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  • NH: Punch List Items (Part A)

    Thanks… as always! Today was a punch list day. I took care of a bunch of the little things that I was hoping to not overlook. I started with the plumbing vent. I was a 3/32" piece of brass tubing treated with the chemicals to darken it. I installed it in the roof sort of over where the rest rooms lie.

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    I wanted to start gluing in walls and furnishings inside and started by gluing in the partition wall using medium CA. I then was going to glue the counter in using clear silicone caulk/sealant. I put the stuff on the bottom and then realized I wanted to put on the brass foot rails. So I wiped off the sealant and got to work on the rails.

    Again, I'm using 3/32" tubing, although it should probably be smaller. I cut the pieces, polished them with steel wool and then filed flats where the connecting pins would be soldered. I drilled with an 0.032" carbide drill, and then soldered in brass wire of the same size. I used the RSU since it is always ready and does a job like this with no fuss.

    After soldering I used my narrow nose Xuron pliers to space out where the 90° bend should go.

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    After doing this on all three rails, I drilled corresponding holes in the lowest board of the counter sides and CA'd the rails into place. Once all were in I trimmed excess brass sticking through and sprayed the entire assembly with Testor's Wet-look Clear Lacquer to keep the brass from oxidizing and give the counter more sheen.

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    I found out from Mini-etchers that they will cut additional stools for me using ply instead of solid maple. That should really help reduce the breakage problem I was having. So I will have to wait until I have them all before buttoning up the building entirely. But that didn't stop me from moving along.

    The front window needed mullions as per Hopper's painting. I had some Chartpak graphic tape of an appropriate size in black. All it needed was some painting to make it BN Green. I did this by sticking the tape on a piece of plexi, and hand painting the green. It took four coats with force drying in between. For the last coat I let it completely air dry. It would have been an airbrush candidate, but it wasn't worth the clean up time it required.

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    I wanted to add a TV antenna to hang on the chimney. Again, I used both 0.032" brass wire and some 0.021" phosphor bronze wire. For each joint, again done with the RSU, I filed a small notch on the wire where it joined its neighbor to give a little more surface area to the joint. I used my MicroMark soldering block to hold the mast when soldering the first cross pieces.

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    • NH: Punch List Items (Part B)

      And here's the completed, unpainted antenna.

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      To mount the antenna I used some photo-etched brass fret. I believe in this case it was actually stainless steel from some architectural models that my grandsons built. I bent the brass strip around the mast and then formed it around the chimney. I couldn't solder the ends together since the chimney is styrene and wouldn't handle the heat so I CA'd the ends. I sprayed the antenna with Tamiya Gray Primer and then Bare Metal. I touched up the mast where it was mangled from all the bending and handling with Molotow Chrome Pen. There should be a wire leading from the antenna to the inside of the building, but this is the side that faces the rear, small alley and won't be visible from just about anywhere on the layout, so I'm not going to work on it.

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      I did glue the counter in place with the silicone and then starting adding some details including the urns, and the sugar and napkin holders.

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      Lastly, I laid out the lines for the mullions using the digital calipers and added them to the window. The window had some glue on very visible spots so I used my Revell polishing kit which has 3200 grit to 12000 grit wet-or-dry abrasive cloth plus polishing compound and soft polishing cloth. It did a terrific job of restoring the window. Notice the interesting distortion from that curved glass… Again the window is not glued, just placed. Need to get the people inside before I install the glass permanently since accessing just from above without the front being open too.

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      So… happy weekend and I see y'all on Monday.

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      • NH: Lights, Camera, Action (Part A)

        Happy Monday!

        Thanks guys! Yup…tiff is less lossy, but when you see how little of that painting can actually be seen in today's images, you'll realize that it's a difference without a distinction. In the future, I'll do that.

