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Oak Road - 2013 to present (a fictitious place somewhere in Somerset) - Raising Money for Meningitis Research


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  • RMweb Gold
12 hours ago, Red Fox said:

 

I've not been particularly adventurous with testing them on curves as I only go as far down as radius 3 and I don't have mine gangway to gangway as I used kadee 18's, I could probably have gotten away with 17's (didn't have any at the time) on r3 or even a solid bar.  My principle goal was just to get rid of the awful Hornby coupling arrangement on the HST's!

 

gwr4.jpg.3971cf3819772ad7cffa63617fbc5c2b.jpg

 

The NEM pocket on the power car sticks out a bit too far for my purpose, which is to close the gap right up - my gangways touch completely and will go round the fiddle yard curves with the Keen System. Looking at it, and the way I'm using the Bachmann pipe coupler, I reckon I could use the Symoba one on the power car and make the NEM pocket smaller, or having looked at your first picture again, I could mount them further back. I'll have a word with Andy and see if he has any spare ones kicking around that I can try. Thanks for the heads up :good:

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  • RMweb Gold

Not much to report back lately as I've just been working on the XC set, and helping Dave with his new N Gauge layout, and helping out with Tidworth.

 

However, I do have some good news - Trainwest, Fareham Rotarail, DEMU and RailEX NE have all been officially confirmed with forms returned, so that just leaves Ally Pally.........forms returned but no reply.........

 

Next year is going to be a good year for the layout and come hell or high water, it will be in a 'looking finished' state by the time it gets to Trainwest. I've got quite a few people painted up now and Alan is going to send me some of his scanned figures at Christmas to populate the station. Luckily due to the rural feel of the layout, I don't need hundreds of people on it, but I do need a few thousand to go inside the trains! I'm thinking of sending these off to James! :lol:

 

......that will leave me time to sort the trees out!

 

If you're going to Warley have a great weekend and don't forget to have a look out for Paul's Harz (foreign muck) layout where Ian will be helping drive the trains.

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Cant wait to see the layout at TrainWest Mike. How much will it cost to have a 1980's running session??

Don't forget, when populating the platforms, you need a queue of wheelchair users at the barrow crossing, with Martin on the phone to the bobby :D

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  • RMweb Gold
On 20/11/2019 at 04:54, ba14eagle said:

Cant wait to see the layout at TrainWest Mike. How much will it cost to have a 1980's running session??

Don't forget, when populating the platforms, you need a queue of wheelchair users at the barrow crossing, with Martin on the phone to the bobby :D


Martin, David or Paul....or maybe I’ll just make all three of them and rotate them on a shift patten! :lol:

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Unfortunately, Ally Pally isn't going to happen next year because the organising team confused my attendance form with another layout, so 2021 is when North London will get to see Oak Road. On the plus side, it takes the pressure off a bit and will give me a chance to get the long overdue cottages finished.

 

Hopefully, it may even make Warley one year, and talking of which, Alan very kindly scanned me on Saturday...........

 

1498375375_MiniMe.jpg.de2cc97df114f5ac4b6e57010cd8a9d4.jpg

 

...so now I can stand on my own footbridge, or the ends of my platforms taking pictures of HSTs as they rattle through the station. He did say he'd add it to the rage of figures, although I'm not sure he'll sell many! :laugh_mini2:

 

While I was at Warley (which was a great show, if you didn't get the chance to go), I picked up some more MTB point motors from James @ DCC Train Automation to replace the unreliable Conrads. If you've not already seen them, these are tiny - around 40mm x 20mm and almost silent in operation, and wire directly in to the DCC Concepts AD1 - HP decoders.

 

Now..........back to those trees................. 

Edited by scoobyra
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Its nice to appear on your own layout as my avatar shows.....

Yep I'm still standing there, leaning on the fence chatting to an engine driver.

 

One thing about painting yourself is paint what you, see not what you would like to see!!!!!:D

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5 hours ago, KNP said:

Its nice to appear on your own layout as my avatar shows.....

Yep I'm still standing there, leaning on the fence chatting to an engine driver.

 

One thing about painting yourself is paint what you, see not what you would like to see!!!!!:D

              
I think he’s going to try and print it in colour Kevin, or at least that’s the plan. 

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7 hours ago, KNP said:

One thing about painting yourself is paint what you see, not what you would like to see!!!!!:D

He means lots of pre shading Mike :declare:

 

2 hours ago, scoobyra said:

              
I think he’s going to try and print it in colour Kevin, or at least that’s the plan. 

