Workshop Wednesday

Good Evening Frisco Friends,

I made some good progress on the Bitter Creek Models 36-ft boxcar build. Here are a few more pictures from where we left off:







Need to add the brake hoses and clear coat. Weathering queue is backing up....we might need to fly @modeltruckshop down to Texas for a few days.

I learned a few things that I will change for the next one of these: The sides cupped just a little, so they need bracing. The side doors and trim need to be added after the sides are attached to the car and the roof to avoid gaps. You need to sand the risers for the roofwalk so all are the same height (a bit of a U shape on this one). Overall, a very nice kit that is fun to build.

Take Care All,

-Bob T.

 

Genius. I could use the sunshine and warm weather too.
Cars look great Bob.

 

I finally a contribution for the thread, albeit small for now. I have a temporary paint both set up for me to work with. It's simply a cheap TV stand from Walmart with cardboard on three sides to catch over spray. I also included a cheap plastic turn table as well. Should hopefully have some painted models soon to start showing off.

 

Why a wye, you ask?

 

Nice job Bob!

Ethan, its a start! 30 more years and you will be standing there going "where did all this crap come from"

Jim, thats funny. I feel that pain as well. If I ever had a stranger walk in and see it all here they would only be able to say "WHAT?"

 

So I had time to work with my air brush some more tonight. For a while now I've been kicking around the idea on a "what if" for if the Frisco decided to go back to some sort of black and yellow paint scheme since it weather's better than red and white. But instead of some sort of stripe, just simplify the whole thing and paint some areas solid yellow. So I painted up 2 versions to compare. One just has the front of the nose, and the other has the front back, and side sills painted yellow. I used the B&O dulux gold for this project. The results are interesting, I'm not going to waste decals on these test subjects. I think I like the second version with the yellow sides better.

 

A day late but at least everyone was. HA

I took a few days off customer projects and built some picnic tables for the large scale 1700 taco caboose. Besides my Frisco stuff I am a big fan of modern power. One I have been working on for myself is a Norfolk Southern rebuilt Dash 9. They are rebuilding old dash 9 units to modern specs. To do this I am combining the front half of an Intermountain ET44AC and the back half of a Kato dash9 shell.

Here's a couple shots of the 1:1 and a few of my project. The two bodies mated fairly well except the Kato shell is thicker so I had to grind out as much as possible from the inside to clear the electronics. Paint is almost done as well as decals. Hopefully be reassembling by the weekend. Enough talk , thanks for lookin,Steve

 

I had to correct the rear lights on the dash9 shell to match the NS version. I cut the horizontal lights from the ET44 and sanded it to fit the DASH9 vertically.








Rooftop of the rebuilt version:

 

Last the interior. It barely shows but you guys will know it’s there. Ha

 

Ethan I like your paint ideas. They remind me of the modern IAIS scheme.

 

Wow. Impressive work Steve

 

Thanks Ethan

 

Not much to add. Picked up a budget friendly used 3-way turnout in need of maintenance. Glued the contact strip on the secondary back to the throwbar. The tab was preventing the points from using the full throw.

I need to make two springs from piano wire to make the points stay put when thrown. Don't need a whole roll of piano wire though. Lol.

Then some clean up, and wiring touch up.

 

Thanks Tom. Funny I thought it needed about 30 empty water bottles and a pile of cigarette butts. I love your ideas.

 

Good eye Tom. Thanks for the Caboose ground throw tips.



Space saving is exactly why I decided to go with it. It will be used entering the staging yard (4x8) section. The yard is entered from the side/corner vs straight from the end.

 

Happy Wednesday (Groundhog Day) All,

A couple of small projects this week. The first is another structure for Weir City, KS. Looking through the historical newspapers, a "Blue Front Bakery" or "Blue Front Grocery" or "Blue Front Store" advertisement appears for about 20 years between 1900 and 1920. I grabbed a recent kit from Berkshire Valley Models in Fenton MO (https://www.berkshirevalleymodels.com/) and thought I would make a representative storefront for the layout. Although no photos (certainly not in color), one might guess a blue front....ha.



I have the structure sides painted and ready to go:



I will make a custom sign, based upon the various advertisements. While the front will be well kept and recently painted, the sides and back not so much so. I will also add a few advertisement signs on the sides, a couple of exhausts from the bakery ovens, and try to find some sort of 3D printed baker racks for the windows. After this photo, I started the assembly of the fiddly front entrance and put in the windows. Maybe near complete next week.

I also made some progress on another Bitter Creek 36-ft boxcar. Learning from the lessons of the first build, I am bracing the sides to prevent cupping, and did a bit better with the underframe (I think). I am also building a couple of the Accurail underframe mods.



Going to do an Iron Mountain car and at least one St. L & G. car using a decal set inbound from Precision Design. Let me know if interested, as I have a whole sheet of these coming in.

Here is the example artwork.


Well, take care All. Stay warm and home with the trains if you are in the snow or freezing rain (like here in S. Texas).

-Bob T.