# Ox Water Buffalo



## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Movng along in my battery conversion I'm ready to do the 4-4-0.

There's no way to get the batteries in the boiler and the tender isn't very big either.

So I'm bashing an aux water tender. Aristo is providing the parts; one sloped back tender and a tank from a 20' car.
I wanted 4 wheel trucks and it wa too much work to add the trucks to a shorty car, the chassis of the tender is perfect and will look like it belongs behind the loco.

I've rough cut the tender flooor and have lowered the dome on the tank. I've cut off one end of the tank for batteries and electronics.

Nothing is glued up, I'm still getting the feel of working with plastic


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Posted By Totalwrecker on 19 Aug 2009 08:17 PM 







Movng along in my battery conversion I'm ready to do the 4-4-0.

There's no way to get the batteries in the boiler and the tender isn't very big either.

So I'm bashing an aux water tender. Aristo is providing the parts; one sloped back tender and a tank from a 20' car.
I wanted 4 wheel trucks and it wa too much work to add the trucks to a shorty car, the chassis of the tender is perfect and will look like it belongs behind the loco.

I've rough cut the tender flooor and have lowered the dome on the tank. I've cut off one end of the tank for batteries and electronics.

Nothing is glued up, I'm still getting the feel of working with plastic.

John


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Here's an update of the aux water car... I'll post an outdoor pic tomorrow, my bench lights aid my eyes not my camera...
rattle can Fusion Paints. Temporary flex straw hose...in pink!








Posted By Totalwrecker on 19 Aug 2009 08:19 PM 








Posted By Totalwrecker on 19 Aug 2009 08:17 PM 







Movng along in my battery conversion I'm ready to do the 4-4-0.

There's no way to get the batteries in the boiler and the tender isn't very big either.

So I'm bashing an aux water tender. Aristo is providing the parts; one sloped back tender and a tank from a 20' car.
I wanted 4 wheel trucks and it wa too much work to add the trucks to a shorty car, the chassis of the tender is perfect and will look like it belongs behind the loco.

I've rough cut the tender flooor and have lowered the dome on the tank. I've cut off one end of the tank for batteries and electronics.

Nothing is glued up, I'm still getting the feel of working with plastic.

John


Update; Color and new slip fittings are installed, deck needs staining and I'm still looking for flex tubing for the wire/water connection....


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## Paulus (May 31, 2008)

It's looking GREAT John! 
Real nicely done bash work and I think it's a good solution for storing the batteries and electronics. 
Looking forward to the daylight pictures! 

Paul


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Posted By Paulus on 24 Sep 2009 12:15 AM 
It's looking GREAT John! 
Real nicely done bash work and I think it's a good solution for storing the batteries and electronics. 
Looking forward to the daylight pictures! 

Paul Tomorrow took a while... There was a heat spell that lasted a month!

I got a call from the Brass and word was the car needed to be dual srvice and of course; home built!









So now it's also a firefighting car with a steam water pump and a full motion monitor/ nozzle on the upper deck.

More details to come: gauges and some valves, steps between levels and such.

There is a center drain through the chasis for wires and an end drain for the pump and a faucet...




























Hopefully I get it painted this weekend, but there still is some solder to clean up and the wood deck gets stained...

John


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

OK John, what gives???... what did you do to correct your problem with posting pictures.


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

XP died and the new tower has Vista.... I'se a magician! 

Lucky I guess. 

OK I backed into it. lol 

John


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

OK, by 'backed into it', I'm assuming that;
[*] You're using the Add Reply button & the HTML editor as opposed to the Quick Reply editor to add your reply.
[*] You mean you inserted the pictures in reverse order (i.e. last picture first etc.).
[*] Typed the message's text after the pictures were inserted. 
[/list] Another question.

Why do you sometimes use the {Enter} key and at times use the {Shift+Enter} keyboard keystroke?


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Steve, Sorry I was laughing at myself. 

I use the quote reply because the 'add pic' option comes up that way. I click the icon in the tool bar (I hope my terms are right...mtn 'n a figure icon) 
Then I upload the pic from my pc's files and use the locator for Absolute bottom. 
I resized these before uploading. 

