went a little heavy on the boxcar to represent it beingcovered by a lot of soot. First is a lionel o-gauge gondola, then a Industrial Rail boxcar. 
What did you use for the weathering Tom?
@Tranquil Hollow RR posted:What did you use for the weathering Tom?
Acrylic paints, India ink washes, brushes and color pencils. At the end after I'm done detailing with the color pencils, I hit it with a light coat of "Matte Hairspray".
I recently picked up an airbrush but haven't had the time to get the area where I'm going to use it setup. Once the cold weather sets in I'll have more time indoors to work on it.
Just getting things back in order after the summer, spent time adding
Salon Nail polish racks to organize my most often used paints.
@Mark Boyce posted:Here is the almost finished model of the church we were married in 40 years ago. I still need to but outside lights for the dots, but it is essentially finished.
Terrific looking church Mark . Really sharp.
( Is that your car outfront ? )
Finally finished up oiling , cleaning and improving electrical contacts on the Christmas layout PE train , Nativity train ,bump and go PE trolley and the electric hand cart with elves.
Had to build a simple ( SKI LODGE EXPRESS ) station and made elves ( still hiding the bottom of the legs ) from regular size O people. I had to have the trolley pick up elves somewhere to get them to the ski lodge on the other end of the layout. 
@Dallas Joseph posted:Terrific looking church Mark .
( Is that your car out-front ? )
Thank you, Dallas!! I'm afraid the Nomad isn't mine. Actually my bride had a brand new 1984 Chevy Cavalier. It's not something you see in the die cast models market, I'm afraid. Actually, we would like to forget that car. If there ever was a lemon, that car was it!!! We put up with it for 4 years; 3 years too long. 
@T-Bone1214 posted:Acrylic paints, India ink washes, brushes and color pencils. At the end after I'm done detailing with the color pencils, I hit it with a light coat of "Matte Hairspray".
I recently picked up an airbrush but haven't had the time to get the area where I'm going to use it setup. Once the cold weather sets in I'll have more time indoors to work on it.
Thanks Tom, that’s looking very realistic.
Jay
How about what just came off the workbench. FlyerChief Berk was arcing on the front drivers around curves. Upon inspection the bronze bushings were flat worn out
I suspect the arcing also killed the sound in the board, attempted replacing the amp no cigar so it got a new LCP1
I should note this is a club engine it gets ran almost weekly for hours at a time
Making an attempt at repairing an American Flyer Mystic station. Not that I plan to put it on my layout. Just to see how that old player works and maybe get some sounds out of it.
Quite literally - "What on the workbench?" The live wire trolley line is beginning to take shape. I ended up gluing the 2 rail track to the plywood after bending into the curve.
This is an experiment using air dry clay to produce a brick street. Of course I had to start with the hardest section - the curve. These are two unfinished sections using grey and terra cotta clays. Still wondering if I should use white, but for now the terra cotta is closer to the color I want - a little weathering will put it in shape. The clay takes paint pretty well once dried. I was able to convince a clay roller vendor to rotate his pattern 90 degrees so I could roll the brick in a single "in-place" roll following the rail curve. The grey section had been laid down a day or two earlier so was reasonably dry. I was able to seam the terra cotta clay into the grey section and then roll the bricks. Works OK with a little touch up.
@ScoutingDad posted:Quite literally - "What on the workbench?" The live wire trolley line is beginning to take shape. I ended up gluing the 2 rail track to the plywood after bending into the curve.
This is an experiment using air dry clay to produce a brick street. Of course I had to start with the hardest section - the curve. These are two unfinished sections using grey and terra cotta clays. Still wondering if I should use white, but for now the terra cotta is closer to the color I want - a little weathering will put it in shape. The clay takes paint pretty well once dried. I was able to convince a clay roller vendor to rotate his pattern 90 degrees so I could roll the brick in a single "in-place" roll following the rail curve. The grey section had been laid down a day or two earlier so was reasonably dry. I was able to seam the terra cotta clay into the grey section and then roll the bricks. Works OK with a little touch up.
