@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 🤣!

Oil details

Just finishing a standard gauge UP gondola.  I got this one is an auction junk box and some previous owner had converted it to O scale by soldering on truck bolsters and adding O gauge trucks.  Those came off, fixed a few broken soldering joints, painted it and now it's ready to join the rest of my UP cars.

This is how my UP 112 came to me, converted to O scale.

Converted a MTH 19th century tank car into a flat car by redecking and adding various details. Installed Wiseman archbar trucks with Weaver couplers. Finally repainted and decaled.

Tom

I like to think this was a successful weekend. Got a super chuffer installed in this TMCC Allegheny. 27 ohm element, no more AC regulator, and increased air hole.

also got a new to me VL GS-1 with some problems at a decent price. Motor mount was bent so drive line was out of whack, fixed that whistle unit looked like it was never used I don’t know what kept it from running before but checked all connections and it’s running like a champ.

To top it all of made some small PCB repairs to a LC Thomas

hand painting the inside of one of my Rich Yoder Baldwin S-12 interiors.  Trying to figure out what color to paint what...I can't find any reference photos for an S-12, so I will just wing it.  So far I like it...

@roll_the_dice posted:

hand painting the inside of one of my Rich Yoder Baldwin S-12 interiors...

what is that green color? I am trying to find something like that

@woodsyT posted:

what is that green color? I am trying to find something like that

It is Krylon Satin Jade.  Here is a shot of the can.  I had it laying around from a previous project.

**I forgot to mention that I bought it from one of the big box stores...Lowes/Depot.

OK, so I painted more...I like it.  Not sure the box would have straps/buckles on it, but I took creative liberty.  I just need to find a conductor that is sitting and glue him in and I will be finished.  First time I have painted anything in a LONG time.  I enjoyed it.

Nice work! The colors looks good to me.

But…

you need an Engineer! Not a conductor…lol😉

Tom

@Krieglok posted:

Nice work! The colors looks good to me.

But…

you need an Engineer! Not a conductor…lol😉

Tom

Good call!  

@roll_the_dice posted:

Good call!  

Actually, you could have a conductor or brakeman sitting on the seat box, opposite the Engineer…

Tom

This past few months I've been building some slab and billet carriers for my steel mill layout.  I saw a series of articles in O SCALE RAILROADING from Rich Yoder about some house made flats and gondolas that were used at Kaiser Steel in California. So I decided to take a few O27 flats and modify them for steel mill use. 

Standard flat cars are too long for use on my layout and they wouldn't look right carrying a 24 foot slab on a 40 foot car so I shortened them to around 28-30 feet.  I then added some strip styrene to widen them to 10 scale feet.

To make them more robust for heavy haulage I made new sides from 0.030 sheet styrene,  1 inch wide,  glued them to the car body and braced with more strips.

I then added new ends and glued down some I beams and solid bars to act as spacers between the deck and the slabs.

On this next car I  wanted one with more details on the sides so I made some bracing from 0.010 styrene.  I hand cut the sides to give the car a more "home built " look. This car is waiting for some rectangular tubing to be added to the deck.

Since it's winter I can't do any painting outside so these will have to wait for warmer weather.

Hope you like them.

A beaten 2035 steamer.  Just finished cleaning the motor and testing, it works fine now.  Body had so many nicks I cleaned and spray painted it flat black.  Headlamp mount was broken, just soldered the mount back on.  Later today I'll see if I have all of the missing parts after shopping at the spring thaw meet.  Another helpful OGR video prompted this task, results are much better than I expected.

This weekend I picked up a mint 2007 Williams freight set headed by a Norfolk Western J. Unboxed it and tested the loco. Lights, smoke good, no go. Opened it up so I can get the motor and it was frozen solid. Some hard turning on the flywheel, it started turning. Ends up dried adobe in the gear box is bad🤪. Cleaned it up and added some Red N Tacky and it now turns freely.

Steve

@Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

This weekend I picked up a mint 2007 Williams freight set headed by a Norfolk Western J. Unboxed it and tested the loco. Lights, smoke good, no go. Opened it up so I can get the motor and it was frozen solid. Some hard turning on the flywheel, it started turning. Ends up dried adobe in the gear box is bad🤪. Cleaned it up and added some Red N Tacky and it now turns freely.

Steve

Way to go Steve.   Good save.

