ozamrr

Back into the layout construction with the changes to the shortening the layout 8 feet, I pulled down two modules not needed any more, one module I am using the top and sides and sides of the one before it, I also moved the diamond cross over and points to the approach module car port end with a big improvement, Will have re solder the feeder wires to the bus line and a new smaller block . The changes are in pics one and two front module, pic four and five I finely using the short 6 inch Bachmann cross over would lie to of used left hand points didn't hand any only right hand which should be ok coming out of the 7 foot quarter curve. Pic six is the marking of the curve and the module will depend on how the 12 foot curve fits in, pic seven is module join to the approach module and second corner module, I do plan to at a latter date run a single track line into the car port and connect the back of the house corner module and onto the bridge. I have finely worked out the height of the ship, 14 inches high from the water line, will give 4 inches clearance from under neath the bridge 18 inches from the water. Some hot days coming up will work on the ship, will depend on Saturday. Tony from hot down under.

Latest update, my wife told me I had to cut back the lenght of the layout back so I did by 8 feet, at this stage I won't be having any track into the car port only 18 inches, wasn't enought lenght to get up six inches, moved the spiral, to the car port end, worked out well, can plan some scenery there with a tunnel. Has also worked out well with the bridge, in pic three the 6ft piece of ply coming off the spiral , the bridge will start, 14 feet span, havin't made up my mind if the beidge be a double deck road rail wait till Istart working on the bridge. Fourth pic is a cut out of the top deck with bow and stern, the stern has a second deck below it, won't be sarting on the ship till I can work out the height of the hull, length is 2.150 meters, beam 305 mm's in 87 scale I will check out if I have the beam measurements right, ship beam is 26.5 meters wide, I devided it by 87. Once I finish working on my brothers 70th birdthday present, making him a weather station with two weather inturments and a clock, be in a 100mm square piece wood blank and the only turning needed is the base, take a week. Back into the layout building the spiral I have a level jig made at quarter inch a foot, every 3 and a half feet up inch and 3 quarter, a slight set back, but lateI plan to expand the layout norther end, at the mement a few changes needed hopefully be enogh leght to gain 6 inches, need 24 feet. The last pic is the ship I am modelling, look good comming out under the bridge. Tony from down under.

I have painted the last two modules and started nailing down track and points . Pic one, the yellow Union Pacific coach on the front module and pic two with diamond cross over two points for access the third track with the coach on is an Island platform terminus track, I wont be modelling Sydney Central station as I planned to be cutting back the station modules remodeling the station building to fit what I have. Sadly my son passed away two weeks back today, he lost his fight to Muscular Dystrophy , his heart just stopped, the specialist said doing compression's wouldn't of helped was 31 too early , still can't believe what has happened,was very quick, no pain what the doc said. One day we will have to down size to a unit or hopefully a town house where there is a small back yard for a small garden railway, I be keeping on going with my layout fingers crossed a train running by Christmas, the hold up run out of track. The third pic showing the double slip going to be a night mare selecting the right track for the train to go into a job for the controller. The last pic, I came up with a quicker idea for the module track joins, taking too long to drill holes and solder the brass platted strips, decided to cut track pieces instead, come up with screwing small screws to hold the track in place instead of using the rail joiners, I will still have to solder in feeder wires and join the feeder wires to the bus wires when plugging in the wires to the bus wire panel next module. We are having a taste o summer this week yesterday was 37 today 38, a breather tomorrow 32 and Thursday 39 degrees, cooler weekend so will make the most of working on the layout.. I am also into wood turning and turning a weather station for my brothers 70th birthday that will take a week , three weather insets, size 100 mm square piece of wood. Tony from down under

The latest update, the second car port module is finished ready for painting ans have moved onto the third module, I have com up with a better idea of screwing the module sides on using those corner clamps to hold the side upright making it easier to screw the ply pot on, wish thought of this idea much earlier . Pic two shows how I join the modules where I can't use bolts and when joining the modules together the tracks line up every time, pic 3 shows pushing the two modules together, pic 4 when screwed together and last pic of both modules . Mathew, I sorted out the spell check problem, I am using Google Chrome,, it was the big update with win 10 that upset Edge and knocked out spell check, still learning to get around Chrome, the password is a little tricky, wont accept cap lock on other forums pain. After the third module is the big 12 foot quarter 7 ft long curve . Tony from down under.

