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Mick's lockdown models
The Oil Drum Brazier is in HO scale.
The oil drum is a Grandt Line product, suitably distressed and with an 0603 Super Golden White LED and resistor added in the bottom, carefully positioned so that it also shines out of a rusty hole in the side of the drum. See the burned circle of ash and scorched grass around it, too.
Uintah 51 is an old PFM model from the late 1980s of the Uintah Railway’s second 2-6-6-2 tank locomotive. It’s in HOn3 scale – that’s HO Scale, 3 foot gauge, so running on 10.5mm track. It has a nice paint job, but didn’t run. You can see why, from the photo with the split gear. The Sagami motor wasn’t up to much either – they rarely are. Replacement gears are available, and while the gear price was Ok, the shipping required was extortionate, so I looked for alternatives. The motor is a Minebea SE15HOSTLP, which is an amazing buy. Slow (6500 rpm), massively torquey, silent in operation and $3. It’s a 6-pole 4 magnet affair The belt drive is components from Nigel Lawton 009. Also silent, and show no slippage in normal use – just make sure no oil gets on it. For this loco, normal usage means pulling 15-20 cars up a 3% grade. The prototype was used on a line which featured a long 7.5% grade (that’s 1:13 in UK gradients). 51 and sister 50 were good for about 90 tons, or 10 empty flatcars, on that. The Uintah also featured a 66 degree curve, which is 15” radius in HO scale!
Rio Grande Southern 0260 is also in HOn3. It’s a representation of a coach converted into a bunk car for the bridge and building gang, and shown as it was around 1950 or so, when the occupant’s family were in residence, which explains the curtains, and the tin batch hung up on one end and the potted plant and water can on the other. It made from a Blackstone Models coach, with roof and underfloor changes and some blocked in windows on the car side. It also features a complete and lit interior down to coffee mugs on the table where the lady of the car is having coffee with a friend.
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