It snowed last night! Which means that I my first thought was Oh yay! I get to try out my new plow! Unfortunately #7, whom is meant to run with the plow isn't operational yet. My Forney is also having issues at the moment, but it cooperated long enough for me to try out the plow in the dense, packed snow. Here's some photos I took during the testing...
Unfortunately, this test only really cleared a section of straight track. The curve I was headed towards is buried under almost 2 feet of snow, so that clearly wasn't going to happen... I al slightly worried about the clerence this plow will provide on a curve, but at least it gives plenty of space on a straight; as can be seen above. I did take about 4 minutes of video while operating in the snow. Once I get to edit it down I'll add it to this post.
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Today I built the boiler for Toby's interior. When I build a model like this I do it in cardboard first then in the final material - in this case, styrene.
It's been quite a while since my last post! Since the weather has gotten colder and the ground has frozen it has become nearly impossible for me to do anything.
But, I have recently begun actual work on Toby the Tram engine. All the doors have been removed. They need refining, but the model already looks much better! (I also removed that one window, but my hand slipped and I took out two chunks on the bottom frame. I'll have to fix that somehow.) Once I got the doors out I was able to fabricate cab floors for either end of the loco. They will not be staying white. I was, of course, one of those kids who grew up watching Thomas the Tank Engine on TV (the original, not the newer CGI) and reading Rev. Awdry's original stories. My favorite engine was #7: Toby the Tram. I always wanted to have a model of him as I got older and, as we know, I bought Bachmann's Large Scale Toby over the summer.
It is now time for Toby to head into the Steam Works and get some work done. Here's an outline of my intentions for #7...
A short video of #10's test run outside on the very roughly laid track. Yesterday I finished my Forney! It runs great, with two minor exceptions... It appears that my smokestack doesn't work right and the charger port isn't working. So, I have to rewire the jack and try to figure out what's wrong with the smoke generator. But, if I can't get that to work it's not the end of the world. The MLS Soundcard works well. I like the way it works overall. The speaker may be a little small and I could probably get better sound with a larger unit. Tomorrow I'll take a video running the locomotive outside and hopefully get a decent sound recording. We shall see... One other thing I have to do is paint the bit of styrene I stuck on the back to fill in the hole where I put the switch for the smoke stack. That hole is where LGB had a multi-purpose port. Here's a few shots during the wiring... It's almost that time! I'll be finally wiring my Forney very soon to operate on battery & R/C control. In the last week I've furnished and fitted a small styrene shelf in the steam dome for the speaker. I've also created a custom housing for the two circuit boards - one on top of the other - that will fit in the boiler where the original LGB circuitry was screwed down. I won't be using screws to attach my circuit boards, but small double-sided sticky pads.
Today I picked up my package from the post office which contained my Rx and Tx from RC Trains in the UK. Hopefully my locomotive will be running by Sunday! Today I had a short running session with Toby and a modified "Troublesome Truck" for cleaning the track.
To modify the truck I cut the brake lines off each side and screwed an LGB cleaning unit to the bottom. I may need to modify the car slightly more, as the cleaning pads are a bit too low. It came off the rails twice today when the pads got caught on a rail gap. But, it definitely works! I noticed a significant improvement in power pick-up after a few laps around the inner loop. Oh, I also took the face off both troublesome trucks and hope to decal the cars at some point in the future with "LHRR" and car specs.
It's not much, but today I took apart my Forney and it won't be going back together until I have it all rewired! The only actual thing I did today to modify the loco was drilling a hole and screwing the charging socket into place.
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Hello!My name is John. This is my website dedicated to all things model railroading! I hope you enjoy! Archives
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