Here are a couple of pics of my latest loco project modellin g Santa Fe's Super Chief , locos are F7/A-B-B-A all locos are powered a bit of a mix match of brands, fist loco has a Bachman chassic, I just put back together again after quite a few years, some missing parts needed , fuel tank cover and the replacement Santa Fe Athearn shell will have to be modifyed to fit the Bachman chassis. The second pic, the two black locos F7/Bs the first one is powereed Athearn, second one I am waiting from US eBay for an Athearn F7/A loco to arrive, the shell be replacing the brown F7 shell and power unit for the second B shell, last loco is a Life Like brand.. I was going to modif a Tyco F7 shell but too muxh work and decided to bite the dust and buy an Athearn loco powered, some good bargains out there , a set I have aways wanted to own , the SFABBA pic is how they trun out like when finished, plan to pul about 15 passenger cars behind the locos be aawesome site indeed. Tony from down under.

Hi Mathrew aswesome build coming along nicely, like the colour schem, with the bigger scales you can have a lot more detail.looking foward to see her run, your wife itching to for the first drive. I am working on a set of F7 locos for Santa Fe's super chief , F7/A-B-B-A all powered the two F7/B's need to be painted in Santa Fe colours will put up some pics on my post. Tony from down under

Yesterday I rebuilt my cross cutting circular saw jig and it now is a portable jig and made a bar clamp using 3/8inch threaded rod , will build the clamp much better later, ran out of time to screw in place the secon saw angle line runner, I plan to go to a hobby expo in the next suburb if I ge a chance to get back to finishing the jig hopefully is square. I get all my ideas off you tube mazing what is out there, those bar clamps come in handy, I did have metal bar clamps to big, may be I should tart a new thread on what tools everyone uses to build their layouts and projects with. Back to the layout construct one day next week. Tony from down under.

I have completed a milestone have reached the side of the car port with the track decking, still a lot of working ahead I levelled the third module past the station modules so I could mark the sides of the module ran out of the usual time I put doown a couple of pieces of 12mm plyat each end saving me in having to do the marking twice. The second modle still needs two middle beams and where I had to into the side to level it I be cutting th cut back a couple of feet so I can put in a couple of pavers, pain tit and start all over again nailloing down rack four points and a diamond cross over it is pretty was my brother-in-laws when he was into the hobby back in the 80's, calling it JC's interchange. The third module will be the approach module for the next statage of my station module complex.and also have a turn table siding run off it as well, to chang steamy's around and when I am modelling Amtraks Auto train terminal on the east coast, I have 9 super linesr need another 7 and will have to scratch built the auto wagons can't get them in HO scale only N scale. When I set the modules up again will have to run a string line to the back of the house where it be 6 inches higher plenty of room fo a 24ft ramp quarter inch a foot working out 2 percent grade, on a high. Mathew, I foubd out when I dhad that update wasn't win10 the problem it was edge, that be changing I am switching to Google Chrome where the spell check works. Tony from down under

Many thanks yeah those cotrollers lok very close to the one the guy from RCS makes a lot easier to see a link. I am not in a hurry,aiming to get the layout up and running being at it for over 3 years,big puch before the summer hits us going to be a long one going by this week,back into winter temps by next weekend, no wonder we are having a bad flue season. Tony from down under.

