Jump to content
 

Eastwood Town - A tribute to Gordon's modelling.


gordon s
 Share

Recommended Posts

On 27/06/2020 at 09:11, gordon s said:

Thought it was too good to last. B*gger returned again this morning with a vengeance. Protective screens are a work in progress, but the b*gger found a gap no more than 6" wide through the plants and air pump to get in under the wires. This one is X rated as one swallow and it's gone, whole.....

 

 

That was bad enough, but he came back again to dive in through the wires at the deep end to help himself to another.....I'd always thought things were secure at the deep end as herons tend to walk in. Electrification of the wires that end may be on the cards, but until then some more plastic netting is called for.

 

This last week or so, has made me wonder just how many fish we have lost before the camera was installed as we had no idea this was such an issue.

 

Control panel is out now until additional defences are installed. They may not be pretty, but something has to be done.

 

 

I've been through all of this, lost all our fish including large Koi.

It started with a garden centre guy recommending one of those plastic herons, "herons are territorial and won't go on another herons patch"...exept, one morning we saw a real heron talking to the plastic one!

 

The next step was to fit 18" rods around the pool and fishing gut so that the heron couldn't walk into the pool, the next attempt was to fit sensors and a loud bell, only to find one morning that the bell was ringing and the heron was in the pool.

 

Criss cross nylon was tried like yours...no good, the best method is mesh, this works a treat except, there was a tiny hole where the mesh wasn't pulled right at one end of the pond and under some bushes, the sod got in there and took all the fish!

 

Today, the pond is no more, it's a lawn :)

  • Like 1
  • Friendly/supportive 9
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

Hi Gordon

 

So sorry to hear about Archie. We can quite understand how you and your  wife feel about his loss. I guess with the age multiplier, as a dog lover, Its bound to happen more than once in ones lifetime.....certainly the case with us......nevertheless and even though its often expected, on each and every occasion it leaves a large hole in ones life.

 

Over time you do get over it and there is pleasure rather than pain when you recall those happy moments together......but right now its just sadness. I do sympathise with you.

 

Best wishes

 

John

 

 

  • Thanks 1
  • Friendly/supportive 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks John, much appreciated. We haven't even talked about looking for another one or two dogs, but it's not like Amazon where you can order on line and a new one turns up tomorrow. Chinese Crested breeders are few and far between and in each litter you will will have mostly the hairless variety and perhaps one or two 'powderpuffs' which our boys are. Most breeders tend to focus on the hairless as they are ones you will see at shows. I wish I could have a £1 for very time we were asked 'what breed are they' and few believed there was such a breed as a Chinese Crested Powderpuff.....:D

 

I suspect once we make the decision we will be travelling up and down the country to find a genuine breeder and even then it depends on the temperament of each dog.

 

I can see a lot of miles ahead of me.....

Edited by gordon s
  • Friendly/supportive 8
Link to post
Share on other sites

Evening all.....

 

Finally got my backside into gear and made some progress on the mimic diagram for ET station. Still a few areas that may need a tidy up, but overall I'm happy with the result. Templot is an amazing program and two or three weeks ago when I was working on this panel most days, it was all second nature and click, click, click without reference to anything. This afternoon I sat down in front of the screen and could not recall anything......:D

 

Thankfully Martin's notes and videos are invaluable, so it was back to school for the first hour or so. I have no idea if this in an age thing or simply everyday use makes software simpler, but it all comes back to you eventually...

 

Here we go....

 

et_mimic_panel.jpg.b1553d5cad417bb33b704f43cb7c77d2.jpg

 

I'd love a proper totem rather than the plain rectangle, but couldn't find anything on the web. The nearest I could get visually to Gill Sans was Tahoma, but it look OK. This panel will be 1m wide x 300mm deep, so should be visible even for me....;)

 

This panel covers all the main running lines. 5 & 6 are station goods sidings, 7 goes to the main shed and 8 is to the traverser storage. 9 is a few carriage sidings plus a possible diesel shed. Each of these areas (7, 8, 9) will be done via a local control panel with their own switches and led’s for local control.

 

I'm hoping to paste up some prints onto 2mm pdf sheet and then build a mock up before finalising the design for professional printing on laminated paper.

Edited by gordon s
  • Like 9
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

Gordon

 

Have you thought of creating a PDF of the diagram and taking it to a vinyl printer?

 

We've done this with a couple of our club layout boards with some more to come. We've then used sheet aluminium onto which the vinyls are stuck. They seem very hard wearing.

  • Informative/Useful 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

Apologies if that wasn't clear, Ray, that's what I will be doing, but didn't want to waste time and money professionally printing something until I was 100% sure what I have is both visually and functionally correct.  I realise I said laminated paper, but I meant a plasticised sheet along the lines of vinyl or similar.

 

I want to build a 'mock up' to test how it all hangs together in practice and also to verify the whole question of route selection via the ECoS control. I know this may seem like overkill, but if previous versions of ET are anything to go by, sometimes unforeseen issues arise as things develop.

Edited by gordon s
  • Like 2
  • Agree 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Just thinking about vinyl sheet, Ray, that sound a great idea. I got my wires crossed over between plastic laminated paper and pure vinyl sheet.....:D

 

Does it come in various thicknesses? How did you glue the sheet to the aluminium substrate?

 

I was thinking originally about some 3m spray adhesive, but I'm not sure if that would cover vinyl.

 

Did you leave it without a protective top layer?

 

Loads of possibilities, so thanks for the suggestion.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

We use an adhesive backed vinyl. There's no protective layer on it but the good old (clear) "sticky back plastic" might be sufficient if you want some added protection.

