Operations Prep #2

 It's been awhile since my last post.  I have been busy, mostly with non hobby related things.  An unexpected house reno, canoe trip and with hockey playoffs to watch, I haven't got much done.  I did managed to make some head way on my pre op session list from my last post.

 I built a Way Bill box and mounted it to the fascia. Still need to make one in HO scale for the depot.

 This was a fun project and something that my son helped with.  He's only five but really loves working with tools and helping out in the work shop.  Currently my efforts are in teaching him how to measure and he's getting the hang of it.  I have him do tasks such as, set the fence on the table saw,  measure and mark wood pieces to cut, setup the compass and  draw circles.  All in the imperial system.  He can learn metric in school.....

I have made no progress on the Waybills. I have put this off long enough, so the plan is to do one per night and tune up each freight car that it matches.  Maybe if I get on a roll I will get more than one a night done.

I cleaned the track and applied graphite.  What a difference to electrical performance, I highly recommend doing this simple but effective treatment.  I was surprised how little you need to apply, the locomotive and freight cars help to spread the graphite around to all tracks.  For cleaning I use a 900 grit Arkansas Stone.  Is hard, so it slices off any dried glue etc, very easily but such a fine grit that it doesn't wear away at the rail head, rather polishes.

As for modelling, I did manage to finish a couple of things.  I mounted switch stands to all 7 turnouts on the layout.  A nice detail and simple one evening project.



 I finally finished up the Superior Propane Tank Truck.  I had to mill out a pocket on the bottom of the tank in order for it to sit at the right height on the frame.  Once this was complete I painted and applied decals from Microscale  I think it turned out pretty good.  One interesting thing about the yellow paint does bother me though.  The paint under my spray booth light matches the Athearn cab paint very close, but under the layout lighting it looks greenish compared to the cab.  It is something to note for future paint projects.  Make a test paint chip and check under the layout lights.

Next up is to finish the matching Propane Tank that will be part of the Feed & Supply dealer.  

Preparing for Operations

Over the last few months my modelling efforts have been focussing on completing all of the projects that I started, but have yet to finish.  I managed to get everything completed, save for a coat of Dullcoat on a couple of boxcars I weathered.  I will update the blog with pictures over the next couple of weeks of these recently completed projects.  It feels great to clear the bench and start something fresh.  Going forward I will complete a project before starting something new.  Well at least thats the plan.

I decided to focus on getting the layout better prepared for operations.  Ops on the Algonquin have basically been my son and I switching a train,  in which he decides which cars will go where and we just have fun.  Occasionally my Dad or Father in law helps us with an op session and we run a train a bit more prototypically.  A couple of months ago Trevor Marshall stopped by and we ran a train with a bit of paperwork.  I whipped up a switch list and we scribbled something together that made some sense.  The layout operated ok.  We had four issues I made mental note of, in hopes to correct when I finished up all the projects in limbo.  My goal is to have the layout operate 99.9% of the time.  100% would be better but something will always come up.  To do this I will need to make note of all issues and fix them for good.

Issues I made note of, were the locomotive would stall on one of the turnouts at very slow speeds, one of the boxcars would not couple on one end,  the facia mounted control rods for the switches were tight or rough feeling and we lost complete control of the locomotive after about 40 minutes of running, but recovered when we turned the command station power on and off.

I addressed the issues as follows.

One of the point rods on the turnout had broken off of the circuit board switch rod tie.  It had enough of a lip of solder to push the point back and forth but electrically it was dead.  Out came the soldering iron and after a good clean up of the point rail and circuit board tie plus some liquid flux and the turnout seams to be just fine.

Trevor gave me a tip to try with the coupler.  Basically to polish the face of the knuckle to remove any burrs and allow it to slide into the on coming coupler.  Seams to have worked.  I will add this to my freight car maintenance check list going forward.

The control rods were a bigger issue.  When I built the bench work I decided on a 4" tall fascia to allow enough room for books on the shelf below the layout.  I use Bullfrog turnout machines from Fast Tracks, which are designed to use RC aircraft style pushrods.  The issue was when mounted the vertical distance from the control rod mounting point on the machine was right in line with the bottom of the fascia.  The RC aircraft rods can flex but not by the amount I needed in the short horizontal distance from the fascia to some of the switch machines.   I decided to not use the RC aircraft push rods,  and used a piece of music wire bent to make up the difference of where I wanted the push rods to come through the fascia and the mounting point on the switch machine.    Well the wire I used worked for a while but over time they started to bind and bend.  I needed to find a way to use the RC aircraft style pushrods.  Some of the turnouts are horizontally far enough away from the fascia so I just removed the music wire rods and replaced them with the RC rods.  For the rest I made up some fulcrums that I could mount further from the fascia such that the RC rods could flex the required vertical distance and use a music wire rod to activate the switch machine from the opposite side.  Here is a picture to clear things up.

