froobyone

I thought I'd chime in as I'm building a TT layout. I've eagerly been waiting for today and due to a Red Arrow using my house as an orbit point for about twenty minutes, I arrived at the announcement nice and early. *takes deep breath and gathers coherent thoughts* HST Train Set. +1 Should have started with this. Instead I had to start with an A1 and Pullmans. Maybe it would have sparked an interest in railways that the original Hornby HST did to me in 1979. Not sure how many young modellers know the difference between and A1 and an A3. Luckily, I do. It's the colour isn't it? :P J50 +1 Not for me, but it opens up lots of smaller builds. A great first step for a new modeller and still has a appeal to the more seasoned. Container wagons. +1 Something for the Sheds when they get here. I've personally got nothing against Sheds, apart from the fact that they've took all the fun out of it. You can stick your robust 98% availability for traffic. You'll never get stories of sitting behind a failed Class 40 in December 1982 and slowly freezing to death until a duff comes to rescue your partly frozen corpses. OK, I know sheds don't haul Hull Daily Mail sponsored Christmas trips to London, but it's my hill and I'll die on it! Kitchen Pullmans. FO. I've got enough Pullmans! More Oil Wagons. Hornby have been surreptitiously taken over by "big oil" and they are forcing a new narrative. Oil is good mkay? Signals. These look really really good -for a train set. I'd have literally sh*t a kitten if I'd have had these as a nine year old. However, I'm 54 and currently have no RTR way of signalling my layout. As others with a great deal more knowledge than I have pointed out, these signals only are good for two regions. Neither of which I'm modelling. I don't know why I'm bothered, it's not like Woodburn could ever expect to be even remotely prototypical, but there's things that you do that you don't know are wrong and things you do knowing that there are wrong. I'm not at the "knowing they are wrong" stage yet. Green Gronk. Worst colour ever invented by eyes. Stop it. Trains are blue. Thoughts concluded. Best Dan

Interesting to read of your issues. My own 8 pin TXS went nuclear for no readily apparent reason. As I was shoehorning it into a TT:120 gronk, I had put it down to a PICNIC issue (problem in chair, not in chip). Having seen this I'm now wondering if I'm not as terrible a human being as I'd previously thought. I'd originally thought, due to my colour blindness, I'd just got my wires crossed. It didn't help that I was also adding lights front and back... Not that I'd been able to claim on warranty anyway, I'd removed the chip plug. Hope you get yours sorted. Best Dan

Hi all, The Easter weekend afforded me some time to get some work done on Woodburn. I had been prevented from making progress due to a blocker. That blocker being the need to fit and wire my point motors before I started laying the rest of the track. It was a blocker because I've never fitted and wired point motors before and do so with much trepidation. However, rather than be held at a red, I figured if I make the sections with the points removeable, I can fit them when I'm brave enough and therefore, at least step up to a yellow. My goal for today was to complete the loop, but I only managed to make it as far as the bridge (too far). The cutting and gluing of the cork took longer than I'd bargain for. On top of that, due to using Peco flexi, I had to hand drill each hole for the track pins. Ironically, I never use track pins, the one time I do, the track is sans holes... One thing I've always wanted but never had, is canted track. I think it ads a lot of drama to otherwise boring bends. To that end, I've raised the outer rails by approximately 6", which is 1.27mm at TT scale. I'm pretty sure for 7th radius curves the cant would be a lot less, but sometimes you need to slightly exaggerate to see the effect you want. To help with track spacing and because I didn't want to buy something I could make myself, I developed a track spacing tool specifically for code 55 streamline, with a centre to centre distance of 35mm. It was a bit fiddly to put together, so I redesigned it to make assembly easier and I'll stick them on eBay with the rest of my kits. It worked really well for me and even worked on the curves, which exceeded my expectations. I've got a fair whack of scroll saw work to do on the boards each side of the bridge as the plan is to have the track on an embankment. I had planned on using my jigsaw, but I need something with a bit more finesse and a bit less jackhammer. Everything right of the tracks will be removed and on the left, it'll follow the curve of the track as it moves inwards. Under the bridge will either be a river or canal. I'm leaning towards canal as I've never modelled one of those before (Editor: You've never done a river either!) and I'm really interested in pouring some resin. My scroll saw won't arrive until next week, so I've plenty of time to get the southern curve laid and then onto the station and the BR wheel bearing maintenance facility. Until next time and happy Easter all. Dan

