Easton, Isle of Portland

[Mick Bonwick]

For a scenic area to look realistic, some effort needs to be expended to differentiate between tree and shrub appearances. Nothing makes a model look like a model more than every single tree being the same.

 

Personal opinion, you understand.

 

I am fortunate in having ready access to the countryside and spent a lot of time walking around it when 'owning' a dog. Inverted commas? I think it was actually the other way round - dog 'owners' will know what I mean.

 

One relatively easy way of achieving this differentiation is to use a different colour and/or texture on each tree in a group. If you take a look at any area of trees or shrubs there are many shades of green present. A relatively quick way of making a tree that looks realistic is to base it on seafoam or seamoss, a plant native to Scandinavia and marketed as "Forest in a Box" by Green Scene (available from other sources, too).

 

https://www.green-scenes.co.uk/store/product/gs-341

 

As an example of the sort of thing I mean, here is a photograph of a portion of a hedgerow that can be found in many countryside areas. This type of hegderow is not as carefully managed now as it would have been 50 or more years ago, but that's another story.

 

 

This (hopefully) illustrates the type of tree, in this case a field maple, that can be depicted fairly easily using seafoam. Multiple trunks all growing at different angles to find the light.

 

I started by selecting several stems of seamoss, that were similar in length, from the box contents. This is an example of what you can expect from a box:

 

 

 

Working on one stem at a time, blobs of PVA were applied in a random fashion and deliberately leaving it off of some twigs.

 

 

Ground foam scatter material was sprinkled onto the glue, working on a small area at a time.

 

 

Once all the glue blobs were covered, the stem was set aside to dry. This process leaves (!) a relatively open structure.

 

 

The routine is repeated for as many stems as are deemed necessary, and I used a slightly different tone and texture for several examples to create the group.

 

 

 

Edited December 11, 2020 by Mick Bonwick

[KNP]

Mick

Have you tried painting the Seamoss first using a rattle can, I normally use earth colour?

 

[bgman]

Hi Mick,

 

The seamoss is also very useful for a fuller tree when individual pieces are stuck onto a wire frame too.

 

Here is my take on an oak tree in full leaf

 

 

G

[Mick Bonwick]

45 minutes ago, KNP said:

Mick

Have you tried painting the Seamoss first using a rattle can, I normally use earth colour?

 

 

No, Kevin, I haven't tried that. I favour an airbrush for that sort of painting because I am then in control. Pause for comment. Rattle cans are binary devices, they are either on or off with nothing in between, and you can't (or shouldn't) use them indoors.

 

I have found, so far, that the colour variations in the seamoss stems are sufficient for my purposes. Once I start on trees for Easton (and there won't be many) that may well be something I'll need to look at.

[Mick Bonwick]

35 minutes ago, bgman said:

 

The seamoss is also very useful for a fuller tree when individual pieces are stuck onto a wire frame too.

 

 

Indeed it is, Grahame.

 

It can also be used for small shrubs, flowering fruit trees, hedges, scrubby grassland and conifers. All types of growth can be represented by using differing materials and techniques on the basic structure.

 

Nice oak tree.

[Mick Bonwick]

A brief return to the main topic - Easton construction.

 

Just before Christmas (2019) I vowed to restart construction of the railway and set aside all the distractions for a while, not yet knowing what was about to happen to the world. All of the weathering paraphernalia was put into storage so the space that it occupied could be used to lay track.

 

Laying an area of 3mm closed cell foam as a trackbed went well, using Copydex as a glue. I had developed a method of preparing track and pointwork, before gluing it down, with all droppers ready soldered in place. Careful (most of the time) measuring and hole drilling made the sticking down of each section quick and easy.

 

Here you can see the final check being done to ensure that all the holes for wires and point operating pins were in the correct places and all the droppers were soldered in the right places.

 

Edited May 12, 2020 by Mick Bonwick
: Removing all the letters that crept in unnnnoticed.

[Tony Teague]

I know that it is accepted best practice, but I have to say that I admire your tenacity with all of the droppers! - and they still have to be connected up underneath!

