14Steve14

Looks good. I have been building and designing card kits for many years and I still learn stiff as I go.

On 18/11/2022 at 11:21, Eaton said:

I don't think downsizing would have been the answer as it was the multiple problems that finally broke the camel's back. Diminishing trade support, lack of suitable local hotel accommodation and difficulties with local advertising and then on top of these a rail strike all contributed to a less than enjoyable weekend. 

I think we demonstrated the type of exhibition that we wished to hold and when  you feel that you can no longer achieve this then it seems the right time to call it a day. 

I am a trader and attend a select few shows a year nowhere near wigan.  Sad to hear that any show will not be happening next year. Shows are a great way to attract new people to the hobby and hopefully some new members to a club. Here is a bit about our experience from shows this year in and around us in the mid to south west of the country.

Our first show of the year in June we took £36 on the first day where we would normally take hundreds. If my daughter had not persuaded me to stay for the 2nd day we would have gone home. Luckily we pulled out of another show which only had 300 visitors when they were expecting 1000s. As a trader costs of stands has increased and at the end of the day we have to make money, thats the whole idea. Over the year we have possibly just broken even or are not too far out of pocket so its not been a total waste of time. It has made us re-evaluate what we will be doing next year. 

We have now decided to only take on any new one day shows. It may be an answer to only have one day shows, which will help keep costs down and possibly get higher visitor numbers as its just for the one day. Half the costs to traders, half the expenses for exhibitors but hopefully near the same numbers compared to a whole weekend show. 

Just a few ideas from a trader.

Thanks to those who organised this show. It was our (Railwayscenics) first time attending with our trade stand, and we were made to feel very welcome. Thanks for the hospitality. It was good to put a face to some customers names. 

You can get hammered and linen types of white paper that really good when printed on for a slight relief effect. Scoring lightly along the mortar lines also improved things. 

Both

https://www.scalemodelscenery.co.uk/

https://www.modelrailwayscenery.com/

are operating correctly.

2 hours ago, signalnorth said:

Weathered brickwork!

Why not learn to weather things yourself.

2 hours ago, crackedmember said:

Some of the discount chains which sell food are still open, and their stationery section has photograph have photo paper which are essentially thin cardboard.

With the covid-19 virus this is not really an essential product so should people be encouraged to go out and buy this. Not so sure if we are to stop the spread of this virus. Remember that we are supposed to be staying inside unless its essential.

What about the vac formed sheets from south eastern finecast. If you are layering them up you could also use different scale brick sheets and cut into strips.

I pick up old card from the supermarket in town. Helps I know the manager. Its the stuff that has adverts on it and hangs about the isles and shelves. Generally big sheets and looks similar to mount board. Its easy to cut and glue. Best of all its free. Mount board is available from lots of suppliers in a4 and a3 sizes.

I was sort of channel hopping and as the game went on I watched more of it. My daughter who has shown almost no interest in cricket even hid behind a cushion during the super over bit as she couldnt watch it. Great way to end a tied game. Better than the penalty shoot-out in football.  At last someone can now be in the honours list for actually winning something rather than nearly winning.

When I have had to glue paper and styrene sheet together I have always roughed up the styreme sheet fist with a rather coarse sand paper, then used a contact adhesive to join the two together. Never had any problems.

What a shame I cant go as I have a trade stand at another show the same weekend. I love supporting local shows even if its only a quick visit. The selection of layouts look really good. Hope you have a good one.

I too bought a cheap bag of little people for my railway. The bright pinks and oranges were really not as I would like, so I stood a whole load of them onto double sided tape and started again with a coat of grey primer. Then using some old matt paints I had lying around I mixed a lot of colours more in keeping with the 40s and 50s that I was modelling and painted everyone again.  When i next needed some sitting figures I just bought the white unpainted ones and did the same thing again. I even bought some cows that looked like zebras.

I was going to suggest sticking tracing paper or greaseproof paper behind the windows but the above may work and look better.

If you dont want to use wax crayons try using normal colouring pencils. They are a bit harder to get the colour out of, but could work, or even pastel type chalks.

Even the brass ones that people say you solder should be crimped using special crimping pliers. Take any ready made connector apart and the wire will be crimped into the connector and not soldered. What's good for the professionals is good for railway modellers.

As long as the right connector is used for the right sized wire and is fitted correctly there will be no problems. Its only those connectors that are used incorrectly that cause problems.

These types of insulated or partially insulated crimp connectors come in different colours for different sized wires. They are small - red, medium - blue and large - yellow. You can get a cheap pair of crimp pliers that will work well, or dearer ratchet versions are available. No need to solder anything.

Loads of different style connectors are available to suit most requirements.

If you are struggling getting a good cut in 2mm thick card, why not use two layers of 1mm card and cut then before sticking together. May take a bit longer, but may get a better finish. Saying that I use greyboard and find it hard to cut even using new blades. Patience is a virtue and lots of light cuts. I also use a safety rule which means I keep my fingers.

Crimp pliers for bootlace ferrules are readily available from many suppliers and only cost a few pounds. They sort of make the end of the terminal flat or square, which makes tightening the screw easier and more reliable.

As the LEDs are cheap enough, why not experiment and report your finding back here. I would imagine that as the LED is solid at the tower part no harm should come to it, but it may need to be smoothed so it comes back red and shiny for best light and colour.

