Double Yard

[Job's Modelling]

I like your layout.

Think we have the same kind of modeling interest.

Using the following link you can find some nice free downloads: http://clevermodels.squarespace.com/free-downloads-01/ 

I like the chimney which will be very useful on a small industry.

 

Will follow your thread with interest.

 

Regards,

Job

[CourthsVeil]

Job, thank you for the kind words and the quite useful link.

 

Some time ago I decided to make only mini layouts, i.e. 1x4 foot. Due to health issues (too) I'm progressing rather slowly.

These minis do have their advantages - see Marc Smith's ardent comments (well, he's booked to 0, whereas I do only H0, but that doesn't matter…).

 

Armin

[CourthsVeil]

Next building I addressed was the big building in the middle – the “Yard Divider”. Central part of my imagining this layout was that it consisted of two separate courtyards: an older one to the right, the left half being more recently made by adding a closing building with a doorway (plus other small sheds etc.).
Both yards are separated by a building, not too crappy looking, more of an official nature (customs??).
 
Originally I had planned to have a single structure at this place with a BIG archway for the tracks. Somthing like this:
Cottage
or this:
Archway
or that:
HouseOld  
just to give you an idea of what I was dreaming. And a dream it had to remain.
 
Because when I had laid track – just provisionally – it dawned on me, that my archway had to be much broader than thought. After all I wanted to put three tracks into the doorway, these needed no less than 12-13cm (say 5in).
 
So I decided to split this building and connect the halves with a gangway from gable to gable. (Pls be assured that I had this idea several weeks before I came across Shortliner’s “1:87 float planes” project, where – in post #15 – a very similar structure pops up.)
 
The whole structure will have a length/span of some 32cm (~12½ in); it has not only to span the 12in baseboard with its battens fore and aft, but also to cover the transition of the leads from my “control panel” into their respective grooves. Thus it is designed to protrude a bit over the front.
 
Watch this space - more to follow!

 

 

 

 

Edited to correct garbled words

[Job's Modelling]

I would like to give you an other possibility.

How about a factory with a bridge like extension.

You could use some free downloads as a base. Have a look at the following link: http://www.wordsworthmodelrailway.co.uk/railside.html 

I found some interesting stuff here.

 

Regards,

Job

[shortliner]

Job - your link just gives a 404 Error

[Job's Modelling]

I tried him again in Google :  http://www.wordswort.../railside.html  

I copied him, the link doesn't work.

 

 

Regards,

Job

[Tony Davis]

I tried him again.

The correct one is :  http://www.wordswort  

That didn't work either but a bit of copying, pasting and deleting unused letters produced this: http://www.wordsworthmodelrailway.co.uk/railside.html which did work - for me

 

hth

 

Tony

[Job's Modelling]

Thanks, Tony

[CourthsVeil]

Job: thanks for the interesting link, may revert to it later. Also for the suggestion, but, I'm afraid, I'm already a step ahead with my building.

Regards

Armin

[CourthsVeil]

First I drew up an overview plan (not to scale – just to fit on an A4 sheet). After having this transferred to 1.5mm cardboard I started cutting the walls.

 

 

Here is a first assembly. This photo shows an earlier version partly made of styrene which I later abandoned.

 

 

This photo shows an early mock up to judge how it will fit into the whole layout.

 

Remark: the chimney doesn’t sit on its final foundation (see post #25) but on the transformer – a silly idea I rather quickly trashed!

 

Watch this space – comments appreciated!

Armin

[Job's Modelling]

Looks promising.

Looking forward to the progress.

 

Job

[CourthsVeil]

Thanks for the comment, Job, it's always good to get feedback.

Armin

[CourthsVeil]

Sorry for the lapse in my updates! Had to spend a few days in hospital…

Last instalment dealt with just the walls of the main building in the middle of the layout. After having tried to cut out window openings using styrene (which resulted in an uncultured lot of swearing) I resorted to 1.5mm artists cardboard – this time I hope: forever! The roofs used for the mock ups were still thin card, later to be replaced by stronger stuff.
And soon there were provided openings for windows and doors, the appropriate brickpaper chosen (obtained from CGTextures), p-shopped and printed. And applied. I nearly forgot the windows & doors – here we are:

 

BTW: the glazing of the small windows is just sellotape, matte variety for documentary purposes (I bought it some 40 years ago, it still sticks like new). I put it in just provisionally, but it looks so good that I will leave it as it is.

 

Next piece was the gangway to allow the little people crossing the gap without the hazard of going across the track(s). Cardboard covered with plank-paper (obtained from CGTextures too) and – it will be the last time I use them on this layout! – my homemade corrugated sheets, properly painted, plus sellotape windows:

 

The whole lot put together – still without proper roofs and weathering and details:

and

 

So that's all for now, as usual all comments and criticism is welcome.

Armin

[Job's Modelling]

Nice to see you back.

 

Looks like it will do the job you designed for.

 

Regards,

 

Job

[CourthsVeil]

Job: thank you for your comment – much appreciated!

