Bye Beaver Spring

Today marks a sad day as my son Lachlan's layout, Beaver Springs (see link to side) is no more. He decided it was time to pull it up and make more space in the Shed.
No soon had the space been cleared and vacuumed then the missus put up the reserved sign for the BBQ table she is currently renovating. It was my Dad's and we became its owners when we were settling his estate. Dad LOVED painting so there was about 4 or 5 coats to strip off back to bare timber so that we can start again.

My thanks to Lachlan's Followers for supporting him over the last few years.

Quarterly update January - March (Easter) 2016

I thought it might be time to update those that follow my blog with what has been happening so far this year. Unfortunately I haven't had much time to spend on the hobby due to the project that I am on being very busy at the moment and by the time I get home, sorted out the usual family related stuff (kids, dinner, washing up, etc) I don;t have much time left of an evening to do anything as I am pretty stuffed by then. 

However I have been plodding along with the Gas and Fuel Depot kit that PK asked me to put together for the Club HO layout. He has also added two other kits for the same project, a dual fuel tank depot and a fuel gantry. I have measured the area onto graph paper and will cut baseplates for the kits from 3mm ply to aid easy fitting and removal if required. So far the building are put together as are the two longitudinal gas tanks. I will probably repaint the office and out buildings as the default plastic colours are pretty non-prototypical. 

I have also been spending some time putting together various options for the layout station town backscene from photos and Model Builder software.

Today I went out to Mr Mackie's for a running session on his layout Cassino. There was a good turn up of other crew members and the session ran pretty well I think.

Well the next quarter will probably be much the same as the first. Continuing with the kits and backscene.

If I have anything special to note I will add a blog entry but at this point in time another update in June-July is probably the goal.

Ciao for now and happy modelling.

The 2015 wrap up

Time to wrap up 2015's posts, what there was of them. I haven't been as active on the blog basically due to not much happening on the hobby front. A very busy year with family and work commitments.

Some modelling has occurred in the first part of the year, but the only thing in the second part was my entry into the Club's Annual modelling competition. This year was a Kadee kit of a logging caboose. Photos below show my interpretation. I airbrushed most of it and was trying to get the feel of dirt and mud stains on the bottom half of the timber, along with a dull rusting on the roof. I think it was a fairly good first try at one of these cabooses (cabeese?). 

Other interests this year was learning more about electronics and starting in the land of Arduino control of layouts. 

Today I was over at Mr Mackie's for the final running day of 2015. Very enjoyable. Go on over to his blog to read about it.

What is in store for 2016? Well maybe I will get the trains I have ordered would be a start! Progressing with the Club HO layout's station backscene/low relief work. Possible modelling a kit for the layout. Delving more into Arduino and how I can interface with JMRI. Maybe even doing some more work on my layout. However all of this is predicated on the simply notion that I will have time to do these things ;-) 

Goodbye 2015 (yes I know a week early but can't see the point in waiting that long to do the update) and welcome 2016.

Ciao for now.

September 2015 update

Since the last post a month ago (where did that month go!) still not much modelling happening. Fathers' Day my boys gave me a couple more Oxford Diecast models for the layout.

Red Ford Transit MkI Recovery

(picture sourced from Oxford Diecast's website http://www.oxforddiecast.co.uk/)

London Brick AEC Matador Wrecker

(picture sourced from Oxford Diecast's website http://www.oxforddiecast.co.uk/)

I also put together a concept low relief model of a number of buildings for the Club layout 'town' scene behind the railway station. I used Model Builder software, cardboard and foamboard. It looks like a good possibility to fill in this area. I may even experiment with different scaling to provide deeper perspectives.

As for the Raspberry Pi, nothing more with this apart from using it as a wifi base station that runs JMRI. However, I have been researching the Arduino board for possible use as a input &/or output localised device that can control a number of sensors, switches, lights/LEDs, servos, etc in a local area but be connected back to a PC or Pi to allow JMRI to be the interfacing program between the different systems. There is a lot of bog standard electronic projects that it can control, but more importantly, the model railway electronics community has been seriously delving into its potential and there are already DCC and CMRI libraries for the Arduino. It is just a matter of getting one or two and playing with them, learning how to program them (very basic C++), an researching how to do railway automation with them.
You can get the original boards or clones as these are an open-source board.
I'll probably start with a Uno model as these are for beginners to learn on. These provide 14 digital I/Os and 6 analog inputs, plus other capabilities that the reader can look into if you so wish.

Arduino Uno
(picture sourced from https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardUno)

I have started on the model I am going to enter into the Club Christmas modelling competition. It is a Kadee logging caboose.

(picture sourced from http://www.kadee.com/htmbord/page104.htm)

I will probably change the colour scheme a little as I am keen to experiment with the airbrush compressor kit I got for my birthday back in July. I went to Hobbyrama today and purchased some acrylic paints already diluted for airbrush use. They are a Vallejo product called Model Air.

So until next time, happy modelling.

Shapeways as a source of model rail designs and parts

Shapeways allows designers to design and sell 3D printable items. I have from time to time perused the Shapeways site for model rail parts and designs that may not be readily available in 'ready to place' or kit form. However to date I haven't actually ordered anything from them.

The search filters is a bit simple and could do with an Advanced Search feature to allow improved search results, however with a bit of persistence you can muddle through the results.