I've seen the Red & Tacky mentioned on the forum......I'll have to pick some up.

I never heard it described as adobe, but that is exactly what it looks like, Steve!

I have a Williams GS-4 on my bench that is trying to be the death of me! Installed a JWA Chuff Generator and Super Chuffer 2 along with a MTH fan driven smoke unit. Verified operation, had beautiful huge puffs of smoke timed to the wheels, it was great to see. Shut it down to go get the wife so I could show it to her, now the Chuff Generator refuses to see the tach tape! The little red light just stays lit no matter what I try, Argh!

Guess I have to order a third Chuff Generator for this project, I just need to keep telling myself how awesome this loco will be when finished LOL!

Q: how many observation cars is enough??

A: do not know yet…har har!!!

This was a K-Line ESE obs now being converted to Colorado & Southern (nee: CB&Q) SILVER STREAK which brought up the markers for the DENVER ZEPHYR from 1936 to 1956, and the TEXAS ZEPHYR from 1957 to I forget.  The real SILVER STREAK resides in Austin, TX at a place called Texas Compound.  I pose the question above since this is the third obs I have converted for a single train.  If I ever get my hands on a GGD Empire State Express obs, then number four will hatch.

Last two weeks I've been working on adding a couple Menards trucks to the layout. The LED's are way too bright with the 4.5v wall wart I'm using. So thanks to @chris a I bought some DC buck converters so I can dim the led's down so they look like the lights are on, but not blasting like a couple of lasers.
I also will take the opportunity to redo the accessory and building lighting that is LED. I have an old HO transformer that I will use for the DC supply. I can also move some of the loads off of the 14vac terminals on my KW to the AC accessory power on the HO transformer.

These are variable output from the blue potentiometer

The camera doesn't do it justice but the first photo at 4 vdc is pretty good to the eye.

With the shop lights on

and the truck on the layout (before rewiring)

To be continued......

Bob

Bob, the lights look great!!

Picked up an undecorated corrugated auto carrier. Unpainted base was molded orange, so no primer. Doors and top were gray.

Another addition for the Oriole train. Painting done and reassembled, just waiting on the “retired number” decals to be delivered.

@Krieglok posted:

Converted a MTH 19th century tank car into a flat car by redecking and adding various details. Installed Wiseman archbar trucks with Weaver couplers. Finally repainted and decaled.

Tom

Tom I’m always impressed with your Craftsman ship. Great job!

@third rail posted:

This past few months I've been building some slab and billet carriers for my steel mill layout.  I saw a series of articles in O SCALE RAILROADING from Rich Yoder about some house made flats and gondolas that were used at Kaiser Steel in California. So I decided to take a few O27 flats and modify them for steel mill use.

Standard flat cars are too long for use on my layout and they wouldn't look right carrying a 24 foot slab on a 40 foot car so I shortened them to around 28-30 feet.  I then added some strip styrene to widen them to 10 scale feet.

To make them more robust for heavy haulage I made new sides from 0.030 sheet styrene,  1 inch wide,  glued them to the car body and braced with more strips.

I then added new ends and glued down some I beams and solid bars to act as spacers between the deck and the slabs.

On this next car I  wanted one with more details on the sides so I made some bracing from 0.010 styrene.  I hand cut the sides to give the car a more "home built " look. This car is waiting for some rectangular tubing to be added to the deck.

Since it's winter I can't do any painting outside so these will have to wait for warmer weather.

Hope you like them.

Very nice Bill

Been restoring another All Nation car from the Collection I bought many years ago. This time I had to redo the sides because of water damage and I’ll be changing the metal sides with some I found at the bottom of the box that day when I bought them.The under carriage is a Weaver and the Trucks are Vintage Atlas. I’ll be adding Kaydee couplers as well.

This video popped up on my YouTube feed this afternoon......

Some of this still applies today. The vintage 1940's video and narration are always amusing to watch.

Thanks Lee. You are doing a great job on the restorations. They look amazing with very exact finished work…

Tom

@lee drennen posted:

Been restoring another All Nation car from the Collection I bought many years ago. This time I had to redo the sides because of water damage and I’ll be changing the metal sides with some I found at the bottom of the box that day when I bought them.The under carriage is a Weaver and the Trucks are Vintage Atlas. I’ll be adding Kaydee couplers as well.

