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Post by ugeesta on Jul 8, 2016 4:22:49 GMT -5
Back in the late 70's my grandmother went to Germany to see some relatives. I asked her to bring me back a Marklin HO locomotive. When she returned, she had two engines and a handful of rolling stock in Z Gauge.
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Post by ugeesta on Jul 6, 2016 20:32:04 GMT -5
Thanks David, but the broken piece in the Auction is the same side as mine that is broken. Either the metal used for the frames is very soft or there must have been a bad production run on the frames. Taking this offline to Rob.
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Post by ugeesta on Jul 4, 2016 14:20:39 GMT -5
Thanks for the tip. I see the blanks at $90 elsewhere.
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Post by ugeesta on Jul 4, 2016 12:15:34 GMT -5
In this case, if all you need is the truck, you can get them here: Rob Not anymore. While trying to assemble it back together, half the Frame broke off in my hand. It was a very easy break. And then I broke it again looking at the first break. it was a thin area by the PCB board but it did seem to break very easily.
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Post by ugeesta on Jul 4, 2016 10:48:14 GMT -5
Nevermind. Just broke the frame. It broke pretty easy so I wonder if this was one with the bad castings.
Next Stem: Contact AZL.
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Post by ugeesta on Jul 4, 2016 10:18:02 GMT -5
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Post by ugeesta on Jul 4, 2016 9:21:37 GMT -5
This morning I came down to my layout and discovered one of our little furry layout wreckers got ahold of my UP GP38-2. They threw it off the table and onto the concrete floor to where the shell came off and the front truck disassembled and broke.
the front couple broke off the truck frame and the couple is trashed. Definitely need a new one.
in my lame efforts to reassemble the engine, I have seemed to taken everything apart and now have a pile of parts that my fat fingers can't get back together.
is there an authorized repair shop near Cleveland or is it better to ship back to Dublin? I don't think I'll be able to this thing back together without a couple pieces hitting the wall.
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Post by ugeesta on Jun 20, 2016 14:10:01 GMT -5
^^^^ You forgot that it will come in multiple colors and as well...
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Post by ugeesta on Jun 17, 2016 16:42:41 GMT -5
Lucky dog!!!
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Post by ugeesta on May 24, 2016 18:24:08 GMT -5
The majority of my collection is Marklin. Probably a couple dozen engines or so. Need to take inventory again. My Crown Jewels are the complete set of the Orient Express and Santa Fe Blue Warbonnet A & B unit. Other F7's include B&O, PRR, Chessie $ Southern Pacific.
It wasn't till this year that I discovered AZL. Now I'm addicted.
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Post by ugeesta on May 21, 2016 12:18:35 GMT -5
Those frosted glass mountains would be perfect. Thanks for the compliments. Before starting, I thought about putting a mirrored or frosted plexiglas base down. Think that would have looked really cool but would have shown my redoes more than the finished birch. no videos yet....
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Post by ugeesta on May 19, 2016 20:24:00 GMT -5
Last year I was watching YouTube videos and came across the video below. I was so fascinated by the design, I had to emulate it.
One of the first things I needed to do was to figure out how to design the layout. After much internet searching, I ended up buying AnyRail5 to design the layout.
Several hours of figuring and refiguring curves, I couldn't get all the bends and settled on a simple rail yard in the middle. With that settled, the rest of the design was easier.
I knew my skills to cut plexiglas was marginal at best, I called around to find a shop that could. Tap Plastics out of California was the most willing and had the best pricing to laser cut the track bed. I sent them my dimensions and quantities and in 2-3 weeks, I has a box delivered with all my pieces. Tap even included extra pieces of each radius in the shipment. Roughly 10% more than I ordered.
So, I got my table build and started the work.
First was to layout the rail yard.
Once that was working, the elevated sections were next. I went with a 2% slope which ended up to be about a 1.8% on the outer track.
Starting to think that was too steep and that my Marklin trains would not be able to handle the grade, I needed to lower the grade. I was able to lower the grade to about 1.5% on the other side of the layout but it was too late for the first side.
Next up was wiring. The video did not show any of the standard Marklin power connections so soldering wires to the rail was the next. I ran the wires through hollow supports at the elevated sections. I have no idea how the guy in the video wired the track as I don't see any connections in the video.
The finished product.
It turned out the grade is too steep for Marklin long trains so that sucks. However, I found a new addiction for the AZL trains which have no problems with the grades. It was a lot of fun with a couple PITA moments and took over a year from conception to completion.
Now for the obligatory AZL pics
And Lastly. We have felines that love to play with my train set when I'm not around. They destroyed the Catenary on my previous layout. This s how my set is protected from the little bastages.
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Post by ugeesta on May 15, 2016 20:08:45 GMT -5
I was going to post this question as well. Since the Chessie two bay hoppers were released last month, any chance on a Chessie Loco? Say, a SD70 or so? It would make a great CSX heritage model.
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Post by ugeesta on May 14, 2016 16:26:38 GMT -5
Wait, what? Ditch lights from the factory? Haven't even cracked my Reading open yet....... Yes, sir, they are there. They're not extremely bright but I just turn down the room lights when I'm love'n my locos. Maybe put on some Tom Jones or Dean Martin. Why hey stop there? Break out the Barry White
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Post by ugeesta on May 12, 2016 20:40:36 GMT -5
Got my CSX unit today and I really like it. The detail is amazing. Unfortunately, the lights are a bit dim compared to my SD70 and GP38, otherwise it's a great engine.
Any chance for a black DRG&W unit in the future?
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