I also did some tuning on the Bull frog switch machines.  I found that the top of the pivot point on the part that moves was rubbing on the mount so I trimmed a bit off.  I also smoothed out the notches where the ball bearing runs, thus requiring less effort to throw the points.  I found that over time it was just getting harder to rotate.   So far so good,  the new rods are a big improvement and the machines are working much smoother.  I also needed some new pull knobs for the rods.  I found the perfect solution - screw on furniture floor pads.  These are plastic disks you screw to the bottom of a furniture leg and then stick a pad of felt on to protect your floor from scratches.  They cost $3 bucks and come 8 to a pack.  I simply screwed them into the push rods and stuck on the felt.  It gives a nice touch.

I have no idea what cause the locomotive to stop responding but it hasn't happened since,  I am going to believe it was just op session gremlins and leave it at that.  

So whats next?  I have a lot of other things I need to prepare in order to have a proper operating session and will start working on them this week.  Here is the list I came up with.

1. Make a track schematic to help with planning ops.

2. Design a more formal Switch list.

3. Populate waybills for all of my freight cars and give each a tune up as I complete each waybill. This also includes researching where the loads are going and coming from.

4. Fire up decoder pro and tune all three of the Algonquin locomotives speed curves to match so I can operate them in MU if needed.  

5. Clean all the track and apply graphite to help with electrical contact.

6.  Install a pull out shelf so operators have somewhere to fill out paperwork.  

7.  Install way bill boxes on the fascia and the layout.

8. Build a Van for the Algonquin fleet.  (This is the most exciting job on the list for me but I am not going to start until everything else is done or I will never get to them.)

Well I can cross off #4 as I spent Sunday morning tuning the engines with Decoder Pro.  

This is the latest Algonquin power completed.  A Proto 2000 GP7 #711 joins the fleet. 

 I changed the motor out for a Kato unit, shimmed the worms on the gear towers and installed a Sound Traxx Tsunami decoder along with SMD LEDs for the headlights. I detailed the engine with the standard roof mount bell of the Algonquin fleet,  along with torpedo tube air tanks as the engine features a long range fuel tank.  This was a factory painted KCS unit, in which I removed the lettering, using fine sandpaper and applied the Algonquin lettering and herald.  I detailed the trucks with sanding hoses using fine solder,  the truck side frames were replaced with more prototypical units from Athearn.

Brass MU hoses and MU stands round out the detail changes. 

Log Loader Part 2

Over the weekend I managed to get the GHQ Log Loader painted.  I learnt the hard way not to prime anything you want to paint yellow, with grey primer.  It took around 10 coats of paint to build up the opacity of the yellow paint.  Next time I will prime with white.  I even painted the figure in the kit.  So far this poor soul is the only figure on the layout.  I guess he will have to run the locomotives and do switchman duties also.  Maybe I should get some some other workers to help him with his workload.

I painted the hydraulic cylinder pistons silver using a silver Sharpie marker.  It covered in one coat and with no paint build up that would make them appear even thicker.  I did a bit of weathering on the radiator grills and wheels.  I may weather it a bit more, but I don't want to over do it.  Tom Patterson asked how big the loader is, so I included a couple of photos of the loader on my cutting mat which has inch graduations.  The loader is 1" wide by 3 3/4" long including the grip forks.  This was one of the most rewarding projects I have worked on for the layout.  So much so that I'm going to order a GHQ front end loader kit.

Log Loader

Over the last two evenings I have been working on a GHQ pewter kit of a log loader.  This is the first time I have built a kit from pewter.  The castings in the kit are almost flash free.  Only a little cleanup was needed.  I put it together with medium CA glue.  I left off the roof, which I will paint when I spray the loader.  Leaving off the roof means, I can install the seat and figure after I spray the loader.  I used a product called MR. Surfacer, to fill in small hair line cracks and a small mismatch line of the casting in the engine area of the loader.  It's similar to putty but you can brush it on.   This is the 1200 version, I believe there is a 600 version which is a bit thicker.  While designed for styrene, it worked well on the pewter.

