Birney Project ~ Drilling out the Marker Lamps

Prominent! That’s what I find those marker lamps over the center window to be. So I decided to drill them out so I can light them.

Standard practice was, as I understand it, that there are colored “gels” that fit in between the lens and the lamp thus changing the color of the light seen. When the lamps are in the rear end of the car, they display red. But what they display when on the forward end was up to each individual traction (trolley) company.

Steam railroads had standard practices that were recognized around the country when it came to marker lamps, and some traction companies elected to follow these, such as:

White = Extra or Special car, not scheduled on timetable.

Green = Another car following on same schedule.

Etc… You get the idea.

Or traction companies could elect to display white to compliment the headlight, or just run them dark.

Color? I don’t know what San Diego Electric Railways practices would have been when it came to the color of these lamps. So I’m going to have to make an educated guess. Of course if YOU know what color they were, please leave a comment at the bottom of this post. I would be most grateful.

What color I’m going to display I don’t know yet until I actually get to the lighting part of the project. But I decided that adding the marker lights would be worth the effort and will add to the entertainment value of the car. Yessir! Add to its entertainment value!

Dandy

Birney Project - Opening up the destination signs.

One of the modifications I want to make to the Birney car is to open up the solid brass destination signs so that I can have it light up.

The destination sign is over the short window on the left. Ken Kidder has the shape of it stamped in there, so that simplifies things some.

Start by drilling small holes large enough to accommodate a miniature ream.

A ream is basically a cylindrical file.

Ream out the holes into a roughly square shape so that it can accommodate square file.

I highly recommend using some sort of magnification while working with such tiny models. That’s Dave wearing his Optivisor®.

Hack away at the brass now that the square file fits in there, roughing out the shape of the opening.

Easy does it now with the flat file, carefully leveling out the edges into straight lines out to the final size of the openings.

Corners are the toughest. Your file with the sharpest edge will determine how sharp the corners of the opening will be. I find that a three sided file has the sharpest edges.

And there you go. An opening where once there were none. Took about an hour to do, and I still have the one on the other end to do.

Then I'll have to figure a way to light it, but I’ll worry about that when I get to it. Yessir, worry about it when I get to it.

Stripping Paint from Brass Models

Stripping paint from a brass model is actually quite easy and inexpensive. Here is a technique I use:

Step 1: Disassemble the model. Remove anything that is not brass.

Step 2: Submerge the model in a 50/50 mix of Original Pine-Sol and water. I let it sit over night.

Step 3: The paint flakes off easily. I use an old toothbrush to get the paint out of the tough corners and crevasses while rinsing with clean water.

Voila! Yessir! Voila!

Ken Kidder Birney

I acquired this little guy from eBay (I really need to get out to the swap meets!). This Ken Kidder model is very close in appearance to the San Diego Electric Ry’s 300 series Birney cars.

Taking close-up pictures of a model really help in determining what needs to be done to get the model looking prototypical. Right off I can see that the retriever is on the opposite side of the headlamp, window arrangements on the doors are different, details are a little oversize, etc. But I’ll probably let all that slide, I don’t want to drive myself crazy with such things few people will ever notice.

Work I will do includes drilling out the headlight to accommodate a bulb, open up the destination sign to accommodate a light-up one, maybe add the security bars across the windows, add the route number sign on the roof, and add seats and figures.

Since I was able to buy this model relatively cheap (especially for being brass), it will be the proving ground for developing standards and techniques for the models that come after it. Such as the type of motors, trolley poles, interior and exterior lighting, etc. And I have to come up with a satisfying decision as to the color! Early San Diego cars were painted “Mission Yellow”. What color exactly is “Mission Yellow”?!?!

First order of business, strip off the old paint. Yessir! Strip!

Glass Beading

Man! All the little details that need to be taken care of! Now I’m installing beading for the clerestory window glass. Though I’ll probably use Plexiglas, since this thing is designed to be portable, I don’t want to risk shattering glass from all the handling. I never gave the mechanics of window beading a thought until now. It fun, but time consuming, yes-sir! Time consuming!

While I’m building that, take a look at a trip I did with my family on a Mud Wagon. You can read all about it on my A California Adventure blog.

Fancy New Banner

As you can see, I've been having fun with Photoshop. What do you think of my fancy new banner? Here is the color version:
Your comments and suggestions are always welcome. Just click the "comments" at the bottom of the post you want to comment on. It's one of the fun features of blogs! That way I'm not here just professing by myself ~ YOU can add your two cents to the discussion.

So let me know what you think of my new banner. The horsecar is kind of bothering me. I think because its a downshot and everything else is from ground level, so I might change that. And my goofy mug. I might take that out.

Overall though, I think the banner kind of makes my blog look quite official. Yessir! Quite official!

