Dock Green

[chaz]

Chaz,

 

On the subject of ballast for sidings, I've used a mixture of fine granite ballast, ash (from the barbie), sand and a fine grey flock previously in 7mm scale.

 

Alan.

 

Experiments might well continue Alan, but I'm a bit stuck for a supply of ash (no barbie)....

[chaz]

I have painted the canal bridge girders and fitted them in place. These are very simple bridges which wouldn’t get a second glance on the prototype.

 

 

The next task is to detail the towpath and the cutting walls (yet more brickwork - I seem to have spent most of the last few months painting, cutting and fitting brick sheets).

 

I put the girder in the retaining wall at the back low down so that the fish-back girder of the bridge in front of it would overlap it and there would be no large gap there. We don't want bits of the operator's anatomy passing behind to show. I must also do something about the surface of the baseboard which is rather a mess, before Peter starts more ballasting.

 

Chaz

Edited September 16, 2012 by chaz

[chaz]

As you can see from the last picture the only part of the canal and its cutting that you can see in detail is the front section. Obviously I have to put brickwork etc into the "hidden" section, which can be seen if you crouch down and look underneath the bridges, but it's not worth spending much time on this.

 

I spent some time yesterday re-routing some wiring. The DCC bus wires and the power wires for the point servos were clipped to the underside of the plywood baseboard top but they could be seen by crouching down, even though I had pulled them snug so that there were no hanging loops. I had hoped that the part of the girders which projected below the ply' would mask them. I unsoldered one end of each in turn and took them under the "water", where they are out of sight, and remade the connections.

 

Another discovery yesterday concerns the rails. The tops of these were quite dull. Painting and ballasting had left residues and the water spray used during ballasting had caused some discolouration. After some experimentation I decided on grit 2500 wet and dry - very effective - wrapped around a cork block this restored the bright shine and got that steel-like colour back rather than the yellowish tint that nickel silver goes when neglected.

 

There will be no further progress with the scenic side of the layout until we have got the operation sorted and made provision for transporting Dock Green safely. Frustrating for me as I am really enjoying making it look good but it must be working well for Wimborne. We can live with bits of incomplete scenery (the layout does go as a "work in progress") but if the trains don't run properly.....

 

 

Chaz

Edited September 17, 2012 by chaz

[chaz]

Passed an important milestone for Dock Green this morning, I hooked up the Lenz DCC system (in its box - see above) to the TR150 (AC PSU). Plugged in a handset and put a loco on the track. I selected the locos address (2018) and pressed F1 - it started up. I drove it up and down a few times (you have to) but a more thorough test will have to wait for tomorrow's full assembly and shake down test. My wife, Sue, took a snap to mark the moment.

 

 

baseboards not curved in reality - Canon compact effect!

 

Chaz

Edited September 18, 2012 by chaz

[chaz]

Today Peter and I spent the day setting up the Dock Green baseboards and then testing as many aspects of operating as possible.

 

 

As you can see the layout filled the kitchen (the only room large enough for all four boards). It was just possible to get in and out through the door at the far end, but guess who forgot to get the milk out of the 'fridge? NO TEA!

 

 

We didn't bother to fit any of scenic features as the emphasis was on operation. Features checked included the running of the locos, point switching and the cassette system.

 

 

As we couldn't get to the cooker we had to go to the local Italian Restaurant for lunch. YUM!

 

We ran locos over the whole layout, both towing and propelling wagons and at varying speeds. All the possible routes through points and on and off the cassettes were tried. We also tried out the uncoupling mechanisms. I was expecting to have a long list of things to fix but in fact remarkably few problems arose.

• A short circuit caused by a wiring mistake - traced quickly and eradicated
  
• one point moving the wrong way when switched - servo quickly reprogrammed so that the action is now correct
  
• one servo not moving the point blades quite far enough and causing some vehicles to derail in the facing direction - will need the programmed setting adjusting slightly
  
• two crossings causing certain locos to stall - these will be looked at, cleaned and packed if necessary.
  
• The transition piece that joins the entry/exit track to the cassettes needs packing to eliminate a couple of awkward height mismatches.
  

So maybe a day or so to correct these faults, otherwise a huge relief that we can go to Wimborne with a working layout.

 

Chaz

Edited September 19, 2012 by chaz

[Warspite]

As we couldn't get to the cooker we had to go to the local Italian Restaurant for lunch. YUM!

 

 

.............. and you needed an excuse?

 

So maybe a day or so to correct these faults, otherwise a huge relief that we can go to Wimborne with a working layout.

 

 

Chaz

 

Looking very good. Judging by the attention to detail you've demonstrated so far, this will be an excellent exhibition layout.

 

Stephen

[Donw]

Black coffee would do instead of tea testing the layout is the important thing. Nice to see you have done the job proerly. It is always worth running the trains you intend to use at exhibitions when you find that that loco with that stock is just too tight. It is much better to find out at home.

Don

[chaz]

....Italian restaurant.......... and you needed an excuse?

