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Donnersbachkogel


Vecchio
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  • 3 weeks later...

Finally managed to call in at A and H  models and picked up some MBR trees, they are quite brilliant only problem now is they make the rest on my trees look very ordinary. I also had a loco chipped whilst I was there. Great service as always.

Craig.

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Craig, mix the trees. I have always a nice one in front and some cheaper or home made ones behind. I normally use spruce or fir trees from Noch in a 50 piece packet. I make them less regular by snipping the odd branches away with plyers and use also some deciduous trees of different leaf colour. Otherwise the hobby would be too expensive.... 

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Quite a few things happened over the last month. Got a nice 60th birthday present from the company I was working for, they made me redundant. Was not really what I need, but I had very good 9 years there. So modelling was on the back burner. 

Went to Brackley last weekend, found some second hand H0e stuff (Egger Bahn) at A&H models for a good price and couldn't resist.  They will be a perfect addition to my existing rolling stock. 

 

47936618218_4b13997a90_k.jpg20190524_104532 by Gerhard Novak, on Flickr

 

I am currently working on the middle boards, where I am not happy about the overhead line. Need to redo it. And now I should have also more time for it...

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Hi,

Sorry to hear of your redundancy I trust things will work out in the end, life has a habit of being so. Looks like your last visit to A and H was productive I all ways seem to come away with a smile on my face guess it's the little boy in me.

I look forward to following your layout up dates through the summer.

Cheers for now.

 

Craig.

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Hi, 

I had the good fortune to be able to retire at 60 secured, The years after that, are among the best 11 years in my life. I wish you that they too will find a positive solution.

The Eggerbahn vehicles immediately reminded me of my own, which I once owned.

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@Bergmann

When I was a young engineer working at Siemens colleagues were retiring at 58... unfortunately things have changed. I need another 6 years... 

Back to Donnersbachkogel: 

 

As mentioned earlier I was not happy with the OHL at the station boards, It was looking nice and scale like, but was not very reliable. (wires too thin, distances too long). So I made a compromise and redid it with wire 0.7mm (this is the size used at the older Sommerfeldt OHL, now the went thinner, but you need to tension it...). On top of that I changed the position of the poles and went to a distance of 30cm. Could be longer as it is straight, but there are some points in the station area which justify the shorter distance. 

And to make it less visible (also to hide that I mixed brass and copper clad steel) I painted the wires. 

 

But first I start thinking about the scenery - I need some kind of village, but there is not much space. So I go low relief. Having a nice scale villa from Faller lying around I scratched my head and finally took out my table saw... 

 

I have to say better than I expected. Quite a clean cut (Proxxon FKS)

 

48013298113_95d4b8aebb_h.jpg20190606_142415 sm 

 

 

Now we have it where it will stay

 

48013287271_b3b8400dc2_h.jpg20190606_142435 sm 

 

The overhead guys just finished their work and do some final checks. 

 

48013287496_b59aea72de_h.jpg20190606_142911 sm 

 

48013287586_f8dd8170c7_h.jpg20190606_143047 sm 

 

I am quite happy with the effect, painted the ohl is much less dominant and I hope the visitor will forgive me for using thicker wires. Finally my target is to go around the layout with pantograph up. 

 

48013298243_5acbb0d442_h.jpg20190606_142932 sm 

Edited by Vecchio
forgot a photo...
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I took the same approach with the overhead on my RhB layout after testing a piece of the thinner wire ;) 

I also bought the CMX track cleaner so fingers only went near the wires if something fell off. Looking great and I’m sure if I’d tried to cut the chalet in half it would have exploded as soon as the blade touched it!

Hope something turns up soon with work. 

P

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No fear Paul,  will sign a contract next Tuesday as it looks. Half the money but better than being at home.

 

About the saw: I use a fine blade (48 teeth) and little force. The Proxxon FKS is brilliant, if it breaks I would replace it with the same one (or with its younger sister - FET -  which I show here).

 

image.png.b52727ac75767dc8978f35d29a2d1a14.png

 

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The progress is slow, but a visit to Germany brought a new fence, so on we go with the scenery. First the fence posts need a bit of a treat, as they are not nice out of the box. Gave it a white wash and painted the coping stones.

 

48126687168_89b9720662_k.jpg20190624_114221 

 

With a bit of greenery it looks like that. Not much fence in a package for 9 Euro... 

 

48126740332_c23a3b4511_k.jpg20190625_152139 

 

As usual the photo shows all my mistakes. Some more turf is needed next to the track.