        More punch list items. First, I cut the legs and one arm off the counter man, filed the leg ends to an angle, and cleaned up the shoulder to re-accept the arm in an extended position. After gluing them in place (a couple of times I might add) I re-painted the white. While he was drying, I cut out the mini-Nighthawks painting for the wall, and built a picture frame. I started by using MicroMark PSA on the back of the image and sticking it to a piece of 0.010" styrene sheet, which I then trimmed about 1/32" oversize to give a small gluing surface for the frame. The frame is constructed from 0.020" X 0.080" styrene. I started with the end frames and sanded a slight angle on its long side so the frame would sit off the picture at an angle, but left the ends square. I then did the long pieces and coped their ends to fit into the end pieces. I painted the frame Tamiya Gold and stuck it to the wall next to the pass through using med. CA.

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        I started putting people and stools into the building starting with the lady. I dipped each stool leg end into a puddle of med. CA and stuck it to the floor at a distance that would let her sit properly at the counter. I glued her to the seat with the same adhesive. I then did Mr. Hopper, and ended with the Other Guy. I then glued the Counter Man in place. He does look more like the painting…almost.

        With the people in place, I could finally install the ceiling with the surface mount LEDs and was able to take pictures under the model's lighting for first time. To get the lighting's wires to the basement, I installed the green lally column (which theoretically holds up the corner of the building in Hopper's painting) and threaded the wires down the hollow tube.

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        The ceiling fits very snuggly and needed no glue making it actually removable if something should break loose in the cafe. I wanted to make blackout baffles for the second floor so you can't look through from one side to the other. The upper floors are not illuminated. I made a nice, totally invisible bedroom in the 2nd floor bedroom in Saulena's Tavern, and unless you are looking with your eye stuck to the building…which you can't…you can't see a thing. The black out was created with two pieces of cross-lapped 1/8" foam core, covered with PVA'd black construction paper. It too is not glued since it's not going anywhere.

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        • NH: Lights, Camera, Action (Part B)

          A while ago, I bought some cute little detail kits which have rural mailboxes and electric service hookups including conduit, electric meter, switch box, weather head and building tie-on clevises and I'm going to jazz up this building with this detail, although it's probably going to end up on the chimney side which are the least visible side of the building. If I enter this is any contests, they'll see it. I also made my first LED light fixture using the magnet wire method which I will explain here.

          First of all, since I wasn't going to be soldering these tiny parts onto copper tape, but instead was soldering wires directly on top of them, I needed to hold them. For this I used some double-sided Scotch Tape on my soldering pad.

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          You have to scrape the enamel off the magnet wire which I did with a #11 blade. I pre-tinned the small solder pads on the LED with my Weller iron. The negative terminal is the big one. There is very little area to which to solder. I also pre-tinned the magnet wire ends to help it all along. Getting the wires to stick is not easy since it's all so small. I am reluctant to use the resistance iron since the LED are sensitive to overheating and the RSU heats so darn fast.

          The magnet wire lets you put both leads (Red is position, green is negative) through a 1/16" aluminum tubing (or actually smaller if I had any). There's lots of room in there.

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          I have some cast white metal lampshades which I no longer remember from whom I got it, that I drilled out to accept the tubing. I threaded the wires through all of this and then soldered the leads to the LED. I put a small piece of electrical tape to insulate the circuitry from the metallic shade. I pulled everything up tight and the secured it all with med CA which further insulates the wire ends from the shade. With power, it was very bright.

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          I then hand-bent the gooseneck on the fixture which will go into the building wall over the main entrance door. I'm going to turn a small ferrule out of aluminum or brass to serve as a more proper mounting than just sticking it through a hole in the wall. Any other LED you use with type of shade sticks pretty far out. The surface mounts fit within the confines of the shade.

