What size lights are you using? I saw in the last pic you have three strips side by side, is this due to the height? I have a single strand of 3528s about 16" above my track and i find it is quite sufficient to light the 14-20" depths without shadows (or at least not many)
I have (1) strand on each 45 degree Bulkhead that is about 4 feet above the layout. They light the layout pretty good in either... Daylight... Or at Night... https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BXOIJMI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
These are the 3528's too, in warm white. Rather than cutting them, I just kept folding them back on themselves for now, and they're much higher than they will be eventually. I was thinking about one row set at a 45 degree angle facing back, and a second row facing straight down about 3" in.
Mixed success this weekend. I used spray adhesive to laminate the paper background building flats onto .040 styrene sheet to add some rigidity, and they came out very nicely. Next step was to fasten the flats to the backdrop, and that's where I ran into problems. My first attempt was using rubber cement on the flats, then using heavy things to keep the flats pressed against the vertical backdrop. I had decidedly mixed results with this. One flat came out perfectly, but others have corners that pulled away and refuse to stay flat, and one building is behaving as if the plastic warped and twisted. So, on to plan B. I'm going to clear off the entire layout, then flip it on its back so the backdrop is at the bottom. That way after I glue the flats down I can place weights directly on top of the flats until the glue dries. Inconvenient, but doable because it's a module. I'm also going to ditch the rubber cement and go with tacky glue instead. On the bright side, having Weaver Junction out of commission while it's tipped up on its back will force me to concentrate on other things, like finishing structures and adding details like window glazing, vents and fans. I've also got a couple of billboards to put together.
I got some new construction materials in the mail yesterday, from China. 20170309_164745 by Rocket Jones posted Mar 10, 2017 at 7:28 AM Four sheets of styrene brick found on that auction site. Click the photo above, the pic in my album has seller details. Shipping was free, it took a little better than four weeks to arrive. I set a Lego brick on there for scale, since I figured everyone knows those. Anyway, I took a shot on this, because I'd heard stories of people receiving plastic sheets that had a horrible chemical smell, or poorly formed details. I'm impressed with these though. Still a tad oversize, but I'm more about the impression than the perfection, so as long as someone can look at it and think "brick building", then I'm happy.
Since most everything goes on our Discover card, it's worth paying attention to their special offers. Beginning April 1st, all big box hardware purchases get 5% back. I was semi-patiently waiting, amassing a pretty good list of items for the house in general and the layout in particular. I finally bought the materials needed for Weaver Junction lighting, and started putting things together this weekend. Here's an overall shot. Still needs the fascia - both top and bottom - installed. The hardboard is in my shop, waiting to be cut to size. 20170409_151508 by Rocket Jones posted Apr 9, 2017 at 6:31 PM I went with two rows of light to start. The strip closest to the front is set on a 45 degree angle, and the second strip further in points straight down. Right now, I'm letting the adhesive backing do its thing, but may add other adhesive if this doesn't prove durable. 20170409_151528 by Rocket Jones posted Apr 9, 2017 at 6:31 PM Here's an end shot showing a few things. First, I should've gone an extra couple of inches for the length of the cross-piece. Not a biggie, because I designed this to be fastened using L-brackets, so it'll be easy to take down for maintenance (or to add another strip of lights if I decide it needs it). The fascia will hide this anyway. Not seen in detail is my spectacularly bad soldering job. Good enough to get the task done, eventually, and I wondered if I basically got lucky. Since I managed two tiny connections and it works, I'll just call it a barely adequate skill level. 20170409_151548 by Rocket Jones posted Apr 9, 2017 at 6:31 PM As you can see above, I glued and screwed a 45 degree piece of molding to the front of a 1"x4". I'll check it out again this evening after the sun sets, but for now it looks pretty good. Any ideas on what glue or adhesive to use for the LED strips in case they need more? Thanks for looking.
Any adhesive will work with the LED strips. You might try a contact type cement so you don't have to clamp/tape the strips until the glue sets. Having said that, the ones I've used for R/C planes hold pretty well. They are usually 3M adhesives. BTW, what's up with the rocket lying on top? I'm curious!
The rocket is an optical illusion, it's actually sitting on brackets above the layout. Here's a clearer shot of three of my high-power birds. Train Room Decor by Rocket Jones posted Sep 21, 2016 at 6:10 PM
I'm not inquiring about why they are there but rather if they really fly. Seems like the answer is yes. I've been to a few launches of those things and they are always impressive to see (bring ear plugs!). One guy had a 10-12 foot Little John. Nice!
Oh yes, they fly. The top one (red, white and blue) was my Level 1 Certification rocket so I can fly high power. The middle, yellow, one is shortened for display by removing the electronics bay, it's a little over 6 foot tall full up. It flies on a hybrid motor with NOX injection and reaches 1 mile in altitude. The gray one is a scale model of the Phoenix missile. My wife is very tolerant, considering that I have more hanging from the walls in the family room and my workshop.
