WHAT’S ON THE WORKBENCH AT THE MOMENT

@Dallas Joseph posted:

Maybe a couple bullet hole decals wouldbe good.

Just leave it to my  cat. The last one she left on our patio looked like a crime scene.....😂😂

@MattD87 posted:

Lionchief Hudson smoke unit sounds like a meat grinder and is not producing smoke. Going to do the ol' smoke unit replacement job once the part comes in. Just bought a Hakko so I'm not mad I get to test it out

Hmmmm.....maybe you could use it to make a little sausage ? D'oh!

Had my lionchief plus 2.0 ET44AC and my lionmaster Challenger in for traction tire replacement.

@Junior posted:

Hmmmm.....maybe you could use it to make a little sausage ? D'oh!

wish I thought of this! Smoke unit replacement went fine. Motor is still noisy but at least I have smoke. Even took it apart again to add some oil to the motor to reduce the noise which worked for a bit but a day later back to noisy. I'm waving the white flag, at least it works, and the noise is nowhere near as bad as before and it is a motor. Almost stripped one of those little screws on the smoke unit board too. Good thing I always order more!

@MattD87 posted:

wish I thought of this! Smoke unit replacement went fine. Motor is still noisy but at least I have smoke. Even took it apart again to add some oil to the motor to reduce the noise which worked for a bit but a day later back to noisy. I'm waving the white flag, at least it works, and the noise is nowhere near as bad as before and it is a motor. Almost stripped one of those little screws on the smoke unit board too. Good thing I always order more!

Next time replace the smoke motor with one from MTH, I hear they are much quieter and last longer.

@Darrell posted:

Next time replace the smoke motor with one from MTH, I hear they are much quieter and last longer.

Thanks. I will give this a shot next time.

I bought a used Electroliner on discount knowing it had some paint issues. In this case there were drops of glue on it. I was able to get it off with my fingernail without any scratches.

Now however there are light green patches where the glue was. Any thoughts on what I can do to improve this?

MTH Premier Santa Fe E8 AB set with PS3. I had the shells and found a deal on a Seaboard E8 with PS3 and an E8B. Painted the trucks, fuel tank, and pilot silver (Tamiya TS30), swapped the shells, and loaded an E8 sound file modified to announce Santa Fe's Chicagoan. Easy, quick project.

@Lou1985 posted:

MTH Premier Santa Fe E8 AB set with PS3. I had the shells and found a deal on a Seaboard E8 with PS3 and an E8B. Painted the trucks, fuel tank, and pilot silver (Tamiya TS30), swapped the shells, and loaded an E8 sound file modified to announce Santa Fe's Chicagoan. Easy, quick project.

Maybe quick and easy for you Lou.......but the end product is really a very handsome product.

And after doing some work on an MTH Premier Pennsy E8 , I would say this is a long pair.   Nice job.

Lou, the E8s look great!

@ChiTown Steve posted:

I bought a used Electroliner on discount knowing it had some paint issues. In this case there were drops of glue on it. I was able to get it off with my fingernail without any scratches.

Now however there are light green patches where the glue was. Any thoughts on what I can do to improve this?

Perhaps use a small amount of car wax and buff the area lightly with a damp cloth. Just go lightly and see if the spots start to fade…

Tom

Taking some MTH 19th century freight cars and adding/changing some details along with some slight paint enhancements…

A stock MTH Philadelphia and Reading gondola/flat car with details added and the lettering touched up.

Another stock B&O MTH Reefer with added details and some weathering done with Vallejo washes…

Finally,

This car was an experimental build using a MTH 34’ chassis and a Lionel tank, I shortened. After adding Wiseman archbar trucks with Weaver couplers and MTH wheel sets, it was painted and weathered.

The tank sits a bit high, so I will be replacing the balsa desking with styrene and lowering it at the same time…

Tom

Busy week, with 2 projects reaching completion and a third getting close.

Does UNDER the workbench count?

I'm preparing the 'infrastructure' for my layout 😉

I'm employing a leftover cabinet from a renovation project to house much of the wires and 'intestines' of this table.

A wide gauge American Flyer caboose being redone as a New York Central. I previously did one with a large NYC logo but on this on decided to keep the original AF badges.

Below is a picture of the previous one.

Just finished a Interurban using a Lionel 710 Pullman and misc repro parts. I used power trucks from a K-Line S-2 switcher.

Steve

@woodsyT posted:

Does UNDER the workbench count?

I'm preparing the 'infrastructure' for my layout 😉

I'm employing a leftover cabinet from a renovation project to house much of the wires and 'intestines' of this table.

The cabinet looks great...nice example of recycling! Love the lights in the cabinet as well...those LEDs? It looks pretty evenly lit.

@Junior posted:

...nice example of recycling! Love the lights in the cabinet as well...those LEDs?...

Yes. After working with a headlight for a day, I slapped two LED strips behind the door jamb to light up the wire cabinet - left over from a work/tool truck trim out. Also has a 'bonus feature' with a door switch. Anytime you open it the wire cabinet and under table lights come on together. 🙄😜🤘

All I need now is a switch that flips the table upside down to make the rest of the wiring easier on my knees and back 😜🤣

Bought this prewar Lionel 225E 1938-42 going to give this fine steamer a good degreasing and service just rebuilt the e-unit, it has a diecast tender the past owner did add pw trucks might replace tp prewar, serviced the tender whistle and works.

@Pete in Kansas posted:

A wide gauge American Flyer caboose being redone as a New York Central. I previously did one with a large NYC logo but on this on decided to keep the original AF badges.

Below is a picture of the previous one.

Since I had nothing better to do this afternoon I finished assembling it,

It looks pretty good with my NYC 4000

@Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

Just finished a Interurban using a Lionel 710 Pullman and misc repro parts. I used power trucks from a K-Line S-2 switcher.

