Free-moN Staging Yard - 16"x10'

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Saturday: installed temp Caboose Ind. ground throws and buswire



And Sunday:



We ran trains, using our new staging yard!
Woot!

And here it is in action:

watch?v=txeqQms9Zjg&feature=plcp&context=C433f96bVDvjVQa1PpcFPo5FJc9Aov08UbbGiy6815n6vRlpl9Fg=

What was cool is that Steve's Lockhart, TX module, which use to be the end (though there was some single main after it), now became the "meet", so a train could go out to the loop while one entered staging and another left.
Nice long runs with long trains!

More important: both the Shoofly module and the staging yard fit in the back of my car with all their legs (and mine)!

So the show is over, but there's another one coming up (hopefully) in June, so I have time to finish the yard.

Installed the phone jacks at either end we use to connect the control buses between modules and UTP panels:



Good ol' Gorilla Glue keep's em rock solid.
Steve has a 6-pin crimper, so the wires are straight through.

Got more turnouts, so I installed the rest of the ladders on both sides:



Notice I don't run the track up to the edge: need to leave room for the track to "float" a little over the PC board ties (which are raised a little) but I explain all that in a video I should have edited tonight or tomorrow.

[cont.]

[mcfunkeymonkey]

For the feeders I've been soldering the wire "L" bent under the rails / joiners:



Then I solder them to the buswires.
At first I tried suitcase connectors, but 22 gauge to 12 gauge doesn't work too well.
Luckily, I can just put the modules on their sides on my workbench. (yeay!)

When laying the track over the middle section, I first put a sheet of 0.020 styrene between the sections before clamping:



Even though I use a Ultra Thin Dedeco separating disc, the styrene makes sure that there's rail to file back flush with the endplate instead of wishing it'd grow a 1/32" to prevent a wheel-grabbing gap.

I thought of this trick after I cut the first track (at bottom):



As you can see, a wider gap than the other above it (when I used the styrene).
[The styrene is in place in the photo above: normally there's barely a gap in the upper rails]

Also, because the separating disc comes in at a slight angle:



The styrene allows enough space for a flush file.
By laying the rail over the PC board ties first, the solder helps create a smooth path over any little bumps or skewed PC boards / endplate top.
Sometimes there's a little rise but hardly noticeable.

[cont.]

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Once you get ALL the yard tracks smooth & even, soldered / caulked down, & cut, then & ONLY then is it ok to release the clamps, remove the styrene and separate the sections so you can file the rail flush:



Gorilla Glue is strong, but I still file only down, and I put my thumb over the rails to relieve any stress on the solder.
Make sure you file flush + a smidge: if the rails touch each other when mating the pressure of the clamp will pop them off the solder.
I also slightly camphor the head with a single light pass of the file.

The most difficulty aspect of Free-moN is to get the tracks from different modules to line up: fortunately usually there are two people setting up: one to hold the two module endplates flush and the other to clamp.
Usually it takes a bit of finessing and a lot of patience.
And that with modules with a SINGLE track.
This yard has SEVEN, and they all have to line up perfectly or it won't work (or only some will).
Seems like the model railroad gods were on my side today, as all seven line up great between the two main sections:



Now all I have to do is slip the 2' insert between them (with a sheet of styrene between each gap) and then lay the curved track on the insert so it matchs up with the established track on the main sections.

My crate of unassembled Bullfrog turnout controls should show up soon, too, so I'll get to figure out how to do the double-actuated (one on each side) control rods.

I'm also going to be building a sloped hardboard shelf & lip on each side that will hold our iPhone & NEC throttles as well as protect the Bullfrog knobs below it.

Thanks for watching and hope to have a video up soon.
Cheers!

[MisterBeasley]

I love the whole Free-Mo concept, but I'm not familiar with all the details.  Does the specification not call call for rail joiners between modules?  I've never looked carefully at that detail of the layouts I've seen at shows.