 

 

Looking very good. Judging by the attention to detail you've demonstrated so far, this will be an excellent exhibition layout.

 

Stephen

 

Erm, no, no excuse needed - especially when the chef's special for that lunchtime was canaloni with cod and parma ham - gorgeous!

But thanks for the positive comments - appreciated.

 

Chaz

Edited September 20, 2012 by chaz

[chaz]

Black coffee would do instead of tea testing the layout is the important thing. Nice to see you have done the job proerly. It is always worth running the trains you intend to use at exhibitions when you find that that loco with that stock is just too tight. It is much better to find out at home.

Don

 

Except that the coffee was in the fridge too. Still we made up for the coffee drought in the restaurant.

 

regarding your comments about testing with the stock you are quite right. That Sulzer type 2, which has masses of gubbins projecting down on the bogies, and the brake vans (footboards) were having arguements with the screws fixing the brass into the cassettes. I will devote a day to moving all the screws further away from the flangeway, tedious - but it will solve the problem. The idea of not being able to run certain stock because of a mistake I made is an anathema to me - don't reject the stock, fix the mistake!

 

Chaz

[chaz]

One of the faults found yesterday....

 

one servo not moving the point blades quite far enough and causing some vehicles to derail in the facing direction - will need the programmed setting adjusting slightly

 

Just spent most of the morning putting this right. When you use servos to throw points you have to remove the centre spring from Peco turnouts. One of the problems with servos driven by the MERG Servo4 circuits is that these are designed to switch off after a couple of seconds. This is good as it means that the servos go silent, but it also means that if the servo is not set correctly, overdriving the blades, when it relaxes the springiness of the blades backdrives the servo, and the points can spring away slightly from the stock rails.

 

I had a frustrating time trying to get the blades on the problem point to sit correctly - whatever I did they sprang away when the servo relaxed. Eventually, having failed to find any setting that would cure the problem, I removed the servo and the point still did it. If the blades were pushed over by hand they would not stay seated nicely against the stock rails. The bloke who laid the track (wasn't me guv) had soldered feed wires to the underneath of the blades near the pivots. The wires were a snug fit in the holes through the trackbed and it was the inherent springiness in the very short length of wire above the baseboard top that was causing the problem. Some very careful work (I wanted to avoid damaging the point and the wire) with small drills and a scalpel converted these holes into slots so that the wires could move from side to side with the blades. Problem solved.

 

it's often said that mistakes are expensive - in this case it didn't cost money, but time.

 

Chaz

[Donw]

Intersting problem. I have been using Tortoise motors for turnouts and notice on switching on power all the turnout move slightly to hold the blades. The currents drawn are low and I include a bipolar led as an indicator. I have been intersted in using servos as they can be much smaller but there does seem to be a lot more issues in setting up. I shall be interested to see how you get own with them at shows.(one of the advantages of the tortoise is that they are largely self adjusting no issues with temperature rises).

Don

[chaz]

Intersting problem. I have been using Tortoise motors for turnouts and notice on switching on power all the turnout move slightly to hold the blades. The currents drawn are low and I include a bipolar led as an indicator. I have been intersted in using servos as they can be much smaller but there does seem to be a lot more issues in setting up. I shall be interested to see how you get own with them at shows.(one of the advantages of the tortoise is that they are largely self adjusting no issues with temperature rises).

Don

 

I used Tortoises on the 7mm layout in my roof, Don, but the escalating price had me seeking a cheaper option for Dock Green. All my Tortoises twitch when the layout is powered up and I assume that it's because the motors relax when turned off and move slightly. I did consider using memory wire (I use it to operate the signals on the roof layout) but I decided against it as it would involve making up my own mechanisms and I needed nine. I didn't find many problems with setting up servos. Using MERG Servo4 drivers (guess how many servos each one will do!) is straightforward, although you do have to be a MERG member to buy them. The free-to-download software makes setting the limits of travel, orientation and speed a simple task.

 

All the problems I have had are not the fault of the servos - they have been the result of mistakes made when the track was laid, or painted, or ballasted. The servo settings seem totally stable - once they are set they stay set. I don't expect the servos to be affected by temperature changes - I think the only component that might well expand would be the steel operating wire, but if this gets slightly longer I can't see it mattering. However I will be taking the laptop and connecting cable to the first exhibition, just in case.

 

Chaz

[chaz]

Yesterday I made a start on the stone setts. First step was to glue foamboard to the baseboard on either side of the track with PVA. I also glued some rectangles of card between the sleepers, to economise on the DAS.

 

 

Next stage was to apply some DAS. I worked on fairly small areas, starting by painting the foamboard surface with PVA and then adding the DAS. I thumbed it into place and then used a wooden modelling tool to level it, checking the level with a piece of plastic sheet pressed against the rail tops (I later switched to a steel rule). The most important thing, for me, is to keep the DAS just a little below rail level so that it has no effect on the running.

 

 

Made some progress, getting all the area to the right of the siding dealt with.

