Birney Project ~ Hold Down Hooks

Fabricating New Trolley Pole Hold Down Hooks For The Birney.

Trolley poles pointing downward is a bad thing. The hold down hooks are too short. So I'm going to fabricate some new hooks that are taller and more prototypically correct.

Using a cutoff disk on a Dremel, I cut off the old hooks.

Since the trolley poles are wired to the leads of the motor, the hooks need to conduct electricity from the brass body of the car to the pole. So I had to remove paint from where the hooks will be soldered to the car.

To fabricate the hold down hooks, I started with .010" x .030" brass bar stock folded in half.

Using a nail (I found a nail that was the same diameter of the old hook loop) I looped the brass around getting a nice curve by using pliers and a screwdriver to work the brass into shape.

Add a reverse curve in the brass so that the apex of the loop is in line with the main shaft of the hook. Solder only the loop, the reverse curve and part of the neck together.

Then bend the legs out and fold in the feet that will be soldered to the base. The hook assembly is now done.

Solder the hook assembly to the roof boards and trim the feet. Give it a tug to confirm a good connection. Now its time to paint the hooks and while I'm at it, I'm going to right a wrong...

Roof boards were never the same color as the roof. Roofs were usually of canvas or thin sheet metal, so you don't want to step on it or you'll fall right through or bend the heck out of it. So roof boards were installed so that workmen maintaining the cars could stand on the roof without damaging it. They were usually made of wood and were painted a contrasting color so the workmen could see where to step out of their peripheral vision. My hands are pretty steady, but not at this tiny scale. So I masked off around the boards.

Brushed on some Scalecoat Roof Brown on the boards and painted the hooks black. Some weathering will kill the shine on the boards.

Now that's more like it! The car looks much better and the horizontal poles are getting a much better electrical contact with the hooks now. Storing the car with poles on help keep the connection from oxidizing. Got to do everything you can to keep good electrical connections throughout if you want to keep them doggies rollin'. Yes sir! Keep them doggies rollin'!

Dandy

Niles Project ~ Turn the Seats Around

Turning The Seats on Suydams' Niles Cars So That They All Face Forward.

George Huckaby of the Southern California Traction Club picked up one of my Niles cars and said "You know what people never do with these cars is change the seats so that... oh! You did it! You changed the seats so they all face forward!"

Suydam, for whatever reason, positioned the seats so that they face the ends. Since my cars are going to be working cars, I want them all to face the same direction, like the real deal did.

The seats pop off easily with the pry of a knife. I found this out after spending a lot of time and butane trying to de-solder them. Everything else was coming unsoldered but the dang seats! Turns out they're glued on. So... yeah, pop them off with a knife.


Next, I soldered the seats back on so that they all face the same direction (though I could have epoxied them on, that would have been faster), being careful that the seats line up with the windows and clear the side wall of the shell.

So! Now that I have everyone facing forward, lets move forward, Yes sir! Let's move forward!

Dandy

Niles Project ~ Make that Four!

Another Niles Car Joins the Roster!

I came into possession of another Niles car. That makes four, two more and I'd have the entire SDERy roster of Niles cars (which I don't think I'll do)! Hollywood Foundry is going to make a mint off of me!

Car #110
Sight Seeing Car:

This car will be painted Chocolate Brown (Floquil Roof Brown is a ringer for this) with either silver or gold lettering (I got to find out which).

I'm excited about this purchase, but now I have a whole bunch more work ahead of me. Yes sir! A whole bunch of more work to do!

Dandy

3rd Dandyversary

Three years and smellin' strong!

Boomin' along here! It's been a good year for this blog. This blog is now attracting crowds averaging 4.12 people a day! (That .12 guy is okay but those other 4 guys scare me). The biggest draw? Well, according to Google analytics the #1 search term that lead people to this blog is... "bending wood". And to those people, I truly apologize. I'm not exactly an expert carpenter. Oh! And let me tell you about the revenue stream from ads... averaging .5 cents a day its not exactly a stream. More like the dry wash near my house. A tumble weed blows through occasionally. Yes sir! This blog is the envy of cyberspacemen everywhere.

But to you, my loyal followers, I hope that you do derive some sort of value from this train wreck of a blog. Even if you are laughing at me rather than with me. If your learning from the stupid mistakes I'm making here, then the world is a better place. I have made a difference.

