what are people doing on their layout right now

Started by B1 61126, August 16, 2011, 07:59:35 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

violets49

I bought my first GF Cl 33 (Conversion to Cl 27, for the use of) on the same day I bought a Bachmann GP40. The GF cost about £42 the Bachmann £19. The GF was an erattic runner, stalled at anything under a scale 40mph and the body mouldings were crude to say the least. The Bachmann was controlable down to a crawl and the body mouldings were streets in front of the GF. And yet the Bachmann products at the time were regarded as 'bargain basement' quality. (Atlas and Kato being the top N scale brands in america) This is not a condemnation of GF. There are many legitimate reasons for the big difference in price but more to say that it was and indeed probably still is possible to get good quality american N scale at bargain prices.

daveg

It's been a while since I really made any great progress on Hurst Hill & Eddingford but I have started ballasting in earnest. Loads more to do. What a chore!

I have used several different ballasts to avoid the track work looking all the same. I can recommend the Legacy Models ballasts (various colours and types) available through online shops in Bideford and Liverpool and I expect others, too.

There are couple of areas where my track laying isn't as good as it might have been. It's not so bad I want to rip it up and start again but if there ever was to be a next time, I'd try harder.

The main challenge, other than the tedium of the task, is that I can't find the spare/extra sleepers that came with the points. In hindsight, I should have fixed these down ASAP after the point was laid. Likewise with refitting the sleepers cut out to install droppers and various types of joins. Ah well, you live and learn!

I'm going to give myself a break from the ballasting while I wait for the bulk delivery of sleepers (SL-308F) from Track Shack, have a good clear up and run a few trains.

Plenty of other stuff to do so the winter months aren't going to be too boring. If I make decent progress I'd like to try another cab ride movie; if I can remember where the camera is!

Dave G

davidd

I am just starting out with modelling and settled on N gauge railway because of space limitations. I am looking at a permanent layout and have just downloaded SCARM modelling software. Any comments or suggestions would be welcome.  :thumbsup:

Newportnobby

I know it's blowing my own trumpet but have a look at this, David............

http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=35556.msg416493#msg416493

It's always tempting to cram a lot into a small size board but I recommend resisting that (what size space do you have?) Try to have the largest radius curves and largest points possible, at least in the scenic area. What you intend to run will have a bearing on what sort of points you'll need.
I believe the track plan is the most important part of your layout as, if you don't find one you like, you'll soon tire of the whole thing.

texhorse

You should make a list of what you want on your layout.  For instance, on my new layout, which is American, my list read :

1.  Large hills or mountainous.
2.  Bridge over a river.
3.  Two or three factories to switch (shunt).
4.  Make sure track layout is as near perfect as possible before moving onto scenery, so make it a simple trackplan.
5.  Burlington Northern in the late 70s or early 80s, so I can buy new locos!

Your list will probably be a lot different to mine, but see if you can come up with at least five things you'd ideally like from your layout.

Also, don't stick with the first trackplan you come up with.  Once you start playing trains, you might like that siding being further along the main line, or facing the other way.  You might like to scrap the idea of that factory you originally thought of and replace it with an engine shed.  And so on.

Look at lots of layouts on Youtube, and get some neat ideas of what works for you and what doesn't.  Ask questions.  Lots and lots of questions.  Get ideas from lots of people and keep the ideas you like.

And never be afraid to tell people that this is YOUR layout and you can run whatever you like on it!

Andy
UK
Montrose and Highland Railroad
"Gotta Keep Movin' On!"

The Q

In a couple of hours,  I'll be at the MRC, where tonight's work will be to brush and remove excess static grass from last week's flocking. There is some seaweed ( tea leaves) that need varnishing.  I'm then planning to start making a Highland black house.

For those who don't know, a black house was so called because there was no chimney, and the peat fire smoked the house out. As the smoke eventually found its way out through the thatch.

By the time of the layout most were in ruins, as this one will partly be. This one is what I'm modelling....
https://www.instantstreetview.com/@56.468471,-6.89697,263.75h,-5.88p,1.51z
Note the extraordinarily thick outer walls a feature of those on Tiree.

