In the obsessive, so my wife says, quest for ever brighter headlights, how do ya figure this will come out?

Pennsylvania Big Hauler is test subject.



Back was removed and number boards were opened out for adding clear part.



The less satisfactory presently in use 5mm warm white led behind stock lens will become backup light, stock was unlit.
Yes, these are 2 different light castings, one was grey plastic, one black, on the same loco!

Can't say for sure why this idea for a method of doing coal load, can only say it is the idea.

Here's hoping a picture is worth a thousand words.

Screen is copper mesh by K&S.



Won't much be using sound system as some of the frequencies hurt my ears (hypersensitivity to some senses goes along with some of my health troubles) although this will affect sound quality is something I wonder about.

Screen seemed simpler, cleaner, and faster than carving block of balsa or Styrofoam to shape.
There are probably other ways of securing charcoal to screen but classic white glue and matte medium method is the most familiar one and I have the most confidence about being able to control.



Got coal boards painted with Polly Scale SP Lettering Grey and Roof Brown.
Later will add charcoal over molded coal there at bottom - that molded coal only comes off with a saw and I'm not interested in doing that much work.


(hmm, pile is a little off to one side, want to fix that even though real live guys probably didn't get overly concerned about that)

Would expect it to take a couple days for all that matte medium the coal pile was soaked with to dry.
Hope it doesn't turn white.

Went to spray clear gloss on V&T 4-6-0 Big Hauler cab and tender.
Washed tender shell with dish soap, rinsed.
Same thing did to passenger cars earlier - primer covered them just fine.

Started spraying tender with Rust-Oleum Crystal Clear and paint just beaded up on Bachmann factory paint.

Now what do I do?      



Well, this certainly looks like evidence to support my belief that the life is basically a sadistic prankster. Or maybe it's Bachmann who's the sadistic prankster; I can't tell right now.

Hey Y'all;

Last year with some settlement money I purchased Bachmann's Virginia & Truckee passenger set named "Silverado".
Locomotive is painted in fancy lined out 1870 style with coach and combine in yellow with green trim.
Nice looking train.
A huge anachronism.

Mallory Hope Ferrell's Book Virginia & Truckee the Bonanza Road has a chronology of passenger car hues on page 70 put together from newspaper articles of the time.

1870 - maroon coaches
1874 - fawn yellow
1874 - green
1874 - light green
1877 - dark cherry red with yellow trucks
1878 - dark crimson or claret
1880 - wine
1885 - "glaring yellow stripped with maroon (a sort of old orange the writer added)" My assumption is "old orange" referred to the yellow as it is difficult to see how orange would look like red-brown maroon.
1890-1910 - "turn of the century" is used instead of dates. yellow with brown trim and trucks
1920 - yellow with green letter boards and trim.

There's a half-century difference between color schemes of loco and cars. That has been bugging me more and more over the last year.

Set comes with combine and observation. Also now have baggage kit and second-hand coach (ex-observation)
thanks to generosity of a couple guys.

Was going to paint baggage kit yellow and green to match rest of cars. Had it primed with letterboard and underframe sprayed green then decided to repaint all the cars.

Okay, what color to use   Thought about it  couple months.
Alright, one of the red hues.
Now, what spray paint is there?
Settled on Krylon 53503 Satin Burgundy

Have baggage kit sprayed now.
Primer is going to be a necessity as Burgundy seems to be a touch translucent.

Hey Y'all;

Decided that brass or copper capped coal burner stack would look better behind old time box headlight if stack were lengthened a bit.

Here's photo story of how it is being done. A bit of Evergreen styrene tube wrapped with strips of .015 or .010 sheet styrene, then filled and sanded.

Not sure how much tube will extend into smokebox. Kind of doesn't matter since with asthma and chemical sensitivities in the household I'm taking smoke unit out since can't use it anyway.

There's probably other ways to do the job; that's what I figured out to do with what is on hand.

Just a couple photos tonight, more to come.





That's all for now. Probably a day or tow before there is more progress.