Back to the fence: So the only way is to help myself with a bit of wire mesh. Seen that at many places (my parents included) - posh fence at the front, economic fence at the rear. OK. Where to get the wire mesh from? Easy. look at decorative packaging and keep what you like (careful, not to get into that or people may call you a hoarder) 

 

First I cut a strip out of the material, 45 degree to the thread direction. 

48126686068_610b4b06d7_k.jpg20190625_113603 

 

Then I just glue some fence posts (I used 1mm brass U profile) to it. Ready. The materials used for the gift bags are normally flexible, means such a fence follows easily your terrain. 

 

48126739622_1473e913e9_k.jpg20190625_113708 

 

Will show it in position later. 

Edited by Vecchio
small additions and grammar...
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Now also the second house (the cut through one... )is ready and fixed to the module. I gave it a 3mm ply rear wall so that the little Preiser people have more privacy.. 

48132297653_e1cff70a86_k.jpg20190626_145901

 

I gave the roof a coat of paint so that it doesn't look too plastic like.  From an almost street view it looks ok. 

48132269276_7ef62a0ee8_k.jpg20190626_145921 

 

Here is the wire mesh fence, not perfect (glue visible...) but ok for me. 

The house got some paint stains - will see if I can remove them.  Picture is not great, auto focus took the house wall....

48132298123_4093fb9099_k.jpg20190626_150022 

 

 

The whole thing looks like this, ready for use.  Of course I will add more details like shrubs and flowers, but the module is good enough to be looked at. And I will turn my attention now to module no 3. 

48132296808_b8cd0a170d_k.jpg20190626_145835 

Edited by Vecchio
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On module 3 the problem was spotted how the passengers will reach the platforms. In the area of the museum train the passengers are allowed to cross the tracks, but not on the mainline. Well - Pritchard Patent Products has a solution, probably a bit big for H0 but acceptable. The staircase to the underpass. Austrians are a bit particular and always want a roof on it. Also my platforms are not too wide. So surgery and a bit of srcatch build are necessary.

Using the same technology and equipment as for cutting the house in half I also cut a piece out of the staircases and glued them back together, so that the inner width is about 2m (in full scale). There were a few little pieces ripped out, but in total it went acceptable.

 

48189145006_2deb975b75_k.jpg20190703_141505 

 

The weather allowed me to use a table outside my workshop. 

48189143651_5c891392c9_k.jpg20190703_100628 

 

Now the first one has its roof on.

48189146861_30686c6fd1_k.jpg20190703_154715 

 

A test run on the module showed that the structure is tall enough. Small comment about the Preiser boys: This is not the forensic special force, but these guys are only part painted.... 

48189203667_0bfb1988e5_k.jpg20190703_163221 

 

Even I am happy with the outcome I found out that I am not working neat enough for making pictures. The paint is not nice, there are glue stains everywhere. Well - I have another two staircases to improve my skills...

48189155616_9a8fba6335_k.jpg20190703_163334

Edited by Vecchio
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As I have currently some time I decided to re- do the staircase. I used engraving for the metal roof, and tried avoiding glue stains. The roofs are now airbrushed. And I made the entrance 5mm taller. Of course still not perfect but in my opinion better. 

48197151797_25f466bc31_k.jpg20190704_155257 

 

48197106561_85b314c510_k.jpg20190704_155314 

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What's new in Donnersbachkogel?  Well I thought with the overhead line growing it is time to make a proper touch protection. This is not only for viewers, should this lay-out ever be displayed, but also for myself. I noticed that I did quite some damage to it, like ripping down some of the L-profiles which are glued to the poles. Question was - cut the polycarbonate myself or buy made to measure? To be honest - there is no difference in price - so made to measure it was. The stuff was well packed (packaging was expensive - but we speak about 4 kg and awkward size) but was delivered to an address 36 houses down the road... 

 

48339829972_58f1056fb1_k.jpg20190719_185202

 

I use 3mm polycarbonate sheet, which is easy to drill, file or saw. 

 

And this is my first use, on the 2nd station module. 

 

48339688156_a52ff759e8_k.jpg20190721_184803 

 

48339688761_0e10f1b972_k.jpg20190721_184832 

 

48339690451_908c97602a_k.jpg20190721_184933

 

So far so good. I need to round the top edge a bit, it is quite sharp from cutting. 

And while I was working on that, the other module which is currently in the shed started falling over.... I grabbed it and could prevent it from falling, but - as there is no protective sheet at the moment I killed part of the overhead line and one of the signals... :mad:

 

48339689211_df2e4df442_k.jpg20190721_184851 

 

Thanks god the poles are ok, I killed 5 length of overhead line, so in a day or so it can be reconstructed. The signal is a write-off.  As I plan to visit my mum in Vienna in August I will order a replacement today - so I can minimum save the postage.... 

For today I have enough and the shed is closed.... 