@RSJB18 posted:

This video popped up on my YouTube feed this afternoon......

Some of this still applies today. The vintage 1940's video and narration are always amusing to watch.

That’s pretty cool Bob, the film even crackles in the beginning.

@RSJB18 posted:

This video popped up on my YouTube feed this afternoon......

Some of this still applies today. The vintage 1940's video and narration are always amusing to watch.

Thanks Bob.

I'll admit that I learned from this film

Due to clearance issues the NYC like many northeast roads never ran dome cars, most modern streamlined sets included vista domes for variety.  Here I have 3 MTH RK and a Lionel awaiting roof replacements.  The RKs will be direct replacement and should be completed shortly, the Lionel will need to be sprayed satin black.  Today was the first warm day in about a week but the wind put the kibosh on any painting so that one will have to wait.  The last picture is a nice comparison shot between the RK and Lionel traditional streamlined cars.

Okay so 3 out of 4 are done.  Stated with the RK Lightning Stripe.  Boy those 4 little hooks holding the roof on gave me more trouble then the Lionel Baby Madison windows holding those roofs in place.  Next my ESE dome finally lost its second level.  I put the new roof on and I've got a horizontal black stripe.  I thought I didn't have it seated properly but the edge of the silver roofs were black, the undersides gray.  I don't get but metallic silver sharpie to the rescue.

Now if the wind will stop I can paint the last roof and some other items waiting for satin black.

Back again with NYC streamliners.  This time the Lionel traditional ones.  While waiting for appropriate weather to paint the replacement roof for the above vista dome I pulled out some of my older 16xxx series streamliners and somrthings missing.

Yes sir, the white stripes above and below the windows. Ah I have some white pinstripe tape! Nope too wide.  Oh wait that white artist drafting tape!   Nope too wide!  I've got to figure this out because I don't think I'm steady enough to paint them.  I've got two more in another box.  So finish 3 projects, come up with 5 more.  This is great!

@coach joe posted:

Back again with NYC streamliners.  This time the Lionel traditional ones.  While waiting for appropriate weather to paint the replacement roof for the above vista dome I pulled out some of my older 16xxx series streamliners and somrthings missing.

Yes sir, the white stripes above and below the windows. Ah I have some white pinstripe tape! Nope too wide.  Oh wait that white artist drafting tape!   Nope too wide!  I've got to figure this out because I don't think I'm steady enough to paint them.  I've got two more in another box.  So finish 3 projects, come up with 5 more.  This is great!

Thanks for the info on where you ended up getting the roofs and how fast you were able to get them.

On the white stripes for the passenger cars..................... how about getting some stripe DECALS  instead of painting them or using pin stripe tape Joe ?   

Power chassis for a Lionel 2333 postwar Santa Fe F3 that has motor issues, one is running much slower at typical running speeds.  Going to do a full service before condeming the rear motor's armature which looks to have been run a bit hot from the burning between the communtator segments.  I think the gentleman ran it after buying it without a proper servicing on it.  I will get the old girl back up to snuff for him shortly.   Before that I serviced one of my prewar Lionel OO Hudsons.  No pics at the moment though.    AD

Dallas, some type of tape would be my first choice.  After I posted yesterday I hit Advance Auto Parts, Autozone and O'Reillys for pinstripe tape to no avail.  I was really hoping to find some so I could get these done.  Today may be a good day to paint that roof and some other things that are waiting for some satin black.  I've got some old Pactra Trim Tape, yellow and orange, no white of course, that has many different widths in the container.  I may have to search the interweb and see if Pactra still produces it.  If not maybe some sort of paint marker rather than a brush.

@coach joe posted:

Dallas, some type of tape would be my first choice.  After I posted yesterday I hit Advance Auto Parts, Autozone and O'Reillys for pinstripe tape to no avail.  I was really hoping to find some so I could get these done.  Today may be a good day to paint that roof and some other things that are waiting for some satin black.  I've got some old Pactra Trim Tape, yellow and orange, no white of course, that has many different widths in the container.  I may have to search the interweb and see if Pactra still produces it.  If not maybe some sort of paint marker rather than a brush.

Joe- If you are painting anyway, why not mask off the car and spray the stripes on?

Tamyia tape is supposed to be very good at leaving a crisp edge.

