2mm Greenacres Pass

[RobA2345]

I want a cluster of buildings here in this corner, I don't have an industry in mind as such so will try and keep it generic as possible. These are just some card mock ups to visualise. It's very hard to resist the desire to put everything at right angles but I think with some silo bins and random piping around the buildings it might look okay.

In the meantime I've been wiring which I always find the most mundane part of the build. I'm starting with one set of droppers per section of track to see how it all works. The track will be in this state for quite a while so I can test thoroughly which means I can move on to other aspects.

 

[Alan]

Looking Good. I hope you do think of a good backstory for the layout and the industry your building. To me even on my layout it adds interest. To prove how far or how sad I am I've even given some of the people on My Layout (See Blacknet a Glimpse of the Forest thread ) Names and they do seem to have developed personalities Sad isn't It????????????????

 

[LarryG]

I found the problem with half relief buildings is perspective. They never look right from an angle unless their lack of relief can be disguised in some way. Trees for instance.

 

[RobA2345]

Looking Good. I hope you do think of a good backstory for the layout and the industry your building. To me even on my layout it adds interest. To prove how far or how sad I am I've even given some of the people on My Layout (See Blacknet a Glimpse of the Forest thread ) Names and they do seem to have developed personalities Sad isn't It????????????????

Ha not sad at all, whatever gets the creative side going is good. For me I just don't have that kind of imagination so for example, trackwork, while it's definitely a skill that needs to be developed, has a set formula and a step by step instruction set and I have the brain for that, hence its done very quickly usually. I struggle with the parts that require more scattered thinking so I'll be drawing heavily from what's been done by others that can.

 

[RobA2345]

I found the problem with half relief buildings is perspective. They never look right from an angle unless their lack of relief can be disguised in some way. Trees for instance.

I agree. I have seen it done well enough that I can be satisfied but it's going to take work for sure. The age old problem of never having enough space.

 

[Dog Star]

To prove how far or how sad I am I've even given some of the people on My Layout.... names.

Sad?

Not in the least!

Peter and I were part of (the late) Bob Alderman's team of operators for Albion Quarry and St. Martin's Wharf. Bob had some rather neat and tidy passengers on the platform of St. Martin's Wharf and I recollect that their dress was circa 1940-50s so some of those (model) personages acquired names over the time that Bob owned the layout.

All of those that I remember came from "Foyle's War" and the selection was prompted by one model that bears a resemblence to a crusty and secretive lady known as "Hilda Pierce". Alongside the model that was christened Hilda was a model of a lady in what reminded me of "Oxford College" dress and that model was christened "Elizabeth Addis".

As far as I can recall, there was no Foyle, no Milner and no Stewart to be seen on the layout although there was one shopkeeper that I understand was based upon Bob's grandfather.

regards. Graham

 

[Joe's Garage]

I think this makes the layout more real, if you were modelling a prototype surely the population on that model would be based on real folk so why not on other models.
Lovely
Julian

 

[RobA2345]

I’ve been working on electrics and fault finding/fixing this week. Electrics are tedious, too many hours in bad posture with a soldering iron.

Here is an example of some of the fixes I’ve been doing. The red highlights are where I hadn't isolated the stock rails past the crossings which was causing a short, unfortunately I've made that error on the other crossover with the single slip and its going to be a little painful to correct. On the blue highlight I've left the switch blade a little too thick and I'll likely have to revisit this. The stock takes it fine but the loco jumps it.


Getting the turnout operation satisfactory has also been a significant pain point. However going back to the brief the layout must work so I'll be working on these corrections until it works flawlessly.

I also started on a Class 08 kit build but this stalled after about 15 minutes when I realised I didn't have enough axle bearings. I'll be ordering some from the shop at some point.

 

[RobA2345]

Although barely any progress has been made on the surface, significant work has been done on getting the layout operational.

I used the 3D printer to develop some under-baseboard tiebars, a similar, albeit cruder design than the association ones I've also used but they work well so a bit of money saved there.
I've added droppers with 0.3mm copper wire and then soldered that to copper clad sleepers under the board and then routed thicker gauge wire to a DCC bus. This is a method I'd seen from other 2mm modellers and although it works well its extremely time consuming. The plan was to solder the droppers directly to the bus but again taking some direction I've used screw terminals to connect clusters of droppers for easier troubleshooting. Something I wouldn't have thought to do myself and it came in very useful. It looks a bit of a mess under there and I'll have to do some housekeeping.


In terms of operation the plan was to use these 'Touch Toggles' in a mounted control panel however the power from the unit was not enough to drive the Cobalt Omega point motors. Some would work but you could see the power drain from the unit and not drive the fulcrum completely to the opposite side. This was extremely disappointing as I've had these toggles for a while and not had opportunity to use them. The unit is actually designed to be used with tortoise motors which I assume have a lower power draw. It could also be my AC-DC adapter which at 12V unregulated wasn't adequate but I wasn't paying £30 for a the one DCC Concepts sell.