They came out right, right order and where I wanted them. 

My only change from success and past failures was a new pc tower with Vista OS instead of the XP which died. I'm still doing the same steps in the same order (as best as I remember). 

My backing into it meant I stumbled my way to success, turned around and there it was! 

I don't understand the second question. Other than shift for caps and enter for go, I don't know what those commands, esp; shift+enter do/does. 

John


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Hey John,

No problem, now I follow what you meant by 'backing into it'







Using the 'Quote' link in a reply header brings up the HTML editor just like adding a reply or a topic does, I was just making sure which editor you were using.

When you're inserting pictures in your reply the sequence you should follow is...
[*] Position the 'Insertion Point' cursor (i.e. the vertical blinking line) on the line where you want the picture inserted on.
[*] Click the 'Insert Image' button








[*] If uploading an image click the 'Upload' button.
[*] Navigate to where the image file is located on your computer.
[*] Double-click the file name with your mouse.
[*] After the image file completes uploading, click the 'OK' button to clear the user prompt.
[*] The image will display in the right pane of the Insert Image dialog.
[*] The location of the image file on the MLS server (i.e. your MLS 1st Class web space) will be displayed in the text field labeled 'URL:'
[*] At this point all you need to do is click the 'Insert' button.
(Note, there is no need to make any other changes on the Insert Image dialog. The 'Alignment:' setting that you mention is only used with images that are displayed in line with other text (e.g. smileys), so when inserting pictures just leave it set to 'Not Set.' If you want to see what this setting does, type some text and insert a smiley somewhere in the middle of the line of text. Then double-click the smiley with the mouse, when the dialog displays make changes to the 'Alignment:' setting and click the 'OK' button.)[/i] 
[/list] The reason for the question about the keyboard keystrokes was the following.
[*] There are two ways to add a new line in a reply with the HTML editor.
[*] First, the most common way is simply taping the {Enter} key.
[*] Second, is to press and hold down the {Shift} key, then tap the {Enter} key, thus the shorthand {Shift+Enter} representing the keyboard key combination of the {Shift} key PLUS the {Enter} key.

[/list][*] While visually they look the same in the HTML editor, the actual HTML code created is different, for example...
[*] Typing the word 'John' then just tapping the {Enter} key creates the following code.










[*] Typing the word 'John' then using the {Shift+Enter} keyboard key combination creates the following code.









[/list][/list]


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Steve, 
Thanks for the heads up regarding insertions. 

As far as codes, I haven't a clue what you are talking about. Sure I see the diff in the 2 examples, but I've no clue what that means or it's ramifications... 

Instead of double clicks I often right click then click open ... 

I use the mouse to set where the line goes... 

John


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

John

The difference in the code, that which is contained between the two 'div' tags is treated as an individual block (i.e. similar to a paragraph).
[*] In the first example there are two separate blocks, one above another.
[*] In the second example there is only one block, but two lines. At the end of the first line there is an line-break tag '/ br' (can't use the angle brackets or when I post the reply they'll be seen as code and executed







).
[*] Visually they look the same.
[/list] Regarding double-clicking an image with the left mouse button.
[*] The double-clicking action will cause the image properties dialog to be displayed by the HTML editor, so you can make changes to any of its settings if desired.
[*] While right-clicking the image will simply cause a MS/Windows context menu to be displayed.
[/list] 
"I use the mouse to set where the line goes..." You can use the mouse to place the insertion-point cursor on a line, but first the line must have been created using the {Enter} or {Shift+Enter} keyboard actions.

For example...
[*] When the HTML editor page displays regardless of where in the content area you click with the mouse, the insertion-point cursor always displays in the upper-left corner of the content area.
[*] If you then tap the {Enter} key twice the result is you have now created two new lines, with the insertion-point cursor located on the third line.
[*] If you now click the mouse while its cursor is vertically aligned with the first line the insertion-point will move to the first line. Even if the mouse cursor is located on the far right of the content area.
[*] This also holds true if the mouse cursor is aligned with the second or third line.
[*] However, you can't make the insertion-point go below that third line unless you first create another new line.
[/list]


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Steve I follow what you are saying, but I don't think I'm; clicking Enter and know fer sure that I'm not holding shift either. In Quote mode my opening line is under the quotation, I remembered what others advised about typing a couple lines of text before adding pics. Did that, added pics, clicked away the frame squares, then added final text, (it cam out on the bottom right of last pic), I put cursor in front of text and clicked Enter to move the text down to below last pic.... 