My single Mk3 so far obtained, also does not run as freely as I would have expected. Considering the Pullmans have additional drag due to the electrical contacts, they run so much cleaner and longer after a push. I did a side by side test and the Pullmans easily go half a coach further. Maybe the Mk3's need a little running in to free-up. I can't test this theory as I have no running track currently wired (pun half intended). After examining the wheels, only one out out of the four is free running, The other three are being restricted somehow. I'm wondering if a little tickle of PTFE or silicone lubricant might give it some help. I'll test it at some point. I hope this is solvable as HSTs are the only reason I'm going to TT. :-/ Best Dan

Hi all, It's been a while since I posted an update and that's because I've had a good dose of one step forward, two steps back. In the intervening time I've dismantled the whole baseboard and refitted all the legs with better screws. This was not only time consuming, but also morale consuming. It had taken weeks to put together first time around and to have to do it all again made me almost give up on the whole thing. However, seeing the TT:120 HSTs get released gave me my second wind and I promptly rebuilt the boards, added the raised sections, painted it and even got as far as laying the first bit of underlay and track. This first curve will be the key that everything else is built off, so it's an important moment. Building work then stopped as I worked on the island platforms that will form the main station. I had originally planed to laser cut and engrave the tops and walls, but engraving bricks at TT scale took so much time that I deemed it wasn't worth it. So I had to rethink things and decided to use the technique I used for some of my eBay kits, which is to create the graphics digitally and then cut them with the laser. I'm leaning towards producing these platforms as kits. Three platforms and the pre-cut prints. No idea when as I have to figure out how to post them safely. Once I've figured that out, I'll make three versions, some without yellow stripes, some like the ones below and some with the tactile paving strip. In the version seen below, this were cut with the printed media bonded to the wood. However, I', not happy with the little cut out bits for the wall tabs and prefer to cut the wood and paper separately, despite it taking more time to do it that way. Quality first though right? Final image is the platforms roughly laid out to get a sense of the scale of the station. It will comfortably fit a seven coach HST. Observant webbers may also notice the first Mk3 to grace the metals. It's actually the wrong colour for my first set, but the blue and greys aren't out at the time of writing. I plan to have a full rake of Swallow anyway, providing Hornby release a proper Executive set of power cars, not Swallow misreported as Executive... That's all for now. Thanks for reading. Dan

Hi all, Having had a busy couple of weeks making kits for customers, I've finally had chance to get some layout work done. I have decided on MDF for the raised trackbed etc. It's a bit heavier than the ply I was going to use, but I prefer the surface finish. I will be creating most of my road and path textures myself and then printing everything out. I think the MDF will give a better effect. The downside is that I have to cut all my wood outside and that requires compliant weather... We did have a nice sunny day this week though, so I made a start on the front/town sections. I've also been setting the risers in place that the MDF will sit on. I also bit the bullet and did a couple of outstanding jobs on the base boards. Finally crawling underneath and drilling all the bolt holes to fix the boards together and finishing off the latches that are on the outside As I turned 54 yesterday, I can tell you, this wasn't pleasant. -_- Along the front edge of the scenic section will be the station access road. It bothers me that everything is so aligned with the board edges though. My original plan was to have the whole thing shifted 30 degrees, but the fact that is has to be possible to dismantle it, made the track breaks a nightmare. :/ I still have to jigsaw out two large squares from the baseboard to allow access to the underside of the MDF as there will be lighting in the station, on the platforms and for the point motors. I've also raised the road section with some heavy polystyrene sheet. I didn't want the station building to be too high but also didn't want to compromise the height of the bridge in the countryside section. At the other end the road will go underneath the railway and slowly incline to MDF level towards the back section. I'm doing it as split bridge design similar to ones we had in my city. Four main tracks and then two goods tracks. I haven't got a solid plan on the town area yet. It will depend on how everything looks raised up and with the track in place. Feel free to point out all my clichés. :D Until next time Dan

Hi all, I've decided not to wait until April and I'm going to commit to TT:120 now. I'm not going to have anything era appropriate to run on mainlines for some time, but a model railway is about more than just trains right? Right? It might actually go in my favour, as I can't count the amount of hours I've wasted in the past watching trains instead of doing some work... Made a start laying/roughing the trackwork. Everything is flexi and Peco turnouts. I was worried about making the curves, as the Peco flexi is pretty stiff. A consequence of having the track buried in the plastic I guess. I had the idea to use OO curves as a template to push against and it worked perfectly. Because I have four tracks curving, I used a 2nd radius for the inner tracks plus a 3rd radius for the outer tracks. I used the inside and outside edges. Next job is to figure out the wood shapes to elevate the track bed to allow for bridges in each scenic section. I feel another trip to B&Q is in there air. Added pics of the roughing out. Until next time. Daniel

