georgeT Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 Like the control panel Pete, very nice.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 Like the control panel Pete, very nice.. Totally pinched the idea from yours on Bishop Street, George... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Enterprisingwestern Posted December 22, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 22, 2015 Hi Pete. Sorry to be late to the party, but re the wiring, as nice as it looks, what were your thoughts on not using bus wires to save on duplication, I thought that was the whole point of DCC? Would have saved a fortune in wire cost. Mike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 (edited) Sorry to be late to the party, but re the wiring, as nice as it looks, what were your thoughts on not using bus wires to save on duplication, I thought that was the whole point of DCC? Would have saved a fortune in wire cost. Hi Mike. There is a DCC bus running the whole length of the layout. I've traced it in pale blue on a picture of the centre board. I guess it wasn't obvious in the original picture because the centre board is so cluttered. All track droppers come off of these two wires. Edit: I've added a picture of the underside of the left-hand board (station end). The bus wires are a little more obvious on this board (to say the least). It was a conscious decision to include almost all of the pointwork and electronics on the centre board, but it certainly is wiring-intensive! Edited December 22, 2015 by Pete 75C 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 On the subject of wiring, I got the control panel all wired up, fed the CDU with some juice and... ...half the point motors didn't work. I scratched my arse head for 10 minutes, had a cup of tea, took the lid off the control panel and stared at the innards for another 10 minutes. Nothing. No "eureka" moment. I took a look under the baseboards and voila... I'd totally forgotten to add common return wires to half the motors. Duh. That's another 5 metres of wire this layout owes me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Enterprisingwestern Posted December 22, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 22, 2015 Could you not have combined the green, black and red wires onto their own bus to cut down on wiring Pete? Seems a little extravagant. Mike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithHC Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 Cor looks like your bus bar is the river Thames. Maybe you needed to superimpose Becks underground map to make it all work. Keith HC 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 Cor looks like your bus bar is the river Thames. Maybe you needed to superimpose Becks underground map to make it all work. Maybe I need a turntable where the Millenium Dome is... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 Could you not have combined the green, black and red wires onto their own bus to cut down on wiring Pete? Seems a little extravagant. ...that would assume I knew what I was doing. Seriously, I make things up as I go along. I absolutely hate wiring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Enterprisingwestern Posted December 22, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 22, 2015 No worries Pete, I assumed you loved wiring given the amount you've done!!! Mike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shanks522 Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 Very nice control panel Pete, how are you getting on with the gaugemaster point motor's? Graham. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 (edited) Very nice control panel Pete, how are you getting on with the gaugemaster point motor's? They seem fine Graham. The biggest bonus (imho) are the screw terminals but not everybody has my morbid fear of soldering! They seem robust and really well put together. I purchased them in packs of 5 for £25 which is a better price than the Peco solenoids currently sell for. The footprint is identical to the Peco PL-10, so they can be used with the Peco adaptor bases, which is handy as I have three of them surface-mounted in the fiddle yard. I do regret taking what many would see as a backwards step from West Croydon where I used Tillig Elite points with Minx MicroDrive slow action servos. West Croydon had 4 points (not including the fiddle yard which I hadn't got around to motorising) whereas Wandsworth Park has 12 points needing a total of 15 motors, so it was just a simple economics lesson. Tillig/Minx on Wandsworth Park would have been at least 5 time the price of Peco Code 75 and solenoids. Edited December 23, 2015 by Pete 75C 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 25, 2015 Share Posted December 25, 2015 I'm off to peel some spuds and then it will be beer o'clock. All that I got for Christmas that was in any way model railway related was a couple of Oxford Diecast cars from the kids as stocking fillers, but it was a lovely thought. Bang on for the 1970s too. They're both M registered 1973. Reminds me very much of Morecambe and Wise and Brice Forsyth's Generation Game on the telly. Hope everybody has a great day and I might even find the time to do some ballasting tomorrow, hangover permitting. Merry Christmas. 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 (edited) Past due for a little update. Platforms 2 and 3 are in place and have had a basic coat of colour. Much more to do in the way of tarmac patching and weathering. Ballast and 3rd rail has been added on these two tracks. I'm morbidly afraid of baseboard joins and didn't want the copperclad and screwheads on view, so a barrow crossing has been added from plastic strip. I'd much rather look at the unprototypical cut along the crossing! The crossing needs to be extended a little to meet up with the platform ramps but I'm not in a huge rush. I've consciously tried not to cover all of the trackwork in my trademark Humbrol 29 dark earth, and have gone for a more oily look. The downside of this is that the trackwork has taken on an almost gunmetal blue look in the photos! I must practise more with the camera. Rest assured, to the naked eye, the trackwork looks much more natural. I'm certainly happy with it and I can be very fussy. A little more ballast is needed to cover the glue marks between the platform edging and the baseboard but again, I'm in no rush. There will also be oil stains and weeds-a-plenty. I don't like graffiti, so there won't be any of that on the layout, but I may dabble with track litter in the platforms. Places like West Croydon and Streatham Hill were strewn with it when I was growing up. The lineside certainly seems to be a tidier place today. Next logical job is to continue the ballasting from the barrow crossing through the pointwork up to the road bridge. More soon. Edited January 5, 2016 by Pete 75C 16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 Made sense to finish the barrow crossing while the plastic strip was on the workbench. Just need to infill with a little ballast and then continue ballasting towards the road bridge. 