The orange . . . My eyes, my eyes :P

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Work on making the layout more reliable has come to a bit of a buffer stop, as the MTB motors don't work with the AD1-HPs (I've had two electrical / electronics engineers and an electrician confirm it's impossible) so now I have a bigger headache. Do I try and improve the Conrad motors, or replace the AD1-HP decoders for something that will control the MTBs? 

 

The beauty of the current system is that everything runs from the bus, and being separate decoders, they can sit next to the point motors without having to run wires everywhere, but the motors are very temperamental in operation and not what we need during a two day show! The MTB motors are very quiet a small, but if I go down the new decoder route, I'd either have to buy a decoder unit for every board, or make up a plug. socket and lead to take 12 wires, which I don't really want to do. It also means ripping everything out and starting again, which may or may not, be a good thing! 

 

Ideally, I'd like to make a decision before the Christmas holiday so that I'f I need to start again, I can enlist the help of one of the said engineers above to help me do it properly (although even he forgets to solder dropper wires on! :laugh_mini2:). So the choice is cheap and try and fix what I have, or expensive and replace the lot! Good old fashioned DC anyone.................?

Edited by scoobyra
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18 hours ago, scoobyra said:

The beauty of the current system is that everything runs from the bus, and being separate decoders, they can sit next to the point motors without having to run wires everywhere,

 

Ahem......If it ain't broke don't fix it! It's only the FY, you worry too much.

Edited by Temeraire
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2 hours ago, Temeraire said:

 

Ahem......If it ain't broke don't fix it! It's only the FY, you worry too much.

 

Exactly my point (no pun intended) but even you have to admit that the Conrads are a trial of patience.

 

Anyway, further to my last post, I've got the MTBs working with the AD1-HPs! What I (and everyone else) didn't realise is that the negative sides aren't connected, so by running the live feed from both terminals of the decoder using diodes facing the same direction makes it work perfectly.....so now I don't need to spend loads of money on new decoders, and the points will actually work when thrown. Now all I need to do as add a separate bus and a Dougall button :lol:

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On 27/11/2019 at 12:17, scoobyra said:

 

 

1498375375_MiniMe.jpg.de2cc97df114f5ac4b6e57010cd8a9d4.jpg

 

...so now I can stand on my own footbridge, or the ends of my platforms taking pictures of HSTs as they rattle through the station. He did say he'd add it to the rage of figures, although I'm not sure he'll sell many! :laugh_mini2:

 

 

 

I've heard that laser scanning can be used to improve one's figure..............

 

Looks like someone's got their work cut out...............

 

:jester:

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On 28/08/2019 at 16:59, scoobyra said:

 

 

 

 

 

and so is the 'old faithful' 158....

 

589120388_GWR158.jpg.61d9d35c9f9262795415653ea1005054.jpg

 

Hi Scoobyra

A few questions regarding the 158......

I've been planning to respray one as well & have just started.....

 

First the colour green....I wonder whose colour you've used....I've mixed my own as I couldn't seem to find a match but it isn't quite right...Whose do you use?

 

How did you replicate the different colour green on the diagonal strips...Was that a 'matted' version of the original green?

 

This is the second unit I've tried to respray & I don't seem to be able to remove the glazing so I masked the last one.....Is there a trick to removing the glazing without breaking it?

 

Finally the GWR decals.....Home made or who supplies?

 

Really enjoyed following your progress building your wonderful layout & hoping to see it one day......

 

Cheers Bill

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14 hours ago, treggyman said:

A few questions regarding the 158......

I've been planning to respray one as well & have just started.....

 

First the colour green....I wonder whose colour you've used....I've mixed my own as I couldn't seem to find a match but it isn't quite right...Whose do you use?

 

How did you replicate the different colour green on the diagonal strips...Was that a 'matted' version of the original green?

 

This is the second unit I've tried to respray & I don't seem to be able to remove the glazing so I masked the last one.....Is there a trick to removing the glazing without breaking it?

 

Finally the GWR decals.....Home made or who supplies?

 

Really enjoyed following your progress building your wonderful layout & hoping to see it one day......

 

Cheers Bill


The green is PlastiKote Satin Hunter Green Bill, and is almost perfect. The Matt stripe is just that, masked up and sprayed with matt varnish, but the whole body needs glossing first for the transfers (which are from Steve at Railtec) and then the stripe goes on last. The windows are fairly easy on the bodies once you work out you need to go gently with a small flat screw driver and prise them off. The cab windows were masked up with maskol. Hope that helps.

