And this will wrap up this week’s "Train Day", more to come next Monday or possibly on Saturday. Here I am getting ready to install the servo from Tram Valley Depot (not shown). I will be mounting this 2 inch square piece of hardboard to the underside of the foamboard using liquid nails to secure it. A screw and nut, not the ones shown, will be used to secure it until the liquid nails has hardened. The somewhat square hole cut out of the homabed is where the wire from the servo will intersect with the throw bar. The servo is installed in one of the mounts that Tam Valley Depot sells and I tested it with one of their Quad Servo DCC Accessory Decoders and a Fascia Controller, all powered by my PowerCab. A tip for anyone making their own turnouts; drill the hole for the wire in the throw bar before building the turnouts. The hole is a bit hard to get centered in the throw bar. The servo mounting bracket includes double sided tape that it used to temporarily fasten the mounting bracket to the hardboard and screws holes for a more permanent mounting. This shows the underside of the foamboard where the 2 inch hardboard will get installed. It's not too pretty under there: That's all for now. As you can see I did not get the turnout installed like I had planned, and I haven’t had my golden spike moment yet. Thanks for looking! Michael
I know I am late to the party, but can you describe the RF Filters you made? I am using the same controller and currently do not have my main buss terminated.
Craig, I am by no means an expert when it comes to DCC or filters. I would suggest you take a look at Marcus' DCC for Dummies page. Once on his page do a search for Power Bus TRACK Terminators, and you should find everything you are looking for. Also, take a look at Allan Gartner's www.wiringfordcc.com page. Good luck and thanks for looking, Michael
Updates from my "Train Night". I finally had my golden spike moment on my layout. Last night I got the first turnout installed and spiked. It is not wired up yet, but the servo is installed and functions correctly via the fascia switch. I have not tried if from the PowerCab yet. Here are some pictures: I scraped the mounting idea for the servos from a few posts back. It just wasn't working to my satisfaction. The small hardboard mount that I made was not sitting very level, which made it difficult to properly align the servo with the throwbar/points. I also didn't like the idea of using double sided tape to secure the servo mount as suggested by Tam Valley Depot, which added to the alignment issues. I decided to mount the servo to a small piece of Lexan plastic and then mounted that directly to the turnout. It was much easier, plus it allows me to adjust the throw of the points before installing the turnout. No fishing around with my hands under the layout. I used liquid nails to attach the servo to the Lexan and clear caulk to attach the Lexan to the turnout. I will take some more detailed photos on the next turnout. You might be able to make out a 1.5" x 0.5" cutout on the roadbed near the throwbar. That is the mount for the servo. The mount will help keep ballast from falling to the floor. I'll need to seal up the edge slightly. I'll have to fill in the roadbed a bit still and of course paint the turnout. Here is a closer view: And the actual golden spike, the left most spike: Photos taken with my iPhone. I decided to use spikes to hold the turnout in place in case it needs any future maintenance. I predrilled the holes in the ties so not to put too much pressure on the crossties and homabed when driving in the spikes. I should be able to wet the ballast, pull up the spikes and remove the turnout. I won't be using rail joiners, so it should pop right out. I plan on using polybond cement for holding the rails on the rest of the handlaind track, other than turnouts. I may throw in the occasional spike for looks. Thanks for looking, Michael
Small update. I laid my first ties. Here is a photo. Please excuse the mess. I used a Mainline Tie Rack - Tie Jig from FastTracks (see below) to space out the ties. I plan on using their Siding Tie Rack - Tie Jig when I get to the rest of the sidings, which won't be for quite a while; I only have the mainline jig at this point. I marked a center line on the jig and drew a line across the ties while they were still in the jig. I used this line to help line up the ties on the centerline of my roadbed. You can see the pencil line on the ties. As I said this is going to be my programming track, so I am using this section to test my hand laying technique. While the ties were still in the jig a lay a 1/8" piece of tape over the ties, pressing firmly to make sure all ties make contact with the tape, then carefully remove the section of ties from the jig. I am keeping the section of ties to about 5 inches long for now. I used yellow wood glue spread thinly over the roadbed, keeping the centerline visible. I