That's the method to my madness.... lol Thanks for the help and guidance, though I can remember when my highschool rented time on a mainframe, my pc time is only at home and not much more evolved than burning music cds and sharing pics. 

And thanks for being willing to talk to me! I realise that I've been an ass in the past, apologised to all too( I think), but I don't really know what happened yesterday... 

John


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Totalwrecker on 04 Nov 2009 03:30 PM 
{snip...}[/i] And thanks for being willing to talk to me! I realise that I've been an ass in the past, apologised to all too( I think), but I don't really know what happened yesterday... {snip...}[/i] John

?????? Goodness gracious John why wouldn't I, don't see that you're any worse or better than any of the other of us on the forums.









As for the posting of pictures, hey who's going to argue with success, you're getting the job done that you want, what else can one ask for.

The only reason I asked about the {Enter} & {Shift+Enter} thing was I remembered that you were having problems in the past with including pictures in your replies. Saw the topic and it seemed you had resolved the problem. Out of curiosity I looked at the code and noticed that it looked like you were using the two dufferent methods and just wondered if there was a reason.

When using the quote on a reply, by default the editor automatically puts two blank lines below the quoted text. If you notice there is usually a big gap between the quote and the start of the reply text. That comes from adding those couple of extra lines. Next time try the following...
[*] After the editor page displays with the quoted text, click anywhere within the content area with the mouse.
[*] Then press and hold down the {Ctrl} key, and then tap the {End} key.
[*] Then you can start typing the text of your reply.
[/list] Doing the above will place the insertion point cursor at the start of the second line below and outside the actual quote.


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Oops, did it again forgot to mention that the job on the tanker looks very nice.


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## Paulus (May 31, 2008)

Posted By SteveC on 04 Nov 2009 07:00 PM 
Oops, did it again forgot to mention that the job on the tanker looks very nice.


LOL! I was allready thinking I fell into a different forum!

The fire fighting equipment /pump and platform looks great!! Nice figure by the way, wiping the sweat of his forehead. Fits great in the sunny background.


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Thanks Paulus, 
I was beginning to feel bad about the delay, but that tomorrow was in the triple digits outside! 

All the parts for the pump, etc... came from my parts drawers; brass tubing, sheet and structural shapes. It's all rosin core soldered! The centrifical pump was shaped from sheet copper hammered into a hand carved fiber wood form. Still want to make a fly ball govenor for the turbine... 
For the counters; I added 14 hand made rivets that are functional... 
I haven't ruled out lagging for the on deck steam pipes... 
I'm also not sold on the diagonal railing, the original idea was rotate the end plug down to use as the outlet line to the forward tender but after making a couple a flanged pipe assemblies that looked real good, I may go that way. 
What I really need to do is finish the outside and get the batteries into it! 

John


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## xo18thfa (Jan 2, 2008)

The short wheel base makes this car look terrific. Really nice job, all around.

Bob


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Thanks Bob, 

I looked at adding the trucks to a 20' Aristo shorty car (source of the tank) but it looked like too much work! Happened to have an extra sloped back tender, that wasn't going to see running time with the Teddy Bear paint job on it! I had already taken the light off the back for my C-16, so I used that chassis. I know those shorties don't look right with only 4 wheels, specially with a tank on top. 
The cast in speaker grill called for the wood deck... 
There's one other modification that hasn't been 'road tested' yet, the front coupler, it's mounted on the draw bar stand instead of being truck mounted. I had to flip over the coupler's drawbar/tang to get the right height. Worked great. Hopefully being dedicated to a Passenger train, it won't envolve too much backing up. 
I put new wheels in as the old ones were the split axle design with early dirty wheels and cracked axle sleeves. The new solid axles required rewiring the trucks, a note of interest and why I ran into shorts... it appears that all trucks are wired one way and then half are turned around, so the color coding no longer applies! 