I made some progress this weekend on my generic food processing plant. It sat half finished all summer, and the sides warped pretty good. To solve that problem, I decided to install a roof and a "floor" to push the walls back into shape. To give the doors something to hold on to, the floor wasn't all the way at the bottom and I installed a cross brace on the dock door because it kept wanting to fall through. I also added the loading dock overhang, but at this point the sloped roof to the far end extension hasn't been added. 20170903_195658 by Rocket Jones posted Sep 3, 2017 at 8:14 PM Here, the doors are all in place and the roof is on. Some painting has been done to the dock and steps, and the annex is painted silver for the corrugated aluminum look. I also started some rooftop doo-dads. 20170904_200019 by Rocket Jones posted Sep 4, 2017 at 8:30 PM Another view showing the far end. So far, I'm happy with how it's coming out. 20170904_200046 by Rocket Jones posted Sep 4, 2017 at 8:30 PM
Here is Mookies, which has changed back into a pizza joint. I had to take care of some final construction details and am playing with possible signage. This is from Gary60s' excellent collection of plans found in the Resource section. 20170910_190619 by Rocket Jones posted Sep 11, 2017 at 6:25 AM More temporary signs for the Harrison Baking Company ("You'll Make Room for Harrison's!"). This one is ready for final weathering and then the permanent signs go on. 20170910_190402 by Rocket Jones posted Sep 11, 2017 at 6:25 AM And here are Harrison's and the Estes & Sons warehouse in place. Another set of temporary signs on the warehouse, and I think there's going to be a billboard atop the warehouse too for more interest and depth. I like how these are looking in front of the background flats. 20170910_191318 by Rocket Jones posted Sep 11, 2017 at 6:25 AM Thanks for looking.
This weekend I managed to snag short bits of time for trains. I managed to get quite a bit done, but not all that much on the layout itself. I recently picked up a stack of pan pastels for weathering, and ran into the major complaint that people have about them. Most of the sets come with only one lid, for the top color, and the rest of the colors screw into the bottom of the one above. Nice and compact, but kind of a pain to use that way, especially since the name of the color is printed on the bottom of each pan. So I bought a set of lids from Amazon, and then used my label maker to create labels for each color so I can see what I have without having to tip each pan over. The writing is pretty tiny too, so the larger font I used makes it easier on my old eyes. I also sorted through my boxes of various brands and types of ground cover. I now have a box of ballasts and stone, another of my static grasses, and a third with the soil, dirt, turf, coarse turf, and so on. This was a good reminder of what I already have, and will make it much easier to get the ground cover down on Weaver Junction. And that's what I started doing. Here's a shot of the food processing plant with the asphalt and the beginnings of ground cover around it. I did some light weather washing to the structure itself, it still needs to be hit with some powders. Same for the road. 20170917_180640 by Rocket Jones posted Sep 17, 2017 at 6:33 PM Another view of Harrison's. The metal addition in the back, and the two upright tanks both got extra weathering with washes of india ink. I laid down a gravel area under the tankage, and I'm going to use that unique style of track bumper for this siding. 20170917_180627 by Rocket Jones posted Sep 17, 2017 at 6:33 PM From here, I'll probably start laying the ground cover and scenery moving forward. The next closer track is a siding lead, and the next two side by side are the RIP track and mainline, respectively. The closest one is the scrap yard. The dirt/gravel for that is already down, I need to get some fencing made and create some scrap and junk for it. Thanks for looking.
My apologies if a lot of these photos are repetitive. I'm using this thread to document progress, and sometimes things move slowly. First up is an shot down the line of the food processor and warehouse. I added weathering to these buildings with powders and pan pastels, and I think they came out pretty good. The rust on the tanks and metal siding is a bit heavy handed, so I'll probably dial that back this week. I also hit the roads and parking lots with some weathering, and although I think I can improve on it, it's already much better. 20170924_140047 by Rocket Jones posted Sep 24, 2017 at 4:19 PM Some permanent signs were put up too. The Estes & Sons signs were attached straight to the brickwork with matte medium. You can get a better look at the weathering done here too. 20170924_153406 by Rocket Jones posted Sep 24, 2017 at 4:19 PM Just for fun, another shot but this time with a couple of cars on the siding. Oh yeah, added a couple of figures to the closest dock. Need to make boxes and freight now. 20170924_153822 by Rocket Jones posted Sep 24, 2017 at 4:19 PM Boxcar in front of the warehouse. Ground cover still needed here. 20170924_153837 by Rocket Jones posted Sep 24, 2017 at 4:19 PM One thing is for sure, the straight on shots, like you would see when operating the layout, are much more convincing when it comes to the backdrop buildings. The angle shots are nicer for the 3D structures, but the flats are definitely lacking. Thanks for looking.
