#301 Visits The Southern California Traction Club!

The Southern California Traction Club set up their fantastic modules at the Orange Empire Railway Museum over the Fathers Day weekend.

I brought along #301 to show to them and ask general questions about traction modeling. The members were immediately taken with the model and put it on their track. It was the first time I've ever seen the trolley run! Pretty darn exciting.

Above, #301 passes by the SCTC car yards. Displayed in their yards are the pre-production models of the San Fransisco "F Line" PCC Streetcars by Bowser. SCTC was instrumental in the development of these models. George Huckaby’s “Hollywood” car 717 stands ready on the curve. George Huckaby photo.

Three things were immediately apparent about the Birney. One, it runs really slow! I might have overdone the 30:1 gear ratio a bit. Second, the motor/gears are really noisy. But the club members assured me that all that will quiet down as the car is broken in. And third, as I suspected, the lights didn't light. But over all the car performed really well. My thanks goes out to the SCTC for indulging me like that.

I am really impressed with the clubs modeling. The long straightaways obtainable by lining up the modules look like they go on forever.

The clubs modular layout is about at its limit with how much bigger it can get. So now they are concentrating on detailing the scenes.

Impressive. So impressive in fact, I joined the club! That's right, I am club member #13. Yessir! Southern California Traction Club member #13!

Dandy

Birney Project ~ Window Glass

Model Railroading isn't always fun. Sometimes its downright tedious!

My apologies for the late post but I'm finding that installing the window glass to be just that... tedious.

I'm trying to make good on this post about my method of installing the window glass. But I have run into some obstacles. While trying to install the motor assembly into the Birney body, it kept snagging on the seats, pushing them up. So I spot glued the seats into place with superglue. Turns out that the motor was snagging on some of the figures elbows. So I had to file those down. Now the motor is in there but so are the seats and figures. I can't access the windows to install the glass. If I pry the seats loose, the thickness of the glue remains so that when the seats are reinstalled, they will be sitting too high. Now I'm looking into superglue solvent.

In the meantime, I installed the glass into the front window. I cut a piece clear styrene to span the front windows and glued it into place. But...

As you can see, trying to maneuver the glass into place scratched the heck out of it and the glue got all over. Unacceptable. Lets punch out the glass and try that again.

This time I cut each window pane to size. Using two part epoxy, I applied one part to the window frame and the other part to the edge of the glass. This gave me time to get the pane into the car and into position for installation. Using this suction cup tool, the glass was carefully positioned into place. The two parts of the epoxy contacted each other, the reaction took place and set.

Now thats more like it! There's Birney the Motorman at the controls with a clear view ahead.

Yeah, Model Railroading might get tedious at times, but the results can be very satisfying. Yessir! Quite satisfying!

Birney Project ~ Weathering

No matter how much I love the nice shiny, sparkling paint on this trolley, it's gotta be knocked down a notch. I need to have this trolley look like a hard working, earning a living, turning a buck, work a day trolley. And yet retain some of its cared for and maintained shine.

For this weathering project, I'm going to be using weathering powders. These are very fine powders that include a bonding agent that is activated from the friction of scrubbing on the powders.

The lightest colors seem to have the hardest time showing up where as the darkest colors are too easy to apply. So, as you can see, I start with the lightest color first. The light gray is perfect for making the paint appear faded (the left side of the car is weathered and the right side is untouched to illustrate the difference the powder makes). Next is the nice light tan for simulating dust, then dark tan for simulating dirt. And finally dark brown for grime. I'm mostly interested in the fading and dusting effects for simulating the hot and dusty desert-by-the-sea climate of San Diego.

I love the effect that the powders makes on my models, it makes them look so dusty and dry. The biggest difference the powders made are on the mahogany doors and windows. Note how you can see them now, the surface details being brought out, where as before the doors were so glossy and translucent that you really couldn't see them (compare to top photo).

Probably the best feature of weathering powders is how forgiving they are. If you don't like the results, simply wash it off. Or, you can tone it down dramatically with a coating of dullcote. I sprayed the car with a coat of gloss. That way the car is weathered and shiny. The gloss coat did away with about 95% of the weathering, but, 5% of the weathering remains. The car is very nicely lightly weathered and yet retains the shine of a new, cared for and maintained trolley car.
Then I went back in and did a little more light weathering with the powders. This time I won't affix them with anything, just letting the bonding agent in the powders do its thing. So now I have a slightly weathered trolley, but shiny too! Yessir! Weathered yet shiny too!

Birney Project ~ Stickin' On the Stickers

Now that the Decals are made, it's time to stick 'em on.

Before anything else, seal the decals with a spray coat so the ink won't smear in the application process. Folks use clear Krylon, Dullcote, etc. Since the Birney is painted with Scalecoat paint, I sealed the decals by spraying them with Scalecoat Gloss. Let dry 24 hours.