Right now, building my own layout takes all my train-time, so joining a club or doing Free-Mo isn't really a good option if I wish to, in the words of Thomas Jefferson, "promote domestic tranquility."  But, if we decide to relocate after we retire in a few more years, I think a locale with an active Free-Mo group would be something to seriously consider.

Again, thanks for taking the time to document your fine work.  I look forward to seeing the scenery that develops around the yard.

[Doug from Michigan]

Thank you for sharing another project with us!  Your project  threads are always entertaining and very inspirational.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Thanks, guys, for the kind words.

Free-moN standards call for butt joints: I gorilla glue about 4 PC board ties at the ends and solder the rails, then file back flush with the endplate.

Works out great, with barely a bump between modules (though sometimes it takes a few tries to clamp them in the right position ;) )

Here's the last video of the Hiller show, showing steam & diesel running through the whole layout:

watch?v=CBWYq0wMVbs&feature=plcp&context=C433f96bVDvjVQa1PpcFPo5FJc9Aov08UbbGiy6815n6vRlpl9Fg=

Thanks for watching!

["JaBear"]

Gidday, Have you ever considered putting "Super" in front of "Mcfunkeymonkey??

Great to see people enjoying themselves at the show. Viewing your posts always puts a smile on my dial.

Cheers, the Bear.

[steinjr]

mcfunkeymonkey

When laying the track over the middle section, I first put a sheet of 0.020 styrene between the sections before clamping:



Even though I use a Ultra Thin Dedeco separating disc, the styrene makes sure that there's rail to file back flush with the endplate instead of wishing it'd grow a 1/32" to prevent a wheel-grabbing gap.

  A simple and smart way to get straight rail cuts with minimum track gaps at the module boundaries.

 Thanks MC - yet another good build thread that both shares enthusiasm and good ideas !

 Smile,
 Stein

 

[dexterdog]

Love the videos, your skills as a modeler are unparalleled in this universe... HOWEVER, could you please ditch that elevator muzak soundtrack and replace it with... oh, I don't know, just about anything! Maybe some AC/DC,,, yeah, that's the ticket...

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Thanks.

All the music in the videos was written by my brother (and used by permission).
The super-cheezy elevator-type music was the background muzak in a supermarket for a Doritos commercial, so imagine it coming out almost inaudibly from a very crappy speaker while cruising the snack aisle at 2am.
I'm trying to get him to record some Johnny Cash-ish / Neil Young-ish / Tom Waits-ish more train-like music for me, but he's a busy guy down in LaLaLand.

So until then, you're stuck in the elevator, just like Shallow Hal with Tony Robbins.

Now onto today's adventure!

I might have over-emphasized the finickiness of aligning butt joints in the early posts.
Yes, it's not a two-second snap together, but it's not that hard to get the modules aligned.
Especially with two people: one to align, the other to clamp.
And most modules have a single main, so all you have to align is two rails (no matter the off-chance of endplate warping or wacky floor).
And what we've found is that even if there's a significant gap, trains will still run over it fine!
It's pretty amazing what long trains are able to run over.
Now, of course, it's better to get as close as possible to flush & smooth.
But there's a lot of lee-way.

Drop-in sections of track or even the pre-ballasted joints where you drop in two rails also have their place: we've found that those options actually have more variables than necessary (and the drop-in rails can get bent very quickly), and take longer to set up & take down.

Bolts & pins are great between sections, but not between modules: it's just too hard to get people from all over to precision-machine-place pins in the correct spot to allow alignment on either side of the module in any combination with anyone else's module.
Maybe if we machined endplates out of steel and then all used the same...
Ugh: the weight!

So butt-end joints over 6"-tall 3/4" birch ply have proved (for us) to be the most practical and repeatable.

Just to prove a point: today I connected the 2-foot, 15 deg. insert between the two yard sections in less than a minute, all by myself:



Perhaps having multiple tracks actually makes it easier to align, as (theoretically) just aligning the two outermost rails should line up all those in between.
But sometimes the Free-moN gods are with you, and sometimes they give you the fumbly finger.

