The Ndecisive Modeler

The need for more space in the house is upon us, and has required I rethink my layout plans. I no longer have space for a permanent layout and the River Valley Central has been abandon, the right of way turned back to the planning commission. I peeled up all the track, fortunately I had not ballasted much yet so most of it was salvageable. The pink foam was reclaimed, and the bench work sawed into fire pit size chunks.

I'm staying with N scale however. Throughout my layout planning I gradually moved from switching operations which turns out I am not at all interested in to a railfan type plan that is much more suited to my interests. I've also discovered that i really like building models, maybe more so than actually railroading. I like building structures, painting and weathering freight cars and locomotives. I do need some kind of layout though for the occasional therapy session and photography. The stark white work bench top is a great work surface but a terrible photo backdrop.

Armed with these "givens and druthers" and having seen some neat T-Trak modules from a couple of different clubs, it seems T-Trak might be a good way to feed my inner layout monster for a while. They're easily broken apart and stored, Kato Unitrack is bullet proof, each module can be it's own scene for photographing models or connected together for some railfanning, and each section can be completed independent of other sections helping relieve the "Oh god there's sooo much to do" procrastination.

All that said, I bring to you now the Ndecisive Modeler so you can follow along as I waffle between projects and ideas.

Teaching Myself Illustrator (Spoiler Alert)

The past week or so I've been teaching myself Adobe Illustrator for laying out custom decals for the DME 2nd Hand project, and others. Nothing terribly fancy, just learning to use layers and how to have text follow a path. Here's a preview of the sheet I'm working on. Spoiler alert: There are some markings on this sheet for a couple future projects, I figured if I'm going to have decals printed I may as well get a bunch done at once. There is a little more to add yet though, so I'm not spilling the whole thing!

DME 2nd Hand Diesels: Paint Shop

Both units went through the paint shop. I used craft paint sprayed with an airbrush on both, specifically Apple Barrel Pale Daffodil, Kelly Green (with a drip of black), Apricot, and Black (with a drip of Pavement). It went on very smooth and even, I was quite impressed. At less than $1/bottle it was a real bargain. I've just about moved entirely away from "model" paints, there just isn't any value in a $5 teeny jar of paint I have to drive 100 miles round trip for. To get it to blow out the air brush I thinned it just a bit with Windex, until it was about whole milk or maybe chocolate milk consistency. I did forget to give the nose of 555 the 'bandit' treatment, and did the top of 6606's nose with green though it should probably be all yellow. Those should be easy to fix. All in all quite pleased so far!

DME 2nd Hand Diesels: Fiddly Bits

A package of fiddly bits arrived from Fifer Hobby. Inside were BLMA cut levers, MU hoses and snow plows. I'm not sure I'd bother with the cut levers again, they are so thin and dainty compared to the hand rails and other details you almost can't see them. They are also a real bitch to bend and install. The MU hoses are a nice touch though, and the plows essential for these units.

Also arriving from Canada were a pair of Miniatures by Eric winter hatches. These are very nice cast brass pieces with very little flash other than the casting nub. They also came with very fine wire mesh for the openings.

That should about do it, after fighting the cut levers I'm not going to bother with lift rings or grab irons and stuff. My eyes just don't see that stuff when it's rolling around the layout, but my fingers somehow manage to bend and break stuff anyway. I do have horns to go on after painting is over and I'm done man handling them.

DME 2nd Hand Diesels: Chopped and Stacked

Both units needed some attention in the exhaust stack area, the 555 needs two additional stacks and the 6606 needed them moved on top of the dynamic brake housing. I decided to dabble in resin casting and make copies of an exhaust stack on the non-dynamic hood. I used a basic Alumilite Mini Casting Kit. The results are much better than I would have guessed and it was very easy. The biggest lesson learned was that when casting such a tiny part it is nearly impossible to mix a tiny amount of resin correctly, and there is mucho wasteo. If I ever need to duplicate a part again I'll wait until I have several molds to fill.

