IRON RAILS 2015 GB

jibber

I was thinking about the gondola with the K-5, thats a big order. I'm looking at my Leopold in 1/72 and the 35 must be enormous. Is it going to be the two tone Yellow/Brown?

actually thinking typical 3 tone; yellow, green, brown. 38" long. 

Wayne i've finally found a HS about 30 mins from me and had the opportunity to see one in a box, theres certainly one in my future. Thinking about it, 38" of all Ger Grey would be a bit boring, I like the 3 tone pick.

I should finish up my Loco in a week or so. I have a few more smaller pieces such as rails, lights etc then weathering. I've already given it an oil wash and i'm thinking about a couple figures. I'll get a few pics up later.

jibber

Wayne i've finally found a HS about 30 mins from me and had the opportunity to see one in a box, theres certainly one in my future. Thinking about it, 38" of all Ger Grey would be a bit boring, I like the 3 tone pick.

figure my DORA would be all gray snd the steam locomotives are black and red or gray so why not. the oil washes will highlight the detail better too.

my harbor freight 3 gal tank compressor died this morning. really good death rattle. it was 6 years old. probably get another one since they are inexpensive and noise isn't an issue. spent 20 minutes connecting permutations and combinations of brass fitting thingies to my non variable back up compressor. i can wait for the next sale price as i am not doing detail work.

Starting on the decals. "Rader Rollen Fur Den Sieg" (Wheels Must Roll For Victory) Germany's motivational slogan. Terry

looks good Terry. i got the base almost done on my Gondola. what a PITA. not doing that again.i thought 1/72 kit rails were bad but these 1/35 are worse. for the same time i can lay my own faster and it will look much better.  the only difficulty is laying my own track is getting the second rail parallel.

Wayne I did something different this time with the rail kit, I think I showed it in tho string. I cut all the ties free of those connectors, then I took some stock styrene pieces and glues then under the openings then set the ties back in. What that did was set the ties even so the rails can slide through easier. I think I have a pic.

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In the first photo, I cut the connectors from each tie, then like I said, I glues some styrene lengthwise under the openings that gave me a solid base to push down each tie into the openings. In the second photo this is with the connectors before I cut them apart then finally after all I did you can see that the ties sit higher in the last photo that made it easy to slide through the rails. I know this isn't what the instructions tell you to do, but this works and looks better.   

That's a good idea on the ties. i put real gravel down first so had to scrape some off to slide the rails and broke a number of tie/rail connectors. to be honest  i don't see my RR gun sitting on the "standard" kit elevated rails.

Yeah I broke them off too, thats why I went to plan B. I do plan on building my own track but I just needed something to set it on to make sure I was square. Just need more bench time.

Wayne,

Were you saying that 1/72 scale track was equal to HO scale? I was going to start on my engine here soon and didn't want to just go out and buy some HO track willy nilly.

It's not, HO = 1/87, is slightly different. You can't just buy pieces of already made track, but you can buy HO rails and rail connectors then pu some basswood that is already to size and cut the ties to the right width. It's all quite cheap. If you want I can show photos of what you'll need and maybe Wayne can direct you to his local HS that deals in RR stuff. Once you get these parts, you'd have to put it on a piece of board. I would also pu a piece of RR cork that they use for under the track to push the tiny pins into to hold the cleats. It also raises it off the board and allows you to put some ballast in.

MC just check some sites on Ebay and you'll see whats out there, thats where I picked mine up at and each of these items are relatively cheap. I have the dimension you'll need for the basswood ties if you want them.  

Terry

Yes, I would like all the info you have. The 360 engine will be pulling the Morser Karl so I'm looking at a good 2 1/2 to 3 ft of track. Putting the two kits rails together will just not work, so I need to come up with something.

jibber

It's not, HO = 1/87, is slightly different. You can't just buy pieces of already made track, but you can buy HO rails and rail connectors then pu some basswood that is already to size and cut the ties to the right width. It's all quite cheap. If you want I can show photos of what you'll need and maybe Wayne can direct you to his local HS that deals in RR stuff. Once you get these parts, you'd have to put it on a piece of board. I would also pu a piece of RR cork that they use for under the track to push the tiny pins into to hold the cleats. It also raises it off the board and allows you to put some ballast in.

MC just check some sites on Ebay and you'll see whats out there, thats where I picked mine up at and each of these items are relatively cheap. I have the dimension you'll need for the basswood ties if you want them.  

Terry

what he said.

i superglued the second rail before spiking it. that is the hardest part because there is little room for error. someone at IPMS last night suggested building the car then turning it over and glue the rails to the wheels BEFORE attaching the rails (with car attached) to the ties. with a one car/engine display this sounds great with multiple cars it could get tricky but the rails would damned sure be parallel

assuming the doctor fugues out this cold thingie, i will be cleaning off a workstation to start building 1/35 rai;s. think i will do a short one for the gondola with lots pf pics for a tutorial. 

remember not every track laid is going to have the "elevated" ballasted bed. some will be more hastily laid, some will be in a railyard so flat with some gravel and concrete.

I hope you get better, thats lasted a while now. Thats an interesting idea about attaching the rails to the car, have to think about that.

jibber

I hope you get better, thats lasted a while now. Thats an interesting idea about attaching the rails to the car, have to think about that.

given i played an hour of racquetball, doing ok. doc gave me some sinus spray steroids and some otc stuff and said nothing serious. she wants to go shooting on a tuesday ladies night at my range (she has a springfield). so i should be back to my effervescent self in a few days.