I think waiting is good advice and see what April brings. Thanks all Best Daniel

I did embark on an N project about twenty years ago, but even with twenty-year younger eyes, I struggled to see it properly. I appreciate the suggestion non the less. Since my above post, I have mocked up a OO double track. It'll fit a five coach HST set. Not terrible, but also less than desirable. I think I need to spend some time meditating to the sound of screaming Valentas. Best Daniel

Hi all. Long time no progress.. Well, once the baseboards were constructed, I hit a block. I'm really not sure or confident that TT:120 is the way to go for me. I chose the scale to allow some scale length trains to run, but the reality is, it'll be months, possible years until there's enough stock to be able to even put two rakes together. I'm also not confident that Hornby won't pull the plug at any given moment. This has been keeping me up at night and it's actually causing me stress. Model railways shouldn't cause you stress. I'm going to use the already built baseboards and lay out some OO track to see how cramped it looks and see if it can inspire me to come up with a reduced layout that still ticks some of my boxes. However, deep down I know it is going to look cramped and have no feasible way to run anything near a full rake of coaches. I do have a couple of EMUs and I've always had a penchant for Southern/NSE. Maybe I could build something for them, but that is a long way from my dream of running HSTs. First world problems right? I'll keep you posted when I know what I'm doing with my life... Best Daniel

FreeCAD gets my vote too. Although I mainly did my modelling in Foundry's Modo.

Shocked and saddened by this news. My thoughts go out to all affected. Dan

All the best to my fellow Webbers. I hope there's a train set under every tree. Dan

Hi all, I have finally got the baseboards corralled into some kind of oblong herd. It's baseboard shaped. It's a baseboard. I laid some Hornby setrack on it to try and get a sense of scale and it's plenty scaley. The first train was run on the track/board today, although I'm not sure if an 08 and two vent vans counts as a train. It's been a tough build so far, but I'm hoping the heavy stuff is done now. I do need to add some latch clips to the sides where boards join and I also need to replace-in-place all the screws that hold the leg hinges as I knocked one of the legs earlier and it pulled all the screws out! Mostly because I used smaller screws to avoid them making tank traps on the top, but clearly I was too conservative. My main area of uncertainty was the three square pieces in the middle. Because 1) they are in three pieces because that's how I had to have them cut. 2) I didn't have any wood left to give them their own legs and 3) and hadn't thought it through. As luck would have it, because I also it seems can't math, I did in fact have eight legs left. I rejoiced, prematurely as it turned out, as I didn't have any leg hinges left! Not to be thwarted, I added batons to the bottom of the frames and the middle part sits happily on them. As to the long middle sections at each side, I've had to make them moveable to allow access to the central area. So these are sat on metal brackets that are screwed to the frames but allow those sections to slide out like a well-oiled machi- like a Morris that's been stood idle for four thousand years. Pic below. (Of the brackets, not the four thousand year old Morris). My next problem is working out how I'm going to elevate the trackwork and town on the North side and allowing the viaduct on the South side. I've got a shed load (it came with my shed) of polystyrene which I've been keeping for this task, but because I'm motorising the turnouts, wherever turnouts are situated will have to be wood. Not only that, but I'm going to have to cut through the main baseboard to allow access. Giving myself nightmares over all that. I am however still pleased to have got the hard part out of the way and as the ferrous fox once said "just rejoice at that news..." Until next time Your friendly neighbourhood Froobyone (also Dan)

Marvellous. Thank you. I've bookmarked the listing. If funds allow, I will pre-order. Thanks again.

