Friday 18 October 2013

InFront Wine RTC

At the recent Liverpool exhibition I purchased 2 InFront McWilliams Wine tankers .I am currently about 2/3 rds of the way through constructing the 1st kit.This in my opinion an excellent kit,all instructions are well written & the photos of the completed kit & prototype are of great assistance.The main part to get right is the stand offs, if these are out the whole wagon will not go together properly,but taking time & patience as with any kit the end product is quite rewarding.
I also purchased another 2 Auscision 422's & 1 pack or Eureka NSSF sheep wagons. This brings the current Auscision 422 roster to 6.Only another 4 sound decoders to now buy.
Now on the layout front the track laying on the Gunning section is now nearly complete & wiring is about to start,so hopefully in the next few weeks i can run trains around the whole layout.
Till next time Booly.






Monday 23 September 2013

Gunning Signaling

After the many hours spent looking on the internet and thinking that I had viewed all the photos & info about Gunning when the other night I Googled "nswgr upper & lower quadrant signals" & up came this web site http://vrhistory.com/walks/Gunning/Gunning.htm,  well worth a look , plenty of photos of the now long gone signalling & yard layout.
Now just a quick word on the layout progress , the track work on the lower deck for Dalton station is just about complete & wiring is not far behind , over the weekend I made up the Gunning section base boards & last night started to install the risers. I am hoping in the next few weeks to have the track laying done and wiring on the whole layout so train running can commence.
Till next time Booly.
(no photos on this post will add several next time)

Friday 9 August 2013

Gunning Mk3

As the title suggests this post is about the 3rd attempt (and last) for the frame for the Gunning section of the layout.The 1st was dismantled when the decision was made to raise the height of the layout so i could have the upper deck as the main line & the lower as the branch line.The 2nd was dismantled when the frame was to wide to reach the rear section on the upper deck & the lower was to narrow & not high enough to fit in the S008 silo (all my stuff ups) .So the 3rd attempt has been constructed.The same method has been used as the centre section of the layout.This has got to be cheating !,a mate of mine is a kitchen cabinet maker.He came over & measured up the area,then constructed it all in his factory.The main frame is 42 X 19 pine,legs 70 X 35 pine & the backdrop on the lower deck is 16 mm custom board which also is the main strength in the frame.We installed it last Saturday after noon & now i have to find the time to get cracking on track laying.I have been tossing -up the idea of using extruded foam as the base board & laying the track directly onto the foam instead of using ply on risers as the base,still undecided on this though.
Till next time Booly.
1 of the 2 frames

The 1st in and leveled

Add caption

Rechecking level after dyna bolting to the wall

2nd in leveled  & bolted to the wall

All in & done the lower deck is 400 mm wide & the top is 800 mm,the upper & lower decks will loop round at the far end to connect to the centre section.

Friday 26 July 2013

Crossing gates

I am always looking for the little detail things that really make a layout look even more like the real thing and lately i have been looking at level crossing gates.So a bit of research and i decided to make some basic steel tubing gates for the lower deck branch line.
I started with a drawing on paper of a 14 ft X 4 ft gate, then using large track tacks i pinned it to a off cut of 42 X 19 pine.Then i also used pins to mark out where the bends are for the center.On the top & lower corners i used drill bits to bend the wire(which is 20 thou phosphor bronze) to make up the main frame.Soldered all together and i am quite happy with the end product,just a coat of white paint and some timber posts to complete.A quick little project that will make the level crossing look good.Now to finish off the scenery so i can place it on the layout.
Till next time Booly.



Tuesday 9 July 2013

What's been happening

Well i got my laptop back from getting repaired today so i better do a blog update.
I have been experimenting with LED strip lighting for the layout on the lower deck.First i purchased a strip of 3528 warm white,this was too dull so the next one i got was a strip of 5630 led's i thought  were warm white but they were white and they just don't give the desired light i am after too bright and give off a too pure white So i went to jaycar and purchased a DC regulated power supply box which is rated at 20 amps max and a p.w.m dimmer.This gave me the ability to dim the led"s but i am still not happy with the light colour so ill be back on ebay in the next few days to get some warm white strips.
Next i have been moving along with the scenery on Grabben Gullen station & surroundings,I have used extruded foam this is a lot easier to work with when compared to the usual white polystyrene (still mess but no little white balls sticking to everything) i have been using a cheap electric kitchen knife to cut out the basic shape and then using a serrated knife to do the final shaping,i will still cover with a thin layer of plaster before any ground cover goes on.
I have also been adding a few more decoders to my latest loco additions,the 2 lok sound decoders i fitted to my 422's sound great.I added LED lights to a Austrains C class & 80 an easy operation when you don't make the mistake of wiring up the led's back the front.
Anyhow till next time Booly










Not train related but i was my 3rd son Aaron's 2nd birthday today, and lets just say he enjoyed  his chocolate birthday cake !


