Eastwood Town - A tribute to Gordon's modelling.

[eldavo]

... Sadly both of these fell into the fur coat, no knickers category ...

 

Is there a problem with that?

 

Great progress buddy.

 

Cheers

Dave

[Marcyg]

I think the Mark 2 Twincam had A-frame suspension shared with the 1600E?

It did indeed have A frame rear. Was never as good as the Mk1. The whole car was a step back as the Mk1 had ally panels for lightness but the later version went to steel. Was heavier, slower and handled worse... To this day I think the best fast Ford was the whale tail Cosworth Sierra, not that I'm bias or anything

[gordon s]

Enjoyed the trip down memory lane, but I have to keep going on ET or there's a danger I'll get side tracked into my other love, fast cars.

 

The carpentry for the corner board has virtually been completed, so that set of tools are now back in the drawer and gauges, Xuron and soldering iron have taken their place. The junction that will sit in this corner has turned out to be a whopper. To stay above my 36" minimum radius, I have ended up with two D12 turnouts and a V11 switched crossing. From top to toe, it measures 39" overall and that's one hell of a lot of solder joints. Not continual working but several hours work over the last three days, saw this completed tonight.

 

I suspect I will take a couple of steps back now and get the stairwell board back on the bench for wiring, painting and ballasting. I know this is a slightly unusual build order, but access to the board in situ, throws up a few challenges and it's certainly easier to finish it in the middle of the room with 360 degree access. Discussion on Kirkby Luneside about rail, sleepers and in particular ballast size and colour has made me think about it a bit more and I'll probably go to 100% N gauge ballast once I have used what I have in house. At present I've been mixing the two and it's probably 50/50 fine/medium.

 

Once the stairwell board has reached the next stage, work will return to the corner board where the 42' long gradient up to ET terminus will start just after the switched crossing. I know this won't be an issue for diesel loco's, but am still a little nervous whether steam loco's will manage an eight coach train up a continuous gradient of 1:100. My head is telling me it will be fine, but there is still a little gremlin in my head saying there may yet be a twist in the tail.

 

[Ray H]

 

. . . . . am still a little nervous whether steam loco's will manage an eight coach train up a continuous gradient of 1:100. . . . . .

 

Haven't you provided a crossover and siding for the banking engine then Gordon?

 

P.S. That pointwork, like the rest that you've produced (and your woodwork/scenery) is awesome. The platform on my proposed layout isn't as long as that crossing!

[Rowsley17D]

am still a little nervous whether steam loco's will manage an eight coach train up a continuous gradient of 1:100. My head is telling me it will be fine, but there is still a little gremlin in my head saying there may yet be a twist in the tail.

 

 

I wouldn't worry too much about this Gordon. I have some fearsome gradients on my layout and my six-coupled locos can pull a seven-coach train up them although I have had to add some extra weight to them. Unless all your coaches are Larry's brass kits, the trains should fly up them at 1 in 100. You can always take the weights out of rtr coaches with your fine trackwork.

[gordon s]

I'm sure you're right Jonathan, but having had my fingers burned before, I vowed not to have gradients again...I put this one down to loss of short term memory.

 

All my rolling stock is RTR from Hornby and Bachmann and I have removed the metal plates from my Bachmann MK 1 test train, yet it was still an issue at 1:50, although I suspect it was a weight/gradient on a curve issues more than the gradient itself.

 

It will be fine as this time I have a little more flexibility. At 1:100, ET terminus will be 128mm above the loops. If the worst comes to the worst, this can be reduced to 70mm, taking the gradient out to 1:182, so loads of room to play with.

[gordon s]

As someone who is vertically challenged, (I bang my head on anything less than 6'3" from the ground), wiring under baseboards has not been one of lifes great pleasures. The problem is not lying down or even dodging molten solder which obeys the principles of that nice Mr Newton, but the distance the wiring is from my head is just outside the range of my glasses. As a younger man I was lucky to have A1 eyesight but as old father time has taken his toll, my short range eyesight has deteriorated to such a degree that glasses are a necessity to see anything less than 3 feet away. The underside of my boards is probably one inch outside that range, so soldering wires has always been hit and miss when laid on the floor.

 

Today I cracked it and the boards have been stood on their side and clamped to portable trestles which has brought all the key elements about six feet from the floor and perfect for me to deal with. What a difference standing up and seeing what you are soldering has made!

 

If only I could do this with every board. Sadly it is not possible, but tonight I'm resting easy. Six motors installed and all the droppers. Bus wire tomorrow and then spraying the track before ballasting.

 

 

[Oldddudders]

ISTR there used to be a snooker player - hopefully still is! - called Dennis Taylor. He improved his game as his eyes weakened by wearing "plumbers' glasses", which are bifocals/varifocals where the close element is at the top of the lens, not the bottom. Perfect for under-baseboard travails!