I had a DCC Concepts accessory decoder from previous projects and have ultimately decided to use it. These have capacitors on each decoder which now drives the motors as intended.

I like the idea of a mounted panel. I use the Z21 for operation and the interface is fine I just don't like carrying an iPad around for point control. I will buy a mount of some kind for the iPad and operate the throttle with another device



I then added track to the fiddle yards to get full end to end operation finally working.

 

[Chris Veitch]

On the blue highlight I've left the switch blade a little too thick and I'll likely have to revisit this. The stock takes it fine but the loco jumps it.

Glad it's not just me - I've recently finished my first 2FS turnout on my glorified test track (after a very long gestation) only to find this exact problem and I'm now agonising over how best to sort it out without ruining everything.

I also started on a Class 08 kit build but this stalled after about 15 minutes when I realised I didn't have enough axle bearings. I'll be ordering some from the shop at some point.

Errr, yes, me too there as well...

And as others have noted, the layout is looking excellent with that spacious, flowing look that you can achieve in such a small scale. Looking forward to updates!

 

[RobA2345]

Glad it's not just me - I've recently finished my first 2FS turnout on my glorified test track (after a very long gestation) only to find this exact problem and I'm now agonising over how best to sort it out without ruining everything.

Errr, yes, me too there as well...

And as others have noted, the layout is looking excellent with that spacious, flowing look that you can achieve in such a small scale. Looking forward to updates!

I've noticed that the bumps on my points are always when its the switch blade against the straight rail to take the curve. My plan is to simply unsolder the offending switch rail and build another. I'll likely take more time to make sure I take away as much rail as possible on both sides on the head and add more of as curved taper. I'll also take .5mm or so off the length of the switch rail, just to essentially widen the gauge a touch. I'll try and tackle it this weekend and we'll see how it goes.

I've ordered the frame brushes I was missing for the 08 chassis so that will also be picked up again.

 

[simond]

AC- low voltage power supplies are very variable in output and quality. I’m not familiar with Touch Toggles but their website mentions voltage but not the power requirements. Your photo indicates 30mA per channel, which is not a lot, and is adequate for a cobalt motor (their data sheet says 20mA) so I’m surprised that an ordinary “wall wart” won’t do the job, but perhaps it’s just a bit weak. You could check it with a multimeter, to see if it’s giving a sensible voltage, but checking it under load is a little more difficult.

Do double check that the required input is 12V DC as the Touch Toggles website mentions 24V and there’s no obvious marking to show polarity on your photo. If it wants an AC input and you give it DC, it might be undernourished!

HTH
Simon

 

[RobA2345]

AC- low voltage power supplies are very variable in output and quality. I’m not familiar with Touch Toggles but their website mentions voltage but not the power requirements. Your photo indicates 30mA per channel, which is not a lot, and is adequate for a cobalt motor (their data sheet says 20mA) so I’m surprised that an ordinary “wall wart” won’t do the job, but perhaps it’s just a bit weak. You could check it with a multimeter, to see if it’s giving a sensible voltage, but checking it under load is a little more difficult.

Do double check that the required input is 12V DC as the Touch Toggles website mentions 24V and there’s no obvious marking to show polarity on your photo. If it wants an AC input and you give it DC, it might be undernourished!

HTH
Simon

I will revisit this at some point in the future so your notes here will be useful. From what I understand its 12V DC in and as I mentioned some of the Cobalt units worked. Maybe on my next project I'll get to use them.

 

[RobA2345]

Small update as to what's been going on both on the layout and the workbench.

Rebuilt functional chassis for the Class 08



This is a rebuild of a failed build a few years ago and I'm trying to use as many parts as possible to manage costs. I wasn't happy with the neatness, or lack thereof of the cab and the battery boxes etc that sit on the chassis so those were rebuilt and re-sat on the cosmetic chassis as seen below. I think if I was to do this build again I wouldn't use the 3D print of the chassis. To my eye its ever so slightly warped but the tolerances being as they are its enough that I've had to file away quite a lot of the axle arches, so much so you can see some has broken off despite being as careful as I could. This is very much a work in progress as nowhere near the quality I'm aiming for but I thought it would be useful to show the progress.



I wanted a full wheel drive configuration and already had the gears I needed.


Still lots to do, I've already built the brake blocks, coupling rods & cranks but first I need to get it running. I need to devise a mount for the motor but I have everything I need. I just need to set aside some time to do this job.

I'm happy with the running quality of the track now and a lot of work went into making sure the point work was correct with no derailments. I need to revisit the exit to the fiddle yard on the north side.

Track has had a base coat of Tamiya matt black as a starter for ten. I've dry brushed over some Vallejo Sea Grey to bring it out but again lots of work to do on the track. It's worth mentioning Tamiya paints are an absolute dream to airbrush with, no clogging, smooth flow and high quality pigmentation. I can't speak high enough of them.

