The 2FS mag came through the letterbox the other day. In it is an interesting article on amongst other things DIY DCC. I have rather been out of the loop with DCC as I have not had a layout to run it on and also I’ve not been in a club environment for a long time where they have been using it on a group layout. It struck me about this particular article was the simplicity of the set up, and the flexibility of it. One forgets that often we are bound in to proprietary systems to keep u buying additions or because they offer something that other manufacturers don’t.
Yes I know I can hear the people saying that it’s not that easy and that you can’t just plug a play. But let’s face it, if you have the bent to be interested in the electronic to that point you maybe able to fathom the depths of the diy digital. The fact that there is so much open source out there is testament to the back room hackers want to do something differently.
I for one fully support this and will be mashing up my Arduino and Raspberry Pi and teaching myself some programming stuff to control my little world, and with technology being so cheap, there’s never been a better time to do it!
What does on say? What does one do? Well apart from the obvious; stay safe and don’t go out, it is hard to comprehend the current state of the world. As I said to a neighbour the other day who’d of thought that in 2020 we would be experiencing the types of restriction that leads us to remain tethered to our homes. Thankfully for us band of railway modellers we have a almost limitless supply of distraction to aid us in these uncharted times. There’s so many things we can be getting on with. It’s not just the layout, for those that have them, but anything from finishing off that kit to even sorting out the tool draw/store. I think this is the first time in probably in more than a decade that I now know exactly what I have in my collection of plastic boxes spread around the estate..
But as the days seem to merge into one and the nights get shorter, I find myself wanting to do more, which is probably the inverse of every one else. But there is some constriction in that thinking ahead to the project I’m on at the moment I may run down of supply chain issues, namely getting hold of paints. Some of the model stores are still open via mail order, but I really want to support my local ones as who knows what the model shop landscape will be like once this has all receded. I truly hope that it isn’t the Armageddon that the media is portraying but I suspect that there will be casualties, let’s hope just not too many.
So now that I have more time what will I do with it? Well I am desperately trying not to go off piste and start a bunch of projects that I have thinking about for a long time but I do want to keep the snowball running downhill. One such project is a track build for a friend that was meant to be used in a layout that was going to come to fruition this June and now that all modelling and real events are cancelled until further notice, it seemed that my drive to get completed in time for my friend to move his project to its conclusion evaporated almost over night. However now with this extended period of solitude that it would be the best time to start this off and get it over to him so he has his own distraction from current events
Both the Digital and the Analogue
It’s an interesting process of noodling together the constraints of building hand laid track with a very non standard crossing. No I know that this is completely non prototypical and I can hear the sharpening of the pitch forks over the purists encampment, but hey I have never thought it mattered. But the process goes through the base to build on the non standard crossings and the need to manipulate these sharp angles. The blessing is that nothing bigger than four coupled loco (yes there will only ever be one Peckett tank loco running on this micro layout, but its still a bit of a challenge.
So I am trying to ease myself into it by setting myself a chunk of time a day to work on it, whether that be the planning part or the building part. I have only come round to the progress by small bites in the relatively recent past, as someone who has always be a leave it to the last minute kinda guy but I am finding this is helping with my attention.
This is going to be something that rumbles along and provides that distraction, or maybe a pallet cleanser that one needs when the days stretch into the distance and there is no longer a deadline or even reason to need to finish it. But I did promise to do it and so I will. I will probably record progress for prosperity over on the Youtube channel but I will pull together the efforts into one video that will appear once my friend has it and is happy with it.
Until then hope you are enjoying any modelling time you have and stay safe.
Last Thursday evening I attended my first Local Area Group (LAG) for the 2mm Scale Association in a long time and at a different venue than previous. The evening is primarily to do some modelling in convivial surroundings with drinks and a cake or two. More details can be found hereContinue reading
Although my focus at the moment is on Swiss metre gauge I still carry a torch for 2FS modelling. There is always a plan fizzling around in my head to build a London North Eastern Railway branch line layout but that is sometime for the future and maybe the last grand project. Continue reading
It’s been a while since my last update nothing worse than a blog that’s not updated so in order to halt the rot here is a post! Life often gets in the way of serious things like modelling which is the case for me over the last month not to mention the unbearably hot weather that seemed to go on forever and didn’t put one in a good frame of mind to sit at the work table and sweat over a hot soldering iron but now we seem to have some more seasonally temperate weather progress can be made. What motivated the mojo return? Well a bunch of envelopes landed on the doormat over the last week also going into my local newsagent and seeing the latest MRJ reminded my that I really need to pull out my finger and get back to building stuff for myself and others. For the moment I have been reading through the latest progress of both model and real railways that I follow and there are some events that sprang to mind that I would like to attend this year. Firstly there’s the 2FS AGM in October which is not that far from me and it would be good to meet up with some friends from 2mil land and then there’s the golden jubilee 2010 layout challenge! Hmmm. I really don’t need to create more distractions for myself and I am assisting a friend by building some track for there challenge, but it is tempting.
