GEC's Layout Progress

[Green_Elite_Cab]

Well, its been about two months since an update.

Reading Company Electrification Display 99% complete

I have only a few photos, and even fewer uploaded, but that will change tomorrow. I rebuilt the catenary to be closer to prototype, since my structures were initially over-sized. All that remains are a few details, such as transmission line insulators and grab irons. All the wire is hung, and it was presentable for the MT&TC back in October. I now have a Reading Company/ SEPTA module to photograph my Philly based trains on. It is only two tracks. Some basic ground foam also covers the plywood. All i need is the proper color ballast.

Look forward to few pics tommorow.

Reading Company MU progress-

Currently, my Reading MUs are partially painted. All need another coat of green, and three need their roofs painted (most likely to black). The Reading Green color is actually a problem. It seems like the color green changed from the old photos to whatever it was in the late 70s/early 80s on these cars. The photographs in my books do not look like #800 in the RR Museum of PA. Perhaps some of the Philly-area members of the site might now the precise color of these cars?

In any event, they will all need pantographs, which I plan to use Bachmann E33 Pantographs for. These are $10 a set, so when the budget allows, I'll start ordering them. In the meantime, all the other details except for the windows are ready to go, and once all the painting is done, the kits came with the appropriate decals, so they should go together quickly.

The only remaining issues are powering some, and adding wheels to the rest. I bought some P2K wheel sets of the appropriate size, but they don't seem to fit in the trucks (they aren't perfectly flat on the back). I can either try to sand down the thickness of the trucks, or get new wheels. in this case, I might be able to get realistic speeds out of a Stanton Drive, and the smaller MU cars are in theory, lighter than the 85' Silverliners. It also helps that the slightly larger wheel diameter will increase the speed slightly as well.

The headlights might also be trouble, but we'll see.

One of six kits, prior to painting.



Silverliner IVs for Reading and SEPTA

Originally, I only owned one Silverliner IV. At one point, I was given a prototype Silverliner IV drive, and ended up with a spare underbody. Since IHP is discontinuing Resin kits, I managed to snag an additional Silverliner IV shell and bits to place on this underbody, giving me two cars. Even more awesome, IHP also sold me one of their "display" models, a SEPTA painted Silverliner IV with full interiors and Reading Company style cow-catchers (unusual for 1974!). This brings my Silverliner IV roster up to 3 "Single" types. It is a shame that none of the married pair Silverliner IVs were produced by IHP, but then again I don't model philladelphia exclusively (this is more of a side thing for me, given my closeness to Philly).

In any event, I am waiting on some windows and a new gear for my Silverliner IV drive. Hopefully, this replacement will allow me to run at least two car trains. If I'm really lucky, I can get all three running! I might avoid trying to pull both unpowered ones, since the reason I need a new gear is because the old one got chewed up, and that car was running single!

The only question now is how to paint my two new cars. The one shell was totally unpainted, and so I will probably paint it as a Reading Company/SEPTA unit like the first. I have since given it a coat of Alclad. My third Silverliner IV came with the SEPTA block logos already applied, but I'm not sure if I want to remove the block logos to backdate the car. In theory, there was a brief time where you could see both schemes at the same time, but I'm not sure how long that lasted, and I don't remember seeing many pictures like that.

Probably some Pics tommorow.

Jerse Arrow I updates

I got side tracked preparing for the MT&TC, but now I am back on this project. The molds have been successful so far. I am waiting on the arrival of Mold release, to pour the interor mold of the Arrow I body shell. Relatively soon, I'll test out the underbody mold, since it looks promising.

I also ordered some Silver pigment. I doubt the model will look perfect out of the mold and I'll probably need to paint over it anyway, but it might be a start. Certainly, most of the stuff I work with is silver in some form or another anyway, so we'll see.

I'll get this Arrow I home soon!

Jersey Arrow II and Arrow III updates

My other Jersey Arrow Kits are moving a long. Ideally, I'd like to get some of my Arrow III married pairs done, especially considering I've had the one pair semi-built for the past 5-6 years. While that car is now painted, it still has a little ways to go. I won't repost the old photo, but a few months ago, I had most of my Arrow III bodies lined up assembly-line style as I drilled all the necessary holes for the grab irons, and began installing the end-doors and rear bulkheads. Once i get the bodies together, they'll be ready for paint.

I Have also made sure to get my Arrow II kits up to speed. While I have one pair partially built, I do have my remaining Arrow II kits at the same stage as my Arrow IIIs. Despite having different details, the kits go together almost the same. I have the appropriate decals for some of these Penn Central marked Arrow IIs in the meantime. I probably won't have enough NJ DOT logos and i'll have to order more from Prime Mover Decals.

The two remaining problems will be lighting and powering them.

So far, the only good option to power them is the NWSL Stanton drive. However, I am told they cannot reach much more over 60 scale MPH, for whatever reason. The 100 MPH top speed of these Arrow MUs probably is not 100% necessary (though it would be nice). However, these things average about 80 MPH in real life, and the drive installed in my Silverliner III does not reflect that. Keep in mind, the silverliner III is a lighter kit than the Arrow II or III.

I do have a black beetle drive, but I need to re-assemble that particular Arrow III, as it has been out of commision for quite some time. That drive has a bigger motor, and is somewhat more noticeable than the stanton drive in terms of size. That said, I'm pretty sure it runs a little faster.

Lighting is the other pain. I have fiber optics, but I'm still not clear how to make it do what I want. Part of the problem, is that the lights are in "tight" spaces. The corner red marker lights are VERY close to the outside wall of the model, and so only a small LED will fit. The main headlight cluster has two headlights on the outside, with a red marker light in between. Some have suggested running fiber optics from a Yelo-glo LED and a Red LED to the respective lights.

However, the lights don't seem to be as bright coming from the fiber optics, unless I'm doing something wrong.

I'd much rather like to install small surface mount LEDs right behind the lenses for the lights. However, these are small LEDs, and I'm still not sure how I should mount them either. However I do it, I'd like to make it easily repeatable. It would be cool if I could make a mini circuit board that fits into the top cab end of the MU car. From there, I could just solder the LEDs to this board, attach the board to the inside of the car some place, and then attach the appropriate decoder wires. This would allow me to do most of the work outside of the model, which is preferable.

In any event, I might make a seperate thread about this problem.

Staten Island Rapid Transit MU

I picked up an old SIRT car. I actually remember seeing one in the weeds a LONG time ago near a power plant on Staten Island. It got stranded there somehow, and was heavily vandalized. I don't know what happened to it, but the got rid of it just prior to CSX moving in and rehabbing the freight tracks onto Staten Island. The yard it was parked in is now a staging area for trash cars, since the Fresh Kills land fill is now closed, and New York City needs to take its trash somewhere!

Anyways, It might be nice to do some Third rail. Wentworth Station, at the tip of the long gone South Shore Branch of the SIRT, would be perfect. Plans exist on line for the scale mode of it. Here, a SIRT car stops at the station, small enough for just the back of the MU car to line up with the platform.





Complete PATCO trainset

I managed to get two more married pairs of PATCO cars, allowing me to model the full six car train I took to school the past few years. It will be fun finishing them up. They have all the same power and light complications of the Arrows, but we'll see how it goes.