Hey Y'all;

finally took action on an idea that had been brewing for a while on how to give 4-wheel bobber caboose 3-point suspension so it will track (meaning stay on the rails) better.

A mostly simple modification to wheel holder at one end will do the job.

1. stock arrangement with no flexibility


2. remove wheels and metal holder


3. cut slots in floor and round off middle


4. attach metal holder with screw in middle


And now axle at one end can rock a bit over uneven track.
Making your Conductor and Rear Brakemen much happier.

Anyone have a passenger car battery box they don't want?

I want to replace track pickup on combine kit.

Hey Y'all;

So, what is it when you freelance cars for someone else's freelance roadname?

Finally decided what to do with a combine kit acquired almost a year ago; or at least what seems that long ago: Hypothetical passenger car for Bachmann's freelance Glenbrook Valley roadname on their 4-6-0.

Okay, hmmmm, what color?
1860-1870 passenger cars were other several other colors than Pullman Green and Tuscan Red.

Hey, V&T had some light olive ones, let's work from that as inspiration.
See "V&T Railway Combine #16 - circa 1906 1990  1990  1990  1990  1990" here http://virginiatruckee.com/?page_id=20
Rust-Oleum Satin SAGE is lighter and less yellow, but that's okay by me.

I sure as #$%^ ain't gonna do striping like that one in museum out west, no way. And whether I want to or not, my hands, and health generally, are no longer what they used to be.
Simpler striping.

Paint in photos is a bit greener than it looks. And why am I doing this striping with different decals for each color?? What is wrong with me? (rhetorical question)  
Well, decals are long paid for. And I'm more comfortable with that way than paint.

This shows color closer to true, on my monitor, but flash reflection is objectionable

(if you try to look this close at my cars on the track, three cats will claw out your eyeballs)

This shows striping better but color looks too grey.
I am not able to be as precise as 2 decades ago with shaky hands - this is best looking area, but, hey, I am thankful to still be able to do this at all!!!!


Gold is cut from Microscale trim film sheet.
Black and Red are from HO scale sheets of 1 and 2 inch striping.
Lettering is most likely going to be this http://www.microscale.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=90243&Category_Code=ALPHA&Product_Count=92
Will have to buy it after first of month, no can do this week.
looked at other colors for lettering but liked idea of gold best.

Roof on V&T combine used as inspiration is either white or grey, hard to be sure in online photo from museum but I'm thinking Krylon Outdoor spaces Brick spray paint.  Or maybe a charcoal grey.
Thought is Brick, though somewhat lighter, would tie in with oxide red tender deck and running boards on Glenbrook Valley loco.
And I'm envisioning Rocky Mountain area desert-ish locale, sort of like snowed-in region on train set's box top, where light colors would have advantages.

BTW, just noticed on my GV loco it looks like striping on domes is printed wrapper.

Hey Y'all;

My On30 stuff had been for a couple years buried in the back of that closet. Went and dredged it all up last week.
Have been making On30 on and off for a long time.
Had a spurt a few years ago when Bachmann came out with Thomas the Tank Engine line.

Loco rear left this photo is kitbashed on HO 6-wheel Plymouth WDT.
Is set up to run cab-forward with an identical one coupled to hood end.
Mauve coal cars behind it started life as Troublesome Trucks.
Blue and red boxcars have frames from Annie and Clarabelle coaches with original wheelsets swapped out for some On30 wheelsets.

Have some 1/4 of the way done On30 streetcar bodies becoming passenger coaches.

Setting for layout is to be a fictional semi-tropical island, hence the bright color theme.


That is a 9 inch radius curve on 24 inch wide shelf.
Plymouth and cars will just squeak around 6 inch radius curve as they have been given pivoting couplers.

It just ain't my week or my today.

Only had the thing two months and yesterday had a generally klutzy day and succeeded in  breaking some handrail stanchions on the N&W Fairbanks Morse H16-44. 

And cannot find the paperwork with part numbers to get replacements. 

What do I need to do to get a new parts diagram paper from y'all?
Got a pdf to download?

Here's what I broke


Also need directions to see how it comes apart so I can repaint the engineer dudes.

