I finished the new command station box that I can use at home or with my club. If you all dont remember I was making a new command station setup for the club I am in. The old station I thought was pretty neat, it was a wooden box with a screen in the lid and a Raspberry Pi running JMRI and a Digitrax DCS210 as the command station. I could also choose between DCC and DC for both the red and yellow lines. I really liked this setup but it was limited. First the Pi was slow, and there were a few issues I noticed with it that I didn't like. I also didn't have room for a power manager or the throttle hookup. My new box solves all those problems. I built it out of a DeWalt Tough Box which has a ton of room inside. Now the power manager, command station and all needed power supplies are in one unit, including a UR92 for the throttles. This time only the red line has the ability to run in DC mode, and I have outputs for a program/test track. I decided to go external with the program track this time as with the old setup the track was just too small for most steamers. There is also a USB "B" type plug on the side to connect a standard Windows computer to so that we can run JMRI on something a bit faster. I also included a USB port on the top to charge your phone or whatever with. On the old unit this USB charger was going to power some speakers to provide ambient sounds to the layout, but I was unable to get the Pi to loop the sounds the way I wanted, and I just didn't feel like messing with it. Honestly you really couldn't hear much with the noise of a show anyway. It was popular as a charging port, so I kept in and made it easy to get to. No Pics tonight unless someone wants to see. The box didn't change much from a couple of days ago when I posted about it the last time.
My workbench is devoid of trains now completely. This is just temporary, I got a new computer system and setting it up and configuring it and then transferring all the data from the old computer is taking a bit longer than expected.
Not unlike moving your residence or business; it's not much fun at the time, but lots of fun to look forward to!
Along with a litany of other little inaccuracies, the Kato/Con-Cor U50 has ridiculously oversized wheels (48" vs. prototypical 40"). NWSL made replacements, but they seem to have been discontinued forever ago. So I'm figuring out how to adapt 40" wheels from a Kato/CC PA onto the U50 axles. The PA wheels fit into the U50 drive trucks with very little modification, but the unpowered inner trucks use a different type of axle and will be harder to adapt.
Next N scale project. Working name is Yetter Meats (Everything is better in Yetter!). A kitbash of several kits. Just mocking up the walls for the main plant, loading dock and office. Not sure how could add a reefer loading area, but a spot to load tankcars (tallow) could be done. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I've been lusting after this kit for a while and finally got one to build. This is the Bar Mills old dominion broom company. I'm thinking it might go under a different moniker and make it part of my lumber yard. Right now I am building up the main assemblies to get ready for paint. The corner posts/trim will be added later as I plan to paint them a different color than the siding/clapboard.
I was aiming for a not-too-bright industrial yellow paint mix. I mis-mixed my paint and ended up at Electric Lemon. Nothing another coat won't fix, I suppose.
"Safety yellow" tends to be pretty bright. I agree. A little dirt, and it should be fine. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk
There we go! The photos don't really do it justice. It was an absolutely eye-searing neon yellow that no amount of weathering would hide convincingly. Now it's a respectable safety yellow that won't draw the eye from across the room. And speaking of weathering:
At the show this weekend I got my first taste of NCE throttles. We also discovered the antenna on 2 of my friend’s throttles were loose. Well I was tasked with fixing them. It’s pretty easy to fix, the radio board is only held in by double sided tape, and what was in these throttles was dried out and lost it’s sticky. I also discovered the antenna mount was broken off the board, which was just a bend it back into place and reflow the solder. One of the throttles which didn’t have the best of luck running wireless and kept losing connection. Well it turns out the center electrode had also broke free from the board too. All fixed now! The next show isn’t until August so it will have to wait till then for a test.
Working on this heat tender for my dad's Joe (and also doing some repairs on his Joe that hit the deck a while back.) Main project is the heat tender which is a new build - need to make additional decals, add the details and finish paint. Am happy with how it's coming so far. Cheers -Mike
I've been helping a friend update his ATSF fleet of locos for his late 70's era railroad. This first pic is one I sent him saying the decaling is looking great! -Mike
It looks like on of those things you have to type in on a website so they know you are a human. So you did that to prove to your friend that you are a human?
That takes some patience. I feel like have spent an hour trying to get just to get one done. I still have three more to do. Next time I am just using the first four numbers from the sheet instead of making my own
Well the Plymouth switcher project is finished for now. What started out as one ended up as five total so far. And each is a bit different. I ended up with 23 feet long as the smallest I could go with the available mechanisms. I ended up with 4 MDTs (2 axles) and 1 WDT 3 axles. 100_0045-2 by John Moore posted Apr 17, 2023 at 8:10 PM Plymouth did build a few big versions that ranged from 60 tons to 120 tons so I am going to try my hand at a version. Download-1 by John Moore posted Apr 20, 2023 at 10:08 PM The structures shown on the plans fore and aft of the cab are sand domes.
Progress so far... Up next is to add lighting then the final details including touch up paint, workers, roof vents and signage. Very happy with the quality of this kit. The only issue I had during assembly was the platform/foundation was a little short on the opposite side from the office causing the building to overhang there. I had to build the edge out 3/32" to get the lip/edge to be uniform with the front and back of the building. Easy enough to use scrap from the kit so no extra materials needed for that. If anything I have a few leftover windows and other parts which can be used for future projects
