Adventures on the Kennebec Central Continue

I continue to utilize my new 3D printer for some really fun two foot cars. I've always thought that some Kennebec Central opening side door gondolas would be really neat to build. A challenge for sure but really neat. As I learn how to use my printer settings and the best ways to arrange and modify supports (the things that hold your model off the build plate while it is printing), I'm making some really cool cars.

A big THANK YOU to Chris Schmuck! Chris has posted some amazing stl files on Thingaverse and allowed others to print them. Designing in 3D is rather difficult and time consuming. His work is excellent and scales up from HOn30 to On30 or On2 very, very nicely. Here's the latest prints. Some slight modifications to the bolsters and coupler pockets. 

Basically this car is printed entirely in one go. The only details that are added are: queen posts, turnbuckles, truss rods, brake wheel, brake staff, a rod in the middle, couples and trucks. Clean up was easy though I did have to heat the car in hot water and carefully bend. The truss rods put a bit of pressure on the car, so I'm sure it won't dip but it may bend up! We'll see what happens over time. Two prints, one On30 using Chris's trucks and one in On3 using GrandtLine trucks. 

On30 K&C Short Gondola 

On2 K&C Short Gondola

More Horses......

 Finished up a horse and buggy for the Albion module. The idea came from a picture of a horse and buggy at Heat Tide station. Horse is from Berkshire Valley Models and the buggy is from Grizzly Mountain Engineering. Something a little fun for February.

New Cars for the WW&F

I was quite surprised to see several ON2 WW&F Mount Blue Model kits at the Narrow Gauge Convention in Hickory, NC, of course, I had to pick them up! I'd seen them listed as "Coming Soon in On2" for the last few years and I guess had quit checking the website. A pleasant surprise for me! I picked up kits for box car 80-82, box car 306-319 and way car 303. Wonderful kits that are well thought out, relatively easy to construct and really neat to see how the owner used laser cut parts to make a prototype model. My new favorite kit manufacturer! Well, right up there with Train Troll for well designed, complete kits. 

The cars have an interior if you want to leave the doos open. Here is a a start of one of the 300 series within the first day of construction.

How cool is this. The end beans are mortised to accept the sills. Helps for a quick and square assembly. LOVED this!

Overall the instructions were very good. Only one area they fell short. The suggestion is to use Kadee #5 couplers and there is a really cool system for mounting couplers without the plastic box. Only one problem, the coupler body and spring, or brass spring system for #5's, won't fit between the sills. Maybe there is a way to do it but no mention in the instructions. So, I cut the ends and installed mine the traditional way. 

All that is left is to do a little paint touch up work, number and weather these great kits. More rolling stock for the Albion module!

41st Narrow Gauge Convention, Hickory, NC

Last week, I managed to attend two days of the 41st Narrow Gauge Convention in Hickory, NC. A wonderful time with lots of cool models, vendors, and clinics. Due to my short time there, I did not get to see all the wonderful clinics or travel to any of the home layouts. I did, however, manage to present my two clinics, one on the Albion module and one on the Cairo and Kanawha and the Mountain Central. I actually met two folks interested in the history of the Mountain Central and one modeling the WW&F in On30!

Highlights included hanging out and catching up with modeling friends I haven't seen in a long time, attending Pete Leach's backdrop painting clinic and buying some WW&F kits that I didn't know were out!

Here's some photo's to give you the flavor of the event.

Two nice On3 2-8-0's

West Virginia Midland Baggage Car!

The EBT On3 Module

Pete Leach's Backdrop Clinic

My backdrop completed with a few comments from the peanut gallery

The contest room

If only these were used in the mountains!

Tom's 2nd place train!

Another EBT car and Starting Portland Locomotive Works RPO

While I am still working on painting several of the kits that I built over the summer, I recently started a kit that I have long been putting off. Not exactly sure how I decided to start this kit, regardless, I did and managed to get it finished without the expected major difficulty.

A few years ago, I picked up some PSC EBT hopper car kits for a friend that was looking to pass them on to another Eastern narrow gauge modeler. At the time, I was very concerned about the heat flow through the pieces and that what I had soldered would come un-soldered as I worked on other portions of car. 