Hey, just for grins tried it on my On30 industrial track and that H16-44 will go around 9 inch radius curves. Trippin!

later,
FSW
Boonville, Missouri

Yea! Huzzah!
That "Mo. city" would be US!!! 

http://www.latimes.com/business/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-mo-katy-bridge,0,7399150.story

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Union Pacific to give historic railroad bridge to Mo. city for potential use on Katy Trail

DAVID A. LIEB Associated Press Writer

February 4, 2010 | 4:24 p.m.

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BOONVILLE, Mo. (AP) — A rusty Missouri River railroad bridge that came to symbolize the battle between historical tourism and modern transportation has been saved from demolition due largely to federal stimulus funds.

Gov. Jay Nixon announced Thursday that Union Pacific Corp. has agreed to give the old bridge to the central Missouri city of Boonville, which hopes to convert it for use by hikers and bikers on the Katy Trail State Park.

The 78-year-old bridge, which hasn't carried a train in a couple of decades, had been targeted to be torn by Union Pacific so that its steel could be used to build a much-need, second railroad crossing over the Osage River east of Jefferson City.

But last week, the federal government awarded Missouri $31 million in railroad stimulus funds, three-fourths of which will be used to help build a new Osage River bridge. That alleviated the need for the steel from the old Katy bridge, said railroad spokesman Ben Jones.

Public and private funds still are needed to renovate the old bridge. But Nixon said he is confident it will eventually become part of the Katy Trail, a 225-mile path that follows the old route of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad Co., commonly known as the Katy Railroad.

The Katy Trail is promoted by Missouri as the longest developed rail-to-trail project in the nation. It currently diverts from its rail-bed route to a nearby highway bridge to cross the Missouri River at Boonville. But the historic lift-span bridge has long been coveted for the trail. Supporters fought for more than five years in the courts, federal regulatory agencies and behind-the-scenes negotiations to try to preserve it.

"We have saved the bridge, opened up economic and recreational opportunities for central Missouri and the world," Nixon said at a news conference with the bridge in the background. And because of the federal grant for new Osage River bridge, "we've also increased the ability to move goods across the state of Missouri and put us in a better situation to have high-speed rail."

The Osage River bridge will cost $28 million, with $5.6 million coming from Union Pacific and the rest from federal grant, Jones said. The Union Pacific lines also are used by Amtrak, meaning trains often must stop and take turns crossing the single available bridge.

Because the old Katy Railroad bridge near Boonville was no longer used for transportation, the U.S. Coast Guard had deemed it a navigational hazard that must be removed from the Missouri River. Union Pacific, which bought the MKT Railroad in 1988, had lined up a contractor to dismantle it when then-Attorney General Jay Nixon sued in 2005 to halt the project.

Nixon, who became governor in January 2009, lost in a case that went to the Missouri Supreme Court. But the legal fight delayed the bridge's dismantling, and regulatory procedures delayed it further.

Boonville Mayor Dave Nicholas said it will cost between $2 million and $4 million to convert the bridge for use on the Katy Trail. The city has $500,000 for the bridge in its budget that takes effect in April, he said. The nonprofit Save the Katy Bridge Coalition has pledges of $360,000, said chairwoman Paula Shannon, who believes fundraising will pick up now that the project has become a reality.

Before the bridge can be crossed, workers will have to rebuild one span that had been removed. Shannon said the goal is to first get the sections closest to the shores open for pedestrians, then tackle the middle section, which can be raised and lowered to allow barges and boats to pass underneath. The Missouri River typically is used by shippers only in the warmer months, when water levels are higher.

One option is to install an elevator system that would carry people from the lowered sections of the bridge to the raised section and then back down, said Chad Sayre, of the Columbia-based engineering firm Allstate Consultants, which has been working on the project.

___

On the Net:

Katy Bridge: http://savethekatybridge.org

(This version CORRECTS location of quotation marks in 7th graf.))

This is looking across front yard of our apartment building



Way cool place to live eh?
BTW, building is 1914 built shoe factory.

