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Scarside - 009 the easy way


Nile
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I may have got a bit carried away, but I had an urge to install point rodding. This is mainly using bits left over from another layout. It's not 100% but the important bits are there

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To hold the signal box in place, in a non-permanent way, I've used some small magnets.

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That's enough on the top side of the board for now, it's time to flip it over and motorise the points.

I'm using what is now my preferred choice, modified servo motors. Details of the modification can be found here:

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/82007-servo-motor-conversion-for-simple-dc-use/&do=findComment&comment=1335247

 

Two blocks of wood, cut from a long strip, are used to mount the motor to the underside of the board. They will be glued in place.

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Some 0.8mm brass rod will do the work of moving the tie bar, this will be trimmed back after installation.

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The rod goes through the hole in the baseboard and into the tie bar of the point above. The motor can be moved manually to check its alignment before finally gluing in place.

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To control these motors I built a little control box. A small cheap ABS box off ebay plus some sprung toggle switches.

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Inside is the first bit of wiring, the positive and negative supply lines..

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In amongst my stash of bits left over from previous layouts I found a plug that was already wired, so I've reused that. The unused wires have to be neatly kept out of the way. It's one wire per point, plus two for the supply (+ & -). The 0V point motor common doesn't need to enter this box.

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The lead is not very long, but I can add an extension lead if needed. I'll add a track diagram later, this is good enough for testing now.

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Things get a bit more complicated now as I've added microswitches to some of the motors. This is to restore the ability to isolate some track, such as the siding next to the station. It's not wired in yet. The slide switch with M on it will provide a manual override, bypassing the microswitch, if the point has to be operated manually. This can be done if the servo arm is in its mid position.

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This overall view shows the start of the wiring process. The main socket is at the right, wires from it make their way to a connector strip centre left, to witch the motors plug into.

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The connector strip for the motors. Each one has 3 pins. The centre one isn't used, the right one is common.

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That leaves one wire per motor. This is it wired and fitted. The one between 3 and 4 is a spare, you never know.

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To tidy up the wiring I glued some bits of white plastic tube around the edge of the board and routed the wires through them.

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This closer view shows the motors plugged into the connector strip. I had to cut some notches into the central cross member for these leads, the holes I'd drilled for wires weren't big enough for the plugs on the motor leads. The microswitches aren't wired in yet.

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Power for the motors comes from two AA batteries, wired to provide +1.2v, 0v & -1.2V . I've located them inside the warehouse as there was room and it allows access to change them.

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Underneath the wires are soldered to some PCB strip. The blue thing is a Hypertac 17 pin socket. I acquired loads of these connectors many years ago and have used them on most of my layouts.

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The points can now be switched remotely by the motors. I still need to wire up the switches so that some track sections are isolated by the points.

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Testing,testing....

After wiring up the microswitches I had a test running session. The point motors all operated correctly, but i found problems isolating locos in some places. My original plan was to switch one rail at each point using one microswitch. This worked fine for simple sidings, but didn't work in the main station loop. To be able to isolate a train in either side of the loop I needed to switch both tracks, so I've added a second microswitch to two of the point motors. It's just as well the manual override switch has two poles.

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This is all belt and braces stuff so that I'm not relying on the point blades for switching. A live frog point would be simpler to wire up, or going DCC

 

On the control box I've laid out the track diagram using strips of 10x40 thou plastic, stuck down with MEK. Much easier than trying to cut strips of tape.

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I might colour some of them to indicate isolating sections.

 

I made some additions to the 'battery compartment'. The bit of black plastic on the left keeps the wires away from passing trains. Some bits of foam above the batteries stop them moving around when the layout is moved.

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That's enough electrickery for now, the point motors are all working, it's time to see what's happening above ground.

A new train has arrived with a load of sheep.

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But where to unload them? Time to get building.

 

Some leftover bits of balsa wood knocked together into a basic platform shape.

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A ramp added at one end, and then faced with some Slater's stone sheet. Around the edge is some microstrip, painted grey with pencil lines dividing it into slabs.

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On top is Slater's setts, painted and then weathered with limestone dust.

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That's the basic structure of the sheep dock.

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I had a good rummage through my bits and pieces to find material to make the railings to keep the sheep penned in. In the end I settled on some 1.5mm square brass rod for the upright posts, and some 0.7mm square nickel silver rod for the horizontal bars. Once soldered together these would form a very strong structure, handy as it will be at the front of the layout.

