fifth one in the roster.
New acquisition needs some TLC. 2001 MTH unshrouded J just needs a speaker replacement and some upgraded sound files.
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Hoppers in final color. Now resting for a 48+ hour cure!
Cheers, Dave
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Got the CNW observation done and completed the set. Baggage, two coaches, diner, sleeper, observation. Now my Premier CNW E4 Hudson has something to pull.
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I have a couple of wheel sets that need to be re-gauged. They need to be slightly wider- flange to flange. Any suggestions? Thanks!
Dave
I got a great 356 station from Stout Auctions a while back and just got to it. I took out the old incandescent bulb (left the holder), and put a small (3) warm white LED string in the roof bracket and the same inside the station house.
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@darlander posted:I have a couple of wheel sets that need to be re-gauged. They need to be slightly wider- flange to flange. Any suggestions? Thanks!
Dave
Dave- get a wheel puller from Frank at Timko. Works like a charm. The digital caliper was $40.00 at HD.
I've had issues with a few of my Menards cars.
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@darlander posted:I have a couple of wheel sets that need to be re-gauged. They need to be slightly wider- flange to flange. Any suggestions? Thanks!
Dave
The Timko wheel puller works pretty well for this, just carefully crank down until you get them at the right spacing. I did a bunch of Menard's cars, and I found that I could manage to do it without taking the wheelsets out of the trucks, a major time savings for Menard's trucks.
Reguaging Menard's Boxcar Wheels The Easy Way
Started on the unpainted Premier ATSF Texas I picked up from Cabin Fever earlier in the year. Tender was unpainted, so I painted/decaled/clear coated it over the past couple of days. Paint is SEM Trim Black with SEM 1K clear sprayed over it.
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@gunrunnerjohn posted:The Timko wheel puller works pretty well for this, just carefully crank down until you get them at the right spacing. I did a bunch of Menard's cars, and I found that I could manage to do it without taking the wheelsets out of the trucks, a major time savings for Menard's trucks.
Reguaging Menard's Boxcar Wheels The Easy Way
Found a friend with a wheel puller and he fixed them on Saturday. The wheel sets were Weaver. I also have issues with some Menard's boxcars that are currently on a display shelf because of wheel gauge issues. Will save that fix for another day. The car that needed the fix would spark on this switch. The spark would cause my resting engines to start up. Another remedy, I put a small strip of electrical tape along the side edge of the center rail.
Cheers, Dave
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A new ballast load is in the mold. It's the first of 4 new ones needed for the recently completed Hart hoppers!
Cheers, Dave
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Hoppers receiving decals. One side completed!
Cheers, Dave
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These just finished rolling off my bench this week. Some custom painted Lionel 607/608 cars. I started with five cars (four observation cars and one coach), with a mismatch of trucks, journal covers, end platform colors, underframe pieces, roof pieces, etc. and turned them into this, with a pile of parts left over!
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More work on the ATSF Texas. Cab decaled and cleared, boiler painted. The SEM Trim Black produces such a good finish from the rattle can there's no need to mix it and spray it with a gun.
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Been working on a matt board/card stock station for the wife's "glitterhouse" collection:
Loosely based on the Dorfan 425 from 1930-ish. Numerous modifications in height, length, window placement, and the addition of interior walls. Made a set of windows using MS Excel, printed on translucent vellum paper. Hoping to pair it with the signal tower made earlier:
Just finished the "preservation" of the 3461 green lumber unloading car. This was purchased in August and needed the usual coupler springs and wheel cleaning however the unloading platform was a bit rusted and the brake stand was missing. I used the Krylon flat black spray paint in a light coat to overcoat the rust on the platform. The posts looked OK and were not all repainted. The Krylon is a decent match (not perfect) for the original treated metal but once the logs are on the car, it is close enough. The 3451 brake stand was originally a press fit/rivet onto the car body. Without a press, its tough to get it really tight without damaging the integral rivet so after spreading the rivet, I added a little gorilla glue to finish the installation. The car works like new. A couple of pictures are below.
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No pictures of my latest project.
I bought a beautiful S gauge Hiawatha 4-4-2 and four streamlined cars. The train is a knockout and the Milwaukee Road class A Atlantic and beaver tail has always been one of my favorite real trains.
Unfortunately the motor was burned out, so it's getting a can motor and a new tether. Hope to have it running in a few days. can't wait! 
I just received my latest project....
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