Had taken track apart to paint since black and shiny silver looked a bit toy-ish.
During that time had forgotten about something which bugged me.

Now, putting track back together, here it is.
This distortion ain't right.



That is going to overstress those ties and eventually damage the track.
Thought, "oh, that might be the wrong connectors?"
Nope, they are the correct connectors.
See where it says STRAIGHT TO ST AND STR TO CURVE.


Any thoughts on how to remedy this before it breaks the ties?
It's on pretty much every straight piece from that set.

Hey Y'all;

As there don't seem to be passenger cars factory painted for the Glenbrook Valley roadname from the Summit Pass freight set and I have this thing for passenger trains, there's a plan to "freelance" a few.

Here's the Summit Pass freight set


Hmmm . . . what color cars would look good with that loco's color scheme?
Let's do something other than Pullman Green, too common.

Yellow? Well, yellow reefer in set looks good with loco.
But, I've got the Virginia & Truckee set with yellow cars.

What else would be in the late 1870 to early 1880 style?

V&T had some light green cars, sort of a sage green. Maybe?

There's a PRR passenger set on hand and a maroon D&RG observation too.

GV loco has maroon running boards and tender top.

Let's see:
(changing loco from wood burner to coal burner, too)


That might fly.

What do y'all think?

Hey Y'all;

Here's what latest project is: painting Bachmann Big Hauler train set track.
4 sets worth at either 18 or 20 pieces per set  
Rails are brush painted with Rust-oleum red oxide primer.

Ties, which directions state are not solvent proof, are given coat of brushed on Rust-oleum black or red oxide primer.
Even with the "not solvent proof", it's working out okay.

Oil base primer is necessary as latex won't bond to ties.

Then a coat of suitable darkish taupe base color with indoor/outdoor latex housepaint.

Then faded hue is mixed adding some tan Apple Barrel craft paint.

Then "new tie" hue is mixed adding some brown Apple Barrel craft paint.

Selected ties are then given 2nd coat with one of the 3 colors.

Then tie plates and "spikes" are touched up with red oxide.

(note: photos do not show the "new tie" color, managed to miss that secton    )
(or does it have the new tie and the old tie colors but not the middle aged tie color? I forget)

A question for Y'all;

Just got a Seaboard 0-6-0 item no. 50746.
It has dummy coupler on pilot beam and not enough material to cut away to make room to add a KayDee coupler box.
At least the way it appears to me.

What are any of your thoughts on changing or modifying pilot beam or entire pilot to add a functional KD coupler?

Thanks in advance for your input. 

FSWood

p.s. am also considering getting the Southern 2-6-2 and doing same to it.

El Gato sure likes those G gauge train set boxes!

Hello again;

My V&T 'Silverado' set is getting some paint changes just like the PRR loco.
Also getting some detail changes.
Kathy doesn't want so many to hers.

Here's two sets for comparison. Mine is one in front.
--> white tires are just fine on this set! See color profiles here http://www.virginiaandtruckee.com/


Passenger car frame and clearstory sides are getting painted green to match photos seen.
Trim and window frames will too.
Roof will be black with Silkspan model plane tissue to represent roofing material.
At some point metal replaced fabric on most passenger cars but I want fabric effect on these.
Will figure out how to do sheet metal effect for PRR cars though.

Figured since loco is done up as a wood burner it didn't need extended smokebox like had cinder catcher for coal burner.
Dome bases on mine will end up brown.

Whether roof hatch is right or not, I didn't like its lines on the way my loco is being done.
Roof will get work to make it look like metal, which was copper, tinplate, or something, on real loco.
It will get something, Microscale gold decal, or Bare Metal Foil, to represent brass boiler bands.
With oil lamp headlight that steam turbo electric generator had to go on mine.
Not figured out yet how to make headlight brackets.
"Dim bulb" headlight bulb will be replaced with 5mm yellow-glow white LED

Wire for sand pipes will eventually be added.