Yet More Fun With Engineering!

With principal construction done with the valence it’s now time to trim it out, hide a multitude of sins with wood filler, trim the roof slats in the front to a nice arc, and a bunch more sanding.

While taking these photos I noticed that the curved roof slats are pulling up the front of the frame! Compare this photo with this earlier one of just the frame and you’ll see what I mean.

Luckily, it’s not so noticeable when it’s in place on the display case. It’s actually a nice arch. In fact, it almost looks intentional. Yes-sir! Looks intentional!

Dandy

More Fun with Engineering!

It's too late for me, but you can still save yourself! That is if your reading this to learn how to bend wood. See, the problem I was having was, even though I was steaming the wood, it would rather just angle towards where I was trying to get it to go instead of bend in a nice arc to where I wanted it to go. As you can see in the photo below, the roof slat is almost straight. Not the curving arc as seen in the blueprints.

In this close up shot below, you can see where the roof slat would rather break its bonds and bite into the support its attached to.

I figured out a solution, but unfortunately, it wasn't until the last slat. Turns out that cutting the slats to length before installing them was the problem. The secret is to keep them long and cut them to size after installation! First, The slat is nailed and glued to its support beam. This is allowed to dry over night.

Then, using the natural springiness of the wood, grab the end of the slat and bend it down. The longer the wood slat, the more it arcs when its end is pulled down(the shorter the wood, the less it arcs)! All this without steaming it! I couldn't pull it down too much because it would arch way more than its neighbors and be out of line.

Too bad I didn't figure this out sooner. Oh well... live and learn. Yes sir. Live and learn.

Fun with engineering!

Here is a quick update on the continuing saga of building this lighting valance. I ran into an interesting, unforeseen engineering problem (due entirely to my inexperience). Let’s see if I can explain this...

While installing the front roof slats (starting from the center and working towards the sides), that extend from the front of the clearstory and curve down to the very front of the valence, I discovered that they were fanning out in the front.

I think I know why this is happening. The big arch of the roof requires the roof slats to cover more “ground”. You can see what I mean in the front view photo. The front edge of the roof slats are only required to cover the horizontal distance from side to side. But the back ends of the roof slats are required to not only cover that side to side distance, but also the vertical distance of the arch which, at its peak, is 6” higher than the sides.

So what that boils down to is; the fronts of the roof slats have to cover the 57” from one side to the other side. The back end of the slats that are butted up against the clearstory have to cover 59 ½”, another 2 1/2” further.

Fortunately I was using a square the whole time. So I thought the slats were moving slightly while I was nailing, so I would compensate with a slight gap at the top to keep things square. But the problem persisted until I finally figured out what was going on.

I guess what I should have been doing all along is sanding a slight taper to the roof slats to compensate for this. And that’s exactly what I started doing with the slats that extend clear across the roof. In the last photo you can see that the first full length slat took the brunt of the tapering. After that each full length slat was sanded with a more reasonable taper.

So all I’m saying is, things are turning out a little less than perfect. But really, who the heck is going to notice? Not many. Everybody’s attention should be focused on the layout anyway. After all, the layout is the real attraction. yessir! The real attraction!

A 4-4-0 eBay score!

I’ve gone far too long without a post ~ sorry!!! I’ve been wrapping up animation for the Space Chimps game for the Nintendo DS. (It hasn’t been announced yet so sshhh!!!)

So here is a little something to hold things over until I put together a more robust post. Since I left off with a post about a steam locomotive, I’ll go with that theme.

This is an eBay score from a year or so ago; An H.O. brass model of the Virginia & Truckee locomotive #1, the “Reno”. An import by United from the 1960s.

I’m not modeling the V&T, but the Reno model is very typical of locomotives built in the 1870’s. . Below is San Diego & Cuyamaca #3 built in 1881 for the California Southern Railroad. Except for the smokestack, they are very similar in size and detail.

This photo was shot near where I grew up, but it doesn’t look anything like it did in the photo! When I was a kid I would watch a couple of SW1500 diesels pull the peddler frieght through here. Today the San Diego trolleys sweep through here on double tracks!

Anyway, slowly but surly (the only way I can afford it!), I’m putting together a right impressive stable of motive power. All I need now is a dang layout to run them on! Yes-sir! A dang layout to run them on!

A Ten Wheeler eBay score!

What a score this was! MEW (Model Engineering Works) H.O. brass 4-6-0s are very rare and hardly ever come up on eBay. And if they do, they auction off for quite the pretty penny (the last one I saw months ago sold for $700!!!).

So when this one came up, I bid my entire budget of $300 thinking I didn't have a snowballs chance of winning the bid. (Whenever I get cash as a Christmas or birthday gift, I stick it in my “mad money” fund for just such of an occasion).