There are loads of free graphics programs. I use paint.net or Gimp, for a lot of stuff as they are not as complicated as photoshop. Its easy to resize images in both packages so you can print to a scale size. If you want to get really clever you can draw your wall to scale in sketchup, then add in images =for things like pictures and doors, then print from full size to a specified scale. Its not as hard to learn as it is to say it. Try to get an older version as the latest ones are al online now I believe.

I have just purchased some power connectors from Railway Scenics to provide a quick way of connecting a 9 ft long layout comprising 3 x 3ft long units. This layout needs to be able to be dismantled and reassembled a few times. I also came across an HOn30 modular logging layout by a German modeller Gerd ‘Waldbahner’ http://blog.waldbahner.de/en/2014/06/gleisbau-teil-1/ and he has used plug and socket fixings which join the modules as well as providing the electrical connection between boards. As a relative beginner regarding the electrical side of railway modelling, I would be interested to know about other possible options for any future layouts. The boards (plywood on timber frame) were constructed for me and have bolt connections, which are relatively accurate, but I am choosing to clamp the modules during track laying.

 

5D501B40-1959-4B92-81BB-E4F496F283C0.jpeg

I run Railwayscenics and these products were something that I was asked to create for a customer so he could easily disconnect and reconnect his DCC power bus wires when lifting out a section of his layout that crossed a doorway, and also a hinged section that allowed access to a cupboard in the room. The connector sets in the picture are available in any combination of the 11 different colours of wire that we sell, so not only in red and black and also in 24/0.2 and 32/0.2 depending on your power bus size. He also bought a selection of the other mate-n-lock style connector kits that we sell for the other wires to the accessories on his layout. These connectors have a lower power rating and are available in 2 way up to 15 way versions and are similar to the molex style connectors mentioned..

One of the advantages over the other type of pluggable connectors discussed here, is that the wire connections dont rely on a screw to tighten them, and they are harder to rip the wires out as you are pulling on the connector and not the wires. I will say that there are many different connectors available and people have their own personal preference and most of those ways work, so its good to see a discussion on what others feel is the best way, not necessarily the cheapest way, to cross base board joins with wires. I personally use D sub connectors for the lower current wiring as they are so easy to use and are inexpensive to buy, but thats my choice.

When my dad used to scratch build rolling stock and the occasional building he swore by using shellac, but I think he used knotting. When we looked at his models a few months ago, they were all fine and could be handled. Some of them are over 50 years old. Must work.

The Brian Lambert site could well end up confusing you. Its well written, but not really for a beginner. There is a good book by Cyril Freezer all about basic DC layout wiring. See one here https://www.amazon.co.uk/PSL-Book-Model-Railway-Wiring/dp/1852601736. Not that expensive and a simple read.May be available from other places.

Gah! I've tried reading through the other electric threads, but they only made me more confused. I've just about got the hang of woodworking basics, so now it is time to move on the the next challenge, and a new selection of known and unknown unknowns.

 

My layout is around 18 feet long, in a garage.  It has (will have) 9 separatable boards.  It consists of a double track that, including fiddle yard, goes from one end to t'other 4 times - running length maybe 30 metres. OO gauge. You can see a track plan at the start of my 'Knadgerhill' thread.

 

I am not thinking about the (few) points yet, merely getting power to the track. I plan to solder to each piece of track, once I have the wire. And the track. And the soldering iron.

 

Questions...

 

1) What size of equipment wire is needed for a layout of this size? I understand 16/0.2-type references, what sort of amps requirement do I need?

 

2) It is basically a long, double track loop, so I am planning on using 4 colours of wire, one for the positive and one for negative on each track. Is it as simple as I clearly think?

 

3) Do I need to use a different thickness of wire for the 'droppers'? 

 

4) I am thinking that, for simplicity, the wire should simply follow the track bed around, even though this will mean a longer route for it. Is this sensible? Is this what is meant by a 'bus'? Or would it be easier to wire as connections running direct from the control panel to each individual baseboard?

 

Any suggestions regarding pitfalls I haven't even thought of yet would also be welcome.

 

Thanks all.

Forget about bus's and dropper wires. You are DC and they make things more complicated.

With DC you only apply power to the rails when its needed. So if you want a loco to move you need to add power to the track that its standing on. This means that if you dont want a loco to move you have to isolate the track that its standing on. You can isolate tracks by cutting one rail and running a wire from either side of the cut back to the control panel and a switch.You can also isolate the tracks using the points. So give a bit of thought about what you really want. Power can be passed through fishplates easily with DC and you will hardly ever get any power problems so no need to power each length of track.

Its a lot harder to get two locos moving on the same piece of track in DC, although not impossible. Generally you would have one moving on an up line and one on a down line. So you therefore need two controllers, one up and one down. You need to isolate any tracks where the two circuits join or cross t prevent power from one controller moving the wrong locomotive.

16/0.2 wire can be used for all power feed wires and 7/0.2 can be used for isolating section switch wiring if you want to save a bit of cash. You will need more wire than you think as every power feed needs to be attached to a controller or a common block. All switch isolating wires need to come back to the control panel.

There is a very good book by a great writer here all about model railway DC wiring. Its easy to read and easy to understand. https://www.amazon.co.uk/PSL-Book-Model-Railway-Wiring/dp/1852601736 There may be others out there from different places.