Phil-Essex

16 hours ago, Powerhaul 70 Pey said:

Looks great.  Nice video too of your locos with sound.  Following this, keel up the great work!

Thanks Powerhaul. Adding sound is addictive... expensive but addictive. Durrington Central looks great btw

Apologies for the lack of activity on this thread, work has been continuing on the layout I just haven't updated RMWeb so here goes.

Station 

Filler was applied to the platforms to create a level surface for the platform edging from Scalemodelscenery which is a great product although you have to be very careful with the tactile paving as the bobbles are very delicate even after painting.

More filler was then applied to level the platforms with the edging and this was then sanded and painted.

Still a lot to tidy up but overall I am happy with how it looks. Need to figure out what I am going to do with the area in front of the station, the ground level needs to be brought up so its level with the platform for a start though.

New Tunnel/Fiddle yard entry

For the fiddle yard entry at the station end of the layout I have created a hill and tunnel and plan to site a church on the hill. The hill was constructed from wood and foamboard cover with plaster cloth and then sculptamould, this was a new product for me and I really like it and have ordered some more. The Tunnel mouth was made using Das clay on a wood former.

A strength test was also conducted on the viaduct by my cat Lexie

Hi Rhydgaled

I've measured the wheel diameter excluding flanges on both the old and new wheels and they appear to be identical. The only difference I can see is the depth of the flanges.

I contacted Hornby regarding the wheels on my XC rake of SD coaches and have received a full set of replacement wheels today. Mistakes happen but glad that Hornby have shown great customer service for me on this occasion. 

On 23/11/2020 at 20:53, cravensdmufan said:

Did that work for you?  I was going to reply same as mezzoman.  Turning off DC running cured that for me.  I turned  it off on all my TTS chips.

When I checked DC running was already disabled so unfortunately the issue remains.

Thanks I’ll give that a try

Hello, I have a Vitrains 37 fitted with a TTS decoder that is at random intervals moving off at a very slow speed of its own accord. I usually only notice when it causes a short by entering the points at the end of my fiddle yard. 

Has anyone else experienced anything like this? I use a Z21 and the decoder has a unique address and no other locos exhibit this behavior, not sure what to try!

Phil

Not much progress on the layout recently but have found some time to dabble with DCC sound. I've added Legomanbiffo sound to my class 68, 70 & Voyager with the decoders from DCkits and the speakers from Roads and rails with excellent service from both. Initially installed a double iPhone speaker in the 70 but didn't feel it conveyed the power of the real thing so with some trepidation I took the Dremel to the tank and installed an EM1 which I am much happier with. For the Class 68 I installed 2 of the square megabass speakers below which sound good.  

The Voyager has a double iPhone speaker in each of the centre coaches however I'm not sure about the sound and may upgrade these to the square megabass speakers. I've put together the video below to show them in action. Must get back to working on the station area now!

Hello everyone I haven't updated this thread in a while so here goes. I've made some more progress on the station area with the embankment and retaining wall now in place and a base layer of grass applied. I have also added a small baseboard extension so that the layout now flows around the corner better and think this has been a great improvement which probably doesn't come across in the pictures. Next jobs are to paint the retaining wall and platform faces and then install the platform edging.

I finally got around to fitting the Express models light kits to my Cross Country 170 & Voyager, think I've had these for over 5 years. The Voyager was very fiddly and I had to count to ten a few times! whereas the 170 was relatively straightforward. Programming the lights to work as normal i.e daytime/rears on F0 directional control was initially a major pain/impossible as I was trying to use my Z21. I gave up on that and dug out my SPROG which made things SO much easier. So much so that I have now set it up permanently.

Voyager before

Voyager after

Class 170 before and after

Hello all. Managed to make some more progress on the station area this weekend. The Peco platform edging is now in place and faced with Wills stone which matches the look I am aiming for much better than the Slaters sheets in my opinion.

I’ve also ordered platform edging from Scale model scenery to go behind the Peco edging https://www.scalemodelscenery.co.uk/lx213-oo-platform-coping-with-tactile-paving-for-peco-lk-62-670mm---oo4mm176-7365-p.asp

I spent today building the embankment structure and now need to cover this and cover with plaster bandage. 
 

Happy modelling!

Thanks for the positive comments Scott. The viaduct was my first attempt at scratch building and I’m pleased with how it’s turned out. Still quite a bit to do on it and the valley.
 

Phil

Hello All, I made a bit more progress with the station area over the weekend and trimmed all of the Peco edging down and secured it in place.

I also ordered some Slaters stone sheets to use as the edging though to be honest I am not convinced either style is suitable.

The effect I am looking for is like the below so If anyone knows of a suitable embossed sheet then please let me know. I could use DAS and scribe the stone work like I did for the viaduct but its a lot of work and I doubt i could make it thin enough to use with the Peco edging strips. Any advice would be appreciated! Phil

Evening all, Not had much time to work on the layout lately but managed to grab a few hours today and made a start on the station area. I've decided on an S&C theme and have purchased a Skaledale station building, Waiting room and Signal box. I am going to attempt the platform build method Gordon S used on Eastwood town.

I want the station to be able to handle an 8 coach HST which means the station will have to flow into a curve. I've cut MDF into strips and have temporarily secured these in place to see how it looks. The Peco platform edging has been cleaned up to allow it to be attached straight onto the MDF and the plan is to use Slaters stone plasticard for the faces.  

For the station footbridge I have got an Lcut Creative LMS footbridge which I now need to build. Looks a bit fiddly .

That looks great.

Thanks for the positive comments. I am pleased with how the viaduct is progressing as it’s taken a long time and a lot of work to get it to where it is now. I used Arten Gill as inspiration so following an S&C theme may be the way to go for the rest of the layout.

Hello everyone, I thought I would come out of the shadows and add my layout Scarsdale to the forum.

Following a recent house renovation I am lucky enough to have a large loft space 29ft x 9ft for my layout which has been under construction for about a year so far. It took several months to complete the baseboards and decide on a track plan which I have purposely kept simple as I have precious little modelling time and wanted a layout I have a fighting chance of finishing or at least getting to a reasonable standard.

This is only my second layout after a previous aborted attempt and I have chosen to model the present day to allow me to run trains from any era. I wanted the layout to include a section running through countryside incorporating a bridge or viaduct along with a station that can accommodate decent length trains. 

The viaduct is a work in progress as is the grass which is my first attempt at using static grass. I've created my first ever Youtube video showing some of my stock running on the layout too.

I would appreciate any comments / feedback on the layout so far.
Happy modelling
Phil

I tried to keep the wiring as simple as possible but it sounds as though fitting an accessory bus for the Cobalts would resolve the issue. I will look at fitting suppressors to the track bus as well to help with the voltage spikes.

Thanks for the help everyone 

Hi All, I recently installed 19 Cobalt IP Digital point motors on my new layout which I control using a Roco Z21 and they have been great except that I have now twice experienced issues with all 19 motors losing their addresses following shorts. Both shorts were due to derailments due to incorrectly set points. On both occasions I had to go around and reapply the addresses to each motor which although a simple process is frustrating. Has anyone else experienced this? Any advice would be gratefully received.

Phil

I hate it when people post "You have a PM" in a thread.

I also hate the overuse of the word like. "I like went to the shops" ??? argh

I have a Gaugemaster Prodigy 2 and when a short occurs SVDA is shown on the handset along with a beeping sound and the track power is cut.