WHAT’S ON THE WORKBENCH AT THE MOMENT

@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.