 

Edited by Vecchio
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On 04/07/2019 at 16:06, Vecchio said:

As I have currently some time I decided to re- do the staircase. I used engraving for the metal roof, and tried avoiding glue stains. The roofs are now airbrushed. And I made the entrance 5mm taller. Of course still not perfect but in my opinion better. 

48197151797_25f466bc31_k.jpg20190704_155257 

 

48197106561_85b314c510_k.jpg20190704_155314 

 

Are you expecting Russian tourists to visit sometime soon, perhaps to St Peter & St Paul, or maybe a new area of interest, such as the Cast Iron Tickford Bridge...      :triniti:  :bomb_mini:

 

Regards

 

Julian

[Apologies from a Salisbury resident, having memory cells jogged.  :superstition:  ]

 

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No Russian tourists in Newport Pagnell - nothing of interest there - and the Tickford bridge is well stable having carbon fibre reinforcements...

 

Finally it was less damage than I thought, I tried the signal - and - surprise all working. So I carefully bent it into shape, glued pieces together with superglue, and - almost nothing to notice. Well I have ordered a replacement, it will go into the spares box. I have also a Viessmann semaphore kit spare, those are so fiddly that you only need to look at them to break a part off....

 

Of course I needed to replace the OHL wires, but I have some routine in manufacturing these, so job done. 

 

48373008087_d9018f2e49_z.jpg20190725_115819 

 

So to avoid future issues I put the polycarbonate sheet up. After cutting out for the board connectors and the mimic board holder I drilled the holes for the fixing screws - and bother - all in the wrong place.... after correction it looks like this. 

 

48372959001_9dac3332ba_k.jpg20190725_133536 

 

The only excuse I have is this 

 

48373008262_0bebae447a_k.jpg20190725_125536 

 

My shed roof is completely insulated by 75mm PIR boards - it is just the outside temperature at the moment... 

 

OK, no moaning, I lived 11 years in the north of Italy and I can tell you that we had such weather for 2 weeks in a row some times... 

Anyway, the protection is on, and my mistake is only visible if you know where to look...

 

48373007412_d8987b95fb_k.jpg20190725_133529 

 

 

 

Edited by Vecchio
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As the Oberstdorf photo background is too short for my layout I was hunting for an extension. Found it in Vienna at Tina's model railway shop. Of course I had to scroll through the shops extensive 2nd hand collection and found a Piko Taurus I don't have. Even it is a hobby series one they have proper pantographs now. So I couldn't resist. Gives me something to modify and will be fine in front of goods trains.

 

20190801_134630.jpg

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August has passed and we are well into September. Time for an update. 

I was working on the overhead line but also on the scenic parts as well as on the rolling stock.

 

Made kind of a test fit in my garage, well this was an eye-opener… Made a few hick-ups in the wiring resulting in a few nice short circuits. Why? I changed all fiddle yard point frogs from micro switches operated by the point servos to Gaugemaster auto frogs. The reason was that in some cases the point has switched but not the microswitch and vice versa which resulted into short circuits. And doing this I had the modules on their side for easier soldering, but I didn’t consider my dyslexia….

OK, job done, drop wires crossed, all ok.

Have a look at the layout in its latest stage, now with “finger-grab protection” on.

 

48689092938_2083bac901_k.jpg20190906_162050 

 

This protection is of course to go to shows later but another reason for the protection is clumsy Mr. Vecchio who doesn’t want to repair the OHL every 5 minutes.  The OHL is still not finished, I am currently working on the last board and noticed that I am 2 poles short. Back into the brass department….

 

Now to the rolling stock: On the picture above you see my sound fitted 1042, which was a workhorse from the mid 60th to 2000, working frequently together with the younger 1044 and finally replaced by the raise of the Taurus (1016, 1116) in the early years of 2000. Have already changed speaker position and speaker size, so somebody can hear the sound, and where the speaker originally sat I have some free space. Probably I will add a stay alive. The decoder on board is a Zimo MX 645 so this shouldn't be a problem. 

 

But first to another candidate for upgrading: I mentioned the irresistible bargain of a Piko Taurus. And I said I will work on it. So, I did. First of all I changed one of the pantographs as on a multisystem loco they are not all equal but have different pallets for the different profile requirements of other countries. I just used a Piko one I had spare and is silver and not black.

 

48692082877_d4344dc15d_k.jpg20190907_072353 

 

In the loco there was space enough for a micro servo, this makes one Pantograph operational. on the picture above the left side pantograph is controlled. Can you see it?  (I hope not...) Below the inside of the loco. Under the decoder is the speaker and a small capacitor. Even this is a large and heavy machine I prefer a stay alive to avoid sound -drop out's.