Whats more amazing, I was literally under the knife on the operating table having surgery on my thyroid when I won this bid!!! My surgery lasted from 12:30 to about 4pm, the auction ended at 3:20pm! I was unconscious and victorious!

Isn't she a beauty? I'm in love...

Looking every bit the relative, this is San Diego & Arizona #11, an 1881 vintage Rogers locomotive. The 4-6-0s sure footedness were particularly well suited for southern California's hilly terrain. Often showing up in historical photos, I've been a fan of these ten wheelers since I was a teenager. So this is indeed a happy occasion for me.

Man! Only a few weeks in to 2008 and its already shaped up to be a fantastic year! Yessir! A fantastic year!

Clearstory Frame Assembly

Furniture grade plywood is nice stuff. Costing about twice as much as regular plywood, it has a nice smooth sanded finish to it. Since the layout is residing in our dining room at the moment, it should look really nice. So I sprung for the furniture grade plywood.

After sifting through their entire stack of 4’ x 8’ plywood, selecting their finest piece, I dragged it over to their saw for cutting. Before I even showed up to the lumberyard, I carefully planned out how to cut the 4’ x 8’ sheet most efficiently so that I ended up with two profile boards for the ends and two strips for the clearstory windows. The lumberyard only does rough cuts, the contouring I’ll do at home with my jigsaw.

If you look closely at the top piece of wood (as Thunder dog is doing) you can see how I drew out the final shape of the contour boards. Below it is the contour board cut out.

The kid at the lumberyard did a lousy job cutting the clearstory strips, they went from 3 ½” wide at one end to 4” wide at the other end, a mistake I didn’t catch until I got home. An unfixable mistake. But I can’t return the whole thing ‘cuz I already have the contour boards cut out. But, the plywood does seem a little too flimsy to me for this framing, so I decided instead to construct the clearstory windows from 1 ½” x ¾” “sustainably managed tree-farmed select pine”! This is some strong, beautiful wood. And it’s available at your local do-it-yourself lumberyard.

Hey! Things are shaping up. Look at that, its looking like it’s supposed to. The clearstory widows were attached to the profile boards, and then the profile boards were attached to the outside frame. All that’s left to do is to start nailing on the roof.

But first, I have bevel the outside frame so that the curved roof will conform to it. And then the whole thing needs to be sanded smooth. So... I better get to sanding. Yessir... better get to sanding.

The Adventure of Bending Wood

Well this is a first. My blog is falling behind my progress. You would think I was being productive or something! So in an attempt to get caught up...

I bent wood! I am man! Me bend wood. How many guys do you know that have bent wood? I am wood bender.

Okay, I actually found bending wood to be quite stressful. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

First of all, I had to build a jig to bend the wood on. I started by drawing the shape of the rounded roof end onto a piece of plywood.

Then I pounded in big 'ol nails (I forget what size) following that line so that most of the nail was sticking out of the plywood. The plywood is about 3/8ths inches thick, so thats how far I pounded in the nails. A good 2” or so of nail was left sticking out. These are whats going to take the brunt of the force needed to bend the wood.

The nails are going to leave dents in the wood so what I did was, take a length of scrap 1/8^th luan and bent that first. This will give the good lumber a smooth surface to be bent on. The luan will take the brunt of the nails. So actually, the very first wood I ever bent was used as a tool and will be scrap after I'm done.

I let the first 1/4” pine steam for about an hour. I sent a whole kettle of water through that steaming rig!

My idea is instead of trying to bend a 3/4” piece, I'm going to laminate 3 pieces of 1/4” together to make a 3/4” end, bending one over the other. And to help make it strong, I'm offsetting the joints so they all don't line up.

The first piece is a tough one since it curves over the left and right corners. So in other words, it requires two bends! The curve on the left side went perfectly, I was stoked! But I don't know if the wood cooled or what because the curve around the right side didn't go as well. It curved all right but the stress caused the wood to begin to splinter as you can see in the last photo.

Sequent bends had degrees of success, from bending just fine to an all out snap! in half. Thats disheartening to steam the wood for an hour just to have it snap. And then its off the lumber yard for a replacement and start all over again.

I think the trick is, take your time and bend the wood slowly, don't muscle it. Become one with the wood. Let the fibers stretch naturally around the curve at its own pace. Yes, thats the ticket. Feel the sensation of the wood giving way, it will let you know if its going too fast. Yes. Ahhh.

To tell you the truth, I'm glad thats over. Yes the wood bent, but it's less than perfect. The laminated pieces don't line up perfectly, but with a little filler in the spaces, I don't think anyone will notice. The front edge visible to everyone is a beautiful curve, and thats what matters, right?

Next, it's off to the lumber yard for some furniture grade plywood. Yessir! Furniture grade plywood!