Thanks again for the nice comments. 

John


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Next update;

Added gauges and a control valve and have the extremities of the flyball govenor inplace. Fabricating the flyball is next. In the meantime the first layer of weathering hs been added and pictures taken...

Today is overcast which causes the yellow tinted sky when I tried to get true colors on the car.... The gauges still get dials.








































Color is off in the above, but the steam pump looks good. Modestly speaking of course....










This side has been neglected, except for the drips, which are rustall and black ink in I. alcohol and influenced with a pointer to drip in thin lines of color. Rust and soot.
The floor of the platform is etched diamond tread. The whole shebang is soft soldered brass and a copper water pump hammed into a form to look like cast iron.
The holes in this end get filled, the holes were for locating pins when I turned the friction sleeve. This end cap comes off and batteries go in.

John


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

PS; It's been a half a year since I last ballasted, funny what you see in a pic! Even so the track is stable. 
The spur with the Seirra cars doesn't go to the engine house, they sit above the floodplain on a trestle, theres a switch behind dyno egg rock... I dug that baby up! I was gathering local red and purple rocks for the layout and just the smooth top was visible. Of course once I started digging... I had to finish and eventually pried it out of the ground and onto a dolly. It's egg shaped and covered with uniform red 1/4" gravel. Behind it next to the engine house is an actual fossil vertebrae in sandstone, aprox 1' x 8" found that on the property... so you'll never know what you'll find on an ancient seabed...the beginning and the end.  
The water tank is made from beveled stakes of pecky cedar... with the pecks, eventually they'll have clear silicon drips... formed around a wire spool. 

Enough ramblings with Uncle John.... 

Peace


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Good news, not so good news and a new hose with a 2 man nozzle...

First we got the fire put out, but there's no time to clean her scorched paint.... The back side looked empty so there's a new reel with a 50' hose rolled up on it

And a touch of weathering 




























The fire hose will be gently stained and is made from 'piping' from a fabric store, tho' not quite the right weave, it does look round at the nozzle and lies flat for rolling up. The crank handle works...52' long hose.

Once again interior lights distorts the color, paint was too tacky too late for sunshine... tomorrow mebbe.

The lettering is 10 yr old dry transfers, thought I had enough for 2 - V & TW's but one set had no stick, so I wrote it out with slightly smaller letters from the good set.

John


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## Paulus (May 31, 2008)

That looks seriously weathered! I like it; it shows the heavy duty purposes of the car. Looking forward to the sunshine pics!


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

No sunshine, but I didn't need to do any color adjusting with these, just cropping and sizing. Used different backdrops too.


























































The valve handle on the hose nozzle moves and the water monitor on top has full movement. The hose will be stained a brownish grey. There are unrouted wires underneath that willl enter the drain pipe near the floor to get up into the tank and you won't see them hanging...

Wind was blowing the car down the grade, hence the ore boulder on the track... 2nd and 3rd pics.

John


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## Mr Ron (Sep 23, 2009)

It's nice to live in an area with rocks. Here in Mississippi, we have sand or grass, NO rocks. The best I can do is river rock or gravel from the sand and gravel yard. Nice job.


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Posted By Mr Ron on 13 Dec 2009 03:18 PM 
It's nice to live in an area with rocks. Here in Mississippi, we have sand or grass, NO rocks. The best I can do is river rock or gravel from the sand and gravel yard. Nice job.
================================================================

Thanks, you pay shipping and I can send you some....







More than half I hauled home from The Total Wreck Mine's tailings pile...those I'm keeping!

I'd like some green, but with the critters that migrate through, I cant, so I settle for turquoise green rocks.

John


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## Mr Ron (Sep 23, 2009)

Mississippi is not too conducive to garden railroading due to it's flat landscape and lack of rocks. I used to live in California and ground level railrays could be interesting. My direction these days is toward large scale (1/8) which I can easily build on my flat land. I have 8 acres at my disposal. Anyway, it sounds like you are having a good time with your railway. Keep up the good work. Although I work in the larger scales, I still have an interest in all things pertaining to railroads and this forum gives me ideas that I can modify or adapt to my scale. I don't think I will have any need for a snowplow model. Whatever the scale, we all share a common interest.


