Over the weekend I took my first baby steps into 1:20.3  Sat down with the CAD prgram and drew myself some scale rulers.  One horizontal, one vertical, a square and a gridded version for assembly.  Also drug out my 3ft gauge books and NG&SLGs and perused for plans.  I think Shay No6 is going to be the first converted (restored? Reconverted?) by tricking it out to resemble the On30 T boiler model, it was slated for an upgrade anyways, so we'll just call it a downsizing upgrade!  Looks like cab revisons will be the BIG thing to do with the other two Shays.  That and stuff like Bells, whistles, generators and air compressors.  Nothing terribly technical.

     On the rolling stock front I am still enamored with the Mann's Creek Ry hoppers, I can now build accurate models of them, however I suspect that 1/4" luan is gonna be too thick for a subassembly.  I have a feeling any attempt at this construction is gonna be a board on board proposition, I'm still not 100% sure how the things went together either, guess that will come with spending quality time with the Manns Creek book and the CAD. 

Tuesday, April  3, 2007
10:15

     Drug out some sacrificial victims of 7/8 scale rolling stock last night, photoed them and hung out the "For Sale" sign.  There's the potential for clearing about $300 to reinvest in 1:20 goodness, but I'm not overly optimistic about everything selling at this point, but would like to have enough to get a fleet's worth of couplers. Anything more than that would be Gravey.

     Done a lot more thinking on the Manns Creek car.  For some reason I never relized that the hoppers were built on Old logging cars.  In 7/8 I had thought to do wooden carsides from 1/4 luan, but I'm thinking this might be too thick.  On something like a boxcar it wouldn't matter but on a hopper where the thickness of the carsides is apparent it could well be critical.  I either have to find a readily availible substitute, or go with board on board construction, which while doable, is a large investment in time and energy when attempting to turn out a fleet of cars!  I really need to do some figureing on how these cars really go together.   I might be able to use my old standby .040 styrene and glue the wooden siding to it thereby simulating a steel sheathing in a wood car.

20:30

     OK so things aren't going quite as well as I would like.   I scanned in the drawings of the Manns Creek Car that I had, and I even managed to enlarge them to 1:20 size, I'm just having trouble in getting them into a program where you can both make usable templates and print out on multiple sheets of paper.  Looks like I might have have to sit down with the drawings and a scale ruler and draw it all up from scratch in CAD.  You'd think that a CAD program would be able to import .BMP files.

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

     Finally got most of the programs lined out aand started design work on the Manns Creek hopper.  I've only gotten the frame and the ends so far but at least it progress.  Seems the more sources I look at the more differences I find in the prototype.   I think there were only 13 of them, but all 13 of them seem to be just a little different.   So I reality I guess this means that I can get away with whatever makes the job easier.   I'm not trying for operating doors, so the side of the car can be made as one piece.  I 'm still thinking of going with wood on sstyrene construction.  The styrene adding support while simulating a steel lining in the car. 

Thursday, April 5, 2007
0830

     Had some intereesting thoughts this morning on the concept and execution of the existing portion of the layout.  As it stands its a terminal yard, but I neither have enough rolling stock to justify it, nor enough industries generating traffic to justify the rolling stock.   I'm thinking therefore of placing a mining tipple in mid yard covering three tracks, and using the other two as arrival departuture tracks.  The far outside stub track would be a supply/waste track with loading on the inside stub and the passing siding in the middle.  The tipple should go right about the joint between the two yard halves and make a nice civer for the joint.   I guess there wouldn;t be any need for locomotive coaling facilities any longer.  I will still have a coupleturnouts going off the edge in order to expand later.   Perhaps a branchline staged, logging, or semi industrial area.

Friday, April 6, 2007

     Mark today as a very good day!  Pulled out an On30 EBT car and discovered the 2 bay cars are only about 24' long so just a tad larger than the wooden cars.  I also discovered that the cast steel trucks that I cast in resin will be useable on steel cars in the future.  Went through my scrap boxes and found the bells and generators I pulled off the Shays when I converted them. Now all I gotta make is compressors!