 

The aluminium is reasonably sturdy on smaller panels and hasn't required any support other than around the outer edge - ours are no more than 2ft in width and about 1ft deep. We will be building a wider one in due course but that's not at the top of the priority list when meetings start up again otherwise I'd be able to give you some feed back on the larger size.

 

One of our members found the aluminium sheet supplier on line. I recall there was a choice of thickness as well but can't remember what we've used, sorry.

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold
41 minutes ago, gordon s said:

I'd love a proper totem rather than the plain rectangle, but couldn't find anything

 

Hi Gordon,

 

I don't know what you mean by a totem, but you can create whatever you want on the sketchboard in Templot:

 

et_logo.png.90c734a9d05c724980e3307e8b26d90d.png

 

That's 3 items -- a rounded rectangle with the corners set to 50%, a circle, and a formatted text block. Use the align functions to centralize them all both ways, and then the combine function to create a single item which you can copy and paste, rotate, etc.

 

cheers,

 

Martin.

  • Like 1
  • Informative/Useful 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

Hi Gordon,

 

Something like this?

 

et_logo1.png.c7c26450bd546cf5b0d1c2ed109b315c.png

 

Is the border too thick? Is it the wrong blue? Should the sausage be longer? On the sketchboard the formatted text is a metafile, so you can stretch it and distort it to fit -- I tried to get the Os to be perfect circles.

 

cheers,

 

Martin.

  • Like 2
  • Thanks 1
  • Informative/Useful 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Gordon, sorry to hear about Archie. Now's definitely not the time to get a new one, though - from what I've heard, pedigree dog (or designer dog, like Cockapoo etc) prices have sky-rocketed during lockdown - some are selling at three times the pre-Covid19 prices.

 

My Mac has Gill Sans included in its software as standard (Pages etc) - worth checking your Mac out (I seem to remember you had a Mac too?)

  • Thanks 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi Peeps....

 

At last some progress on the ECoS/Mimic panel issue. Many thanks to all those who helped out re totems etc. One of the problems is the panel background is white, as is the totem lining, so I've just plonked it on a solid background. Decided to add some text rather than numbers and I've reversed the four main lines 1-4 so that platform 1 was on line one. Of course that makes perfect sense now but when you've sat and stared at a panel for hours at a time the blindingly obvious passes you by.....:D

 

mimic_july_14.jpg.ac0dc98768870206afbac372453f5595.jpg

 

 

That's part of the equation, but there's no point in an all singing and dancing panel if I can't work out what's happening on the ECoS. First stage was to scrap the old diagram and create something that looked like the mimic. Another flash of brilliance that went straight over my head for weeks.....:D

 

Once that was done I split ET into two, left and right and set about the routes. With 12 possible locations and four main lines, you don't need to be Einstein to work out that's around 96 routes that need to be created, to cover all eventualities. I managed 14 last night as it takes a fair bit of work to cross reference each turnout by number (not shown on the plan) and then ensure they are all set correctly before adding the route button. Thankfully you only have to do this once, but once done, it's done. There is a little care needed to ensure that in setting one route, you don't screw up another through route in the process. The final route button each side will be a master switch that will set all turnouts to a default position of four completely independent and complete loops. That is certainly one of the ECoS features I do like. One touch and 60 odd turnouts all reset....

 

Of course the signalling will be another kettle of fish altogether.....;)

 

DSCF1173.jpg.6e4b1978eeeb661fdc9c02c888dfc5ad.jpg

 

This is the left approach with the four main lines to the left. I've yet to add the platforms etc, but you can see the route buttons on the right hand side. It's a shame you can't add text, numbers or symbols to the diagram, but even I can work out they read 1-4 left to right for each platform of access point.

 

One touch of the correct route button and every line can access every platform. Lines 1 & 2 are outgoing and 3-4 incoming. Of course the next page of the diagram covering the right approach will simply be a reversal of incoming and outgoing descriptions.

 

This may not be to everyones taste, but it's about as simple as I can make it and still only has two wires connecting the controller to the main bus under the layout. The mimic panel will be similar with just two wires to the panel from the main bus.. Of course this could be done in DC and I know some of our electronics experts would love the challenge, but for someone who has limited knowledge of electronics, DCC is an very simple solution.

 

It's taken a while, but at least I feel I'm getting somewhere.....

Edited by gordon s
  • Like 10
  • Craftsmanship/clever 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

I nearly said that Mike, but thought better of it.......:D

 

Joking apart it does amaze me that there really are just two wires to the bus from the ECoS and two wires from the bus to the Mimic panel. Of course there's loads more wires to the Tortoise motors and droppers etc, but they would be there in DC anyway. I cannot even begin to understand the complexity of wiring 96 routes in DC. Of course I'm sure it can be done and I'd stand in awe of those who can do it, but for the average Joe such as myself, DCC is a wonderful solution.

  • Like 2
  • Agree 3
  • Friendly/supportive 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

There are other solutions available in DCC.......ducks and runs for cover etc

 

Seriously....having some understanding of the layout and knowing (I think)  your operating requirements I believe you have developed a very elegant and effective solution.

 

Cheers

 

John

  • Agree 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold
1 hour ago, gordon s said:

One of the problems is the panel background is white, as is the totem lining, so I've just plonked it on a solid background.

 

 

Hi Gordon,


You could create additional borderless blue rounded rectangles a bit larger all round than the ones with borders. Then send them to the back behind your totem, like this:

 

et_logo1.png

 

Use the align functions to centralize everything.

 

cheers,

 

Martin.

  • Like 2
  • Thanks 1
  • Informative/Useful 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...