You can see I also sprayed on the first layer of flat black along the sides.

Once I got the insert aligned and clamped, I cut track to fit the three remaining curves, laid down some caulk, placed the track, eyeballed it to have a 2" straight off the sides and then a smooth curve (1 1/2" track centers).
The caulk gives you plenty of time to adjust, test with a car, and then solder at the ends:



The fun thing about this part is that there are no rail joiners and you don't have to put styrene between the sections.
Just run the rails up to the ones already flush on the yard sections (ok, leave a slight gap, like hair-width).
So no cutting with the Dremel or filing, either.
And everything lines up lovely:



Now I've only tried the insert in one direction: I'm really really really hoping that it all lines up when I flip it around (and there might be a slight bit of filing to be done).
But as of now, we have all 7 yard tracks (a main with two staging tracks and a runaround on each side) up and running.
Or will, once I drop feeders on the insert section after the caulk cures.

So here it is:



While I was working on this, my daughter was using her model railroading skills to build a diorama of the BFG's cave for a class project (many layers of carved pink foam caulked together, sculptamold slathered on top, now painting the blue rocks), and my son was... ??? dancing / practicing karate / painting water pictures on the driveway.

So it was a good day.
Thanks for looking, and for all your comments and suggestions.

["JaBear"]

mcfunkeymonkey

I might have over-emphasized the finickiness of aligning butt joints in the early posts.
Yes, it's not a two-second snap together, but it's not that hard to get the modules aligned.
Especially with two people: one to align, the other to clamp.
And most modules have a single main, so all you have to align is two rails (no matter the off-chance of endplate warping or wacky floor).

Gidday MC, I certainly do not think you have "....over- emphasized the finickiness of aligning butt joints...."

It, to my mind, it doesn't matter now fantastic the scenery, the rest of the track work is, in fact all the aspects of what makes a great model railroad, if the butt joints aint right, the rest  dont  work!!, detracts from the modular experience, much "ness"

Keep having good days.

Cheers, the Bear.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Here's a video I made on how I make the butt joints over a Free-moN module section:

watch?v=wM1H0URvKX8

Again, I apologize for the length & rambling, but I wanted to take the mystery out of a potential deal-breaker for anyone wanting to build a Free-moN module.
This is for 7 tracks on plywood, but can also be used for 1 or 2 tracks on foam / cork.
The same technique can be used for other modules, or swing-out / lift-up sections.
(At the single-main endplate of a module you can just solder the rails so they stick out & file back flush)

Hope this helps spread the Free-moN flow, and thanks for watching (and for all comments / suggestions!)
Cheers!

[tin can]

MC:

Thanks for the video.  It is incredible! I think I now have the confidence to try something similar in HO scale.

I can't wait to see what you tackle, next.

 

jeff c.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Thanks, Jeff.
The whole point (flush butt?) is to take the mystery out of modules and other aspects of model railroading so people spend more time building and less time worrying.
The same technique can be used for bridges, docks, lift-up & swing-out sections.

Built a couple of Bullfrogs and started figuring out how to install them.
While I could just screw them into the 1/2" ply, that wouldn't leave much room for the control rods to drop 4" to the sides, especially when install right next to the edge.
So I'll probably mount the Bullfrogs on some 1 1/2" square blocks (leftover leg material), but we'll see.

First, though, I have to deal with another issue thrown my way, specifically this:



The Atlas C55 turnouts, while nice for their power routing & easy-to-wire frog set up, have a weakass plastic throwbar / point rail clip that actually pushes the point rail up over the stock rail when thrown to the far side.
"You're throwing too hard!" you might say.
Well, so does the Bullfrog, so I gotta work with that.
And I have no problems with the Bullfrog working my handlaid turnout with PC board throwbar on the Shoofly.