HI a98087, Could you give me some more info on ect and esc put a search in and nothing come up, Mathew , nice loco you got from eBay, I have seen that type of shunter in HO scale. My wife checked all the setting in win10 and spell check is ticked for on, can't find waht the link is talking about is it the forums setting. Back on my layout finishing off soldering the last of the feeder wires to the track tomorrow, make a start on the next module. I am getting closer to going DCC getting some quotes on Tuesday, going NCE be middle of the range with a 5amp trannie, will be setting up W-Fi so my son can goin in running trains he can't hold a throttle this way he can use his mouse on my laptop . We are in for a hot week grtting a tast of summer, Wednesday peaking 32 degrees 9 over night and the westerly winds haven't hit us yet, being a mild winter. Have you had any trains running Mathew and get your gardening done, I be busy in Spring getting a load of top soil for the grass and a lod of bark for the garden and have to put a drain in the side garden to stop the rain water comingoff the neighbours yard washing out our back before the storm season hits. Tony from down under

Afternoon everyone in the UK, days are warmin gup here neck week peaking 32 degrees they say the hotest August in record since 2008 no rain in site nights are still cold dropping down to 3 here over night, going t make the most of the mild weather befre summer hits. Friday I finished soldering in the feeder wires to the bus wies and made a start on the soldering the feeder wires to the track still have 7 pairs of feeder wires to solder to the track, job for Monday. The last two pics of the mock-up point plan to the next module, I decided to buy two left hand points to straighten up the main line and easier for the trains coming into the platfor track, in the second pic to the right of the pic tracks 3 and 4 is now accessed by the two right hand points, left hand point through the cross over. The blocks on the main line ends at the left hand point block 3 and after the right hand point block 15 I will be having working signals especially when I switch over to DCC and that could be pretty soon, looking at NCE be setting up Wi-Fi to control the trains. I have desided to design my own double deck bridge,basing it on the LUPU Bridge in China like the design of the arch works out to be 2ft arch height above the main deck 20inch to the water line, mine be 18 inches. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupu_Bridge Will make a start on the bridge onceI reach the back of the house,looking at 14foot main arch in two sections, worked out how I be joining the bridge up, arches be cut in smaller lengths to save on too much ply wastage. Tony from down under

Evening Mathew, still daylight 9.36pm your time, would love those extra hours, we have had in the past daylight saving getting up an hour early the farmers complain it upsets there cows we are the only sate that doesn't have it where the clock winds back an hour. I was at the post office and they had a Thomason brand for $89 not bacd too big to fit insde a loco as you sa there are smaller ones out there, this one has a remote as well leave that to closer to Christmas time do want to do a video infront of the loco. Wpnt need to wire in DPDT switch now, I use insulfrog points and cross overs, and it will be only two blocks affected not the main line now but if I had frog points be a different matter a friend gave me a buss bar circut does work be buying those two needed points today want to have a go at scratch building one. Cool mornig here 1 degrees to a nice 24 degree day, westerly winds are building up quite strong yerterday. Back into finishing the bus wiring tomorrow two blokcs to go and solder the feeder wires to the tack wont take long got that soldering down to a fine art., I will get stuck into the next two modules and curved track decking in the car port around to the back corner module, atleast all the decking has being cut just need to cut and screw the side bracing in place level them, going to be fun as the car port floor isn't level, I also hve a special jig made for the level for doing grades quater inch a foot . I still may keep to the 18inch clearence on the bridge to the water line since the spiral is at the the other end may only be a slight grade to the bridge, nearly there still lots more a head and only able to work on the layout at the most three days and that isn't all day, got plenty of lenght to play with the grade be on single track. Tony from down under.

Mornng Mathew, many thanks for the link to the spel check on win 10 my wife will sort sort go and un spell chack on, funny thing is not affecting mails only forums I am in three and since that big up date no more. Will have a look at the other link with interest, but there is a bloke over here that owns RCS for model trains especially battery powered and to make it even better he is a member of my train club a vsits the club every third Saturday I will for sure go on that Saturday, I thought you needed a servo, gettin better all the time there be plenty of room between the two locos and talking to a friend he said yo don't need to drop the speed down of the loco even pan cake motors can't wait.being DC https://www.rcs-rc.com/pages/trackside-r/c He has some cheaper controllers as well, not in a hurry, I rather work on the layout first most important, need to buy wo more points tomorrow so I can keep th emain lne straight, looking into having a go in scratchbuilding my own.save some money to buy more track.