Saturday 8 June 2013

Epping exhibition

Went up to the Epping Exhibition today for a bit of a look & to lighten the wallet a little !,now i dont like to critisise other peoples efforts but i felt that the standard of the layouts bar a few were a bit average.Now onto the wallet lightening :- 4 WHX,3 BDL & 3 BDX kits from AR KIT's,Trainorama MHG pack 9 & BWH pack 9,Laser Rail Bit's timber single line bridge,Model's N More elevated timber signal box kit,some Auscision 2CM bogies for the WTY wheat wagons,1 Silvermaz TRC kit & 2 Locsound decoders & speakers for 2 of my 4 Auscision 422 loco's.Well looking at that list i think i done a bit more than lighten my wallet i gave it a bit of a hiding.
Tonight i installed both decoders & speakers to 42216 & 42212,it took all of about 10 minutes to do both,just solder the 2 wires that are already soldered onto the decoder to the speaker & plug in,honestly it is that easy !.Now to get my NCE power cab fixed so that i can program them.
Then i constructed the road bridge. Now it must be said that anyone who does not like a kit that is easy to build this kit is not for you.The quality of this kit is just fantastic,all components are cut to length,fit perfectly & go together easily,it took all of about an hour to have a finished bridge.Rod from Laser Rail Bit's is to be congratulated on a great product. Checkout his Blog http://southernlineblogspot.com.au/ .
Anyhow Till next time Booly




Friday 7 June 2013

Storage yard cover

Just a quick post with a few photos of the cover for the storage yards to keep the dust off loco's & rolling stock when the layout is not in use.the frame is made from 42X19 mm pine & covered with 3mm mdf board.The rear against the wall is 1 fixed section 1/2 the width and the front is 3 sections that are hinged to gain access to the yards,all joints are sealed with self adhesive foam strip.
Anyhow till next time Booly





Wednesday 15 May 2013

Wiring & track work

Over the last few weeks i have been busy wiring up the top deck which houses Yass & Jerrawa.When i started construction of the layout i decided to go DCC.The system i am using is NCE power cab with a SB3a booster.DCC was all new to me as basic layout i had years ago used the conventional power packs & block wiring,so many hours have been spent on the net learning how to wire the current layout to suit DCC.All these new terms of main power bus,sub bus & cab bus ect....the most informative site i found is Alan Gardner's wiring for DCC web site.What did we do before the internet ?.I have broken the layout in to several different districts & separated the main lines from the yards  & for short protection i used the tail light globe system.Wiring was made easier with the layout being 1.45 high & the centre being hollow in the middle only cross beams of the frame to work around & one of those mechanic's seats with wheels to sit on.All wiring is soldered off the sub bus,with heat shrink which takes a bit longer but the connections are better than using scotch locks & then i used terminal blocks to connect the track dropper wires which are soldered to the underside of the track prior to laying(it looks much better than blobs of solder on the sides of the rails).I must have got i right,as tonight i test run a few loco's and it all ran perfectly & the tail light glob method works.
Also i have started on the 2nd station on the lower deck branch line.This station will be called Grabben Gullen.The branch line has 4 stations starting with Dalton,then Grabben Gullen,then Kialla & terminating at Crookwell.To come up with the 2 middle stations i just looked on a map & seen what towns lay inbetween Dalton & Crookwell.

Sub bus running left to right & tortoise wiring for live frog
Underside shot of the centre 
Anyhow a few photos & till next time, Booly.
Wiring coming from the main power bus at the top,through the  globe on the red wire,then  on the left  it connects to the sub bus,on the right is the track droppers.
Grabben Gullen station

the approach to Grabben Gullen

The template for drilling the mounting holes for tortoise point motors.In the top photo you can see the locating pin which i place through the hole in the point throw bar and then drill the 4 holes

Monday 15 April 2013

Yass Junction grain depot

Since the last post i have been busy starting the construction of the grain shed,to fit it in the area on the layout i have had to make it slightly smaller by 3 panels in length & 2 panels width.Just a few photos on the construction so far.
Any how till next time Booly