Over 160 years ago the Schooner Yacht America ( the model of it, above ) won the first of what became the " America's Cup Race" for over 160 Years, once every four years, that race has been rerun, always on Salt water.
This year the race will run again, but this time on Lake Michigan, just off the Chicago shore. The first time ever on Fresh Water.
The vessels have changed over the years, from the schooners, to Twelve Meter yachts, to ( another first ) Catamarans.....
On Hydrofoils !! hock: I have seen a few "previews" of the Cats, up on the foils of one of the two hulls, with the crew all standing on the rail of the hull out of the water, leaning straight out held by lines, apparently from the top of the mast.
OK it may not be on Salt Water, but I have a feeling that this year will be the most spectacular "cup race" EVER.

The usual Athearn PCB designed for 1.5 Volt bulbs can be easy modified to be used with LEDs too. Just unsolder the white (front) and yellow (rear) wires from the DCC decoder plug and connect them directly via a 1kOhm resister to the _N_ connectors at the ends of PCB. Just two minutes and you are ready to install your preferred LEDs into the Athearn shell.

I do not use the 9 pin connector more usual in north america but it should be possible too to "steal" the white and yellow cables from the 9 pin connector and route them via the 1kOhm resistors to the _N_ connectors on the PCB.

IMG_4785 by faraway52, on Flickr

He would pay for his share of details and parts, and in return for the work I was to keep one of them. I didn't think too long and so it was that I went home with two Lifelike Proto 2000 GP30s, one KCS and the other B&O.

The first job was to strip all the paint of both units, then add details as appropriate for SP/SSW GP30's.

Here's the start of the job with the most tell tale detail, the nose light packages: Nose job GP30's by Koos, on Flickr


A couple of months later, I was ready to paint, and so the SP grey was applied after the Scarlet red was painted on front and rear and masked off.
Pictures assorted by Koos, on Flickr

A few weeks later, I was making good progress on decals, and their identities became more apparent.
Pictures assorted by Koos, on Flickr

I have 2 Proto 1000 PRR C-liners A units that I am beginning to add some detailing to. Can anyone suggest a make of diaphragms I could add to these units?

Thanks,
Mark

Coal and Steel Railroad op session on Sunday with Bill and David. They came over and we ran most of the trains.
Note; The car movement cards work. There are two more things I need to improve on my layout.
1. Job card
2. Standardize switch controls.

pictures of the op sessions here <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/25283">http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/25283</a><!-- m -->

This diagram shows the main components (from bottom to top) frame, support, and foam.

The dimensions:

Foam - 2" thick extruded foam, 22.5"W x 3'10.5"L

Support - 1/4" plywood, 22.5"W x 3'10.5"L
Cut the supports for underneath from the rectangles cut out of the middle of the support layer plywood.

Frame is constructed of 1x4 or 1x5 (nominal) pine. The end plates are the full 24" width, with the sides 3'10.5" (since 1x wood is actually only 3/4" thick).

Glue and screw the wood frame together. Using a large flat surface like a table or floor, turn it so it is "upside down" and fit the foam in to the bottom. This will ensure that the top is flat when you turn it back over.

Fit the support rectangle in against the foam, and glue with something like Gorilla glue that will bond the foam to the wood. Be careful because the Gorilla glue expands as it cures, and can push things out of alignment.

Lastly, add the strips up against the support layer.

There are many ways to wire, connect track, and join the modules together. Some people add alignment pins and so on to ensure they go together precisely every time.

Andrew

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Just and inquiry, but is anyone getting email notifications about any new PM's? We fixed the notification issue a while back, but I've been getting notifications for things like thread subscription activity, but not when someone sends me an email. I do get the popup when I come here, just not the email. Remember, you can select whether to get them or not in your profile. If this is a common problem, I'll let Packey know and see if he can't fix it. I hate it when things like this break.

Anybody make use of fake spurs, i.e. a section of track with no connection(s) to the rest of the layout?

Since I have no room for staging on my temporary shelfie and my team track can't handle more cars, I'm thinking about adding a fake spur for car storage / display rather than store cars in boxes. And I'm too lazy to build staging cassettes. It would be on one side of the layout where I'll probably put a highway overpass or something to disguise falling off the edge of the world.

Lesson learned though - I definitely will plan ample staging when I start building the "permanent" ISL.