 

 

It will take rather longer to scribe the setts, which I will start doing as soon as the first section has dried and hardened. I did try marking up the sett pattern in some just applied (and therefore still soft) DAS, but I didn't like this - too difficult to get a neat result - so I smoothed it out again and will wait for it to dry. In the photo above you can make out that the DAS dries from the outside edges, lightening in colour as it does so.

 

Three sleepers in from the end of the baseboard you can just see the hole which contains an uncoupling magnet. I will need to leave a gap in the setts in the four foot as they would otherwise foul the iron wire tail on the couplings and prevent the un-coupling action working.

 

Chaz

Edited September 24, 2012 by chaz

[N15class]

I am looking forward to see how this progresses. I am hoping for some ideas for when I need to do this.

[chaz]

I am looking forward to see how this progresses. I am hoping for some ideas for when I need to do this.

 

Peter, have a look at post #101 on page 5 of this topic, where you will see the technique tried out on a test piece. The only difference on the layout will be the vastly bigger area to be covered. I think I'm going to end up dreaming setts!

 

Chaz

[Siberian Snooper]

Hi Chaz

 

If you stick a piece of paper in the bottom of the hole that was painted the same colour as the setts it might help to disguise said hole.

 

Cheers SS

[chaz]

Hi Chaz

 

If you stick a piece of paper in the bottom of the hole that was painted the same colour as the setts it might help to disguise said hole.

 

Cheers SS

 

Yes, SS. Something of the sort might do, or I might just stop the setts and ballast the track to just beyond the magnet - there will have to be a transition somewhere near anyway.

[chaz]

Discovered a bit of a hitch this morning. I removed the "water" from the canal so that I could give the undersides of the bridges a coat of dark grey paint. The varnish I used (B & Q own-brand) which has had at least four coats is still very slightly tacky to the touch - not enough to make dust stick, but enough to make me wait before adding further coats. I think I am just going to have to leave it and return to it later to add further coats. I will need to glue the cutting walls and the towpath in place in the next couple of days ready for the Wimborne show so further work will have to be undertaken in situ. Not ideal.

 

Chaz

[Donw]

Varnish is funny stuff if you put it on thickly the surface may feel dry but underneath may not be. If you then add further coats it delays further the lower ones drying fully. Thin coats more often may be better.

Don

[chaz]

Varnish is funny stuff if you put it on thickly the surface may feel dry but underneath may not be. If you then add further coats it delays further the lower ones drying fully. Thin coats more often may be better.

Don

 

Sounds right, Don. I thought the coats I had put on were thin but obviously not thin enough! I will just have to wait until the surface feels completely dry before doing anything else to it. Still, there are plenty of other jobs to get on with on Dock Green.....

 

Chaz

[3 link]

Hi Chaz,

 

Slightly off topic but could you tell me the date for the Wimbourne show as I remember going there a few years ago, and considering it was only a small show there was a lot going on and a very good day out.

 

Martyn.

[chaz]

Hi Chaz,

 

Slightly off topic but could you tell me the date for the Wimbourne show as I remember going there a few years ago, and considering it was only a small show there was a lot going on and a very good day out.

 

Martyn.

 

No problem Martyn. It's on Sunday 21st Oct. It opens to the public at 10am and closes (I think) at 4pm. Dock Green will be there as a work in progress (as there's no chance that I can finish it in the time remaining.

 

I've been a couple of times as a spectator and, like you, found it a good day out. See you there?

 

Chaz

Edited September 27, 2012 by chaz

[3 link]

Hi Chaz,

 

Thanks for the info, I will pop over and say hello.

 

Martyn.

[chaz]

Boring but necessary....

 

I spent some of yesterday and all of today fitting the MDF end plates that are going to make Dock Green safe in the back of a van. The first photo shows one of the baseboards with its two end plates fitted. These are attached with 6mm bolts into pronged T nuts in the frame ends and project about 12mm on each side. I did this so that any projecting bits, like the overlapping backs of the retaining walls, are protected.

 

 

This shows all four of the baseboards linked up in pairs, as they will be in the van, with the top surfaces facing inwards for protection. More 6mm bolts and T nuts fix the end plates together. The hand holes in the end boards don't quite line up but that doesn't matter, I don't intend to move the linked pairs of boards - they're just too heavy (the MDF end boards add quite a bit of weight). The boards will be carried to and fro singly, and linked up in the van. The narrow strips of MDF screwed to the outside of the end boards prevent the baseboards being pushed too close together and damaging the layout details.

 

 

Chaz

Edited October 7, 2012 by chaz

[chaz]

I got really fed up with cutting and drilling bits of MDF for those (essential but very boring) end plates so as a bit of a break, last night, I returned to the goods platform office and superglued in the etched brass windows and door. This job has been "on the bench" for quite a while. Here's the office in place on the platform.

 

 

I haven't fixed the office in position as I might add an interior at some time in the future, and some working lights - but as you can see their absence is not at all obvious...

 

 

...in the gloom under the goods platform canopy.

 

Chaz

Edited October 9, 2012 by chaz