Yesterday I begun construction of a stratch-build snowplow for my railroad. This is the first large piece I have built from styrene, but I am happy with it so far. But, there is still quite a bit to do!
I am hoping to find a US-style headlamp similar to that of the lights on my Forney to mount on the snowplow, then run a line into the car where a battery will be hiding. I'm thinking I can install a plug in the front of the car or the chassis so that the plow can be removed, if need be. But, I'm not sure, then, how I'll secure the supports inside the bed...
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As of yesterday my Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes Trains are complete; I finally was able to buy an LGB SRRL Caboose. This caboose will be the end of my SRRL Work Consist (2x flatbeds, 1x boxcar, 1x caboose). This is a lighted car, and the first thing I did was make sure all lights work properly when I got the car home. However, the car needs some work before it will be cleared for service on the LHRR. As with the SRRL Coaches, this car has plastic molded chains on either end. They will be replaced with real metal chain. In addition, I want to add a battery option to this car so the lighting will work on my railroad since I am operating as dead-rail. But, I also want to keep the track option so I will need a DPDT switch wired in so I can switch between track and battery. I have already found a great place to hide the battery, but I have to figure out where the switch will go, as well as the wiring run. Then, two small jobs need doing. First, the lantern visible in the above photo is missing it's brass strap. I will fabricate one against the other. Second, the door on the rear end of the caboose doesn't want to open easily, it appears to be slightly too low and rubbing against the floor; this will be fixed. Unfortunately the door at the front of the caboose cannot open because the circuit board on the ceiling is in it's way. I don't see a way to fix this. EDIT: One last thing: I need knuckle couplers for the caboose! I can't forget those! So, all-in-all, here's my checklist for this piece of stock:
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've made lots of progress on the LHRR in the last few days! I started around the decorative grass; clearing it out as needed and leveling the ground around it (just like I did with the first section of straight I worked on).
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! I have officially begun work on the track laying and landscaping for the new LHRR.
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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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