rodshaw Posted July 17, 2018 Author Share Posted July 17, 2018 The latest additions to Naples Street, courtesy of Zeuke-TT in Holland: 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wendell1976 Posted August 2, 2018 Share Posted August 2, 2018 Nice American-based switching layout in TT scale! Wendell Idaho, USA Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodshaw Posted November 18, 2018 Author Share Posted November 18, 2018 Having recently moved from York to Northampton, I'm scouting round to find some exhibition venues round here (40-mile radius or so) that aren't booked up during 2019 so I can take Naples Street along. If there are any exhibition managers out there who might be interested, send me a PM! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodshaw Posted November 21, 2018 Author Share Posted November 21, 2018 I've had an invite to take Naples Street to the Milton Keynes MRS 50th anniversary show on 16-17 Feb. I'm itching to get it set up and tested, which I haven't had chance to do since our house move. It will probably need to be stored over the winter in a cold (but dry) garage. Hopefully early next year we'll be doing a conversion and I'll have a nice dedicated bit of interior layout space. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodshaw Posted November 27, 2018 Author Share Posted November 27, 2018 Naples Street will also be appearing at the Olney show on 7 September next. Having had chance to set it up again and test it since the house more, I was amazed that everything worked straight off. Not that there's much to go wrong with a layout this small, but still. Meanwhile, quotes for converting part of the cold garage to a nice warm hobby room are in progress... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodshaw Posted November 29, 2018 Author Share Posted November 29, 2018 A few more shots of Naples Street, some showing the new Zeuke hopper and a Lok-n-Roll 50ft boxcar with rather dodgy home-made 'patching' decals. Must redo those some day. Having said which they don't look quite that bad actual size.You can tell the automobile is basic quality Shapeways but again, not too bad actual size. The last shot shows the garage with the layout to the right covered with the green cloth. Hopefully soon half of it will become a nice hobby room/study. I may even start planning a bigger layout. I'll be torn between HO and TT 6 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broadoak Posted November 30, 2018 Share Posted November 30, 2018 Looking forward to seeing Naples Street at Olney Rod. I will be there with Two Sister's Farm. Kind regards Peter M Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodshaw Posted November 30, 2018 Author Share Posted November 30, 2018 Looking forward to seeing Naples Street at Olney Rod. I will be there with Two Sister's Farm. Kind regards Peter M Excellent! I'll look forward to meeting you and seeing your layout for real. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold slow8dirty Posted November 30, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 30, 2018 Very nice Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodshaw Posted January 23, 2019 Author Share Posted January 23, 2019 Two new road vehicles on Naples Street, a Ford CL-9000 cab and a 1970 Chevrolet Malibu, both from RailTT in the Ukraine: 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodshaw Posted February 18, 2019 Author Share Posted February 18, 2019 Naples Street had its second outing at the weekend, at Milton Keynes. The brazier glowed, the factory chimney smoked, and the locos and stock ran impeccably (well, almost - the SOO switcher played up as soon as I got there but I managed to get it going). There was lots of curiosity about American TT - it's just a pity I had to tell people how little there is available. 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodshaw Posted March 5, 2019 Author Share Posted March 5, 2019 I've decided I need a longer switching lead at the left-hand end, so I'm adding a whole 8 inches. The layout will then be a massive 48 inches long - just still qualifying as a micro I will probably only lengthen the track nearest to the edge. Not sure yet what to do with the space behind - maybe a generally overgrown, run-down area with a rusty car or two. Or I may extend the cream building in the picture. Any more ideas? 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodshaw Posted March 5, 2019 Author Share Posted March 5, 2019 Also...I bought this TT scale dummy Lionel GP9 for the huge sum of 11 US dollars (er - plus postage and duty). It's intended as a display model really, but people motorize them so I've decided to have a go and ordered some parts. The body shell is diecast metal, very sturdy. Handrails somewhat let it down, but that can be another project. Maybe. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodshaw Posted March 21, 2019 Author Share Posted March 21, 2019 A bit more work on the eight-inch switching extension to Naples Street. At the moment it looks like exactly what it is - an afterthought. I need to fill in or hide that gap in the backscene. And the tank green matchpot I'd used to paint the front of the baseboard ran out so I tried mixing my own and got it too dark, so the whole length will need re-doing. With the extension in place the layout looked unbalanced so I decided to move CFH Engineering a few inches left and extend its track as well. This also meant moving the smoking chimney and drilling another hole for the wires. The original hole is shown in the second photo; let's hope Twyla doesn't push her bloke down it before I've filled it in. The space towards the back of the extension looks just the place for a rusty old car and a bit of rubbish... 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Sweet pea Posted March 21, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 21, 2019 Rod I’m sure you will sort out the gap and the front of the baseboard. I like this layout you are building. Loads going on with plenty of detail. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodshaw Posted April 5, 2019 Author Share Posted April 5, 2019 Another booking for Naples Street after Olney - Letchworth MRS, 30 November. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodshaw Posted April 27, 2019 Author Share Posted April 27, 2019 Naples Street will also be appearing at the Risex show, Princes Risborough, on 22 Feb 2020. So that's three shows coming up in the next ten months - must get on with that 8-inch extension to the layout. It's been stalled somewhat by the lack of space to work in at present. Still, the garage conversion is under way and soon I'll have a nice stretch of dedicated wall space - should be able to grab a couple of metres somewhere in the couple of rooms that are going to be created out of this...who knows, maybe more? 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodshaw Posted June 11, 2019 Author Share Posted June 11, 2019 Finally, after approaching three months of being stored and unusable in a bedroom, Naples Street is now in its new environment in the newly converted garage. Only just enough room in the corner I've grabbed, and the fiddle yard will stick out into the doorway a bit when in use - but the space is mine, all mine I tell you! And as I have a computer desk and all sorts of clutter in there as well I can't complain! So now I can resume work on the 8-inch extension I started. This also means I have to lengthen the lighting pelmet and acrylic storage cover too, but there's plenty time till Olney in September. Though by then I hope to have motorised the Lionel GP9 I bought and re-decaled a boxcar too. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodshaw Posted June 24, 2019 Author Share Posted June 24, 2019 (edited) I've more or less finished the 8-inch extension at the left end of Naples Street. The engineers, complete with smoking chimney, and the building behind have been moved over to the left, and I've added this access road and run-down corner. I may make a small low relief industrial building to go at the back. Maybe a bit more work needed to disguise the join and add one or two details. And if you look hard, yes, that is an underscale aeroplane on the engineers' roof in the last photo...a bit quirky and it might not stay, but might provide a gimmick for the kids! After all, if York Theatre Royal could have a Hurricane parked on top of it... Edited June 24, 2019 by rodshaw 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrDuck Posted June 24, 2019 Share Posted June 24, 2019 Rod I have just caught up with reading and looking at the pictures of your layout. This is a wonderful layout which is evolving all the time. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodshaw Posted July 24, 2019 Author Share Posted July 24, 2019 And so to my next project, motorising the Lionel GP9 I posted pictures of a bit earlier. I got as far as cutting holes in the chassis, fitting everything as in this picture (using Tillig trucks and a Zimo MX617 decoder) then tidying up the soldering and wires - but I couldn't get the body back on! The brass housing round the motor made it just too wide for the body to fit. I hadn't taken into account that the inside of the body tapers slightly towards the top. I got the motor stuck in the process, then things became unstuck (literally) so now I'm back to a redesign. At least it worked, and in fact ran up and down quite smoothly! Out of interest here's a picture of the loco body compared to an HO scale GP40: 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodshaw Posted September 1, 2019 Author Share Posted September 1, 2019 With a few tweaks here and there to the layout, all is ready for Olney on Saturday, apart from a bit of a hoover. Here's the newly motorised GP9 in action, shoving a 50ft boxcar which has been re-decaled courtesy of a contact in Australia. I also added an interior to one of the building entrances. A shot of part of the new extension: And the whole layout: 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodshaw Posted September 11, 2019 Author Share Posted September 11, 2019 Even a small layout needs a fair bit of wiring. Mine was a bit disorganised so after I got back from Olney I decided to consolidate it. Now it all goes through this central interface board, which originally was used just for the timer for the smoking chimney. It sits under the layout and has an acrylic cover. The gizmo in the middle is the timer, and the microswitch at right is an override cut-off for it. (You can tell that my abilities to saw a straight line are limited.) The inputs are for DCC power, the button that works the smoking chimney and the 12V PSU that operates the timer, glowing brazier and overhead lighting. The outputs from the DCC power are for the track, under-baseboard speakers and chimney smoke unit. I must say I'm not over keen on the terminal block type connectors, but I have lots of them and it made sense to use them. I don't have to plug and unplug them that often. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodshaw Posted September 11, 2019 Author Share Posted September 11, 2019 By the way, I've recently updated my online description of the layout with lots of new pictures. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodshaw Posted October 1, 2019 Author Share Posted October 1, 2019 And now the video...here's a bit of switching action. https://youtu.be/iWOwbz27m1Q I recorded this on my smartphone attached to a tripod and used Windows Movie Maker to edit it. It's my first YouTube posting and I must say the quality is not quite as good as the original...can anyone suggest why? I've read that it can take a while for YouTube videos to gain their full quality but it's been up there for about a day now. The maximum quality YouTube lets me set when I view it is 480p. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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