Tuesday evening I was able to find some spare time in the shed. What to do, what to do? Signals!
So I started installing the Eckon signals I made back in July and August. First one in was KH4, the feathered two aspect signal at the ramp end of Kensington Hill station just before the tunnel mouth. The second one for the night was KH3 which is the two aspect signal guarding the point out of the engine stable siding. I initially installed it to close to the point curve and when I did a test run through with a couple of wagons, it bumped into them. So I had to position it further down the siding straight (about 5 cm). All good now. I didn't have a chance to wire up the extension cables to the MRC 4-way accessory decoder/s so this will be a job for another time. Two signals yet to be installed (KH1 and KH2).
I also took the opportunity in gluing down the red phone box and the street light near it.
The weekly phone call to Austral on Saturday morning came up empty. They are hoping for some stock to arrive through the week but couldn't say what would be in the delivery.
Saturday afternoon about 4pm a clanger of a hail storm came racing through. Golf ball sized stones were crashing into everything like gunfire! I can't remember when I last saw hail that size. The boys thought it was great. Mum and myself were worried about windows being broken though. It lasted about 5-10 minutes and no damage to either the house or the Shed (as far as I could tell). Nothing happened today as I was busy with yard chores.
Nothing going to happen through the week this week but maybe something special on Sunday. Stay tuned!
This week was fairly void of modelling on Illavearf. Saturday morning I was told to look after the boys as I wasn't going to be around in the arvo. So off to Hobbyrama we went. It was a quick visit but Matthew enjoyed it. He could name all the Thomas engines in the display case. As he has a fixation for Toby (for whatever reason) I decided to buy the one in the display case as his engine to run on the layouts. After the Club Monthly Meeting on Saturday, I raced home as the youngest was missing Dad and was inconsolable by his Mum. I spent some time with both boys, firstly running Toby around for Matthew on Lachlan's layout with a borrowed Annie in tow. Then I was also able to put the fence up around the church on Beaver Springs. Go on over to that blog to see some photos.
Sunday was busy with some Spring Cleaning about the house, namely carpet shampooing which is always a fun thing in my books! So no free time to do anything on Illavearf. I was able though last night to take some photos of the recent work (red phone booth, street light, and path fencing), so here they be. Excuse the mess I haven't had a chance to clean up.
Saturday arvo was spent watching the AFL GF (go The Cats!) so no shed-time that afternoon. Late Sunday morning though found me in the shed contemplating which layout to work on, Beaver Springs or Illavearf. The latter was chosen. I spent the time wiring in the second MRC decoder to the bus and Point 5 to the second DS64, whilst 'supervising' the boys in the yard. I was surprised at my soldering skills on this occasion as it all went like clockwork! Fortunately the boys behaved themselves and spent more time in the shed looking at what I was doing than running around like blue-arsed flies in the yard. With Point 5 wired in, the Kensington Hill side is now completed. I tested the mimic board and some weird things were happening. Time for lunch!
After a post lunch nap, I ventured again into the shed on my lonesome to do some troubleshooting. The mimic board issue was a result of two issues. I hadn't programmed the mini-panel for Point 5's inputs (thought I had done this when I had done Point 4!) and the feedback LED power leads were reversed. Both easily fixed. While I had the controller connected into the mini-panel, I did some reprogramming of Point 4's commands as well, as both Point 4 and Point 5 need to be interlocked else derailments would occur. As for the feedback signal, a simple wire reversal was needed at the point mini-switch block.
As no children had yet come out to divert my attention elsewhere, I took the opportunity to fix the footpath fencing for the station in place. I then tried various locations for the red telephone booth and settled on one close to the road, station car park and the end of the footpath fencing. I scrapped away the grass and positioned it in place. I then found one of my street lights, drilled a 3mm hole close to the telephone booth and positioned it in place. Yet to glue both in though as I will give it a day or so and see if it still looks OK.
So finally some movement on Illavearf's modelling!
Sunday morning just gone found me and the youngest Crew member home alone as the missus took the older Crew member to the flicks. In between keeping my little helper (hinderer?) out of mischief in the yard I was able to do some more work on Lachlan's layout. Didn't account for all the time in the shed but little bits here and there all add up! So the church was glued into place, the grass between the front steps and the road scrapped away and a gravel path made. I also cut the fencing off its sprue to get a feel for what needs to be done there. I also filled in the 'junk yard' behind the service station with the same reddish gravel.
