rcmacchipilot

looks good. Is the plan to have the rear half as a fiddle yard? I love the vertical extent that can be created with european layouts. Its a good chance to put lots of detail in, but also depth and hidden areas in that draw the viewer in.

Had some spare time at work so put a small layout up. ( plus boss was interested in dcc, so I showed him) It got me thinking though. Most shunting puzzles rely on having one loco and a few un coupling points. What about having 1 uncoupling point ( I know , i know, not very prototypical ) and many loco's. Something different perhaps. On other fronts, pulling my hair out over a 4MT. I think I may have fried another decoder in it. First one we believe was due to pick ups shorting out on the metal plate of the tender, However after taking all the wheels off and straightening out the pick ups so they couldnt short, there is still a short circuit in the tender. So pulled off wheels again, Re- examined pick ups - I believe they are OK, so then started to trace wires. Found an exposed bit where the wire passes through the metal base of the tender. This is shorting out on the metal plate. Pulled wire through so insulation was touching and soldered rest of wire to brass pick up plates. OK, atempt two.... "short circuit still detected".... " FRUSTRATION" .... in anger sever wires from tender pick ups.... Put loco on track.... no short circuit detected.... decoder doesnt program normally..... decoder has a hum to it..... solution, get angry at Hornby's 4 pin connector which requires tender is plugged in during testing and sulk.... make cup of tea.... put loco away..... keep thinking..... O well, We will see. Have a look at it in a new light later.

Beautiffuly done.

Whats the chasis based on? is it similar to the Hornby class 06 , or do they do something different for the pug range. The 06 chasis has a preety cheap motor in it that you can feel the poles when you turn it. A dcc decoder makes it a tad slower and smoother, but im preety sure that the problem lies with the motor. The end result on your latest blog though looks fantastic. Its a credit to your skills.

Hello all. After a busy weekend of soldering, testing and praying to the porcelin god ( self inflicted), Its time for another update. saturday started off very rocky and only got worse through out the day. We did however manage to pick up some spanking new decoders with stay alives from DCC concepts, and started to install them. 5 Locomotives needed decoders in them ( one really was a Hornby replacement job). The first that we started with was an Stanier 8F. Relativley straight forward, as a socket is provided for the instilation. Surprisingly however, the wires are not colour coded, and the socket is missing the standard mark that identifies the orientation of the 8 pin plug. Not to worry, as the orientation is only important for the direction of running ( which can actually be programmed within the decoder ) however its also an easy case of rotating the plug 180 degrees to correct the direction of running. Arguably the hardest part of the install ( and believe me it was not hard ) was placing the decoder and stay alive. Luckily, Hornby have created a recess up the front that is able to easly fit the stay alive in it. So once the decoder was taped on, and the stay alive placed up the front of the body, it was a simple task of relpacing the body. .... TADA . It was a smooth running loco before on DC , the addition of the stay alive and a decoder has made it run even better. Next in the firing line was a bullied light pacific ( spam can) " wilton". This and the 8F I was lucky to pick up for next to nothing at a hobby show ( because they were next to nothing I could validate them to the missus who was standing next to me. Surprisingly I have had a couple of people offer to take it off my hands. (Can some one tell me if "wilton" is special or something?, I picked it up because I liked the look of it and it was in my opinion well detailed and a nice looking model), Anycase, After a bit of percerveirance, the body came off (It is tack glued at the front / the chasis paint was stuck to the inside ). Research from the internet showed that the chasis predates the 8 pin plug, So i was expecting black and blue wires like in the 8F, however I was pleased to find red and black wires through out. A simple 1 minute soldering job, and decoder was installed. The Bonus of spam can loco's is the amount of space inside the locomotive, and therefore instilation was a dawdle. Down the track we might look at a smoke unit and possibly a sound instilation ( have to work out where). A J52 tank was next. Its the standard one that comes with the hormby dcc east coast pullman set. While not the most detailed little tank loco, it has become my practice and testing loco where i try new methods. Prior to the decoder instilation I had installed gold pick ups on the wheels ( a suggestion from richard at DCC concepts ) which has greatly improved their ability to recieve power from the track, and as gold never tarnashes, provides an opertunity for a self cleaning pickups and wheels. This worked out really well, So the next logical step was to upgrade the decoder to a better type. Decoder instilation was straight forward. I took out the old 4 pin decoder + 4 pin harness ( to be used later as I will explain) and set these aside. The mounting bracket was cut off using a dremel tool clone ( ozito, very popular amounst the members of my club ). The 8 pin socket was snipped of the end of the new decoder and the decoder was hard wired onto the loco. The hardest bit was finding a place for the stay alive to reside ( very valuable for small wheelbase tank locomotives ). In the end this got put into the small gap at the rear of coal bunk. Running is supurb now. What did i do with the Hornby decoder you ask... ( Most would say take to it with a hammer) ... Well, I was given a Hornby goods set with the little blue diesel in it ( class 06 ). More due to sentimental value ( plus, I can let nephews ( and neices, gender equality ) etc run it when they come around ) I decided it would be nice to run with DCC. Simple install, with the harness wired directly onto chasis. and then the decoder pluging into the harness through the 4 pin prong. What surprised me though was the running could be slowed down significantly ( for a railroad chaisis, with cheap motor) that slow enough speed could be obtained to use it as a shunter. Also got bored and stuck a cheap plastic OO figure from Marc Mart on there painted in a blue coveralls with a red neckerchief ) That ended the run of easy instilations.... Then the nightmare started. 2 Locos left - A Hornby castle class done up as hogwarts express with the working head light - A 4MT, the consitantly fried Hornby decoders