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          I'll tie these leads into the same LED driver circuit that's running the other four ceiling lights. I believe I'm using a 12 volt power supply and that would mean less than 3 volts per LED if I were to tie into the circuit after the LED driver. That in itself isn't bad since they are really bright and lower voltage simply would make them a bit dimmer. I could go "old school" and use a 470 ohm resistor and tie in before the power gets to the LED drive so I'd have a parallel circuit with 4 LEDs on one leg and one on the other. I thought about making spot lights that would shine up to the the banner boards, but Hopper's picture has these in the dark and I'll leave it that way. They're also very glossy and would reflect a lot of specular reflections back to the viewer. I should probably make a "Nighthawks Cafe" sign that would hang somewhere, although that would be a little obvious. I'd rather have the viewer figure out that it's symbolic of Hopper's Masterpiece.

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          • NH: Site Preparation

            Today was the time to start site preparation. I'm mounting this on the same piece of foam core that the Newtown Chocolate Shoppe occupies. This presented me with a challenge. I had to add a bit more concrete color around the building. That "concrete" color was laid down over 10 years ago, and it's an old gray/green color.

            First I had to remove the building base from the layout. Another reason TO NEVER, EVER GLUE YOUR BUILDINGS DOWN TO THE LAYOUT! Just removed two wires from the DC buss under the layout and it was free to lift off. The base material is actually some German form core that I obtained from some graphic panels that were no longer used. I also wanted to include my first telephone pole in this vignette since I'm adding electrical service connections on this building and probably on the chocolate shop too. I made my poles based on suggestion from Ashe Rawls. He sleeves his poles with brass tubing so they are stable, but—like the buildings—removable. The sleeve is 5/16" thin-wall brass tubing, and the 1/4" dowel pole is line with aluminum tubing so it's not wood-on-brass. I had to cut these pieces to the same thickness as the foam core.

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            Here's my first telephone pole installed. Hard to believe that these poles were created in June of 2014. I've been waiting patiently to install them.

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            I first attempted to match the concrete by starting with my latest batch and doctoring it. I used a lot of different paints and didn't get it right. Then it hit me…"I think that Tamiya Sky is a grey/green shade that might be what I used 10 years ago…" It wasn't an exact match, but after adding a touch of grey, white, black and playing around a little, I got a very close match. The final color is the bucket at the top right of my "mixing palette" (plastic egg crates). Notice the highly organized work space...

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            I also needed to add storm water inlets. These too are nice resin castings from Westport Model Works. I painted the asphalt drive on the left side and added "concrete" to the right.

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            I had to redraw the concrete expansion seams using a pencil and then sprayed it with Dullcoat. I cut the hole for the light leads to pass underneath. Here's the building sitting where it's going to sit. It's a lot easier detailing the site off the layout instead of on.

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            • NH: Electrical Service

              With all the site work out of the way, I got back to making the electrical hookup. I assembled the meter, the conduit and the switch box below. I used Bondic to glue the clear meter since it's a great way to adhere clear parts since it a) stays completely clear and doesn't foul the clear parts, and b) can still cure by UV light since the clear part transmits the light to the resin. Bondic is UV curing glue that comes in a kit with the resin and a small LED UV light source. It cures rock hard in 5 seconds. It's the same stuff dentists now use to fill your teeth. It's not cheap, but can do some impossible things.

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              On the top end of the conduit goes the weather head. This is a potted structure where you service lines are brought down from the transformer to the meter. It's a water tight unit that has the leads sort of facing downwards so rainwater is not conducted inside. The kit includes some very fine copper magnet wire which is supposed to connect to the weather head. I needed to drill some really small holes and used my smallest drill; a #86 drill (0.010") which is so fine and delicate that I just broke my last one of ten and have to buy more. You break them just by looking at them the wrong way. I attempted to get the wires into the small holes, but wasn't having much luck. It was time to quit, and I did break that last drill trying to clean out one of the holes from some med CA that I was using to hold the wire in place. I'd really like to know how they grind drills that ridiculously small.

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              That black thing on the end of the brass rod is the weather head. Needless to say, getting three holes in one side wasn't easy. Getting the wire into those tiny holes less so. Tomorrow, I'll get the service connection on and the stools are shipped so they may get here too.

