Back To Scratchbuilding, For A Moment

(Announcer) "When we last left our newly moved model railroader, (me) his layout was in sections piled-up in his new, smaller basement and the pre-snow-outside house -projects "Honey-Do"list was growing by the minute...."

Well. I'm happy to report the outside projects are done, so let the snow fly...so far the weather has been sunny and cool - go figure! The inside projects list is getting addressed with caulk, Spackle and paint. In the spare moments of the day (ha) I have had a chance to work on my On30 2-8-0 logging locomotive conversion from HO scale. (See previous posts for background info.) I have had the forethought to actually document the process with photos so if I ever get around to putting together another "how-to" article for a modeling magazine, I'll have the "beginning construction" shots done.

To update the project, I have completed the locomotive's tender to the point of doing final gap-filling, detailing, testing the DCC and finally painting. I started by building an extended frame around and over the HO locomotive tender chassis using styrene strips, so the new 1/4-inch-scale width tender frame measured-out to about 7.5 feet. I'm still toying with the idea of replacing the small HO trucks with a set of On30 trucks and then somehow adapting them to pickup power from the rails like the HO ones do. In the meantime, the HO scale trucks will do just fine.

With razor saw in hand, the tender body was cut in half and all the un-needed plastic was cut, filed and sanded away. I cemented the sides to the new extended frame. The "stock" loco's wiring and DCC plug-in can be seen as well. Now, the fill in the gaps.

Above you can see a filler section bridging the gap between to two original rear tender sides. I also cut and added sand bins from an old Shay tender to this section to add interest and take the eye away from the gap. I did the same gap filling in front, but with more pieces to create a "walkway" over the mini plug that connects the loco wiring to the tender. (See other photo below) Once this stage in the construction was done, I tested the DCC and sound components into the enlarged tender body to see how everything would fit.

In the background of the above picture, you can see the tender's top deck section. This was built to be removable to access the DCC system. I cut a section of the old HO tender's top and water hatch and glued that to the new tender deck, as well as adding a fuel oil hatch. I want to get some of those Micro-Mark rivet decals to add details to the new tender and locomotive. Has anyone used them yet?

I'm going to have to mount a coupler pocket to the rear, but I guess I'll wait on that until I decide on the taller On30 trucks or not. The tender will get an operating rear headlight, as well as coupler lift bars, grab irons, steps and all the other detail goodies to bring it to life.

This tender has given me an opportunity to get my feet wet in the new scratch building project. Now onto the actual locomotive with the saddle tank, new cab, walkways and all the other doo-dads. I guess that means a trip to the on-line hobby shop!

Layout Height, Part 2

With a new layout on the drawing board...well, actually TWO new layouts in the planning stages, figuring out  track height is going to be a critical aspect of planning. My one limiting factor of the "lower-level" On30 layout in the new basement was a planned staging yard "wing" I envisioned over the laundry area of the basement on a narrow shelf. I have planned the same type staging yard wing for the HO "upper-level" layout where height will not be an issue at 65-inches above the floor. I measured our washer and dryer and they stand at just shy of 48-inches (4 feet) with the dryer sitting on a foot-tall platform adding to that height. That measures-out to be taller than my estimated On30 layout height of about 46-to-48-inches from the floor. Doing some quick math, this leaves about a foot and a half between bench work of the HO layout and rails of the On30 layout. Hmmm? Is this enough space between the two pikes?

Since the HO layout will be mostly narrow shelves above the On30 layout, it might not be as much of a concern as I think it might be. If I lower the On30 layout to say...40-inches...that will give me about 2-feet between the two layouts, better separation so the On30 layout wouldn't seem so "squashed" and wedged into too small of a space. But, with the On30 layout that low, I would run into issues in the laundry area staging getting it over the washer and dryer.