love the custom built buffers, its inspired myself to give it a crack with some pcb's and spare rail sitting around

very nice. Did you do anything to the mechanism to improve the running?

I would call it more luck than research. I must admit that I am highly enjoying finding things out about england. will help when we plan to go there one day.

Wow, that looks really good. Cant wait to see it painted up.

First of all, let me sum up with the pretense, Modeling locations in Dorsett does not make you in the slightest bit insane. Inspired some what by a heated discussion at the club as well as one of Mikels' blog entrys ( bellow) , The old grey matter churned away at a rate that had it been in competition with a butter churner, it would have put the butter churner out of buisness. http://www.rmweb.co....iscussion-club/ To set the scene, ( I aknowledge this came from some website some where and some one else other than myself took this photo ) Last nights discussion focused on the new layout we potentially plan to create and exhibit. The club is very much of the opinion that realism is the critical factor in desinging a model layout, hence why we try to focus and discover new techniques to create realistic and interesting scenery that looks like its real at 1:76 scale ( also what makes the forums and blogs on rmweb such a gold mine due to the diverse skills and abilities of the modlers on here). The argument got the old grey matter ticking though, as so much as to when is a layout considered realism, when is a layout considered impressionistic and when a layout can be considered as abstract and where the barriers are between these ideals. (Ill explain where dorset comes into it later ) In simplest terms, Realism is the case for replicating something so that it is an exact replication of real life. Impresionism, is a case of replicating something that does not necessarily exist in real life but is a representation of something that does. Abstractism, is the creation of something that represents nothing in the real world, or something in the real world in such a light that it does not represent what it exists in the real world. The question is when modeling a rail road then when is a model railroad defined as being a "realism" model railroad, an "Impresionistic model railroad" and an abstract model railroad. A "realism" model railroad, can never truly be real ( unless its actually 12 inches : Foot) because there is always a level of comprimise that has to be met. ( even pendon has to make comprimises ), So really any layout that is considered to be " realism" is actually " impressionism" with some interesting history and a little guess work. So by that deffinition we need to re-examine how we look at realism. Eventually one must realise that "realism" its self is subjective. It is based on our experiences and what we believe we are seeing. , So really realisim isnt really modeling the real, its modeling what we believe. At the same time, one can see and believe things with their imagination, as the imagination is only an extension of what we see in the real world. To that extent, then something that can be described as abstract ( such as the wallace and gromet layout ) is really no more or less abstract or realistic than a layout based on realism.... So where does dorset come into this? After being advised by a number of people that I should focus on a location, and period, and yet, I wanting to model and practice modeling terrain and buildings from various areas in england. I set out to find a place that had as many types of buildings etc on it. A place that could have swamps, many types of locations and vegetations, and a place that I could flex my artisitc arm. I searched google for a while and came up with the county of dorset ( no kidding, you can find stone, lime and red brick construction right next to each other, and I have no doubt that there is also victorian, elizibethian and georgian architecture that could be found there as well ) As all track plans are always impressionist because sacrafices have to be made, then it falls to all the scenery and the rolling stock to define the location. So next time, some one tells you, you cant model red brick, next to lime and that the walls had to be stone on a layout that looks like it could be real and you make it for the fun of it. Tell them you are moddeling dorset, I am....... with LNER, GWR and mabey LMS excursion trains on it ( I was not kidding about any form and colour of soil being found in dorset, The geology map from bellow shows that most colours could be moddled ) Cudo's and acknowledgements, must go to all the other lads that model locations in dorset such as corfe castle, portland, poole, bournemouth that gave me inspiration and the realisations to write this blog.

