nicolasgreenin

I work from home the layout is in my office so I end up doing a few bits at lunch time.

I have not made as much progress as you on the kadee, but you are right the a little but of paint and scatter transforms the layout.

No the rocks are from a woodland scenics rock mould they need a bit of work filling in the gaps but I am happy with the effect

The farmer has been busy again today putting up some fences

Hi John,

Thanks I do have some lineside fence and that was my next project to tackle. Does the fence need to be next to all the track even if it is an isolated patch of grass? Or can I get away with it being next to the farmers field?

Thanks Nick

The people have arrived

The farmer has been busy putting up some horse jumps.

There are some people waiting at the station there are a few more but they keep falling of the benches

Hi Paul,

The switches are momentary they work well. We have Seep point motors with DCC Concepts 3 point decoders 1x AD8FX 1x AD2FX and a ADS-2SX. I have not programmed them yet but they are all addressable so can be controlled with the NCE.

As for the LED indicators I have already wired the AD8FX end but as you say it is a lot of soldering which I like so that isn’t an issue but it is fiddly wiring 2 3mm LED’s for each junction.

Looking at the mimic panel I mush have had some idea of sharing route LED’s where there are close together.

I will have to test it at some point.

But for now I think I will try and get some more track ballasted

I have finally wired up the 4 last point motors so the yard is now fully working.

I have also realised that the Mimic panel is now out of date but as I have not got a license of SCARM I will have to live with it for now..

I did plan to put in LED's but I am not sure it is worth all the effort ?

Kytes lights looks a very interesting supplier, might be tempted.

Yes I agree there are a few think I think I will order this week too

The lights are Kytes lights we 2 packs from a model show in the summer.

http://www.kyteslights.com/

We have wired the rest in now my son enjoyed soldering.

Thinking of putting in a walkway across the tracks but I am not sure how it will be finished yet

Thanks I will let you know when I pop out to the office next.

I have added a 12v dc supply so I can now power the buffer lights for something so simple it make the layout look so much more alive.

I have dotted a few small trees on the embankment

I have also put some lamps on the platform they will be great if I can get them to stand up straight!

I have gone over the ballast again and it looks better now

I have also have 1 rake with Kadee couplings now I am still working on the loco and the issue with the magnets

Due to the tight radius curves I am struggling to get these trucks coupled any closer but it is a big improvement on the tension lock couplings

Since I weathered my J78 it has never run the same and it has not been used for some time so today I had a look. Today it would hardly move a few judders if pushed so I took it apart to find the back of the wheels were black so I have cleaned them up and it made very little difference!  Following that I thought it must be the decoder so I fitted a spare with a small keep alive and it is better but still not well. It runs better backwards that forwards

https://youtu.be/xHH12DAI2cA

apologies for the bad video

Hi Paul,

The fiddle yard expansion was always on the cards...

On another note I have been trying to convert some of our good stock to Kadee couplings and it is going well I have hit an issue with a my Hornby J78 as the screw mounts for the tension lock are part of the metal chassis of the loco and at the same height as requited for the kadee. I have ended up cutting a kadee and trying to glue it on but the super glue does not stick so I have turned to epoxy but it is not going off! so I will leave it over night.

I have also found a small issue that I will have to over come and that is that as my loco's have magnets on them to help with the incline traction this plays havoc when running over magnets in the track for uncoupling, basically they get stuck!

I am really not happy with the ballasting the grass is ok and does looks better in real life if not a little flat.

As for the static grass applicator, the ground is only a few inches away and when I shocked myself my hand was a good few feet from the ground and it made me jump....   

Thanks

This is fantastic progress. In the last few weeks and the last 2 years. The fiddle yard will make the running possibilities endless and allow you to store the rolling stock

We had a good few days of work on the layout.

I had help from the kids with the painting, grass and ballasting we are not the best but it looks good. 

I think we may have overdone the ballast a little and the static grass is not standing up I am not sure what I have done wrong my homemade static grass applicator goes give a good charge (as I found out the hard way when I put my hand on the track) but the grass does not seem to stand up very well, unless I go over it with the applicator very close to the fallen grass but this normally ends up with me waving the applicator too low and digging a hole in the grass...

Any thoughts please let me know.

We also had fiddle yard envy so have added 2 new tracks which have pleased my son no end.

Hi Richard, great progress and dedication to put the time in to video it all. You are an inspiration.

I have not had time to watch the latest video but I have also noticed that when I soldered the droppers to the track they need cleaning every other week. I didn’t make the connection before but I expect you are right it is likely to be the flux I am not sure if the track is nickel plated? Most modern solder is prefixed so there is not as much need for it.

Keep up the great work

Nick

I stopped using it because most of the flux out there is corrosive. I was finding green corrosion on various wires and joints where I'd used flux. In some cases the corrosion stopped things from working.

 

I've since learnt to solder without it and haven't had any problems.

Both tracks are now open again and it makes the layout much more usable being able to run 2 trains in opposite directions. It has highlighted a few other clearance issues that need to be resolved. I have added a few more dropper wires in too. There are 3 points that need to be wired. Then I will not have any excuses not to work on the scenery!

Work is progress slowly should be able to test run around the outer loop tomorrow

Hi Paul,

Has already been an issue. The old tunnel that is no longer did prove a problem as my arm was too big to get to in to. The best solution was a magnet on a stick. I am now thinking of an access panel on the right hand side.

Hi Paul,

Sound like you will be busy over the next few weeks the layout is looking great and your work on your rolling stock. I am also planning on fitting magnets to uncouple let me know your thoughts on positioning?

Thanks

Nick

Progress is being made.

Only The outside incline is glued in place I will lay the plaster cloth and the track before I glue the inner to allow access as I don't want to remove the upper track an and all the wiring 

Thanks Vecchio,

Yes you are right they are woodland scenic 3% inclines.

Luckily I never throw anything away so I have the missing incline and a few spares so I have enough.

Work has started I have discussed this with my son and we think it is a no brainier.

See the current track plan

and the proposed

This change will give us 2 independent loops and allow for 2 trains to run at the same time.

I hope this will be simple to achieve without damaging the inclines.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated as I am sure I have forgotten something.

Here are some photos of the current state of the layout