A Multi-Pronged Assault

3D master model above
a wooden truck

Work progressed on several fronts this weekend. First, my son Chase was visiting and we fired up the vulcanizer and spin caster  to try making some cast metal freight car trucks. I have been working with Eric Cox at Panamint Models to develop an O scale truck. Eric did the master using a 3D software package and the Shapeways Printing Service.

The image at the left shows the 3D master compared to one of my wood trucks. I was concerned that the master was too wide. But the parts fit together amazing well. The precision of the 3D printer is impressive. Eric is also an excellent designer. The parts had all the correct detail.

The Ultra Frosted Detail resin from the 3d Printer survived the vulcanizing mold making process at 300 degrees F for three hours. However, the undercuts on the brake shoes caused them to rip off as we removed the softened resin from the mold.  After prepping the mold with gates and vents, we made about 15 pulls with white metal. The mold worked well, though we were getting some leaking near the end.

As cast parts. The bolster was too wide.

The casting had some flash, distortion and shrinking, so the parts did not fit as precisely as the master. But they looked great. As I suspected the master was too wide and the NWSL wheel sets barely fit in the truck.

I decided to laser cut new bolsters. They were 1.55 inches long and fit perfect. These are visible in the last truck photo. I drilled out the axle hole in the first truck I tried, so you can see the axle shaft. But I found out that wasn't necessary to clear the side frames. So the second truck has the journal caps in place.

Revised trucks with laser cut bolsters

 
I sent samples of the casting and two NWSL wheel sets to Eric so he can evaluate them.  He plans to revise the master to fit these wheel sets better.

The brake detail on these cars is great, but making the brakes work will be tricky.

I also learned that I needed to add insulating washers on the axles to prevent the outer face of the wheels from rubbing the side frame and causing a short.




Also arriving this weekend was a package from Brian Kammerer with a batch of twigs he found that have excellent branch detail. He had prepared them in glycerine and water. I let the twigs dry in the garage over night. Then I hit them with brown, khaki and black paint. I used some of them as background trees and to fill in some of the forest areas. They look great. Thanks Brian!

On the road show, I added the sub road bed for the tracks to the engine terminal.

My mom is working on revising the bunting. We replaced the earlier swags with a pleated skirting made with the red-white and blue with stars bunting. So far, everyone agrees that they look better.

If that wasn't enough we had golf lessons and I did a 10.25 mile run to prep for a half marathon next weekend. Whew! A busy weekend.

New bunting for the road show

First Op Session on the Road Show

It was ladies book club night again at the Dolkos House, so Paul discreetly slipped away to my house play trains with me. He brought a bunch of goodies with him, including some trees he built for his previous layout that he no longer needs. They will be used in the deep scene near Accokeek Creek.

He also had a copy of the current Popular Photography magazine where there is an article describing Paul's work as a model railroad photography specialist. That was very cool.

Paul working on the link and pin couplers at the depot track

With the niceties out of the way, I made up a switch list and put Paul to work doing a test session on the road show. It was an abbreviated session as the turntable is not yet in service.

Paul was able to switch seven cars using the battery powered Engine Whiton. It took him a bit of acclimation to get familiar with the link and pin couplers and the Stanton Throttle. But once he got the hang of it things went smoothly. Right at the end of the session car 1142 derailed on a switch. I pulled it off and it looks like one of the wheel sets was sticking. I added some lube and it was back in service. (Note: a day later I did some more testing and decided to swap out the problem truck with a new one. I am redesigning all my trucks to use NWSL wheel sets. Any that cause trouble will be replaced.)

Over all things worked well. Paul is taller than I. The valance is at an inconvenient height for him when he works the layout.  It might be possible to add extensions to the legs to raise it up a few inches. Right now the legs were limited by the need to fold into the benchwork. So the track is about 48 inches high. A few extra inches might help.

He suggested an extension of the shipyard siding onto the adjoining section to make room for another car.  That is a good idea that I thought about too and now plan to add.

We also looked at the configuration of the engine terminal tracks. We discussed adding a third radial track  to expand the capacity and making a two stall engine house. But then we came upon the idea of using just one track to the engine house but making it longer. In this scheme, an engine could be in the house and one on the approach track. This would also leave ample room for the water tank and wood rick between the approach track and the engine house. That seemed like the best solution.

A little garden work

Going static grass crazy. I also added sedum bushes to fill in the underground on the edge of the tree line.

This weekend gave us a little hint that spring might be on the way.  I helped AW do some yard chores including harvesting sedum and miniature crepe myrtle shrubs for use as scenery on the layout. 

Shoe box full of sedum

We had one large sedum plant that made many, many seed clusters. Unfortunately, AW accidentally discarded half of the total in the compost pile. But I was able to get enough flower clusters to fill two shoe boxes.

The sedum flower clusters have an incredible amount of fine textured branches terminating in the seed pods. You must remove the seed pods by gently rubbing them with your fingers. If the plants are dry, most of the seed pods easily fall off. Some of the branch texture invariably also falls off too, but usually there is enough left if you are careful to make decent O scale shrubs.

You can not use the flower clusters as finished trees as they have a flattened shape that resembles trees on the African savannah. But the individual twigs make great shrubs. I used one shoebox-worth to detail the area between Accokeek and Potomac Creeks.
The seed pods can also be used as leaf litter. I screen them in a strainer to remove the twigs. Them I put the seed pods in a blender to grind them finer.


We had less luck with the miniature crepe myrtles this year. They have gotten bigger and as a result, the twigs are too leggy. They no longer have the branch structure to make good O Scale armatures. I was able to use a few of them in the tree line.

Since the sedum were nicely dried out, I decided to try out them on the layout. While I was at it I added some Silfor Goldenrod plants along side the sedum bushes in select spots. I put the goldenrod in foreground locations so they would be obvious.

Static grass and goldenrod help detail the paddock near the mill.

Conductor Bisgeier admires the goldenrod plants

The area in the notch in the fence by the mill was a good spot for a dense thicket of sedum shrubs.

Finally I added static grass to several locations. Since my layout represents early April 1863, some of the grass would be starting to green up.

This kind of scenery work is my absolute favorite part of model railroading. It really makes the layout come to life. The new static  grass and Silfor products combined with natural materials can really be effective.

Goldenrod and sedum detail the slope around the culvert. The dry sedum is fragile so placing it in
foreground locations can be trouble.

As the table turns

The turntable for the road show is nearly done. I completed the pit and the bridge. Once the glue holding the pit in place dries, I'll be able to spike in the rail and finish up the track on the road show.

Sterling Models Trees

AW and I were in Florida last weekend to try to find some warm weather and play golf. But alas, mother nature didn't cooperate and it was down right cold. Even the birds were confused.

We returned home to find a large box from Sterling Models in the mail. I had ordered three yellow pine trees from them in November. Sterling Models is a husband and wife team that make trees and other scenery  items. They have a long backlog, so the trees just arrived nearly 5 months after I ordered them.

I was extremely impressed with the packaging. The trees were individually packed in custom fitted tubes with detailed instructions for unpacking, which included pulling a lanyard to pop certain glue joints. Very cool.

I temporarily placed the trees on the layout to see how they look.

I plan to order more. They are not inexpensive, but they do look good and save me a lot of time. I placed an order for 8 more.