THE SWAMP HAS ERUPED! Okay, maybe not an eruption, but a couple of land masses have appeared (they are not glued in place yet), and at the same time, the edges of the swamp have changed color. The engineers have installed the culverts under the track. There is still a long way to go. Gary
Well, I am pretty much finished with the module on the left so need to take it down to make room in the train room to set up the third module. I have to finish putting down the blue line on the second module and blend it into the third one.
Got a coat of pale blue paint on the Green Max building and am working on some signs for it as I had done on the Kato building. While the paint on the building was drying, I started to work on a grade crossing that is at the front of this small module. The crossing signals and gates came already painted but I added the concrete gray to the bases and am making some modifications As this crossing is on the seam between two modules, I am making one of the crossing gates removable so it won't get damaged during setup or teardown. It held by a magnet in the base mating with a screw on the module.
And here I thought that screw head was a man-hole cover . Really like the interiors on the last building. Sumner
Very little progress this week. Got all the dowels slotted and discovered that the pack of insulated rail joiners I was sure I had in my toolbox wasn't there. Ordered some new ones and then life got in the way. Backed truck into driveway in the dark. Driveway uphill and slick. Got a good run. Found mailbox. Step bumper vs. mailbox. Bumper OK. Had to make all new wood parts for mailbox.) Mailbox is fixed and joiners have arrived, so I should be working on track this weekend.
I painted all the equipment needed to get a log into the mill and cut into a slab. The chain in, transfer table, log carriage and bandsaw are show below along with other items that still need to be painted. . . . . A link to more info and images on TrainBoard up a post or two ( HERE )...... Sumner
Been rolling along on this project all weekend and getting a bunch done. Got some more detail on this building with the sign for the bank on the first floor and some gold window trim for the second floor restaurant. And I used @MetraMan01 suggestion and made the 2nd floor a takoyaki place with a large sign on the side of the building. The sign gives a clue as to what they serve, grilled octopus. Yum yum with a cold beer. Higher up on the wall is a advertising billboard. Also started working on the base that this building goes on. Added some railings from a Kato kit to my scratch built sidewalks. There is an oddly shaped part on the corner that I decided to make into a small park. The planter area is going to have a small tree and I'm working on a couple of park benches. And the grade crossing scene is just about done.
I haven’t reported much recently, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been making progress. The biggest accomplishment this weekend was building a pair of switches for the south end of the yard at Grantsville and the lead switch to the aggregates facility. I built them as a hybrid with PC board ties and Central Valley switch ties. Installed the switches this morning and laid out some loose flex track inside the bays. Need two more switches installed on this end and this end will be done. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I see the XTRONICS soldering iron station in the background. You are able to create some very nice turnouts. Is that what you are using? I was never able to do very well with a conventional soldering iron only. I only got good results with a resistance soldering iron tweeter, using it with one hand to hold the rail over the PC board tie while heating it while feeding the solder with the other hand.
This is the only iron I’m using now. Welding rail joints, building turnouts, hard wiring decoders, etc. I found it on Amazon in 2021, it has been an excellent tool. I had been using an old Weller pencil type iron before then…… never again. I still have it but it belongs in the trash, lol. I use standard rosin core solder and use the iron set about 650 degrees. For those who are interested, it is an X-TRONICS model 3020-XTS. Still available on Amazon for $59.75. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
OK, I am finished. I did a little touch up on the unmodified modules, replacing damaged cross bucks, patched "pot holes" in roads, re-foliated some trees with clumped ground foam where the 30 year old lichen moss had crumbled and fallen off, re-glued little people who had fallen over or completely came off and anything else that needed attention. The public debut will be at the New Braunfels train show on April 12 & 13. Here are the modules, bundled up and hanging above my wife's car in the garage. They are bolted to the end panels with the scenery sides facing each other and I use kitchen cling wrap to keep the dust from creaping in the gaps at the sides and off the scenery.