From a NSWGR modeling point of view, I can recommend a visit to Ray Pilgrim's Shapeway store as he has invested some considerable time in designing prototypical signals and relevant support brackets for the servos, etc. I would be interested in seeing how lighting up the Clearance Posts with LEDs would look on a layout.

From a generic railway modeling view, I came across Madasu Designs which offer some interesting accessory parts for a layout. I would particularly like to see how the 500 gallon water tanks and the 44 gallon drums turn out.

Another shop, Focus offers a number of designs that might suit modelers. I particularly like the whiskey barrels. It would also be interesting to see how open the designer would be to doing these in OO (1:76) as beer barrels that could be used as freight cargo or static features near an old UK style pub.

Well that is about it from me on this topic. Have a look at Shapeways as a possible source of model rail parts, etc or even give it a go yourself with their online tools for designers.

RMCQ Show and Qld Rail 12mm collection started

Now that I am back again from my recent sabbatical from blogging, what has been happening. Well the Tour De France is over again for another year and as usual some surprise upsets but Froome won the contest.

On the modeling front, not much has happened as highlighted in the last post, however I have been pottering around with some ideas for the Club HO station area backscene and very low relief buildings that are needed. I have purchased the Evans Designs Model Builder software (http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/model-builder.html) which seems to be the way forward. I am thinking of making it three dimensional by using thin card (1-1.5 mm) against the backboard with a building on it, then in front of it using foam board (about 5mm) with the foreground buildings on it. I will come up with a design concept and place on the layout to see if it works as I am hoping it will.

On the subject of the Club HO layout, we have decided to incorporate a 12mm (HOn3.5) design that will coexist with the 16.5mm system. This has got me interested in Queensland Rail rollingstock as this is the prototype I grew up with, more so than NSW, but to date not much mass produced RTR 12mm available (PGC Models do small runs I believe and I will look into these to pad out my mixed traffic trains with some interesting rollingstock). However Southern Rail Models and Wuiske have been producing some nice RTR rollingstock. I also have 12mm and 16.5mm QR 2300 class  locos on order from Southern (care of Mr Mackie). Why the 16.5 you might ask? Something to run on the main layout (modeller's licence - the bogies were swapped out to standard gauge will be my story!).

So at the club's (RMCQ) show on the weekend just gone, I have started the 12mm collection with the purchase of a 4 pack of Southern Rail 4-wheelers from a vendor at the show, Railco.

(picture sourced from Southern Rail Models website http://www.southernrailmodels.com.au/)

I have also been on the hunt for a OO bus for my layout, but to date I have only been able to find buses specific to a region or city. However also at the Railco stall I came across an Oxford Diecast model of a generic British Rail bus which suited perfectly.

 

(picture sourced from Oxford Diecast's website http://www.oxforddiecast.co.uk/)

On the subject of the RMCQ Show, I took my sons down to have a look and there were some very good layouts in attendance. Some we had seen before, some added to, and some new. Some photos from the show can be found at Mr Mackie's blog (http://ca55ino.blogspot.com.au/2015/08/a-good-weekend-turned-into-great-weekend.html).

Also this week I received an email from a bloke at Shapeways, the 3D printing company, wanting me to do a blog post about their products and website. Not sure what is in it for me, but hopefully they will surprise me?

Better do an update....

Sorry to my readers for not updating the blog as regularly as I have done in the past. Seems like this year has just flown by without much modelling happening. Life is getting in the way, along with family commitments! When I have had a spare few hours during the week, competing interests have had to be prioritised. Railway modelling, Raspberry Pi, electronics and programming all want a piece of me.
I had a month off over May with one week up at Noosaville, and the three remaining weeks trying to reduce the 'things to do list' of tasks around the house. Modelling didn't really get a look in.
So since the last post I have:

• assisted with solving a problem with a MERG CBUS utility running on a Linux OS (Mint in this case)
• starting to look at Java and Python programming for future use on Raspi projects
• installed a Real Time Clock into my new Raspi 2B (along with sorting out some problems)
• investigating some alternative electronics projects to use as sensor and output use on the layout rather than have to use specific kits (MERG)
• went to the club each Wednesday when I was on holidays and helped out there on a couple of things
• ran my Climax, with a string of NSWGR wagons as I am yet to build the wagon kits I will be using, around the club layout when everyone else was having lunch. It took about 25 minutes to do a lap. A greyhound it isn't!
• looking at 12mm HO options to use on the club layout. I'm thinking of a mixed goods of QR stock from PGC Scale Models. Hopefully they are an OK manufacturer? Might even look at a PB15 steam loco. I've ordered a 23class QR diesel in 12mm (and 16.5mm) that I could also use to pull the mixed goods.
• finished off the terrace shops for my layout (weekend just gone)
• designing options for the backscene behind the main station on the club layout
• probably other things that I can't remember ;-)

So July is rapidly approaching and with it will be the 2015 Tour De France coverage, so expect not much to happen during that month either! I'll probably start on the next Metcalfe kit, a set of terrace houses.

So here are some pics and a vid for your visual edification.

Terrace Shops from Metcalfe

Weighbridge (or yard) office from Hornby.
This was brought back from London by my sister-in-law as my overseas gift.

Climax at RMCQ