I added some colours to the layout. Colour and tone are critical I think to a convincing layout so these are just raw base colours for now. I don't like the colour of the Woodland Scenics Blended Turf I've used here so it's just a light dusting and this will all but disappear once the grasses go on etc. I'm not sure what to do with the north east corner as of yet.

 

[RobA2345]

Quick update to show an idea I've been playing around with and that's the use of small magnets embedded in plasticard to hold small structures down such as this relay cabinet cluster. It enables me to remove while I paint or ballast for example and also I can remove to enhance the structure itself in the future.
I've made an attempt at my own cable trunking as well along the line. I think the commercial ones are a little overscale and while I don't think I've got the scale perfect I think it gives a good representation and it was using plasticard again that I had on hand.

 

[RobA2345]

I’ve started to ballast the mainline. The painting of the track and rail side has been painstaking. The problem is that the ballast out of the container doesn’t look right, perhaps it’s this grey blend I’m using but I find it quite contrasting. It will need to be blended in but I have to be careful not undo the painting already done. I’m thinking pastel chalks for weathering.

I’ve also been dabbling with the Dapol catenary masts. Again I’ve used magnets to place them. These haven’t even been primed yet but will receive a coat of paint and suitable weathering.

I’ve placed some track furniture too which honestly is one of my favourite parts of the build. All about those details.

 

[RobA2345]

For the last few weeks my attention has turned back to the association Class 08 kit. I thought I would finish paint and add decal the bonnet since I have the parts and it can be retained even if the other parts of the kit need rebuilding. I've had the transfers for a long time and every time I look at them I'm reminded I need to grow some so to speak and give it a go.

Job one was repainting which is always a challenge since my airbrush skills are less then stellar, its another job I don't particularly look forward to. I got there eventually and the lines are certainly passable.

Again researching YouTube I came across these Vallejo decal fixing products and dove in.



Any imperfections will be covered once toned down via the weathering process so I'm not too concerned about it being perfect. For the period I'm modelling c. 1991 it will be pretty beat up by then.

On to the cosmetic chassis and cab.



I've gone for 08801 which is the loco on the Wikipedia page but it matches what I'm looking for so I went with it. An issue with the kit is that the instructions are pretty basic and as a first time builder, I followed them to the letter so it was only when I came to add the decals that I realised this should have been done before adding the detail such as marker lights and piping around the bonnet front. I'd already glued these in place so I just had to apply the decal over them. Again I'm hoping I can hide this with the detailing but it won't get past a keen eye up close.

Overall for a first attempt I am happy with it, in the future I'll attempt another and rectify these issues.

On to the running. I've run the chassis under DC and DCC power successfully but was having issues with running with the body on. I initially thought it was where the wheel axle meets the body so began filing these away. The cosmetic chassis is a delicate 3D print and sadly I broke one of the axles and it was lost forever on the workshop floor. This will have to be addressed again in the future and it turned out to be the wheels rubbing against the frame sides as shown below. A gentle filing fixed the issue in the end.

 

[yaxxbarl]

I am drawing some inspiration if you like from this image as it pertains to the track plan. I think I read that this siding served a food manufacturer but I'm not 100% on that.

View attachment 170477

If it's the siding the other side of the road from Godley station then yes, the Factory's still there for Pilgrim's Foods but the rail link is long gone. Apparently it's a Sausage factory...

 

[RobA2345]

Life, as it has an annoying habit of doing, has swallowed all my modelling time over the past month or so and progress has been sadly halted.
I have managed to fix one or two bugs in my landscaping. I have reduced the size of the hill as it tapers down into the industry section, I originally planned to have front access to the beige part which will be filled with various heavy machinery, portacabins as per the Peak Forrest picture previously posted.
I have also stripped away most of the Woodland Scenics blended turf I really wasn't happy with at all. The colour and texture were just not what I was looking for. It was going to be covered with static grass anyway so probably unnecessary but hey ho.
I've ballasted the layout, some touching up still needed and then I need to work again on colour and tone without ruining the look of the sleepers which I spent a lot of time painting. My current thinking is to soak in alcohol and using very light washes try and saturate the ballast to blend it in. Its likely to be a long process but if I just get out the airbrush it will become too monotone. It might go that way anyway but we'll see what happens.

 

[RobA2345]

I wanted to show some of the key elements being added as I flesh out a rough look of the scene.

Pretty much all of this will be iterated on over the months/years but I felt it was important to make a start, at least on structure placement. The loading/hard standing area can be built and will be filled with goods.
I'm looking to build out an industry based on plastics (polymer resins) so the current thinking is Propylene as "goods in" via the TEA wagons and the the resin pellets as "goods out", filling the concrete hard standing yard. A lot of this will have to be a backscene with hopefully some believable elements in the foreground. I'm not sure how this will work out but that's at least the plan.