WHAT’S ON THE WORKBENCH AT THE MOMENT

Custom paint for a Menards F unit.

Steve

@Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

Custom paint for a Menards F unit.

Steve

Nice work!  Did you acquire another F Unit or are you done double heading Warbonnets?

@coach joe posted:

Nice work!  Did you acquire another F Unit or are you done double heading Warbonnets?

This was an extra. I actually would like another to double head them.

Steve

Just dropped a truck on the RS-27. The wheels barely turn. It looks like the wheels are pressed on too tight. Couldn't fit my wheel puller on so I gave the shaft on one side of the wheel a couple taps and freed it slightly. Not enough to run yet. I may order a pair of new trucks and put these on the scrap pile.

To be continued......

I may be the only person crazy enough to do this, and I wonder if many 2-Rail people follow this thread…if they do they need to sit down.  I found an exquisite Pecos River Brass RPO for not a lot money.  They historically cost a fortune, and they’re worth it.  

I Hi-railed it.

“you did WHAT !!??”

Rob,  You do such a fantastic job on your cars!  When are you gonna go 3RS?  The equipment deserves Kadees, not The Claw!

@Rapid Transit Holmes posted:

Rob,  You do such a fantastic job on your cars!  When are you gonna go 3RS?  The equipment deserves Kadees, not The Claw!

Thank you for the compliment.  My roster is up to 133 freight cars, 47 passenger cars, and 29 locomotives.  That is too many to convert back to Kadees.  If I could start over, I would have done 3RS because I understand how the Kadees work better for switching.

So, convert one dedicated transet at a time.  You don't have to do 'em all in one blitz.  Truly, your work deserves it.

Time to pull out the old workmate and do some creative clamping to make some long curved girder bridges.  Gluing on and setting consistent spacing for the estimated 200 ribs was monotonous.  Next step is to try salt weathering on them.  I like the look on Eric Siegel’s layout.

I have some encouraging news on the RS27 trucks. I've been working on the rear one and have freed up the wheels. I've been "adjusting" the shafts with my favorite 20 oz persuader and a center punch. Not exactly precision machining but seems to be working ( Don't tell Pat @harmonyards). The wheels turn freely now.

Wish I could get my Timko wheel puller on them but it won't fit behind the flanges.

I'll clean out the old grease and refresh with new, and see how it turns. The other truck will be next.

The bench looks like a diesel graveyard at the moment but it's not as bad as it looks. The S2 is getting ERR boards as soon as the RS27 is out of the shop. And the F3's hiding under the towels need some fine tuning since I did the ERR upgrade on them.

Bob

Another productive day Bob. Those persuaders are very handy.

Jay

I've fixed a many of things with different sized persuaders. Glad that's coming along for you Bob. Can't wait to see her running.

@RSJB18 posted:

I have some encouraging news on the RS27 trucks. I've been working on the rear one and have freed up the wheels. I've been "adjusting" the shafts with my favorite 20 oz persuader and a center punch. Not exactly precision machining but seems to be working ( Don't tell Pat @harmonyards). The wheels turn freely now.

Wish I could get my Timko wheel puller on them but it won't fit behind the flanges.

I'll clean out the old grease and refresh with new, and see how it turns. The other truck will be next.

The bench looks like a diesel graveyard at the moment but it's not as bad as it looks. The S2 is getting ERR boards as soon as the RS27 is out of the shop. And the F3's hiding under the towels need some fine tuning since I did the ERR upgrade on them.

Bob

Too late Bob, I see all,….good news though, one of my tool drawers in the railroad shop is full of LFH’s …..one of them is my grandad’s from the Central,….

as an aside, if you keep doing enough of this work, get a wheel puller set from PE Design, …send me the jaws, and I’ll further machine them to grip tight gapped wheels, …but, I’ve even had to do what you’ve done in a pinch to make a gap, …..let a stick of old brass be your friend for this, ….no marring of the wheel or axle end….

