Tool Box Tuesday #2

Its been a while, over 2 months since my last post.  I have been Tendon to other things.  No I didn't spell that wrong, but I have been dealing with an on going issue with a Tendon in my arm.   I have pretty much had to shut it down for a couple of months to let it heal.  Its still not 100 percent but getting better slowly.  Anyway, thought I would try to do some work last night and I pulled out my newest tool.  A 5" Hold an Fold from the Small Shop.  I bought it as a Christmas present for myself.  Its used for bending photo etched metal parts.  What a great tool.  Much easier to use than a metal scale and razor blade.  Heres a picture of it along with some Plano running board parts I formed using it.  It comes with both a razor blade and custom made long metal bending blade.

These are very simple parts and could be formed with just tweezers but I wanted to give the new tool a test bend.  Another really useful tool is the Xuron photo etch shears.  Cutting photo etch, especially stainless ones with them is a joy.  Sometimes when cutting the photo etch parts a small tit will still be left on the part.  In the past I would use a file to remove these tits but found the tits get caught in between the teeth of the file, making it difficult to generate a smooth stroke with the file.  I now use a hard tool makers stone to remove these tits.  Stones have no teeth, so there is nothing for the tits to catch on.   Stones can be purchased from Falcon tool company, McMaster Carr or Gesswein.  The 1/8" x 1/4" cross section stone size are my favourites for moddelling.  They come in grits from around 80 up to 600.

So what's the running board going to be installed on?  My latest rolling stock addition, more on it in a later post. Here is a photo of the running board held down with a machinist parallel while the glue dries.

LED Headlights

 
I recently finished installing LED headlights into Algonquin RS3 401.  It was my first time using Ngineering Micro LEDs.  These things are small (1.6mm x 0.8mm).  Small enough to fit into the Custom Finishing Models headlight casting I used on this locomotive.  The picture above shows the Ngineering LED in the RS3 as well as AGN 502.  The 502t has a regular 3mm barrel LED installed in place of the bulb the RS-10 came with.  Even though its small, the micro LED is super bright. 

Below is a picture of the all the tools required to solder leads to the Ngineering LED's.  Not shown is liquid flux which I also used.  Ngineering recommends using their soldering fixture and so do I.  Trying to solder leads to the micro LEDs without it, would be almost impossible.  Its worth the $10 bucks.  I followed the soldering instructions on their website and had no issues.  The LED is the small yellow spec just in front of the tweezers.  The bulb I am replacing is just above the LED.   I also recommend getting a 1/64 inch tip for your soldering iron.  The solder is Ngineering low temp silver bearing solder, but is made by Kester.

Rather than solder the LED to magnet wire as Ngineering recommends, I was lazy and just cut off the 1.5V bulbs from their respective leads and soldered the LEDS to them.  The bulb leads are bigger than the magnet wire but I was still able to easily solder them to the LEDs.  Here is a picture of the wires soldered to the LED.  I also added some Micro Kristal Clear to the wires/back of the LED to insulate the wires from each other. The insulation on the wires had melted back a bit when I soldered them.  To install the LED's in the headlight casting I just pushed them in and added a dab of Micro Kristal Clear to hold them in place.

This last picture shows the Locomotives from the other end.  The LEDs in both locomotives are the  yellow glow type but from different manufactures.

Tool Box Tuesday

I thought I would start a new weekly blog entry.  I figure it will help me make more regular posts to the Blog.  Some of the blog's I read have a Wordless Wednesday and recently a Freight Car Friday was started.  So here's my contribution.  Tool Box Tuesday.  I will try to post something each week, about something in my tool box (Ok tool boxes to be correct).  I will confess I am a tool hound.  I have yet to find a type of tool I don't need.  I'm always on the look out for new and better tools for both my hobbies and professional career.  So to start off, I thought I would show a few vises that I have in my collection.

