It's MONDAY 11-22-04, weekend modeling accomplishments!

Chessie6459

Gauge Oldtimer
Well the weekend is over and it is time to get back to work. So what did everyone get accomplished this weekend?

I did get to hang up more lights after the fact that i threw a snowman decoration across the living room after it would not want to hang up for me but i finally got it hung up. I did get the chance to work on my dad's O Scale Engine and get them cleaned up. I cleaned the wheels, scrubed the engine down and some of the cars. Also i have been busy with some other things around the house so probably no time to work with the trains this week.

Have A Safe & Wonderful Week Everyone :wave:
 
This weekend I did not work on my layout since I have to take it down soon. I have a few problems with the walls behind it that need to be fixed before the house falls down. I did design a new layout to build I put the design for review under future track plan.
 

Glen Haasdyk

Active Member
I finished the Pier for my harbour. I used a piece of 1/8" plywood for the deck structure with about 50- 1/4" dowels for pilings. Rail was expoxied to the plywood. The plywood was then coversed in basswood sheet which was then scribed to simulate individual planks. The most frusterating thing was waiting for the glue to dry on the sheeting before I could continue since the basswood would try to curl up if I didn't place weight on it.
On Saturday I went shopping for electrical supplies. I managed to get enough wire for all the bocks that I will have and Last night I drilled all the holes for the feeders and cut all the wire to size. I would have soldered the wire up but I only have a 30 watt iron and it won't cut it for that job. Tomorrow a friend is coming over with his 80 watt iron to help finish up the soldering job.
Oh yeah I also started work on my control panel.
 

grumbeast

Member
The Dartmouth NS show was a blast, I'll hopefully have some pictures too. My group the EasterNbeNders ran a smallish (20') long layout with only one slow speed rear-end collision (pretty good for us!). In terms of my layout I didn't get anything done but did manage to get a sweet deal on a n scale walthers superior pulp and paper mill kit that will look great amongst the wooded hills of my home layout.

Graham
 

Ray Marinaccio

Active Member
I finished the Bachmann 2-8-2.
I milled out the split-frame in the boiler, added lead weights and made a few adjustments.
I also got some more ballasting done after I ran some trains.
 

NYC-BKO

Member
Thanks Matthew, another long night!


This weekend I did finally manage to cut in the siding switch on the main and the inside switch and got both sidings in, with one industry, found another that will fit the other siding. Finally something to switch out. Didn't do much else other than run trains alot after I got the mainline done, let them run while I worked on the sidings. Didn't work on any cars or engines though.:thumb:

Hope everyone had a great weekend!:D
 
Finally, I've had some weekend accomplishments to report. Saturday morning, my first laser-cut project arrived in the mail. It's a 12" x 24" sheet of 1/16" basswood containing parts for my design for an N Scale sawmill complex consisting of an 8" x 14" main mill building, a kiln building, powerhouse, misc. sheds and a two-story house that could serve as the mill office or a perk for the mill forman. Also a second sheet will arrive Monday with the supporting framework for the 6"x22" raised drying dock, jackworks and railcar loading ramp along with a third sheet with 8 company houses. Since the sawmill building alone had over 100 window openings, I thought I'd try having it laser cut. Despite one serious problem, I was extremely pleased with the results.The openings are cut perfectly square and the etched siding and trim lines are crisp. I know my limitations and know I couldn't approach the clean lines of the laser.

This are the cut parts for the house:

house_cuts_image.jpg


This was the first time I've sent off a CAD drawing to be cut and it was a learning experience. The original idea was to have only the window glass openings cut with frame and trim detail lines etched. However, a problem with importing my AutoCAD drawing into the Corel program used to run the laser resulted in the entire window frame being cut through, leaving me with large empty openings. (This offers me the opprortunity to accomplish something else next weekend: my first plastic casting project in which I attempt to fabricate over 100 windows to fill the openings.) I worked around the software problem and the other sheets are reported to be perfect.

house_painted_image.jpg

My first assembly project was the two story house. I painted the wall panels with a thin wash of Folk Art white, applied with a small sponge. I then painted all the trim with Folk Art Edgewood Blue.The foundation is a thin coat of DAP Lightweight Spackle, painted gray. Then I assembled the four walls and cut some basswood to serve as a roof deck. The corrugated "metal" roofing is a thin plastic foil I bought on Ebay. I assembled the porch from the cut parts, glued it to the structure, painted it to match the trim and applied some corrugated roofing. After fabricating and installing the windows and tidying some trim, the roofing is going to have to be subdued; the glare off it is blinding in bright light.