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              • NH: Electrical Service and the Stools ver. 2.0

                Well hang in there Pat. We're not finished yet, but we're get'n close.

                I gave up trying to drill three tiny holes for three tiny wires in the electric service's weather head, since it really didn't matter. So I drilled on large hole and installed all three wires in the same hole and held them in there with a drop of CA. After installing the wires, I masked the clear meter glass and sprayed a quick coat of Tamiya Bare Metal.

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                The three lead wires tie into the lugs that mount on the building wall, and these, in turn, have steel cables that come from the power pole which supports the three-phase 220v wires that go to the meter. I measured these little cast metal lugs and came up with 0.032" so I drill the building for this size, but it was a bit undersized, so I opened it up to 0.039". I was able to get the lugs attached and held them with some thin CA.

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                Then the new stools arrived from Mini-etch, and I got started on them immediately. Unfortunately, they cut these out the same homogeneous 1/32" maple with the same fragility as the first batch. But this time, I tried something different. I lightly soaked the upper spreader bar with thin CA to harden the maple. Since the stools that I designed are too tall, I cut off the leg from just above the bottom spreader bar so the bottom bar didn't need hardening. This greatly strengthened the upper one and, while I did break quite a few of them, I did get a bunch of usable stools and made the whole deal work out.

                I also made other adjustments which both sped up the building and produced a better build. First, the little square notches on the seat base were not equal size and some were definitely too small. This would have the effect of pushing one of the legs out of position which made assembly more difficult. I also changed the sequence. Instead of attempting to glue the leg to the seat base AND glue the spreaders to the adjacent leg at the same time, I glued all four legs to the base and then carefully held each spreader in contact with the adjacent leg. A small application of thin CA to this junction tied it all together.

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                I got 9 perfect stools built and a few more with one spreader missing that broke after assembly.

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                I don't need this many to populate the cafe. This will give me a bit of a cushion since I'm sure I'll break at least one more before this is all over. To stain them I just dipped the entire stool into a can of Minwax Red Mahogany Stain and absorbed the excess on a paper towel. Here're the lot of them waiting to dry for tomorrow's session.

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                I'll put the electrical service in place tomorrow and install the stools. With them in place, I'll get the window in and the steps. Then I'll turn my attention back to the outdoor light and finish that up. We're just about done folks.

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                • NH: Really Almost Finished!

                  Did some errands today (LHS, Train Store, Hardware Store) so got to work around 2 something. My old friend from Michigan has a small layout with mostly traditional Lionel equipment. But, he has one big special engine, an MTH SP AC-6 with PS-1. The grandkids got a little over-zealous with it and it sustained some valve gear damage. He had taken it to a store in Troy, MI many months ago, but didn't pick it up due to an intervening illness. When I was there a couple of weeks ago, we went to the store. They were unable to fix it, and furthermore, didn't seem to have the tender that goes with the engine. I took the engine home with me and took to my train store. Without the tender, they couldn't test it, and to make matters worse, MTH doesn't have a parts list for that engine or any of the re-issues of the same engine. The eccentric crank is broken. I'm going to try and fix it with brass pins and J-B Weld. Nothing to lose at this point.

                  I did get a lot of stuff done on Nighthawks and am on downspout from total completion. I glued in all the new stools and had plenty without resorting to the ones that have a single stringer missing. I then closed it all up. The window assembly almost didn't fit, but I coaxed it and got it done. It's held with CA. I then touched up the brickwork with that color match, touched up the brown and green, and then glued on the outside steps.

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                  I glued on the electrical service threading the three-phase leads through the standoffs. I made a little simulated conduit clamp out of some wine bottle foil.

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                  I machined a little brass ferrule with a 1/16" hole through the center and slipped it onto the outdoor light's pole. I then fit it into a like-size hole in the wall centered over the entrance door. I made the hole penetrate above the 2nd floor so I could easily get to the wiring and tie it into the building's wiring.

