Jaggzuk

Ian, fair comment, I guess I was not thinking of the signals in use on Llanbournes more rather the fact that with your simple switch idea you could achieve some level of having Auto signals between Controlled signals.

Very impressed with this one Ian, so simple! I have been trying things via a different approach using IC Logic gates http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/106602-family-8x4-oo-layout-scenery-track-ballasting-and-signalling/?p=2313390. Still very much WIP. If I may add a couple of extra images (modified from yours) which may be of interest to you Peter. One shows how it could be modified to incorporate an Auto signal. This one shows how the switches set the signal sequence in the direction of travel towards a Red signal. The modified circuit to incorporate an Auto signal. With this one, the Auto signal will not show a Red Aspect, which means the preceding signal will never need to show a Yellow aspect. This saves one switch and brings a nice touch to the signal operation I think. Obviously, I say the Auto will not show a red, in the real world it will go to red once a train passes it and then sequence through to green accordingly.

A bit of real 12 inches to the foot stuff. Fresh out of the paint/workshop poly tunnel at the Wensleydale Railway at Leeming Bar, 47715 repainted from its Fragonset 'Poseidon' livery in to the NSE one it carried from 1993. Looking very nice too. But I still can't make my mind up which NSE livery I prefer the most http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/106602-family-8x4-oo-layout-scenery-track-ballasting-and-signalling/?p=2311530. I think the original for the dynamic lines but darker blue of the second version. http://www.scot-rail.co.uk/photo/scaled/6521.jpg Photos courtesy of my eldest, not bad for 5 1/2

A bit more progress on the signal control front, which I have to say, has been an enjoyable learning exercise if not a bit addictive!. I have now got myself some Logic Gate Integrated Circuits (IC) and another breadboard to play with. The most useful Logic Gate for this project would appear to be an AND gate. Each IC component comes with 4 separate logic gates; that is 2 input and 1 output. There are other versions with 3 inputs but then you drop down to 3 gates. This means that for each signal control unit I only need 2 out of the 4 gates. Therefore, the 2 spare could be used to control such things as junction indicators or other direction associated functions. The test set up works very well and I can see that it is going to be better and more flexible than using transistors. Breadboard trials - Transistor circuit on the left and the IC logic gate circuit right So for each control unit there will be two wires from the forward (next) signal, two wires to the preceding signal, four wires to the signal under control (R, Y, G and Common) and two wires from the On-On switch. The control unit will also have a +Ve (probably 9 volt) and Common feed. I will use coper strip circuit board (Veroboard) to solder all the components to and use rising clamp PCB mounting terminal blocks for all the off board connections. Hopefully these will end up being neat little units than can be located under the baseboard next to each signal. Think forward to my signals with junction indicators, I think the control unit will take one of the inputs off the switch on the Seep motor which I am using to illuminate LEDs on a mimic track diagram panel which will show point direction. This should mean I can automatically control whether the junction feathers are illuminated based on the point direction and that the signal has a proceed aspect shown. Well that’s the plan anyway. Point direction LED mimic panel

Bit of a bit long update post. First thanks for the positive support and comments, much appreciated. Secondly, I am not normally one for buying locos soon after they are released, but this was an exception. Growing up near to Kings Lynn and being hauled by this one many times, I felt the purchase was very much justified; a lovely model too. Thanks to Monk Bar models, York for this one. 47576 at Kings Lynn Extons Road 1988 47576 at Leeds 1988, looking a bit dirty Next on to the layout updates. As I mention before all the point motors are now installed and tested and are working well so far. I have also been able to utilise a Tortoise (TT) motor I bought years ago to work the curve turnout that I manage to damage by accidental destroying the over centre spring. The motor works well and to hold the loose tie bar nice and snug, I nailed a track pin which the bar now slides against. The downside (for me) was I discovered that TT motor need to be operated by a DPDT switch. Unfortunately, the Peco Lever switches do not cover this type and I really did not want one orphan point switch of a different type; this would just confuse the boys. So, a few nights of head scratching I came up with the Heath Robinson solution. The Seep motor on the left switching a DPDT to control the TT on the right. Using a little frame to holding the spare Seep motor which slides a lolly stick to throw the DPDT, I can now still use the Peco passing contact switch to operate the TT! A bit over kill perhaps but it works. Apart from needing to move on to track weathering and ballasting, I have also been considering how to signal the layout. I have decide to use coloured light, rather than semaphore, even though semaphore is one of my passions, because they will be more fun for the boys and hopefully a bit quicker to make & install. After quite a bit of research, I am going to plump for the Train-Tech offering and for the junction signals, I will add route indicator feathers using the Eckon indicator kit. I have dismissed using the DCC version of the Train-Tech signal primarily as the layout is small, running two/three locos on DCC is hard enough on the handheld without having to deal with two accessory codes per signal; for 3 /4 aspect signals. And I really like the tactile point levers; so I want to operate the signals the same way. However, the Peco lever switches only come in On-Off and On-ON version and my son says he wants “Red, Yellow, Green signals Daddy”. Oh, so that will mean I need an On-On-On switch then! Now these types of switches are a bit rare I have found, only really being supplied by dealers selling guitar parts. So again I am looking to Mr Robinson for inspiration. This is my first attempt at switching three aspect signals with only an On-On switch and in such a way they obey basic signally rules. All Red (direction of travel, left to right) Both signals switched to Red Green, Amber, Red. Both signals switched to show a Proceed aspect All Green It has taken quite a while to come up with this as ‘O’ Level Physics and electronics was a long time ago. Basically, what I have come up with is a semi-automatic signalling system where each signal is controlled by the aspect of the preceding signal i.e. a signal showing a red aspect is preceded by a signal showing Amber and before that a signal showing green. This will hopefully reduce the need for every signal needing to be switched allowing some to be fully automatic. The electronic circuit I have developed uses two transistors to control the Amber and Green aspects which are fed by a single power feed from the On-On switch which also feeds the red aspect. It works Ok as a trail, but after a chat with a friend down the pub, he suggested looking into using Logic Gates ICs rather than transistors, so that will be my next trial. So that is pretty much where I am up to.

