Headed for the slopes!

Next week we are headed for the slopes. Just for the record, omscaler does not ski. This is due to growing up in the deep south. However, next week, omscaler will be working on the slopes. What is being referred to is slope...sheets. We will need to complete the side assemblies then on to the slopes! Let’s see. There are two end sheets. Two center sheets. Two beam cover sheets. Times ten cars. You get the picture. As an aside, the car markings came out pretty well. Well, on to the slopes! Omscaler

 

Happy Anniversary!

That’s right! It’s us again! We are marking five years this month. Actually February 14^th. Since the fourteenth was on a Monday, omscaler decided to mark the event in this post. We are very proud of what we have accomplished so far. Frankly, omscaler had no idea how much work would be involved to bring this dream into fruition. We knew it would not be easy. We believed then and now it would be well worth it. The Omega Scale Railway continues to inspire us. Talk about continuous process improvement. Even as this is being written, ideas that save time and effort are being used. In this specific case, the ten-car hopper project needed both a railroad name and reporting marks on each side of the car. Initial trials called for one hundred sixty appliques to get the job done. Omscale knew this could be improved upon. We got ‘er down to twenty. The new design is much easier to install. This is a major tour-de-force for the building department. This is the kind of innovation that has become the hallmark of The Very Small Railroad. Other ideas are already waiting in the wings. This is what keeps us excited around here. Itching to go, omscaler

 

Rib redux and “the battle of the ampersands”

Readers may recall the account of the rib installation. Omscaler is delighted to report a more innovative method was used to make side ribs. Faster to do and seems to appear more realistic (perhaps?). Glad the ribs are done. What happened the following Thursday was a tale to be told. The following account is from a post omscaler did on a popular forum. It is presented here “in the vernacular”.

Wow! Am impressed again! So much going on. I finished the rib application phase for the open top hoppers. Thursday was "the battle of the ampersand". First a little background. A while ago I ran short of letter size printer paper. When I went to the office supply store, somehow, I got into a conversation with the lady in the print shop department. She said the print shop now used 24# paper as the 20# paper used too much ink. I explained that I used the paper for the model railroad. The upshot of this was that she just gave me a number of sheets of the 24# paper as a free sample! Happy, happy, joy, joy! Next, the ampersand. The GM&O ampersand is not the standard ampersand. It was apparently designed by a drunken Bulgarian (my apologies to drunken Bulgarians). It looks like a Cyrillic "yeh", a backwards three, with a little inverted "T" tail on the right bottom. I could not find it on the interweb, even to purchase. So, what we did was scan it in as black on white (I need white letters on black). Two tries on the scan (needed jpeg, not pdf). Pulled it up in Paint 3D. Got the colors reversed. Manipulated it with a snip and cut app as well. Imported it to the spreadsheet where reside the reporting marks and Etc. And voila' we got a good test print. Fyi, this had to be reduced from a font size seven at a thirty percent reduction. So, you see, I have been having fun! This is the 'mostest words I ever put on here. Sorry it is so long. Be well, safe and fun to be with! 

 As readers can see, we won the battle. Omscaler is optimistic we can indeed apply the road name and reporting marks with the original ampersand. Omscaler strives for realism as much as possible on The Very Small Railroad. We continue to labor, omscaler

 

Do you mind a little ribbing?

In the Bible, Adam gave a rib. Omscaler is going to give a rib or rather give one hundred and forty ribs. “Let's have a barbecue!”, the reader may say. Great idea! However, we might do it after the ribs are installed on the hopper cars. Each side has seven ribs. There are ten hoppers being built. Each rib has to be cut to size and installed. An exacting task but as always, omscaler will “get ‘er done”. See you on the rib side, ‘er on the flip side. Omscaler

 

Hopping on hoppers

 The work on the open top hoppers is moving forward. We did a yeoman’s job on the coupler specifications. This included making a coupler height gauge as is used on many model railroads. Never hurts to borrow a good idea. The couplers tested well and omscaler expects reliable performance in real life. At this writing omscaler has begun cutting out the side sheets. We are working slow and careful. Omscaler uses cutting guides to help keep things moving along. Some adjustments had to be made to the guides to improve accuracy. So far, so good. Never hurts to double check and check again. We are not sure exactly when the hoppers will be done. We just have to wait and see. Patiently working, omscaler

 

A hook in time saves nine?

 As per last post, omscaler is working on a batch of ten fifty-ton, thirty-four-foot, twin bay, open top hoppers. The draft gear is complete. What is going on now is the fine tuning of the coupler hooks. The Very Small Railroad actually uses a simple swing latch hook for the coupler. Simple. Seems to work. However, at this point omscaler is trying to make the couplers in a more accurate size. Small couplers require small adjustments. If the couplers are made too large, they don’t work well. If the couplers are made too small, they don’t work well. Seems like a Goldilocks situation. If the reader compares the real life coupler to The Omega Scale coupler, several differences will become apparent. The OSR coupler has no moving parts. The Janney coupler has the main part, the knuckle and a knuckle pin. Omscaler at this time does not know how to replicate the real coupler in 1/384 scale. Maybe one day? That is why a simple swing latch is used. We continue to work on the current project. Getting it done, omscaler

 

We’ve been framed!

 That’s right! We have been framed! Let me explain. All new road equipment on The Omega Scale Railway have the newly designed side frames. This actually began with the M&StL boxcar. This side frame eliminates three parts. It is easier to make. It also has a thinner profile. Estimated time to make these is shorter as well. All these attributes give The Very Small Railroad a better looking rail car. Just in time for the new batch of open top hoppers! Well, let’s hop to it, omscaler