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...
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...