Looking good Jeff. I like the brickwork.
Bob
@ScoutingDad Nicely done! Once the bricks are painted, a dark tone wash and then light shade dry brushing will show all the details in your great work.
DISASTER !!! A great example of a contractor (me) using the wrong materials.
As the clay dried overnight it began cracking and is still doing so as it continues to dry. Instead of buying more of the grey sculpting clay, I bought a different air dry clay. As this stuff dries, some spots are even beginning to crumble. If this were a few road cracks. they could be passed off as realistic weathering and patched as appropriate. Not this. Reading the packaging it is really hard to see a difference between the two - except this new stuff was "natural clay" . The grey material was originally rolled into 2 mm thick sections and has held up well. The grey section at the bottom left was laid down just before the terra cotta clay and is showing no cracking or serious movement. At least it is easy to pull off the plywood base. Well I did say it was experimental. 
Another learning experience.
@ScoutingDad posted:DISASTER !!! A great example of a contractor (me) using the wrong materials.
As the clay dried overnight it began cracking and is still doing so as it continues to dry. Instead of buying more of the grey sculpting clay, I bought a different air dry clay. As this stuff dries, some spots are even beginning to crumble. If this were a few road cracks. they could be passed off as realistic weathering and patched as appropriate. Not this. Reading the packaging it is really hard to see a difference between the two - except this new stuff was "natural clay" . The grey material was originally rolled into 2 mm thick sections and has held up well. The grey section at the bottom left was laid down just before the terra cotta clay and is showing no cracking or serious movement. At least it is easy to pull off the plywood base. Well I did say it was experimental.
Another learning experience.
Jeff that just sucks! It was looking so promising. I dod have a question, how did you roll the patern between the tracks?
@ScoutingDad posted:DISASTER !!! A great example of a contractor (me) using the wrong materials.
As the clay dried overnight it began cracking and is still doing so as it continues to dry. Instead of buying more of the grey sculpting clay, I bought a different air dry clay. As this stuff dries, some spots are even beginning to crumble. If this were a few road cracks. they could be passed off as realistic weathering and patched as appropriate. Not this. Reading the packaging it is really hard to see a difference between the two - except this new stuff was "natural clay" . The grey material was originally rolled into 2 mm thick sections and has held up well. The grey section at the bottom left was laid down just before the terra cotta clay and is showing no cracking or serious movement. At least it is easy to pull off the plywood base. Well I did say it was experimental.
Another learning experience.
Bummer Jeff....looks like it's shrinking as it dries and is sticking to the plywood. Maybe put down wax paper first so that the clay can "move" as it dries?
Also- maybe do a base layer, let it dry, and then put the finishes layer on top? Thinner layers may not crack as easily.
It would be prototypical to have expansion joints in the roadway too. Working in smaller sections may help reduce the cracking as well.
Good luck!
@ScoutingDad posted:DISASTER !!! A great example of a contractor (me) using the wrong materials.
As the clay dried overnight it began cracking and is still doing so as it continues to dry. Instead of buying more of the grey sculpting clay, I bought a different air dry clay. As this stuff dries, some spots are even beginning to crumble. If this were a few road cracks. they could be passed off as realistic weathering and patched as appropriate. Not this. Reading the packaging it is really hard to see a difference between the two - except this new stuff was "natural clay" . The grey material was originally rolled into 2 mm thick sections and has held up well. The grey section at the bottom left was laid down just before the terra cotta clay and is showing no cracking or serious movement. At least it is easy to pull off the plywood base. Well I did say it was experimental.
Another learning experience.
IDK - looks like some of the roads around here in the late winter / early spring.
Still on the workbench -
The Nara clay is what I will use going forward. Rollers I bought over etsy - challenging to find small enough patterns. The terra cotta clay popped right off the plywood in pieces. I'll monitor these over a couple of days to see what happens when fully dry. This stuff can be wet down and turned back into a lump of clay - the ultimate in recycling! For imprinting the curves, I just keep a roller edge in contact with the rail and roll the outside edge trying to keep perpendicular to the rail.