Steve

Very nice, and it's similar to a project I have in mind.  Could you please post a pic of the underside?

Just dipping my toe in the Blunami pond. This part was incredibly easy. Using a 5 amp buck convertor to drive the Blunami board. Motor and speaker terminals provided. Surprisingly the BEMF derived chuff is already very close but can be adjusted if need be. Engine is MTH built from parts. To drive a smoke fan a cam or other way to detect driver rotation like an optical sensor will be required. Also I have to learn how to pair function outputs with sound effects like coupler opening.

The buzz in the background is from my space heater under the table.

Pete

@Mallard4468 posted:

Very nice, and it's similar to a project I have in mind.  Could you please post a pic of the underside?

Here you go

@Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

Here you go

With K-line motors I bet this thing can boogie!

@Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

Just finished a Interurban using a Lionel 710 Pullman and misc repro parts. I used power trucks from a K-Line S-2 switcher.

Steve

@Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

Here you go

@RSJB18 posted:

With K-line motors I bet this thing can boogie!

Steve - thanks for the additional photos.

The K-Line S-2 seems to be a frequent donor for smaller motorized projects.  I'm not familiar with that engine - why is it such a popular choice?

@Mallard4468 posted:

Steve - thanks for the additional photos.

The K-Line S-2 seems to be a frequent donor for smaller motorized projects.  I'm not familiar with that engine - why is it such a popular choice?

The wheel base of the S-2  truck is a bit shorter than the NW’s etc.

Steve

@Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

... base of the S-2  is a bit shorter than the NW’s etc...

So - (scratching my head)

Is the S2 base hiding inside there behind the Pullman bottom plate?

@woodsyT posted:

So - (scratching my head)

Is the S2 base hiding inside there behind the Pullman bottom plate?

That was supposed to be the wheel base of the S-2 truck itself. The power trucks mounts to the underside of the Pullman car.

Steve

@Norton posted:

Just dipping my toe in the Blunami pond. This part was incredibly easy. Using a 5 amp buck convertor to drive the Blunami board. Motor and speaker terminals provided. Surprisingly the BEMF derived chuff is already very close but can be adjusted if need be. Engine is MTH built from parts. To drive a smoke fan a cam or other way to detect driver rotation like an optical sensor will be required. Also I have to learn how to pair function outputs with sound effects like coupler opening.

The buzz in the background is from my space heater under the table.

Pete

I use @gunrunnerjohn's chuff generator and super chuffer 2 for my steamers. You can get them here.  I'm just getting started on a Williams GS-4, it will  be my 4th DCC conversion but my first steamer. I plan on using a solid state power switch so I can turn the smoke on or off by remote. Stay tuned! Will post it soon I hope! For setting CV's the blunami app is pretty good, but I use decoder pro mostly since I have a Digitrax DCC system.

The basics for another Interurban project arrived today.

Steve

@Darrell posted:

I use @gunrunnerjohn's chuff generator and super chuffer 2 for my steamers. You can get them here.  I'm just getting started on a Williams GS-4, it will  be my 4th DCC conversion but my first steamer. I plan on using a solid state power switch so I can turn the smoke on or off by remote. Stay tuned! Will post it soon I hope! For setting CV's the blunami app is pretty good, but I use decoder pro mostly since I have a Digitrax DCC system.

Thanks Darrel. I am new to DCC so no other systems. I think I have chuff and puff covered but still trying to figure out how to trigger two actions with one button (coupler sound with coupler power pulse). I know it can be done, just not sure of the protocol.

Pete

@Norton posted:

Thanks Darrel. I am new to DCC so no other systems. I think I have chuff and puff covered but still trying to figure out how to trigger two actions with one button (coupler sound with coupler power pulse). I know it can be done, just not sure of the protocol.

Pete

Well, you have to connect one of the outputs to a relay or solid state power switch to operate the couplers, they draw too much current for the blunami. Once that is done you would then use function mapping to assign that output to the same button that activates the coupler sound. One of the great things about Soundtrax is they allow you to reassign all the functions to whatever button you want. Check out the videos about function mapping on the Soundtrax website.

Also check out this thread here on OGRforum, this details the hardware needed. The decoder set up is for a different decoder, so not sure how to set up the blunami. I will look into it more when I get to that point, but I have found over the last few years that I really don't use electrocouplers very much anymore.

Two post war steamers, a 2035 and a 637.  Taken apart years ago for some reason since forgotten.   Parts were comingled.  Took a bit to get that sorted out, hats off to the original assemblers, not the easiest to get back together.  Glad allentown show is tomorrow,  some parts have vanished.  Another someday project almost completed.

Found all the parts for the 637, assembled, placed on the track, breaker tripped.  Looks like this one gets opened up again.

2035 wants to go, needs to have the motor cleaned up and the side gear placed on but thats what the parts will be for.  The 2035 is the only one I want to keep anyway.

Ok, knocked another item off the Blunami project list. Coupler now opens with sound.

Pete

@Norton posted:

Ok, knocked another item off the Blunami project list. Coupler now opens with sound.

Pete

Can't wait to see the finished project and read all about how it was done!

@Darrell posted:

Can't wait to see the finished project and read all about how it was done!

I am taking a crash course in DCC at the school of hard knocks. Two things learned so far, not everyones implementation of DCC is the same and F for Function buttons is not the same as Fxn for Function outputs. Stay tuned.

Pete

Another local business siding piece.

The unenviable task of replacing the blown speaker in my Atlas sw8 engine.

Terry

@tcripe posted:

The unenviable task of replacing the blown speaker in my Atlas sw8 engine.

Terry

Whoa! Get out the shovel @tcripe! That speaker was buried 🤣!