 

When I laid my track I was unaware that this was how things were supposed to be done - so, although my layout has a number of switchable sections on each circuit there are no droppers in sight.

 

Nevertheless, the layout performs perfectly well, so I am inclined to wonder whether this practice has been promoted by cable manufacturers!

[Mick Bonwick]

Hold your breath, we're going under . . . . .

 

Once all the track was in place, the droppers needed to be connected to something.

 

 

 

I had planned for two control buses in this area, one for track power and the other for accessory power. The accessory bus is blue and white wire and the track bus for this station area is purple and pink. The track bus for the fiddle yard is red and black. It really is quite colourful down here.

 

 

The original plan was for everything to be in one power district, but that's only because I didn't fully understand the implications of doing that. I was 3/4 through wiring the fiddle yard before enlightenment and have just continued using black and red for all droppers ever since. It is only once the droppers arre attached to the power bus that the change takes place.

 

 

 

[Mick Bonwick]

12 hours ago, Tony Teague said:

Nevertheless, the layout performs perfectly well, so I am inclined to wonder whether this practice has been promoted by cable manufacturers!

 

It might well have been. When I started on this current (!) spate of layout building, I thought I'd get some more wire because some colours were almost used up. It appeared that I had a choice - pay extortionate sums of money or wait until August for delivery. I decided to wait.

[Oldddudders]

13 hours ago, Tony Teague said:

I know that it is accepted best practice, but I have to say that I admire your tenacity with all of the droppers! - and they still have to be connected up underneath!

 

When I laid my track I was unaware that this was how things were supposed to be done - so, although my layout has a number of switchable sections on each circuit there are no droppers in sight.

 

Nevertheless, the layout performs perfectly well, so I am inclined to wonder whether this practice has been promoted by cable manufacturers!

I find that with many electrical matters, layout owners' experiences vary widely. So, for example, some claim never to need to clean their track, while others of us find it a perpetual task. I suspect the same is true with layout droppers. If a layout is housed in a clement environment, say a centrally-heated room, in which moisture is seldom present, then rail-joiners provide an adequately reliable path for the traction current, at least for some years. My wholly unheated 1850 stone barn simply isn't like that, and droppers with suitcase connectors to the bus, as Mick has shown, are a necessary appendage for every rail. 

[Tony Teague]

10 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

I find that with many electrical matters, layout owners' experiences vary widely. So, for example, some claim never to need to clean their track, while others of us find it a perpetual task. I suspect the same is true with layout droppers. If a layout is housed in a clement environment, say a centrally-heated room, in which moisture is seldom present, then rail-joiners provide an adequately reliable path for the traction current, at least for some years. My wholly unheated 1850 stone barn simply isn't like that, and droppers with suitcase connectors to the bus, as Mick has shown, are a necessary appendage for every rail. 

 

That's fair comment - my layout is in a purpose built, carpeted room above my garage which is kept above freezing and below boiling - and therefore pretty dry - throughout the year.

[DCB]

On 12/05/2020 at 21:18, Tony Teague said:

I know that it is accepted best practice, but I have to say that I admire your tenacity with all of the droppers! - and they still have to be connected up underneath!

 

When I laid my track I was unaware that this was how things were supposed to be done - so, although my layout has a number of switchable sections on each circuit there are no droppers in sight.

 

Nevertheless, the layout performs perfectly well, so I am inclined to wonder whether this practice has been promoted by cable manufacturers!

Its horses for courses, scale track needs a dropper to every single piece of rail as it doesn't use conductive fishplates, DC code 100 steel indoors I get away with well over 20 feet of track from a single feed one end, outside N/S code 100 it needs a dropper for every piece of rail,  The important thing is to have enough sections so you can isolate a fault to a fairly small chunk of layout, more especially with DCC than DC if you don't have isolating points. Otherwise you can end up with every piece of stock off the layout and having to snip wires when a sliver of metal gets lodged in a point. For example I have 6 sections and something like 50 sub sections.