Went home and took some more pictures. Sorry that they are a little grainy.

cant wait till scenery is done

nice, Does it go deeper as well? Cant wait to see it in its finished state.

For reference, This tree also has roots as well as a centeral nub on the bottom, designed to stick it into the foam for a layout it was commisioned for. Roots add some realism and more detail. The large nub was a hang over from some modifications + an anchor onto which it could be sat in the foam and moved at a later date for transport

This is something new I have been playing with. Inspired by my local model club and some what frustrated about the size and "plasticness" of trees ( i guess thats a subjective statement). I have decided to create some of my own. The semi finished example is bellow : Exuse the photo, It was taken on a phone ( as most photos of mine are now days sadly ) Construction is relativley simple 1. Start with some thin gardening wire. The thinner the better. (not jewelers wire though ) 2. Create a number of loops of the wire measuring around 20-30 cm. 3. Twist the wires together at the base of the tree ( i use two pliers to get a firm grip) 4. Where the tree branches off, split the wire into the corresponding number of branches ( some trees have 3-4 branches spliting off from the same location, some split in two's etc) then twist the base of the branches. ( At later stages when you want more branches on trees and thicker trees you can feed more loops of wire in at this stage to make the tree thicker ) 5. Keep spliting the trees until single wire loops are left. These are twisted until there is a small loop ( just big enough to get your finger through ) left. 6. Cut the loops and spread the wires out. These form the last branches. So now the basic wire construction for the tree is completed. We are not out of the woods yet ( or in the woods? ). Te next step is to give the tree texture and depth. and to make it look lots less like wire and much more like a knobly gnarly old tree. This in my opinion is what seperates the hand made trees from the cheap ones online. 7. Mix up a mixture of PVA glue, Flour, water and teracotta paint. Until you have a mixture thats a bit more solid than pikelet batter ( there is a bit of conjecture about using flour here as some say that mice will eat it). I am sure that has happened, however I have been lucky and never had a problem. I believe that the mixture of the paint puts the mice off and masks the smell of flour. 8. Smear the mixture onto the tree, pushing it in amongst the wire. 9. On a low setting you can harden and dry it in the oven. 10. Take the tree out of the oven and let it cool ( WARNING: METAL GETS HOT AND WILL BE HOT, USE TONGS or some other impliment) 11. Paint the tree an undercoat of brown ( I use teracotta, cause im lazy + it was 50 c for a large mistinted much browner than terracotta ( i think ) tin ) 12. Use lighter colours to highlight gnobly bits of wood etc and create tone by dry brushing. ( this is achieved by putting a bit of paint on your paint brush. brushing most of it off on paper, and then using the little bit left to slowly build up paint on the protruding bits using long, soft, quick strokes ( kinda like tickeling with a feather) 13. (optional, depending how nice and loving your other half is, mine is very loving ) Get some of your other halfs old foundation make up ( powdery stuff )and brush a little on to the tree. It tones its down a bit 14. That leaves us at the stage the photo is at. - Voila, a brand new, spanking tree base. 15. Cover with vegetation. I am still experimenting here, I will share my results with time. (The poly fiber , 3M spray glue and fine ground turf trick does work well though ) Examples of trees at this stage are attached bellow.

wow, impressive use of space. What industries do you plan to model?

