Lee, you never stop surprising me with the little details you find to improve on. I cant wait to see the pictures!
mike g. posted:Lee, you never stop surprising me with the little details you find to improve on. I cant wait to see the pictures!
Mike, you know me by now. As they used to say, the photos will be by, directly... 
p51 posted:mike g. posted:Lee, you never stop surprising me with the little details you find to improve on. I cant wait to see the pictures!
Mike, you know me by now. As they used to say, the photos will be by, directly...
Hey Lee I found this, thought you might like it! Its very cool.
Thanks Mike.
Just because I only found one problem yesterday, doesn't mean there aren't many more. My wife created a "layout log" book much like the "loco log" we did a few months back. This allows me to break the layout down into sections, and make notes of repairs needed. I got the book out for the first time, and wrote down 5 items that I was aware of, including the 3 way. It is the only way to stay organized with a layout this large.
As for the 3 way, I think the best approach is to first check continuity with my meter, to make sure it is connected to ground. It would be very difficult to pull up the whole switch. My plan is to unspike the two pieces of rail, remove any electrical connection, and add new separate feeders. Then I'll place some of my micro switches next to the control linkages, and use them to route power. This may become a common practice around the layout
WOW Elliot, that sure sounds like a lot of work, but then again you have done tons already!
Elliot, I'd be interested in how you work that out.. Keep us posted!!
Sounds like I have my marching orders for the evening. I'll throw a little mud on the wall, then dig into that switch. When I get this one done, I have a second one that will probably need the same treatment.
I'll take pictures as I go, and explain later.
Elliot, don't hurt your shoulder any more then it already is. Don't you know sheet rock and mudding is a young mans game! LOL
You're not kidding Mike. I guess that's what Tylenol is for.
mike g. posted:p51 posted:mike g. posted:Lee, you never stop surprising me with the little details you find to improve on. I cant wait to see the pictures!
Mike, you know me by now. As they used to say, the photos will be by, directly...
Hey Lee I found this, thought you might like it! Its very cool.
Cool!
This is the stuff I placed under the trees... it's a little tough to differentiate between this and the green, with the lighting like this.
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OK guys, I found the problem, and it turns out I created it by adding ground leads to those two rail segments. All I really had to do was clip those wires, and let them go dead. Unfortunately, I didn't figure that out until after I had pulled the rails.
First I unspiked one side of the rail, leaving the other row of spikes in place. Then I gently pried it up, then repeated the process on the other side.
I added new leads to both rails...
and put them back...
respiking both...
good as new.
The new leads aren't connected to anything right now. I put them in on the off chance they might be needed later.
This 3 way leads up the hump. Here's a little video!
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Attaboy!
Installed a Disney Fireworks projector today. Its always the Fourth of July now. Also dropped some coin on a bunch of Arttista Dudes and Dudettes for a picnic scene in the park to complement those same fireworks. Pics coming when completed and maybe a movie if I can figure how to upload it.
Looks nice Lee, Just like fall, now all you have to do is add some apple trees with apples on the ground!
Elliot, I am glad it was an easy fix. Gives you more time for mudding and sanding!
Big_Boy_4005 posted:OK guys, I found the problem, and it turns out I created it by adding ground leads to those two rail segments. All I really had to do was clip those wires, and let them go dead. Unfortunately, I didn't figure that out until after I had pulled the rails.
First I unspiked one side of the rail, leaving the other row of spikes in place. Then I gently pried it up, then repeated the process on the other side.
I added new leads to both rails...
and put them back...
respiking both...
good as new.
The new leads aren't connected to anything right now. I put them in on the off chance they might be needed later.
This 3 way leads up the hump. Here's a little video!
Great fix on the switch and that permanent magnet at the top of the hump really works well. Dave
Thanks Mitch and Mike.
Dave, so far I really like the way the Lionel cars work on the hump. Much smoother than MTH, but more testing is needed. Now I have to get power to those 5 switches to really have some fun. I think it's going to take two people to run it, one on the throttle and the other to throw the switches. I'm going to have 6 push buttons mounted to the fascia, one for each track. A diode matrix will be used to select routes, throwing as many as three switches at a time.