17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WCML100 Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 Di you use the same hubrol 29 on your track work when making west croydon? And is that the colour you have used throughout the trackwork on this layout? Ps, keep up the good work.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 (edited) Di you use the same hubrol 29 on your track work when making west croydon? And is that the colour you have used throughout the trackwork on this layout? Before ballasting, I always give the trackwork a spray of Humbrol 29 acrylic (after masking the concrete sleepers) and then I use copious amounts of the same stuff to give a quick blast of dirt where needed, West Croydon was no different. I used Humbrol 29 on Wandsworth Park before ballasting but have used weathering powders and washes of various colours this time... I think that's why the track looks unintentionally oily. Something else I've done differently this time is to use Woodland Scenics medium grey ballast instead of fine. If I'm honest, the ballast looks much more lumpy in the pictures than it does to the naked eye. I think when it's all done, it'll look ok. I'll go back to using Woodland Scenics fine ballast in the yard to give a more lightly-laid look. Part of me thinks I should have stuck with finer grade ballast throughout, but it's early days yet, so I don't feel the need to panic (just yet)... Edited January 5, 2016 by Pete 75C 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WCML100 Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 Before ballasting, I always give the trackwork a spray of Humbrol 29 acrylic (after masking the concrete sleepers) and then I use copious amounts of the same stuff to give a quick blast of dirt where needed, West Croydon was no different. I used Humbrol 29 on Wandsworth Park before ballasting but have used weathering powders and washes of various colours this time... I think that's why the track looks unintentionally oily. Something else I've done differently this time is to use Woodland Scenics medium grey ballast instead of fine. If I'm honest, the ballast looks much more lumpy in the pictures than it does to the naked eye. I think when it's all done, it'll look ok. I'll go back to using Woodland Scenics fine ballast in the yard to give a more lightly-laid look. Part of me thinks I should have stuck with finer grade ballast throughout, but it's early days yet, so I don't feel the need to panic (just yet)... So do you add any colour to the actual sleepers because to me they look darker than a "fresh out of the box" concrete sleepers? Forgive me if im wrong i may just be going slighlty mad... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 So do you add any colour to the actual sleepers because to me they look darker than a "fresh out of the box" concrete sleepers? Forgive me if im wrong i may just be going slighlty mad... Sorry! Yes, I see what you mean... I spray the Exactoscale concrete sleeper bases with Plastikote "Suede Touch" tan spray paint before threading on the rails. The tan colour gives a pretty good approximation of concrete and it's very finely textured too. Pointwork and any wooden-sleepered sections of track just get a coat of 29, rail and sleepers. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 Looking very nice Pete, I like the Crossing, very nice job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WCML100 Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 Sorry! Yes, I see what you mean... I spray the Exactoscale concrete sleeper bases with Plastikote "Suede Touch" tan spray paint before threading on the rails. The tan colour gives a pretty good approximation of concrete and it's very finely textured too. Pointwork and any wooden-sleepered sections of track just get a coat of 29, rail and sleepers. All makes sense now lol - thanks for the insight! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emt_911 Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 It looks good especially the amount of detail in place already Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 I've added a little ballast to seal the gap up to the platform edging but I'm having a slight crisis of confidence. I'm regretting using medium grade ballast instead of fine. I also don't like the colouring which is a result of using weathering powders and washes. Taking a picture from the West Croydon layout (below), I think the trackwork looks so much better. I'll wait until everything's dry tomorrow and take stock. Worst case scenario, I'll lift the two platform tracks already ballasted and relay with new Exactoscale bases and Code 82 flatbottom. Some time and a bit of cash wasted, no real big deal. I need to make a decison before ballasting any pointwork because then I'll have passed the point of no return (no pun intended). Maybe I'm being too fussy, but I think I got West Croydon right. I'll sleep on it. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southernboy Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 (edited) Hello Pete, I rarely comment through total awe at your modelling. On this occassion though I'll venture a couple of remarks if I may. Firstly to say I think the 'gunmetal' works really well, and tempered with a very light peppering of your preferred Humbrol 29 could look even better. My subjective opinion of course (and also bearing in mind photos posted on the internet aren't the best representation of what you are actually looking at in real daylight colour-wise). Secondly the barrow crossing. I wonder if you are missing a trick here. Rather than fit the barrow crossing and cut according to baseboard join - could you make one without the cut, with little pegs underneath (that fit into appropriate holes in the baseboard) - so that you have a solid crossing which disguises the baseboard join? At the moment it seems to accentuate the join. That may add a little extra time to setting up the layout - but on the other hand lends much more to the illusion. Edited January 5, 2016 by Southernboy 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivercider Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 I realise you are probably your own harshest critic, but I think the track and ballast looks pretty good in the pictures. You mentioned earlier about adding litter and weeds which I think will add to the illusion by taking away some of the apparent uniformity, cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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