Malc

Planting trees. Bought a job lot of pine trees from China. A bit of trimming so they aren't all the same size and a whole lot of planting to do.
The years have been good to me, it was the weekends that did the damage.

ntpntpntp

Playing with a little Mindsets IQ4 controller board which I bought for a tenner from Maplin yesterday  (£5 off their usual price, though apparently they only cost £7.15 direct from Mindsets anyway).

This little 5V board has a microcontroller with two outputs capable of driving LEDs, relays or even small motors, and a sensor input.  Programming is by push buttons and is simply a case of saving "program steps" with the desired state of the output - on or off. When run, the program loops round the programmed steps. The speed of execution is variable over a few selectable speeds fro once every few seconds to about 60 steps per second.  Therefore it's possible to create flashing effects, and at the highest speed a rudimentary form of motor PWM.  The input sensor, when triggered, switches the "program" to an alternate branch.

I'm experimenting with this board to see if/how it will control the motor on a 25-30 year old Brawa cable car set. I've proved that I can certainly set up an operation which runs the motor on steady state DC, and when the sensor is triggered either stop dead for a period or use the PWM capability to slow things down as if approaching the end stations.



Quite fun actually, though I suspect for my final solution will involve "proper" programming a microcontroller myself to give a smooth acceleration and deceleration along with a timed stop. 
Nick.   2021 celebrating the 25th anniversary of "Königshafen" exhibition layout!
https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=50050.0

texhorse

Today I ordered five greetings card recordable sound modules from ebay.  They are the ones where you open a birthday card and it plays a nasty little tune.  However, the ones I have ordered are capable of accepting sounds or voices.  So, I'll put a river soundtrack on one, church choir on another, two generic factory soundtracks on two others and have another for spare.

They have little speakers which you can install under or on top of the layout as well.

Andy
UK
Montrose and Highland Railroad
"Gotta Keep Movin' On!"

dannyboy

David.
I used to be indecisive - now I'm not - I don't think.
If a friend seems distant, catch up with them.

texhorse

 :laugh:  :claphappy:

I'm going to record factory, river and church choir sounds!

Andy
UK
Montrose and Highland Railroad
"Gotta Keep Movin' On!"

Newportnobby

@dannyboy
If you take sugar in your hot beverages and have such a thing as a sugar bowl, jab a teaspoon into the sugar at, say, one second intervals and you get the sound of a train chuffing along. It's quite effective but please don't ask me how I know :-[

austinbob

 :hmmm:
Quote from: newportnobby on December 31, 2017, 10:21:38 AM
@dannyboy
If you take sugar in your hot beverages and have such a thing as a sugar bowl, jab a teaspoon into the sugar at, say, one second intervals and you get the sound of a train chuffing along. It's quite effective but please don't ask me how I know :-[
I think you can get pills for that Mick!!  :) :beers:
Size matters - especially if you don't have a lot of space - and N gauge is the answer!

Bob Austin

port perran

Quote from: texhorse on December 30, 2017, 10:25:17 PM
:laugh:  :claphappy:

I'm going to record factory, river and church choir sounds!

Andy
UK
Just don't ask me to sing!
I'll get round to fixing it drekkly me 'ansome.

Newportnobby

Quote from: austinbob on December 31, 2017, 10:25:40 AM
:hmmm:
Quote from: newportnobby on December 31, 2017, 10:21:38 AM
@dannyboy
If you take sugar in your hot beverages and have such a thing as a sugar bowl, jab a teaspoon into the sugar at, say, one second intervals and you get the sound of a train chuffing along. It's quite effective but please don't ask me how I know :-[
I think you can get pills for that Mick!!  :) :beers:

I know, Bob. It's so very, very sad, isn't it (not the pills - me discovering the thing about the sugar)
Oh, and it works with a container of granulated coffee too.
(Have I just made things worse?)

Please Support Us!
March Goal: £100.00
Due Date: Mar 31
Total Receipts: £82.34
Below Goal: £17.66
Site Currency: GBP
82% 
March Donations