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                  At first I thought about using the same LED driver as the interior lighting circuit, but since I bent that terminal lead so it would pass through the Masonite ceiling piece and soldered it to the foil, there wasn't enough sticking up to enable me to attach the two fine magnet wires to the leads. I did a test to see if the amperage was correct at the points I was contemplating and the light lit correctly, but there was simply no way for me to solder to it. I went back to old school and hooked a 470 own resistor and tied this into the primary wiring before they go to the LED driver.

                  I primed the fixture with Tamiya primer and did a quick rattle can spray job of Tamiya Bare Metal Silver.

                  So here's a lighting test with all the lights, windows, etc. in their final position.

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                  That back light is really bright! You could grow plants under it. I chose to light the cafe entrance, but left the kitchen entrance unlit to differentiate these two doors.

                  Last thing to do is the downspouts. I got one formed and chemically blackened. I made a loop of 0.032" brass wire with a tail on it and soldered this in the mid position. This will secure the spout to the wall right next to the electrical service on one side and on the opposite corner will go the other one which I'll make on Monday. The blacken surface should give more tooth to the Rub-n-buff patina cream that I'll use before putting it on the building. I used a small drill to start the hole in the styrene gutter, and then opened out to the 1/8" tubing size. That will secure the upper end.

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                  On Monday, I'll get the downspouts installed and mount the building onto the base. I have one more storm drain inlet to install at the corner and will attach the telephone pole leads to the building. And then it will go back onto the layout.

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                  • Just a self-promo…

                    My copy of the October issue of Railroad Model Craftsman magazine arrived today. Part 1 of my article, "Scratchbuild the I.W. Bernheim Distillery" starts on page 36 and runs for 10 pages. If I got it, then local hobby and train stores probably have it too.

                    If I were to write that article now, I would have corrected my description about using SketchUp's layers function. I'm expecting a proof copy of Part 2 this week and perhaps I make a note in that review.

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                    • NH: Project Complete

                      Today, the Nighthawks project is officially complete. The building got a certificate of occupancy...

                      I finished it by doing some more adjustments to the base plate, re-lining the concrete expansion strips, and adding some weathering. I made the 2nd downspout using a 1/8" thicker walled tubing and chemically treated it. I then mounted them to the building.

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                      Finally, I used silicone caulk to glue the building to the base plate. It's base plate is actually a separate piece from the one under the chocolate shoppe and is just kind of taped together so I can remove it if I were to sell it separately, eventually. And then I took some final beauty shots with the Canon and Zerene Stacker focus stacking software to give very deep depth of field without high powered photo lighting. Here are the finished shots with some Corel PhotoPaint work on the backdrop paper. I'm not going to wire the pole to the building until other poles are nearby to run the wires across.

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                      While I was thinking about an article in RMC about this building project, I may have shot myself in the foot. I didn't save any of the original-sized pictures. In other projects, I keep a file of the full-size images just in case I need them for publication. Magazines like to work with big images. Instead, since I post this thread on another forum (World Affairs Board) and they have a 2 mb limit on included pictures, I shrink all my iPhone WIP shots down about 60%. I actually started writing the article yesterday when it hit me that I don't have the full-size images any longer.

                      So… what did I learn with this project? I learned how to:

                      make a curved window out of heated Plexiglass
                      make a home-made stair railing
                      make O'scale bar stools by having them laser cut
                      design and construct a believable Mansard roof
                      Cobble together Edward Hopper, his wife and the Other Guy from a selection of human parts, a la Dr. Frankenstein
                      make a nice looking old school TV antenna out of soldered brass
                      and take a 60 year-old Model Railroad project, modernize the methods and add a classic America masterpiece inside.
                      And now for something completely different.

                      Comment


                      • B2010,

                        I've been following your construction and I've got to say that this is quite the unique project. Kudos! on a successful build! It's really and interesting and "one-of-a-kind" building to put in your layout. I think you've done a superb job on it all!!!

