FSM Bailey's Produce for Cuse - Here we go again!

Janbouli · August 21, 2018, 05:51:45 PM

Quote from: S&S RR on August 20, 2018, 07:42:51 PM
Quote from: deemery on August 20, 2018, 06:11:51 PM
Quote from: Janbouli on August 20, 2018, 02:38:05 PM
Going strong Bob , btw love the T-shirt collection.

Yeah, it's like watching costume changes in a play...

dave

I was reading through the posts and just realized I'm wearing the same T-shirt - The green Modelers forum shirt. The first time I met Bob - back when we were both younger - he was wearing a T-shirt with his avatar picture on it. Do you still have that shirt Bob?

So was I , I have it in 3 colors , but was wearing the green one at that moment. I'm wearing the blue one now.

ReadingBob · August 22, 2018, 01:53:08 PM

Quote from: jrmueller on August 21, 2018, 12:29:35 PM
Hi Bob. Went back through the thread because I want to see how you handled the stucco. Took notes since I believe I have a FOS kit buried somewhere that involves stucco. Enjoyed reading the whole thing including comments on the t-shirt collection. Thanks Jim

Thanks Jim! Glad you're following along and taking notes, not names.

The stucco is relatively easy to do. These kits come with a little packet of Durham's Water Putty but I have a container of it that I've had for well over 20 years which I use in a pinch when I do something dumb like mix a batch wrong or use up the whole packet when I should have reserved a little for later on (like in this kit

). I you have extra I'd recommend practicing a bit on some scraps before you do the walls on the kit.

ReadingBob · August 22, 2018, 01:55:46 PM

Quote from: Opa George on August 21, 2018, 05:15:11 PM
Bob,
Really nice job on this kit--enjoying the play-by-play. The stucco work is outstanding--really came out nice.

Thanks for the kind words George and for following along!

I see by your tag line you're from Harrisburg, PA. I'm familiar with the area. My brother lives in Enola and my mother is in Mechanicsburg. I love watching trains at the end of the Enola Yard when I'm up visiting family.

ReadingBob · August 23, 2018, 07:15:48 AM

I have a few more progress pictures to share and the timing might for this group might be right given Bob Parrish has started a thread entitled super-easy-super-cheap-structure-lighting.

Before I get into the lighting portion of this build, however, I have one photo to share that shows the 'patches' where I had to apply stucco over some of the seams were the walls were joined together. I painted the new stucco and weathered it like I did the original and it came out close to the original. Near the end of the build I may apply a little more weather to blend it together better but it's close.

On to the lighting!

I guesstimated how many LED's and Current Limiters I was going to use for the build and started by applying solder to the leads for each. The pliers serve as a bit of a heat sink to help protect the LED. I just want a coating of solder on the leads so it's easier to solder then in place later on.

I use black photo mounting board (I picked up a big sheet at an art supply store) to fashion light boxes that will fit inside the structure. I come up with a design in my head and make it up as I go. This particular piece will be the ceiling for one of the 'floors' in the box. I applied copper tape to one side, drilled holes through it where I wanted the Current Limiter and LED to go and now I'm pushing the Current Limiter in place.

Using some needle nose pliers I bend the leads at a 90 degree angle.

Then I trim them a bit using an old pair of rail nippers.

Next I solder the leads to the copper tape.

More in a moment...

ReadingBob · August 23, 2018, 07:29:58 AM

Here's the light box for the main structure being slide into place. Something I forgot to mention is a I leave myself contact points that the leads for the gooseneck lights can be soldered to after the light box or cards have been slide into place. You can see that there are two solder points at the top of the card in the in the front of the structure. That's what those are for.

A quick test after everything has been connected and success! It works!

Now that the lighting has been installed I can continue on with the roofing and other details.

That's all for now. Thanks for following along!

GPdemayo · August 23, 2018, 09:01:40 AM

Love the lighting Bob.....

ACL1504 · August 23, 2018, 05:43:09 PM

Bob,

I don't have much to say about this build. Oh wait, absolutely freaking fantastic.

Tom

cuse · August 23, 2018, 06:19:45 PM

Really cool. Great tutorial pics as always. That's coming along beautifully!

John

sdrees · August 23, 2018, 10:16:49 PM

Bob, thanks for the tutorial on lighting. I need all the help I can get on lighting my work. Have you ever used a buck converter instead of all the current limiters? Do you wire your LED's in series or parallel?

ReadingBob · August 24, 2018, 07:48:35 AM

Quote from: GPdemayo on August 23, 2018, 09:01:40 AM
Love the lighting Bob.....

Thanks Greg! I have some transparent yellow to paint on the LED's in the gooseneck's that'll tone them down a bit but this was just a test to ensure everything was working correctly. On to the roofing!

ReadingBob · August 24, 2018, 07:49:54 AM

Quote from: ACL1504 on August 23, 2018, 05:43:09 PM
Bob,

I don't have much to say about this build. Oh wait, absolutely freaking fantastic.

Tom

Thanks Tom! Much appreciated! I can't keep pace with you and Karl though.

Even if I was retired I don't think I could keep up with y'all.

ReadingBob · August 24, 2018, 07:51:18 AM

Quote from: Cuse on August 23, 2018, 06:19:45 PM
Really cool. Great tutorial pics as always. That's coming along beautifully!

John

Thanks John! Now that I've seen where you plan on placing it on your layout I'm excited about seeing it there. It'll be a nice focal point.

ReadingBob · August 24, 2018, 08:31:27 AM

Quote from: sdrees on August 23, 2018, 10:16:49 PM
Bob, thanks for the tutorial on lighting. I need all the help I can get on lighting my work. Have you ever used a buck converter instead of all the current limiters? Do you wire your LED's in series or parallel?

Thanks Steve. No, I've never used a buck converter. To be honest, I don't know what a buck converter is.

I'm the prime example of "Lighting for Dummies". If I can do it, anyone can. Everything I'm doing I learned from Slim. This is all his fault.

The Current Limiters take the mystery out of it for me. Yes, I do wire things in series. I start with the positive side leading into a Current Limiter. The Current Limiters do have a Positive and Negative lead so they have to be positioned correctly or they won't work. I use a Red Sharpie to mark the Positive leads on them so I don't have to remember which is which. The Current Limiter takes 3 volts. Then the Negative lead from the Current Limiter gets connected to the Positive lead of the first LED in the series. Then the Negative lead of the that LED gets connected to the Positive lead of the next LED and so on. I generally only go so far as connecting three LED's to one Current Limiter. Each LED takes 3 Volts so that's a total of 12 Volts. Too much for a 9 Volt battery but anything from 12 to 60 Volts can power the series, the Current Limiter eliminates the need to doing the math and getting the right sized power source and resistance in the circuit. I have an 18 Volt wall wart I use for testing. Hope this helps and I'm more than happy to try to answer any questions you might have. As I've heard Howard Zane comment, "If I don't know the answer I'll make one up."

sdrees · August 24, 2018, 12:11:09 PM

thanks for the info Bob. A Buck Converter is a DC to DC step down voltage regulator. So the one I have, it has a readout, so I can step down the bus wire voltage to 3 volts for the LED lights. Not knowing any better, I wired my LED's in parallel for my tractor shed and the lights worked fine. Then somebody told me your not suppose to wire them in parallel. So I am not sure.