Bob

Bob, I can't say that I'm an accomplished painter.  Brushes, air brushes, spray cans, I've had some good results and some horrible so for little details like this I don't really like spraying.  I'll have to mask the hole car and with the windows and rivet detail trying to get the edges burnished down tight around the stripes will be tricky and doing 5 cars worth I know I'll ruin at least one.  Really hoping to find some pin striping.  The problem is the stripe ledge is only about 1/16th of an inch so I believe it's going to have to be a modeling tape and not readily available pin stripe tape.

Joe, your cars are really looking great!  I agree with Bob that masking and painting the stripes is a good way to go.  However, I am with you in that I have never had great results with painting something that fine. I hope you find an excellent material for the stripes.

This might have been covered before as the original idea for this came from @SIRT a couple years ago.

I made replacement tires from heat shrink tubing. This was my first attempt and it went pretty good. It took a little trimming once on the wheel but the engine ran well. The “3/4” inch size was perfect for fitting over the wheel. I didn’t shrink it at all. Just cut it and put it on pretty much like a regular tire. How this holds up over time is anyones guess  i bought the double walled version and it is thick  

I expect to get better at this but first time wasn’t bad. A 4 foot tube cost $7.

So the weather yesterday was nice enough for the paint booth to operate.  Here's some before and after photos and what they were used for.

K-Line gondola high ends and a Lionel traditional stream liner roof

Some desiccant canisters out of medicine bottles getting ready to joint the O-gauge drums.

The K-line high ends and floor were purchased years ago for use with existing gondolas I already had.  I figured with Lionel, K-Line and MTH gondolas, I could this kit on one of them.  Alas that was not the case.  Not wanting to buy a $50 gondola to justify a $9 purchase years ago this open kit was destined for re-sale.  Thanks to Trainz.com I got this K-line Classics die-cast NYC gondola for a really good price.  As for the roof.  Since the NYC didn't run dome cars the Manhattan is no longer a dome.

@coach joe posted:

So the weather yesterday was nice enough for the paint booth to operate.  Here's some before and after photos and what they were used for.

Nice work done on these  Joe.   Great photos.

Looks like you had a good day for the work .  What was the temperature outside ?     What does your paint booth look like and how is the overspray drawn down ?

Joe, they are all looking great

Thank you Dallas and Mark.

In answer to Dallas's questions, it was low 60s and Sunny ere in Myrtle Beach yesterday.  Winds, which are usually a problem, even 4 miles from the beach, were slight.  I was just using cardboard boxes in the past to act as a spray booth.  It helped with the wind but would contain the overspray until it settled.  That made for very "sticky" and sometimes colorful arms.  I've since bought a collapsible one with a screen in the back wall that permits air flow through the booth.  I can use a fan and filter if need be .  I'll get some pictures later.

Joe that must be nice with that temp.   We have 43 this afternoon with sun ,but a little breezy.

Sounds like a great solution for spray mist........except for the  RR. colors on your arms .    What is the paint media you are using to get your arms " sticky ".     Right now I have been using waterbase kraft colors and  the original media Tamiya colors with no arm decor.

I do however have a table top dust colector with a hepa filter.  It has 3 fans about 5 " round.   I can't recall what brand .  I'll have to get a photo of it .

My therapist had me walk up and down the 14 steps today so I'll be able to get to the layout by myself if I can follow the rules.   Pretty big thing seeing the layout room again. 

To quote from The Hunt For Red October, "Way to go Dallas!"

I've been using rattle can spray paint.  Two years ago I painted some patio chairs that had rusted.  Used two extra large moving boxes cut and tape together so a chair would fit in and be out of the wind.  I was wearing short sleeves and apparently the residual paint in suspension in the air inside the box was coating my airs.  I could feel it on the hair on my arms long before I could see the color, black, build up on my hair and skin.  I wore long sleeves and nitrile gloves after that. Safety glasses and a particulate dust mask to catch any pigments were part of my safety equipment.

Dallas I promised you photos so here they are.  I didn't pop it open but you can get the idea.  This is the small one.  The catalog I bought this from also had the medium and the large.  Its 35"w x 30"d x 39"h.  In the first picture you can see the 20 x 20 x 1 Merv 8 air filter.  This and the exterior fan are separate sale items.  The Merv 8 is the the most expensive of the 3 levels offered in the big box stores.

      Mornings project - Old subway track ballast...is it half full or half empty?