So, before I started butchering the turnouts already installed on the staging module, I practiced with an Atlas C55 turnout I'm saving for another project (muhahahaha):



Just cut the point rail clips with rail nippers and soldered.
I use HO scale PC board ties for throwbars as I'll be drilling holes for the Bullfrog wire & the N scale ones are a little thin.
[Note to self: remember to cut the gap on the throwbar before installing & soldering ]
Seemed to work out pretty well, so now it's on to performing surgery on the 17 Atlas turnouts already installed!
Thanks for looking.

[dexterdog]

I too have had issues with the quality of Atlas Code 55 turnouts in the past, the weak throwbar being one issue. Or in other instances one or both of the point rails come loose from the pins holding them in place. Lately I've noticed that I have problems with certain cars derailing on a couple of my installed #5 turnouts. Eventually I figured out that the metal frogs were slightly raised and were not flush with the rails. I've had to file down the frog to fix the problem.

I am building any new turnouts I need with Fast Tracks products which always results in smooth problem-free trackwork. I don't want to rag on the quality of Atlas products, as for the most part they're pretty reliable. But it's definitely annoying when these problems pop up.

Keep the updates coming, I always look forward to your informative posts.

Frank B.

Dorval, Canada

 

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Thanks, Frank.
Usually I handlay turnouts myself, but as I built most of this in less than a week for a show, I went with the Atlas (though now I wonder if I could have built 20 turnouts in a day.  Hmm...)

The other issue with Atlas C55 turnouts is with the "bumps" / tie clips.
For some reason, they seem to be a hair tall for many wheel flanges, leading the wheel to "pop up" right before the frog.

A few passes with a file seems to do the trick, as does making sure your wheels are perfectly in gauge.

If I do get major issues with the Atlas turnouts, then I'll definitely replace them with handlaid (unless it's the day of a show ;) )

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Sooooooo, last night I tried replacing a throwbar on an already-installed turnout and tweeked the point rail: they really like to bend and pop out of the hinge!
I think it'll be repairable, but otherwise I don't mind replacing one with a handlaid turnout.

But, thinking about how people had been talking about shims, I decided to give it a try.
There's a little channel in the throwbar under each stockrail, so I just slipped a small section of 0.02" x 0.06" styrene strip into the space:



Seems to work great.
I also tried 0.03" x 0.06", but that thickness doesn't allow any give around the point clip, and the tension pops the point rail out of the hinge hole after a bit.
The 0.02" x 0.06" is still thin enough to slide under the point rail clip & allow it some play, while still keeping the throwbar down under the stockrail to keep the point rail flush (and not ride up like it had been).

So far, I think you only have to do it on the side opposite the ground throw / bullfrog wire, but the groundthrow might be keeping that side down.
When I install a Bullfrog I'll see how it works, but it seems the worst case is that I slide another styrene strip on the throwbar under that side of the stockrail.

K.I.S.S. really is a great principle to live by.
Thanks to all who made all the suggestions / alt ways to skin the cat!

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Here's a short "How To" video on how to improve the Atlas C55 turnouts by adding shims to the throwbar:

watch?v=CA87ZvHJQd8

I'll do another one on how I replace the throwbar with a PC board tie later (probably this weekend).

I've also started installing the Bullfrog turnout controls to the module.
As there's no 2" pink foam, I added a spacer made out of 2" chunks of 1"x2"s.
Here's with the control knob pushed in:



And pulled out:



Notice that I built the turnouts without the rod support option: the Bullfrogs in the center don't need the Tadpoles as the red control rod sheathes are stiff enough when short enough.
When I install one on the side of the module I might need a Tadpole for the far side.
We'll see!

The travel distance is about 1 1/8".
Not thrilled with the distance (or the bright yellow of the rod), but I really dig the Bullfrogs themselves: keeps the points firmly secured and easy to power the frogs.

To protect the knobs and have something useful on the yard module I built some small shelves 4" high that stick out about 2":





[Haven't installed them yet: will drill all the holes for the Bullfrog knobs first]
But not only to they protect the knobs, but will give us a surface other than the layout to place our Powercab and iPhone throttle, as well as any car cards / paperwork when we get to that point.