[gordon s]

Ian, you may have picked up that I have played snooker since I was a kid. I'm fine without glasses, but my brother who thrashes me regularly wears his cheapo version of Dennis Taylor glasses. He takes a strip of sellotape, hoists his glasses up and inch or two and then sticks them to his forehead. Means when he is down taking a shot he is looking through the centre of the lens. Works perfectly for him although he does look a bit or a dork with his glasses up around his eyebrows....

[Oldddudders]

That's the point about siblings. Thrashing your brother is all that really matters, so looking a right dork is no price to pay. And don't forget - I come from Dorking!

[Physicsman]

 

 

Today I cracked it and the boards have been stood on their side and clamped to portable trestles which has brought all the key elements about six feet from the floor and perfect for me to deal with. What a difference standing up and seeing what you are soldering has made!

 

If only I could do this with every board. Sadly it is not possible, but tonight I'm resting easy. Six motors installed and all the droppers. Bus wire tomorrow and then spraying the track before ballasting.

 

 

I'm long-sighted and have issues at the distance I solder. Unfortunately I'd struggle to turn my boards on their side - unless I had Superman's strength! However, being only 5'6" means that fiddling around under the boards - which are at nearly 4' from the floor - isn't too bad. The main problem is getting enough light to see what the hell you are doing - hopefully not soldering your fingers (which I did last week!).

 

This is coming on very nicely Gordon, and you sound back to your enthusiastic best!

 

Jeff

[Southernboy]

And there was me thinking you were posting pictures of some sort of Modern Art installation!

[92220]

Great to see this coming on well Gordon. Being at the wiring stage myself, I can only dream of having planned my layout construction to leave lightweight rigid boards at eye level with both sides accessible ......

 

Iain

[The Evil Bus Driver]

I'm long-sighted and have issues at the distance I solder. Unfortunately I'd struggle to turn my boards on their side - unless I had Superman's strength! However, being only 5'6" means that fiddling around under the boards - which are at nearly 4' from the floor - isn't too bad. The main problem is getting enough light to see what the hell you are doing - hopefully not soldering your fingers (which I did last week!).

 

This is coming on very nicely Gordon, and you sound back to your enthusiastic best!

 

Jeff

 

i hear you on the soldering ones fingers thing. I once put my hand on a hot soldering iron. Blistered right from pinky to palm. Smarted a bit, that did. I used to have a teacher who sat on one...

Edited October 31, 2012 by The Evil Bus Driver

[gordon s]

Morning all....

 

A whole week of wiring, painting and ballasting has left me with one semi completed board where something actually runs! Yippee!

 

It may only be an N2 running under DC power, but it works and that is a good sign. Ballasting really is a pain, particularly as I've made a change and gone over to Woodlands Scenics Fine ballast and now the whole floor seems to have taken on a crunchy persona as no matter how much care is taken, granules find their way to all parts of the room.

 

 

Right now it all looks a bit grey and things that I read, say grey is not the right colour. The pic from Tony Wright in Gilbert's thread didn't help either as here the ballast looks positively buff in colour, although it may be a lighting issue.

 

 

Looking in Jeff's thread there are also some very good ballast shots and this one is certainly towards the grey spectrum, albeit with a pinkish overtone. No doubt once weathering is applied to the ballasting, it will take on a far less grey appearance, so very early days yet, but I would love someone to come up with a ballast that more closely resembles the true colouring. Has anyone tried the buff or brown fine ballast mixed with the grey?

 

 

I've yet to add the ballast edging and cess and then have to decide what to do with the infill. This board will now probably be pushed to one side awaiting decisions on retaining walls and tunnel mouth/overbridge to disguise the access to the storage roads, but it has also given cause to possibly rethink the whole issue of access over the stairs from underneath the board.

 

It made me very aware of how complex the wiring has become and in turn, how access to the Tortoise motors has become more difficult. Manageable on the floor, no problem, but 10' above your head and on the stairs may be another issue.

 

I've spent the last couple of days thinking about this and accept it would probably makes sense for plain track only to be over the stairwell, so where do we go from here? It has been raised on here before and at the time I didn't think it possible, but when faced with the reality of the situation, it does focus the mind. Thankfully nothing would be wasted and everything made to date can be swung round through 180 degrees. The difficulty is the shed area which would have to be redesigned and made to fit into a space that didn't foul up the stairs and yet still allow access to other parts of the layout.

 

So this is what is now on the board. The storage yard moves from one side of the room to the other and the stairwell board now moves into a more sensible position. Above the stairs will be just two mainline loops that have been realigned to give a little more visual interest. The shed itself had to be relaid completely but fits fairly well with access via a headshunt/trailing crossover.

 

The jury is still out on this one as despite my track record, I hate changing things, but my head is telling me it will make far more sense and I'll certainly be far better off should anything fail in the future.

 

As always I'm grateful for any views....within reason.

 

[Ray H]

Is surface mounting not an option? Could they be covered by buildings or some other structure?