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5 hours ago, scoobyra said:


The green is PlastiKote Satin Hunter Green Bill, and is almost perfect. The Matt stripe is just that, masked up and sprayed with matt varnish, but the whole body needs glossing first for the transfers (which are from Steve at Railtec) and then the stripe goes on last. The windows are fairly easy on the bodies once you work out you need to go gently with a small flat screw driver and prise them off. The cab windows were masked up with maskol. Hope that helps.

 

Hi

Thanks for the reply.....Very helpful indeed.......

 

The only issue I have is that the glazing seems to almost be welded in.....

The bottom seems to be possible to prise off but the top sheared off & even with the rest missing I can't get the broken remains away from the body shell it prise as I might......

 

Anyway the more important bits were the colour & transfers so thanks very much again for your prompt response....

I never would have thought of just spraying with matt varnish.....

Cheers Bill

 

Edit to add missing word

Edited by treggyman
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As we come to the end of another year, it's all change for Oak Road. The last three and a half years have been a very steep learning curve, with more failures than than I can shake a stick at! There's a lot to be said for listening to advice from other people before wandering off thinking I know best......

 

I've not been able to cure the warped baseboards on the right hand side of the layout, which as a general consensus of opinion, is down to moisture / water ingress - note to self (and we've done it on Dave's Par layout), the next layout I build will have all of the wood primed and painted before I go anywhere near it with track and scenery. As if that isn't bad enough, and despite using alignment dowels, I cannot stop the track bed from going out of ligament...

 

 2130445943_Outofalignment.jpg.d079ae069ca07db3384d24e8754f9b0a.jpg

 

The sleepers are superglued to the cork base, which is in turn, glued to the baseboard with PVA, and in theory, should be fine......but it isn't. All is not lost with this, as I can lift it and insert some screws beneath the rails and solder to them - it's just a ball ache! 

 

What I can't seem to remedy though is the ski ramp on board four, and the fact that the track is lifting....

 

331010169_SkiRamp.jpg.4d306323e584fec6ecdf82b96771db87.jpg

 

I have some thoughts but whether I'll ever cure it is a different matter!

 

So, turning my attention to something that I have a little more control over, I've halted the installation of the MP1 point motors so that I can realign the fiddle yard entrances. By changing a couple of points, I can make the roads flow better and also increase the middle bi-directional roads, making them longer to accommodate the charter sets and the stone train. It'll also help remove a rather tight curve on the exit to roads two and three.

 

And now to another major change.......the NCE Power Cab, as good as it is, will be making way for this, with thanks to DCC Train Automation........

 

 DR5000.jpg.e56e6e1fa55744c0110cb402a6fd255c.jpg

 

This is a seriously impressive bit of kit and will enable me to automate the layout - not because I don't want to drive the trains, but to help us at exhibitions when there's only three of us, and I'm off to the toilet every five minutes! :laugh_mini2: 

 

Joking aside, it makes a lot of sense to help give us a break. It can be very tiring trying to concentrate on sending trains round every 30 seconds, whilst answering questions from the public. We'll still have handsets so that we are still actually driving the trains, but we can switch in and out of partial or full automation when required.

 

There's going to be a lot to do over the Christmas break!

Edited by scoobyra
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  • Tempfix

I sympathise with your joins Mike, good luck. I've had the same issue on the home layout despite alignment dowels, hardwood strip, copper clad sleepers glued in with araldite and then soldered. I lay right across the join with one piece of track and then cut so no idea how they end up misaligned. Very interested in the automation box of tricks too. I suspect the instructions are quite a weighty affair?

Rich

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Track alignment is the bug bear of most of us if we tell the truth, Less board joins = less problems, but also = more weight per board, Like Rich and many more before, I have laid as one piece, let it set, cut it and still had both height and lateral alignment problems.

The height is easy to deal with, I have a B I G Hammer:yes:

 

Your new Buz box looks the biz, last time I had one similar to that it was made by VOX and I could program all my favourite Guitar Sounds from the Shadows to Pink Floyd and much more into it, BUT it wouldn't make the coffee, does yours?:D

2100626570_VoxandAmp003.JPG.5931221b5b80f7cf0b972d049b9f5dc2.JPG

Hahah

 

Hope you get your boards and Track sorted too.

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  • RMweb Gold

Has anyone tried using sections of metal L angle at baseboard ends to stop warping? I.e sandwiched above the frame but below the track bed.

 

It is an idea I have thought of but not yet tried hence wondering if other people have? No point experimenting with an option already tried elsewhere and proved not to work.

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