From Junkbox to Second Life

I got lots of the "before" ones   I'm still thinking about that 4-8-4 your putting together.  Gotta do one of those too!

Some day I need to get a real basket case and restore it like seen in Dennis's posts.

Oooohhhhh! Duct tape! Shiny!

 

Pretty cool even if it had no duct tape! How will you really connect the two parts of the tender body?

with my good friend JB......

I need to get that back in the shop after the Torpedo is done. been gathering dust too long.

What??, .... you only work on one thing at a time????? I'm not much good at that

well.....actually working on...or in the process....there's the Torpedo, my Chatham, the 2026 I got last year,Marx light tower needing a repaint,the Marx CP locomotive that's going from a 0-4-0 to a 2-4-2 ....just need to get the parts ordered, and get busy. Oh and the 4-8-4, and a few 6454s needing doors for the last 15 years......

3768 made a short trial run today, speed was limited until the pilot truck gets ordered.

 

 

Very cool Dave

Dave, 

  I think that pilot truck is the least of your worries. Looks like you have some Zero's attacking your train! 

 

Tom

not to worry Tom, just out of the pic are several F4Us,an F6F,a half dozen Thunderbolts,a couple Lightnings,two Spits,a Hurricane,and of course a Mustang!

Dave,

  You may feel safe, but I don't think you gateman agrees! Looks like he is staying behind his closed door, in violation of his rule book.

 

Tom

well....he is 4F after all!

About twenty-five years ago I restored my set of Lionel 600-series cars.  This boxcar is the one of them I like the best.  I didn't own a motor tool at the time, but now that I have one, I see it's time to attack that latch coupler. 

Nice job.

Why would you want to change the latch coupler if it was original?

 

Tom

Oh no, it's staying put.  I just need to get the rust off of it.

The paint looks very good for 25 years. My friend does similiar restorations on prewar cars and puts them in the oven too. Any "baking" involved on yours? 

  Tom

Looks fantastic

I always flash heat metal before painting.

 

As you heat it, you will notice a translucent ring, "run away" from the heat.

That is condensation you cant normally see leaving the heated surface.

"While hot"...There isn't a better time to paint really.

Paint when you can handle it for soft, thick paint or it may "boil".

 

I've also baked enamel. It gives a harder surface, deeper shine, but chips more than it scratches too.

It's always a trade off. 

I sat this out in the sun to dry, shines great. not perfect, but turned out pretty decent.

Wow, Dave - I can't believe how good your JB Weld splice turned out.  Really nice.

Thanks Tom.  (I handle them a little more carefully than I did as a kid).

 

I did bake them at the lowest oven setting.  They are painted with Humbrol enamel brushed on, which takes a long time to air-dry to hardness.  Her's another shot of the boxcar.  It was taken when someone wanted to see the size relationship between O and Standard gauge.

pic make it look better than it is. a decent 10 footer. I sanded the rivets off so it looks like it's welded.

well here she is, warts and all. One thing I didn't catch until I went to put the name plates on the engine, is there are no holes in the shell on the engineer's side. Hope i haven't been hacking and an expensive rare factory error.Ihave the valve linkage, just need to get them on.

 

A Torpedo with smoke would be cool! I wonder if it can be done with a postwar smoke element. 

What a beauty! Just needs side rods and smoke! 

 Steve Eastman did one with smoke using a Marx motor. There looks to be enough room for  a smoke unit, but may have to loose the light bracket.

Steamer,

 

A job well done!

Steamer, that looks so sharp.    Congratulations on your work.

 I think someone mentioned some Torpedoes only had 1 nameplate at one time.

Rarer because there would be less of them for sure.

 My OCD would have had me even things with a second plate, long before they had a name for OCD other than being a Felix Unger.  

wonder why? this one has two, just snipped the tabs off one plate. Good to hear from you Felix!

Bought a box of junk from under a table last Sunday at the Great Midwest Train show in Wheaton, Il (Dupage). You never know what you will find at Dupage!

$25 I could not pass it up. Lot of broken shells but enough good stuff to keep me busy for a while.

franktrain

 

 

First one up for restore 2036

 

I'd say you hit the lottery with that junkbox Frank!

Bingo!

 Life's biting my hindquarters. You guys couldn't have picked a better time to jump back in, and roll this thread around a bit.

 

Snipping the tabs on plate #2 then glue? Sounds close enough for me

 

 I never seem to find boxes of goodies, let alone all that for $25

 I find money often though I've found more, more often, than I've ever won in lottery.

 Once, I even spotted a lost $20 while driving on the hwy in the middle of nowhere/ nobody/ no-traffic, Mi. .

 I just knew it was no dollar

 We ate the food I bought outside at the Topinabee Depot overlooking Mullet Lake. 

 

I've been toying with scrap from shortening my train shelves.

  I'm thinking of a blast wall structure/tunnel for below an elevated #175 rocket pad/gantry.

 The wood panels are already PW green  

Very nice. Did you put the #2036 on the tracks and did anything happen? 

 

Tom

Tom,

Yes I did try to run the 2036 first and it did respond but it needs cleaning. Not sure if I'm going to repaint it. First I will clean/lube and see how it runs then decide.

The 1655 looks like it will run but the rest of them look less together.

I'll post progress as I go thru them.

franktrain

 

Congrads fantastic such a great find

Still a fun thread.

 

I think of all the things I enjoyed about 3 rail when I was active in it, was the finding/cleaning/fixin' up the older stuff.  Lots of good times at the workbench working with nice, bigger, and HEAVY, model trains.