 

 

 

Next job were the roofs: again cardboard covered with tile-paper (from the above site too):

 

 

I think it is not bad to put transformer and controller firmly onto the baseboard – and to store them in the now almost finished structures: the transformer in the back part of the building (first pic following), the controller in the front (second). The connecting leads (transformer to controller) of course will run through the gangway. In case of a problem I want have easy access to the electrics; so I will let the roofs be detachable:

 

 

 

In the meantime I did some weathering – quite decent:

 

I want his building not too filthy, better preserved than the backfronts behind it, so just a hint of dirt on the walls. Only the roofs suffer from some algae etc.:

 

 

Tell me your opinion…

 

Armin

 

 

 

Edit: don't forget to thank…

[Job's Modelling]

Hello Armin,

 

I personally think the inside of the buildings can use some more weathering.

Your trains are running closely along the buildings, so the under side of the building won't keep that clean I suppose.

 

Think the choice of the color of the building is right.

 

Looking forward to see more.

 

Regards,

 

Job

[CourthsVeil]

Weekly update:

 

Whilst I struggled with the two buildings in the middle of my layout I looked after a fitting controller. I wanted a regulator apt for smooth switching, i.e. a slow start.

 

Well, usually I’m not a cheapo, but – honestly – I’m lacking the insight why I should pay 60+ Euros for a simple controller when I can get the like performance out of a selfmade unit for less than a tenner. (Not to mention the self esteem I get when my thing… you see what I mean?)

 

So I searched and found several (i.e. six) quite different designs in the I-net. One of them sports a thyristor (not the slightest idea how this works), another an LM317-IC. And soldered them all together and tested them. They all worked – sooner or later. Sigh!

To my surprise the controller that deals best with most of my locos was not the most refined/complicated ( for example this one {http://www.ferromel.de/tronic_8.htm}), but a rather simple design (see there {http://www.der-moba.de/index.php/Analoger_Fahrtregler} – sorry, German description only ). This I stripped down still further: I left out resistor R3 (which is of interest for portescap locos) as well as potentiometers P2 + P3 and switches S1+S2. Here my circuit diagram (see remark below):

 

 

This design does not use plain DC or AC, but both: to aid smooth starts to the usual DC component there are added AC half wave pulses (full strength), which when the throttle is cranked up will “drown” in the increasing DC current.

 

This design lets me drive nearly all of my locos (i.e. apart from two rather old machines) quite smoothly. Especially I do not find that I have to turn the throttle half way up until something starts reluctantly to respond… So, why digitalize anything?

 

Here a pic of the the transformer with bridge rectifier. The red connection gives me DC (unsmoothed), the yellow one AC.

 

And that’s how the controller looks all soldered together, tested and ready to be put into the front part of the middle building (The throttle is a handheld unit, therefore the potentiometer is kept in a small box with knob.):

 

 

One hour later the controller stored away and (right) the hand-held unit with its throttle:

 

 

Remark:

Not shown in my wiring diagram is the halogen lamp (12V, 10W) interrupting one of the leads to the track. It serves as a KISS safety measure against shorts: should this occur, the lamp filament gets hot and draws the dangerous energy away from the rest of the circuit and lights (hopefully me too?) up.

 

 

Armin

 

 

Edit:

In the above wiring diagram “Gl” means ‘rectifier’ and “zum Gleis” stands for ‘to track’.

 

2nd edit: I also tried Dukedog's Back-EMF controller (see there). To be highly recommended – simple, effective and smoothly working; does put a lot of more complicated designs to shame! And not PWM-fed, so for coreless motors suited, too.

[CourthsVeil]

Today just an interlude:

 

 

I think I should explain why I didn’t mention Frank’s (aka Dukedog’s) back-EMF throttle design and its values in my original text last post but just in a footnote:

 

In fact it had been amongst the several circuits I soldered together to test and compare them – months ago. I had already some experience in putting such things together and make them work, but I was (and still am) unable to ascertain the effect of altering the specifications of components (e.g. choosing a 10k resistor instead of a 22k one).

 

So Frank had in his circuit a central potentiometer with 22 kOhms. As it turned out, such potis are quite uncommon (on the continent only?). So I struggled to find one of these and finally got it – but this poti has a logarithmic characteristic instead of the usual linear one.

Well, in school days I was amongst the better ones in math & physics, and I was and – now retired – still am fully aware of the difference between linear and log.

However, when it came to soldering Frank’s back-EMF controller together I had completely forgotten about the fact that I had ordered this log thing and put it in without thinking about the consequence.

 

The consequence was quite simply that I had to turn the control knob far, far clockwise before anything happened – nearly four fifths of the way. But then my locos were nearly uncontrollable: just a few degreess further and I would see just a dust cloud (loco went Speedy Gonzales). Not a smoothly moving shunter.

No wonder that I was unimpressed by Frank’s design – to say the least. But it wasn’t his, it was completely MY fault.

 

It lasted until last Friday when I was in search of a poti for another little electric project. I came across this ominous logarithmic item, checked it, tested it and now – finally – it dawned on me what had gone wrong. Quickly I connected other potis to Frank’s controller (of course they are all linear ones) and had to change my mind completely. This regulator works exactly as Frank wrote: “… and the slow running is excellent for such a simple circuit. It will put a lot of PWM controllers to shame!” Now I say: it is a little marvel.