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                        • Agreed! Nice to see something each time requiring different crafts, techniques and subjects. What’s next?

                          BTW, never got back to my figure. Getting the house ready for sale is taking up my free time. If I could buy decent figures at the correct scale I’d go your route as well.

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                          • Other Stuff

                            Thank you all who have commented and those that have been following without comment.

                            Yesterday, I took a copy of the new October issue of Railroad Model Craftsman magazine with Part 1 of the Distillery article to our local train shop, Roundhouse Trains. After having great conversations with the staff about how the building and subsequent article came about, I turned and saw this absolute beauty sitting on the top of the shelf behind me.

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                            It's a Sunset 3rd Rail, Norfolk & Southern Y6-B. It was a late model version built by the N & W and one of the most successful Mallets ever built. It was a true compound with the rear high-pressure cylinders feeding their exhaust to the much larger low-pressure front engine cylinders. And this one had a twist, since the engineer could then switch the front cylinders to straight articulated power when it was up to speed. It was a fast engine considering it was just for frieght, and N & W ran them right through the mid-50s before finally bowing to diesel. They were the last mainline railroad to do so because of their great quantities of available coal AND their construction of such wonderful engines that represented the paragon of steam design.

                            I wasn't considering buying any new motive power. I was planning on spending most of my new-found publishing money on other model kits and some more laser cutting projects. But then I turned up the tender to see the price they were asking. It was a 3 year-old, used engine, but was simply perfect. The price? $600.00!!!

                            I checked Sunset's website to see if I could find a new one to see the list price. They had one in their "boneyard" at the list price of $1,799.00. That's right… the engine was 66% off list. I fell instantly in love. It's a big engine in real life and a big model, but all of my steam engines are big!

                            Which leads to today's thread. I will stop now and start another post since it will exceed 5 pics and it will keep the continuity tighter.

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                            • A Giant Catastrophe and a Reasonable Recovery

                              Since I'm really thinking about buying that Y6-B, I decided to clean up the shop and then get one of my other 3rd Rail monsters running after a long hiatus. I bought their Pennsy S-1 6-4-4-6 colossal Art Deco contrivance while we were living in Germany, which makes it about 18 years old already. I had three problems with it.

                              I still had a rechargeable battery and need a BCR
                              I couldn't stay coupled with a heavy passenger train when cresting my 2% grade
                              It had nickel silver, soldered trim separated from the right side of the pilot many years ago when the pilot contacted an aluminum passenger car on the outside of a two-track curve. I had the two pieces — which were very springy — held with some twisted black iron wire.
                              I replaced the rechargeable with my last BCR, put it on the track to get it working and nothing. Nada! Bubkis! Took the tender back to the shop and took it apart to check all the wiring. All was in order. Put it back on the track without the shell, still nothing. Tried another engine of known performance. Nothing! Ah ha! Looked over to the the control panel to see the indicator light showing whether or not the gate interlock is closed and it was red. Then I looked down at the gate and saw the latch was not seated. Problem solved! I fixed the coupler problem with some Tamiya masking tape wrapped around the tender coupler. Easy peasy. Engine fixed and ran it for quite a while and took this video.

                              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_SzUR4-wF4

                              I noticed that the drivers, even on this monster heavy engine, were slipping when the full train of heavy Lionel hi-scale passenger cars (and one MTH super-dome) was fully on the 2% grade AND was on an O-96 curve coming out of the tunnel. The video clearly shows the drivers spinning faster than the train speed would indicate until the engine gets over the crest.

                              Since this engine hadn't been on the tracks for years, I never ran it with the crossing signals in place. Very soon I found that the enormous length of the engine swung the cab to the right coming around the left front curve and it was colliding forcibly with the signal. I had to move it out almost a 1/2" to ensure it had clearance.

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                              Now we get to the awful part.

