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+--- Thread: CN Blackwater division (/showthread.php?tid=9188)
RE: CN Blackwater division - cnrglen - 01-01-2024
I'm finally getting back to some layout projects, mostly some detail kits that I've had kicking around for awhile. Most were in various states of completion and needed to be finished.
Tichy Jib crane. It looks simple but stinging that chain is a challange. I almost swapped out the chain for some thread/cable. This will be going with the Schaake Machine works kit that I built earlier in the year.
I'm sure everyone remembers these, and only 1$. I haven't seen one in a hobby shop in probably 20 years. Looking through my parts collection I found 4 of them.
and a Durango Press Fairmount speeder.
RE: CN Blackwater division - cnrglen - 01-01-2024
and the two handcars and speeder together.
I also repaired and added some weathering to a woodland scenics loader
RE: CN Blackwater division - TMo - 01-02-2024
Really like all of those projects, Glen, but the loader caught my eye. I think I'm going to try to find one to place near my coal breaker.
RE: CN Blackwater division - cnrglen - 01-02-2024
Thanks the loader is an all metal kit that I used both CA and 5 minute epoxy to assemble. I'm not sure if it is available in kit form from Woodland scenics as they seem to be discontinuing some of their older metal kits and replacing them with plastic finished models.
Here's the last small project that I've finished before that big winter one:
It's called the Hoarder's shipment from Interation Hobbies. It's a series of crates that are labeled with Kraft Dinner, hand sanitizer, toilet paper, ect.
And the finishing touch to the kit:
A special crate from a certain movie.
RE: CN Blackwater division - cnrglen - 01-07-2024
The big winter project:
My used Diamond Scale turntable. It was orginally on the same layout that I got the Hemsley Diorama and the Large trestle that I built into the free-mo module. I paid the exorbant fee of 15$ and it is complete with drive.
However the listing mentioned that the motor ran but the turntable did not move. I bought it anyway and have kept it in storage until now.
The drive is a smallish electric motor with a gear reduction box, coupled to a driveshaft and worm gear that runs a larger gear on the turntable shaft. I assumed that the was either a damaged gear or something was slipping on a shaft.
Well with no oblious signs of damage, the only thing to do was to hook it up to a dc power supply and test it out and it ran just fine. I ran it in both directions for about 15 minutes and it never skipped a beat.
So that was a big relief. I thought I was going to have to tear it down to replace parts (If I could get them) but now it's just figuring out the electrical hook up to the turntable tracks and installation.
RE: CN Blackwater division - TMo - 01-08-2024
Sometimes you just luck into a deal! That's a nice unit.
RE: CN Blackwater division - cnrglen - 01-17-2024
Thanks. I've spent the last few evenings figuring the placement of it in relation to the future enginehouse:
If I place the turntable here I can put the enginehouse offset in the back (that's the footprint of the foundation) I know it's unconventional to use an enginehoue with a turntable but I have a great Juneco enginehouse kit that I want to use. The enginehouse is two stalls plus a 'car shop' lean-to. I had thought of using a couple turnouts for the enginehouse tracks but I can potentialy add a few more tracks off the turntable beside the three for the enginehouse.
I've measured out the benchwork underneath and the adapter place misses almost all the crossbraces, except one:
And of course it would be one that I threaded my DCC bus through. The good news is that I won't be compromising any structural integrity of the layout by removing the brace, and all the screws are easily accesable. The bad news is that I need to relocate that wiring a bit.
RE: CN Blackwater division - cnrglen - 01-20-2024
I removed the crossbrace:
I cut an opening in the hole that the wiring was threaded through, it was easier than cutting the wires and re-attaching them. Although I might have to do that anyway to clear the turntable when it's installed.
I then used the adapter piece to figure out where I was going to place the turntable.
Here's where I changed my instalation plan slightly.