It has been a while since I applied decals to a model, let alone decals with pin striping and that need such precision placement as these do. So, to gain some confidence I'm going take some decals that didn't print out all that well when I was trying out different settings on my printer, and use them to practice with.

Shown above is my handy "big ol' hunk of iron" that comes in very handy as a weight for various things. As you can see, I even used it to try out my SDERy Mission Yellow recipe on before I applied it to the model. Now its a perfect candidate to try the decals on! I'm using Microscales Micro Set and Micro Sol to help with the application proccess. Micro Set helps set the decals in place and Micro Sol softens the decals so that they will conform to irregular surfaces such as brick detail, plank detail, or in my case... rivets. The bottom decal was applied first. I was very pleased with it until I discovered that while smoothing it out, I had also stretched it to about 125% of its original size! Thinking I'm not supposed to smooth it out, I applied the second (top) decal and just let it dry on its own, thinking it will just tighten up and lay flat. But no, even though it didn't stretch as bad, its all wiggly. So I sent a frantic email to my good friend and fantastic modeler, Don Ball. He told me his technique for applying decals, which I followed very carefully. Turns out, I was not only using too much Set and Sol, I was using WAY TOO MUCH Set and Sol.

Following Don's instructions, I first dipped the decal into clean drinking water and set it aside to let the moisture from it loosen the decal. While that was happening, I took a much smaller brush this time and applied just enough Micro Sol to moisten the surface of the area of the car to be decaled. The decal was then slid off its backing right on to the moist, slippery surface. I used the brush sparingly dipped in Micro Set again to help position and smooth out the decal., using a small piece of tissue to blot up any excess. Once the decal is in place, I let it dry completely!

Now that everything is dry and stuck in place but good, now I can apply the Micro Sol (the hot stuff, that's why the bottle is red). But only to where its needed! In my case, right over the rivets. I applied small amounts over the rivets and let it soften things a little, using the brush to help conform the decal around the rivets. Not too much though, don't want to rip the decal. Let it dry!

Keep repeating: Moisten with Micro Sol only where needed, nudge, and let dry, as many times nessessary until desired results are achieved. When everything is in place and perfectly dry, I seal the decals by spraying the car with gloss coat.

For the dash signs, I cut some shim brass to size. I wanted to use styrene, but it don't come that thin. I painted the sign the trim brown color. After it was dry, I applied the decals to it and sealed them with gloss. Later I will glue it to the front of the car, after the weathering is done.

It's always amazing to me what a difference lettering and striping makes to a model. I think its looking sharp in its new pin striped suit. Yessir! Lookin' real sharp in it's new pinstriped suit!

Dandy

Birney Project ~ Fresh, Homemade Decals

This whole "making decals" thing has me pretty nervous. It seems like this can make or break this project. So, as usual, I'm just going to take it one step at a time, and at a pace I'm comfortable with, a pace that I have come to call "tinkering speed".

I'm confident that Photoshop can easily handle the tiny lettering and details required, but my biggest concern is whether or not my printer is capable of printing such tiny details with any sort of clarity. But first thing is first. Lets make the artwork.

This blog seems to have a few regular readers. But honestly, I maintain this blog mainly so I can remember how the heck I did things! So, in the future when I'm making decals again, here are a few things I'll want to remember: I'm using the Cannon MultiPASS F30 to scan and print. It has a resolution of 2400 x 1200 dpi. So the artwork is being made at 1000 dpi to be within that parameter. And now back to the show...

First, I scan my reference photo of ol' #301 and import it into Photoshop. I also imported a mugshot of my model. The lettering will be extracted from the ref photo and applied onto the photo of the model. Using the "lasso" tool, I select the side of the car in the ref photo.

I then apply the selection to the model photo. Using the "perspective" tool, I'm able to "flatten" the photo and conform it to the dimensions of the model. Now its just a matter of tracing the lettering and pin striping.

"INBOUND PAY AS YOU ENTER. OUTBOUND PAY AS YOU LEAVE. Transfers Issued Only At Time Fare Is Paid" Fortunatly, my 8x10 glossy reference photo is detailed enough where I can make out the fine print. But we'll see if this actually makes it onto the model without being a complete blur.

After much fussing and tinkering, I eventually get things to look about right. Everything is on different layers. So now all I have to do is turn off the layers with elements I don't need anymore and rearrange the artwork so it makes efficient use of the decal paper.
I had to make some educated guesses on some of the signs here. The ref photo only shows one end of the car, so I had to research the routes that this car took to help determine what the signs on the other end read.

Ta-da! Wow! I am just pleased as bees at how well these turned out! And because I'm such a generous guy, clicking on the decal image above will open a big juicy copy of it so that you (yes YOU my loyal followers) can print your own decals!!! Because I know that tons of folks out there are wanting to build their own model of SDERy #301!

