Weekend Photos - January 2022

[healey36]

We'll start off January with a bit of shoveling...the shack got a dusting of white stuff overnight:



Schools are closed; I expect to see a decent number of sledders on the hill down the road.

Meanwhile, the set of embossing tools arrived yesterday, so I expect to get started experimenting replicating embossed tinplate structures using corrugated or matt cardboard. Photos of progress to follow.

[robert.]

My wife took the kid out. hardly anyone sledding. There are no more traditional snow days. kid around here went virtual.

[healey36]

Westminster sits on the eastern slope of Parr's Ridge, so quite a bit of sledding potential here. This whole bit of the Piedmont stretching from the upper end of the Jones Falls to the Blue Ridge is low rolling hills running north-south, so one doesn't have to go far to find a slope suitable. Lots of kids out tubing yesterday, likely many more today.

I doubt this county (Carroll) goes back to virtual. The last time when we had a protracted spell of virtual "learning", the county, backed by state money, bought internet access for all of the families that didn't have web service at their house (it's surprising how many families here still have no access in their home). That arrangement with one of the local internet providers has since expired, and I'm thinking that by the time they fight through the highly political process of going back to virtual, the worst of this wave will be behind us and the process of lighting up 35% of student residences won't be necessary.

I roughed out the front of the tinplate-style station using a bit of USPS corrugated packing box:



If you need a bit of cardboard for a project, I highly recommend the post office's shipping boxes, as they are quite thin, but also quite strong (at least for the projects I've used it on. I'm not sure it's going to be embossable, but that's what we're going to figure out. I have my doubts that this will work, as I expect the embossing will run afoul of the underlying corrugation, but we'll see. I was going to cut out the openings first, but decided against that, hoping to mitigate the "rolling" effect of embossing to the edge.

[healey36]

Okay, here's the first attempt at embossing a cut-stone texture onto thin corrugated:



I gave it a shot of flat gray primer to try to get a better look at the results. It's not too bad, but the ridges of the underlying corrugated show through...not sure how much I like the look of that. I've got a few scraps of mat-board around here, so I might give that a try before proceeding. Mat-board will have the advantage of not showing any underlying texture, but it is a lot harder than corrugated, so it might be tough to get a nice embossed line on it.

[RBH29]

I think the corrugation shows a nice, unique texture. I like what you have done

[healey36]

Thanks. I tried making a side using mat-board, but that proved too heavy/dense for the embossing. Someone suggested foam-core, but that seems too thick, plus you have to deal with trimming the window/door openings.

With that in mind, I'm pressing ahead with the corrugated. I went ahead and cut out the other three sides and embossed them using a similar method. I did make one change, having the "grain" of the corrugated running side-to-side instead of vertically. It didn't seem to make much difference in appearance, but it made cutting the openings a lot more difficult. I'm doing this free-hand, and the corrugated has a tendency to "steer" the Xacto blade. Cutting with the grain vertically seems no problem, but cutting on an arc or angle across the grain is tough. I nicked it up in a few places.

The other thing I've noticed is the paint raises the paper surface, reducing the depth of the embossed lines. It's not filling the lines, rather the paper is shrinking and drawing taut. I might have to go back over it with the tool to re-emboss the joints. The original I'm using as a model is stamped tin, the joints being rather deep. We'll see; I'm gonna go out and look for some suitable paint for a final coat this afternoon.

[J. S. Bach]

...snip... It's not too bad, but the ridges of the underlying corrugated show through ...snip... I nicked it up in a few places ...snip...

Tool marks from the stonemasons.

[gregj410]

Finally got my On30 back and forth logging line going. Resin logs are really heavy….not much of a load for two engines. Planning to make some balsa logs to lighten the load.

https://youtu.be/4VZ8-ixGAt8

[sarge]

Hell, Greg, go outside and find some sticks that look good with a fine-grain bark, and cut them up nice with a modelling saw. Pre-finished, precoloured, and very realistic!

Grin!

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Hell, Greg, go outside and find some sticks that look good with a fine-grain bark, and cut them up nice with a modelling saw. Pre-finished, precoloured, and very realistic!

Boxwoods are good,

[healey36]

Agreed. If you have any nearby trees, there's likely a bunch of suitable stuff laying outside on the lawn. A few minutes with the razor-saw and you'll have a few lighter loads.

[gregj410]

Good thought(s)! Thank you. I think I got a little side tracked with the balsa because I’ve been making some sequoia/fir trees and the balsa wood works nice for the trunk.

[healey36]

The downside of using realistic logs will be the poor performance of your Lionel 364 Conveyor-Log-Loader

Spent this AM working on a few Flyer and Ives motors:



Got the Flyer 1096 (top) that belonged to my grandfather running again, but rather roughly. I really need to figure out how to crack this thing open. Still, not bad considering it's likely not seen track time for more than 80 years (from The Suburban set of 1927).

I also have a pair of Ives 3251 motors that have been sitting in a box here for a long time. The early version dark green 3251 (middle) is the oldest of the lot, dating to 1919-1920. I got this one from Vienna Station probably a decade ago, and it sat on the back of the workbench for much of that time. Designed to run forward only, a bit of clock oil and it's running nicely.

The late version red 3251 (bottom) I picked up at a local meet for five bucks, the seller assuring me that it was dead, a brick, suitable only for parts. Today, a light oiling with some high-grade machine oil and a blast of control-contact lubricant/cleaner and the thing is running like a clock. The manual reverse seems to work fine. I've never seen one with the open door on one side. I thought that a prior owner might have cut that out, but it's too neat. A bit strange, this one dates to 1925-1927. I'm not much into repainting stuff anymore, preferring the scuffs and chips be left as is, but this thing may get a refurb, perhaps in a dark red or orange-yellow (neither of which was offered, as far as I know).

Next up is a pair of Flyer 401 steamers, the low-end of the Flyer steam line going into WWII. Pics to follow.

[gregj410]

The downside of using realistic logs will be the poor performance of your Lionel 364 Conveyor-Log-Loader

[healey36]

Got both of the Flyer 401 steamers running well. I still need to polish up the commutators, but even before doing that, both are smooth runners.



The brass-trimmed 401 (top) is from 1939, heading the 301 passenger set that year which included baggage (234R), coach (235R), and observation (236R) cars. The 2-4-4 loco, called the Pioneer by American Flyer, featured a four-cycle e-unit and headlight (currently burned out).

The nickel-trimmed 401 (bottom) is from 1941-42, heading up a 3/16-gauge freight set. This one runs forward only. Other than some missing trim/paint on the tender, it's in pretty decent shape. Another nominal purchase, this was an under-table find at York.