Coming Video Attractions! A Sneak Peek!

Hello again, this is Mike and this is a very unusual episode of Toy Train Tips and Tricks. First of all, you can see my face. Some of you have been asking about the face behind the voice. Well, here it is. I hope you're not too disappointed. Also, instead of the usual Saturday afternoon video, this episode is about coming attractions. Videos that will be coming soon. Why? Well, you'll see why as I describe each of the following upcoming episodes. First up is a video that may be about the greatest eBay train purchase I've ever made. Or it might be a basket case. I don't know yet. In the video, we'll open the box, we'll check the contents, describe the history of each piece, do any cleaning, maintenance, or repairs that are necessary, and hopefully get the train running. Why isn't this the video that you're watching right now? Because something is going on at the USPS facility in Detroit. They received the box last week and it was originally expected to arrive here on February 3rd. Today is February 7th and the tracking says it's still in Detroit. Was it lost? I hope not. But that's obviously why that video is on hold. The next video I was working on involves an operating Lionel car from the post-war era. I won't say which one yet because I don't want to ruin the surprise when the video comes out. The item is in my possession. It's cleaned. I've researched the history of the item and its descendants. But it does need a slight repair to get it back into operational shape. And the necessary part was ordered last week. But again, shipping has been delayed twice. And the last update says the part will arrive tomorrow. So that video is still waiting to be finished. So I turned to Plan C, which is a long-term project that I've been working on, using an Arduino board to make working three-aspect Lionel signals for my layout. With the shipping delays scratching the first two videos, I put all of my efforts into this one to get it done this week. And everything was working great on the workbench. But for some reason, the real-world operation on the layout is not going as expected. Are my wires crossed? Is there a bad solder joint somewhere? Did I make a mistake in the programming? Is it a bad Arduino board? I don't know. And after a long night of troubleshooting last night, I realized that even if I found the problem, it was too late to get everything edited and put together for this week's video. So coming soon will be a two-part video. Part one will show how to convert a Lionel block signal into a three-aspect LED-lit, infrared-activated, Arduino-controlled signal. Part two will come out a few weeks later, and I'll show how to add additional signals to more or less prototypically kind of sort of control a three-way interlocking. Next, some of you may have noticed a black Lionel F3 shell in the paint booth during last week's episode about the B&O NW-2. That shell will be featured in an upcoming video to show how to make yellow lettering on a dark background, which is a very difficult thing to pull off with inkjet decals. But it's kind of easy using the method that I'm going to show. I plan to turn that black shell into a Western Maryland unit, but I didn't want to do two consecutive paint booth episodes because that's not everybody's cup of tea, and I spent so much time preparing the first three videos this week that I didn't have time to complete the F3 shell. So expect a video on that one soon after the others are done. Some long-term viewers may remember the Marks Lionel Hybrid SD9, or the Marksidstein as I called it, that I purchased a couple of years ago. I will be posting an update on how I modified the mechanism, and of course how I repainted and redecorated this unusual model. That will be coming soon. Another long-term project that I've been working on is a Weaver Union Pacific GP38 model that I purchased at a show two years ago. This thing is a basket case. I mean, it runs. It looks like somebody took a three-rail mechanism and mounted it underneath a scale shell and scale couplers. The shell was mounted with, believe it or not, half-inch wood screws. The fuel tank is off, it's missing handrails, but the hardest part of the project has been these couplers because the coupler pocket is so narrow it only allows for a little bit of wiggle room, and so regular Lionel curves don't work. It takes like 0.96 and bigger, which I don't have. So after lots of trial and error, I've finally figured out a new 3D printed coupler mount and new couplers and a longer shaft that allow the 0.42 maybe tighter curves to work. It's still going to be some time before this project's finished because even after I finish the couplers, I still need to make new handrails, I need to figure out how to remount the fuel tank, and not using a wood screw, and probably repaint the model as well. And that video will probably be ready late summer, early fall, I would think. And the longest term project, the long-awaited completion of phase two of my layout, this phase will include my staging yard and will convert my operations from the current single-train oval to a double-track mainline with multi-train operation. I've completed about 75% of the benchwork framing. I just needed to put the plywood on top, but I'm kind of glad that I have it yet because I found out today that my framing is too close to my furnace. Apparently it covers a service hatch in the furnace that I didn't even notice before until the HVAC guy came over to look at the furnace today. So I'm going to need to alter my plans for phase two before I finish construction of phase two. So that project has once again been punted down the road because of unforeseen circumstances. So of course these are not the only videos that will be coming your way. I've got lots of other ideas and projects and who knows what purchases may come along that are going to require a review. Until then, keep the trains running and USPS willing and the creek don't rise. I'll have a new video for you next Saturday and, of course, the next episode of What's New in O'Gage will go live on Tuesday morning at 9 a.m. Eastern Time. Thanks for watching!