Some bold color choices for some buildings in San Medina. the erase-ability got a test already. I painted all 3, green purple and finally blue, and had the Bimini blue sitting drying enough to be moved and went to bathroom. my wife said she suddenly heard Leena happily say something along the lines of “needs more purple!” as she was fixing it to meet her color palate. So it got wiped clean with a paper towel and redone again.
I added some small details to the station today a couple of pieces of art advertising the Daylight. a couple of benches (so far) and a few people. Granny’s blue shoes sure stand out nicely.
Last bit of work done before I had to put modules away so my wife could have her dining table back for the holidays. Was hoping USPS would finally get my Tomix insulated joiners delivered this week but looks like they are trapped in Ft. Worth. Idiots. They were in El Paso at the hub last week, why they transshipped them to FtW hub from there I have no idea, but it means I can’t finish the trolley line track which means no terrain or scenic-ing until they do. So I did some testing on the water columns. Had a bad Servo, so replaced it, then remade the linkage for the water column because I needed to reverse the direction of rotation compared to Servo, wired the analog buttons for it to the SwitchPilot Servo. I do need an aux power supply for this module though. It freaks the DCC out when it has more than one Servo connected on power up. Still needs the other turnout Servo installed, the other water columns Servo installed, and the other 6 buttons wired in as well. But it is more complete than it was a month ago! Here’s a vid:
Richard, isn't it just like a wife to want her table back, they just do not understand. Looking good, my friend. I think I will anoint you "Animation Guru". Be well, Carl
I need to step up my game and get my modules going like you have been!! They look great. I am still curious how you are going to handle the trolly, I cant wait to see what you come up with.
It’s an autoreverser board that will flip mainstreet polarity based on detecting the trolley via magnet and reed switch in each loop instead of circuitron ar1 reliance on crude photo sensors. with Tomix turnouts you don’t have to flip them, they work as spring switches and so can be set for single route without derailments. To put it simply, Loops get power direct from throttle, main flips instead of loop.
I just dont see how it will work on a DC layout unless there is only 1 set of wheels picking up power. If the track reverses with half the wheels on one set and the other half on the next set that creates a short. Maybe if the polarity is "walking" with the tram it would work. Having only one section designated as the flipping point though doesn't seem to work in my own head I guess. I understand on DCC as the polarity of the rails has nothing to do with the directions of travel, it's only the decoder inputs that see or feel the difference.
I see where you are getting confused. DCC flips by detecting any shorts ( at the border of two polarities usually) when they actually occur and then flipping polarity back and forth to try to fix it. That works and on DCC it is so fast (<200ms) fixing the short that nothing stalls unless there is a real short. This does not. This flips before you ever get to the border to cause a short because it has sensors in the loops which proactively will trigger a change in the polarity of the main. Effectively it is like having a dpdt switch on the main that self flips each time you are detected in the loops. So as you are in the loop, say halfway around, came from eastbound about to go back westbound... , you trigger a sensor at some part of the loop which then flips the main line polarity to match the reversed direction of travel, and now the main is set for west traffic. No stutter no stall no flicker no jerk as you exit the loop traveling back west. And if you were to reverse, and go back over the sensor to back out of the loop, it would flip it back again and you’d still be fine. electrically it is not complex, but installation wise because of sensors it is. You have to install optical or IR sensors of some sort, or have magnets and reeds. That’s why both my loops have some small straight section to make sure the small neo magnet centered on the bottom of the Tomix chassis PCC will travel straight over the reed switch.
OK so with the trigger being before the short occurs and flipping the track ahead of the trolley, that makes perfect sense. So it will pretty much be the polarity will "walk" with the trolley. All 3 sections in the case of your modules will change polarity to keep the trolley running like it's in a loop.
Pretty much except it even easier than that, with switch in forward polarity on west loop is always westbound entry, east bound always eastbound entry, only the main has to flip to match the exit which will automatically match the next entry because the loops are wired to throttle in opposing polarity. I could have made a circuit myself but why bother when they sell them on eBay for $20?