Then there’s the steam gala at the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway at the beginning of September. This is a bit more of a trip and definitely more logistical challenging. I have long been thinking about trying to do some volunteering for them since my first visit in 2014 but always thought I was too far away to be able to offer much only to then find out from an excellent blog that they have help coming in from Australia! Well that’s some commute and I’m guessing they don’t just pop down to polish the brass of a weekend. So it lead me to think that even though I’m around 170 miles away it’s just a stones throw compared with from the other side of the world. I’m going to look into if I can be of use to them, maybe not for the gala but certainly next year.
Keeping momentum going on a blog is the most important thing in order make the effort of doing it worthwhile and to show to myself that I can make progress if I just stick at it fifteen minutes at a time so expect some more bodging post in the not too distant future.
In planning the track for the diorama I needed to find out what the height differentials were between the types I am looking at using. In order for the scenic section to look somewhat realistic I decided on using some Peco Code 55 FS Concrete Sleepered track and then was contemplating a mixture of 2mm Association track in two formats, the Easitrac moulded plastic sleepering for the straight sections of the yard and then just plain old PCB and coiled code 40 rail soldered construction as used in the test track. I was asked by a friend why didn’t I just use the Peco? My reply was that I had all of the stuff there to build after years of stock piling and it’s so much cheaper. Have you seen the price of curved Streamline switches? But the payoff to using one type is you don’t hat to do any elevation on the road bed.
Now how did I go about measuring the gap? With no depth gauge or other suitable instrument I opted for a rather rough and ready feeler gauge alternative using some styrene sheet with combinations of .10/.20/.30 thousand mm to increment the height until I got a match but rubbing finger over the joint. Yes I know its not scientific or an accurate measurement but for my purposes it is good enough. So with this method in place I ascertained that the PCB to Peco needs a .40thou lift and the PCB to Easitrack is just .10thou of a millimetre. This then raises the question of whether the Easitrack is worth it and I am going to ditch it in favour of just straight interval soldered track like the test track though I may actually measure out the gaps and not freestyle it like I did previously.
Lastly the question is what to do with underlay on the scenic section. I have two types of it one with a rubber backing and a standard old fashioned cork I need to get measurements for these to see how much adjustment the different tracks will need to accommodate in order to provide quiet running and a smooth transition between the two track types.
My posts are like buses at the moment, nothing for ages and then loads of them. Almost there and the circle is complete. I cheated and decided not to bus wire it as I thought it was overkill and just wanted to get the track running so as to get all the Z locos tested and ready to sell off. I’m still a little sentimental and nostalgic about the Swiss stuff but really want to concentrate on being able to purchase the new and pending Kato stock for my layout that I shall be building. But in building this dual gauge it does give me the seed of and idea for a true metre gauge/standard gauge layout someday in the future.
and finally just a glimpse at a full circumnavigation of said circle via the wonders of a 9v battery. Can I hear distant rumbles of thunder?
The very last thing to do is find a suitable rheostat switch to place in one corner.
The circle is now complete with both rails in place and glued down using just simple PVA glue with bluetack to hold the ends in place. I was surprised at how quickly it cured as I thought I was in for a lengthy wait before I could get on with the next section. I didn’t mark out the circle fully and completed the curves by site with one corner flattened out a bit but I wasn’t bothered about the accuracy with this only being a test track. One mistake I made was forgetting to wash off the inner rails flux in the excitement of moment, but I’ll remedy that with a soft wire brush and a damp cloth. I probably don’t need to do it but I will go round with a file and ease out any bumps though there are very few luckily. I amaze myself that it turned out so we after such a long absence of any kind of modelling. However if a jobs worth doing etc…
The next task is to drill holes in the board for feeder wires, hot glue these wires, and then terminate at a switch that can select between analogue or DCC control. I need to get this switch and a bunch of electrical connectors so I guess that means a trip to the model shop, what hardship!
Lastly a shot of three different scales on one piece of track. The Z stuff will soon disappear and who knows what might happen to the 009 loco. I also need to look into some better lighting for taking pictures and for seeing the workbench. I also find myself wanting one of the those bench mounted magnifying glasses or maybe just a new set of normal ones from Poundland. In fact there
With having a couple of days off with other stuff going on today saw the completion of the four track panels bar a bit of fettling to get the rails to match up at the joins and the inner 6.5mm track fixing down I made a start on that too. I had considered using some road bed but felt it was a waste of time as this is only going to be used occasionally.
First rail laid down for Z tester. I didn’t bother with gauges and elected to use a cheap set of digital calipers to measure the gap holding rail in place by the age old method of fingers remembering to remove them just before it got to burning point. Tomorrow I’ll have all inner rails added and plan to glue down the track.
Ok it took me slightly longer than 15 mins but keeping the momentum going. I have moved on from the first iteration and now building the ‘proper’ track in sections to make it manageable and also allow for some expansion. I’m building it this way as I found that from the previous straight piece it was easier to build the outer rails and then cut the isolation gap before attaching the inner rail for Z track.
Once I was happy with the alignment, well almost happy as it’s a little bit of a squeeze to get it to align I went and washed off with washing up liquid and an old toothbrush to get rid of any flux residue. Just need to make the last two panels of track before I can glue down and electrify.
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In planning the track for the diorama I needed to find out what the height differentials were between the types I am looking at using. In order for the scenic section to look somewhat realistic I decided on using some Peco Code 55 FS Concrete Sleepered track and then was contemplating a mixture of 
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