It's been a long time....

[nachoman]

Those rock faces look great!!!

[tetters]

I think the title of this thread is really befitting for me...I'm really like the relative you only see at Weddings and Funerals.   

Not to say I haven't busy modelling wise.  In fact I'll use that excuse to explain my absence.  I've been making bits of progress all 'round working on my own layout as well as the club layout too.  

So a smattering of projects are getting done while new ones get added to the list.  I've manged to resurrect a couple locomotives that I'd thought I'd broken beyond repair.  But not this engine.  I installed a TCS WOW wsk-wal-1 decoder kit into a Proto 2000 0-8-0 I picked up NIB from a club member.  The kit was purchased from a Web Retailer, The Canadian Express Line*.  I am more then satisfied with how this intall went.  The kit comes with a mother board with built in keep-alive and resistors for front and rear LED lights, decoder, and a speaker with baffle.  The only soldering done was for the LED's.  It sounds amazing and the keep-alive makes for nearly flawless running.  Anyways, have a look and listen to this short video if you're interested.  *The customer service from the gent who runs the website is spot on.  Highly recommended.  If he doesn't have the decoder he wil get it and ship it within a week!  Which is good because I have two more engines that are waiting for decoder installs that I'll do after the holidays.



Some other good news.  Awhile ago...I had another Proto 2000 0-8-0 that I picked up which had died on me.  After some investigation I determined that a motor wire had come detached from the solder tab on the motor.  Of course...the tab was buried inside the locomotive frame which required me to nearly completely disassemble the engine in order to re-wire the motor.  All that being said...When I tried to re-assemble(?) the drive assembly to the motor and frame things went a south...I use an old DC power pack to test the motor and such to make sure that things are running smoothly before putting it all back together...well I was having a devil of a time getting the drive assembly back.  After several attempts I thought I finally had it.  Wrong.  I slowly applied power to the motor and everything seemed to be moving well until I heard a "TING!!" and noticed that a pin holding one of the rods in place had flown off into parts unknown...I was pretty heartbroken and shelved the engine for well over a month wondering if I would ever be able to fix it.

Fast forward to several weeks ago.  I've been feeling particularly motivated recently and decided I would try and fix this engine to bring it back to revenue service.  I tried several attempts at making a pin for the rod and crank arm however the damn thing is tiny...so I decided to see if I could find the tiny pin...and I DID!!!

My Public Model Train Album

I've just started adding pics to my Google Album for you guys...  its easier then resizing and uploading to the forum (sorry).  Plus I figure it gives members the option to choose whether they want to view the pics or not.  There are a couple of build pics of the Tichy cars and the pin re-installed on the engine.  This is one of the engines awaiting a new decoder...so once that is in the engine will be back in service.  I also installed a LokSound 5 decoder in one of the Gp9's I resurrected recently and love how they sound...much better then the Tsunami 2's IMHO.  A sample video was uploaded to the shared album as well.

Anyways...that's it for now.  Hopefully you'll hear from me in a few weeks instead of months the next time...

[tetters]

I also just finished building some Tichy USRA boxcars I built from a Bulk 6 pack I picked up years ago.  I still have another 8 cars to build which I ordered 7-8 Murphy ends and AB Brakes for so that they look closer to CPR USRA clones.  So when those bits arrive I'll get started on them.  That said, I was very pleased to get the initial six out of the way and built them as is with the 5-5-5 ends and k-brakes.  I still plan to paint and number them as CPR boxcars.  I filmed a celebratory roll-by video of the undecorated boxcars before I remove them from the layout to get them primed, painted and put the decals on.

[ngauger]

Nice work tetters!!!
Thanks for showing us.

[Tyson Rayles]

Your rockwork is excellent!!!!

[tetters]

Good Evening All...

Another update.  I finished building ten of the Tichy Box Cars I have.  Four more on the bench with six more still in the box.  Yep...20 in total.  

   

   

I also attached a pic I took a couple weeks ago before starting work in the morning.  Trains come out of Greenwood yard for the (roughly) 5:45 am weekday start.  I drive a train...a subway train.   

   

Happy Holidays Everyone!!!

[doctorwayne]

Nice work on those Tichy cars, Shane, and an interesting photo from your workplace, too.