I renewed my train club membership for another year, will need advise on how to tackle switching that loco to battey power a adding a servo as well, I also have the 0 gauge tank steam loco as well to switch to battery power . Looking forward to seeing what the acquisition from eBay is, my Uncle gave me his train collection a lot of locos to sort out, a couple I want to remotor and repaint to the Silver Streak movie train has two F7 class locos, train name is called the AMroad , where I got my user name from and the first two my initials Gene Welder who passed away this yeah and Richard Pryor, he passed away a few years back good movie, i could only get the DVD from the US. In the last win10 up-date Ilost spell check any idea how to get it back. Tony from down under.

Thanks Mathew, yeah has to be to make it easier to trace a problem,with the main line bus wires being a diferent colour and thicker wire as well, I be working on the bus wiring again over the weekend the next 6 blocks be the hardest to solder the feeder wires to the bus wire, I may have to add in another DPDT switch to cut the power to half of one block for when I am shunting the INdian Pacific locos t the end of her journey a few lapes of the layout, would be nice if I could of had track aroudn the whole house. Being looking at buying a sports HD video camera they are cheap enough to buy now to mount onto a flat wagon or modifyied loco tofilm the first test loco to run on the whole layout, will time how long it takes as well. The points on the mock-up module last post I am going to change to left hand points keeping the mainline line straight, with right hand points wouldn't be any good for hgh speed trains, was thinking of scratch bulding them take too long, like to have a go when I need more. A pain with the rain over there,no rain here, days are getting warmer 29 degress one day next week, westerly winds haven't hit us as yet, time towork on indoor projects. Tony from down under.

Late evening Mathew, I am going to do a lot of research on this project, about room size in HO scale, I be utilising the second loco that wont be powered, if you go back to page 7 the post after your track cleaning car project I posted two pics on the the British Network track cleaning locos and the DD40AX, plenty of room to play with. How is your track cleaing car going is it finished and up and running, that sort video you posted of the track cleaning car finished product, some modellers in 00 scale have battery powered locos just managed to fit in the batter pack and radio gear, I must get back to his thread and ask him how he did it and let you know Tony from down under.

Afternoon Mathew, yes the strips are the PCB brassed plated curcuit board, I still need to cut a guve in the brass before putting any power into the track do that with a small hack saw. Progress well t=with the start of the bus wireing, I decided todo the blocks closer to the the panel that didn't need alot of wire and track feeders.\, half is done, wont be back to the layout till Thursday now, being redrawing the mai track amd module plan, alos working on the planning of my double deck bridge,be a modern design with a main 10ft span. Not as cold as it get in England though we be in trouble if it did lowest we had one winter was -5 degrees,, yeah does slow things down same in those hot summer days . Tony from down under, was a warm 27 degrees be 5 over night

Busy day yesterday, I planned the second module after the approach module car port end mock-up point plan worked out well, to know where the lines lines of the track and points I nailled in nails for when I paint the module. The approach module is ready to start working on the bus wiring, ,drilled all the holes for the feeder wires and pushed them through, the fun begins, will take a few days, also painted the mini bus wire plug panel and numbered the plugs. Tony from could down under, a month of winter to go.

Hi Mathew, no worries, the big question, can you modify a HO scale loco to battery power, or do you have to remotor it, the DD40AX Bachman loco has a pancake stle motor like the Lima and Hornby locos use. The idea is to run the DD40AX track cleaing locos first call of duty before powering up the layout I be using the track cleaing rollers as in the link both locos will have the rollers, will be awesome, all I should need is a two channel receiver ro would i need bigger, cheap enough to buy now. What sort of batteries should I need to buy . http://www.aztectrains.com/HO_6.html Keep the pics flowing Tony from cold down under, last month of winter to go

Afternoon Mathew, have to agree, but I don't get those last lot of pics I didn't see last night only now and was on page 7, is that what the little steam locos are called sadle tank engines, can see why a lot of modellers are switching to the larger scales for, plenty of room in the steamy boiler to fit batteries and a remote receiver . I am going to look into battery power for the two DD40AX's I be modifying to track cleaner locos, remote controls are cheap to buy now, plenty of room to hide the bateries that be pure awesome. Keep the pics flowing and good wor as well. Tony from down under.

