F-UnitMad Posted November 29, 2017 Share Posted November 29, 2017 Yes, cheapskate that I am, my Code100 rail is recycled from HO. The discussion about Kalgarin & O Scale Code100 has been had elsewhere. My solution to track gauges was a couple of home-made blocks of wood with grooves cut in them, & also two pieces of aluminium angle with slots; one for Code100 rail & one for Code125FB (Marcway). 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAMO Posted November 30, 2017 Share Posted November 30, 2017 As you Jordan, I make my own track gauges using a piece of hard wood and making grooves using my band saw. No more. It's easy. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielB Posted December 4, 2017 Author Share Posted December 4, 2017 Not much to report recently, due to exhibitions, work, and the dreaded 'real life' getting in the way of modelling time. I have however had a spare hour with the soldering iron to reclaim old rail ready for track laying. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielB Posted December 9, 2017 Author Share Posted December 9, 2017 Well... it's been five days, but after some free time yesterday, this is what PB currently looks like: Hopefully I can get the trackwork finished before I go back to work on Monday night. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAMO Posted December 9, 2017 Share Posted December 9, 2017 (edited) Nice work Daniel! I like you have installed the sand before the rails. Very useful! I hope you have a solution to hide the large PCB sleepers in the tracks (not for the turnout of course). Edited December 11, 2017 by JAMO Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted December 9, 2017 Share Posted December 9, 2017 Is the rail spiked to the wood ties, or just soldered to the pcb strips? With a good dose of weeds, scrub & 'neglect', sure it'll look effective either way!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielB Posted December 9, 2017 Author Share Posted December 9, 2017 Thanks Jack. Regarding the PCB ties - those will be hidden by paint and ground cover. Ballasting before laying the rails was a trick I picked up from Tony Koester in one of the "how to" videos he did for Model Railroader. It's one of those things that makes you wonder why you didn't think of it yourself! Jordan, simply put, both! Soldered first - and it's perfectly functional at that, then spiked for both looks and to make it truly bomb proof. After it's spiked and soldered you can literally pick the baseboard up by gripping a rail with a pair of pliers and lifting. It's certainly going to get the scrub, weeds, debris, etc to really make it look the part. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAMO Posted December 11, 2017 Share Posted December 11, 2017 Daniel, Ok, you'll hide the PCB. Good. I've still tested to ballast the track before to install the rails but with stone ballast: it was difficult to obtain a clean and flat surface. There was a lot of work before to spike the rails. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielB Posted December 13, 2017 Author Share Posted December 13, 2017 As I'm on nights this week, I've been unable to work on the track any further, so instead I've been building a craftsman kit - Broach Supplies, by Kitwood Hill Models. Verdict - it's a lovely kit, very interesting design, but it's been fiddly as all hell (even N scale craftsmen kits are easier than this!) and the instructions could do with a couple of improvements here and there. The functioning sash windows are definitely a highlight. I've also added some of Kitwood Hill's furniture items to the annex of the building, make it look a little more interesting. Not much further to go on it before I can start painting it up. 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielB Posted January 20, 2018 Author Share Posted January 20, 2018 (edited) Well... it's been a while, but I've not been idle. Trackwork is done done. I've soldered the power droppers to 2 of the boards, however Ford has taken the board that will house the sector plate away to build and fit that, and he's also working on building some servo-actuated switch machines for us. As such, the rest of the wiring will have to wait until the layout is back together. I've also made a start on the scenics, and have used lightweight filler to build up the ground contours on one of the boards. One down, two to go. Structures have been started and the majority of them are in a state of the basic walls being complete, I just need to get some wooden beams that I can use to brace the corners before I build them up, but I need to wait until payday for that. I have, however, been working on one of the buildings that will hide the sector plate from view - a mixed media version of the Clevermodels music store. I wanted to ensure that - in O scale - any part of the kits that should be wood are made from actual wood. I figured this would add to the overall look of the layout. So here's the version of the kit I built in HO scale: Whereas here is the progress so far on the O scale version: Edited January 20, 2018 by DanielB 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zomboid Posted January 20, 2018 Share Posted January 20, 2018 How do you get the wood to look like that? It's very impressive. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielB Posted January 20, 2018 Author Share Posted January 20, 2018 I soak it in a mix of Isopropyl Alcohol and India Ink. I just have an old homepride jar that is filled with the stain, and I put the sticks into it, seal the lid and then gently shake it up for a bit, then leave it to soak in for about an hour. Afterwards I use tweezers to remove them and stick them on a tray with kitchen roll on it to soak off the excess mix, then leave it to dry for a couple of hours. The stain really does STAIN, so make sure you don't get any on your clothes! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAMO Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 Very nice work Daniel! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielB Posted February 13, 2018 Author Share Posted February 13, 2018 You are most welcome, Andrew. I use them for all sorts - structures, ties, wooden decks on freight cars, etc. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielB Posted February 16, 2018 Author Share Posted February 16, 2018 Oh my god, an update! It's been a while, but with literally 2 weeks to go before the Mansfield show, I figured it best I actually get started on the scenery! This is about 30 minutes work. Two of the three boards have been wired, myself and Ford just need to find some time to get together and get them all linked together. More scenery work when I get home later this morning. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 2 weeks to go??!! No cause for concern at all, for a veteran TVNAM Exhibitionist like yourself Dan! You know the drill - just take some "Wet Paint" signs with you. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Regularity Posted February 17, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 17, 2018 2 weeks to go??!! No cause for concern at all, for a veteran TVNAM Exhibitionist like yourself Dan! You know the drill - just take some "Wet Paint" signs with you. Can he borrow yours? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielB Posted February 21, 2018 Author Share Posted February 21, 2018 One board, at least, will be completed scenically before Mansfield show. Loads of time left! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielB Posted February 22, 2018 Author Share Posted February 22, 2018 (edited) What a difference a day makes.Ford stopped by with the current progress on the traversor. This very clever beast is controlled by a simple IR remote from an old CD player.He also returned the sector plate board so I can work on wiring it up. As such, I took the opportunity to mock up the sector plate.Finally, I spent some time working on structures for the end board, which is the one that will connect to the traversor.It's really coming together now. More to come tomorrow, with any luck. Edited February 22, 2018 by DanielB 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielB Posted February 24, 2018 Author Share Posted February 24, 2018 Progress on the merchantile building 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielB Posted March 5, 2018 Author Share Posted March 5, 2018 Well, Mansfield Show is over for another year, and Piedmont Blues worked out much better than I had anticipated. The to do list has expanded, as is to be expected after the true test of a two day show, but overall the layout performed fantastically. During the show, further work was done on the layout, as was always the plan. I worked on the scenery whilst Ford ran trains, and then Ford worked on fine tuning the arduino controlled servos and lighting of buildings whilst I ran trains. I can't claim to understand how it all works, but Ford used an arduino control board to work both the lights and the servos for the points. Connected to it was an infra-red sensor, which allowed us to use a TV remote to switch the points - allowing for both switching of the points individually, and route setting - throwing multiple points with one button push to line up set routes for the locomotives to take. For the Bingham show on 14th and 15th of April, we're hoping to have the point frogs wired up to polarity changing switches, so that when the button are pressed to change the routes, it also throws a SPDT switch to change the polarity of the frogs. This would have been a massive benefit at Mansfield. As it stood, the frogs were dead at the show, which prevented us from using the Atlas Plymouth, and caused the slightly shorter wheelbase GP35 to stall when going one specific route, as it ended up with a truck each on two of the dead frogs at once, meaning it stalled out. The RS3, having a slightly longer wheelbase, didn't have this issue. There wasn't much in terms of things to buy on the trade stands for the layout - US O scale isn't exactly all the rage here. That said, I did managed to get a 3-rail K-Line flat car, which will need converting over to 2 rail, as well as a Lionel/Corgi Greyhound bus, which you can see in some of the photographs below. So here we are. Roll on Bingham show in April! 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted March 5, 2018 Share Posted March 5, 2018 Well done, Dan!! There wasn't much in terms of things to buy on the trade stands for the layout - US O scale isn't exactly all the rage here. News for you, mate - US O Scale isn't exactly all the rage anywhere - not even in the USA if it's 2-rail...!!! Maybe that's why I like it; I don't like being part of the 'Mainstream' 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielB Posted March 9, 2018 Author Share Posted March 9, 2018 The mainstream is overrated! Quick question for those more knowledgeable than me, if anyone can oblige. Having never sound fitted a loco before, and especially not in O scale - could anyone suggest a good starting place for relatively inexpensive but good quality sound decoder to go in my GP35? It's an Atlas, twin motor version - currently DC. Thanks, Dan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broadoak Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 I think you have made a cracking start even if you are ploughing a lonely furrow.Don’t mind the folks that are not interested, they are the ones missing out.It was just the same in the early nineties when I first exhibited Colonel’s Crossing there was a total lack of interest then. In fact some people were down right rude, many thought it was either South African or Australian. I found using locomotives from roads that they had heard of seemed to help, in my case the Rock did the trick. Things and tastes change though and what was once of little interest becomes more mainstream for want of a better phrase.I love what you’ve done so far, you keep going they’ll come round.Kind regards Peter M 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikjd Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 The mainstream is overrated! Quick question for those more knowledgeable than me, if anyone can oblige. Having never sound fitted a loco before, and especially not in O scale - could anyone suggest a good starting place for relatively inexpensive but good quality sound decoder to go in my GP35? It's an Atlas, twin motor version - currently DC. Thanks, Dan You've hit the nail on the head there .......... If you wire the loco in series and you are just pottering you can usually get away with a >1amp HO/OO decoder. I've done that on a couple of Atlas loco's, I think Jordan may also have done the same. As I'm hoping for a continuous run I'm now going for Loksound L V4, which are designed for O and plug straight in to the latest Atlas release (U23B's). These are more expensive, but come with the 'full throttle' feature and the sound appears to be very good. I've recently got these from Germany (ebay) as they are cheaper than UK, you just tell them which sound file you want loaded on. Maybe try an expendable HO function only decoder with the motors wired in series to see if it can handle your ops. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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