johnhu

Any of the 'canopy glues' used by military modellers will work well also as they were originally intended for clear aircraft canopies. I had to do the same with my MW. John

I've been using XPS for layouts over many years and never had an issue with any of the wiring (plastic insulation) causing issues. Maybe I've just been lucky. Back to the original question - I normally just 'glue' the wiring to the bottom of the XPS foam board. My go to adhesive for the majority of my construction is "Sikaflex 111 Stick & Seal". This is readily available in Australia - I'm not sure about other parts of the world. There is bound to be other alternatives. It's basically an 'adhesive caulk'. On my current layout (aluminium frame, XPS deck, sign board / foam board back scenes - I've used it to; - Glue the 50mm XPS to the aluminium frame - Glue the sign board to the aluminium frame and top of the XPS (for the backscene)- Glue the cork sub roadbed onto the XPS - Glue small pieces of MDF to the XPS (to mount servo point motors) - Glue cork sub roadbed onto the XPS - Glue the track onto the cork - Glue the wiring onto the aluminium frame and XPS (depending on if run along the bottom of the XPS or along the aluminium frame). Definitely the 'jack of all trades' with non wood layout construction :-) I hope the info is of some use.................... John

There are a few US based radio systems that support DCC decoders (including sound decoders). CVP Airwire and Tam Valley are two such systems. http://www.cvpusa.com/airwire_ss_system.php In effect the throttle is the DCC command station. It sends the dcc signal over the air to the receiver. The receiver then combines this dcc signal with the power from the battery (just like a mini dcc booster) and forwards this on to the dcc decoder. The decoder does what it is designed to do (motor / sounds / lights). It doesn't know if the dcc signal / power has come through the rails or not. The question is then whether the components can fit into the locos you have. I've been using the CVP Airwire (ConvRTR-15 and T5000 throttle) in my Sn3 locos for a number of years. The components fit into the tender, which are a similar size to a OO scale tender. Tank engines may be more difficult due to the size of the components. Space in the side tanks can be used possibly. John

The yellow wires out of the TamValley receiver connect to the red/black input wires on the DCC decoder.

I've moved 2m long x 0.6m wide x 0.6m high cameo style layout sections layouts around quite successfully in similar situations. I use a wheeled platform to help [A piece of 18mm form-ply 0.7m square with a lip of 6mm mdf around the edges to ensure the layout doesn't slide off. Four caster wheels under it makes is very maneuverable]. The layout is placed on its end on the wheeled platform and simply wheeled through the house until it's outside and can be laid flat again for transport in my vehicle. It does help that they layout is light weight (aluminium frame/polyurethane foam style construction) - but I'm sure the light weight ply structures would work the same way. John Perth, Western Australia

OK Rich, I'll bite...... <smile> Below is a video taken at this years AMRA (Australian Model Railway Association) exhibition in Perth, Western Australia. There are a few layouts in the clip, but the first one (Rails to Rubicon) is my own On30 layout based on timber tramway practices in the state of Victoria here in Australia. The loco's are all running using R/C (Deltang equipment). As the prototype never ran much over 10mph, hopefully the video shows that the running can be slow, smooth, and prototypical with R/C. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoRKi01mJ5c Obviously this video isn't intended to showcase R/C as such, and is just an exhibition 'highlight' clip from a fellow modeller. As a matter of interest, The kit bashed Bachmann gas mechanical loco shown in the clip, with 500mah of lipo batteries, I was getting a full days exhibition running time (7hours). John H.