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Frank Palmer
Fireman
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 Posted - 05/24/2020 : 09:45:17 AM
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As they say in Vegas, bet on Red. Whoever "they" are. Bob fantastic work, beyond my skill set.
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| Frank |
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Country: USA
| Posts: 6134 |
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railman28
Fireman
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Posted - 05/24/2020 : 9:50:26 PM
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Thank you Frank. But as far as skills sets; I'm just a blacksmith.
Bob
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It's only make-believe
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Country: USA
| Posts: 5731 |
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deemery
Fireman
Premium Member
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Posted - 05/25/2020 : 08:48:54 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by railman28
Thank you Frank. But as far as skills sets; I'm just a blacksmith.
Bob
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VK_caqXhbXU
dave
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| Modeling 1890s (because the voices in my head told me to) |
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Country: USA
| Posts: 8855 |
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OK Hogger
Crew Chief
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Posted - 05/25/2020 : 09:39:06 AM
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Dave:
Re: Music link...
Well, ain't that special?
Though I play whatever genre I'm called upon to play, my personal music thing has much more beat and groove. Styles of funk and funk jazz preferred. However, I'm a life long bassist, so the music I enjoy best is heavy with beat n' groove.
Below is a link of a good example of the type music that gets me going. It's a sound check clip of "Tower Of Power" a very good ensemble with a lot of funk n' groove in their music. Hang with it until the drummer starts to play his part. Good stuff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rGwh7EM2tg
Andre
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Country:
| Posts: 921 |
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masonamerican
Fireman
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Posted - 05/28/2020 : 02:10:19 AM
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Bob, it looks great! I'm starting to itch building my own
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Country: Sweden
| Posts: 1793 |
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railman28
Fireman
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Posted - 05/28/2020 : 3:32:52 PM
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Thank you, Håkan
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It's only make-believe
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Country: USA
| Posts: 5731 |
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railman28
Fireman
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Posted - 05/31/2020 : 9:49:58 PM
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As I work on final assembly and painting of my moguls I find myself changing some of the details to a a more durable and detailed model. Currently I'm working on the fenders. Once they are secure I can start painting.
I've been working on other projects too. One of which is learning to program decoders. I didn't like how my Digitraxx system handles programming. Don Ball had recommended the Sprog system to me to use for programming.
http://sprog.us.com/
You use Sprog with your computer and the JMRA program along with your current or old Smart phone to operate your railroad, program your decoders, plan your car movements and more.
I have an old computer in the workshop but I choose to spend about $40 more and get a PI-raspberry computer that comes preloaded with JMRI. All together I spent about $160.00. I think that that's a pretty good price. Afteral the PI has more computing power than my first Desktop did and after playing with it a bit the deal looks sweater and sweater.
The set-up and installation was challenging as the printed instructions were insufficient and the down-loadable PDF didn't have all the information you need, but I was able to figure it out. One of the hang-up was that ... to be continued in the next post
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It's only make-believe
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Country: USA
| Posts: 5731 |
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railman28
Fireman
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Posted - 05/31/2020 : 10:38:55 PM
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...the hang-up was that the "includes-everything-you-need" package does not include a HDMI cord to hook up the monitor. So you have to download an app to view the computer screen on your cell phone. I choose VNC Viewer. After setting up the needed address, ports and passwords I got everything talking to each other. Navigating the screen with the app worked but I found it awkward to use. You can use a standard USB mouse and keyboard but I choose to get a miniature Keyboard with a touch pad. Working on the mogul while I waited for the keyboard and HDMI cable to arrive. Getting the right HDMI cord turned out to be a bit problematic. like buying a new charger for the phone. It took me three tries to get the right cord. After connecting the monitor I had to go into the settings to get it working but I got it running and it's working great.
I now have a unit that can run the whole railroad if my Digitraxx system dies but I can also easily program my decoders.
I started with the basics like changing the engine numbers and disabling analog capacity.