BTW, I titled this blog the "unnamed" state of play as the layout doesnt have a name yet ( or a region ) anyone got any ideas?

.... Looks like im goint to have to learn some of the smileys better

Since I already started building the boards and wiring etc, I guess I might as well say where we are. ( photos to follow) Currently the aim is to have a portable layout ( due to other requirements) that can shift houses every 6-24 months. As a result its been built in moveable sections of approx 60 x 90 cm with MDF Boards and structural pine sides painted and sealed with 50 cent tins of bunnings paint. First major lesson I have learnt is dont make boards out of structural pine. They weigh a ton. From now on I think I will make boards out of light ply and MDF. Boards are joined by 0.8mm bolts and use DCC concepts locating dowels to mate the boards together in the right spot. Second lesson for the day. Use the big countersink for the rim first , before using the small countersink for the dowel stock. Well at least i got it all correct on the second try. I really like the dowels. (they were used on groggley and a few other layouts I have seen) So now I have a table that sits on pony's and can be pulled apart and moved around the house. Preety standard stuff eh? Onto the track plan. At the moment, I have limited space to build etc, so the plan is to have continual versitility as we move through houses. At the moment the plan is open ended at both ends so that more boards can be constructed and attached to the layout. What has been decided is for the current layout to consist of a nice sweeping bend with a run around loop. Coming off of the run around loop are a couple of spurs that will form local goods industries and ( now that i think of it) more than likely have a small mixed goods platform and possibly shed sitting between the two. On the other side of the run around loop is a small chasm cut into the MDF and Pine supports ( thanks to my supporting partner). This is where a river and bridge will go to provide a bit of depth to the layout. Further board sections I think will be done with elevated track to make terrain easier. insulation foam will become the structural basis for the scenery. covered in possibly a plaster cloth for strength and with building oxides mixed into plaster should create a nice pre ground cover for grasses and other cool stuff to go onto. Track is laid on foam road bed. Also found at bunnings in 25 meter rolls. Simply glue it on with glue ( i used PVA, will experiment with other types that are out there ) place track, and then using a dremel tool you can bevel a bank next to the track. Its a bit thicker than woodland scenics track underlay. However I figure that with plaster and other scenery added to the board, the extra depth will (a) soon dissapear, and (B) form a gutter next to the track where the water would drain away from the ballast. Will see how it all goes. The biggest concirn will be the instilation of the point motors when we get there. As from bottom of board to top of track underlay, there will be around 20 mills gap. Let the experiment begin..... Next chance i get to take some photos. Ill place them up here. While its side ways ( any one know how to rotate photos on here?) this is a brief over view of where the layout is at. And here is a a concept of the layout. Its primary function is to serve as a shunting layout for a J52 tank while other sections are built. The tracks at the edge will likely be connected to sector plates or cassets until more boards are added.

Welcome to Macs building blog..... A number of bight sized insights into a crazy mind. After much reading, much inspiration and much trepidation I thought it was time for myself to throw my rookie hat into the ring. A foreward of warning, I know next to nothing about trains, next to nothing about real railways and next to nothing about doing anything propperly. All I know is that I love the looks of british steam loco's, I love the looks of the british country side, and I love creating fictional places in my head. So we are three for three. So my aim is to create a layout, share my experiences and make something that looks as damn British as it can ( whilst living in Australia). My goals are reliable operation and close to real life looks ( maybey without the geospatial accuracy though). In essence this an atempt to realise a boy hood dream, resplended with the imagination and curiosity of the child inside. Hell, who knows we might even learn a few lessons along the way.... Mac.