In all truthfulness, I'm actually having a blast maintaining this blog (and my happiness is whats really important, right? Right). I find that feeding the ferocious appetite of this blog keeps me focused and moving forward on my projects. Which is good, cuz I've got a lot to do if I want to get anywhere near completing this layout to the ridiculous standards I have set for it.
In addition, the fact that, according to Google analytics, the second most common search term that lead people to this site is "painting brass" is encouraging. To those people. I hope you found what you were looking for. I hope to hit on more useful topics in the future.
Finally, ad revenue. I have a couple of ads here and there. I try to prevent them from being overpowering. Hopefully they will compliment the content and provide a link to materials related to my articles. The money from ad revenue (of which I have received ziltch to date) will be put back into this blog to make it bigger, better, stronger, more entertaining and useful. And maybe a swimming pool.
So rest assured that more good stuff is on the way, I don't intend on stopping any time soon. This next year is looking good, the Niles project is well underway and is going well. I have a YouTube account set up so that I can start adding videos to this blog. And I'm learning a ton from they guys at the Southern California Traction Club that I intend to share with you on this site. So here's to a great big beautiful tomorrow! Yes sir! A great big beautiful tomorrow.

Dandy

Niles Project ~ Turning Radius

The Factors That Limit The Turning Radius Of The Suydam Niles Cars.

Previously I mentioned that there were a couple of factors that limit the turning radius of the trucks. Here is an illustration of that:

The side frame of the truck on the left is contacting the motor. Hopefully the new BullAnt motor will eliminate this problem. While the truck on the right, the drive shaft is contacting the wheel (or gear when rotated the other way). There isn't a whole lot I can do about that. Fortunately, this truck has a tighter turning radius than the other.

So with the new turning radius of the left truck and the possibly already sufficient turning radius of the right truck, hopefully this car will get around my curves. I'll have to keep my fingers crossed. Yes sir! Keep my fingers crossed!

Dandy

Niles Project ~ De-PE'd

Re-San Diegoifying Suydam Niles Cars by Removing their Pacific Electric Details

These Suydam cars are a hybrid between the San Diego details and Pacific Electric details. The trolley poll positions are correct for San Diego, but the trucks and a couple of details are PE.

The signboard and retriever are really the only things that need to be removed. The Point Loma car (on the left) had a different pilot, so I removed that too. As you can also see on the Point Loma car, the removal of the signboard left a mounting slot and holes on the roof.

To fill in this slot, I used Squadron white modeling putty. Its readily available, really easy to use, and dries fast. I simply squeezed a small amount out onto a piece of card and applyed with a small screwdriver. After it dried I sanded it down flush.

As for the trucks... In San Diego the cars had a 6 foot wheel base while the model sports the PE 5'4" wheelbase with 30" wheels. I'm afraid that if I go with the longer wheelbase, it might jeopardize the turning radius that the car can make. As-is, the trucks are making contact with the motor on my curves. The new BullAnt motor should eliminate this problem, but the drive shaft from the motor to the truck is what is going to limit its turning ability now. Another factor as to whether or not to change the trucks is if the side frames are available commercially. Because if they're not...

Well, the tearing down of these cars went easy enough, a lot easier than the Birney! Now its time to build them up. So far this project is moving along just fine. Yes sir! Moving along just fine!

Dandy

Niles Project ~ Running Cost Tally

Model Railroading can get expensive. I'm going to try to keep a running tally of how much it costs me to rebuild these Niles cars. But don't blame me if I don't follow through with this. I mean, if I buy a 1 oz bottle of paint and use 50 drops of it, how do I tally that? The cost of the bottle? Or the cost of the amount used.

Suydam PE 414 & 1300 Niles Cars Rebuild Cost Tally

	#105 SD&SE combine	#107 SD&SE	#109 Point Loma RR	#110 Sightseeing
Original Car Purchase 1	$250.00	$250,00	$250.00	$250.00
Total	$250.00	$250.00	$250.00	$250.00

Notes:

1. Today's (2009) going rate for these cars (some were purchased for more, some were purchased for less, but they averaged out to today's going rate).

Ka-ching! Ka-ching! Ka-ching! Yes sir! Ka-ching! Ka-ching! Ka-ching!

Dandy