[PRCo] Re: models

[BobDietrich]

Yes, I have two cats in the house.  They really like to floss on the
overhead wire.  My solution was to wall-off half the basement and keep them
out of the layout room.

I tried making overgrown track with mixed results.  You'll see here that
after setting the ballast I planted some grass then added small foliage
clumps and straw grass.  http://www.dietrichsfam.com/shj/scene006.htm.  The
best solution is the Faller static grass that stands on end but I'm not
ready to part with $100 for the static machine that could shock me.  There
is a fairly new product called Silflor (sic) that may make nice clumps of
weeds.  But getting weeds on the tracks is not the real problem; it is
keeping them there.  I have two cars on the workbench waiting for me to
remove the "scenery" from the gears.  Many new HO models have open gears
under the trucks that like to grab whatever lies beneath them.

BTW I just came back from the fabric store with elastic thread.  I'll see
how it works.

Bob 

-----Original Message-----
From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org
[mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org] On Behalf Of
Schneider Fred
Sent: Thursday, January 08, 2009 10:37 AM
To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
Subject: [PRCo] Re: models

As Dietrich, he has.

The other thing I've razzed Dietrich about is making weed grown  
track.   Do you take glue, spread it between the ties, and then  
suspend cheap paint brushes in the glue, then cut off the paint  
brushes and run an electric razor over them to even them up?   And  
how do you make poison ivy grown track?   In N gauge yet?

Fred Schneider

On Jan 8, 2009, at 10:14 AM, Ken and Tracie wrote:

> Happy New Year, Bob.
>
> Relax,  my reply was tongue-in-cheek. I wasn't thinking about you  
> when I
> posted that. I know you'll get around to casting those crossarms.
> Incidentally, my real ones have "PRCO" cast into them.
>
> Along the same line of thinking, I am wondering how we can model  
> trackage in
> need of repair and have our models still run without derailing?
>
> But you are correct, model feeder would be in the way of handling  
> the cars
> and the scenery, especially with a module layout which is  
> frequently moved.
>
> There is no miracle material to model feeder cables. Yarn can be  
> made to
> represent peeling insulation, but it snags and holds dust. Regular
> automotive wiring with peeling insulation glued on? Perhaps  
> weathered with
> some gray paint. I wonder if that would work?
>
> But wouldn't all that cable cluster up the layout, as we look down  
> upon the
> action , rather than seeing it at eye-level as in the case of the  
> prototype?
> Feeder cable out along the lines should be relatively easy, as  
> there were
> usually just one to four thinner cables along the route. South Hills
> Junction's maze of feeders was like a box of snakes during the  
> streetcar
> era.
>
> BTW, has anybody here ever tried to string model trolley wire with  
> a cat in
> the house?
>
> K.
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "BobDietrich" <bob.dietrich1 at verizon.net>
> To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
> Sent: Thursday, January 08, 2009 6:47 AM
> Subject: [PRCo] Re: models
>
>
>> Ken:
>>
>> You sent me pictures and plans for the cross arms s couple of  
>> years ago
>> and
>> I still intend to cast some.  My real issue is with the feeder  
>> cables.  I
>> don't know how to model heavy, sagging, cables with insulation  
>> falling
>> off.
>> It must be capable of taking the abuse of a hand reaching down to  
>> re-rail
>> a
>> wayward car or replace some scenery.  The only modeling product I  
>> know of
>> that will take that is the spandex thread but what I've seen is  
>> too thin
>> and
>> won't sag properly.  Maybe I need a trip to a fabric store to find a
>> heavier
>> thread, then pull it taunt and forget the sagging.
>>
>> Maybe you got me off dead center on this one.  I'll at least start  
>> on the
>> cross-arms.
>>
>> Bob
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org
>> [mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org] On Behalf  
>> Of Ken
>> and
>> Tracie
>> Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2009 1:27 PM
>> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>> Subject: [PRCo] Re: models
>>
>> I can be "picking nits", too. Nobody seems to want to acknowledge  
>> feeder
>> cables, or even just mount the crossarms to their layout's line  
>> poles.
>>
>> I have some PRCO feeder cable brackets which I can photograph and  
>> provide
>> dimensions to the more daring modelers.
>>
>> K.
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Schneider Fred" <fwschneider at comcast.net>
>> To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
>> Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2009 12:59 PM
>> Subject: [PRCo] Re: models
>>
>>
>>> What Fred Schneider finds particularly inspiring about this car is
>>> that the builder put a motorman in the cab.   When it is run on the
>>> model pike, one does not wonder who the ghost is that is running
>>> it.   It looks realistic.
>>> I know.   I'm picking nits.   But it seems so strange to me to have
>>> trolleys or trains running on our railroads without engineman,
>>> fireman, motorman but we'll put passengers in the coaches and people
>>> on the streets.
>>>
>>> On Jan 6, 2009, at 12:37 PM, Phillip Clark Campbell wrote:
>>>
>>>>> ----- Original Message ----
>>>>
>>>>> From: BobDietrich <bob.dietrich1 at verizon.net>
>>>>> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>>>>> Sent: Monday, January 5, 2009 12:27:47 PM
>>>>> Subject: [PRCo] Re: models
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> -- URL : http://lists.dementia.org/files/pittsburgh-railways/
>>>> BCER04.JPG
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>