andy stroud Posted April 2, 2017 Share Posted April 2, 2017 Hi Tom. I thought the video was very good. It looked quite professional to me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold queensquare Posted April 5, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 5, 2017 Hi all. A glorious day today so decided to charge the drone batteries and head down to the line again for a second go at some train chasing! Still, hopefully managed to grab a few nice shots I think Practice makes perfect, as they say! Cheers, Tom. Superb stuff Tom Certainly have! Impressed with the last shot; sideways plus smooth gimbal work. What's a grimbal? Is it a technical term!! Jerry Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sml1983 Posted April 8, 2017 Share Posted April 8, 2017 (edited) Superb stuff Tom What's a grimbal? Is it a technical term!! Jerry A gimbal is a pivoted support that allows the rotation of an object about a single axis. A set of three gimbals, one mounted on the other with orthogonal pivot axes, may be used to allow an object mounted on the innermost gimbal to remain independent of the rotation of its support (e.g. vertical in the first animation). For example, on a ship: the gyroscopes, shipboard compasses, stoves, and even drink holders typically use gimbals to keep them upright with respect to the horizon despite the ship's pitching and rolling. As taken from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimbal) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gyroscope_operation.gif Edited April 8, 2017 by sml1983 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TomE Posted April 10, 2017 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted April 10, 2017 Strike one job from the list! Missing check rail installed in the yard and ground work completed. Unfortunately for the layout, the last few days have been very much drone weather, so yesterday was mostly spent in the glorious sunshine by the side of the MHR practising some train chasing. Another forum member may even make a fleeting appearance at the controls of the 9F. Tom. 17 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornish trains jez Posted April 10, 2017 Share Posted April 10, 2017 Strike one job from the list! CU0J9536.jpg Missing check rail installed in the yard and ground work completed. Unfortunately for the layout, the last few days have been very much drone weather, so yesterday was mostly spent in the glorious sunshine by the side of the MHR practising some train chasing. Another forum member may even make a fleeting appearance at the controls of the 9F. Tom. Having to do double takes on the photos you post of the model as it's just so good and realistic. Well done mate and keep up the good work. Best regards, Jeremy 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ian Morgan Posted April 10, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 10, 2017 If it had been Saturday, you might have also seen me riding on the train and drinking tea. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PhilH Posted April 10, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 10, 2017 You're really getting the hang of the drone now Tom, excellent footage. I was trying to spot the drone but it was on the fireman's side so epic fail, we were relief crew yesterday so just had the lunchtime Ropley to Alresford and back trundles on both trains. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TomE Posted April 10, 2017 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted April 10, 2017 Cheers Phil, that's you in the 2nd & 3rd shots then! Tom. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will J Posted April 10, 2017 Share Posted April 10, 2017 You are going to wear out the rubber bands powering that thing.... get some modelling done! PS. Nice shots, very steady.... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeTrice Posted April 10, 2017 Share Posted April 10, 2017 How about some technical info on the drone and how you use it? I guess you are standing in a fixed spot and fly the drone tracking the moving train so presumably have a range limit over which you can control it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TomE Posted April 10, 2017 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted April 10, 2017 Hi Mike. The drone is a DJI Mavic Pro, a relatively recent release and is foldable to allow for easy transport. It will shoot at 4K so the quality of the image is pretty good, but not quite the same standard as the Phantom 4 series. For all intents & purposes, it's a high end flying phone camera. http://www.dji.com/mobile/mavic The controller is used in conjunction with your phone, which gives you the view from the camera along with access to the camera & drone settings. It's quite intuitive, although when you are trying to fly the drone and concentrate on what you are filming there can be quite a high workload. Range is around 4 miles, but the Civil Aviation Authority guidelines say to keep the drone in visual line of sight at all times. Not easy with something this small! There are a multitude of different modes for the operation of the drone, from auto tracking to point of interest and even a tripod mode. I've really only scratched the surface so far of what it's capable of. For the film above, I positioned the drone no closer than 50 meters to the line (another CAA guideline) and at 90 degrees to it, then flew sideways to track the train, adjusting direction & camera gimble as nessecary to keep things in frame. The foot crossing is a perfect spot as you have clear line of sight for quite some distance. The Mavic really is a fantastic piece of kit and I probably look a bit of a tit when I'm flying it because I always have a big grin on my face! What it lacks in camera specs, it makes up for in portability and the overall quality of the package. Cheers, Tom. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeTrice Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 Thanks Tom for a detailed response. It would be interesting how it would turn out on trying to zoom in on details not normally viewable from above. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TomE Posted July 1, 2017 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted July 1, 2017 Hi all. Ropley has emerged from a short period of hibernation and I'm hoping I can make some significant progress over the next couple of months. The extensive use of weathering powders in the yard area tends to result in extremely dirty track, so some time has been spent this morning cleaning rails and making sure that the layout actually still runs! Of course this is also an excuse to 'play trains' for a little while, and so I captured a little bit of video using the phone camera. This has been zoomed in a fair bit to crop out off layout areas, so it is a bit on the cruel side and has highlighted a couple of areas of trackwork that need a tweak, but overall I was quite happy that everything seems to be working ok! The sound fitted Castle is fast becoming a favourite in the loco fleet, so hopefully more sound will be fitted over time. Cheers, Tom. 14 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shanks522 Posted July 1, 2017 Share Posted July 1, 2017 The Castle looks and sounds very good, another model i need to resist! Great video too. Graham. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RBE Posted July 1, 2017 Share Posted July 1, 2017 That's excellent. It's still a shame that model smoke is not easy to do convincingly. It would really make the scene. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Revolution Ben Posted July 1, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 1, 2017 That's excellent. It's still a shame that model smoke is not easy to do convincingly. It would really make the scene. I agree. The Farish castle is very tasty and I have grabbed one even though I am not really a steam enthusiast. I have wondered whether vaping technology might offer an avenue to more realistic smoke than present oil-based solutions. Maybe it could even be scented to have that distinctive steam engine smell? Cheers Ben A. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TomE Posted July 2, 2017 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted July 2, 2017 I have wondered whether vaping technology might offer an avenue to more realistic smoke than present oil-based solutions. Maybe it could even be scented to have that distinctive steam engine smell? An interesting idea Ben, although I don't think there is anything that could adequately represent the required density of steam in any scale really, not just N Gauge. Perhaps augmented reality is the way to go with smoke: http://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/07/apple-arkit-software-game-changer-for-augmented-reality-ar-tech-say-experts.html Tom. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TomE Posted August 5, 2017 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted August 5, 2017 (edited) Hi all. I've spent the last few days working on the 'shanty town', for want of a better description, that sits between the stacked containers & carriage/boiler shop building. This is a collection of various containers, a grounded van body and several connecting sheds made out of various material, but with a large proportion of it being corrugated sheeting. I had scoured around for a long time for a good source of N Gauge corrugated material having found most of it was way over scale, but eventually discovered that Evergreen car siding makes a passable representation. For the very thin sheet standing in front of the workbench, I used a small piece of foil laid over the plastic sheet and ran a finger nail into the grooves to give the corrugated appearance. Sadly I couldn't find anything that adequately represents transparent corrugated sheet so a compromise has had to be made there. I started by using a Farish van body and container as the basis of the area, I set to work with various sheets, strips & sections to fill in the gaps: And here is the real thing for comparison: I haven't stuck rigidly to copying every tiny detail in this area, otherwise it would never be finished, but I've tried to maintain the essence of the scene. It's also easy to go too far and overpopulate the area with clutter which can be distracting. There is still quite a bit to do, including scratch building the 2nd container which is of a type not readily available and the temporary roofing over the S15 chassis under restoration. Cheers, Tom. Edited August 5, 2017 by TomE 13 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Revolution Mike B Posted August 5, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 5, 2017 Great stuff again Tom! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy stroud Posted August 5, 2017 Share Posted August 5, 2017 This is so impressive! and the video is amazing. I have only just seen it and was completely blown away with it! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornish trains jez Posted August 5, 2017 Share Posted August 5, 2017 Always enjoy your updates Tom. Keep up the good work! Best regards, Jeremy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RBE Posted August 6, 2017 Share Posted August 6, 2017 The shanty town is an amazing bit of modelling. Will look great in place! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted August 6, 2017 Share Posted August 6, 2017 Superb modelling, just as I remember it, from when I lived down there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ian Morgan Posted August 6, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 6, 2017 (edited) Sadly I couldn't find anything that adequately represents transparent corrugated sheet so a compromise has had to be made there. So the translucent pieces I created for your loco shed roof were not good enough? https://www.shapeways.com/product/92DK3NT6P/corrugated-iron-sheets-1-152-n-scale?optionId=59827154 Ian. Edited August 6, 2017 by Ian Morgan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TomE Posted August 6, 2017 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted August 6, 2017 So the translucent pieces I created for your loco shed roof were not good enough? https://www.shapeways.com/product/92DK3NT6P/corrugated-iron-sheets-1-152-n-scale?optionId=59827154 Ian. Hi Ian. For this area I needed something 10thou or less to maintain scale(ish) appearance. The panels in you created should be fine for the roof of the shed, but even 1mm was a bit on the thick side for the area in question. I've got my order in for a set of panels, so will report back once they have arrived. Tom. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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