At the top of the photo below is a small hand vise.  It's is actually a vise/handle for Swiss pattern files.(Or needle files).  It is show with a file mounted.  The clamp screw has a hole in it as does the handle to allow the file shaft to fit down inside.  I got it at Lee Valley Tools. I rarely use it for holding files but when you have a lot of material to remove the handle does help with the ergonomics.  I usually use it to hold small parts while filing them.

In the middle of the photo is a small 1 inch wide vice I made.  Its great for holding small parts to be cut with a razor saw, or clamping parts for gluing. I also use it as a mini press to push parts together.  Such as pressing locomotive wheels into axle gears.  I sometimes put it into the machine vise on my Mini Mill to hold small parts that could easily be crushed by the larger machining vise.

At the bottom is a Starret hand Vise along with a table clamp to turn it into a mini tool makers vise. (The wood handle unscrews) This was my Grandfathers vise.  Years ago the table clamp was misplaced.  I called Starret and they replied with the part number to order a replacement.  Even though the clamp and vise were made about 70 years apart, they still fit perfectly together.  Starret is my favourite tool maker.  Everything they make is high quality, and parts are available for just about any tool they have ever made.  Here is a picture of the Starret vise in Table mount mode.  They are not inexpensive but will last several generations or more. 

Halloween is over...but the Trolls are still out there

I just finished reading a post about 'Trolls', over on Trevor Marshalls Port Rowan blog.

Here is a link.  Go and read it if you haven't already.

http://themodelrailwayshow.com/cn1950s/?p=5428

All I can say is wow.  What type of person does stuff like that....

People like Jim Gore who are willing to share there work and hobby should be applauded not picked on by Trolls.

Jim thanks for sharing your layout in Model Railroader, I think it looks great and a I bet it was a lot of fun to build.  If you do expand the layout I hope you will continue to share it with all of us who appreciate it.

CN Aluminum Covered Hopper

My layout features a feed mill and the Algonquin Railway delivers the grain.  To get the grain there I started collecting and building some freight cars for this online customer.

About a year ago I started to build a Sylvan Scale Models Flat top Cylindrical hopper kit.  I actually found two of them at a train show but have only built one.  This was my first resin kit.  It was PITA to put together.  Nothing against Sylvan (they make some great models) but the ladders in the kit are not usable, they represent a banana more than a ladder.  I tried to straighten them with hot water and some weights, but they just kept going back to their banana shape.

I ended up making them up by modifying Tichy ladders and bits of styrene.  The roof walk was also not usable, do to warpage.  I modified a Plano roof walk designed for a ACF cylindrical hopper model.

Kadee 158's, cut levers, brake hoses and Branchline 70 ton Barber S-2 trucks were also added.

The decals in the kit were old and cracking. A coat of Microscale liquid decal film fixed them right up.  I weathered the car using my airbrush, with paint thinned about 8/1 with thiner.  Artist olils were used for the white streaking.  I used a picture from the excellent Canadian Rail Car Pictorial books for reference.

I think it turned out pretty good.  I really enjoy weathering cars, although I find it easy to over do it.  I tried to practice some restraint on this car.  I think it's my best effort yet, compared to the look of the prototype.  Let me know what you think.

ONTARIO NORTHLAND BOXCAR 40' ft 7140

Over the thanksgiving long weekend in Canada I kitbashed an Ontario Northland boxcar.  It's based on a prototype built by National Steel Car in 1948, using an Atlas 1937 AAR 10' high kit.  Here is a link to a picture I used for inspiration.

http://www.boxcars.us/Boxcars_M_Z/O/images/ONT,%2040'%20Single%20Door%20Boxcar,%202542ONT,%20Ontario%20Northland,%2040'%20Single%20Door%20Boxcar,%202542,%20September%2028th,%201988,%20Cochrane,%20Ontario.jpg

The Atlas kit has moulded on details, so I started by shaving them off.  I tried to minimize the paint damage but it happens.