Bob - you are correct about the clay shrinking and creating stress cracks. Allowing the clay to move and shrink while drying should help minimize the stress cracks. I can probably still use the material for other purposes where I can cast the piece separately and glue down later. Developing a reliable casting method is critical to success.
Since I want the bricks to come right up to the rails, I think casting the clay in place is the optimal method in this instance. This is where the Nara comes in as it can be rolled into place and imprinted with the brick pattern. No significant shrinking that I can see. It tends not to stay perfectly flat, but for me that is fine since the flex is minimal. I could weight it down but then risk messing up the brick imprint. After rolling and imprinting, I wait for several hours for the surface to dry before trimming the edges. Otherwise the clay pulls deforming the imprint.
Mike - the inside brick pattern is made by rolling out a thin section (~2mm) - 1 inch wide to allow wheel flange gap - and then imprinting. Again I wait a few hours for it to set before trimming. The curve is rolled out to approximate radius. After trimming I can set it into place and adjust the curve as necessary - it has enough flex to move with out causing problems.
Mallard - I have seen plenty of old brick roads in various states of patch. If your local roads are that bad, I hope you are driving a tracked vehicle.
@ScoutingDad posted:Mallard - I have seen plenty of old brick roads in various states of patch. If your local roads are that bad, I hope you are driving a tracked vehicle.
Hey Jeff.....save yourself a lot of work .........purchase a couple O scale Abrams to set along the tracks.
Jeff, the terra cotta color looked good.
Speaking of cracks in the street, if it was asphalt cracks it might have been okay. Brick streets wouldn’t show cracks. The ones here in Butler are over 100 years old and just flex. I don’t have a photograph on the windy hill where our older daughter lives. The straight lines where the bricks were laid are now wavy but level.
Heres some photographs I took a month or two ago of a straight down hill and later on top of the ridge
@jstraw124 posted:Making an attempt at repairing an American Flyer Mystic station. Not that I plan to put it on my layout. Just to see how that old player works and maybe get some sounds out of it.
I have one that I re-did a number of years ago. Mine still works like it did back in the 40s-50s. Sounds good too. Parts are still available, I think.
One other thing I've been wanting to do is to get the proper drumhead on the back of the Kenefick car. When purchased, it comes with the "Union Pacific" drumhead. For Bush's Funeral Train the drumhead was the Presidential Seal. I went to Tomar and asked about getting one made and that's still in the works. Hopefully that comes to fruition. But in the mean time, I was able to make a Presidential Seal. It's not as clear as I would have liked since I had to shrink it down so much, but it'll do until Tomar decides if they're going to make one.
Morning guys I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving!
Jeff thanks for the information and good luck making it work! It is funny when I worked for the county DOT we had 3 miles of brick road that we had left in the county that we had to preserve due to historical reasons. So we had 15 pallets of bricks on standby and we would have to inspect the road every year, repair where needed and re-sand the whole road to help keep the bricks from moving!
@Jayhawk500 nice work on the drum, I hope Tomar is willing to make one for you, if so I am sure others would buy it for there train!
Thanks Mike! Much appreciated.
@Jayhawk500 posted:
One other thing I've been wanting to do is to get the proper drumhead on the back of the Kenefick car. When purchased, it comes with the "Union Pacific" drumhead. For Bush's Funeral Train the drumhead was the Presidential Seal. I went to Tomar and asked about getting one made and that's still in the works. Hopefully that comes to fruition. But in the mean time, I was able to make a Presidential Seal. It's not as clear as I would have liked since I had to shrink it down so much, but it'll do until Tomar decides if they're going to make one.
Sometime ago a forum member posted a photo of the actual drumhead straight on. I used it to print on transparency using a laser printer.
Pete
@ScoutingDad posted: I was able to seam the terra cotta clay into the grey section and then roll the bricks. Works OK with a little touch up.
Works OK?!!! Looks amazing!