Joe, nice spray shelter!  I need to get a new spraying mask, mine must be 35 years old.  I have a plastic spray booth that is that old too, but it is rather small.  I use spray cans too.  

Dallas, congratulations on the 14 steps.  

Steve, I’ll say it is half full.  Your scene looks great.

@coach joe posted:

Dallas I promised you photos so here they are.  I didn't pop it open but you can get the idea.  This is the small one.  The catalog I bought this from also had the medium and the large.  Its 35"w x 30"d x 39"h.  In the first picture you can see the 20 x 20 x 1 Merv 8 air filter.  This and the exterior fan are separate sale items.  The Merv 8 is the the most expensive of the 3 levels offered in the big box stores.

Thanks for all the info and photos Joe.        It certainly looks like you have this painting process and safety issue covered......and from the looks of what you have been painting everything looks professionally done .

Have fun and good luck with the continued  nice springlike weather.

@Mark Boyce posted:

Joe, nice spray shelter!  I need to get a new spraying mask, mine must be 35 years old.  I have a plastic spray booth that is that old too, but it is rather small.  I use spray cans too.  

Dallas, congratulations on the 14 steps.  

Steve, I’ll say it is half full.  Your scene looks great.

Thanks Mark.    Can't wait to get back to maintainence on the engines.  Who knew that would be FUN.

Hey Joe......'The Hunt For Red October '  ???.........  ( one of my all time  favorite movies )

A lionel 2037.  A friend was gifted this piece, triggers the ZW L breaker immediately.  Given my past sucess with my 637 I'm going to give this a shot.

Well Dallas it has cooled off here.  March is a fickle month along the Grand Strand, Thursday before last was 80°, tonight it's supposed to be in the 30s/  Go figure.  Again, thank you and Mark for your encouragement.

Sirt, how many times can I say amazing!

@Dallas Joseph posted:

Joe that must be nice with that temp.   We have 43 this afternoon with sun ,but a little breezy.

Sounds like a great solution for spray mist........except for the  RR. colors on your arms .    What is the paint media you are using to get your arms " sticky ".     Right now I have been using waterbase kraft colors and  the original media Tamiya colors with no arm decor.

I do however have a table top dust colector with a hepa filter.  It has 3 fans about 5 " round.   I can't recall what brand .  I'll have to get a photo of it .

My therapist had me walk up and down the 14 steps today so I'll be able to get to the layout by myself if I can follow the rules.   Pretty big thing seeing the layout room again. 

Therapist? 14 steps? What gives Dallas?

Did I miss a post?

Bob

@RSJB18 posted:

Therapist? 14 steps? What gives Dallas?

Did I miss a post?

Bob

Well Bob......blew out a siderod on the left .

Last Friday morning a surgeon had me on HIS WORKBENCH to get a new hip on the left side this time.  I tried to talk to him about using CA glue but he won out with 27 staples. 

The visiting physical therapist instructed me how I'll have to get down the 14 steps past the 7 dwarfs ..................................to get to the train room.

@RSJB18 posted:

This video popped up on my YouTube feed this afternoon......

Some of this still applies today. The vintage 1940's video and narration are always amusing to watch.

Hey Bob  , really interesting video from the past.

The first iron used in the video reminds me of the iron I tried to use on my PS3 board

@Dallas Joseph posted:

Well Bob......blew out a siderod on the left .

Last Friday morning a surgeon had me on HIS WORKBENCH to get a new hip on the left side this time.  I tried to talk to him about using CA glue but he won out with 27 staples.

The visiting physical therapist instructed me how I'll have to get down the 14 steps past the 7 dwarfs ..................................to get to the train room.

Well glad you are on the mend. I've heard hip recoveries are easier than knees. Did the therapist wonder why you were so anxious to get down the stairs?????

Another comment on the soldering video. I giggled during the scene when the guy lit the torch and placed in it the hook at high flame. I can almost guarantee that those wall panels were asbestos. Amazing how common it was to use that stuff back in the day.

@coach joe- that spray booth is neat. I will need to pick one up on my next HD run.

Bob

@RSJB18 posted:

Well glad you are on the mend. I've heard hip recoveries are easier than knees. Did the therapist wonder why you were so anxious to get down the stairs?????

Another comment on the soldering video. I giggled during the scene when the guy lit the torch and placed in it the hook at high flame. I can almost guarantee that those wall panels were asbestos. Amazing how common it was to use that stuff back in the day.