                              I wanted to check the S-1's box to see if 3rd Rail included another driver axle which was fitted with traction tires to solve the spinning problem. That box was in a pile that was behind the blue cardboard backdrop that I used to shoot the distillery picture which now served as a nice vision block for my storage shelves. I was attempting to move the backdrop to the right, sliding it behind the layout on the left-most end, AND was doing this while the trains were running. I had just pulled out the S-1's box which was on the bottom of the pile, and didn't realize until it was much to late that the blue backdrop paper has separated from the cardboard backing. It was now draped over the tracks just before it enters the bridge curve and the train was highballing right into the paper! I tried in vain to pull the paper back, but the engine collided with it, derailed and promptly left the table along with the tender. Both nose-dived to the concrete right next to the ravine and ended up on the floor underneath the ravine. The next car in the train, a baggage car, ended up wedged between the back of the layout and the wall and was trapped from falling to the floor by the back L-girder.

                              The engine was a little banged up, but not critical, but the tender took a beating with the bulkhead that supports the drawbar, completed separated from the tender shell, and one axle freed up from the front 4-axle truck. I've success with using epoxy to put 3rd Rail structures back together after catastrophes and did the same here. In this case I used J-B Weld to hold it all together. It could be re-soldered, but that would destroy the exterior paint. J-B Weld is quite strong and should work okay. I replaced the loose axle and pressed the truck side frames closer together since they were spread from the collision which released the axle.

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                              That leads to the nickel silver trim. Since I had to straighten the engine pilot a bit, I decided with my new-found soldering chops that I should actually re-solder those trim pieces and fix it right. I tried with my RSU, but my unit doesn't have the wattage to heat large assemblies. I then tried the Weller, turned up to 5 with the biggest tip I had, but it too did not have sufficient power. That left using a mini-torch powered by butane. That did the trick. I had used a burr to grind off the old epoxy that I had attempted to use years ago, and the old solder exposing some new brass, and then tinned the surface with new solder. Using a needle nose to hold the springy trim tight, I heated the shell from behind until the solder melted. It worked. I then clamped the now-soldered one with a hemostat so it would de-solder and did the second one. I filed off the excess and used some Tamiya filler to close those holes I drilled for that twisted wire.

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                              After the filler dried I mixed some Tamiya dark green and black and nailed a perfect Pennsy Brunswick Green, but the alcohol-based Tamiya acrylic reacted badly with the surface and was forming clumps. I was brush painting it. So I hand brushed some Tamiya lacquer-based primer and after it dried used the same mixture. It's not perfect, but it's pretty good. The front trim lip is part of a brass pilot casting is not nickel silver, it's silver paint and was a bit banged up, so I touched it up with the Molotow Chrome Pen. The engine is now waiting on the track for the tender fix to fully cure. The S-1 was one of the largest steam engines ever built, and was the epitome of Art Deco streamlining. Pennsy only built one, but it served as the proof-of-concept for the rigid frame, duplex divided drive that was exemplified by the subsequent development and fielding of the Q1, Q2 and T1. Both the Q2 and T1 never reached their ultimate development due to the conquest of diesel.

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                              So what could have been an absolute disaster, with the wreckage of a very pretty, big brass engine, actually got me fixing that trim which needed doing for years, and it's now another engine that will get off the shelf and pull some trains. I feel much better about buying that new engine knowing that I've put an oldie, but goodie back in service.

                              The other point to remember is this. Brass engines, when they have big booboos, are repairable. Die cast big engines not so much. When die cast engines break, you can't solder them, and when deformed, they will probably break when you try and straighten them.

                              As I mentioned earlier in this post, this is not the first time I've successfully repaired a brass engine. 12 years ago, my then 2-year-old who was in my arms, reached out and grabbed my J1-a as it went roaring by. The 11 pound engine left the tracks and did another nose dive to the concrete, stopping first to hit my lower leg. The shell was separated from the frame below the cab. The Pennsy, top-mounted headlight and supporting bracket was destroyed, and the pilot and left-side ladder were deformed. I epoxied the cab support, got a new PSC investment cast headlight and straightened all the bent things. That engine still runs and looks great. And the tender coupler bracket on this S-1 is also held on by epoxy for years.

