I went to the club on Wednesday morning as I had some free time before an afternoon of appointments, so I took the oportunity of taking my EL class down to do some serious wiring away from the distractions (ie children) at home. Well after I had wired the track pickups and motor to the decoder it was time for a test. No sooner had I turned the test track on than a popping noise emanated from the speaker. This was even before I had turned the sound on the decoder ON! WTF! Could it be what looks like a stay-alive capacitor, as the popping noise was very regular in its rhythm. Like a capacitor charging then discharging. The PowerCab was saying that 0.3 amps was being drawn. So off with one of the cap leads to the decoder, but still no joy. the sound persisted. Arghhhhhhh, will this project never end?That night I put a query out to the Yahoo Loksound forum. By the morning I had a couple of replies which suggested a dud decoder. I emailed the store I had purchased it from, and they had no problems with me returning it for testing/replacement (hopefully!). As I had purchased another Select for my NSWGR Class 44, but had yet to install it, I thought it wise to check this one out before mailing anything back to the store. Sunday morning I took the Class 44 out and removed the shell. Not much room 'under the hood' on this model either. BANG, BANG, BANG goes my head! Oh well, I can still connect the decoder up and test the sound, but may have to do some creative installing later. Update on how this decoder went next entry.
It was the club monthly meeting on Staurday so I took Lachlan along. I also took along my new NOFF wagons for a spin as I hadn't even taken them out of the packing until then. So after the meeting was finished, I coupled up the six NOFFs behind my Class 44. They ran very smoothly. I was impressed (as were a few others at the club apparently). Probably some loads would weight them a bit better as well, so I have to come up with some different loads (minerals, pipes, spoil, timber, etc). Sunday morning I spent some time in the shed pondering Lachlan's layout. Before I knew it I had glued the tunnel portals to the mountain frame and started to cut up polystyrene foam ribs to form the mountain shape. Just a couple more to go and we can start the plastering. And the icing on the cake was discovering that the rat or rats are back and they seem to have a taste for the baits!This week I am hoping to get back to the EL class decoder install with a Wednesday morning visit to the club, sans children (hurrah!). Fingers crossed I can get a bit of work done on this project over the three or so hours that I will hopefully get.
I have added a new page, "Articles that I have written" under Pages to the right. Hopefully these might be helpful to someone someday?
Well this week the postie was kept busy with deliveries from all over Oz. I received my fibre optics from Gwyder, my new NOFF 6-pack from Trainorama, as well as a delivery from an Ebay seller. I was successful in winning a few auctions of OO gauge BR and GWR freight wagons earlier in the week. Having a look at them they appear not to have had much use. So a great buy in padding out the British outline fleet for Illavearf. Saturday morning I went shopping with Lachlan for presents for my birthday this week. Still focusing on Illavearf, I selected OO gauge tractor, landrover (without the roof), and a delivery truck from the Oxford and Scaledale ranges for the boys to give me. I also spent some time on Lachlan's layout getting a mountain and tunnel prepared. I finally got round to vacuuming up the rat poo yesterday, so I will check if any new droppings appear to determine if the rats are gone or just casually visiting the shed!The family and my dad had a trip on the Steam Train Sunday train yesterday. Perfect day for it. Out to Pinkenba and back to Roma Street. It was the baby's first ride. He enjoyed it and eventually fell asleep with the rocking motion. Dad also nodded off. The distinct 'smell of nostalgia' as I call the soot was great. Dad however described it as the 'smell of bad memories' from years spent commuting on steam and diesels in Brisbane before electrification.I haven't gotten back to the EL loco as I have been waiting on the fibre optics to arrive, and the baby has been unsettled most evenings with my arms being a great cradle! Sometime soon! I was hoping to have to finished for the Club meeting this weekend but I am dubious this will occur. Oh well, until next time.
Well the rat problem seems to have sorted itself out as I can't see any evidence of late of them still being in the shed. I will have to vacuum the rat poo up first to make certain that there are no fresh deposits to prove residence or not! Next weekend's job maybe.On the modelling front, the EL Class electrics re-engineering is progressing slowly this week. I was able to finally make my little LED resistor circuit boards and solder wire extensions to the speaker ready for joining to the brown wires from the decoder. I placed an order for some varying dimensions of fibre optic with Gwyder Valley Models last week so hopefully I will receive them in the mail by the end of this week. Then I can start thinking about how best to light up the front markers. I also took the opportunity of ordering the Columbia Models NOFF 6 pack of wagons from Trainorama last week as a 'birthday present' for myself (any excuse to tell the wife!). The price was to good to pass up at $95 for 6. Not much modelling occurred over the weekend as the missus was sick for 24 hours Saturday arvo to Sunday arvo and I had to do my fatherly duties with the two boys. I am glad to be back at work after doing time in the front line with them! Sunday the 4th will see us on a family outing on one of the Steam Train Sunday trains.
What small amount of free time I have had late (families can really get in the way of a hobby!) I have spent trying to sort out how to best fit my Loksound Select decoder into this loco which has bugger all space in it for the fitting of the decoder, speaker and all the associated wiring! Well I think I have finally sorted out the placement of all the bits and bobs after numerous trial fits and some customisation work. Photos will follow once I KNOW this works. I broke one of the light wave guides to the front white marker lights so I have to come up with a fix for this. Simple gluing the pieces back together is very difficult. I might have to look at using some fibre optic lead and move the LED to a light box to allow the fibre optic sufficient movement. I was hoping to get some from a friend who was going to the Toowoomba DDMRC show on the weekend, but the retailer didn't turn up to the show, so I will have to wait a bit longer. No new work on Illavearf or on Lachlan's layout for awhile now. Busy, busy, busy!
Well since the last post the weather has become colder and now the winter itinerant rats are back for some warmth in the rafters. I knew something had moved in when on the weekend of the 30-31 May I opened the man cave and the dog started going into full hunt mode. A certain aroma was apparent and on further investigation rat droppings were evident. So I got the ladder and climbed up into the rafter storage area and sure enough a rat's nest was apparent. Confirmation on late Sunday 31st arvo when I had another look after hearing some scurring sounds above me and there was a wee rat making haste out of the shed under the roof sheeting. So out came the rat bait and trap.Each morning this week I ventured out to the shed to check for any kills. Nothing. They obviously don't like the peanut butter in the rat trap, but they sure like the ratsak. Green sh*t everywhere. By Saturday I needed more bait and obviously the ratsak was just not cutting the mustard, so onto another poison, Talon. Its supposed to be the bees knees and kill after just one feed. No carcasses on Sunday, and by this morning all the Talon had been eaten! I've either got more than one rat or this one is a super-rat that only kryptonite will finish off. That or a cat, which I don't have! The dog wouldn't be too pleased! On the modelling front since last post Illavearf's Kensington Hill has finally received a coat of brown paint over the plaster. So scenicing can begin as soon as I have purchased some flocks, etc. My main project in the last couple of weeks has been trying to install a Loksound Select sound decoder into my Auscision EL Class loco. Not an easy job. I had to resort to further newsgroup queries, and fortunately Marcua Ammann replied with a couple of suggestions. Now I just have to sit down with a microscope or at the least my magnifying glasses to wire up the decoder's very fine wires to the much larger wires in the model. I might have to sacrifice prototypical operation with decoder functionality, but this is probably not going to be an issue as the EL is a mainline loco which shouldn't be doing much yard shunting work. Hopefully this week I can get this done and have it ready for club day on this Saturday. Once again precious time will tell.