Edited November 7, 2012 by Ray H

[martin_wynne]

It made me very aware of how complex the wiring has become and in turn, how access to the Tortoise motors has become more difficult. Manageable on the floor, no problem, but 10' above your head and on the stairs may be another issue.

 

Hi Gordon,

 

Does it have to be Tortoise motors? Assuming PO 3000 relays are now too difficult to get hold of, what's wrong with an ordinary industrial solenoid? Either permanently on like a relay, or the magnetic latching pulse type:

 

http://uk.rs-online....=PSF_421416|cav

 

No gears, no motor, no flimsy plasticy bits, only one moving part and almost nothing to go wrong. Just add a return spring in the linkage. I think you could safely bury one of these in the scenery with a bit of Golden Rods linkage and forget about it. Do the crossing (frog) polarity switch at the control panel, where it is much more reliable and accessible.

 

If you do use Tortoise motors, please, please, don't rely on the ropey internal switches for anything important, or you surely will need to access them sooner or later. See this topic about those switches:

 

http://www.scalefour.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=360

 

where Andrew Jukes (former owner of Exactoscale) fitted them with replacement circuit boards. An external slave relay+diode would have been 10 times easier.

 

regards,

 

Martin.

[Jason T]

The ballast colour looks fine to me Gordon. Maybe the photo has done the same as it did to Tony's as it doesn't seem that far off either his, or the real thing.

 

As you say, a bit of weathering will change the tone of it again so I wouldn't worry too much.

[Guest Linthorpe]

Being a newcomer, as topics come to the top I have a quick look. I now need to set some time aside to go through this one properly, it looks brilliant

[artizen]

I have been using Polak ballast - it is too dear to import much into Australia at $15 per kilo airfreight but is available locally from here -

 

 

Polak website - http://www.polakmodel.com/en/vyrobky/main/Ballast-scale-H0/

 

Polak distributor in Germany - http://shop.strato.de/epages/61258909.sf/de_DE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/61258909/Categories/Schotter

Polak distributor in Ireland - http://stores.ebay.com.au/models-at-quicksolutions/Ballast-/_i.html?_fsub=2765435013&_sid=574957343&_trksid=p4634.c0.m322

 

 

Made from real screened rock as well. Heavy, probably noisy but really realistic!!!!

[cromptonnut]

I'm a recent convert to Polak as well - here's their 7mm "granite" on my O gauge layout. Sleepers and rails are painted up but at the time of taking this photo, I hadn't done anything about weathering the track with a grime wash.

 

[jukebox]

I have been using Polak ballast - it is too dear to import much into Australia at $15 per kilo airfreight but is available locally from here -

 

Sorry to wander off topic, but have you looked at "Chuck's Ballast", Ian?

 

Real stone, and local.

 

Cheers

 

Scott

[The Stationmaster]

Gordon,

 

I'm a bit short on ER pics of my own but have just looked at a couple of poor ones from 1973 at Finsbury Park and the new ballast (there really is a bit) looks just the same colour as yours. And yours doesn't look at all 'wrong' to me.

 

The colour of new ballast is dependent on only one thing - the natural colour of the stone, when cleaned, at the quarry where it was taken out of the ground and that can vary due to the type and nature of the rock over a considerable range of colours. And - obviously - once it is in use on the railway it will weather, and steam age weathering was quite a bit different from diesel age weathering as I'm sure you already know (and can remember). Don't be guided by colours on other models - there are so many variables which affect the way it shows on our computer screens or in print as to render that approach a tad misleading.

 

Instead try to find some reliable colour pics from the era you are modelling of the place where you are setting your layout and be guided by those. (sorry if I'm treating you like a granny in the matter of egg sucking.)

Edited November 7, 2012 by The Stationmaster

[gordon s]

Thanks for the comments guys and welcome to the thread, Linthorpe. I will think about surface mounted motors, Ray and it is a possibility although there are 8 motors to accommodate and they need something like 90-100mm height. In particular, there are three virtually on top of each other, so placement will be tight.

 

Thanks for the comments on Tortoise switches, Martin. That really was an interesting article, although it seems to have been addressed now.

 

For those of you interested, here's one I took apart earlier. Well you have to, don't you....

 

 

 

You can see the wipers referred to in the article and I'm pleased to report that all of mine are Rev C. I agree it is a weakness in the design Martin, but having seen problems with Seep and Peco motors, I'm happy to stay with Tortoise, particularly as I have around 72 of them kicking around.

 

To be honest the thought of rewiring this board is taking me more down the route of swinging the whole thing round. Once I've got all the rubbish out of the way, it's a job that can be done in half an hour and really makes a lot of sense.

 

Just need to make sure nothing will bite me on the backside...

[gordon s]

Thanks guys for the comments on ballast.

 

Just to complete the loop, here's a close up of Woodland Scenics Fine ballast - grey blend. It's the first time I have used the fine grade on it's own and I do feel happier about it now in this pic. Close up there are various shades and the size appears to be more in scale compared to the medium grade. You're right Mike, photography does change things considerably as does distance. A little weathering and we should be OK...