Pat

@harmonyards posted:

Too late Bob, I see all,….good news though, one of my tool drawers in the railroad shop is full of LFH’s …..one of them is my grandad’s from the Central,….

as an aside, if you keep doing enough of this work, get a wheel puller set from PE Design, …send me the jaws, and I’ll further machine them to grip tight gapped wheels, …but, I’ve even had to do what you’ve done in a pinch to make a gap, …..let a stick of old brass be your friend for this, ….no marring of the wheel or axle end….

Pat

Good idea Pat. I'll see what I have around for the other truck. My wheel pulling has been confined to motor and fan and pulleys, fan blades, etc., in the HVAC industry over the years. The pullers and gaps are much bigger........

Sorry but LFH??? (least favorite hammer???)

Bob

@jstraw124 posted:

Time to pull out the old workmate and do some creative clamping to make some long curved girder bridges.  Gluing on and setting consistent spacing for the estimated 200 ribs was monotonous.  Next step is to try salt weathering on them.  I like the look on Eric Siegel’s layout.

Ahhhh the black and decker work mate, one of the finest no one knows about tools ever made. Saved my butt many times when another set of hands was needed. Great job!

@ThatGuy posted:

Ahhhh the black and decker work mate, one of the finest no one knows about tools ever made. Saved my butt many times when another set of hands was needed. Great job!

Never bought one but always cursed myself when I needed one........

RSJB: If petrified grease is the issue, try soaking the truck in paint thinner. That’s my go-to solvent, it does no harm.

@Rapid Transit Holmes posted:

RSJB: If petrified grease is the issue, try soaking the truck in paint thinner. That’s my go-to solvent, it does no harm.

It's definitely a wheel gauge issue. The grease is old but not petrified.

Bob, I'm with ^^Holmes.  I'm not a huge fan of WD-40 around trains, but it's a penetrant.  Before I would take a hammer to anything, I would spray some WD in there, and let it sit.  I also don't remember an epidemic of MTH diesels being under-gauged, so if the wheels were pressed on too tight, you were lucky enough to draw a lemon!

Atlas plug door boxcars being redone into General American Refrigerated lease cars.  Atlas made these in HO scale, but not for us O gaugers. K4 makes the decals but only for QA&P, so far.  

With a set of black lettered SL-SF decals I can make a couple of Frisco cars, too.  It takes about one full hour to do the cutout and application for one side of these cars.

@Ted S posted:

Bob, I'm with ^^Holmes.  I'm not a huge fan of WD-40 around trains, but it's a penetrant.  Before I would take a hammer to anything, I would spray some WD in there, and let it sit.  I also don't remember an epidemic of MTH diesels being under-gauged, so if the wheels were pressed on too tight, you were lucky enough to draw a lemon!

Then I'm makin' the lemonade........

As I mentioned, I bought this from Trainz in 2019 (a 1997 issue) and I don't think it was ever out of the box until now, so the trucks have had a long time to get comfy and not move. I did use WD-40 on the first one before going further. Helped a little but the added info of under gauged trucks makes sense as to why I'm having issues.

Thanks

@Rob Leese posted:

I may be the only person crazy enough to do this, and I wonder if many 2-Rail people follow this thread…if they do they need to sit down.  I found an exquisite Pecos River Brass RPO for not a lot money.  They historically cost a fortune, and they’re worth it.  

I Hi-railed it.

“you did WHAT !!??”

Rob,

Don't think you are the only crazy person to try this. I have a Pecos River passenger car that I'm trying to 3 rail so far unsuccessfully. Looks like you used Atlas trucks. How did you mount them? Could you post a picture of the underside?

Ken

@kanawha posted:

Rob,

Don't think you are the only crazy person to try this. I have a Pecos River passenger car that I'm trying to 3 rail so far unsuccessfully. Looks like you used Atlas trucks. How did you mount them? Could you post a picture of the underside?

