What's on your workbench, March 2019?

[Pat Student]

Usurping Keith Hayes' prerogative to start the subject ofthis thread.

Shown are parts for the sides of the sister cars of D&RGW 9328 in the 9200 - 9574 series; specifically 4 9200's and 4 9351's.  Starting with 0.015 and 0.030 styrene to be laminated to achieve scale 3" thickness fo 10", 12" and 14" wide boards.

Cars of all three sub series are documented with destinations of Alma, Breckenridge and Fairplay prior to the removal of the third rail between Salida and Leadville in March of 1925.

[Jeff Young]

Coal sheds.

I bought this great little kit of the Cumbres coal shed from San Juan Decals which included some laser-cut jigs.  So after finishing my somewhat modified Cumbres shed (on the left, with Boreas Pass coal inside), I kept going....

(Oh, and I see the Jefferson School outhouse peeping out from the background.)

[Matt Hutson]

I'm in the process of turning this:

into this:

So far I'm about here:


I'm also procrastinating on this project from LAST winter:

It's mostly done, but that last 10%...

Cheers,
Matt Hutson
Nathrop, CO

[Keith Hayes]

Thanks for taking up the charge Mr. Student!

I am decalling a number of freshly painted models including C&S 8242, a PI coal and three tank cars.

[Jim Courtney]

How does auto-correct turn "decaling" into "recalling" -- or maybe your didn't like how they turned out the first time?

[Keith Hayes]

Gosh, Jim, now I cant remember.

[Robert Stears]

The concept of my work bench has become increasingly blurred as I venture further into the Solid Works design program on my computer. Although it is not C&S, or even South Park, I hope the group will tolerate a couple shots of my ongoing design project - On3 model of a D&RG bobber caboose built in the D&RG shops to the design of 1883.

This model (design version #2) is a Solid Works design completely computer printed by Protolabs, Inc (except the San Juan On3 wheels and the Grandt Line brake wheel) in high density styrene like plastic at 0.002" resolution. The sides, ends, roof, copula, frame/floor, end railings and running gear bolsters are separate parts which I assemble. The model was spray painted with acrylic Tamiya IPN (Imperial Japanese Navy) gray.

This is a "mock up" model to see and evaluate how things look in real space. I have made many improvements since this model and now have various stove pipe designs, two and one side window design variations and a design variation with end steps as seen on #49 at the CRM. I am well down the road on the interior design.

A flock of these narrow gauge CRS TRUST "E" D&RG cabooses, as well as seventy CRS TRUST "E" 24 ft. stock cars, were sent to the D&RGW(Utah) in 1886 by the D&RG to settle a dispute about the disposition of Colorado Rolling Trust "E" (CRS TRUST "E"). This transferred equipment subsequently came under Rio Grande Western ownership.

Does anybody have any information on how these cabooses were lettered on the D&RGW (Utah)/Rio Grande Western??

These Utah cabooses eventually were purchased from the Rio Grande Western by the Rio Grande Southern in 1897 but were apparently to too far gone to be put into RGS operation. The D&RG also sold one to the Silverton RR/Silverton Northern.

Design version #3 (the final version hopefully!) is almost finished pending an hour or so crawling under caboose #49 at the CRM.

[Ken Martin]

Matt,

I will be interested is seeing how you change the front grill to a flat front/side grill.

Ken Martin

[NarrowTracks]

Bob, great work on the caboose.

How does Protolabs print resolution compare to Shapeways? Might we eventually see one of these from San Juan or the Leadville Shops?

You might want to try looking at some of the Utah historical image galleries online for caboose pics. If you haven't seen them, most images are high-res like the Denver library and show a lot of detail.

Mountain West Digial Library

Utah.edu even had good pics of some of the early D&RG drop bottom hoppers

D&RG Western coal cars

Mark

[Matt Hutson]

Hi Ken,
I'm a-workin' on it:


Cheers,
Matt

[Pat Student]

Having finished the car bodies, work has commenced on the underframes.  Once I got the bolsters, I just had attach trucks to see how they compared.

Left to right is a 1920's rebuild for comparison;  a 9200 - 4 board, 50" inside height, low rider; a 9300 - 4 board, 40" inside height, low rider; and a 9351 - 4 board, 40" inside height, hight rider.