I also painted and assembled the walls of several of the small sheds, one of which shows the intended window openings for the mill building. (I made a CAD mistake on this one window and it worked out right. Go figure.)
shed.jpg


I also built the Power House including a "stone" first floor made of DAP Spackle and painted the Kiln Building. Finish on the mill buildings will be rather protypically rough. The mill building walls are taped together for now and replaces the printed cardstock walls in the mock-up on the layout. The three foot long N Scale mill & drying dock mockup still awes me whenever I walk by it.

Please excuse the images above, they are from the scanner. Another weekend accomplishment is that I ordered a new digital camera which may better help to show some of the sawmill complex as it develops.

Wayne
 

Chessie6459

Gauge Oldtimer
No Problem Brian. Kinda figured you would have one.

So far sounds like everyone had a great weekend. Wayne the building looks great. Keep it up.

Have A Safe & Wonderful Week Everyone :wave:
 

theBear

Member
Well I didn't get any frames done, but I did get my 4-8-4 Steam Engine cleaned up, re lubed, the wheels fairly in gauge (got to get a set, can't find my old ones
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), a couple of broken pieces back together (the cat), and it now runs fairly well. I think a bit more running to spread the lube around a bit more and a little tweak on the wheels will have it in tip top shape. I even think a decoder is in order for it, as I can isolate the motor without much trouble
smile.gif
.

I've got to get rid of the rapido on the tender though so I can pull some real cars.

I did get a bit of time to switch cars around a bit. Sunday was a massive invasion of company day, my eldest daughter's birthday. So she, her husband, and their two month old daughter were here, as was her brother, younger sister, and one of her grandmothers. My wife and I had a full house, and of course I ate too much
thumbsup.gif
.
 

TomPM

Another Fried Egg Fan
I am a day last and a bunch of dollars short.

Up until yesterday things were going well. I fiddled some with the Northern Light & Power mini layout some. My son started a diorama. I even picked up some new trains. I got a P2K Reading FA1 and FB1 and had an operating session with them. We saw the Polar Express. What a great movie! Now we want to see it in the IMAX.

Then Monday came. Walked out to a flat tire on the van thanks to a screw embedded in it. Since I am close to state inspection I knew I would need four new tires so off to the local tire store. I then went to turn the computer on and nothing happened. A quick check of power cords and things revealed that the power supply is dead. We then had to go computer shopping. Got a new one and now I have to reload and reconfigure everything.
 

theBear

Member
Tom,

You didn't just buy a $45 PS and replace the bad one?

I've still got my first "IBM Comp PC" well the case/PS/FD/NIC anyway and my second one case/FD/HD/DVD/Soundcard.

The first has been used for 12 years and the second for 6 years.

My third one has parts from the second one in it.
 

jetrock

Member
Sounds like my computer--it's only original in the "grandfather's axe" sense ("This is my grandfather's axe--my father replaced the handle, I replaced the head")--I started out with an IBM XT, then upgraded the motherboard and MFM HD to a 286, then a new case, then a 386 with a VGA card and monitor, then a 486 and a new IDE hard drive, and so on, to my current 700 MHz Duron that will soon be replaced (maybe)...even though there are no original parts, I can still trace the continuous lineage of my computer!

I'm sure there are folks out there with model railroad equipment that has been similarly generationalized...

Last week for some reason my Tech II powerpack died. I made plans to replace it but I tested it again today just to make sure and discovered that it has RAISED FROM THE DEAD!

With no powerpack over the weekend I didn't do any operating and instead worked on a couple of structures for my new layout module--photos as soon as some of them are done, as I'm particularly proud of a house kitbash I did...
 

jmarksbery

Active Member
:wave: Wayne if I may ask, who did the leaser work for you and approx. charge for such a thing? Do they have a web site? The modeling looks great. :) Jim
 
Thanks Jim,

The laser cutting was done by Laser Image Works in washington State. You need to send them the wood and a vector drawing from a CAD or other vector program. They charge a set-up fee of about $15 and $1.00 per minute for laser cutting and etching. There may be other charges if they need to do anything to your drawing.

This project was 1/16" basswood, 12"x24" and the sheet was packed with parts, all of which needed to be cut through and siding etched. Etching is faster than cutting but can really add to the laser time. This whole project took about 1/2 hour to cut.

If you can send them pre-scribed siding, then the cutting will be much faster and costs lower. They also will also cut styrene so there are other options there.

This was my first laser project and I'm still learning the tricks. As I told someone else in a private message, I do freelance CAD work and one of my clients is a modular home company, so I've been drawing "kits" for the past 14 years.

Wayne
 
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