[Mick Bonwick]

My decision about droppers came from speaking to exhibition layout owners, reading accounts of which continuity problems had been solved by what method, and experiences building layouts large and small, static and mobile, using cheap and expensive track, minimising risk and reducing effort expended in problem resolution.

 

On with the story.

 

Point motors to be used on this scenic section had long ago been chosen to be Cobalts. I had been given 6 that had been discarded as unsuitable by somebody who had been standardising on digital versions, and had then bought another 6 to complete the set.

 

Each of the used ones were stripped down, cleaned up and re-lubricated and thoroughly tested on a home-made wiring loom to minimise the possibility of finding failures after installation. One unforeseen problem was the length of the operating wire - my baseboards were thicker than those of the previous owner, so the wires were too short.

 

A wiring loom was assembled for each motor and all were tested while attached to their respective decoders  before diving under the baseboards. Again.

 

 

 

[Mick Bonwick]

Next began the task of installing and testing each point motor. We are now relatively up to date in the story, because this work was being done just last month. We have, effectively, condensed 7 years into as many weeks as far as the actual layout building is concerned.

 

The DCC Concepts Cobalt installation jig was used to drill 1mm holes throught the board from above, thus indicating where the mounting screws were to be positioned underneath. This approach worked perfectly in all but one instance, and that single failure was due entirely to my ineptitude. The accessory decoder I used for the first 2 points, a DCC Concepts AD-2fx, tested my resolve somewhat, in that it had a centreing function which would not turn off. The instructions seemed to be quite clear but, although following them to the letter on several (i.e. too frustratingly many) occasions, they failed to produce the result I wanted. I resorted to summoning Percy (Verance) and eventually it worked.

 

Here we see the points from above the board and the gubbins needed to make them work from below the board.

 

 

[bgman]

3 hours ago, Mick Bonwick said:

This approach worked perfectly in all but one instance

 

Hi Mick,

 

Before taking my 4mm layout down when I moved I too used the "gubbins" from DCC Concepts- motors, accessory decoders etc and found much like you with one playing up. For me it was a case of turning everything off then back on again and that seemed to solve the problem, which IIRC the destructions suggest doing. After that the 12 which had been installed worked faultlessly for the whole time the layout was in operation. I wouldn't hesitate to use them again.

 

Also by using the template for the installation of the pointwork I found it pretty easy to install them.

 

Coming along nicely.

 

G 

[Mick Bonwick]

9 minutes ago, bgman said:

 

For me it was a case of turning everything off then back on again and that seemed to solve the problem, which IIRC the destructions suggest doing.

 

Hi Grahame,

 

That's how I eventually resolved the problem, but it didn't work on the first two occasions. I have found with other DCC Concepts equipment that it sometimes pays to persevere. They produce lots of words but they don't all mean very much when it comes to what matters. Utilisation.

[Mick Bonwick]

By way of response to a couple of offline enquiries, I thought I'd explain why and how I alter Peco points for use on Easton.

 

1. I don't want to rely on the point blade to stock rail contact to conduct electricity, I would rather know that there is good, solid, visible (to my eyes) path for the electrons to flow. Do they flow, or do they just vibrate a lot? Here's a chance for the knowledgable to pour forth their wisdom. Some of my schoolday knowledge is retrievable and some of it not.
2. I don't want to rely on the strange hinge arrangement of the point blade assembly to conduct electricity, either. I have heard reports that this fails occasionally.
3. I want to switch power to the common crossing according to the path set through the point.

I know that not all of my following illustrated steps will be relevant to every Peco point produced, because the design has changed gradually over the years. Bear in mind that these points/turnouts/switches have been in my bottom drawer for at least 5 years and Peco's developments have negated some of the moans emanating from these fingers.

 

To isolate the common crossing from the cleverly designed continuity measures the link wires at the toe (that's the thin end of the point) end of the assembly need to be prised away from their welds. They might not be welds, but if they're soldered it's been done by somebody much better at it than most solderers I know. Or a machine. I use a small screwdriver blade to lever them out.