The therapist said  "wow that's really neat "  and well .......she is a PT .    I do think she kind of understood that the gleam in my eyes was important though .

Asbestos walls are something that has gone by the wayside Bob.........but there were a couple times in MY trainroom that it wouldn't have been frowned on by my Lady......and "  that's all I have to say about that " .

I'm going to try to get a TET post out sometime today........and NOT from my photo files.

Wrapped up my upgrade of a Williams scale GG1.  I got it with a Cruise Commander installed and the original owner had used the now extinct ERR Sound Converter to retain the Williams True Blast Plus board for sound.  It also had just the basic two Williams light bulbs, not very appealing.

I stripped everything and re-installed.  I had one of the GG1 VL cabs still hanging around, so I figured I'd use it, it has lighted gauges, very cool.  It got all LED lighting, individually lit markers, cab lighting, and lighted gauges.  I used the standard ERR GG1/EP5 sound board and the cruise commander that came with it for the installation.

All connections between the shell and chassis are on one 5-pin connector, this makes it real easy to crack it open to work on it if necessary.

Project complete

Orioles retired numbers

Nice idea, Jim!  It looks great!  😊 I would have a few more numbers if I did a Pirates car, but not many more.  

@Mark Boyce posted:

Nice idea, Jim!  It looks great!  😊 I would have a few more numbers if I did a Pirates car, but not many more.  

You'd need a fleet for the Yankees.......

@Jim M Sr  Looks great.... #5 Brooks Robinson one of my all time favorites!

@RSJB18 posted:

You'd need a fleet for the Yankees.......

Yes, I would think they need to start putting three digit numbers on the backs of their rookies and prospects!  😄

Just wrapping up my first diesel conversion to full Legacy.  A couple more LED's to install and it's testing time.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Just wrapping up my first diesel conversion to full Legacy.  A couple more LED's to install and it's testing time.

Hey John....

Was this a pre-configured kit or something you were able to cobble together using available parts from Lionel?

I'm guessing one would have to have a pretty hefty background in electronics in order to custom assemble such a kit?

@Junior posted:

Hey John....

Was this a pre-configured kit or something you were able to cobble together using available parts from Lionel?

I'm guessing one would have to have a pretty hefty background in electronics in order to custom assemble such a kit?

Junior, Thank you for asking John for some more details.  I can say this, I worked 43 years in electronics, and I’m a neophyte when compared to John!!  👍🏻👍🏻

@Junior posted:

Hey John....

Was this a pre-configured kit or something you were able to cobble together using available parts from Lionel?

I'm guessing one would have to have a pretty hefty background in electronics in order to custom assemble such a kit?

This was just a collection of parts from my parts stash.  I had to make all the wiring harness myself.  Some valuable reference material is Bruk's excellent Legacy documents that are posted in this post: Bruk's RCMC/BEMC/RSLITE Documentation.

I had previously made my RCMC tester, I was able to sort out all the boards I had and see what was good and not good.

Building a Lionel RCMC Board Test Fixture

Since I now had known good boards, I decided to do an upgrade or two with them.

@gunrunnerjohn...

You never cease to amaze!

Finally finished the interior of my Baldwin S-12...I hired an Engineer he jumped in to work!  The engine is in the background.  The figure was hand painted by a gentleman that I bought it from at the 2 rail Chicago show.

This little gadget popped up in my Youtube feed last night. I'm going to get one for sure.

https://www.efixx.co.uk/tools

Good grief!   $22.50 for a plastic clamp and a little bit of solder???   I think I'll keep my money!  I've soldered hundreds of those LED strips without one, and I saved $22.50.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Good grief!   $22.50 for a plastic clamp and a little bit of solder???   I think I'll keep my money!  I've soldered hundreds of those LED strips without one, and I saved $22.50.

True- I could actually do the same thing with a couple of small spring clamps......

I'll spend the $20 on more important stuff.

I just use a long metal bar, I lay a few strips on the bench and old them down with the metal bar, then I just go to town soldering them.

Bar: $0.0, came out of my scrap pile.

Bench: $0.0, already have one.

I just finished a NE5 caboose in the older Boston and Maine colors. It started life as a Lionel New Haven caboose. The different roads used very similar cabooses, including, I believe, the PRR. Photo documentation was difficult to come by. I wanted the older “end of steam” era paint scheme of red on red with the black roof.