Ken

The trucks are the original PRB.  The couplers are medium length Atlas, and are mounted on a center sill where the Kadees used to be.  I only had to drill one small hole at each end to mount the coupler assemblies. I may have to change the trucks some day but they are independent of the couplers.

@Rob Leese posted:

The trucks are the original PRB.  The couplers are medium length Atlas, and are mounted on a center sill where the Kadees used to be.  I only had to drill one small hole at each end to mount the coupler assemblies. I may have to change the trucks some day but they are independent of the couplers.

Thanks Rob. I had not thought of mounting the couplers like that. I'll have to see if it will work on my car.

Ken

One QA&P done and weathered. One Frisco in-progress.  These plug door boxcars are not exactly like the GARX cars, but they are as close as you are going to get without scratchbuilding.

A while back, I was able to pick up an MTH operating McDonalds at a fair price, used but in pretty good shape except for the lack of a vehicle. I remedied that with a 1:43 scale Mini Cooper, which, being a bit oversized, had about the right aspect to replace the missing OEM Ford Explorer. I also 3D printed and installed a set of benches and scratch-built tables, and added a cardstock-printed floor and counter to enhance the original blank and stark white interior. I was pleased with the result, but one thing kept nagging at me: the vehicle was moved through the drive-through stations by a flat plastic bar, which ran in an open slot running down the middle of the drive-through, part of the light gray base:

To make a long story a bit shorter, I spent a *lot* of time trying to come up with something to cover that very un-prototypical slot. Most were abject failures, but finally I tried a piece of black poster board trimmed to fit the drive-through lane, over a smaller ring of more rigid plastic, which covers the slot and rotates around the circle with the vehicle. I also cut holes for the plastic bar driver and for each wheel, so the wheels still contact the base and turn.

Here's a video I shot just before masking the base and painting the roadway flat black, to better match the slot cover and emulate asphalt:

After the base dries, I'll re-mask the piece and lightly dab all the "brick" areas with red oxide paint on a sponge brush, hoping to leave the original gray between the 'bricks' as mortar, and on the curbs as 'concrete'. Wish me luck!

Rob, the cars are looking great!

Steve, the McDonald’s is looking great!  The roadway is much more realistic.  One thing you didn’t mention is that the employee’s voice doesn’t sound right.  The customer’s and Junior’s voices sound great.  The employee’s voice needs to sound garbled so the customer can’t understand what’s being said.  😉  😄

@Mark Boyce posted:

Steve, the McDonald’s is looking great!  The roadway is much more realistic.  One thing you didn’t mention is that the employee’s voice doesn’t sound right.  The customer’s and Junior’s voices sound great.  The employee’s voice needs to sound garbled so the customer can’t understand what’s being said.  😉  😄

Hey, I run three-rail toy trains -- a certain degree of unreality is to be expected!

@Steve Tyler posted:

Hey, I run three-rail toy trains -- a certain degree of unreality is to be expected!

Valid point!! 

I would paint the poster board either In military colors German WWII  Panzer Gray or a mixture of Panzer Gray and flat black

Steve very nice alteration!  It would have been nice to see the underlying plastic ring.  Good luck with the painting, please post your final results.

@Steve Tyler posted:

To make a long story a bit shorter, I spent a *lot* of time trying to come up with something to cover that very un-prototypical slot. Most were abject failures, but finally I tried a piece of black poster board trimmed to fit the drive-through lane, over a smaller ring of more rigid plastic, which covers the slot and rotates around the circle with the vehicle. I also cut holes for the plastic bar driver and for each wheel, so the wheels still contact the base and turn.

Here's a video I shot just before masking the base and painting the roadway flat black, to better match the slot cover and emulate asphalt:

After the base dries, I'll re-mask the piece and lightly dab all the "brick" areas with red oxide paint on a sponge brush, hoping to leave the original gray between the 'bricks' as mortar, and on the curbs as 'concrete'. Wish me luck!

Great creativity Steve. The added detail of the wheels turning is cool too.