                              And… I should never have been messing around getting that box out of a place where trains were running nearby… unattended. I should have known better.

                              My next project will be very mundane and not in the least glamorous. I'm going to partially rip up the streets and "repave" them to repair the water damage. I've already pulled off the base plate for Nighthawks and Chocolate Shoppe, so I'll remove Gravely, the Fire house, Saulenas and the Sinclair Gas Station tomorrow so I can easily access the street.

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                              • P&PRR Odds and Ends

                                Tonight my wife, daughter and I had a rare pleasure. We attended a live concert by Steely Dan at the wonder Palace Theater in Downtown Louisville. They did not disappoint. Every musician in the band is a virtuoso, including Jon Herrington who plays lead guitar and has to be one of the most accomplished guitarists in the world. All their arrangements were brilliant and tight and the crowd loved it. I know I was enthralled. Steely Dan came on the scene after I was married and no longer playing professionally. Just now I trying to learn the lead on "Reeling in the Years."

                                Did a repair today on a very old friends MTH Premiere AC-5 SP Cab Forward. It was mistreated a bit by the grandkids. Not only are no parts apparently available, but neither are any MTH parts lists for this PS-1 version nor any of the later re-issues. The biggest problem was the eccentric crank on the front right engine set was fractured in half at the junction of the arm to the hub. The train store here or in Troy, MI where he lives were no help. I figured if I could get the crank off (both parts including the eccentric rod that is riveted to the arm) I could maybe repair it.

                                I got it all apart and drilled the hub with an 0.032" carbide drill and another in the severed arm. I needed to check the geometry before I dried the arm. As I suspected, it didn't come directly off, but had a crook bringing the eccentric arm connection point out and away from the hub. I compensated for this when I drilled the arm hole so when assembled the angle would be built in.

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                                I inserted a brass pin of the same size and put it all together with J-B Weld.

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                                I straightened all the deformed valve gear rods too. Tomorrow will tell if the repair is strong. I think it will be.

                                Speaking of repairs. The J-B Weld was fully cured holding the S-1's tender's bulkhead in place and it was as solid as a rock. If there's one thing wrong with this epoxy is that it takes at least a good 12 hours to get solid (and even longer). you have to patient, but you're rewarded with an amazing repair. I also found that the forward railing stanchions took a hit on the engine and they needed to be reattached. I was going to use J-B Weld for this, but tried medium CA and it worked okay. I then put it on the track and gave it a test run. Everything was back to normal. Whew!

                                I was running both the S-1 on the high speed loop, and the Allegheny on the inner one. The S-1 was significantly faster and they were running in opposite directions. I wanted to take a picture of the two meeting at the ravine and had to wait for a few rotations before they synchronized at the bridges.

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                                I then started ripping up the streets. I was able to peel the Bristol Board off using a putty knife without tearing it or ruining the foam subsurface. I didn't have to remove all the buildings which made it a bit easier (so far) since I'm doing this sitting on top of the layout. I hadn't gotten to the other end yet when I took this picture.

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                                Here's the old streets along with the Gravely Building which needs a little touch up due to roof damage from the plumbing moisture. I think I saved the "XING" stencil that I used 3 years ago when doing them originally. If I didn't, I'll make new ones since I still have the computer file that produced them.

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                                I didn't remove all the streets. It seems the cross-streets didn't delaminate like the main street did. I had one piece of Strathmore Bristol Board left and was able to trace the longest pieces and cut them out. I need to go to Michael's and get some more. I'm thinking about sealing both sides of the board with fixative before painting and gluing it down to make it a little less susceptible to moisture. It just an idea. And I'm using water-based acrylic paint which adds its own moisture.

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