I used a standard, large soldering iron tip for the majority of the model. Interestingly the large tip put a lot of heat in the think metal exactly where I needed it, without having it transfer to other areas. This worked so well, that I even used the large tip for most smaller details. I did use a small round tip for some of the brake details and twice used a resistance soldering unit. I'm guessing this worked well due to the small size of the parts and the thinness of the the brass sheet parts?

The most difficult parts were the steps for the brake wheel and the supporting brakes. I may redo these at some point. The car is essentially finished except for more cleaning of overdone soldering joints. I'm going to take a breather before the finishing touches. 

I think the car came out fairly well; however, I would say for the price, the pain and the time, the Bachmann On30 cars convert to On3 MUCH more easily!

This weekend, I started the Portland Locomotive Works WW&F RPO. The assemble has gone VERY quickly, as it is so similar to the passenger car kits that they produce. Waiting for the paint to dry for the next coat, then the gloss coat. The roof needs the trim over the doors that prevents water running down. More soon.........

Boxcar 312 and Shadow Box for the Arroyo

WW&F On2

I recently finished my version of WW&F boxcar 312. The car was one that had it's roof raised and there were lateral side boards on the top of the car on one side and the other had them only on one side of the door. Interesting kitbash. I started with a TrainTroll WW&F 309 boxcar kit and modified it a little. Why? Well, I thought the kit was great and would make a great Christmas gift. I think it came out quite well.

Arroyo Tram On30

I have also been working on getting the much needed backdrop up on the Arroyo Tram. I've added LED lights and and a "Shadow Box" style valence. Lesson I learned the hard way: I tried to get the same LED's as used on my WW&F module. Oops! I got ALMOST the same thing. Turns out these are 60 LED per meter not 120 per meter! Makes a big difference in the brightness. Too many variables with these things. Type of LED, color, dimming, and how many per meter. Regardless, having something blue in the background really looks much better than cinder block wall and the painted valence makes it look for finished. More backdrop painting to come. Mountains and stuff. Maybe I'll procrastinate a while...........

Powering the Albion Turntable

The question arouse on how I powered the Albion turntable. While NOT the ideal solution for a DDC system, this seemed like a simple solution and one that I find works well enough for my small layout operation. The idea for building the spider and powering the turntable originated from and article by Russ Watson in the 2010 On30 Annual.

 

I had to read the article VERY carefully and several times on how to set up the telescoping tubing. I think I did use slightly different sized tubing or a slightly different arrangement in the tubing.

Here is a picture of the spider I built. Only difference from the article is aluminum tubing and brass wheels.

Here is a video link to how it works and the associated momentary"short" that occurs. Not ideal but seems to work. May not be so good for system that uses a motor to turn the table. Two suggestions to stop the short would be: 1) a larger insulated gap between the split brass tubing and 20 smaller diameter wire. With Stay-Alive capacitors, I think a bigger gap would not cause a problem. One more thing to try........

 

Here is a video of the spider and tubing:

I hope this helps those who asked about it. For those who have a better solution, I'd love to hear about it, please leave a comment.

Albion Get's a Flanger!

 Just in time for winter snow, Albion has a new flanger. The WW&F always kept a plow and flanger in Wiscasset and in Albion just in case. While this particular flanger usually stays in Wiscasset, today its in Albion. The flanger started out as a Sandy River Car kit but most of the scribed siding had to be replaced as it was improperly cut. I added interior details based on the drawings in the WW&F book set. I think it makes a nice addition to the scene. Now, to make those small side windows......

 

Upper Wiscasset Gets a Car Shed

 I recently finished the car shed for the upper yard in Wiscasset, otherwise known as staging. The car shed existed sometime between 1900 to sometime prior to 1910 when it burned down. After the WW&F lost the coal contract withe the woolen mill in North Vasselboro, they built a coal shed on the site. While I am modeling a time when it is likely the car shed had already burned down, it was a convenient structure to have on the module for.......storing cars. Yes, the shed was painted yellow, I actually used a more toned down yellow as bright yellow was just too much! The structure has been done for a little while, however, I just completed the window glazing.

 Here are some shots from while it was under construction