It just occurred to me that I never tested the center route on the 3 way. That's where the ground feed to those rails would be needed. If the engine stalls there, I'll have to put in the micro switches.
mike g. posted:Looks nice Lee, Just like fall, now all you have to do is add some apple trees with apples on the ground!
Not so much fall time of year than previous falls, where the earlier leaves never got raked and they rotted in place. That's why many (but not all) the trees with have this at their bases. It's eternally late summer on the layout.
No apple trees in East Tennessee, either.
I've had to get rid of a bunch of stuff I'd bought for the layout that IU later realized wouldn't fit. For example, I had a casting of a road-kill armadillo. Too far north for their habitat, I later found out.
I'm trying very hard to put only the people/stuff/plants on the layout that could have been there in 1943. The only concession I made was putting cattails in some stagnant puddles and small bodies of water. Tennessee is a little north of the normal habitat for those but not by very much, so I did fudge that one thing.
Elliot, I love the way the hump yard is working. You might need something faster than the tortoise switch motors to switch the switches in time to route the cars properly.
There are cat tails in Pa.
jim pastorius posted:There are cat tails in Pa.
I will second that. I park facing an area of them every time I stop at the Sheetz convenience store after work. Just the first growth of them that came to mind
p51 posted:I've had to get rid of a bunch of stuff I'd bought for the layout that IU later realized wouldn't fit. For example, I had a casting of a road-kill armadillo. Too far north for their habitat, I later found out.
In 1943, maybe. Nowadays, though...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...nded_armadillo#Range
Mitch
(In fact, I have a cartoon armadillo, "Casey" Brunswick, as an engine driver for the Razorback Traction Co.)
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M. Mitchell Marmel posted:p51 posted:I've had to get rid of a bunch of stuff I'd bought for the layout that IU later realized wouldn't fit. For example, I had a casting of a road-kill armadillo. Too far north for their habitat, I later found out.In 1943, maybe. Nowadays, though...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...nded_armadillo#Range
Mitch
Yep, armadillos moved their 'turf' further north long after the 1940s.
I have my folks and other people who lived up there during WW2 to go on, and other info I can find to confirm these things (including what must be a very rare 1944 government book about plant and animal habitats in the US, which is a dry yet fascinating book for my needs).
My Dad spent almost every waking moment of his youth up in those hills hunting, trapping and otherwise being as good a hillbilly as he could be. Though my parents are both 80 now, they have very good memories on certain stuff. For example, though there were indeed deer and black bear indigenous to the area, they'd been hunted to non-existence from the WW1 era to the depression. Dad never saw even a bear track in all the years he trekked over those hills. Neither ever saw a deer until long after the war, when people stopped hunting them to keep from starving (hunting for sport was an alien concept to the folks there at that time).
jim pastorius posted:There are cat tails in Pa.
Maybe it's the altitude, but there aren't any in the portion of the Blue Ridge area that I model.
Pat Kn posted:Elliot, I love the way the hump yard is working. You might need something faster than the tortoise switch motors to switch the switches in time to route the cars properly.
Thanks Pat. As much as I hate twin coil switch machines, those five switches have DZ1000's on them, and just need to be wired. I have to build a diode matrix and a capacitor discharge power supply to run them.
Yesterday Mr. Brown dropped off a package for me but I did not have to get to it. Tuesday morning was spent having my Rail King PS-1 Alleghany looked at and only finding out it was a goner so I am having it up graded to proto two. Tuesday night was the Tuesday night crew get together so the day was booked with no work on the layout. So today I actually took my buys out of the boxes and placed them on a track to take pics. I did this especially for Bryan to show him I do take things out of the boxes. So a bunch of sound cars, wonder bread hopper, CN caboose, Lots GT hopper, PGE TTOS box car. It is small but I like Canadian roads and two girder bridges for each side of the die cast bridge. While doing this I finalized a track plan for some track in that area. So if the wife has a Cavs game on TV I'll be down there laying it out. If not then I will get to it tomorrow. Some pics....................Paul
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Yesterday I finished a long awaiting project of eliminating the DZ1002 push buttons on my Ross Switches, all using DZ1000 switch machines. I installed SPDT-mom toggle switches and 3mm LED's in the respective side of the switch on the control panel. For the two crossovers, I used DPDT-mom toggles where both sides of the crossover activate at the same time. This really gives better indication of what the switches are set at. See attached photo.
bruce
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bruce benzie posted:Yesterday I finished a long awaiting project of eliminating the DZ1002 push buttons on my Ross Switches, all using DZ1000 switch machines. I installed SPDT-mom toggle switches and 3mm LED's in the respective side of the switch on the control panel. For the two crossovers, I used DPDT-mom toggles where both sides of the crossover activate at the same time. This really gives better indication of what the switches are set at. See attached photo.
bruce
Quite the unique way of constructing a control panel, Bruce. It can be a real chore to design in simplicity of operation. The more instantaneous the identification, the less likely this will happen......