Yesterday the mailman brought a nice surprise. I'd ordered some lights from a Chinese source on eBay*, and expected the usual four to six week delay in delivery. That's just part of the game, but not this time. WJ Lights by Rocket Jones posted Sep 29, 2017 at 12:54 PM I ordered two different styles, ten of each, of working LED lamps in N scale. Since I knew what my power source would be, they also threw in the correct resistors for me to use. I did a quick 9v check of the streetlamp style and I think they'll work nicely. I haven't tried the more modern "parking lot" style with two SMDs yet. They're even more delicate than the globe lamps. This morning I ordered a power distribution block from Microtronics. Mark at Spookshow used these on at least one layout and had good things to say about them. That should show up on Sunday (Yay, Amazon Prime!), so I can do some placement, prep and testing beforehand. *"wehonest_us" on eBay. I've ordered from them before and am a satisfied repeat customer.
Got sidetracked by work and life this weekend, so not a lot of progress made on Weaver Junction. It's the new fiscal year at work, and my big project every year is making sure the payroll system rolls smoothly from old to new. We've been working on it for months now, and Wednesday night will be the big event. Here's a shot of the new SMD parking lot lights. I've got the bright spot hooked up to my 9v tester, and next to it is a plain one so you can see the general style. Twin lights, these things are really bright! Luckily, I have an answer for that. 20171001_143459 by Rocket Jones posted Oct 1, 2017 at 3:00 PM The Miniatronics PDB arrived, and this thing is much larger than I expected. I put the 40' boxcar in the background to kind of give it some scale. 20171001_141505 by Rocket Jones posted Oct 1, 2017 at 3:00 PM Here's the general setup for my lighting on the layout. The wall wart on the left puts out 9v, and will run into the small board in the middle. I bought this board on eBay, and it's a functional equivalent to the adjustable power supply that Mark (Spookshow) once had on his site. Basically, you can tune the power output to meet your needs, and as you add more lights or accessories and the power drain builds, you can simply adjust it to deliver more without blowing everything up. I think I paid five bucks each, so I bought two. 20171001_143520 by Rocket Jones posted Oct 1, 2017 at 3:00 PM And here are the RadioShack parts to build the homegrown version of that five dollar board. Mark had full instructions and a parts list at one time, and I bought two of everything needed to do the job. So I have four of these boards available, after a little soldering work. 20171001_144347 by Rocket Jones posted Oct 1, 2017 at 3:00 PM So that's about it. After Wednesday night, I'll start getting ready for a week long trip to Arizona to visit my daughter and family. Major de-stress needed. I'll be doing a little private hockey coaching with my granddaughter, and we have tickets to see the Coyotes play the Detroit Red Wings one night. Thanks for looking. Ok, I just went onto eBay to see if those boards were still available. Do a search for "Buck Step-down LM2596 Power Converter Module DC 4.0~40 to 1.3-37V LED Voltmeter" and you'll find the price has dropped to about two dollars each!
...and here's a cool little demo video showing the basics of how the board works. <iframe width="640" height="390" src="" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Well, it's been an interesting few months for me. In December, I went to the hospital for an outpatient procedure and discovered that I had an irregular heartbeat (unrelated to what I was actually there for). This was a new development because I was fine at my annual checkup less than two months before. Since then, I've been in the hospital twice for jump starts to shock my heart back into normal rhythm. The first time worked... for a week or two, and the second time for less than an hour. So basically I've been running around in perpetual A-fib for a few months now. I don't feel bad, so although this is something to take care of, it's not an emergency. We're on plan C, probably next month, where they'll do a cardiac ablation to take care of the issue. It's not an uncommon procedure. In fact, this year a 20 year old rookie for the Boston Bruins had it done and was back playing in four weeks. It doesn't affect life span or future health. On the bright side, my wife claims that now I have photographic evidence that I do indeed have a heart. As you can imagine, that's taken up quite a bit of my time and energy. I've also been mentoring a team of high school kids for the upcoming Team America Rocket Contest, and this year also picked up a group of 6th graders who're building their very first rocket kits. As for trains, I've been straightening up my workbench and train room, and started to dismantle my chainsaw roundy-round. I learned a lot from it, but the trackwork was abysmal and other than simply watching two trains run in circles, wasn't much fun. I did apply a lot of lessons learned to Weaver Junction, so it wasn't a waste of time or effort. I've also ordered a few doo dads and goodies for Weaver Junction, so expect progress to resume shortly. Here's a look at my chainsaw, stripped down to nothing but track. Chainsaw1 by Rocket Jones posted Mar 31, 2018 at 8:49 AM And here's the lighting on Weaver Junction, with the facade finally installed. The shot was taken in very dim light, so you can see that I get daytime levels of brightness whenever I want on the layout. Lighting Facade by Rocket Jones posted Mar 31, 2018 at 8:50 AM Thanks for reading. More updates coming soon.
Man, that's terrible! Now, any time you give her the cold shoulder because you want to watch a train, she can show you that picture! Dang! Wait, does the picture even remotely bear any resemblance to anything rail? Seriously, keep plugging away and those of us what do will be keeping you and yours up in prayers!