I started with the ramp section, drawing it on some card. The brass posts were held in place with double sided sticky tape while I soldered the bars onto them.

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Holes were drilled in the top of the dock, then enlarged with a square file to match the posts. This shows a test fitting, along with a rare brown sheep to check it's tall enough.

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I then added some more rails at a right angle, a tricky 3d soldering job helped with more sticky tape. This completes one end of the dock. So far so good.

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I had just enough of the brass rod to complete two more sections, a short one at the far end a long one between the two ends.

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The gates in the long piece were made by gluing on some pieces of microstrip.

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A close up of a gate. I've tried to form a latch from some 0.3mm rod.

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I made a gate for the top of the ramp also from microstrip. As it would be a bit vulnerable in the closed position I'm going to have it open, stuck to ramp's railings.

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Nothing is fixed in place yet, they will be painted separately before being glued to the dock.

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The railings were primed, then spayed black with a hint of red primer. They were glued into the holes in the top of the dock, trying to get all the horizontal bars to line up. At the ends of the long section where it joins with the end sections I added upright posts of square microstrip, glued into the joint and painted black. The dock was glued onto the layout, lining up with the wagons that have been uncoupled by a hidden magnet.

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I added a trough made from strips of 20th plastic card. The sheep must have been thirsty.

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Moving to the left slightly I'm now going to add a platform inside the goods shed. Rather than try to reuse the one that came with it I made a new one from a Wills sheet of wooden planks. That way I could extend it out slightly to reduce the gap to the wagons.

This is the sheet cut to size to fit inside the shed.

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I added more planks around the sides. Two pieces of balsa wood glued together form a core to which the platform will be glued.

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Painted and weathered before installation.

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The balsa core has been stuck inside. This is what will be glued to the layout.

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The platform has now been stuck down inside the base of the goods shed. It was bedded in with some extra ballast and gravel around its base.

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I've started scenifying the bare ground around the shed with some static grass. The platform is just about visible in this shot.

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Looking at the other end of the layout there was a bit of a gap between the station and the tea shoppe. I was going to scratch build something to go there, a plain end of a building. But on a recent visit to a model shop I found a Hornby building  that looked suitable, at a reasonable price.

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The water column was labelled as platform mounted, which makes it about the right height for narrow gauge. It's base needs reducing in size a bit.

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The church needed reducing in size a bit to fit up against the back-scene. The vertical cuts were easy enough, the roof was a bit trickier. I used some tape as a guide.

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One becomes two. I think its safe to throw the box away now. I'll find a use for the larger part as well, nothing goes to waste if I can avoid it.

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This is the result, so far.

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Guest Midland Mole

That looks great, fits the scene perfectly. What did you use to cut the building?

I've always been nervous about doing that to Skaledale/Scenecraft buildings. :D

Alex

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Looking at the other end of the layout there was a bit of a gap between the station and the tea shoppe. I was going to scratch build something to go there, a plain end of a building. But on a recent visit to a model shop I found a Hornby building  that looked suitable, at a reasonable price.

attachicon.gif93.JPG

 

The water column was labelled as platform mounted, which makes it about the right height for narrow gauge. It's base needs reducing in size a bit.

attachicon.gif94.JPG

 

The church needed reducing in size a bit to fit up against the back-scene. The vertical cuts were easy enough, the roof was a bit trickier. I used some tape as a guide.

attachicon.gif95.JPG

 

One becomes two. I think its safe to throw the box away now. I'll find a use for the larger part as well, nothing goes to waste if I can avoid it.

attachicon.gif96.JPG

 

This is the result, so far.

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that southern locomotive is interesting, ive never seen it before, what is it? 

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Guest Midland Mole

I used a junior hacksaw. Be careful with the dust, it's not good for you.

 

Thanks, and I will heed your warning for when I try it. ;)

Alex

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The Southern loco is a GEM kit of a Baldwin 4-6-0T, it's standing in for the new Bachmann model until it arrives in a few months. The white blobs on the roof are holding some bits that have fallen off.

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I used a junior hacksaw. Be careful with the dust, it's not good for you.

 

Interesting to see that they can be cut. Like Alex I had been wondering about that. Out of interest: do you know what material the Hornby buildings are made from?

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