BTW, this wasn't a deliberate posing. To my amazement, and those of the diners, a reverse maneuver got this 15" car skewed sideways, without a derailment or uncoupling.
Bruce
Listened to Christmas music while scratched mortar lines on 60 inch foam for a bridge side. It's just ok. I plan to add a half inch wide quarter inch thick foam around the edge of the arches to add detail, and add the same to the top of the bridge. I also worked on a tunnel port.
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I think it looks really good.
I ran some favorites and put one on the ground. It was sparktacular
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Nice Video, plus a little spark show at the end!
- At least the video works for you, I can't watch them after the last updates lol.
- Oh it looks it's the "attack of the dots" again too.
- Merry Christmas Mike.
- Merry Christmas to the rest of you too
mike g. posted:I think it looks really good.
I agree
mike g. posted:Nice Video, plus a little spark show at the end!
The Video is great looking! Nice action
Adriatic posted:I ran some favorites and put one on the ground. It was sparktacular
Cool!!! Hope the crew of the loco that hit that spider is ok. But have to admit that was very flashy ending.
Well, after long debate wither to do this. Reconfiguration made this a rough fit. But wife and kids wanted this. Tree went up on the layout. Our Nuremberg Angle is usually the last to go up. Not this year.
Funny every time this guy sets up house in Winterton.
Tree appears out of nowhere.
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But that's what makes you such a good Husband and Dad!
That guy in the red suit sure does get around!
It's a good thing I got my Christmas shopping finished earlier than usual. Today I worked on the underside of a stretch of bench work where the bridge will be. It will not be prefect but so much of it will never be a focus.
After reviewing work by others, I decided my mortar joints were not as wide, deep and prominent so I worked on those, spread some spackle on the arch underside and improved a tunnel portal.
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mike g. posted:
Yeah another hole I dug myself into, Just kidding. The issue was when I redid the landscaping, a lot of the birch trees were set in and had to be pulled out and removed to make room for the tree. Also had to get a new tree as old tree had a wide base and sat low , which would have necessitated moving the road and buildings. So the old tree is packed up and will go to goodwill tomorrow with clothes kids have grown out of or no longer wear.. The real good news is my truck ( M1028A1 CUCV ) will finally come out of the shop next week so most of the restoration will be complete. Drive train has been completely rebuilt along with some of the wiring. For the time being I will leave it desert tan, but in the spring I plan on sending it of to be repainted in 80s NATO tri Color camouflage scheme and unit markings. CARC paint is not cheap but excellent rust inhibitor.
suzukovich posted:mike g. posted:
Yeah another hole I dug myself into, Just kidding. The issue was when I redid the landscaping, a lot of the birch trees were set in and had to be pulled out and removed to make room for the tree. Also had to get a new tree as old tree had a wide base and sat low , which would have necessitated moving the road and buildings. So the old tree is packed up and will go to goodwill tomorrow with clothes kids have grown out of or no longer wear.. The real good news is my truck ( M1028A1 CUCV ) will finally come out of the shop next week so most of the restoration will be complete. Drive train has been completely rebuilt along with some of the wiring. For the time being I will leave it desert tan, but in the spring I plan on sending it of to be repainted in 80s NATO tri Color camouflage scheme and unit markings. CARC paint is not cheap but excellent rust inhibitor.
Well I am glad the little lady let you get a new tree! LOL It's nice you didn't have to move the road and building, that would have been a pain in the rear!
I am glad your getting your truck back next week. It will be like a late Christmas gift. You know when I was in the Marines we would smear grease on all the markers and lights, then go to town with paint brushes! The camo turned out looking just fine!