 

48691909886_28c37832e1_k.jpg20190907_072222 

 

Both ends got Krois electromagnetic couplers, so shunting is now a treat with this one. And I noticed that there is a new soundfile for this type of loco (uploaded in spring 2019) on the Zimo sound database. I took an empty MX 645 (unfortunately my last one) and loaded the new sound on it. I have to say, I am impressed.

 

See here the start up sequence of the loco. The panto is not automatically moved by the start-up, something I have to keep in mind for later.. So what you see is done by pressing 2 function keys.  After the startup I show the de-coupling of the freight train. 

 

48689399101_c1eb608bbb_h.jpgDSC_0846 by Gerhard Novak, on Flickr

 

Now a little driving sequence, I have to work on the acceleration. Currently a little bit to fast. For all the videos I have the Perspex removed from the layout.

 

48689037898_22b711fa5f_h.jpgDSC_0849 by Gerhard Novak, on Flickr

 

and finally the shutdown.

 

48689046338_cfb9b0c830_h.jpgDSC_0847 by Gerhard Novak, on Flickr

 

Hope you enjoyed my update...

 

Edited by Vecchio
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After spending a few days with my 7mm stuff back to H0. And back from the brass department - I made a mast with double bracket which should solve the pole issues. 

 

48754409373_1a1fcbb225_k.jpg20190918_131423 

 

Now painted and screwed into position. 

 

48754409783_e39f4c1507_k.jpg20190918_161413 

 

So - finished the overhead line? No. Now I have a shortage of contact wires. Need to make a bunch of different lengths. Material all there, just a boring soldering work....

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Another little brick in the wall. the background is complete. 

 

48759281518_4a7b475683_k.jpg20190919_153151 

 

I scratched my head how Faller did the extension to the Oberstdorf background - now I know. They just printed the whole stuff again - but in mirror image. So of course it fits, but it looks a bit weird. 

 

48759601786_af995c108d_k.jpg20190919_153049 

 

You can clearly see it - just above the right edge of the electric shunter is the area where the mirror image starts. Well, not really what I wanted, but may be I find a few nice tall trees to cover that somehow. 

Well - if I would spot that at a show I would make comments.... so let's hide it in case there are more sarcastic old men out in this world....

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2 hours ago, Vecchio said:

They just printed the whole stuff again - but in mirror image. So of course it fits, but it looks a bit weird. 

Yes that’s why I jumped to making my own, which also include mirrored images ;) but I altered the mirrored part with photoshop adding trees and altering buildings. 

It’s a pity the commercial lot didn’t spend an hour doing that to theirs. A small building with chimney might help disguise as another option. 

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Small update. I gave the trains a possibility to disappear in style into the backscene... 

Mountains are still blue, but it's a first step. 

Tests are done with the longest coaches I own to see if the tunnel cladding is in the right position. 

And: The piece of flat bottom rail isn't missing anywhere in the British rail system - I brought it over from Austria... :)

 

48786562266_c663071225_k.jpg20190923_182320 

 

Edited by Vecchio
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The blue mountains turn white - and after this dries they turn green....

48838766777_c753367ec5_k.jpg20191001_124720

 

and even greener. In fact a mixture of woodland scenics burnt grass turf, summer grass turf, weeds turf, and some dark green 2mm static grass plus a bit of 5mm dark yellow static grass. To make it less boring some foliage clusters are thrown in.

 

48838217128_31a6e12192_k.jpg20191001_162123

 

The mirror image area sees a large tree, minutes after the photo a second large tree followed. And if I am successful with my business in November I will see if A&H model have another nice large tree for me.  The trees you see on this part of the layout are all home made. And I didn't even touch the 2019 harvest of seafoam (teloxys aristata, Chiltern seeds, 1.95£ a packet and a lot of tender love and care plus a greenhouse for the start...). Leaves are still from la linea secondaria (translated "the branch line"), Carnate, near Milan, Italy.  Hurray - I have a whole week business trip to Milan in November so I will visit Fabrizio Sbrugnera (owner of Linea secondaria) and fill up my stock with his excellent materials.... and exchange some gossip about model railways of course...

 

48838767167_1c0ee17fed_k.jpg20191001_162137 

 

There is no happy time without a small backlash. The gravel platform I made for the narrow gauge was too high (the cylinder covers of my loco touched it) so I had to scrape it out. 

 

48838217468_4824a732b6_k.jpg20191001_124726 

 

Will do something with Polyfilla instead. But only after the break, will enjoy Asia for the next 16 days, starting with Beijing and Tianjin, from there cruising to Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong (riots???), Vietnam and finally Singapore.... 

Edited by Vecchio
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