No pics, but I installed the insulated joiners today and tested them. I went to the local hobby store to discover their n scale section is now almost nonexistent, so I bought some extra plain atlas joiners, some fine ballast and cinder ballast while I was there, but they had no people, no buildings, and almost no track anymore. I only bought a few things I thought I might need and didn’t want to pay shipping for. I don’t plan to return and will jsut have to order everything from Mike Fifer and drive up to get it or have it shipped down henceforth. Certainly didn’t have the prewired atlas joiners anymore so I had to make my own again to use on the Tomix street loop. Now that I am sitting here thinking about it, I might need to change the power routing behavior of the Tomix switch so I don’t wind up with a dead zone between frog and leg of switch on the return side since they will always be set to a single position. Hmm. Going to have to test this out. Switches’ legs are so short it may not make any difference, trolley will probably power that half inch anyway by bridging the gap. I painted two more buildings today.
Richard, I think I know which LHS you are talking about. I gave up on them 10 years ago. If you don't want RC planes, boats, or cars they don't give a damn about you coming in. When it comes to trains they "No comprende nada"! ! ! Now if you want to order from Mike, let me know in advance and I can bring it to you saving postage for you. I am not going up on Wednesday's as often as I was but when I need something I have Robin send it to the "Q" with Mike for me. Sometimes we do a PP invoice and other times just pay cash. Have a great Christmas week, Carl
Ive decided the next set of modules will be more prototypical, ie my original Santa clause beach scene, Especially with the kitsch of the original 50s Santa clause village there which adds that element of whimsy before it got gentrified. https://www.dreamstime.com/santa-cl...alt-marsh-reserve-santa-claus-video160502179# bought two 14” triples for the beach scene two 14” deep singles with sky boards and 4 rounded 16” corners from one of the two suppliers. they are the same ones I got 16” deep quad and double from in 2019. This way I can run 13” and 15” radius track for corners as that is the smallest that the ac12 can reasonably traverse in my experience. Will need to order some unitrack tomix ends and some more unitrack sections and extension cables from Mike Fifer but that will have to wait till I get modules here and assembled... and get paid again, lol.
The French DC autoreverser board arrived at lunch today, so I have now installed reed switches into two small sections of tomix, soldered leads for them, and soldered my last set of power wires for the 3rd loop. Just had to file down the center of the ties and the reeds are now flush with the top of the rails. With the 1/8th neodymium magnet flush with the bottom of the trolley, I should have no issues tripping the reed switches at all. Now I just need to modify my accessory wiring under module to include an external power supply and all should be hunky dory.
Well, I had to semi bypass the power routing on one Tomix turnout, no idea why one was fine and the other wasn’t, but it is all running! No more stalling out when returning to Main Street from park via diverging leg. But of course as soon as I grabbed the iPad to shoot a video the throttle ran out of batteries, lol. So they are on the charger now. The little indicator i made last night on a lark is actually quite useful to see if polarity is correct on main before you start running, and if not, I just wave the trolley an inch or two above one of the reed switches to flip it. I may still throw a larger/second resistor on it and dim it down more, but will have to see what it looks like tomorrow in bright lighting first. Just have two more servos to install and wire and the modules will be functionally complete. I realized the other day that medium grey ballast is SIZE... not color. So apparently I have HO sized ballast, cue sad trombone... Suggestions welcomed.. 1 I might go over the one that is done with fine (but darker grey ballast) 2 I might just make the second one match. 3 I might “concrete” in front of the station between tracks a la Santa Barbara. Either way looking forward to shooting a video and also getting to bed as soon as I eat some supper.
Well I’ve started to run out of power and already needed to add 12v 3 amp external power for accessories etc, leaving me with 3 wall warts (1 amp pi , plus 2 amp track power /arduino) and no use of my iPad for filming videos, taking pictures, etc... so I decided to just replace my micro DCC++ and RPi JMRI 2 amp set up with ECOs 50310 cab control with WiFi throttle and 7 amp booster. For $323 shipped for the whole system, vs $200-300 for a wifi throttle only or umpteen gazillion for a booster, it just makes sense. And as small as it is I bet I can set it down the spine of the TTRAK modules... or even just underneath a module. plus I can still use the throttle itself up at New Mexico Nscalers when COVID is over.
And I buried the street track today. I ran a plastic spackling putty knife over a piece of track repeatedly until it had grooved out slots in the end. Those grooves then let me set the spackling to just below rail height. i also formed the terrain in the park.