 

What about the 22k poti requested (really?) by Frank’s circuit diagram? Last Saturday I had at hand just a 5k and a 50k potentiometer – and nothing in between. So I had to go along with these. Believe it or not: nothing went up in smoke, nothing refused to do its work, instead all of the locos I tried started quite smoothly (just what you want on a dwarfish layout) and lingered happily around the track.

So I’ve learned: one can replace electronic components by other ones with surprisingly “wrong” specifications. In most cases it will do no harm. Just be brave and try…

 

Now that’s the story why I mentioned Dukedog’s design in a footnote only: when I wrote the last post I had not yet become fully aware of the virtues of his design; I had to do some further experiments – but then the text had been sent out already.

 

 

And now as I’m happy with two controlling circuits serving perfectly my needs I turn again to making buildings for my micro-layout, e.g. Scalescenes’ “small goods store” (half relief) and such scratched together thingies:

 

 

Armin

 

 

[Job's Modelling]

 I like that half relief ruinous small warehouse.

 What use you have in mind for the yellow brick building?

 

regards,

Job

[CourthsVeil]

Job: thanks again for looking and your valued comment, its appreciated.

The yellow thing? Aaahh, honestly, I was just toying around a bit with some package and brick paper… I really don’t know whether I will use it in the layout or bin away in a few days?

 

Here are two of these "buildings" – very provisionally put in. I think I will scatter the layout with a lot of further small sheds, stores etc.

 

 

Now the weekly update:

 

Just a word beforehand: in post #6 above I wrote that the work I describe had been done already some time (weeks/months) before.
Now things have changed, I’m up to date, now I’m writing about my adventures in the few days before. It may happen therefore that my updates will come less regularly than during the last months…

 

 

As a diversion I fitted several of my wagons with S&W couplings. German manufacturers tend to invent every several seasons new coupling designs (which doesn’t make them any better, imho). Consequence: often they do not match – even if from the same manufacturer… Lovely, isn’t it?
My resort: I replace them all:

 

 

There are five spots on the layout where I dropped uncoupling magnets in. They are of the neodymium type. Coupling as well as uncoupling goes quite well – I would, however, next time choose the delayed action variant of the couplings. And this may well be, since I do not (yet) have an inhibiting number of wagons to be refitted.

 

 

Before I went along I tidied up the mess of leads that had built up on the baseboard. Now the layout looks a bit more like I imagined:

 

 

 

And the following gives an outlook to the next building I’m about to tackle: a rather rotten workshop with an old wall behind it. Here the wall already affixed to the right end of the layout:

  

 

 

So that's all for now, as usual all comments and criticism is welcome.

 

Armin

 

 

[CourthsVeil]

In the last instalment I published a teaser. Just a piece of ply, waiting for a cover to become a gabled wall.

 

This now got a layer of dark red bricks, former windows somewhen filled up with lighter stuff (photo of the inspiring building aside):

 

 

That’s a provisional (and therefore rather weak and wonky) setup of the workshop to sit in front of the red wall. Just to get a feeling for proportions etc.:

 

Now both together:

 

Then I cut out the front wall of the shop and went along – here the work in progress step by step:

 

 

 

 

As you may have noticed already, I’m a rather curious man. That’s why I’m not just building (and running) micro layouts, but – if the opportunity comes by – am trying new methods. So, e.g., concrete hardstanding made from plaster, water on a plexiglass surface, soldering new controllers, a flex track as sector plate, etc.

This time it was the mullions/transoms in the windows I wanted to become white, not black as my printer delivers them. Understandably, cause it doesn’t sport a white ink cartridge. As explained in post #8 on page one, I print the selfmade windows on an overhead projection sheet.
And now I remembered that the better half (no, there’s no SWMBO in this house) hides somewhere in her treasures a kind of felt tip pens she uses for greeting cards. To write on coloured card. Amongst them also a white one! With a rather fine tip: 0.8 millimeters (=32thou).

With this pen I did some experimenting and the result is this one:

 

Well: some practice still needed, but an encouraging start.

 

 

Cheers
Armin

[Job's Modelling]

Think that the use of white ink can work.

Like the idea of closing the layout down with a building.

 

Regards,

Job

[CourthsVeil]

A bit more progress to report here – without much waffling:

 

After cutting and preparing the wall I went on with the base of my workshop:

 

The three parts attached to the base – front view:

 

…then the armature at the back (the behind the scene stuff):
     

 

 

The roof cut to size, already covered with masking tape and painted dark grey = tarpaper:

 

 

Lastly the roof a bit weathered (green artist’s chalk) and adorned with moss and vines:

 

More to follow soon – comments and suggestions always welcome!

 

Armin

 

.

[Job's Modelling]

Like the form of the building.

Roof looks good.

Suppose you will some additional weathering to the building.

 

Regards,

Job

[CourthsVeil]

Hi Job,

thank you for your comments.

Weathering the walls: yeah! and quite grotty, believe me…

Armin