After pondering this, I have come up with an idea. Since I plan on building a new wall to separate the layout room from the rest of the basement and the laundry area, I could wrap a gentle curve through the new wall and mount the staging yard and turntable along the outside of the wall. Since I would like to include a turntable in the staging yard to spin steam locomotives for return trips into the main layout room, the wider shelf would work better along the new wall rather than over the washer and dryer area. With this plan, I would add a backdrop and scenery to the staging yard since it will be a predominate scene in the basement. This will give "visitors" a glimpse of what awaits behind the walls.

With that said, I could place the layout height at whatever I feel is comfortable for working and running trains. I'm still thinking about having the On30 layout operable from a rolling stool or tall office chair. That will make spending time in the train room more comfortable and enjoyable. Now, I need to start shopping for chairs or shop stools with a tape measure in hand to find one at the right height. Then I can zero-in on the final height to build the On30 layout bench work when I get to that phase of the new layout construction.

Critter Progress Update

Well, with all the other stuff going on I have been able to spend a few minutes at the work table this past week. Progress continues, albeit slowly, with my critter.

Using the Atlas HO scale S-1 power chassis, I've been spending some enjoyable hours scratch building the super structure for what will be a On30 logging switcher or possibly, with my newly developing layout scheme, the Pier 1 harbor docks switcher.

I don't claim to be an expert scratch builder and this little guy, although a far cry better than attempts at loco conversions from years past, will never pull in a blue ribbon at the modeling contest. But it's not being build to win contests. It's being built to operate and convey the hardscrabble life that early gas-mechanical and Diesel locomotive had in industrial settings. I would never attempt to scratch build a loco in HO scale for my Big Island Rail. Creating a cool, funky 'critter' for a imagined railroad. So far it's been a very fulfilling project and a test of my building and problem solving skills, for sure. Plus, the big challenge is building an locomotive with very few commercially produced, store-bought parts. There isn't a hobby (model train) shop anywhere to be found for miles. And with a very limited budget for trains right now, I've been searching my parts and junk drawers for everything and anything that would work on this engine.

As much as I'd love to spend a hundred bucks on this rebuild with all the "right" detail parts, etc., I'm almost imagineering a proper locomotive with shapes, forms and a few on-hand parts to convey that feeling described above. I have borrowed (scavenged) a few HO scale parts for the project, including air tanks and a pair of SP style barrel headlights which look right on scale with this loco. Everything else is styrene sheet stock and shapes ( "L" angle "I" beams, etc.).

For the loco "crew" I am re-purposing a 1/48-scale (?) Germany Army military seated figure for the engineer. I mean how many logging Hogheads carry side arms? Well, I'm actually going to have a rifle in the cab...just never know when you might encounter a big 'gator sunning itself on the tracks! The brakeman will be a commercially available O-scale figure left over from my On3 modeling days. He'll be leaning back against the cab bulkhead.

With the open cab of this critter, I had to build a three-sided box over the chassis to hide the motor and DCC stuff. It looks OK but does cut down on the spaciousness of the cab's interior. The cab has received a first coat of industrial green that looks pretty good and will hide some of the "flaws." I plan to add a lot of details parts to the interior, like the rifle, oil cans, chain, water jug and tools to help pull the eye to those items and not so much to the big motor box inside. Plus on a logging loco, the more clutter the better, right?

There won't be any "glass" in the window frames of the cab, since in the hot and humid environs of the swamp, the more air circulation the better. I might add some "screen" material to the openings and a tarp or two to help keep the rain out.

I'm installing the handrails now for the side walkways and the front and rear platforms and hand grabs for the cab. So far it's looks pretty good. I've also added some "nut/bolt/washer" details to the frame and pilots, some angle stock to the engine access doors for hinges and an exhaust stack from scrap and a hood air intake (winterization hatch) from one of my HO scale Diesels.

I'm itching to get it finished so I can get a coat of paint on the body. Not sure yet what color...yellow? Maybe orange-reddish? Something that kinda stands out in a realistic way...and certainly not black.

Then all that's has to be done is lengthen the headlight wire s to mount them in the headlight castings, (maybe put a light in the cab?) and install a sound unit and speaker (still scratching my head on how to get that speaker in the cab roof) and my On30 logging/Harbor switcher is ready for revenue service on my new layout!