I left last week's blog with the notion of possibly continuing with the work on the Terrace Houses. That didn't happen. The week was far to busy most evening with a number of different distractions. The whole week just zoomed by without any modelling being done until late this arvo when I briefly got out to the shed, vacuumed the loose scatters from last week's road making and grassing, and scrapped out a footpath between the signal box and the station platform and crossing gates. That was it!
Mr Mackie advised on Friday night that the Eureka Models' NSWGR BCWs (bogie cattle wagons) had arrived and he was expecting these to be delivered by post to his residence sometime this week. So I might have my part of the order by next weekend. So more rollingstock for the future NSWGR layout.
No word from the MERG Kit Locker as to whether my order of CBUS kits has been dispatched yet or not but as this is one member doing it in their spare time, I may have to be patient! My anti-static work mat and wrist band arrived from Voltronics (Oz) on Friday, so I will have a static free work environment to build these kits and other electronic work henceforth.
I won't promise anything for this week ;-)
Yesterday afternoon I was able to pop out to the shed and do a few things. The first was to test the circuit operating the incandescant lamps on the station platform and near the telephone box. These seemed to be the problem in last week's post. So I desoldered one of the wires from the first lamp's wiring from the veroboard and test the mini-panel connected switch. Red light! The second lamp's wiring was desoldered and another test. No red light. So one lamp was working OK. I resoldered the first lamp's wiring and tested. No red light. Yeah may have found the problem. A few more On/Off tests and the red light returned. No idea why this is occurring after so long working OK. This little setup might be a prime candidate for connection to the MERG CBUS modules I ordered on Friday. Yes I took the plunge to buy some modules to play on. The other thing I did was put some 'dirt' down over a PVA bed.
I did manage to progress with the Terrace Houses a bit more during the week.
Today was the Club's Buy and Sell and Open Day. I originally wasn't going due to a previous family shindig, but this was postponed until next weekend. I thought I might have been able to get down and give a hand, but not to be. A few things about the house got in the way and before I knew it 3pm had rocked around, which was the closing time for the buy and sell. So with a bit of time on my hands I went back to the shed to see how things were going with the 'dirt' I put down yesterday. It was still a bit damp as it wasn't a very hot day today. So I put a liberal coating of very wet PVA/water mix over the soil again and put some anti-static grass down with the aid of my home made ant-static machine. Looks quite good. The other thing I did was make a road into the goods yard.
This week I hope to get more into the Terrace House build.
This problem first raised its head a couple of weeks ago when I was checking my locos before their exhibition run. As soon as I turned on the lights to the Kensington Hill side the red 'power drain / short' light came on when up until that point everything had worked fine since installation. A quick check of each individual Acc ID for On and Off showed that the LEDs in the station and signal box didn't cause the problem but the incandescent globes of the street lights did. Hmmm no idea. Last week I didn't get around to checking further but on Saturday arvo after returning from the club meeting I had another closer look. I couldn't see any problems with the wiring to the decoder. I changed the wires to another decoder ID block and the same thing happened. Hmmmm. No idea. There I left it. Over Sunday though a thought popped into the old noggin to one by one remove and test each light to see if it is confined to a specific light post. This I will have to do either during this week or over the weekend if I get a chance but it is going to be a busy weekend coming up.
As for the Terrace House, no progress on these this week. Maybe during the upcoming week.
However more progress on my understanding of MERG's CBUS layout control system. It has potential. More research and maybe the purchasing of some starter kits to get a feel for the system is warranted in the not so distant future.
Busy week and not much done except for a tad more on the Terrace Houses. AMRA's Brisbane Model Train Show was over the weekend and our club RMCQ was present with a number of our exhibition layouts. I was able to attend yesterday and run a couple of BR trains for the visitors. I took some photos but unfortunately I must have had a bit of a shake in the hands as most were a bit fuzzy so no good for publishing. One thing I noticed at the show was that the HO layout was experiencing problems from time to time with its fiddle yard operation. I think the wiring is a tad convoluted and confusing as their are dual controls boards, one at each end. I am thinking it could be a perfect candidate for a CBUS installation to simplify things. I'll do some more research, possibly do an install on my own layout to get an understanding of how CBUS works, and if I think its the answer, do up a mock setup to explain the system to the club members and see if it interests them to convert the exhibition layout and maybe use it as a layout control bus (LCB) on the new permanent layout. Time will tell!
This week not so hectic so maybe some more progress on the Terrace Houses at the minimum. Club meeting day on Saturday.
This week's evenings have been mostly busy with non-modelling related stuff (unfortunately!). There was probably two nights were I was able to progress a bit more with the Scalescenes terrace houses. These are going to be a lengthy project. ANZAC Day was on Wedneday, so I took my sons into Brisbane City to watch the March. While walking past Roma Street Station, we were pleasantly surprised to see a NSW Class 442 (44211) pull in with the Aurora, which was on a special excursion. In the afternoon I was able to get to the Club for a few hours and sorted out some issues with the HO layout. This weekend was completely a write-off for getting anywhere near the shed and the our layouts. The upcoming week is looking pretty similar. However the upcoming weekend is the Brisbane Model Train Show for the last time at the RNA showgrounds. The Club is exhibiting HO, N, T-Trak and styrene modelling. I should be able to get a day in helping out but this will be dependent on how my boys are behaving for their mum.
The only other thing I have been doing is accessing the MERG site now that I have my online accesses approved and researching what they have on offer (CBUS, TCC, RPC, etc) for layout automation and control.
Until next week, ciao.
As expected not much time this week to do anything in the shed or at the hobby table. However on Saturday afternoon I was able to touch up the painting on the backscene. The missus came out and as the resident artist her comment that "Your trees are looking really good" was much appreciated. This was followed by "You need to tone the tree trunks though". Huh!
"How do I do that dear?"
"Add a darker brown"
"I don't have a darker brown"
"Add some black to the brown"
"I can do that, thanks"
So I did and dabbed the trunks.
Sunday arvo I placed some more fencing into position that now separates the goods yard from the village.
The other thing I did through the week was to join MERG - Model Electronic Railway Group, a UK based club that promotes electronics and computers into the operation of the hobby. Something I am interested in learning more about.
This week coming up isn't looking much better timewise. Let's see what happens.
Saturday arrived and with it iffy weather. The missus had taken the car for a few hours which clashed with the Club meetings. So between showers the boys and I got to the club via our treadlies. I replaced the brakes on mine through the week and this made a vast improvement to my stopping ability with the extra weight of the trailer and Matthew on the back. Lachlan did well riding the distance which is a few kilometres one way. The Club was a hive of activity on Saturday but we had a couple of productive meetings, afternoon tea and a general chit chat before making the return trip, once again between showers. After getting home I spent about an hour in the shed. I also took the monumental step in painting the trunks of trees behind the retaining wall via brush this time. The idea here being an 'avenue' of trees to break the distant scene I painted over Easter with the foreground scene of the retaining wall. Sunday afternoon I painted the foliage. Taking a step back probably not quite to scale (first attempt and all) but hey trees grow to all sizes! I removed the masking tape and newspaper protecting the retaining wall from any stray paint drops and found I will have to do some touchups on areas not quite flush with the top of the wall.
On the subject of painting, re the compressor drain outlet problem mentioned last post, it took me four visits to various Supercheap stores to find any in stock. I am hoping this isn't a sign that this part commonly requires replacing! I replaced this today and pumped up the compressor, no leaks and no shearing off of the valve (this time anyway!).
This week is shaping up to be pretty busy most evenings but I might be able to spend a bit of time on the terrace houses.