We finally have a working lever frame for the points! And I have to say what a difference it makes to playing trains; no more running round the layout manually switching points. Really pleased with the Seep motors and the Gaugemaster CDU, these run of an old 16v transformer. The CDU makes such a difference to firing the points positively and it easily operates three point motors in one go. The Peco passing contact switch levers are lovely to use and give a real feel of being a signalman. The boys are now now slowly learning which lever switches what and also discovering the need to pre-plan to set routes; the number of derailments has gone up a bit due to running over points not set right. It is very interesting that when having to manually switch a point meant less derailments? In the photos below you can see that I have made a very shallow control panel. This supports an 18 point lever frame, which future proof the layout for the fiddle yard extension, the signal switch control panel (the inclined pieced of wood with nothing on it yet) and on the far right the master power on off switch. To the right of the panel will be the layout mimic panel which will have a layout schematic plan and show the direction of the points via red and green LEDS. This will be produce using SCARM mimic panel graphics. Underneath the baseboard is the growing wiring loom, a bit of a mess at the moment, but once all the electrical testing has been done, I will tidy up the wires. I have used 'P' clips to hold bunched wires runs together. The CDU can be seen on the right of the bottom picture attached to the side of the baseboard. The control panel. The lever frame, Peco passing contact switches. The different coloured levers relate to different zones of the layout. The wiring loom, with a copy of the layout plan and point lever colour code suck underneath for when I am laid on my back wiring up! Main 16v auxiliary power feed (center) and CDU (right) The next phase I think will be track weathering and ballasting, deep joy ! One little side note is that we just have discovered the great fun of TPO trains, courtesy of Granddad's old Hornby LMS TPO coach; the one with imitation swing out 'nets' and little red mail bags. The boys have had great fun in picking up and droping the mail. So there might have to be a slight remodel to the station area to accommodate a suitable mail bag pick up/drop point and another next to the flyover both on the outer main line. But more on that soon.

Oh dear, over a month with no updates. Well I guess that is what happens when the the nights get lighter and kids, holidays, garden and general house stuff tries to divide your attention. Anyway, I am trying to have a concerted effort over the next few evenings to get all the points all wired up. I have built a nice discrete control panel now (photo to come later). This will house a frame of 16 peco point levers, a panel of switches for the signals and a master on off switch. This will be attached to the side of the layout and is about 2" deep. One of the reasons for a delay in wiring is that I have been wanting to watch the boys playing with trains so that I could see where they like to stand and observe the areas that they like to reach to do thing like uncoupling and loading etc. That way I can place the control panel at a location less used to stand to reach in to the layout. The best spot I think will be to the left of the island platform. During all the play sessions a few niggles have arisen to do with track and derailments. In the main it relates to certain types of rolling stock and one or two locos. The main culprit is the Railraod MGR wagon which derail on the Settrack points in the goods yard. All I can observe is that even though the single axles pivot slightly (so that they can negotiate tight radii) they still ride up over the point blades and then jump off the track. I have checked the wheel B2B, so it is either the pivot is too stiff or the wagon is too light. Any suggestions a possible solution other than extra weight? The other minor issue is the odd short circuit due to wheel flanges over the dead frog points. In the main this is caused by the Hornby Railroad Class 66. Otherwise, the layout is really fun to play trains on and the track plan offers the flexibility I had hoped for (for the size). We have even got up to 3 trains running at the same time! But having to still manually throw the points is pushing things!

