Glory Days 2015: D-3

Finished the last of my MILS modules this morning. A few of the decorative modules will just have to be green baseplates propped up to MILS height. Ran out of time, technic bricks, and well, green plates. You can see one of the modules finished this morning in this pic. Now what's the big deal with this locomotive? Surely this picture looks exactly like this one, right. That in itself is the accomplishment! Because in between the two photos, CV 455 looked more like this. So now she's back the way she was built...more or less. I've added some 1/8" white automotive pinstriping to the sides to get the white running board edges common to the Canadian National and subsidiary locomotives. More decal and detail work tomorrow.

Glory Days 2015: D-16

One of the things I learned with last year's event is that I need to do rigorous testing earlier in the build. Very agile development in philosophy. With today's test I discovered that my pilot trucks cannot withstand high speeds. I also found some other minor tweaks were needed in the connection to the tender and that the main drivers tend to slip on the ME models curves. On the positive side, this will run at good speed with the full weight of the train behind it and the locomotive design is lightweight and durable, having survived several high-speed derailments (#455 by contrast is rather explodey.) The far curve is R104, the near curve is R88.