HE Express modifications

[chuck]

Roger said:

You working on becoming a real model railroader?

Never stopped (other than the six weeks in LA . ).

[Roy]

What's up, Chuck?
You working on becoming a real model railroader?

You could do something creative, Roger. Frank Lloyd Wright worked on the Guggenheim into his 90's.

[rogruth]

The things that I was able to do I am either physically or mentally not capable of doing anymore or don't care.

[chuck]

Someone asked me about "getting old". My response was while I would prefer to have the physical abilities that I had when I was thirty, I would never want to trade the life experiences I've acquired during that time.

If I was younger I would not need to use a magnifying glass to paint the figures. I also would have little idea of how to paint the figures. I would not have acquired the fine motor skills or the technical expertise to pull it off. I've seen a few of my pitiful attempts in some 1/48 scale model planes crew figures from that time. I was so bad I just started leaving them out .

[rogruth]

Chuck,
It is great that you can still do that stuff. I cannot.
@ 2003 being able to do some model railroading became a possibility .
I considered N and HO scales but my fingers and eyes couldn't handle
that size so 3 R O worked for me.

[Roy]

Chuck, it looks like you bent the fiberglass into a basket shape. Did you have to use any special techniques, to do that? Also, what is the metallic rim around the bins made of?

[chuck]

Rim is music wire. I took a piece of 1X2 to make a bending/gluing jig. The sag is just mean old Mr gravity. The screen "wire" is actually "plastic".

[chuck]

I may be able to post a picture of the jig later

[Roy]

Chuck, yes, it would be nice to see a picture of the jig you used to make the overhead bins. How many passenger and crew figures are you making for your cars? And, are the passengers seated according to their house?

[chuck]

Just came up to get the SD card for the camera. Should have some photo's in a short while. People are seated in two's and three's, usually two from one house and the third from another, about 18-20 per car (there will be some standing in the corridors). I will need about 60-70 figures for the three coaches and then I will need maybe 10-12 for each of the brake coaches on each end of the train.

[chuck]

First two pictures are of the bending "jig". An 8" section of 1x2 drilled out to help make the frames and to hold the brackets when assembling the units. I need 36 luggage racks, twelve for each car. The piano wire is inserted in the first hole and then bent over towards the detent. Piano wire is very stiff and I use a flat jawed jewelers pliers to complete the 90 degree bend (and make adjustments as I go along). The wire is put back in the jig in hole one and the second bend is made using the detent as the guide. Removed and adjusted and then but back in the jig to get the final length. Wire marked removed from jig and cut. Now I take that "long end" and insert it into the last hole and make the final bend. The pliers are used to make all corners 90 degrees and to get the frame as flat as possible.



The sets of three holes on the edge of the 1x2 are used to hold the cut down staples to finish off the racks. A very small bead of crazy glue is run out and the frame positioned for final assembly.



This is a clipboard with a piece of freezer paper taped down on it. Freezer paper is not particularly sticky as far as crazy glue is concerned.



A fine bead of glue is run along one side of the piano wire frames and these are positioned over the screening. The glue is a "gel" slower cure time and I have folder over the freezer paper such that I can weigh down the frame to get a nice seal without sticking to anything else. Here is a picture of the next six frames ready for trimming. The screening is trying to bounce back to its curved state which is why the fold over/weighting is necessary (aka I tried doing this without the paper/weighting and it did not go well).



I tried using brass wire for the frames but found it to be too soft (it did make nice 90 degree bends without using pliers but it tended to deform when trying to attach the staple/brackets). Brass screening was also soft (and expensive) and I had scraps of the fiberglass stuff from doing 1:1 window repairs.