Except for the fancy, long out of production, and expensive ALPS printer, printers don't print white or light (as in light magenta, light cyan, light yellow or any of the variants between). Fortunately for me, my decals are black (actually dark brown) so I'm able to print right onto clear decal paper. Since my printer is an Ink Jet I used paper for an Ink Jet, which is important, Laser paper wont work in an Ink Jet printer and vice versa.

But! The route board is brown and yellow, so I have to print that onto white decal paper (or if using the clear decal paper, prepare the surface first with white before applying the decal).

After futzing with the settings on the printer...

You know... It's funny the things that make me happy. This makes me really happy. I'm walking around with the biggest grin on my face... Success!!! These printed out beautifully!

Look! You can even read the fine print!!! Wow. This is a big load off of my mind, I am so pleased with the results. I am just pleased as bees. Yessir! Pleased as bees!





Dandy

Birney Project ~ Wiring for Trolley Pole Reverse

Fortunately, the Birney cleaned up nicely from the April fools day disaster ;-P. So now we can continue with the wiring. I'm going to use a nifty technique known as "Trolley Pole Reverse":

Trolley Pole Reverse wiring is used with live overhead. The direction of the trolley is reversed by simply switching poles, no need to switch polarity in the track! The way it works is; one pole is wired to one of the motor leads, and the other pole is wired to the other motor lead. When one pole is up in contact with the positive overhead, the motor lead it is wired to becomes energized with the positive electrisicles. The other pole is down making a connection with the holddown hook on the roof. That hook is part of the metal car body that is energized with the negative electrisicles from the wheels in contact with the negative rail. So that pole is energizing the motor lead its wired to with the negative electrisicles, making a circuit! Then, switch the position of the poles so the first is down and the other pole is up, the polarity of the motor leads are reversed and the trolley runs in the opposite direction! Cool huh?

Utah Pacific #CLU-96 Constant Lighting Kit wired in series with the motor provides 1.5 volts for reversing headlights and taillights as well as constant lighting for the destination board and route number signs. I had to omit the interior lighting, the unit is at capacity with the 7 bulbs its already lighting. Maybe someday I'll be able to figure out how to light the interior but, if I was to do it all again, I would go with LEDs. They last much longer, I'm not looking forward to fishing out a burnt out bulb out of the spaghetti of wiring shown above. The bulbs are glued in place with Elmers White Glue. Elmers is also used to glue the wires to the ceiling so that the dont hang down in the windows. Elmers hold really well but is also easy enough to remove.

2 Pin Micro Mini Connector from Miniatronics (Code: 50-001-02) allows the motor/truck assembly to be detached from the body for maintenance. One pin is wired to one trolley pole and the other pin wired to the other pole/constant lighting module. The negative charge from the rails transfer through the mounting screws to the trolley body and hold down hooks.

Add some power and "bling"... yessir! "Bling"!

Dandy

Birney Project ~ Disaster!!!

Well, as you can see, the wiring went horribly wrong!

This is the worst April Fools Day ever! Yessir! Worst April Fools Day evar!!!

Birney Project ~ Trolley Poles

Success! Finally. After expensive trial and error searching for suitable trolley poles for the Ken Kidder birney, I finally found a pair that work!

HO scale PCC Form 11 Trolley Pole from Miniatures By Eric available through Custom Traxx.
HTP2s includes Poles, two brass pivots, and two plastic insulators for $32.00.

You know, its a good thing model railroading is a rich mans hobby, keeps the riffraff out ;o)

I treated the shiny brass poles with Blacken-It. This actually turns the brass black but won't chip like paint, AND still make electrical contact. Which is good, because the car is going to be wired for "trolley pole reverse" which means the poles need to make good contact with the hold down hooks on the roof.

Now with the poles installed, we can finally get the electricicles happening. Yessir! Get our electricicles on!

SDERy Birney #301... Survives!

Figure the odds! What are the chances that the prototype of my modeling project, the prototype from some 90 years ago, turns up... not missing?!?! I'm three quarters of the way into modeling San Diego Electric Railway #301 when not only does a historic San Diego birney car show up, but its the actual SDERy #301 birney car! I mean really, figure the odds!

This photo of #301 was the best portrait of a SDERy birney car I have ever come across. So I purchased it from Don's Depot Railroad Photos soon after I had won a basketcase Ken Kidder HO scale birney model from eBay, to use as a guide for rebuilding the model into a San Diego car. So by that measure, I began modeling #301 only because I had a good picture of it!

San Diego Electric ordered the 301 and another 24 sister cars in 1920. And adding another 10 birney cars to the roster in 1922. But the birney cars, it turns out, were not a favorite with the passengers, so the 301 was sold after only 3 years of service.

