The cons of contests

It is hard to believe that it has been 2.5 weeks since my last post. I'd planned to do so after the NMRA meeting, but that was delayed.

There was an incident with one of my entries (1st place, scratchbuilt). Someone managed to send it to the floor...and with its 1/2lb+ worth of weight, it landed hard. I'd requested a photo from one of the guys whom was taking such photos, but he hasn't returned my email (which is always annoying for someone like me whom strongly prefers email to phones). I was going to post once he sent me his photo...or at least gave me a response. (Edit: he was out of town, and isn't quite as addicted to email as I am)

Here's what the car looks like:


Isn't that pretty? It actually won't take me too long. I only used the PSC end beams because I was short on time and I hastily created the brass end rails. All were supposed to be temporary...and now they've been crushed. The body generally broke cleanly. Had the frame been attached to the body, I have no clue as to how she would have done (probably worse). Most of the steps were knocked off. Fortunately, the scratch built styrene roof was unscathed. Thank God. I'm planning a new display track which will anchor the cars so that such accidents can't happen.

In other news, I built a set of box step masters which were based on the 1879 South Park passenger car box steps. I did that on Thursday or so of the NMRA week. The mold was completed on Saturday morning and the first set of castings came out fine.


Here are the masters, prior to adding the hardware.


Here's what they look like on the baggage car. No, they aren't crooked...it's just the photo. It is actually a terrible photo of that car...a quick snapshot. The roof had smearing issues as I hastily painted it at 1am before the NMRA contest. The stuff I used, evidently, smears horribly even after it is dry...thank you Testors for reformulating Floquil!

The car is sitting on my new test track. I decided that it would be a good idea to evaluate this:




That's the overhang on a 36"R curve. Much better than the 27" and 30" curves of my existing, temporary layout. I'm looking to go with 42" as a minimum mainline radius for my future OR&L layout and either 42" or 36" min. main. rad. for my South Park line. My test board has the roadbed in place for 42"R and a line marked for 48"R. My layout, of course, handles 27"R and 30"R testing.

I'm probably going to see about modifying McHenry's HO talgo couplers into Link & Pin couplers for my passenger cars. They are about the same size and close in shape to the South Park's L&Ps. For my Oahu Railway cars, I'll be using Knuckle couplers so it won't be an issue (possibly PSC's brass couplers or some other non-Kadee couplers).

I managed to lay that track in a short time before dinner. I used a hot glue gun so that I didn't have to wait before spiking. Obviously, it isn't a good approach for a layout...but it worked well enough for track that won't be carrying trains.

I think I'm going to go ahead and build my master frame for the Oahu Railway coaches...I don't know when the photos will arrive, but I know the dimensions and spacing...so I can build it accurately.

Oahu Coach roof casting

I've been a month or more without a home for my casting. My previous location was the kitchen table...not a long term home nor a safe one. I can't use my desk, as I must pass through Liam's room to get there...and he is usually asleep when I want to do casting.

So, I cleaned up my basement workspace and it is now the home of my resin work.


I've generally found that the ultimate table protector is garbage bags. Neither silicone rubber nor polyurethane will stick to it...and it is a material we always have in the house.

Since I now have a home for it, I managed to prepare some new molds and make a few test castings.


This is the second casting from the interior wall mold. I like it. I may add coat hooks above each seat, per the prototype in the early days, using brass wire.


And this is an out of focus view of the first OR&L roof casting. It is a beauty. There is one air bubble along one of the ends which I'll probably fill for durability, as well as a portion of the sheathing which is a little thin and might get reinforced. The other defect is the swayback. While a swayback is a coveted feature amongst many model railroaders, I am not in that camp. I ought to be able to fix it with a little heat. The detail of the master has been nicely captured in this resin casting. In order to get one of these cars ready by next weekend, I may just fabricate a frame in styrene for the first car...and do the master & mold later.

Currently, a DSP&P 34' passenger car roof is curing in my other roof mold.