 

 

In keeping with my policy of having a feed to every piece of rail I solder droppers to each of the stock (outside) rails, and prepare an area for this by removing the web of the moulded base at an appropriate place. I take out a slice of the web from the length adjacent to a check rail, which is where I judge the moulding to be at its strongest. The versions of points that I am using have a gap in the web across the whole base. Some versions, I believe that they are older versions, do not have this gap so one would need to be created to follow my preferences. A piece of wire will be soldered across this gap later on . . . .

 

 

Before going any further I clean the places where solder will be applied by using a fibreglass scratch brush, and then wipe the area clean so I don't get those irritating little bits sticking in my fingers. Why is it that you can feel them but not see them? All of these areas are now tinned, using my trusty Antex 25w iron and 60/40 rosin cored solder. Not everybody's choice, I know, but it works for me and has done for a few years.

 

 

 

I cut a length of wire that is long enough to lay across the whole width of the base and solder each area that crosses a rail. Once finished, I snip off the central portion and the outer edges to leave just each pair of rails connected to each other. I can't remember the names of the middle rails but I'm sure it won't be long before somebody reminds me.

 

 

 

My droppers are all single core wire because that is what I have found to be suitable. At one time I had a problem getting multi strand wire to solder satisfactorily to the underneath of rails, but single core wire worked well. I have since discovered that it wasn't the fault of the wire, but have continued with what works. Once all the droppers have been attached, this is what we have:

 

 

 

I have also extended the common crossing wire and added some white heatshrink to it. It's now ready to be installed in the prepared place.

 

 

 

[Stubby47]

So the welds you've removed connected the frog to the short rails between the frog and the blades, and instead you connect them to the outer rails. The frog polarity is still changed by a switch.

 

What benefit does changing a solid connection to another solid connection give you ?

 

[Mick Bonwick]

4 minutes ago, Stubby47 said:

So the welds you've removed connected the frog to the short rails between the frog and the blades, and instead you connect them to the outer rails. The frog polarity is still changed by a switch.

 

What benefit does changing a solid connection to another solid connection give you ?

 

 

Erm. Don't know.

 

Hang on. I need to go down the workshop and take some more photographs to answer that . . . . . .

[Mick Bonwick]

Right. Photograph below.

 

When manufactured, the common crossing is connected to the two inner rails at the right hand side, forming a single unit, electrically. The underside shows that the two welds connect this assembly to the closure rails (I remembered!) You would isolate the two inner rails at the right hand end when connecting to the rest of the layout to prevent short circuits.

 

Remember that I don't want to depend on the point blades touching the stock rails to conduct electricity. I have to provide power to the closure rails somehow, so I connect them to the stock rails with my new solid connection and remove the welds to isolate the common crossing.

 

Edited May 17, 2020 by Mick Bonwick
I really must remember to check posts bfore clicking on the submit button.

[Stubby47]

So as supplied, both blades, both closure rails and both wing rails are all connected and are always the same polarity.

The blades touch the stock rails and that sets the polarity through the point. The frog is separate and switched externally. 

 

Your changes make the blades, stock & closure rails the same polarity at all times. How are the wing rails powered?

[NHY 581]

On 11/05/2020 at 13:36, Mick Bonwick said:

Rattle cans are binary devices, they are either on or off with nothing in between, and you can't (or shouldn't) use them indoors.

 

 

 

I spray in the downstairs toilet. 

 

Rob. 

[Gilbert]

1 minute ago, NHY 581 said:

 

 

I spray in the downstairs toilet. 

 

Rob. 

Too much information....

[Mick Bonwick]

25 minutes ago, Stubby47 said:

Your changes make the blades, stock & closure rails the same polarity at all times. How are the wing rails powered?

 

The wing rails are permanently connected to the common crossing, which is why the wing rails need to be isolated from adjoining track. The wire that achieves this is the one that dangles from the common crossing in the photograph.

[Stubby47]

Ah, that all makes sense now, many thanks.

 

So, the same principle would work if the power to the blades was switched with the frog, with no other changes ( except for the slight risk of a wheel touching the open blade and causing a short).

 

Edit: which having checked, is the same as an unmodified point.

Edited May 17, 2020 by Stubby47