They must have hired a retired NYC Transit motorman to do the announcements.......

@coach joe posted:

Steve very nice alteration!  It would have been nice to see the underlying plastic ring.  Good luck with the painting, please post your final results.

Thanks! The plastic ring was one of my first efforts, consisting of three curved sections cut out of a stiff plastic document cover, trimmed to fit together, with aluminum tabs glued underneath to ride in the slot. The problem was that the sections of the ring never quite fit properly, and the ring tended to deform and lift up when it rotated, even with the tabs. Eventually I scrapped it in favor of a one-piece posterboard ring with no tabs, which operated better but also tended to deform and lift up under power.

The solution turned out to be to salvage the plastic ring, using sections attached under the posterboard ring with double-sided tape to keep it straight. I still have some more fitting to do after I finish the painting, but for now I'm satisfied with the progress, and will post more pics later.

@RSJB18 posted:

Great creativity Steve. The added detail of the wheels turning is cool too.

They must have hired a retired NYC Transit motorman to do the announcements.......

Thanks! I can't claim the wheels turning as my innovation -- the original piece does that, too -- but I *was* able to strategically cut holes in the posterboard slot cover to retain the original action and avoid freezing the wheels in place.

As to the voices, yeah, one of my on-going regrets is that I've found no way so far to change the audio files. That single 'radio' song is driving me nuts, and as others have pointed out, the prices on the orders are definitely period pieces! Plus, I'd love to do an audio script and use family members (many of whom are lifetime McD junkies!) to do the ordering and/or fry slinging roles!

Anyone have any info on the possibility of changing the audio files, or is it all hard-wired?

@Steve Tyler  Steve there are all kinds of sound modules available to do this kind of thing.  Imports MP3 files and plays back sequentially or on button press or light sensor. They start at $10.   Sometimes called a Programmable Sound Chip for Greeting Card includes speaker board etc.  I have been thinking about doing this to add sounds to a hotel and for a freight yard.  I bought a preprogrammed module a few years ago with birds and crickets - neat little unit.

@ScoutingDad posted:

@Steve Tyler  Steve there are all kinds of sound modules available to do this kind of thing.  Imports MP3 files and plays back sequentially or on button press or light sensor. They start at $10.   Sometimes called a Programmable Sound Chip for Greeting Card includes speaker board etc.  I have been thinking about doing this to add sounds to a hotel and for a freight yard.  I bought a preprogrammed module a few years ago with birds and crickets - neat little unit.

Oh, I'm well aware of such systems -- I used one recently to add sound effects to the camping/wilderness area on my layout:

The problem in this instance is finding a way to coordinate the sound with the animation, and have it all initiated by a single button push. I suppose I could just disable the internal sound system, edit and time sound files(s) to match the animation, and load them into a sound module which would be powered through the same push-button activation as the animation. Hmmm . . .

Well, I finished the painting for now (masking and adding a red oxide dry brushing to the outer sections of brick paving) and shot a short video to show what I've attempted as improvements to the OEM piece, including the upgraded interior, the external painting, the cover for the slot in the road, and a few personalizing touches (that's my mother in the poster on the signpost, posed in front of her favorite McDs!). I still have a bit of tweaking to do (for instance to get the slot cover to lay down a bit flatter), but for now I'm satisfied with the result. What do you think?

It works and looks great Steve!

Steve, I'm with Mark.  Nice job and to think all of this came about because it was missing the van.

@Steve Tyler posted:

Well, I finished the painting for now (masking and adding a red oxide dry brushing to the outer sections of brick paving) and shot a short video to show what I've attempted as improvements to the OEM piece, including the upgraded interior, the external painting, the cover for the slot in the road, and a few personalizing touches (that's my mother in the poster on the signpost, posed in front of her favorite McDs!). I still have a bit of tweaking to do (for instance to get the slot cover to lay down a bit flatter), but for now I'm satisfied with the result. What do you think?

Very cool