Mmm quite like the look of this one, the weathering is so much more subtle than other Bachmann offerings very nice! A good BR Blue rendition.

It have this one too and yes I would certainly benifit from lights. A good solid runner and looks the part hauling a few Mk1 BR Blue coaches.

Glad my layout has given you some inspiration. Getting the track down quickly and operational was the key thing as the patience of little ones is quite short ;-) But at least you are starting from scratch, I had to rip up the original play track loops to get the baseboard clear before I could start, which was a bit like taking a favorite toy away! With regard to storage of your Son's layout, did you consider the option of a hinged wall layout over the bed with a pulley system? and fold down legs, like the first one shown here http://www.newrailwaymodellers.co.uk/base_board.htm

Great start there on what's yet another Daddy and Son layout. There has been quite an influx of "play" layouts for kids over the last few months, welcome to the club!! Who said the hobby is dying? Will you be keeping the updates in this topic of starting a new one dedicated to the build? Shall be watching your progress with great interest. <edit typos>

I don't know, I think things are looking so much neater already and having got rid of the horribly decomposed peco foam underlay has made such a difference. I know how you feel on progress, I lost three weeks progress with a chest infection back in Feb and it has knocked my momentum. It did not help that the whole family succomed to various bug and things at the same time. Great to see the progress .

Just came across your topic and really like your BR Blue locos. There is something very reassuring about your weathering, they just look right and how I remember BR Blue. I hope you do not mind a couple of questions. First what make is your Class 31? And secondly would you be able to give a bit more detail on how you go about weathering? Apart from the black pigment you say you use, what other products or tools do you use as part of the process?

When I got mine from Airbrush Heaven, I was told that they were running out of some stock items due to Chinese New Year. So I guess with a lot of sites all selling out the same looking compressor that this may be the reason. <edit added web link> Will this might explain things, a very good insight in to the Chinese New Year and factory shutdowns. http://www.thesourcingblog.com/effects-of-the-chinese-new-year-on-manufacturing-part-1/

One of these? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Infl8s-Inflatable-Costume-Jumpsuit-Sports/dp/B00YPTZVYW/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1456940891&sr=8-9&keywords=Inflatable+Chub+Suit+Costume

Cheers K14 for the tips. Not to flood this topic with too many videos, but whilst watching the one you linked to, this one was offered as being similar. The guy took things nice and slow and had some great tips. Mind you when he rattles of an eye, you know he's good!

Forgot the photo of Small Hands working! That's a dual action bottom feed he's using too. Later on he started to mix colours and created a few very abstract seascapes. Just water and food colouring.

Thanks Rumblestripe for the further shots of your tank paint job, looks great. Also the info on paint washes, dusting and varnishing were useful too. I put my kit together over the weekend and had a play; results are shown here http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/106602-family-8x4-oo-layout-track-laying-wiring-commenced/?p=2220679 I also thought I would share a photo of one of the attachments that came with the kit; this is the duel brush holder. This is fixed by removing the red plastic regulator locking ring and dropping the holder over the top. One advantage of using this apart from the obvious, is that it partially covers over the three way adaptor, which also came with the kit, thus giving the adaptor a little bit of protection from accidental knocks, as it does stick out quite a bit. One early question I have, which I am sure I may work out over time but I will ask anyway is, on the bottom feed airbrush version, is there a way to limit the flow of paint? I guess by some form of stop lock to the trigger pull back. I had a fiddle and could not work it out. Instructions did not give anything on this.

We had a little play session with our new Airbrush Kit over the weekend. Very pleased with it so far and really excited about all the model painting work I can do with it. I think from the onset, one of the airbrushes included in the kit will clearly become my normal one; this is side feed version. Our first try out was on some white paper using water mixed with food colouring, mixed fairly strong so that we could see the results. This was quite fun and allowed my eldest to have a go, without too much damage to the walls, ceiling etc. But I have to say he grasped the concept of a dual action brush very quickly; air on and then pull back for paint flow. He had great fun covering sheets of paper with colour spray, but also managed to create some fantastic patterns; the classic being lots of wet paint in a dot and then blowing it with air, to create star shapes. Then things got the better of me, I decided to have a go and weather an old truck!! Well ok, it’s no work of art, but I am pleased with my very first effort. In its original state, the 2nd hand truck (missing its' couplings) chassis was black and the main body was a strong yellow colour, see http://romay.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/unitedglasswagon.jpg. It has all definitely got me rather enthused and excited about the future potential results I can achieve with a bit more practice. I am so glad I have bought the kit. First weathering attempt