Hi all, Well it's been a case of one step up, two steps back this week. I did finally finish baseboard construction and had moved on to the legs and that's where my problems started. My plan had been to drill through the side rails and attach the legs with bolts, however, I had not factored in how the bloody thing would go together. In that it wouldn't. Also, having finally laid out all the baseboards on the floor, I was hit with how big it's going to be. Like too big. It'll fit in the space, but I better not have a Ferrero Roche over Christmas, or I'm not going to. I did consider going down to two boards deep, but after spending a couple of hours redesigning the track plan to fit, I hated it. It just wasn't what I wanted from this. I'll have to be brave and stick to the original plan. Once I realised my (stupid) leg plan was a bust, I had to shell out from some folding leg brackets. In between cutting and dispatching some models kits today, I managed to fit four of them to a board, only to discover with much glee that the screws are too long and now I've got pretty effective tank traps/finger gougers on the top of the baseboard. I scratched my finger pretty bad, but on the plus side, it stopped a Panzer III. I'll need some shorter screws and that'll be sorted. In other news. I had a problem with my initial Hornby DCC power supply that came with the Scotsman set. I spoke to support and they very quickly dealt with the problem by sending me another power supply. It would have been nicer if it had been the correct power supply, but it's the thought that counts. No it isn't. I had to message again to explain and they very quickly sent the correct one. I can't complain at the service. It was polite and efficient. However and this is an indication my week I guess, when I plugged it in, I still couldn't get power to the track. The connector between the supply and the two-pin only works when you put pressure on it. I'm not going to trouble Hornby again, I'll figure something else out. I won't be using the Hornby connector track anyway, as I'm all Peco code 55. and finally. I managed to source a bunch of Peco point motors off eBay. There was twelve of them that had been taken from a layout and that's exactly how many I need. I couldn't believe my luck. It was an auction but with offers allowed. I made an offer and it was accepted. The icing on the cake was they also all have the accessory switches and a couple have CDUs. Very much looking forward to electrocuting myself and possibly the cat. Until next bzzzzzzzzzzt! Dan

I still don't have a speed boat...

From what I understand it's for squaring a workpiece in the chuck. You place the bearing facing the work and spin the chuck. Then you advance the bearing against it. Dan

Hi all. Not much of an update today. More baseboard construction. I did miss my target of completion, mostly due to the fact that I broke one of my clamps with my tremendously muscular gri- no, they were made of plastic. That meant that I could only clamp three sides at once, thus delaying things somewhat. In other news, the plucky 08 is running much better now. I tried to do an auto calibrate today, but for some reason the HM7000 app wouldn't let me arm it. I did however manage to drop the brightness of my (incorrect) running lights. It's nice to not have a portable sun on the front. I am, as yet unable to properly seat the shell on the chassis. There is a .5mm gap due to, well, physics. I'll have another fettle with the wiring as I have to dismantle it soon anyway because the stay alive will need wiring in, just so I can test it's viability, despite not having room to fit it... The net vexing issue was going to be the legs, but I've formed a plan as to their construction/ease of removal, leaving only the question of height. As mentioned previously, I'd like it to be enjoyed by my granddaughters, but (mainly) enjoyed by me -because neither of them are lifting a finger to help me build it! :D The main track level will be elevated above the base board on the town side to facilitate the viaduct on the other side. I also, for some unknown reason, want to see the mainline go over an urban road bridge. I have in mind the bridge/low key tunnel at York. I think it's nice to be able to look up at trains. It's a familiar viewpoint. After all, none of us were born as camera drones. I've spent a few days thinking about what I'm trying to create. I know it certainly isn't a prototypical rendition of something historical. I have neither the knowledge nor the will to be able to execute something like that with anything near the skill needed. Also, I've never really understood where the line is drawn. Sure, there a big bold lines drawn like don't run an Southern EMU in Carlisle but the finer lines, such as "this class 37 never went north of Wigan" I mean, if you're going to be that exact, does that mean you have to make sure that each and every flower and tree is correct for the region and season? I take my hat of to those who really can go that far. It's a real talent. Me however, I'm not trying to create a day in a year in a region, I'm trying to create a memory. A fuzzy memory of what made the railways great. The things that made me fizz with excitement as a child. If I can create that feeling again. Then every minute of toil, will be worth it. Best Dan

