Working on my 'Stash'

Ok not this type of Stash

Rather the other Stash, the one all Railroad Modellers have have hiding away, under our layouts, in the closet etc.

All those unbuilt freight car projects.....

Heres part of mine.

I'll admit it, I'm a freight car junkie.  Boxcars in particular.

I've got another 2...... ok 3-4 piles about the same size.  The photo above shows my Stash of undecorated Intermountain Railway 40' boxcars.  There's PS-1's and 10'6 Modified AAR Cars.  Two of them may be factory painted.  I'm going to kit bash these into various CN, CP and NorthEastern Roads. Most will be CN.  Most if not all will be painted and weathered for 1965-1966.  This is about 10 years earlier than my current layouts time frame.  There all for a future project that's in the planning stages.  More about that later....

I started this whole exercise by going through my entire Stash and deciding what I can use on the Algonquin, what I can use on the future project and what I should just sell or give away.  

Before I get to the pile here, I pulled out 5 other kits, to get things started.  Two Blue Box kits           (1 Reefer and 1 50' flat car), a Tichy Flat Car, an InterMountain PS-1 and a Walthers CN Newsprint Car.  These will all be for the Algonquin Railway, except for the reefer.

Here are a few progress photos.

Athearn Flat with Tichy staff brake wheel installed.  I added wire grabs and A-Line Stirrups and sanded the ribs off the top of the stake pockets to better represent ones used by the Canadian car builders.

 Athearn Reefer with brake rigging added.  I moved the fuel tanks to the middle of the car after the picture was taken.

 I added a sill extension to the reefer to better represent the prototype CP car.  Wire grabs and Tichy Stirrups were also added.  I left the moulded on ladders, and removed the roof walk and filled the holes.  I masked the car with Tamiya tape and then painted the ends and the lower sills black.

 The masking tape removed some of the car numbers so I will have to use decals to replace them.

I added Plano walkway end platforms to the CN Newsprint car.

I painted the flat car black and started to weather the plastic deck, to look like wood using the "Tichy method".  I also cut off the brake wheel stand on the flat car and filled the side and added rivet decals to replace the missing ones, where the break stand was.

I plan to add cut bars to all of the models also.

My plan is to blog regularly,  showing the progress on my Stash and hope it encourages you to dig out your stash and get working on it.

Track Plan and Layout Tour

I've had numerous requests for a track plan.  So here it is.  I never made a track plan before I constructed the railway.  I just put flex track on the bench work and moved things around until I was happy with it.

The plan shows the industries switched on the layout but none of the other structures.  Some Details about the layout.

Modelling Date April 9,1977.

Room Size about 11' x 11'. Scenery including structures ~90% complete.

DCC Digitrax, all Locomotives are SoundTraxx Equipped. SoundCar is mounted under the layout with two Rail Master Speakers.

Maximum Grade 0%.

Track work is Micro Engineering Code 83 and 70 flex track.

Switches are Walthers Code 83 modified with PCB ties to replace the huge plastic throw bars.  Cork road bed on Main and run around.  Track dips down to the foam on all other sidings.

Bench work is box frame, with plywood tops and pink foam.  Hills are made with florist foam.  All mounted on adjustable shelf brackets. Bench work is 52" off the floor.

Backdrop is Masonite with made by me Photo Backdrops on 2 walls and painted backdrop on the third.  I wanted to learn how to do both methods.

Staging is a removable 2 track staging yard with 8-9 car capacity including Locomotive and Van.

The layout tour travels from West to East along the line.  I have completed the feed mill since these pictures were taken.  I will post about it in the short future.  Enjoy..

Propane Supply

    I just finished painting and decaling the propane tank for the Feed and Supply dealer in the town of Whitney.  The tank is a GLX model.  I painted it with Proto Paint.  This is an acrylic based paint.  It says its ready to airbrush on the bottle, so I gave it a try.  It went on kinda lumpy.  For the second coat I thinned it with Tamiya acrylic thinner and it went on better, although not as nice a Valleo Model Air paint.  I'm not a huge fan of acylic paints other than those by Valleo.  I've had enough experimenting with paint I'm going to stick to Valleo Model Air or Tru-Color from now on.  I've had excellent results with both.

Here's the recently finished Propane Tank Truck backing in to fill up the tank at the Feed and Supply dealer.  Soon to be ready to fill up all the Cottagers BBQ tanks.  I mounted a small BBQ tank sign on the out building behind the Feed and Supply as well as a "Shur Gain" Grain Dealer  Sign.

Algonquin Van

I just finished up this Van.  Its kit bashed from a Atlas ICC Center Cupola Caboose.  I modified it to look like the Cartier Railway Vans built by Morrison Knudson.  In my version of history the Algonquin ordered these at the same time as the Cartier.

I weathered it with Oil Washes and PanPastels.  It features scratch built steps to increase the number to 3 steps vs. the 2 steps the model comes with, along with scratch built brass end hand rails to match the prototype.  I also changed two of the windows on each side to represent the large windows with the aluminum trim on the prototype. It also features a complete brake rigging system.

