Got some shoptime in today and I gotta say the hopper is really coming into focus.  I think later this week I'll mill out the wood for a production run of cars, I'm also considering using the old 7/8 scale link and pins for draft gear.  Looks OK at first glance, but warrants a bit more study.  The prototype cars were painted with creosote so I'm debating on painting  them flat black or a really dark grey.  I reckon I'll paint the wooden carbodies then apply rusty hardware bits over that.  that brings me up to needing to decide what I wanna fabricate on each car, and what needs to be a casting.

Monday, April 9, 2007
0530

     I'm pleased with the progess so far, but being in the FLIPPIN' 20's on Saturday really put me a day behind.   I had hoped to have the slope sheets and the A frame bottom done yesterday.  The Aframes will just be styrene sheet I think, since no one will be able to see 'em from any other angle.  Hopefully I'll be able to make a start on them this evening. 

     I do beleive that I will try my hand at mastering my own brakewheels and casting them.   The gusssets on the end framess and the door latch hardware prolly need to be castings, and natcherly the link and pin couplers.  Do up a mold for half a car at a time. 

Wednesday, April 11, 2007
0700

     Well I did a couple hours in The Shop last night puttering round with making a brakewheel casting.   Disaster.  Then SWMBO came home with an injured hand and it was an end to Shop time for the evening.  Fun!

    I hope tonight to redo the brakewheel, i'm gonna try to find some wire and solder it up this time, have i mentioned I HATE to solder?   Slope Sheets and floor still to do, as sif I havn't said that enough!   I'm thinking on future builds intead of trying to mill siding and then scribing in the lines, I'll cut the styrene template, and then apply individual 3/8 x 1/8 board to it. 

     Interesting factoid came up in studying the prototype photos, and then borne out in text.  There was a batch of Manns Creek cars built in 1931 with a steel frame rated at 18 tons.  They went on to build two more batches of 20 ton all wood cars.  I had thought that these cars were just heavily patched up wood cars, but you can clearly seem the C channel frames in several views.   Theres another variant to build!

1200

     Finally got all the changes I wanted to get done updating the webpages to reflect the new scale.   Have to wait til I got some 1:20 locos and rolling stock before I can do much with the galleries though.  Been thinking on the overall hopper fleet and I feel that the all wood Manns Creek models would be the oldest cars still in operation, with the steel frame version being an upgraded version.  The larger of the ET&WNC hoppers could be online as an all wood precursor to bottom dump cars.  These give way to the steel two bay cars and in turn the later three bay hoppers, all of which would be in service simultaneously.

Thursday, April 12, 2007
0600

     I love rainy evenings.   Sit in The Shop and tinker with stuff, sip a warm tea, listen to the rain on the roof, makes alll right with the world.  I took a crack at redoing the brake wheel laster from brass, but alas it t'was not meant to be.  Only had a little snippet of appropriate brass to use, couldn't find the solder, only a sliver that happened to be in the bottom of my trackwork tray.  The flux wasn;t fluxing, the solder wasn't soldering, chuck it all and back to the styrene I go. 

     This time around I bent the disk much tighter so I was able to use a clamp to hold it and I went on and worked on the slope sheets for the hopper.  I again nailed the critter to the benchtop to hold everything pat while the glue dried.  When I reached the point on both the brakewheel and the slope sheets where everything I could putter with was clamped and waiting for glue to dry, I wisely left  The Shop and locked up for the night.  No repeats.

     I decided that the slope sheets might as well be just a section of .040 styrene along with the A framed floor.  no one will see the underside and when painted will really be indistinguishable.  I did put in real wood ends however, appropriately scribed.  As much as I like the idea of turning out my own couplers in house, I think the most appropriate thing to do is to go with KDs now, and just bit the bullet instead of trying to do a fleet wide conversion on several dozen cars at a later point.  After all only 1-2 cars a month will get completely finished, if that so perhaps ita an almost negligible expense at this point.  When all the bills are caught up, and vacation savings is over, then I can get a wholesale lot.

2000

     Well the brakewheel turned out good, and I have put it safely away and dared myself to mess with it this time.  Worked on the first hopper a bit, slope sheets are in and working up braces for the A-frame.  To keep myself out of trouble while glue dried I started knocking up a second hopper.  Got a nibble on selling off some of the 7/8 scale stuff this eveing too, waiting to hear back from the guy as to what he really wants.  Says he was out of town working whene the original post was made.   We shall see. This could mean a massive purchase of KD couplers in the future, the Gods of Steam must be pleased. 

Friday, April 13, 2007
0600

     Extra day of Overtime!  Yipee!!!  Would have been nice to sleep late aand tinker in The Shop all day, but since the JRVP's softball leauge cancelled everything due to weather til Monday, I still got Saturday to make up for time.  I figger a  nap this evening will be in order, then out to The Shops.  Perhaps I'll progress to detailing work, and decide what will be castings and what will get scratchbuilt on each car.

     Got word that Marvin Brown of Texas has a Big Brown Truck box on the way to me from NJ.  10 pounds.  Should I be worried?  I have no clue.

Saturday, April 14, 2007
1145

    Mainly tinkered with the 2nd hopper last night.  Worked on its wood sides.  I wasn;t satisfied with the slope sheets on the fisrt car so I pulled them out and will start over today with a fresh approach.  Had a few thoughts for a numbering system, and decided that the rairoad will be a snapshot of the line circa  the mid 1940's in all the Wartime Glory.   The railroad existed as an independant line until being taken over by the standard gauge at which time a arenumbering on stuff occured.   Thus hopper No1 may not be the first hopper ever built, just the first one the bean counters came across.  I will still have to come up with a range and a total number of cars online.  Aand even at that there will be abberations.
Oh well, need to get out into The Shops. 

2200

     OK....Cheat to win.  I decided that no one would ever see the inside of the hoppers anyways so I just made the floors flat.  These are made to be operating cars not  museum display pieces.  I would like to get at least one of the cars completely tricked out and ready for paint tomorrow.  Really just some gussets, the hinges and the latching mech is all I got left to do.   See how far  I get on that tomorrow afternoon.  I timbers for at least 2 more frames, and I bought another FOR SALE sign when I went to get glue.   Where else can ya get a 15 x19" sheet of .020 for $3?   I think I can do a total of 4 cars before I have to mill more wood.

     The pilot car transmuted into three dimensions today.  All the side bracing done and sides and ends asssembled.  Looks right smart sitting on the frame on some trucks. 

     Here's the standard WCNG link and pin coupler compared to the resst of the hopper project.  I think the size and look are OK, I'll just have to come up with a new way to mount them on this frame.

     I took a crack at making a brake wheel master last night working with some 1/16 tubing.  The result I think turned out pretty good.   An old Russian proverb says "Better is the Enemy of Good Enough", which means, 'If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix it'!  Welp, I screwed around with it, and totally wrecked it. Start Over

     Example of the cheating in action.   The uninitiated probably won;t even realize whats going on.  I might go back and put an A frame in there sometime in the future, but I really doubt it,

     The 2nd car looks basically like the first with a few minor changes, mainly in the bracing on the sides, I think it might sist a little higher on the frame too.