My son helped me on this model, for his effort I let him decide if we should model the loader with the arm up or down.  He choose up.   I will paint and install the wheels separately.  I will let the filler dry overnight and then sand the model prior to paint.

Rental Canoes and Flange Way Signs

Tonight I built a rack to hold canoes.  The town of Whitney on the east side of Algonquin Park is the last stop for campers to rent a canoe before entering the park.  While my version of Whitney is freelanced I am trying to give it the look and feel of a North Ontario small town.  Pretty much every town in the north has somewhere to rent canoes and purchase fishing bait and tackle.  Whitney on the Algonquin has "Jim's Bait and Tackle"  (named after my Dad.)  To construct the rack, I used scale 4x4's and 2x4's  and stained it with Hunterline Cordovan Brown.  The canoes are from Sylvan Scale Models and come 3 to a pack.  They need another coat of paint and I may pick up another package to fill out the rack.  The ice would still be on the lakes, in the park during early April, so it is unlikely that many canoes would be rented at this time.

I also put together a package of Flange Way signs from Osborn Model Kits.  The kit comes with printed labels for the sign face making these an easy 1 hour project.  I decided to use the CP prototype labels with the white face and black dots.  The kit also comes with the CN version that has the black face and white dots.

Switch Stands and Whistle Posts

Feeling good about finishing the Line Poles yesterday, I decided to tackle two projects this evening.  I started with Switch Stands.  I basically followed the instruction in the Osborn Model Kit package.  Here is the results after assembly and some back paint.

I like the stands and the ease of installing the targets.  The targets are made from yellow stickers, that you fold over the posts.  The only thing is, the targets look like stickers you have folded over the post and not really like targets.  If you look at the prototype photo on the kit packaging you can see that the target is sheet metal and attached to one side of the post.  So the sticker method while easy isn't very prototypical.  I needed to make some new targets.  I grabbed the Magnuson Models package the Tank Truck came in( see my post from 2 days ago), and proceeded to cut, sand and shape new targets from the clear packaging material.  I wasn't being cheap, I just didn't bring any sheet styrene with me.  Here is what I ended up with.  I also decided I like red targets better.  It needs another coat of paint on the target, but it looks much better.  It has the target only on one side of the post.

Here is all six I made up.  I also made an extra target for a stand I have already installed on the layout.

The second project I finished up was sanding and painting a package of whistle posts.  Again from Osborn Model Kits.  ( I have no financial interests in Osborn, I just like supporting a local Canadian hobby business).  Nothing to fancy here, just some black paint in the 'W' and then dry brush on some white paint.

Line Poles

Tonights Project was to put together Line Poles for the right of way along the Algonquin mainline.  I purchased a kit from Osborne Models that includes 12 poles and cross arms with insulators.

The cross arms are laser cut and the poles look like bamboo skewers.  After cutting the cross arms from the fret, I spent an hour sanding and scrapping the edges to remove the burning from the laser.  I also sanded the faces of the cross arms as well as the poles.  I planned to stain the parts and I find sanding the edges makes the stain go on evenly.  The picture below shows the difference between one fresh from the fret and one that has been cleaned up.

The insulators are part of the cross arms and look very two dimensional, as they come in the kit.  I spent some time and sanded each one to a more round profile.  This sounds like a lot of work, but probably took about a half hour to complete 12.  The next step was staining with Hunterline stain.  I like using this product, as it is alcohol based and doesn't warp thin wood parts.  I used Cordovan Brown for both the arms and poles.

While waiting for the stain to dry I decided to consult an article about Line side Poles, in a Model Railroader special Edition called "How to Model the Trackside Scene".  The article pointed out that the top of poles should be cut on an angle to help prevent rot from snow and water damage.  The prototype poles also have a grove cut into the side where the cross arm goes so the weight of the arm is sitting on a solid base and not only held on by fasteners.  I made these modifications to the poles and touched up the staining.

I wanted to have green glass insulators on the cross arms.  I painted them with Tamiya Clear Green paint.  They looked black, not green at all.  I decide to paint hem a light grey and when dry follow up with the Tamiya Clear Green.  The light background colour trick worked and the insulators looked good to me.  This was a great one evening project, more so that they are ready for mounting along the Algonquin mainline. Here is picture of the completed poles.