Just a question regarding everyone's dedication to the hobby. Do you ever get what I'd call, "burn out"? That being when you loose interest in anything that you've done or need to do with your layout. Or have you gotten away from the hobby for other reasons at times, sometimes not touching your layout for a year or better. I'll leave this poll open, and you can check multiple things in the poll and comment as you would like, this is a topic for discussion.

I'm just curious, some folks go missing from Big Blue at times and come back, some never do. A few keep in touch but say they're too busy to do any modeling. So I ask, have you ever been burned out to where you've left the hobby, even if you've come back to it later?

OK, I'm a glutton for punishment, but I went and got a couple more of these wooden puzzle things. I'm kind of hooked, they are fun to build, require total concentration or you can screw up big time and so you shut out the rest of the world while you're working on them. Plus, when you're finished, you have something you can display.

This one is an old antique automobile built sometime around 1918. No particular model specified, but it looks close to what was sold back around then. It has a total of 298 parts and does not have any motive power, but that's OK. The steam engine did and the power train fell apart on it and so it wouldn't run. The machine gun however shot rubber bands and ejected "spent cartridges", and it did work.

I will try to remember to take progress photos, this one is of step one. There were nine sub-steps and 23 individual pieces for what looks like the beginning of the underside.

The goal:
   

The "how to":
   

Step 1 completed:
   

We're on!!!!!!   

We're looking forward to Daytona in 3 weeks!!  February 18th!!!!!

Reply here if you would like to join in!!!!
All you have to do is choose 3 drivers and check in to see your team's standings.

Remember this is only for bragging rights, no entry fees, no payments, no prizes!!

2813 moving away from the sanding tower.

Bruce

   

Long story short, I may have been using controllers that have too high a voltage for N scale. I had been using an older Tech II transformer that has an output of 20VDC and this may have burned out the motors of two of my locos.

I have ultra basic Railpower ones but they have an output of 15VDC -- is that still too high? What transformers would you recommend for N scale? 

I live in Canada but our products should be similar to the US's.

Thanks in advance.

Rob

WPMA-29 makes a pick up ay ACME.

Bruce

   

I have another car question, as the Big Blue folks have been helpful in the past.

About a week ago, our 2011 Mazda3 started making a very loud & noticeable scraping/rattling creaking noise coming from (I think) the front of the car. It mainly happens when driving slowly at 30 mph or less, especially when going over speedbumps. It's totally fine on the highway driving at 50-60 mph. 

I had the car diagnosed at our Mazda dealer yesterday. They said the #3 engine mount is failing as well as the transmission mount. This may or may not be the cause of the issue. But I did some googling, and consulted with a retired mechanic friend, and found out that these failing mounts could very well be the cause. As the mounts fail, various components in and around the engine become loose and rub against each other, thus making noise.

I had another mechanic friend look at it two days ago and he said the suspension was fine. The Mazda dealer also didn't see any obvious suspension problems. 

Does this make sense and has anyone else had similar engine/tranny mount problems with their cars?

Thanks in advance.

Rob

anyone have a lot of code 100 brass flex track that they would part with?
Jim

Christmas 2022 my family gave me a wooden steam engine to assemble. It was fun working on it and kept me occupied for quite a while. The progress from that project are in this thread, and here's the results:

   
 
This past Christmas, knowing that I like to target shoot, this time they gave me a machine gun to assemble. As I remember, that steam engine had about 300 pieces. I also remember that because of a problem with some loose parts in the drive spring assembly, the engine wouldn't run and I couldn't repair it unless I took the whole thing apart. I find that this gun has just about as many laser-cut parts, but the tolerances are a lot tighter, so parts fit a lot better. That being the case, and if I follow the instructions properly, there is hope that the gun will fire both rubber bands and wooden plugs when I finish the assembly.

I didn't think to take progression photos, so this is one after the fourth step. Just so you know, there are multiple steps in each step which is broken down in sub-assemblies. Step one has 24 separate steps and step 4 has 14. there are 8 main steps, than a few more to actually use it.


   

   

   

   

The tug Martha L moves a carfloat away from the Dock Street float bridge.

Bruce