The mainline turnout knobs are centered equidistant between the bottom of module and bottom of shelf, while I'm going to offset the yard track turnout knobs: 1/2" higher for far side and 1/2" lower for near side.
Also will carve a slight notch top or bottom to indicate direction of diverging route so operators can feel it rather than lean back to double check all the time.

Two Bullfrogs down & only 18 more to go!

Thanks for looking.

[MisterBeasley]

I had an issue with HO-scale Atlas turnouts, Code 83 snap-switches, about a year and a half ago.  Atlas is in the process of moving their flex-track production from one Chinese factory to another.  I'm wondering if some of these quality control issues are a result of the move, or perhaps a reason for it.

On a brighter note, I know this is a "staging" yard, but since it is seen by the public, will you be putting in some scenery, at least?

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Oh, yeah: there'll be ground cover, ballast, cinders, gravel, etc.

There'll be a turntable with coal, sand, ash, water, etc. and a double-track deisel service.
A machine shop (that might double as a programming track) with some welding flicker inside and a MOW track and shed for the wreck train/crane that we'll need when people lean on the modules and throw the the joint alignment outta whack ;)

You didn't think I'd leave it JUST plywood, did you?  

[mcfunkeymonkey]

So the two mainline turnouts of one section are now Bullfrogged:



I'll hook up the wires after I install all the Bullfrogs.
They work pretty awesome (though I did cut the red sheath a little short on the left one).

Also installed the shelves on the handle side:





I used woodglue and screw on the first but then I realised that the paint might prevent a great bond (will the wood still emulsify if there's a layer of paint? wouldn't think so), so I tried... that's right: Gorilla Glue! on the second.

Both seem equally firm and steady, so we'll see over time.

I'm not going to install the shelves on the other side until I install 10 Bullfrogs on this section (much easier to work propped up and clamped on workbench like in photo above)

So I've been installing more spacers on which to mount the Bullfrogs, and came upon a new issue:



Originally, the bolts would stick out to the left.

While I was smart enough to plan ahead with the cross-braces to place them not under a hole for turnout actuating rods, I was not smart enough to think about the bolts for the legs and how they stick out into the Bullfrog.

So I've reversed the direction of the bolts so the leg plate goes on the "right" (outer) side and... that's right: Gorilla Glue!
The bolt and washer on the inner side (where the Bullfrog will go) are now rocksolid attached to the crossbeam.
If you look at the first photo in the post, you'll see I have room to slip the leg frame over the bolts, but I think I'm going to cut channels in the leg frame panels and make it a "slip-on" rather than "bolt-hole only" because I really don't want to whack the Bullfrog too much.
Plus, slip-on is soooooo much easier & quicker.
Just hope it doesn't over-weaken the 1/2" ply panel on the legs too much.

Alrighty, back to building more Bullfrogs!

Thanks for looking.

[dexterdog]

Hi M.C,

I was just wondering if you were using one of Tim Warris' "Best Glue Applicator Bottles Ever" to apply glue during your Bullfrog Assembly Marathon! Seriously though, very nice work on the staging module. You never cease to impress me with your steady stream of ingenious solutions to problems which pop up as you go. At times my inability to solve some unforseen problem on my own layout in a timely fashion leads to prolonged periods of zero progress. You don't seem to suffer from this!

As always, your posts are highly informative, so keep 'em coming.

Frank B.

Dorval, Canada

 

 

 

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Thanks, Frank.
Not sure about "ingenious" solutions: more like scrambling to right the ship after running aground (a la Exxon Valdez with a slightly lower blood alcohol content )

Here's a shot of my high-tech white glue applicator:

I really dig toothpicks.
Probably my most useful modeling tool, with tweezers and Bear Republic's Racer 5 IPA tied for a close second.
For my birthday a couple months ago my kids got me a bunch of boxes of 'em (toothpicks, not IPAs).
Just gotta remember not to use them for the teeth after using them on the modeling ;)

Cranked out 4 more Bullfrogs this morning, so 10 down, 10ish more to go!
(and installing them, and connecting the control rods, and wiring up the frogs, and... )

Thanks for rolling with the rambles.

