Workshop Wednesday

Chris, I will plan on adding some pics of the trip and the meet for sure. Since we are already 9+ hours of driving into the trip to get there we are taking a couple Frisco related detours.
Ken, I think my wife would read mine and find out I am duller than she thinks. Ha. Yes the pieces arrived and it’s bettter than any Christmas! Thanks again.

 

I wrote up an invoice for my wife, from "Gary's Computer Repair," billing her $500 (I need more money for decoders). She just shook her head and said, "You have too much time on your hands."

 

My model railroad needed a building on my layout with a width of 3.25 inches that would be serviced by the railroad. It so happens the Walthers Commissary/Freight Transfer Building fit the dimension exactly. The kit met my requirement of a full length dock and awnings.


I try to paint all visible areas of the kit but decided the window frames would suffer in their crispness if painted, so I sprayed them with Dullcote.

The sides and the roof are attached to the front. It still needs the dock, awning, and side stair.

The completed building to this point. It still needs workers, crates and dollies for the dock, and maybe shades for the windows, as well as some more weathering.

A piece of black paper blocked light coming in from the back.

Rich

 

Thanks Jim and Tom! I've seen some realistic weathering effects using artist's oil paints and would like to try that next. One can combine two kits to make a longer building. There is also a version that is twice as wide.

Rich

 

Chris, I haven't decided what kind of facility this will be but have two ideas. First is a Post Office facility where mail is taken off from trains to be processed locally and mail sent out to different cities according to what train. RPO's and baggage cars for storing mail would service the facility. The other would be a Railway Express Agency warehouse using Pullman Green Express boxcars and reefers. That business flourished between the World Wars and declined after WWII. It gave up in the 1970's. So it fits into my Steam-to-Diesel time frame.

Rich

 

Rich, I have added a little oil paint info in the HOW-TO area that might help. Oils would good for the mortar on all that brick.

 

Worked on my tenders and connectors this week. Tried some different trucks on the Vandy:

I used a budget decoder, a Lenz 1000A, and it's HORRIBLE. Why did I buy these pieces of junk?

I ran steamers around the layout--even broke out my BLI Heavy Mikado, which is a complete foobie. It's numbered 4212, but bears only a passing resemblance to the 4200s in Frisco Power:


Sure can pull, and sounds good, though.

Worked on my K4 kit. The frame had a twist, and broke a solder joint trying to straighten it, so had to resolder:



Installed drivers and side rods, but there's bind. One of the drivers seems to be out of quarter, tried to fix it by twisting, but still has a hiccup:



Also got another Atlas/Roco FP7 off eBay for cheap, but showed up broken :

 

Thanks Steve, I'll check it out!

Rich

 

The auction pictures looked fine, and the price was very good, so I was excited to win, even though I don't really need it.

It wasn't in the factory box, but it was wrapped in bubble wrap, then packed in cardboard box with newspaper. The box looked good, so I was a little surprised and disappointed. I contacted the seller through eBay, and he apologized and immediately refunded my money. He told me to keep the loco. I suppose I can use it for parts, so I offered him $5 for parts...

 

Gary I won a couple GP-7s on ebay a while back that would have arrived better if the guy just put stamps over the road numbers. They had to have gotten dropped down some stairs or something.

 

Yes, I've had some bad luck on eBay lately. From Bowser kits missing parts, to FM units with broken trucks, and now this busted shell, I haven't had a good run. Some good news: the front truck seemed jammed, so I took off the shell. A piece of the pilot/front coupler box was wedged in the way, so with that removed, the mechanism seems fine. I'm going to do my best to glue the shell back together, but I think it may become kitbash fodder.

 

I tried to glue the shell back together tonight. A little MEK, and jigsaw puzzle time.
Before:

After:


Before:

After:



Little oil and grease, cleaned the wheels, runs just fine. Not perfect, but it'll be ok as a 3-foot-model:


P.S. Sorry about the picture sizes. I saved the damage pictures big for eBay.

 

Don, can I get you to do mine? With the passenger stripes?