This is some of what I did.
The decoder used in the Bachmann NT 4-4-0 and the Athearn OT 2-8-0 are both Soundtraxx products. But the Athearn decoder is far superior to Bachmann's. Bachmann gives you just 3 whistle choices no grade crossing signal (there is one in the decoder) assigned to a function key and there appears to be no way to move the functions around. While the Athearn decoder has many more sounds and are assignable. For example, you get a nice crossing signal on F15 and a back-up signal some where else (I don't remember where). Now, F5 and F6 are set up for lighting functions that aren't used so I moved these two signals to F5 and F6. On the other hand Bachmann allows you to set up some signals automatically. So you put the engine in forward and give her some juice and the whistle pops off twice. Hit stop and the the whistle sounds one short. Now in reverse, start her rolling and you get the three short blasts of steam and the stop sign when you stop. I like that a lot.
So I am having fun.
Bob
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It's only make-believe
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Country: USA
| Posts: 5731 |
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Bill Gill
Fireman
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Posted - 06/01/2020 : 09:20:36 AM
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Sounds like you're havin' fun getting ready to get rollin' Nice.
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Country: USA
| Posts: 3243 |
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Michael Hohn
Fireman
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Posted - 06/01/2020 : 11:16:40 AM
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Bob,
You’ve certainly been busy.
How’s your NT 4-4-0 running? I like mine but it could use a keep-alive. Any idea what would be a good Soundtraxx replacement?
Mike
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Country: USA
| Posts: 7257 |
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railman28
Fireman
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Posted - 06/01/2020 : 12:37:37 PM
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Thanks Bill, Mike I am having fun.And I am keeping busy. Because of Covid-19 this old man can't do the community work he enjoys so I'm trying to get as much as possible done on the RR with my extra time.
Mike, I have Three NT 4-4-0's One is just Analog. My engines run excellently. Nice and slow and they sound pretty good but they do get stuck on a frog once in a while. I converted my Analog model to all wheel pick-up and that solved it's stalling problems. I will put a Soundtraxx Econami in my analog model along with a TCS KA4 stay alive. The KA4 is nice and small but handles most dirt/frog problems. On level ground my models can pull around eight of my very light cars. They will get three passenger cars up my 2% grade. I plan to turn a baggage car into a helper to do most of the work of pulling 4 or 5 car passenger trains.
Bob
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It's only make-believe
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Country: USA
| Posts: 5731 |
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railman28
Fireman
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Posted - 06/02/2020 : 2:53:41 PM
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Here's my latest progress on my moguls.
I redesigned the front fenders to fit under the new pumps and to be more secure. I found the best mounting for the rear driver fenders is to glue them to the running boards. Here's some pictures;
How they're mounted;
Here's how they look semi-assembled;
Bob
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It's only make-believe
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Country: USA
| Posts: 5731 |
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Bernd
Fireman
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Posted - 06/02/2020 : 3:12:16 PM
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Looking very professional Bob.
Bernd
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| New York, Vermont & Northern Rwy. - Route of the Black Diamonds |
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Country: USA
| Posts: 3964 |
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railman28
Fireman
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Posted - 06/03/2020 : 8:06:43 PM
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Thank you Bernd. I appreciate your comment.
Bob
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It's only make-believe
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Country: USA
| Posts: 5731 |
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railman28
Fireman
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Posted - 06/10/2020 : 02:05:44 AM
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I thought I would give you all an update on my mogul project. I've started painting and final assembly of the engines. I'm going to do do one engine at a time. Here's the chassis;
and here it is with the final running boards and the prototype boiler and cab;
The cab will be black and the smoke box just a little darker but I think the colors are working. I need to make sure the new value gear yoke is aligned right and that the engine is still running bind free. I need to balance weight for the drivers and paint them, add a few details to the frame and then I can move on to the boiler.
Bob
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It's only make-believe
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Country: USA
| Posts: 5731 |
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