Lionel did this model in the scheme I desired, but they are nearly impossible to find, plus I wanted a model with the smoke Jack further away from the cupola than the Lionel version had

I disassembled the car and instead of stripping the entire body, I was able to gently sand down the old lettering and apply a coat of dark red to the sides. The end panels were a slightly brighter red. Decaling was done using some K-4 B&M coal hopper sets, mainly to obtain a close to proper size Minuteman logo. The caboose went back together with repainted handrails.

The caboose was modeled to go with a B&M 2-6-0 I recently painted…

Tom

Opened up a Williams BL2 and changed it to series wiring. Since Williams used JST plugs, I just pulled the pins out of the plug bodies and used a small piece of wire to connect them together. Easy to convert back to parallel in the future should the need arise.

Added a P-touch label to the bottom so that my empty head doesn't have to try and remember......

Bob

This Atlas dining car offered by Berwyn’s Trains needed a few modifications to make it more closely match a FW&D diner. It was devoid of roof details, so a few items from Precision Scale were added. The decals are Microscale.
@CBQ_Bill

@Rob Leese

That is a very nice looking FW&D diner !!!

CB&Q Bill

Workbench updates.  I showed this photo of a K-Line gondola with the accessory high ends and floor after I painted them and added them.

Well upon closer inspection with the floor installed the high ends rode a little higher than they should have.

The underside of the floor shows why.  These little "feet" had to go. 

A few quick strokes with a razor saw and we have a better fit.

The foam cradle had to be altered

Joe, that’s a really neat looking car!

@coach joe posted:

Back again with NYC streamliners.  This time the Lionel traditional ones.  While waiting for appropriate weather to paint the replacement roof for the above vista dome I pulled out some of my older 16xxx series streamliners and somrthings missing.

Yes sir, the white stripes above and below the windows. Ah I have some white pinstripe tape! Nope too wide.  Oh wait that white artist drafting tape!   Nope too wide!  I've got to figure this out because I don't think I'm steady enough to paint them.  I've got two more in another box.  So finish 3 projects, come up with 5 more.  This is great!

So I couldn't come up with any appropriately sized pinstriping tape so I had to paint the stripes. I found a chisel tip paint marker and like Bob suggested I masked off the rest of the car.  But Like I said had I tried to spray the stripes after masking those stripes would have bled into places they didn't belong.

I was happy with how the stripes came out and pulled out the 7012 vista dome that I replaced the roof with a coach roof to compare how they looked.  Well the stripes passed visual inspection, HOWEVER, the following photos show coupler height issues that will almost certainly lead to uncoupling cars on anything but perfectly laid track.  I guess nothing ever leaves my workbench.

The 6-16xxx series passenger cars are LTI early 1990s production.  The 6-35100,Manhattan vista dome #7012 is Lionel LLC late 2000s production.  I guess one should expect these discrepancies in cars manufactured almost 20 years apart but the height difference between the 16021 and 16041 are from the same production run.  Does anyone have any suggesting on how to rectify this situation, or at least prevent uncoupling?

CBQ Bill,

Nice work on the FW&D diner.

RAY

@coach joe posted:

Workbench updates.  I showed this photo of a K-Line gondola with the accessory high ends and floor after I painted them and added them.

Well upon closer inspection with the floor installed the high ends rode a little higher than they should have.

The underside of the floor shows why.  These little "feet" had to go.

A few quick strokes with a razor saw and we have a better fit.

The foam cradle had to be altered

Coach, ….I need that gondola in my life!……beautiful work coach!

Pat

@coach joe- nice work on both projects. I had thought of you the other day. I was digging through my tool chest and ran across an old paint marker. Glad it worked out. The stripes look good.
Not sure how to address the couplers except to put a small rubber band around them.

Bob

Making closed coupler door pilots for my Lionel E7s. 3rd Rail item used as a master.

Pete

Pat, thanks a lot.  The gondola story goes like this, years ago I bought the K-Line accessory high ends and floor thinking it would have to fit one of the many gondolas from different manufacturers that I had.  This past winter while trying to get organized enough that I could fit some sort of layout in the allotted spare bedroom I finally broke the pieces out of the blister pack and low and behold not a single gondola would fit.  Into the for sale box the pieces went.  Keeping an eye out for a correct K-Line gondola, with out load, coil covers, high sides wasn't very successful until finally I found this one on Trainz.com.  I didn't really need another piece of rolling stock but the model was right, the road was right and ost importantly the price was right.

