The On30 conspiracy

[sumpter250]

Hi Ken!,
Welcome to the gauge, and to the On30 conspiracy! Baldwin 2-6-2T locos?
OK....OK....where's da pitchures??????
Pete

 

[Catt]

Yeah Ken, everything Pete said.

 

[sumpter250]

Brought this thread forward again. discussion of WS water product starts on page 5

 

[sumpter250]

Go to page 5 for WS water product info.

 

[Drew1125]

Hi all!

Pete pointed me over to this thread, & I’ve really been enjoying skimming through it!



I’m pretty new to this On30 thing…I got into it because my poor eyesight just couldn’t deal with the N scale anymore…

I had modeled in HO previous to getting into N scale, so I still have some old HO stuff laying around…

I’ve bashed a couple of HO cars into On30, & I’m having a blast doing this!

I’ve also started a diorama, to give myself a bit of a feel for doing O scale scenery, structures, etc…

I haven’t seen too much On30 stuff being posted over here at The Gauge, so I thought I’d resurrect this thread, to see if there are some others still hangin’ around!

 

[capt_turk]

I've been hoping to see some activity here myself. I started Ho and went to On30 because of shaky hands and crappy eyesight. I really love it.

On30= Too (O)ld for (n)scale by (30) years!

 

[Drew1125]

Glad to see your response, Capt!

I really love your definition of On30!

Well, I’ve gotten some wood on the little shed I’m building…

I found these windows in the scrap box…they measure 3x3 ft. in O scale…This really puts into perspective the difference between O scale, & N scale, which I’ve been modeling in for the last few years…Those “windows” are actually the garage doors from an N scale gas station kit!

After I finish the plank walls, I’ll have to come up with something to serve as a roof…I’ll get back to ya on that later!

 

[capt_turk]

I've built a small station house that I used fine grit sand paper cut into strips and glued on like tar paper. Put a coat of green acrylic paint, and then black along the seams like roofing tar. Came out pretty good. I'm not home where I can take pics.
Looks to me like that would be the perfect kind of roof for that shed.
As far as the scale difference, I have a couple of N scale locos that would easily fit in my little O scale outhouse, with room to spare.
N scalers, don't think that is an inuendo. They are just so small!

 

[sumpter250]

Drew, Capt Turk,
Happy to see someone active in this thread again.
Pete

 

[Drew1125]

I’m glad I found the thread, Pete!

I remember this thread from some time back, but I hadn’t yet been “assimilated” at that time!

One thing I’m realizing, is that the potential for freelancing, & kitbashing in On30 are limitless!

Like I mentioned, I’ve got some old HO stuff laying around, a lot of it being in the cheapo trainset category, that now I’m looking at as a supply for kitbashed On30 rolling stock…

I’ve built a couple of cars already…

On one, I started with an old HO bobber caboose…

I used it as a starting point for this coal tender…

I also had this old LLcaboose from an old trainset…

I made this little flat car out of it…

I realize that these aren’t the greatest examples of craftsmanship in the world, but I’ve really had fun with them, & hope to do a lot more of them, & hopefully get better at it with practice!

 

[sumpter250]

I do like that tender......that screams character! :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

 

[Drew1125]

Thanks Pete!

 

[Drew1125]

My little flatcar kitbash had kind of come to a standstill whiI worked on some other stuff…

The pieces from the HO bridge kit that I had tried earlier didn’t work out too well…I picked the car up one evening, & the side sills just popped off in my hand, so I replaced them with some plain styrene angle stock…I also replaced the Athearn Bettendorf trucks with some Kadee archbars…

I’m still working on fashioning some stake pockets, stirrup steps, & a brake wheel…

Get back to ya later with that!

 

[Drew1125]

Well here are my efforts so far on the stake pockets…

I made them by just cutting 6” slices (O scale) off a piece of brass channel…I compared their size to some stake pockets on standard gauge HO flatcar, & they seem to scale out pretty well…

I still have to cut some more for the other side…

 

[Drew1125]

OK…I need some honest opinions…How do these look?

After pouring over catalogs & internet sites, looking for stirrup steps, I decided to go the bargain basement route, & try to make some of my own…I had this steel wire laying around…(I guess it’s somewhere around .030”…?) & I just bent them with some small needlenose pliers, drilled holes in the bottom of the car, & glued them in…

 

[Matthyro]

The stirrup steps look OK Drew but are a bit on the heavy side . If you had some smaller diameter wire they may be a bit better as these ones you show look quite massive compared to the wheels.

 

[Drew1125]

Yeah, I thought they were a little on the heavy side too...They measure about 2" think in O scale...
I guess I'm guilty of still thinking in N scale, where we get used to having things out of scale sometimes...
I've already gotten these installed, so I probably won't change them on this car, but I thought for the next project, I might try some thin brass strip...
Thanks for the input Robin!

 

[Drew1125]

Ky R&A #1 pushes a flatcar carrying some boards up the quarry spur…

Looks like they’re FINALLY going to put a roof on that lineside shed!

 

[Matthyro]

That's sweet Drew. A great mini scene.