Both units got their noses chopped and cabs loosely fitted. The gear tower on the Life Like mechanism is very tall and as a result the hoods are about 1mm too high, but at normal viewing distance and angles it is hard to tell so it fits the "good enough" criteria for me.

DME 2nd Hand Diesels

I haven't finished dirtying up the covered hopper fleet yet but I will some day... Until then, I dug out some Life Like SD9's to give some special treatment to. They'll be converted into a tired DM&E SD9 and SD10. This is a project I've wanted to do for quite a while, and the folks over at nscale.net are having a fall kitbashing party so it seemed an appropriate time to start these. Life Like is probably not a good starting point for such a project but it's what I have so it'll have to do.

The SD9 will be number 6606 that had its nose cut down in one of CNW's rebuilding programs. I plan to use an Atlas SD26 low nose cab. For the SD10 I'm taking the easy way out and will be doing 555, A MILW rebuild that was wrecked and rebuilt again with GP35 cab parts. Easy peasy, I happen to have a cab from a busted Kato GP50 shell. The air filter for 555 I'm particularly fond of, I measured a Detail Associates HO air filter and drew it in Sketchup, then uploaded the drawing to Shapeways. It's crude but effective.

Reality Bites

The plan all along has been to work this little layout for two eras or more. Late 1970's and late 1980's for sure, with maybe a late 90's thrown in now and then. The area I'm modeling stayed roughly the same during this time. The only distinctive change was 1986 when C&NW sold it's Winona, MN to Rapid City, SD line to a group of investors who started DM&E. At that time DM&E didn't have any rolling stock of their own and relied on a lease agreement with C&NW. DM&E did get several locomotives from C&NW, and bought several more from SOO. To pull off my dual era all I need is a change in locomotives. For the C&NW roster an array of beat up Alcos will make it clear we're looking at the end of an era, and for DM&E a couple of raggedy SD9s and 10s should be enough indicate the beginning of another. The DM&E will also roster an SD40-2 in new blue and yellow paint.

The C&NW roster shouldn't have any problem negotiating the tight curves planned. The problem comes when I skip ahead 10 years and try to run the DM&E Severe Duty power. The SD9 and 10 might negotiate the 9 3/4" curve and tight #4s in the staging yard, but I'm fairly certain the SD40-2 isn't going to like that and now is the time to do something about it. At best it will probably pull the car behind it off, and at worst the whole train will flop off the rails and onto the floor. This saddens me a bit, because I had intended to lay all the track using stuff I already have, some of it from my first trainset. Something's got to give though, and unfortunately this track is out.

Pulling the plug on trying to build this without buying any track means there is a great deal more flexibility in how the plan can come together. The new plan features 12 1/2" and 13 3/4 for the two big turns and 15" for the S to the elevator tracks. Not large by any means, but way bigger than 9 3/4 and big enough the SD40-2 should be able to make it through with cars in tow.

Those large curves eat up a lot of space, no longer a 30"x80" it has been stretched out to 36"x96". It is amazing how much more railroad can fit with just a few more sq.ft. The return of the switchback is unfortunate, but not a show stopper. I anticipate the elevator switch engine will be parked somewhere along the spur to the right. The road power will deliver cars to the elevator in 3-4 car cuts and it will be up to the elevator crew to get them all spotted under the loader. That operating change should make the switchback be less cumbersome. The road power won't ever be zig zagging through it, and the elevator switcher won't ever leave it. The angle of the switchback spur is open to debate, it doesn't look right as is. Staging capacity has been increased by a car length or so, and new to the plan is a locomotive staging yard. I think my favorite change is the flowing mainline vs the Bowman Gray stadium.

I still have all the new track I bought for my attempt at a shelf switching layout, but quite a bit more will be needed. Thankfully the Atlas Track Famine has passed and I should have no problem locating the rest of it. Cost will be an issue however, as I've gone from having near zero cost for track to several hundred dollars of track. Because if this I've decided to break it down into more affordable chunks. The main loop will be laid, followed by the industry spurs and interchange, and finally the staging yards. The main loop is key, because getting it to a point where trains can run, even if just a loop, is a huge motivator.