Joe Testagrose photo

According to Sacramento Northern On-Line, The Sacramento Northern bought SDERy #301, 304, 309, and 311, becoming SNRR 62-65. And later bought SDERy 306 thru 308 becoming SNRR 66-68. These cars enjoyed a long career on the Sacramento Northern until that railroad called it quits in 1947.

SNRR #62 (ex SDERy #301) had the sad honors of making the very last run of the Sacramento Northern. Most of the cars were either scrapped or dimantled to be used as chicken coops or other structures. But! The Bay Area Electric Railway Association scraped together $250 to buy # 62, the only SN Birney to survive intact. Ol' #62 was stored in various shops around the bay area, occasionally run on excursions, before finally being moved to a museum at Rio Vista Junction in 1964, where it was restored and repainted in 1973 in SNRRs green paint scheme. It is now believed that this car never wore those colors. It may have wore its San Diego colors for a while before being repainted in SNRR white with blue trim.

Here is ex SDERy #301 today, fully restored and making regular runs at the Western Railway Museum near Sacramento and San Fransisco. Frank Hicks photo.

I think I'll have to arrange a little excursion soon to go visit the ol' ex San Diegan. Yessir! A little excursion!

Dandy

Birney Project ~ Route Signs

Now that the paint is baked on, the (perishables? burnables? can't stand up to heatables?) can be added to the model. One of those meltables is the acrylic cube that's being used for the route sign on the roof:

Here, SDERy 333 is displaying its "MB" (Mission Beach) route sign.

I started by cutting a Plastruct square acrylic tube to size. The hole in the tube fits perfectly over the brass tube used for the bulb housing explained in a previous post. I tried fabricating a brass housing for the acrilyc square but that was very difficult to get it just right. So I said "screw it!" and simply glued the brass angles to the side, and a square of styrene on top. Done!

The backs of the Route signs are curved, this was quickly achieved with the Dremel tool, and then fine tuned with a file.

To prevent the route sign box from glowing when lit, the top and back is painted black.

Next, mask off the face of the sign and we are ready for more golden yellow paint.

Bam! On there. Now this guy can get its route on. Yessir! Bam!

Dandy

Birney Project ~ Painting Brass Models

Before I commit paint to brass, I'm going to experiment a little. I started by making some guesses as to what color paints to mix to achieve SDERy "Mission Yellow".

This is a page from my notebook. I masked off a grid and airbrushed some paint samples to see what color these paints really are (Scalecoats color guide is a three color process that uses color inks from the printer and not actual Scalecoat paint). I'm really liking Scalecoats Erie Lackawanna Yellow (but read on!!!).

First, to prep the model, I soaked it for 15 minutes in vinegar. Vinegar will not only chemically clean the brass but will also micro-etch it to give it some tooth for the paint to stick to. Then rinse and dry.

Inspired by this photo of an actual Birney interior, I have decided to paint mine similarly.

Floquil makes a nice tan color, so I used that for the interior (can you guess what color tan I used? Answer). Floquil and Scalecoat don't mix, so Floquil will be used exclusively for the interior and Scalecoat exclusively for the exterior.
Edit: I have since discovered that San Diego Birneys had green interiors. Live and learn. Yessir! Live and learn.

After the paint dried thoroughly I masked off the entire interior. Say goodbye to bare brass! Its off to the paint shop.

Following Scalecoats "Recommended Steps for Application", I airbrushed the paint on and then "baked" the model at 175 degrees for 2 hours. This will make the paint really shine! I used this old toaster oven that I kept for just such an occasion.

Whoa! Way too lemony yellow! Lackawanna yellow looks very different on brass than it did in my notebook. Back to the drawing board, or, paint booth.

I need a much more of a golden yellow color. After trying a few things, I'm going to give chip #6 (center, right) a go: 1 part C&NW Yellow, 1 part SP Daylight Orange. I'll also give Boxcar Red (top left) a go for the Mahogany trim color. The bottom row is my explorations for the roof color. I eventually used all the colors: 10 parts white, 5 parts C&NW Yellow, 5 parts SP Daylight Orange, 1 part Boxcar Red (in other words, 10 parts SDERy Yellow, 1 part SDERy Brown, and then lightened that considerably with an equal amount of white).

Much better. I got so involved with the painting process that I forgot to take pictures of the fancy masking I had to do for the brown trim, sorry. Practically to whole model was masked except for the doors and window frames! Tiny strips of masking tape had to be cut and placed between each of the windows. I laid the masking tape on a piece of glass and used a straight edge and Xacto to cut it into the strips.
This yellow color seems to be pretty darn close (considering I have never personally seen SDERy Yellow!!!). I think it needs to be darker. Or maybe slightly more orange? Oh I don't know! At least it's well within the ballpark. Yessir! Well within the ballpark!

Dandy