Instead of using the adapter that I made, I decided to simply cut a round hole in the layout for the round pit to fit into. I used the adapter plate to mark the hole in the layout's plywood,
And used a jigsaw to cut the hole out. That was a bit nerve-wraking as there is now a big hole in the layout and I'm now more-or-less commited to the turntable install.
I'll still be using the adapter to determine the heights of the shims that I have to make for the final instal so is wasn't a complete waste.
RE: CN Blackwater division - tompm - 01-21-2024
Nice progress. I would love to have a working turntable but my skills are no where near yours.
RE: CN Blackwater division - LiveSteamer - 01-23-2024
The hand cart and speeder look great. Every little detail does matter.
RE: CN Blackwater division - cnrglen - 01-28-2024
matthew and Tom. I don't know how skilled I am, looking at the intructions for assmebling the turntable I probably would have problems if it wasn't mostly assembled when I got it. It's currently at a friend's house. He's a DCC wizard so he is bench testing it for me to make sure it works befpre I instal it on the layout. We're also going to discuss operating it using a DCC decoder but that's later.
Before I gave it to him:
I did some measurments to figure out the shims that I need to level it with the top of the layout. The previous owner did a few modifications to the orginal design including using Micro Engineering bridge track. That made the turntable bridge a bit taller so he increased the height of the pit. When I took all those thing into account, I needing to put 3/4" spacers between the turntable bottom and the layout bottom.
I quick check with my test adapter and the height looks right. When I get the turntable back I'll be able to install it and start filling in the gaps with some foam.
In the meantime:
This is the enginehouse/car shed that I'll be using. This will be part two of the big winter project.
RE: CN Blackwater division - cnrglen - 01-28-2024
I got the turntable back from my friend this afternoon. He pretty much rewired at least half of it.
The way it was originally wired was through the curved rail in the pit. The rail was split into two halves; positive and negative. Each end of the bridge picked up power for one side of the bridge track. We decided to do something a bit better.
Now the entire rail ring is powered the same polarity and both ends of the bridge pick up power for one rail on the bridge track. The other side's power is routed through the main pivot axle in the center
My friend fabricated the power slider/wiper that attaches to the pivot axle. He tested that and it works perfectly. I do have to make some improvements to the pickups on the bridge ends.
You can see here that there is fresh glue on the wooded bridge structure. That was either never glued or now glued very well as those joints failed and it allowed the bridge ends to rock on the center pivot, breaking contact with the powered pit rail. I glued it back togetherafter I made sure that the bridge laid flat.
The other thing I did was to polish the rolling wheels on the ends of the bridge. This is how the power is transfered and the wheels seemed quite dirty. I might try some dialectic grease on the as well.
When the bridge glue has set I'll test everything with my multi-meter and them glue the bridge track back on. I'm not sure what to use on Micro-engineering track to wood/metal?
RE: CN Blackwater division - LiveSteamer - 01-28-2024
Looks good. I would love to have a turntable but sadly the railroad I'm modeling didn't have one as far as I know. Can't wait to see more progress.
RE: CN Blackwater division - cnrglen - 02-01-2024
Well, after the glue dried I bench tested the turntable using my multi-meter. While the center axle does an excellent job of conduction power to the one bridge track, the pit rail and contact wheels are spotty at best. I think the wheels are either a poor conductor or they just aren't contacting the rail at all times. I've spoken to my friend and he thinks it would be best to add pickup wipers to the bridge for the best chance of good power conductivity. Anyway, the turntable is going back to his place this weekend for further modifications.
RE: CN Blackwater division - cnrglen - 02-03-2024
Just a quick update.
The Turntable is at my friend's house, getting it's electical pickups upgraded. While that is being done I'm going to start work on the enginehouse but it will be in a different thread. In the meantime:
I cut the baseplate for the enginehouse to be built on. The instructions say they used a piece of plywood cut 13 X 22". That will be too big for my area and almost 50% larger than the enginehouse itself. I'll cut it down to a couple inches around the structure instead.