…Just go to your update on the cracking. Glad to see you are sticking with the experiment and working to find a suitable clay product. I’m sure you will have a great looking brick street in no time. Then the rest of us can copy your technique!! 😃
Finally getting back into my FlyerChief BEEP upgrade.
Both electro-couplers are installed and tested, although the rear one may need to be swapped- it doesn't close easily. It may just need a drop of lube but we will see.
I put the power and motor wiring together and mounted the board. The board is longer than the space between the motors so I cut some styrene tubing to make stand-offs and used double sided tape.
Tested with the apps and the universal remote. The shell is just about done, I need to install the plugs for the lighting and sound to match up with the board.
This was a temp hook up to test.
First test run
Bob
Looking good Bob. I mounted mine to the shell. One end (away from the bridge rectifier) fits over the motor thats under the long hood. A flat speaker will then fit in the cab ceiling.
Pete
@Norton posted:Looking good Bob. I mounted mine to the shell. One end (away from the bridge rectifier) fits over the motor thats under the long hood. A flat speaker will then fit in the cab ceiling.
Pete
I'm planning on using this chassis with different shells so I wanted to keep the board on the chassis. The shell is basically done, I just need to finish the harnesses. I put the speaker up under the cab roof and cut out the 2 rear windows to give the sound a place to go.
Thanks Pete.
Bob, very nice work!!
Been working on a modern era Culvert Unloader 12983. This is the conventional version, not TMCC. When I received it the blinking lights would blink but no motion.
I was stuck for a while as I have no schematics for it but I did have my own working one. I discovered a pair of zener diodes had gotten hot, melted their solder connection and separated. These are in the violet wire that feeds the motor that lifts the magnet. Replacing the zeners (4.7v measured) got it operating again but the zeners got very hot and separated again. Turning my attention to lift motor and pulley it appeared the pulley was rubbing on the cover causing the motor to draw more current. My fix was to cut some washers out of some styrene tube to space the cover out plus apply some powdered teflon to the pulley. So far so good and it runs for at least ten minutes without the zeners getting hot.
Next step will be to replace the 1 watt Zeners with 5 watt as this is used at a club and gets a lot of abuse from visitors.
I know the control board is NLA but if yours is not working remove the structure from the base and check the zeners under the shrink wrap in the violet wire. Yellow wire is the return for that lift motor.
Cover attached, note the space behind the cover.
Pete
You know guys sometimes I ask myself why I even come to this page, cause all the stuff you all do is over my head and just blows me away! I keep telling myself maybe one day I can try that, I just don't think I have the Chonas to do it!
That little Beep is running as smooth as silk Bob!!!
Well done my friend.😎😎
Peter......Buco Australia.
@Buco posted:That little Beep is running as smooth as silk Bob!!!
Well done my friend.😎😎
Peter......Buco Australia.
@mike g. posted:You know guys sometimes I ask myself why I even come to this page, cause all the stuff you all do is over my head and just blows me away! I keep telling myself maybe one day I can try that, I just don't think I have the Chonas to do it!
@Mark Boyce posted:Bob, very nice work!!
Thanks guys.
Mike- come on in, the waters fine! 🤣
Pete- yea other than the noise from the wheels on the KLine switches, it runs well.
Bob
@RSJB18 posted:Mike- come on in, the waters fine!
Yes, that’s a great way of saying it! 🥸
Unexpected ** BREAKDOWN** onthe testing of the Christmas PE / MTH /LEMAX/ CEO ( 💖 ) Layout.
Lemax Ice Skating / with Band ( I made the Sax and Horn players look like the Blues Brothers ). Total shutdown . 
It took most of the afternoon opening it , fixing it and closing it . 
Strange issue. Took the mini can motor apart to find positive and negative 1/16 inch × super thin blades extending to a very small commutator. Tha positive blade had worn down . I carefully gave it a very small bend and applied Detox D5 ( GUNRUNNER JOHN had talked about it in a previous post. ) It is supposed to rid oxidation and it seems to be a very fine lube.