Bob I remember  an old post that mentioned rubber bands to prevent uncoupling but I'm not sure how to install them.

Norton, looks like you're making dentures.

Not quite finished with trim on locomotive, but I couldn’t wait to see how she looks. Wabash GP9 custom painted to NATTY BOH

Nice job JIm.

@Jim M Sr posted:

Not quite finished with trim on locomotive, but I couldn’t wait to see how she looks. Wabash GP9 custom painted to NATTY BOH

Oh Yah  Jim .  This is one darn fine fantastic fun beer train sir.   Nice finish.

@Ray of sunshine

Please note that the above FW&D Silver heavyweight Diner is owned &!has been modified by @Rob Leese.

Rob has been doing many wonderful modifications of various passenger cars for his Texas Zephyr

CB&Q Bill

Just finished cleaning and rewiring yet another prewar 253 electric loco. While I was at it, I threw in a new set of motor brushes, and cleaned the commutator ring. Of the four 253s I own, this one was definitely in the best shape when it arrived - Body (including roof overhangs) and frame are both perfectly straight, couplers intact, paint on the frame is near perfect, and the only parts that were missing were the headlight housings. The paint was a bit dirty, and the brass tarnished, but both conditions were easily fixed. Only one of the disk wheel flanges is slightly damaged, but I'm going to replace all four with a spoked set (ordered from Hennings Trains). Some would be upset by that, but I just think they look better. All in all, I think she was well worth the $45 I paid for her on ebay! I had thought about doing a complete restoration, as I had on my other three, but I think I might leave her as is. All she needs is a couple light bulbs, and she's ready for service!

You guys posting pics of beer, all while I'm here in my office (working on a prewar 253 electric). As a QC inspector for a regional airline, no beer for me until tomorrow night, when I'm NOT at work! The FAA has a real bug up their butt about us drinking at work! LOL! Have a good weekend everybody!

@Norton  what are you using for the mold and what material are you using for the part.  I have thought about adding "doors" to mine. I am not a big fan of the coupler sticking out so far.

Seems like the prototypes used them on certain engines and then stopped. I was surprised to read the couplers could be rotated out of the way to close the doors.  That sounds like an engineering and maintenance nightmare.

@ScoutingDad posted:

@Norton  what are you using for the mold and what material are you using for the part.  I have thought about adding "doors" to mine. I am not a big fan of the coupler sticking out so far.

Seems like the prototypes used them on certain engines and then stopped. I was surprised to read the couplers could be rotated out of the way to close the doors.  That sounds like an engineering and maintenance nightmare.

For the mold material I am using Smooth On Mold Star 15 Slow. It has a much better shelf life that the Ooo Moo 30 I started using. For the casting I an using Alumilite “Amazing Casting Resin” (Their name). Its a Urethane resin versus a epoxy resin. I have used Smooth On Smooth Cast 300 but that is starting to turn. Both would work here.

If you get into casting its best to have a number of projects lined up as most products have a shelf life and some less than a year.

Still working out the bugs. I am finding the Alumilight cures a bit too fast (10 minutes) and some of the air bubbles are getting trapped. Stay tuned.

I have tried adding doors to the existing pilots but the compound curve makes it difficult to machine. Also I have found E6 pilots with closed doors (Lionel) and E8 pilots (P&D) but E7s seem to have a different curve and the other two wouldn’t fit. Lucky 3Rd Rail included them with their E7s.

Pete

Maybe this has been posted or it should be in another thread, but I want to build or get a better workbench for my trains.  Can some of you guys show pictures of what your bench looks like and what are some of the key items you have on your workbench? 

Thanks in advance

@roll_the_dice posted:

Maybe this has been posted or it should be in another thread, but I want to build or get a better workbench for my trains.  Can some of you guys show pictures of what your bench looks like and what are some of the key items you have on your workbench?

Thanks in advance

No harm in asking.

Check out this recent thread for some ideas.

Thanks Dallas,  several different colors of acrylic and some planks were layered with more than one. The acrylic covered the plastic well without filling in the wood grain.   I like the way it turned out.