Just to say that I have now bought one of these complete airbrush and compressor kits, but I got mine from http://www.airbrushheaven.co.uk/products/?product_id=667 at what I would say was a fanatic price! I cannot fault the company that sells these kits, I phoned to check a few things before ordering and the chap that I talked to (Martyn), was very helpful and knowledgeable of the products and was a modelling himself too. Next day delivery too. My kit was short of one item (planned), the cleaning pot, but this will be sent separately when stock comes in from China, (Chinese New Year delays). This is why the kit is currently shown as out of stock on the website. But by contacting them directly, they arranged for the kit sent part complete. The two airbrush in the kit will complement my current Badger 200 very nicely. One of them come with 3 sizes on nib, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.5. One of the bits in the kit that will be very useful is the 3 way hose junction, which will allow three airbrushes to be run at the same time, a bonus for tasks like weathering I think. The kit also came with a variety of hose converter connectors. I was extremely impressed with just how quiet the compressor is, but then as this is my first, I have little to compare with. It just sounds very quiet to me and with the the reservoir tank the pump does not stay on all the time. One thing to note if you looking around on the Net, on ebay, Airbrush Heaven (airbrushheavenuk2015) also trades under an older name, that of dmtrading2011, , but the products are the same and all come from Crewe. Their main website shows all products sold, more than on ebay. Again Rumblestripe, thanks for a great review and keep posting your airbrush results.

An exciting purchase has now been delivered. This is the complete airbrush and compressor kit form http://www.airbrushheaven.co.uk/products/?product_id=667 at what I would say was a fantastic price! I cannot fault the company that sells these kits, I phoned to check a few things before ordering and the chap that I talked to (Martyn), was very helpful and knowledgeable of the products and was a modelling himself. My kit is short of one item (planned), the cleaning pot, which will be sent separately when stock comes in from China, (Chinese New Year delays). This is why the kit is currently shown as out of stock on the website. But by contacting them directly, they arranged for the kit to be sent part complete. I went for this kit following the excellent review posted by Rumblestripe on RMWeb http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/107480-so-i-bought-a-cheap-airbrush-kit/ I will post result of the airbrushes being used when I have a go with them. I did try the compressor out and I was very impressed just how quiet it sounded, bu then as I have never had one not a real comparison ;-0 One thing to note, if you looking around on the Net for such a kit, on ebay, Airbrush Heaven (airbrushheavenuk2015) also trades under an older name, that of dmtrading2011, but the products are same and all come from Crewe. Their main website shows all products sold, more than on ebay.

Hi ModuleOO First thanks for the post on my layout topic, glad you like it. It obviously led me to your layout topic, and what a layout! I think it is fantastic. I have read if from the start and really like how you have built it up; track plan, scenery detail, signalling, lineside details and rolling stock weathering. All very impressive and a well presented Topic here on RMWeb. There were so many individual posts I could have 'liked'. You have managed to create a really Scotish feel to the layout. On thing that is really clever and I did not really notice this until I started watching all your layout videos is that your layout is double sided. Such a imaginative use of space. One question, what size is your baseboard? Great layout, will follow with interest. Paul

Once more back under the layout we go.... This time it is to connect some 6 core cable to all the point motor choc blocks. I have striped and tinned all the wire so that they are a bit more resistant to the screw connections in the blocks. Not the best colours in the world, a bit too pastel for my liking, but hay ho it was second hand cable, which cost me a could of pints! The cables then run to where the control panel will go; centrally on the station side of the baseboard. . I will terminate and solder on to Tag Strips to the inside edge of thr baseboard ready for connection to the control panel wiring. And control panel well there's another project to consider, more on that later.

Great advice on the upside down soldering risk but for me age has already got me there, been a glasses wearer for sometime. Plus I always made sure my head was well to the side of the soldering zone. The other option for safety, just buy an inexpensive pair of wraparound safety glasses from any DIY store.

Had a wee accident installing the point motor on one of the curved points while trying to enlarge the baesboard hole for the tie bar from underneath. I managed to snag the little cover plate to the over center spring and completely mess it up; not recoverable! Really annoyed as this was a brand new one for the layout. So, two options, buy another one, or try a different point motor, as I have both a Tortoise and a Fulgurex motor in my box of bits; bought many years ago. I am quite happy to try either motor as it will serve as a trial for future conversions of Peco points. But the big issue I have it how to deal with the now slightly lose tie bar and point blades. Not the side to side movement as the stall motor will deal with that, it is the longitudinal slack I need to eliminate. Any advice?