then lightly press the ties to make sure all the ties are making contact with the glue. The ties like to move when you press them down, so I had to go back and re-align some. I used a scrap piece from a discarded portion of a FastTracks QuickSticks TieStrip as a spacing guide between the turnout and the first hand laid tie. I will take a picture of this in use next time, but you can just see the two scrap pieces in the photo above. On is just below the sharpie and the other is below and to the left. After the glue had dried for several hours I removed the tape using a steel ruler to hold down the ties, just in case. After I finish covering this 18" section with ties I will apply a thin coat of stain, (not sure what I will use at this point) and then lightly sand it off to make sure that the tops of the ties are all even. Then I get to start laying rail. All tips and/or suggestions are very welcome. Thanks for looking, Michael
Why not stain the ties before glueing? I think you'll find that the glue blocks the stain in places, resulting in an uneven & splotchy job, even highlighting the glue. Doesn't matter that much here with ties, as you'll be ballasting, but just wondering why not stain first then lay. And while I've handlaid a bunch o' turnouts, I've never handspiked my track. (never even seen homasote, maybe it's a other-than-West-Coast thing). So bravo for the spiking! I think it'll look great when done.
MC, Thanks for the info and the "bravo"! I've read discussions on stain before or after gluing. I am using a very thin coat of glue, so I don't think there will be an issue with glue blocking the stain. But, if it does become an issue I can change my approach. I hope to find that out on this section. I am always open to thoughts from fellow modelers! One thing that might make a difference, if I stain by dipping the ties in stain the stain may penetrate too deeply into the ties for sanding to be beneficial. Supposedly sanding off the stain provides proof of even tie tops. Just to make it clear, I used Pliobond cement to glue the turnout to the FastTracks QuickStick. I used the occasional spike to attach the finished turnout to the roadbed so that I could easily remove it at a later time if needed. And I will be using the Pliobond cement to glue the rails to the ties. I don't think homabed is "a other-than-West-Coast thing" since it is made by a California based company called California Roadbed. Thanks for looking! Michael
MC, and others, I have been giving pre-staining the ties more thought. My main concern with pre-staining is that the stain may soak deep into the ties making it difficult to sand off the top to ensure even tie tops. The plus side of pre-staining then sanding would be easier staining and a cleaner job. I have pre-painted my roadbed the approximate color of my ballast and the thought of getting stain all over the paint seems counterproductive. I would think it would be much easier and cleaner to just have to re-stain the tie tops. Anyone have any additional thoughts? Michael
Sticking with stain after laying for now I think I am going to stick with staining after laying the ties for now. I will see how it goes and possibly switch to staining before if I do not like the results. I found this post on Model Railroad Hobbyist and really like the look that Scarpia achieved (towards the bottom of the page) with the Minwax Water-Based Stain in Rosewood and Classic Black. I found that Sherwin Williams carries the whole line of Minwax Water-Based Stains. It is actually a tint that they need to mix, so all of the colors are available. Michael
This is a repost from another thread I have on adding superelevation to my railroad: I decided to use superelevation on my railroad after all. I came up with a pretty easy way to overcome the bump up issue where the ties bump up to the next elevation level. I went back and laid down two layers of 1/8 inch tape, this comes out to the thickness of a business card or about .020 inch. I then applied a thin layer of drywall spackle the width of the roadbed top. Once sanded the drywall spackle will give me a smooth transition into the layers of tape. It also has the advantage of total support for the ties and it may help hold the tape where it is until I have a chance to add ballast. Here is a photo of a tie on the drywall spackle/roadbed. I was in a hurry to take this picture and leave for the office, so I still need to do a bit more sanding and cleanup. Here is the same area with a loco sitting on a few ties: And with a caboose next to it for reference: Opps! Actually it appears that the caboose was leaning over a bit in the previous shot, so here is one with a photoshopped box for reference: I think this will work. I also have some updates to add on installing a servo to the bottom of a turnout. I did this on a second turnout and took some pictures. I will post that later today. Thanks for looking, Michael
