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