Hallo folks, this is the LAST update for a very long time, today I had to box the modules. But I took advantage and shot some more pictures, this time we are in the late 60s, not in the early 80s of the previous set. An ALN 556 railcar (background, it is quite camouflaged) arrives from Castel di Sangro, in the foreground a beer car waits for unloading on the team track. The brewery will be part of my layout. A few minutes later, a light local (80 tons) arrives from Avezzano pulled by a FS class 940 2-8-2T in its final years The 556 goes to the fueling station While another 940 is ready to replace the one just arrived At the freight shed a wooden baggage has quite some time for loading as it can not go with the 940 without exceeding the tonnage on the 3% climb, and has to wait for the daily freight. The freight is being blocked and weighted anyway.... (the flatcar looks american, yes it is a former USATC flat from WW2) Afrer a while... Now it is time for the two passengers trains to depart Yes, the layout will actually depart in 15 days for Rome (ITALY, not NY), see you in some months.
Time to start again but, first things first, I spent the last 18 months carving a space for the layout in my garage; basically I used old kitchen cabinets to replace the open IKEA shelving I had all around the garage, now I have 20+ feet on one side, 10 on the back and another 15 on the other side for a total of more than 40 feet for the U shaped shelf. In the picture two of the modules (still packed) on the portion of shelf where the station will be. I was almost going to finally unpack when I noticed it would be better to prepare the lighting BEFORE putting the modules in place, so i devised a plan you can see in the picture below The idea is to imitate a cold winter day (it is March and we are about 4000ft over sea level) using cool white LED strips as primary lighting. (50 cm is about 20 inches, 70 cm is about 2 feet 4 inches, the dashed line is the shelf bracket) All strips will be dimmable IAW the different colour (warm, cool, RGBW). One continuous strip behind the valence, and one at the back to avoid shadows against the back drop (this one will not be continuous due to the shelving brackets). For the valence I do not know if it is better to put the LED on an inclined stripe of wood (upper scheme), or put them directly on the back of the valence; i am afraid the first idea will cast shadows which I do not really want as it is supposed to be overcast. Furthermore I am considering if it would be sound to put some 3/6 LED stripes behind the valence with a separate dimmer to balance the light. Then I will put some 3/6 RGBW LED stripes in the middle to have night lighting. Do you think this is a sound plan? Are there hidden flaws accoding to your experience / knowledge? Shall i put the main LED inclined or flat to the valence?
Little by little i was able to get the lighting done, so the final result is in the image below (one section had a bad contact) just remind the layout is in wintertime and the sky is overcast, that is why there is cool and not a warmer light I also put a dimmer and a volt/amperometer just to make sure I do not overload the power supply next picture is a test for shades, using an old diorama that got damaged due to heat (you can see the resin of the pond surging), looks promising even if the layout will be 3 inches higher as I do not see any distinct shading the train is a dummy ALn 663 DMU of the Italian State Railways There is no RGB line and warm white yet, as I did not have the time to get them on
Do not expect many updates, but I was able to get the layout in its intended place, and out of the boxes. First of all, the suggestion on how to pack it worked wonderfully, no damage at all to anything, (at least visually). Here again the pics look like there is no issue of shadows as I intended to.
You have a really nice layout, Maurizio. It even has a giant wine bottle representing the winery... We will all savor any update from you, take your time.
I was able to re-solder the two switches I need for module 4 and started an idea of placement of these, including cutting the flextrack. Next step is punching the holes for the switch machines, and the feeders. In the meanwhile i am getting a box to install the main 220V transformers to power the AC bus and the NCE Powercab, and to connect it to the layout so i have a flexible connection option.
Little by little, I completed the wiring on the module, at least for the tracks, and started to place the tracks already cut. Next move is to fix the track so that the connection with the other module is done, then will install the switch machines (MP1) from the Czech Republic, simple, effective and decently cheap. Then scenery will come, at the moment the only fixed idea is a snow/stone shed/tunnel (the scenery will be ready for an additional module in place of the column, next time i will change home) and something I do not know yet on the front side (was thinking on a wasteland strip and the beginnning of a woodworking site to be completed in the next module a few years from now). To get the layout finally operational I am instead planning of attaching three modules for the 6 (4+2) tracks fiddle yard (10 feet - made from three ikea recycled pax drawers). The tracks are two separate lines, therefore the 4+2 layout in the fiddle yard.
