Weekend Photos - October 2022

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I worked on this at the dining room table; the wife is not pleased

Living dangerously,

[gregj410]

One thing about glitter - it gets freakin' everywhere. I worked on this at the dining room table; the wife is not pleased

I can't believe she even let you use the dining room table.

It’s probably one of those it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission type situations

[healey36]

The dining room table has seen a lot of use over some forty years; an endless parade of Friday night dinners, Thanksgivings, homework, school projects, wargames, model assembly, sewing table, you name it. Even an occasional loop of tubular test track. It and a couple chairs are the last of the furniture my wife and I purchased shortly after getting married; everything else is gone, two times over. Teak laminate, it could stand a light sanding and a refinish. A few unsightly repairs, it really should be replaced, but after all it's been through, I kinda want to hang onto it. There's life in it yet.

[healey36]

Are you doing this on the dinning room table.

It looks like some kind of a tunnel. But I can;t figure out what it might be.....

Yup, on the old dining room table. Features a tunnel for 27-inch diameter tubular. I put a liner in it, as I can't handle trains disappearing into a gaping hole that displays all of the infrastructure, lol (especially the infrastructure that would be visible here). Cut the top and screwed that on today. Gotta drill a couple of holes next, sand the edges of the base smooth, paint the tunnel interior, than I think we're ready for scenic work.

[healey36]

While I'm waiting for the last of the glue on the project carpentry to set and dry, I'm surfing through the LOC's online repository. Here's a nice shot of Illinois Central Mikado 1518 at the Iron Horse Memorial in Paducah, Kentucky:



Said to have been one of, if not the last steam locomotive to operate on the ICRR; the photo is by Carol Highsmith, July 15, 2020.

[healey36]

Okay, the last of the carpentry is done. The top is on, the holes drilled, and a single support added on the back side to try to take the bow out of it, front-to-back (minimally successful):



I never plan these things ahead, just an idea not written down. I'm more of a stream-of-consciousness builder, something that frequently is problematic. Here, I neglected to include accommodation for a power cord, so I had to cut a narrow slot in the front of the base, than cover it with a small scrap of the 1/4-inch plywood. It should work, but it's not a very elegant fix.

I ran a Flyer 3014 box car through the tunnel to check for clearance (something I likely should have done earlier). It's tight, but it made it through without brushing the sides. I'm building this primarily for the clockworks, but I have an electric Flyer 3192 combination that should pass through easily. Can't see much else making it's way through.



Flat black spray paint applied to the tunnel interior, than an overspray of clear matte lacquer. Gonna think on it for a day or two, than we can start the scenic bit. I've already spotted a couple places that are going to be problematic.

[healey36]

Finished partitioning this thing for old school Papier-mâché covering:



Gotta add some webbing; last time I used blue masking tape, but I think this time I'll use some heavy paper. It'll be tedious, but worth it in the long run.

If one was to use Lionel's methods, it would be covered in glue-soaked felt. Sounds like an even bigger mess.

[healey36]

Applied the webbing between the partitions; hopefully this will mitigate some of the sag of the papier-mâché and reduce the "ribbing" in the surface. Then again, I'm sure there will be plenty of ribbing :



I added a couple of small terraces for structures (a nod to the prewar Lionel 916 tunnel).

Next week the French stuff gets applied. Hopefully I end up with something that looks sorta similar or a bit better than this from a couple years ago:



Went to York yesterday. I had a list of stuff to look for from Sarge and Hondo; I found Sarge's, but struck out on Hondo's. Rounded up a few prewar Lionel parts, a couple cans of Train Enamel, and picked up a nicely-refurbished prewar Marx loco (someone refurbished a Marx loco?). It looked familiar to me but I couldn't place it, then my wife reminded me that it's the one circling the Christmas tree in the last scenes from The Polar Express.

Pretty neat...now I gotta find its tender.

[HONDO74]

Went to York yesterday. I had a list of stuff to look for from Sarge and Hondo; I found Sarge's, but struck out on Hondo's. Rounded up a few prewar Lionel parts, a couple cans of Train Enamel, and picked up a nicely-refurbished prewar Marx loco (someone refurbished a Marx loco?). It looked familiar to me but I couldn't place it, then my wife reminded me that it's the one circling the Christmas tree in the last scenes from The Polar Express.

Pretty neat...now I gotta find its tender.

The Polar Express Ending
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPmlhexvhgI

[gregj410]

Coming along nicely. How did you attach the webbing to the ribbing? Hot melt?

[healey36]

Thanks for the clip. Yup, I think this is the one, a Marlines Jubilee:



Looked like one of the four-wheel coffin style tenders in the movie. I have one of those, but I'm not sure it's technically correct.

[healey36]

Coming along nicely. How did you attach the webbing to the ribbing? Hot melt?

Thanks. I just used small dabs of Titebond. For whatever reason, I always seem to burn the hell outta myself when using the wife's hot-glue gun. I stay clear of that thing

[J. S. Bach]

...snip... picked up a nicely-refurbished prewar Marx loco (someone refurbished a Marx loco?). ...snip...

I have a Marx depressed-center flatcar that someone two-railed! When I got it, it had Athearn delrin trucks with plastic wheelsets. It was so light that it could probably float, I changed them out to Intermountain 33" metal wheelsets and the weight seems to have doubled . Although it is a conventional-sized car, it still fits in rather nicely; a customized car for very specialized loads.

[healey36]

I am generally unfamiliar with Marx's offerings, but at one of the local meets there's a guy that brings 6-8 tables full of stuff that provides a pretty good perspective of what Louie made over 30-40 years. Some of the stuff from their last few years actually looks pretty good, although it's still scaled down sharply from anything close to 1/48. I would imagine there are some components, such as the depressed flat car, that could make for a decent reworked model.

I always liked the semi-realistic tin cars from the 1950s...I should chase down a few more of them:





These too are considerably smaller than 1/48. Never cared for the scissor-style couplers though; they can be as painful to uncouple as the prewar Lionel latch couplers.

[E7]

I always liked the semi-realistic tin cars from the 1950s...I should chase down a few more of them:

These too are considerably smaller than 1/48. Never cared for the scissor-style couplers though; they can be as painful to uncouple as the prewar Lionel latch couplers.

Totally agree. The idea that they look like...gasp!...toys, is part of their charm. And yes, whoever came up with those couplers was totally out to lunch.