Gondola is almost done. the side bars till need to be sanded a bit more so they slide in easier. that is why the sides aren't flush and some of the brackets are not painted. they are removaable and i haven't decided if they will be on or not. the color is VALLEJO AIR german gray with a couple of slightly lighter streaks along the bed where light armor would sit. it's washed with artist oil burnt umber. the couplers fit together by thick paint on holes and pins so i can move them to couple to another car. the air hoses are not attached for the same reason.

the kit track will be replaced.

That looks incredible Wayne.

hey MC thanks

just realized i washed it before putting on the decals. i always do that. have to make a big note. easy enough to fix. got a new compressor today too.

here are the part sprues for the K-5. some of the bags have 2 or 4 identical sprues. guess i best be really good at sanding cylinders.

Wow, thats a lot of parts and I suspect some repetition, this is one I'm waiting for. Wayne the Gondola looks great, very nice job on it.  

Well, I guess I'm going to have to drop out of this group build. I was straightening the chassis for my Stephenson's Rocket and this is the result.

I used the old goose-neck lamp trick to heat the part. It has worked for me in the past. I guess some formulations of polystyrene have a lower glass transition temp than others. Sigh.

HT thats terrible but looking at it, I think it wouldn't be a tough piece to scratch out. As long as the rest of the kit is all right you could do it in a couple pieces then connect them, you'd just need a sheet of stock styrene. I thought that was the coolest, I hate to see it go.

Thanks HT.

jibber

HT thats terrible but looking at it, I think it wouldn't be a tough piece to scratch out. As long as the rest of the kit is all right you could do it in a couple pieces then connect them, you'd just need a sheet of stock styrene. I thought that was the coolest, I hate to see it go.

Thanks HT.

I thought about scratching a new one, but the big hurdle is the dimensions. The piece has shrunk quite a bit, so its dimensions are no longer accurate. I'm afraid if I build a new one the size will be wrong, and all the pieces that attach to it won't fit correctly. Let me see if I can find some scale drawings and try to re-construct it. Maybe I'm not out of it yet. Maybe all I need is encouragement.

jibber

HT thats terrible but looking at it, I think it wouldn't be a tough piece to scratch out. As long as the rest of the kit is all right you could do it in a couple pieces then connect them, you'd just need a sheet of stock styrene. I thought that was the coolest, I hate to see it go.

HT me too. since it's the chassis how much is actually seen? details mat not be as important. is it possible to build the top parts and then measure for the dimensions for the chassis. i have no knowledge of this kit so have no idea if any of this is possible.

TERRY yes the trucks are identical until the top. lots of plastic in the track i won't be using.

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I'm in final assembly, but a few smaller pieces like railings still have to be placed. I tried to test fit the roof and found I have a little warpage. This will take some work but I'm sure I can get it to set in correctly. I mortified that the decals haven't set right. They went in without any problems but i've tried everything to get them to set without showing the edging. I've used Micro Set and Solvaset and they've snuggled right down but I can't get rid of the silvering. I gave a thought to try and remove them but when I tried to pick off one of the corners, I found that its firmly in place and if I tried to remove it I'd have a real mess. So I'll suffer through it and try to weather around it. I think they're just a thick decal and not much I could have done with them.

that is looking nice Terry. i just realized i weathered my gondola before putting decals on. i do that a lot it seems.i picked up some G scale rails and a section of G scale track. it's too wide and i'm not sure if the rails look too big. they seem to be about the same amount bigger than 1/35 as O gauge is smaller. pity. if they worked i was going to get some curved sections. also picked up a truck on sale in case i upload ammo from it instead of gondola.

i may still go with the O gauge rail. it would be easier to get straight and might look better given how big the wheels are.

Wayne I think O Gauge works, it might be a little smaller but better slightly smaller than too big.

jibber

Wayne I think O Gauge works, it might be a little smaller but better slightly smaller than too big.

pics. remember the G rail would be all rusted up too which may make it look smaller. also a little more room for error and easier to spike and most of it will be under the cars. and i can add some grass to hide some a bit too. have IPMS party tonight so can sleep on it. just checked and i have a boat load of HO rails 

top to bottom G, O, kit

car on G and O

maybe i'll do a layout with the G for a single car (have a rail autoblinda in the stash and a BTTF 3 deloreon) and see how well i can rust it up and ease of construction. indecision is the key to flexibility.

I checked dozens of stock photos and G definitely looks closer and like you said, once its weathered it'll look a bit smaller.

jibber

I checked dozens of stock photos and G definitely looks closer and like you said, once its weathered it'll look a bit smaller.

hey Terry

good IPMS party last night. going to hit Caboose Hobbies downtown when they open and look at other G rails. they may have some "weathered" ones. think i will get slightly larger basswood strips too. have 1/4 x 1/4 which seems tall but after clay base and turf/ballast will be fine. will look for 5/16 wide and get some spikes too.

can you do me a favor and scan in and post here the decal instructions for the low side gondola?

Wayne sorry, I haven't bought the gondola yet, i'm thinking about something else to replace it. Didn't somebody here just do one?

found it. got decals on tonight, new rails primed and new basswood strips for ties stained. may work on base on monday after racquetball but have 3 weeks to finish BM-21 having lost a month to weather, cold illness, and blown compressor plus a number of classes.

will let it dry 24 hours before re oil washing and paint touch up. will call it done.