calvin Streeting

nice.. that curve on window top came out nice..

dose https://fox-transfers.co.uk/ do them ? not used them myself

track a bit cleaner..  so fired up the auto mode.. and just played railtrack dealing with dead spots, derails and good old signal failures.. 

this is filmed using timlapse 2x speed

To explain how and what is going on  i use Rocrail on a Pi-3 connected to digitrack controler via usb, this controls locoIO's (hdl version).

Once layout is drawn and all block (amp detectors) turnouts (servos) and signals (servo or led) are setup (including the ever so important green direction symbols), rocrail automatically works out all posible routes.

then with loco types defined, and place in relevent blocks i can either drag loco from one platfom (block) to another and if all is clear the pi will switch all turnouts one by one along the route, set signal to go. A mp3 of guard whistle crys out from speaker under board followed by the relevent platform anouncement (text to speach) one final double guard whistle and loco pulls away. when it enters the desired destination block (detected by amp detocotor) it will slow to mid speed, and when hiting stop amp detector it comes to a stop. see the yellow routes in progress

then i can put it in Auto mode loco by loco and it will randomly route locos from block to block with no interferance from me (apart from my role as railtrack workman). i can if chose also put one loco into manual mode and run it by had as directed by the layout, but it till dose signals, and turnouts. so i become a driver only and have to stop when needed etc.

in full auto mode the layout can run 5 to 6 locos and still kepp things moving and not grid locked  

also along with that are the lights that are controled by the clock and auto tun on and off at relevent times, and every 30 mins the led lighing in the room changes to the time of day. 

and here is a timelapse of the lighting. 

this all can be done from phone with feet up and a cup of coffee.. and hopefully no railtrack issues.

but alas today i lost one loco  so time to strip it down and find out whats wrong, and try and fix it 

next project (apart from finish it) is look at posible projection mapping for sky, trees in breaze and other stuff, conceptal tests are looking good  

So it was this layout that made me head down the point rodding route... I read that years ago. And only just now twiged it is this layout  

12 hours ago, BurscoughCurves said:

oooooo thats very nice  got to love a bit of victorian industrial architecture

and double/ triple / again check speeling  at least in my case.

decided to take a break tidy up, clean the track and actually run some trains  manualy in loops, while i shunted some trucks in the yard and test the magnetic solinoid couplerings of the yard loco

i hope to try and do some filming to show the automated (train movements, signals, platform anouncments, enviroments and building lighting), aspect of this layout. and document here so you can see it in full swing.

do you meen https://hmrs.org.uk/transfers/lner-goods-vehicle-insgnia-150393.html

UK tho  

On 06/04/2019 at 10:14, imt said:

Much as I love DCC there are lots of wires under the baseboard

to right.. just added another 100M  

i love the way they start neat.. but then slowly get worse as you add more...  glad you found the issue..  

they look better   

13 hours ago, BobM said:

this time of year as 'spring arrives'

I hope it does soon as rain / wind/ etc.. is getting a bit boring  but no problem modeling is best for those long dark nights

THAT IS A LOVELY STATION...   i googled it.... 

can you tell i am board at work

hi.. just while browsing saw this.. this canopy seams the same framework as those photos 

and those look so doabble on a printer...  

5 minutes ago, Lyddrail said:

 

they are nice  was considering doing some but trying to make it so they make a elecy contact and switch the turnout   i asume they are made not printed?

1 minute ago, l_robbo_101 said:

setting up computer control when i finally start building my layout!

The key to it is get you DCC blocks right, for platforms you really need 2 at min, one for train has entered and one for train stops here..

i bought a cheep... very cheep in fact to cheep...  chines knock off based on a "i3 prusa" from ebay came in kit form, and as too cheep had to tweek a lot, but its a printer so you print the parts needed  it cost around £200 and after a few mods probably about £300 in total.. but after doing 6+ 3m runs of point rodding that cost is gone..  

to start with it was ok (ish) on low level parts upto about 10mm high which was fine to start with, but used to woble to much to print higher, but as i like to tinker this suited me fine and i could just work on slowly making it better. and learn whats going on but still print windows, doors etc. 

so it depends on skill/effot levels, but

£100 = basic will do ish but amendments will have to be done, and will be kit based (budget version)

£200 = basic but might need tweeking

£300 = should work out of box, but can be improved

£400 and up = if it dont work complain...  

thats the UK, not sure what part of this ball you are in/at..  

again nice  large areas of open sky seem to suit this soooooo well  they help with that bleak look

hi as another DCC automated fan, is the layout buildings etc lit, so you can run in the dark, I also put philpips hue lighting and simulate the daylight (rising and seting sun etc) . so while i am shunting, as the pasanger trains automate to a random schedule atm (like you), the sun goes down and station lights up..  

and one more q: what are you using to block detect, clamp meters, IR leds ? 

correct 3d printing can be costly, but thats mostly the time it takes to print, as a CAD tech i bought a simple FDM printer as my fingers started to hurt cutting out windows, and needed a lot of point roding, both of these kind of ment it paid for its self in the end and now i print soooo much

an example canopy i drew and printed, but note i do not print it complete, but rather make my own arfix kit see https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2856669/apps/print/#apps

the only thing i have to think about is the layering and min size of walls etc (0.5mm) , as its like layers of icing on a cake and bridging (suspened in mid air) is problematic due to nature of printer, but thats why i kit it and think about each component.. for example..   that took 20min to draw so not long  but crude gues at dims (for OO) and would only take 5min to print at a cost of peneys .

but you can see that the front diagonals make there way all the way back  

Nice photo that.. if it was me I would 3d print them as look simple enough and very modular. or plasticard built.

looking good. i see you did donw pipes on houses  

It's a nice little scene there with consitant colour, all blends well

14 minutes ago, KNP said:

there a few areas that I'm now not happy

thats becuase you know they are there.. we dont so dont see them...  

On 28/03/2019 at 20:33, Stubby47 said:

oih stop nicking turners work  lol

your workmen seem to like tea more than tools...  

4 hours ago, jasp said:

What software are you using?

i think he uses AutoCAD..

3 hours ago, Jack P said:

finished ones on his thread,

could you post a link.. as intresed...

and once again great CAD skills...

hi.. nice to see a automated DCC layout..  i like to sit back and let my trains run without me getting involved.. (unless i want or something goes wrong) .. 

i did like the film esp the fact you used visual points of referance so we knew where we are and which way we are looking (something a lot of amature film makers miss out) ...

ooo and nice layout