Steaming Rig

The success of building a lighting valence in the configuration of a clerestory roof seems to be hinging on a big “if”. The roof curves from the front to the sides. And building this will require bending wood! The success of the valance hinges on if I can bend wood. Bend wood! Geez, that like goes against nature, bending wood.

I looked around the net and found some cool how-to videos on bending wood using steam. They're amazing. Oh I gotta bend wood. How cool would that be!

Roaming around a home improvement warehouse, I was able to MacGyver together an inexpensive steaming rig. I found some 3” flexible tubing that has a wide enough diameter to accept the 2” lumber that I'm going to need to bend.

Somehow, I need to attach that tubing to a big 'ol kettle that I will be using to boil water with on my stove. What I found was a roof jack. Roof jacks are used for rooftop vents. They have a flat base with a pipe coming off it. Because they are made for the pitched roof of a house, the pipe comes off the base at an angle. So when I lay the base over the kettle the pipe will angle away from the stove. That pipe has a 3”diameter, same as the tubing!

The tubing section had all sorts of attachments for these tubes, one of them being an insert to attach these tubes together. It fits perfectly in the roof jack pipe and the tubing, connecting them together.

Then I duct taped the heck out of the whole thing the keep it together and help keep the steam from leaking out.

Here you can see the kettle on the stove with the roof jack covering it. The black flexible tubing is attached to the roof jack with duct tape.

From the stove the tubing lays on a plank supported with a ladder.

Ah, look at it steam!

I went back to the store and got this cap that has a couple of holes drilled in it to try to keep more steam in the tube

In this shot you can see the 1/4” x 2” lumber inside getting steamed. The rule of thumb is about 20 minutes steaming per 1” thickness, but I ended up steaming them for a lot longer.

Next comes time to actually bend the wood, keep your fingers crossed! Yessir! Keep your fingers crossed!

Display case frame

Oh what I wouldn’t give for a good basement! But, alas, basements are next to nonexistent in California. So, my layout currently resides in our dining room at the moment. And in an effort to keep our home looking nice, enclosing the layout in an attractive display case would be a good thing. A very good thing I think, how many homes have you ever walked into that instead of having a nice cityscape painting hanging on the wall, had an actual three dimensional miniature city with its lights twinkling away into the night? Personally, I think that would be way cool. The frame is now built. I used 1 ½” x ¾” and 2 ½ x ¾” to construct the four corner posts. A 2 ½” x ¾” connect two of the posts at the top to create a side assembly. And another matching side assembly is built in the same manner for the opposite side. These two sides are connected together with two more 2 ½” x ¾” using lag bolts and wing nuts to allow the unit to be broken down for transport.

Next comes building the clearstory roof which will require something I have never done before; bending wood around the corners. Yessir! Bending wood!

Display Case Gone Wild!

It all started off innocently enough. I needed to solve a problem. I need to keep the dang cats off of the layout. They’ve caused irreparable damage to the delicate overhead which means tearing it all out and rebuilding it. But I’m not going to rebuild until I have some way of preventing it from getting damaged again.

Covering it would be nice. Not only would it prevent the cats from terrorizing the good citizens of the city, but it would also keep the dust off. Doubly good!! A safe and clean city. Real estate values would sky rocket!

My wife suggested something like an acrylic cube, you know, like a display case in a museum. I think that to be a great idea, but I’m afraid the cube would be unwieldy and could actually cause damage to the city it was designed to protect when removing and replacing it.

Lightweight would be key. How about four posts holding up a wooden roof and removable acrylic panels would fit in the sides? Then the wooden roof could also have the lighting attached to it. Like a lighting valence! How about that? A safe, clean, well light lit city! Triply good!!!

When three problems are solved with one project, that’s a good hat trick. The project must be a good idea. I’m moving forward with it. So I’m gonna design the valence/display case.

What if instead of a standard rectangular valence, I kinda contour it like the clearstory roof of an old fashioned trolley? And instead of acrylic panels in the sides, I build it like the windows of an old fashioned trolley? The whole layout itself would look like an old fashioned trolley car! How kewl would that be?! Way kewl!

Could I really be able to build such a thing? I have no idea. I never built anything like it before. Should I build such a thing? Probably not. I’m sure there are all kinds of reasons why I shouldn’t. Am I really going to try and attempt it anyway? Knowing my history; yep, I'm affraid so. I’ll just take it one step at a time. Design a little. Build a little. Design a little more. Build a little more. Become frustrated and tear it all apart and replace it with something more practical. Well I hope I don’t have to tear it apart. Hopefully I’ll end up with something both practical and whimsical. Yessir, practical and whimsical!

Smoke jack

Here you can see how I used the Dremel tool as a lathe to turn the smoke jack. I then drilled a hole in the roof and inserted the smoke jack.