Thanks Mathew, those tracks should be my staging what I am lacking, looking into vertical staging yard, there is a mom in the UK does a motorised vertical staging yard need to win th elotto to buy one of them. does I be working on the bus wiring will take a week got that down to a fine art now, bought a pair of wir strippers to strip the bus wire mid stream with ease, I also use that heat shrink tubing in stead of electrician tape, lasts for ever. Have being redrawing my track plan with the new changes, looks like the Tehachapi loop has being reborn, is what I sarted of modelling wan't waorking out where I had it working out well where it is now on the track plan .bus wiring Once this modules wiring is done and the second one willl test run the first loco, getting exciting, I will have to link up all the bus wiring together.to run the loco through all the points.onto approach track either end , be buying some more track tomorrow. Tony from warm down under peaked 26 degrees today 17 over the weekend will make the most of it working on the bus wiring.

Neat little tank steam loco amazing you have room to fit battery packs, would love to go battery power some modellers in the Uk have doen it with 00 scale, saving the issue in cleanning the evey time I want to run a train why I also going t rebuild my own track cleaning locos modifing two Bachmann DD40AX's. Over here the summer gets pretty hot in the low 40's wont be running any trains will depend on how low the temp is high 20's I will set up the layout and run a train. One of my projrects I be working on a building a Garratt loco the Aussie one , be on the look out for two sets chassis the same being close the Garrat, the hobby is getting out of my reach to buy a RTR Garrat be in the $900 mark . Looking forward to seeing the finished loco . Tony from down under

The module track joins have been soldered in place, had a couple of issues where when I was counter sunking the brass plated strips the drill bit when right through an effort to replace the strip, next time I willl set up the portable bench drill the best way, next module track join. I use a Dremmel to cut the track on the module joins now the module has been pullled away, I tried again to bolt the modules together and the track linned up perfectly, the bolds have to be spot on, did stuff up saying that where the modules didn't line up before the track was nailled down, with the DremmelI made the hole longer and packed the hole with 2mm thick styene glued it with super glue and fixed. This may be the long way around but in the end worth it to see a train run around the whole layout with out derailling, going to need a lot of track have already put my bid in for mum to put towards a box of flexie track, to complete stage one of the station module complex. The last station module that was bolted up to the first approach module need to have bus wiring as well, all the front modules has a bus wire mini plug panel . Next job the bus wiring in full swing Friday, having a break today have redraw the main track plan and make a start in planning the control panel be lit up like a christmas tree all the 4 prosition rotary switches have different coloured LED's, would like to use plastic styene for the panel fase and tossing if I have a track plan diagram on the panel. Tony from cold down under hit minus this morning -.4 degrees, Jack Frost has paid us a visit and burnt half of he grass mainly close to the back yard path way.

Thanks Mathew,, I have swapped the points around wasn't happy with the way I had the points to the front of the pic so have done away with them and the diamond cross over, saved on four points can now go to the second approach module car port end where the terminus track meets the main line this way I will have use of of the terminus track straight away instead of having to wait to buy them. Today I will be soldering those brass ciccuit board stripswhere the module track join is and and getting the second module out the way, that module hasn't got any bus wiring as well going to be busy week or so . Last night we had a big magor windows 10 update, pretty big, one big improvement is it is quicker to getonto the forum posts , pics are different and even affected this forum the way you load pics on, have to go through the browser now and then attach the files, I am runnin gout of HD space so will have to sort out my pic folders andput them onto an USB stick to free up space till I update the the HD with a bigger one. On the last station module car port end is where the main control panel be, I am thinking of using those terminal strips, in the future be adding another set of three station modules competting the station module complex will need longer wires.from the layout to the control panel when I shift in front of the new station modules. Tony from cold down under had zero degrees this morning to a nice 24 degree day will be making themost of it.