AGN GP7 #711 is preparing to leave Whitney Yard in Northern Ontario with a single empty Wabash Boxcar that just delivered a load of Grumman Aluminum Canoes to the Outfitter in town.

Wabash 12 Panel Boxcar Finished

  I finished the Wabash Boxcar earlier this week.  I weathered it lightly with Pan Pastels. I wanted a look where the dirt had accumulated on the panel seams and rivets, but not rusted out. I did not want to over do it, even though this car and paint scheme is a bit early for my time frame. I used black and a dirty greenish brown colour.

  In all reality it hasn't much reason for showing up on the Algonquin, but I liked the car so much I had to have one.  A bit of research has shown that the Grumman Aluminum boat company, makers of the Aluminum Canoe were located in New York State (served by the Wabash in Buffalo).  So I will make up a Waybill for this car, carrying a load of Canoes to the outfitter in Whitney ON.  I may patch it out for N&W which absorbed the Wabash 1964. 

I used Rustoleum Dark Brown Camouflage Paint on the trucks and wheels followed up with some dirt and black Pan Pastels on the truck side frames.  I sealed it all with a dull coat.  The Pan Pastels stick much better than weathering powders and didn't wash off when dull coated to my surprise.  I will be using these more in the future and will be picking up more colours.

Tool Box Tuesday #3

   A recent trip to Lark Spur Line in Merrickville ON provided me with a new tool for the toolbox.  I came away with an old PanaVise.  I should have bought one of these years ago.  It makes the task of working on the end of a car a pleasure rather than an act of frustration.

  I have tried using cups, angle plates etc. for this task, but this thing makes it easy.  The previous owner added some dense black foam to the jaws and mounted it on a nice piece of wood, complete with rubber feet.  This older model also seams much heavier than the current PanaVise offering I checked out at a train show a while back.

 So what's in the Vise?  A Wabash 12 Panel Boxcar from Yarmouth Model Works.  This is a Resin kit, that also features etched metal detail parts, Tichy brake sprue, Kadee Miner Brake details and Kato ASF Trucks. Of special note are the ladders.  They are made up from etchings formed into a angle iron with holes and individual rungs made from Tichy grabs glued on.  They are great looking and were easy to build, following the kits instructions. 

For gluing the rungs I used Loctite 430 Metal Bonder CA.  The instructions suggest using Loctite 496 which is Loctites Industrial strength General Purpose CA.  It should work fine also, but I had the metal bond version so why not use it.

 Do yourself a favour and go check out Loctites Industrial website.  They have dozens of CA glues and even a special primer that you can put on slippery plastics like Delrin and PTFE(Telflon) to join them with CA.  I tested some of this on a PTFE to Derin joint at work and I was surprised how well it held.

Here is a picture of my progress on the Wabash Car.  Its hard to see in the photo, but the sides have simulated warpage from the welded panel joints.  My wife who supports me in the hobby but has little interest in trains herself, noticed this right away after seeing it painted on my workbench.  She even asked if was supposed to be weld warpage.  She, like me is also an engineer and finds enjoyment in the details of manufacturing.

I used Tichy stirrups instead of the etched ones in the kit.  Not that there was anything wrong with the excellent kit ones, but after I installed them I promptly put the car down on them and bent all 4 stirrups.  They were pretty much fubared.  I hope to get it dull coated and weathered this week.
 

OP sesion #2 and #3

Op Session #2   

About two weeks ago I was joined by fellow modeller and neighbor Doug Curie for an Op session.  My son gave Doug a quick lesson on how to operate with the Digitrax throttle and he was off and running as Engineer.  I acted as Conductor. We ran a train into Whitney and switched a few cars.  The layout operated very well with the only hick up being a few missed couplings.    The Algonquin locos are equipped with Soundtrax decoders, which have the break function enabled.  Basically when you press F5 the loco starts to slow down and the break squeal sound effect comes on. Works great and adds to the fun.  Afterwards it was off to the Feathers pub for dinner and drinks.  It was a great evening and I look forward to our next session Doug.

Op Session #3

Last Friday I was joined by Trevor Marshall and David Woodhead for an Op session.  Since the last Op session with Doug, I have created waybills for about a half dozen freight cars and a switch list. 

While I was creating the paperwork for an individual car I also gave it a tune up and added brake hose or un coupling levers if needed.

Trevor played the role of Conductor and David the Engineer.  The guys ran the train like old hats.  I had a ball just watching them.  We used Wi throttle on my iphone for loco control.  This functioned well, with the only problem being the sleep settings on my computer running Decoder pro.  When it fell asleep the link to the throttle was lost.  After setting the sleep setting to 'never' we experienced no further issues.  Everything ran great with only a couple of missed couples again. This was on freight cars that had yet to receive a tune up.  So I have something to address before the next session.

I also installed a Sound car under the layout with two speakers.  I will write up a separate blog entry for this, so stay tuned.

After the Op session it was off to the Feathers for dinner and drinks, where we were joined by Doug Curie.  A good time was had by all.  Looking forward to our next visit gentlemen.