I can't get over the fact that the micro positive blade not touching the commutator shut down the motor , the sound and the lights on the whole unit . 🤔 I was glad I had a VOM to check the board.
Keep the WORKBENCHES moving along . God Speed all.
@Dallas Joseph I’m glad you got it going. It reminds me of the Mr. Christmas skating rink at the drive in restaurant my wife got at the thrift store for $5 two or three years ago. So far, so good!
@Mark Boyce posted:@Dallas Joseph I’m glad you got it going. It reminds me of the Mr. Christmas skating rink at the drive in restaurant my wife got at the thrift store for $5 two or three years ago. So far, so good!
Thanks Mark.
If I remember correctly ......I think this Lemax was more than $5 ???...... ( I deffinetly have to find a " thrift store. 
Dallas, it’s situations such as this that keep our neural networks percolating and expanding. Well done and thanks for sharing your insights.
Jay
@mike g. posted:You know guys sometimes I ask myself why I even come to this page, cause all the stuff you all do is over my head and just blows me away! I keep telling myself maybe one day I can try that, I just don't think I have the Chonas to do it!
Well I don’t know of too many people who have an airplane taking off and landing. Plus, YOU are building the housing for your train room. Then you’ll do the layout redo. You’re impressive Mike, don’t doubt your multitude of skills.
Jay
@Tranquil Hollow RR posted:Dallas, it’s situations such as this that keep our neural networks percolating and expanding. Well done and thanks for sharing your insights.
Jay
Thanks Jay. My neural networks are now not so knotted up.
Good night and God Speed sir.
@Tranquil Hollow RR posted:Well I don’t know of too many people who have an airplane taking off and landing. Plus, YOU are building the housing for your train room. Then you’ll do the layout redo. You’re impressive Mike, don’t doubt your multitude of skills.
Jay
+ @mike g.
What he said.......Don't sell yourself short Mike. Built a train room from the dirt up, plus two layouts, moved half way across the country to start over on a second train room and third layout.
Keep up the good work.
Bob
@Tranquil Hollow RR posted:Well I don’t know of too many people who have an airplane taking off and landing. Plus, YOU are building the housing for your train room. Then you’ll do the layout redo. You’re impressive Mike, don’t doubt your multitude of skills.
Jay
@mike g. Mike, I totally agree with Jay. Besides that, look at the lift up bridge you made and I copied your concept!! You are an inspiration to many of us.
Afternoon guys,
@Dallas Joseph Dallas I am glad you were able to get your Christmas ice skating rink fixed! The kids would have missed it!
As for the rest you wonderful folks, thanks you so much for the kind words! It really means a lot to me that you all like some of the stuff I put up here! I hope to be putting up some stuff down the road! First I have more SHEETROCK and mud and taping to do!
Then the real fun can start! BENCH WORK!
@mike g. posted:Afternoon guys,
@Dallas Joseph Dallas I am glad you were able to get your Christmas ice skating rink fixed! The kids would have missed it!
As for the rest you wonderful folks, thanks you so much for the kind words! It really means a lot to me that you all like some of the stuff I put up here! I hope to be putting up some stuff down the road! First I have more SHEETROCK and mud and taping to do!
Then the real fun can start! BENCH WORK!
Mike, recall the Barbie/My Little Pony pink room I had to convert into a train room. At least the wall board was up, but I don't know how many coats of light blue I had to do to cover up that blinding pink! 
@Mark Boyce posted:Mike, recall the Barbie/My Little Pony pink room I had to convert into a train room. At least the wall board was up, but I don't know how many coats of light blue I had to do to cover up that blinding pink!
LOL Mark I am glad I don't have to deal with Pink! It's just a blank slate and the ceiling is going to be all black, walls will be light blue and the rest will be whatever pops up!
I ma getting excited as things are getting closer!
Mike I used Sherman-Williams “cloudless” and I’m very happy with the results.
My granddaughter adding clouds to the cloudless blue paint.
Jay
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