[Mike McKenzie]

Hopefully off the workbench and on to the next project... maybe finish CONX 5.

Kitchen car is a PLW kit of D&RGW 04255 and the plow/gon is a PLW kit of the Gunnison plow 09271, both in Sn3. The gon/plow has been (mostly) finished for a while but just applied decals the other day. Still need to do a rock load and throw in some shovels.

They are lettered/numbered for the Black River RR which connected with the D&RGW and C&S at Dillon (at the very least, mainly because I want to build the Dillon depot), which will require some tweaking of the space/time continuum, for which I'll need some assistance (suggestions welcome). I've put down my quantum pliers somewhere and now I can't find them...

For those that are going, have a good Symposium, can't go this year...

Mike

[Keith Hayes]

Next up: the timber retaining wall for the Penrose mine.

Leadville had several mines "in town,"  notably the Cornado (NE of the C&S depot and served by the D&RG) and the Penrose (which I believe was south of the depot and served by the LMB). The Penrose is in the background of photos of the last passenger trains on a hill to the south. I suspect it was shut down by the late 30s.

I need a visual foil to distract the eye from a very real sewer pipe just south of my Leadville depot. So instead of the nice wood frame home, the Penrose will serve the purpose. It also has a spur sk will generate revenue,  a bonus!

I found inexpensive wood dowels at Michael's, and some work with a sanding drum chucked in the Dremel resulted in lots of Lincoln log parts.

[Jeff Young]

A D&RGW / C&S crossing for Kokomo starting to take shape.  While not prototypical, I don't have room for the necessary elevation gain for a trestle crossing.

There are 20 pieces of rail there.  I haven't figured out how to keep the existing stuff cold while flowing solder for the new stuff, so it's constantly two steps forward, one step backwards.  But I think it's close enough to do the final adjustments once it's spiked.

[Pat Student]

Looks good.  Can't wait to see it installed.

[John Greenly]

Hi Mike McKensie,

somehow I previously missed your post here.  These models of yours are just beautiful to my eye.  This realism comes only with a super-neatly and accurately built model weathered just right, not too much.  Inspiring!

Thanks for posting your photos,
John

I'll take the liberty of copying them here:

Mike McKensie wrote:

Kitchen car is a PLW kit of D&RGW 04255 and the plow/gon is a PLW kit of the Gunnison plow 09271, both in Sn3. The gon/plow has been (mostly) finished for a while but just applied decals the other day. Still need to do a rock load and throw in some shovels.

They are lettered/numbered for the Black River RR which connected with the D&RGW and C&S at Dillon (at the very least, mainly because I want to build the Dillon depot), which will require some tweaking of the space/time continuum, for which I'll need some assistance (suggestions welcome). I've put down my quantum pliers somewhere and now I can't find them...

Mike

[Mike McKenzie]

Thanks for the kind words John, I'm inspired myself by your modeling, especially the brass work in HOn3 no less. It's a skill set I hope to get better at some day.

Attached are a couple things I'm working on presently: CONX 5 (Wiseman, no instructions) and D&RGW office car 04955 (PLW). Also in the office car photo is the Sn3 version of the HOn3 SJD coal shed kit that Jeff built. I helped the late Dan Peterson develop this kit by doing some pre-builds and doing the instructions. Good times...

The tank car and office car will get freelance lettering.

Thanks again,
Mike

[Jeff Young]

Mike, you and Dan did a great job on the coal shed kit.  One of the more pleasurable builds I’ve done.

[Mike McKenzie]

All credit goes to Dan. I pre-built the 1:48 version first then the 1:64, the jigs that Dan came up with worked great. We also did a couple On3 flatcars with William Reed and Brian Bass (6200, 6300) and were going to do more rolling stock and building kits when he passed.

Mike

[Lee Gustafson]

Mike,

Beautiful work. The plow gon is a personal favorite. The weathering on it is very tasteful. I’m interested in on the roof on the office car and how it comes together, maybe some in process photos of that portion of construction for us curious types? Thanks for your busy workbench.

Lee Gustafson