[steinjr]

mcfunkeymonkey

Not sure about "ingenious" solutions: more like scrambling to right the ship after running aground (a la Exxon Valdez with a slightly lower blood alcohol content )

 

 Well, in that case - well scrambled :-)

 Grin,
 Stein, who also are enjoying your build threads

 

[sfcouple]

Thank you for taking the time to photograph, video, and post examples of your superlative work for the entire modeling community.  This posting is most informative, I have learned a lot and can't wait to try some of your ideas and techniques on my own layout.    

Thank you again,

Wayne 

 

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Thanks, Stein & Wayne, for the positive feedback.
And glad you find it useful.
(Just like Thomas, I want to be a very useful engine )

Finished installing all 4 shelves and most of the Bullfrogs on one section of the yard:





The mainline turnouts are centered between bottom of shelf and bottom of module.
Yard turnouts knobs are raised or lowered 1/4" depending if throwing a near or far turnout.
I might notch the knob to indicate direction of diverging route, but I'll wait to see if it's necessary when we use the yard at a show next month.

One of the knobs is not under the shelves:



But still protected.

I've been playing around with the control rod supports on the Bullfrogs.
If the Bullfrog is in the middle of the module, then no Tadpole or other support is needed.
But some are on one side or the other, so I built some with the control tube support mounted on the Bullfrog.
Seems to work fine unless very very close to the side, then the threaded z-bend tends to scrape a bit as the motion carries it down as it goes around.
Here you can see some distances:



Overall, the red tube is enough for good operations.

I really like the Bullfrogs, except for the 1 1/8" travel distance.
The only other issue I can see that might come up is the lateral movement of throwing the turnouts rocks the module a little side to side, but I'm guessing when both yard sections are joined with the smaller curved insert, and connected to other modules the movement won't be too bad.

Time to build more Bullfrogs!
Thanks for looking.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Finished most of the Bullfrogs on one staging yard section, so started in on the other (the one with the cans on it):



I've left the shelves off the UTP side as I've found it's a whole lot easier to install spacers and Bullfrogs when it's tipped up on the workbench, rather than trying to screw up (done enough of that)(and probably will again).

Speaking of which, for some reason I could not get the screw to hold one spacer flush while the woodglue dried, so in the end I just ended up taping it in place:



Worked like a charm.
A sticky blue charm.

In that photo you can also see my sophisticated and hi-tech method of bundling & securing the wires up & out of the way from the Bullfrogs.
Same sticky blue charm.

The reason I had the partially-finished Bullfrog section up is because I laid the track and turnouts for the diesel engine service area (under the cans) and, since I had the chop saw out while making a pair of detachable extensions, I went ahead and cut slots to make this section's legs slip-on-able:




I just cut straight from the top of the panel down to the holes I'd already drilled for the bolts.
If anyone is making a module, I strongly recommend making your legs slip on.
It's, like, totally 20 KABILLION times easier and faster to put the legs on (can even do it one handed).

Also had to cut out more of the wire channel because flipping the legs around to the other side of the cross-support threw off my aim.
When I first made the legs, I used a router to smooth the edges of the channel, but this time was too lazy to get the router out and went with the more direct route of a curved file.
If anyone is making a module, I strongly recommend rounded and smoothing any areas on which wires will rub, as a sharp edge with tear the wires to shreds over time.

So here's the overview of the second section of the staging yard module (though technically both are modules with standardized endplates on both ends):



The two long tracks at the upper right are the diesel engine service.
The one on the far left will double as a programming track (will hook up a DPDT in the fascia that will flip it between the main bus and a short section of bus-ish wire with powerpole connectors that can hook up with the portable PowerCab Panel / Booster I'm building in a toolbox).
The short track between the engine service and the main is the fuel / sand supply track.