Thank you so much for this. I would have never found that information on the Hornby forum and I've been trawling that recently. I will try the calibration tomorrow. Earlier today I "borrowed" the track from my Scotsman set and laid it out on two of my boards and then ran it for a good 30 mins in both directions, as per running-in advice. It does seem to be running a lot better, but it will still occasionally stall. I've got a stay alive on order, but to be honest, there's no way I'm going to be able to fit it in the space that's left. My space problems stem from having to use normal resistors instead of the micro ones that TWW uses. Five of them are taking up a lot of room. I'm considering a bit of a cheat regarding the stay alive. Namely, permanently coupling a brake and having a stay alive in it wired to the shunter. Of course the only brake vans available are Era 4, along with my vent van. However, as I'm going to have to stretch believability anyway due to a complete lack of 80s rolling stock, I can live with it. If it's even possible. We shall see. Constructed another baseboard today, leaving only two of the big ones and three half-sized ones left. While I was running in the 08 earlier I was taken aback by how satisfying it was just to sit and watch it trundle by. I've not been able to watch a diesel train trundle by for over twenty years. I have had steam trains running via DC for the grandkids to play with, but only set up on a big table and put away again. I'm even more pleased that I opted for a continuous run layout. That's all for now. I'm off to think up a backstory as to why an LNER built Toad is still in use on the Western Region in 1984... Best Dan

Hi all Quick update. I've sorted the gronk's running problems. I re-bent the wipers arms on the wheels, cleaned wheels and pickups with isopropyl alcohol which sorted the connection problems (ish) and the speed issue was down to the motor being just a little too tight on the gear. That was a bit of a worry, as the motor is super glued in place due to having to remove the motor bracket to fit the encoder in. However, a little application of heat soon freed it off. I think I'll come up with a new solution to holding the motor in place. Unfortunately the application of heat also melted some of my chassis top, so that's going to need a bit of plasticard. :-/ I've also decided to bite the bullet and fit a stay alive and to that end, removed the large chunk of metal that would impede its fitment today. Very careful hacksawing needed, but it went without a hitch. The weather was also sort of dry today, so I managed to cut almost all of my framing wood, save for two 550mm pieces. I'm on to my third board glue up and will hopefully have the rest completed over the weekend. Then I hope, the fun begins, but I say that with the full knowledge that my future also includes ballasting and painting rail sides... Until next time Dan

Hi Rob. Don't be put off. Most of those wires are for (incorrect) lighting. Without those it's only four wires and a lead for the speaker. I have converted non DCC ready OO locos in the past and it wasn't too bad a job, despite being colour-blind. Good luck with your conversions. :) Dan

Thank you. I didn't know that about the marker lights. It will be tasked with some trip freight on the mainline, so I may have to leave them in an incorrect configuration for shunting. I think I can live with it, after all, I lived with red marker lights on the backs of locos hauling a rake for long enough. :) Thanks again for the info. Dan

Thank you both and sorry for late reply. I've spent the last eight hours soldering recalcitrant wires to a decoder and it has not been the most fun I've ever had. After already blowing a decoder I absolutely didn't want to put this one on the track. However I had checked things probably seventeen times and whilst I wasn't confident any of it would work, because I'm an idiot, I knew I couldn't put it off. The shell and the chassis aren't together yet as I still have no idea how I'm going to stuff all the wires in there. That's future me problems and I have today me problems to deal with. I gingerly put it on the track. It didn't blow up. Good start. I then had to update firmware get the 08 profile etc. Then it was a quick power off and on again and a press of the auto button. She's alive! Lights came on pointing the correct direction and the cab light worked too. I was only able to do this conversion because of the This Way Works on YouTube, but I decided to leave the floodlights out. I also didn't fit a stay alive, but I'm regretting that now as she's a terrible runner currently. I don't know if the profile needs tweaking from the OO 08 as that's the profile I'm using. There are two main problems, 1) maintaining electrical contact while moving and 2) the motor will not spin at a consistent rate. It's like it's hunting. Speeds up then slows down and repeats. I am no expert at DCC CVs so I'm a bit lost. Unfortunately, so few people have done this, there are few people I can ask. I did reach out to This Way Works, but I don't expect he'll be able to help. So I'm going to chalk this up as a partial win, with some more investigation needed. If anyone has any ideas, please drop them below. Thank you Dan

Hi I managed to machine a flywheel for the shunter. It's just some round-stock turned down to fit between the motor mounts and a 1mm hole drilled through it. Not sure what difference it will make, but it can't hurt. I was waiting most of the day for my new decoder to arrive so I thought I'd take the opportunity to start the weathering process. I wanted to depict an extremely worn example. The period I'm modelling is the 1980s, when decay and underfunding was the livery. I found weathering at this scale really challenging, so think of this as a first go. I still have the lights to fit and some tidy up, plus I am considering a chipping pass, but I'm not sure if I can do decent looking chipping at this scale. The body isn't secured in these photos. I was going to ask how to add photos to the actual posts instead of an image dump, but I figured it out. Best Dan