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Sun came out so did the pics...


































The fire hose is too white, it has since been stained as has the steam hose which is ready to mount... but still on my desk... as overcast skies are again overhead...
A loss of internet connection set me back a couple of days... on the bright side... more pics to come! 
Look above and on the right side of water tank (last pic) and you can see one of my Gandy Dancers... they work for peanuts!

I'm letting the weathering grow on me, will probably seal the whole deal soon or an alcohol wash could remove all of it, 'cept the wood deck.

The SP Observation is an old REA model and has been a pain since I found it, the lights short out the track,I will rip out the old wiring, rewire the trucks with new wheels sets and add LED lighting. Now that I've learned how in this group.

John


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## Paulus (May 31, 2008)

I'm letting the weathering grow on me, will probably seal the whole deal soon or an alcohol wash could remove all of it, 'cept the wood deck. 

That sound not completely satisfied; what is the reason why you have doubts? 
Weathering is tricky... 
Looking at the pictures I think perhaps the edges of the 'drippings' are a bit too sharp. If you spray a dull and dusty sort of daze over the tank the edges will become softer and less prominent. It also takes away some 'glossy' look on the front/end sides on the car. 
It's worth a try before you decide to clean the car with alcohol!!!! 

Paul


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## Paulus (May 31, 2008)

BTW Ron.... 8 acres??? 
WOW! I have only 3 square metres of garden at my disposal.... 8 square metres is a dream for me, let alone 8 acres... ;-)


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

I always get carried away.... my objection is the intensity... I had intended to tone down the first dark drips and instead..... I even wiped off the open top once... 

The car's purpose is to run with the varnish, the SP Obs. is the CBW's* private car. This was the era of polished locos amd clean equipment instead at the end of it's days.... perhaps a hold over from my On3 days... My freight loco doesn't need the battery car. 

I was highlighting the fire fighting side and see first line above! 

John


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Posted By Totalwrecker on 21 Dec 2009 07:11 PM 
I always get carried away.... my objection is the intensity... 

==============================================================
The first drips were too intense, instead of fixin' I launched Drip Wars....

So armed with a spray bottle of rubbing alcohol and a small paint brush , I stuck paper towels over the deck and sprayed abd scrubbed until Less was More.

'scuse the shop lights, with these lights red goes orange and throws off all color, tomorrow sunlight pics to see what else needs to be done.




























I also removed unexplainable drips from the ends... 
I hope it's sunny

John


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## Paulus (May 31, 2008)

John, I have to say the watercar looks much better this way. Way more realistic. 
You won the Drip War!


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Yep, it does look better, but the pics show a tad more to be done. Even tho' I tried to not let the handrails be a division point, I may want to remove them and de-drip some more!










































For a different look the car is on temporary track, no ballast yet, a future expansion...
The early morning sun casts long shadows.

John


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Whoooowooowoowoowoooooooo I think I'm done... er um nearly done; just the two anti-climbers cut from the 20' car and it's brake wheel and ratchet detail. I sawed them from the car and sanded them down to proper thickness...
Just need to sand off some paint and glue...
Wanna see?
Oh ok, if you insist.... but first....
since last time I've made inter connecting hoses; 2 lengths of silicone super flex wire, 4 male DC jacks (shack size N) and white 'piping' from a fabric store. In the tank and tender are the female halves and for their exposed openings I used the hex nuts and soldered low domes to them to make caps. These are connected with chain to their cars, to keep them off the tracks... I stained the hoses with coffee. There's a steam hosehanging off the forward endbeam.
I also added a headlight under the fire monitor for when the train backs to a fire scene. A brakeman on top will be the engineer's eyes, after spotting the CBW's private car on a nearby siding....[cheif bottle washer]
Also added the flyball govenor to the steam pump..

So that's the outside....










Above you can see the caps in place and the chain hanging on the back of the tender. The hoses store under the tank.


















Batteries next... hey backa**wards I know, but I wanted to see how she looked first!

John


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