Took basic, rather toy-like PRR 4-6-0 from Pennsylvanian passenger set,
http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/products.php?act=viewProd&productId=1355
applied some spray paint and wound up with much better looking model 8-)

Here's starting point:


And how she looks this afternoon:


New paint job makes her look like she's got real mass - instead of just being a plastic toy.

With my health like it is right now I just wasn't up to focusing enough for airbrushing so decided to use spray cans - hadn't used them for ages. So, let's see if any skill is left in there somewhere ;-)

Dismantled boiler and details of locomotive. Took coal load out of tender.
Masked tender tank then to look like red zinc chromate sometimes used on tender and running boards used red oxide primer.
Next it was on to locomotive.
Decided to paint boiler jacketing to look like natural metal sheet like that fabled Russia Iron, (later plain iron was used) and since it has stack like what is said to be a jacketed stack in some photos, sprayed those with black primer then Rust-oleum Metallic Grey.

After paint cured painted jacketing with Future floor acrylic gloss via soft flat brush.
Came out nicely.

Is intended to give an 1890 to 1905 look to the thing.

Before painting boiler those molded on sand pipes were carved off.
Eventually will get wire.

Added 'brass' edging to running boards with strips cut from Microscale gold decal trim sheet.

Painted black injector and piping Testors Acryl brass for injector and Tamiya copper for piping.

Cylinders, air tanks, and pilot were black so they got the green treatment with Krylon Hunter Green. Gloss was about same as factory green but Satin is not quite blue enough.

Even with what my sig line says about details I drilled cylinders for lube lines and cylinder cocks; then drilled air tanks for later piping. Those parts will be added bit by bit as it gets gotten 'round to.

Brush painted smokebox and backhead PollyScale Steam Power Black, a nice not-quite-black tone.
Painted molded on details on backhead as well with what looks like it ought to be about right based on some photos have seen.

Couldn't stand those white tires so that got scraped off since what silver-grey bottle paint I had didn't seem to want to cover that glossy white.
Have I told you how much I disliked white tires in this loco?

Eventually the pebble-finish cab roof is going to get made to look more like sheet metal.

Have drilled out back of headlight as well as numberboards in order to get a better reflector plus lighted number boards. Backup light will get same and moved to tender deck. Green headlight to replace black one came from a loco body a friend sent. Had originally used green cylinders from it but couldn't get cylinder head free from black PRR set to replace missing head on green cylinders.  Could scratchbuild cylinder head eventually - never hurts to have a spare in case of clumsy handling and breaking crosshead guides, eh.

Also knocked bell yoke free and turned it around to put rope on fireman's side.

I'm quite pleased with how she's turning out.
Satisfying to take an affordable plain-jane model and spiff it up.

later,
Forrest Scott Wood
the mad 'basher of Boonville

Now, just wait till the Virginia & Truckee and especially the Durango & Silverton locos get "The Treatment"
(I'd insert 'twisted evil' smiley here if I knew how to make it)

A mad scheme is brewing for Durango & Silverton loco   -->

Here's the notions rattling around the grey matter:
1. wood load from Glenbrook Valley loco
2. balloon stack from same
Those are done.



Now:

3. instead of painting gloss black boiler jacket metallic black as dreamed up so far, use metallic grey like on PRR loco (dome bases will remain black)
4. shorten smokebox like did on V&T loco
5. paint smokebox PollyScale Steam Power Black like PRR loco
6. add rivet details to stack with http://www.archertransfers.com/catSurfaceDetails.html
7. chip off white tires like I did on PRR loco
8. ? maybe, shorten firebox about 1/2 to 3/4 inch ?

Then won't the rivet counters just love that baby 

later,
Forrest Scott Wood
the mad 'basher of Boonville

I was looking at 4-6-0 smokebox front plate and thinking way it is a slightly larger diameter and overhangs smokebox sides just couldn't be right.

Well . . .

Looking through a couple books at other detail ideas noticed some photos showing, yes, that is sometimes the case.    One even had a good close-up.

Books were The Age of Steam, by Lucius Beebe and Charles Clegg; and, The Pacific Coast Company, by Gerald M. Best.

Wow, the stuff ya learn when ya ain't looking for it!

later,
Forrest