Nothing done on Illavearf unfortunately. Maybe one night this week I might be able to get out to the shed and start wiring up the points to the second DS64.
I phoned Austral Modelcraft on Saturday morning to see if the NCE shipment from MRRC had arrived. Still coming in from the States. So I had Ray put one SB3a and a USB interface away for me when they arrive.
That's all folks!
This week I finally received the payment from Peco Publications for the Continental Modeller article I wrote which appeared in the August edition of this magazine. By the time the various banks between the UK and Australia took their cut of the international funds transfer I was only slightly in front of the UK payment once converted into Aus dollars. Now I had the last piece in the finances to procure the NCE SB3a booster system. My esteemed mate and fellow club member PK was also going to fossick around for the USB interface he had somewhere at home. This would allow me to connect a laptop to the layout to use Decoder Pro, etc as well as try my new Android smartphone's Engine Driver app which allows the smartphone to function as a wireless hand controller when it uses the laptop's wi-fi capabilities.
Friday evening came and didn't look pretty. Both boys had come down with some sort of nasty virus. The younger son had reached 39 degrees plus, which was a concern. I had grave doubts as to having a reasonable sleep this night! As Saturday came, the previous night hadn't been too bad, could have been a lot worse! However I spent the morning looking after the boys and taking the youngest to the doctor as his fevers where still quite high. Throat infection. Just lovely, there goes Saturday! I was hoping to get to Austral Modelcraft to buy said SB3a but it wasn't looking good. After a snooze with the youngest son, I thought I might have a chance to duck across town. Time was possibly an issue, so I made a phone call. Closing time was rapidly approaching and I probably was just going to miss it unless they waited for me. It didn't matter as they had sold the last SB3a in the store Friday afternoon. A week or two before new stock arrives from down south.
Sunday was very busy out and about in the morning, then spraying the weeds in the arvo, as well as playing with the boys (kids just don't want to stay in bed when they are sick!!) in the yard. I did manage to get to the shed and do some quick work on Illavearf's electrics. I wired up the second MRC to the programming track, programmed its board ID which then set all the accessory decoders outputs automatically, and did some LED tests. All worked first go. I then mounted the board under the layout but didn't get to install the power to it from the track. Maybe throught the week.
Tonight I received an email from PK advising he couldn't find the USB interface and he vaguely remembers selling it.
So in the end I will have to wait a couple of weeks before I get a chance to make the trip to the other side of town to pick up a new SB3a AND USB interface. No rush as I am still sorting out the wiring under the layout when I get a chance. Now that the evening temperatures are getting warmer I might be able to spend time in the shed at night. Winter was very cold (as Brisbane winters go!) this year and the shed isn't heated!
Also this week I joined the social networking set and joined Twitter. A link (of sorts) is on my website but you can directly find me on @GBsShed. I have already sent three tweets into the Twitterverse, mainly to some guys in the UK involved with Model Rail Live.
As mentioned in the previous blog, my time this week was spent on a training course. By the end of the week and after the exam I was mentally exhausted. Friday night was spent getting acquainted with a couple of beers and whiskeys. Seemed to do the trick!
The only modelling I got to do was late Saturday afternoon on my return from the club AGM. I took the British Telecom Red Phone Booth that I received last weekend out of its wrapping and placed it on the layout. I didn't actually fix it into place but just moved it around the vicinity of the station to see what would work. On the subject of the club AGM, I had competition on the VP position which subsequently went to a vote by the members. The outcome was that I am honoured to announce that I am the new VP for RMCQ for this year. Hopefully I will meet the expectations of those who voted me in as well as convince those that didn't vote for me this time round that I am a suitable candidate for next year.
Hopefully this week I can get to the shed and do some more work on my layout.
Today I received some nice gifts from the boys for Fathers' Day. A book on Hornby related stuff and a nice OO scale British Telecom Red Phone Booth which I will place near the Kensington Hill station illuminated by a street light.
Earlier in the week was the marriage anniversary. The missus gave me Tim Fisher's latest book on railways around the world. Something to read on the train.
Modelling related was limited this week due to other things getting in the way of an evening. This afternoon I got about an hour in the shed on my layout. I was able to wire in the second DS64 and set the accessory numbers, hopefully, as I have yet to wire the point motors to it!
This week I am on training at work, so the evenings will be spent studying for the exam at the end of the week, so no modelling for me. Saturday is the club's AGM and I have put myself up for nomination as Vice President. I will let you all know how that went next Sunday.