Next up was to add canadian style ladders, 8 rung with attached stirrups. These are from Tichy.  I added a small pc of styrene at the top of the car to support the ladder.  The Tichy ladders have 4 standoffs and I feel they need an extra support right at the top.

I also added Details Associates Bracket Grabs(Not Shown).  While the glue was drying on the ladders I drilled out the roof walk holes and plugged them with styrene rod.  These were sanded flush with the roof support ribs.

The next step was to build the ends.  I used Sylvan Scale Models detail parts for the NSC 2 Ends which have the correct rib shape for the prototype car.  Here is a picture with all the parts on, ready to install on the Atlas Car.  I used Tichy turnbuckles to attach the brake rod to the chain and to the fulcrum at the bottom.  This is something I learned from Pierre Oliver's Blog (Elgin Car Shops).  This is a great idea and much easier than any other method I have tried.

After this I assembled the car, painted the ends, doors and touched up the roof with CNW Green from PolyScale.  I added "no running board decals", COTS and ACI plaques as well as the car end numbers.  This was followed up with a coat of Valleo matt finish.  

I painted the trucks and wheels with Rustoleum Camaflage brown and cleaned up the wheel treads with a wire brush in my Dremel tool.  This was the first time I used the Dremel for this and I was surprised how well and quickly it worked.  Weathering was done with a white wash with a bit of green added in using acrylics.  Next up was rust spots and streaks using artists oils.  I finished off with a coat of dark streaking grime from AK on the roof.  I  put it on as a wash.  I then did some streaks on the side using the AK streaking grime with a fan brush at the top edge and a 5/0 brush for the streaks at the end of the door tracks.  The bottom of the car was given a wash of AK rust streaking effects.  The trucks were given a treatment with powders to rust and dirty them up a bit.  Overall I am happy with how things turned out.

Algonquin RS3 #401

I just finished up the newest addition to the Algonquin Loco fleet.  RS3 #401 started out as a factory decorated Atlas model featuring the companies 40th Anniversary theme.    I picked up the model at the Springfield show.  I am pretty sure the vendor did a happy dance after I left his booth, he couldn't believe someone wanted it, let alone pay for it!.  After a few hours in alcohol the gold paint was gone.  I added and upgraded many detail parts to this model.  Such as:

Single round headlamp castings
Marker lights, with MV lenses
Roof top bell
CPR style High Mount Horn (Nathan M3)
Forward Facing Number Boards
Rubber Brake Lines
MU Hoses
Axle speed recorder
Sanding lines
Brake chain and mounts
Brake wheel
Exhaust stack
Etched radiator grill
Windshield wipers

I also installed a Soundtraxx Tsunami Decoder.  This turned out to be an easy install, as the board just drops in.  I had to mill the two weights above the trucks to acomodate the capacitor and speaker.  More details on the installation can be found here.

http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/17263

I painted the model with Tru-Color paint.  I used weathered black.  This was great paint to spray and went on very smooth.  But is sure smells, as it is solvent based.  I sprayed it in my vented spray booth.  The Algonquin decals were custom made for me by Bill Brillinger who I met on the MRH forum. The numbers are from Microscale sets.

The model is weathered with oils, AK streaking effects, Pan Pastels and Bragdon Chalks.  It was fun making it look old and beet up.  I painted one of the truck bearings yellow to suggest it had been recently replaced.

One thing that gave me trouble on this project was the white frame stripe.  I first used frame stripes from a microscale set but the kept flaking off when working on the running boards.  The running boards are separate from the many body on this Atlas model and are made from a flexible plastic.  Basically they would flex and the decal would start to crack and peel off.  I considered painting them but decided to try some Automotive stripping tape first.  I purchased a role at Canadian Tire.  I applied it and then trimmed it at lower edge of the frame.  This was easy, looks great and really sticks.

 Next is to setup a Consist in Decoder Pro so it can run with AGN RS-10 502.  The dual Alco 244 prime movers should sound great together.  I still also need to install the brake chain.