The Green Max building is now just about done. Just a few details to add to the roof. With the exception of takoyaki izakaya on the 2nd floor, the rest of the buildings occupants are in financial services. Bank on the 1st floor and the upper 3 floors are a stock broker, a real estate office, and a life insurance office. I used some of the stickers that came with on the kit for these signs. The window glazing on floors 2-5 are the clear plastic that came with the kit. Floors 3-5 got printed blinds stuck on from the inside like I did on the Kato buildings and the 2nd floor window got painted on the inside with acrylic gun metal paint. I made a little park out of the odd shaped area in the corner. The next project I will start will be to finish this modified corner Tomix building that has been sitting unfinished for at least 14 years. This building is part of a complex of structures that make up the entrance of the Palm Shopping Arcade. The other parts have been removed in this photo.
fINALLY-Started laying track. The first photo (excuse the rather grainy closeup) shows the use of the slotted dowel. The process needs a little refinement, but so far, so good. Got the first few feet of the Hicksville branch laid. Yeah, I'm using Atlas code 100 Snap Track mainly because of the good deal I got on a large lot of it on Ebay. I'm not soldering any rail joints except at the ends of any flex track I use, but I'm installing feeders at every second rail joint. The adhesive I'm using is DAP Alex Plus acrylic latex caulk. Before I go any further, I need to either complete the ballast deck trestle over the creek bed at upper right in the bottom photo or modify an Atlas curved turnout (Out of photo at bottom).
I didn't plan on posting again today, but it's been an interesting day. First, a question- I have two options for dealing with an Atlas curved turnout. The first one involves trimming the turnout and using a short section of 18" radius track as shown below: The problem with this idea is the 18" radius. I'm wondering if the 18" radius piece is short enough to not cause operating problems? I did a little experiment on two pieces of 18" radius snap track joined together and found that I could completely rerail my Bachmann Berkshire and tender on this curve. Not entirely sure this wouldn't cause problems, though. There's also the matter of my one 6-axle diesel, a P2K E7, which I have not tested, although 6-axle diesels are known to have trouble with 18" radius curves. The photo below shows the other option, which is to remove material between the ties and bend a portion of the turnout (30" radius) to a smaller radius of 19"-20". The 18" radius section would be opened up to a 19"-20" radius to make it align with the roadbed. Input on this issue would be appreciated. I'll end this post with a joke (on me, actually). I decided to take some time to think about the turnout issue and move on to the trestle. Surprise, surprise, surprise- I discovered I'd built the deck backwards. Crap! Go figure. The good news is I think I can fix it. The ballasted deck will cover many evils.
I've gotten a start on the Tomix corner building. This building will represent a yakitori (chicken) place that was there until it fell to redevelopment about 10 or 15 years ago. So I am attempting to make it somewhat close to the prototype. I recall that there was a counter for take out orders on the outside so I wanted include that in the model. I put up a couple of walls to separate this take out area from the rest of the business. I plan to light this area and include some details here. Had to make sure the structure would fit correctly with the walls and counter in place. And signs, got to have signs. The green one is for this yakitori place and I mounted it to a piece from my parts stash. The red sign in English is for a bakery which is going to be on the opposite side of the arcade entrance. That will be the next building after this one but I have a start with the sign.
Progress this for this week, there is still a long way to go. I am going to run out of time before it gets done. I purchased some CHEAP static grass and it doesn't work all that well. I don't think it's my new Woodland Scenics Static King, but the next time I try to apply static grass I'm going to use my homemade applicator just to make sure what the problem is. Gary
I decided not to take my chances on ordering the wrong size wye switch for the lead into the cement track, so I made a pattern and decided to build another switch. This should be the last one for Grantsville, at least at Valley Aggregates. I haven’t made any point-to-frog measurements, but I think this will work out to be around a #2.5 or #3 wye. I should be able to get this installed one evening this week and finish up track work at this location. Also installed ground throws for about a half dozen turnouts around the layout. Eventually I’ll add the switch stand targets, I don’t want to break them off working on scenery in the near future. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Took some time off from painting on the small sawmill parts and updated the software on my DCC-EX command station. Easy to do. Connect to your computer with a USB cable and run the auto-installer and a couple minutes later you have the newest software on the command station. I did this since I want to see how easy it is to run a DC loco and a DCC loco on the layout at the same time with the same phone throttle running the latest version of EngineDriver. It is super easy to, in this case, change either of the two blocks I have (expandable to 8 with the DIY command statio) to DC, DCC or DCC programming (for serious programming). You can also change individual CV's on a program track with it or on the Main now. The video above shows how easy it is now to change blocks/power districts between DC and DCC using only the throttle. Sumner