Wayne

[tetters]

Some updates....grinding away on the home layout front.  I'm pretty busy these days as we haven't stopped running our subway trains because of the shutdown.  Apparently I'm "essential" regardless of what my wife says.  

   
   
   

A quick run down of the photos.

I completed one of six Tichy 10000 gal. tank cars I have a week or so ago.  To be honest these felt easier to build then the USRA cars.  Maybe because I didn't have to drill dozens and dozens of #79 holes for the brass grabs.

Second, My first ever assembled, painted, decaled boxcar kit build.  I meant to put a wash on it before the road spray and dullcoat but kinda forgot.  That said, I'm still happy how it came out and the plan for now is to leave it as is.  I have Bettendorf Trucks for all of my USRA kits now so I'll be swapping out the ones on this one to make it more road name appropriate.

Five more painted and decaled box cars.  When I'm on my next off days I'll give them all a light black brown wash, let that dry and then give them varying degrees of road spray and dull coat when it's all dry.  

Interesting side note.  The Tichy trucks and wheels are made of Delrin plastic. A real pain to get acrylic paints to stick to.  So after some research I found a clear primer for automotive plastics that will help my colour coat stick to the trucks when I airbrush them.  It's called Dupli-Color Adhesion Promoter.  I found mine at a Napa here in Toronto.  That said, States side Napa sells their own house brand that called a Polyurethane Primer.  Similar stuff apparently.  I'll also let you folks know how it works out.  

That's all for now.  Hope everyone is well and doing alright.  Have a good night.  Take care.

[Tyson Rayles]

Good to see you are still at it.

[ezdays]

Sometimes things don't go as fast as we'd like, Been there. What you're doing is great, keep it up and keep us posted, and above all, stay safe, being an essential worker has to be risky, so take care...

[tetters]

LOL. I never stopped Mike.

Thanks Don. I tend to be a little more realistic with my goals these days. Before I'd get upset if I didn't put in a marathon session when it came to this hobby. Truthfully. I set aside about one hour a night. Then I stop and walk away. If I do more that's fine. If a sit down and don't feel like it...i walk away. I feel like I get more done this way and I'm already looking forward to the next steps.

Thank you as well for the concern regarding my work. It's been surreal the last few months to say the least around here.

[tetters]

Look what I found the other day....I'll be putting these to good use in the weeks ahead and looking forward to it.  I have three sets and plan on doing three of the USRA boxcars with them.  

   

[tetters]

Here's what I accomplished tonight.  I haven't applied dulcoat to the model on the left yet...however this is pretty much where I'm headed.  I used a brown/black acrylic wash that was brushed on.  I then used some Mig Ammo streaking effects which I brushed on and then after a while rubbed with some cotton swabs in a vertical fashion.  The effects are very subtle...which is all I want.  I then made a road spray out of some thinned brown and light grey acrylics which I simply sprayed along the bottom with my airbrush.  To my eye the boxcar is a big improvement over the first one I did. My hope is each model shows some progression and my techniques become better or more refined...stay tuned for further updates.  

   

[Charlie B]

So things are progressing...slowly.  I finished up an area of rock work that I'd been avoiding for awhile.  Plus Ive been doing some scenery work on the Club layout as well...primarily making trees for it.

Anyways.  After mulling it over I ending up painting my entire mountain cliff face a stone grey colour.  As opposed to the light clay colour you've seen in previous pics.  I then gave the entire feature a wash of watered down black and brown acrylic paints.  

Now jump ahead to today.  Seen above are the results of an afternoon of playing with some more acrylics and a combination of wetting the paint with water and some dry brushing.  I found the best results I got came from using a fine point brush and applying it in streaks and then using a wet stiff bristled fan brush and dragging it downward sideways to make streaks...trying very hard to not get too carried away.  I like the results so far.  The next step after this is to do some weathering powders to dusty things up a bit.  Suggestions and comments are always welcome of course.

That cliff requires a full blown tutorial. I did a double take, I mean a triple take before I saw the layout construction boards. Absolutely fabulous and the background scene blows me away too. I can't believe I missed this post.
Charlie

[UP SD40-2]

WOW!  , your modeling and weathering is really Fantastic!  , but your background just totally knocks my socks off!!