I used two ME #6 turnouts for the diesel service.
Why?
LHS was out of Atlas #7s, and I wanted to try ME (first time).
Free-moN standards allow down to #6, so it's all good.
I popped out the spring underneath to allow easier movement for the Bullfrogs.
And, like Adam (Steamdonkey74) said earlier (or maybe on a different thread), it's a PITA to solder the green wire to that little disc under the frog.
Hope it holds.

The grey rectanglish shape on the far left is the Machine Shop base, whose track might also double as a programming track so there can be one on each side.
Both programming tracks will be long enough for at least 2 Big Long Locos for consisting.

Tasks this week:
--Fix / replace 1 turnout I butchered while experimenting on ways to improve it
--Finish installing all Bullfrogs
--Finish wireing up all Bullfrogs
--Hook up some juice and run some trains to find out the bumps before the group run on June 10th
--Start to figure out how to build the 8" pit turntable

But things are moving again.
Thanks for looking.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Turnout Trials & Tribulations!

But first, I wired up the outer diesel engine service track to this nifty DPDT On-Off-On toggle (rated at 20amps):



that will allow that track to become a programming track when hooked up to the portable Powercab panel toolbox I hope to build this weekend at our group build party.

So I totally butchered a turnout experimenting with different ways to "fix" it.
('Nam flashback: "We had to destroy the village in order to save it.")
So I needed to install a new one.
(No, really, it was ugly)

As I had already soldered everything together, I just used the Dedeco thin disc in the Dremel and cut it close to the original joint:



After filing & fitting & filing to get a close fit, I slipped some HO PC board ties under the new joints, laid down some caulk and then slipped the new turnout into place & soldered:





Turned out rather well!
And now I know what NOT to do to an Atlas C55 turnout: namely, don't try to cut the point rail throwbar clips as the point rails twist as soon as you breath close to them, and soldering doesn't work very well.
Must be the kryptonite in the rails.

So a key Atlas C55 is back in business & works great with the Bullfrog.
Think the turnout troubles are over?
Heck no.

[cont.]

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Soooooo, after fixing one turnout, I tried installing Bullfrogs on the two ME C55 #6 turnouts I used for the diesel service (and which, if you remember, I installed yesterday).

Well, the hole in the throwbar is a bit smaller than the Bullfrog wire (which fits the Atlas just fine), and so I thought I'd just ream it out a little.

HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAAHA

Snap:



No matter how careful I was, either in reaming or in inserting the rod, the throwbar snapped off.

Luckily, the ME turnouts are much sturdier (in general) than the Atlas one and the point rails don't have those clips.
So I popped the throw bar off and slipped an HO PC board tie under there:



There are tiny bumps under the ME point rails, so, after soldering, in order to keep the points down below the stock rails, I had to slip a small strip of styrene on top of both sides of the PC board throw bar and under the stockrails.
Turns out 0.02" styrene is a smidge thick, so I filed it with a couple of passes and it fit real purdy.

For the other ME C55 turnout, I took the point rails out of their seats (which look remarkably like rail joiners) and filed off the little bumps. The PC board tie then sat too far below, so I propped it with slightly filed 0.02" styrene:



Turns out that this actually makes the throwing action a little stiff, so I might drop it a little tomorrow (put the throwbar on the ground) or trim the plastic ties next to it, as I think that might be pinching a bit.

So lots of frustration and swearing today, mostly aimed at myself.
But in the end, it all turned out:



Tomorrow: wiring up the underworld.

Thanks for looking.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Though sometimes I find all this yard work pointless:

[Blue Flamer]

mcfunkeymonkey

Though sometimes I find all this yard work pointless:

MC.

Don't give up your day job or stop posting your terrific how to series. You will surely starve as a 'Stand Up Comedian".

By the way, my compliments to having your kids involved. Your daughter does better track work than I do and I have about 60 years + on her.

Well done MC.

Blue Flamer.

 

[sfcouple]

Wow, now that is some excellent track work.  "Yard work is pointless".....excellent track work and a sense of humor, keep up the nice work on both fronts.  

Wayne

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Thanks for the props.
Not sure about "excellent" track work, as most of these posts are about me trying to fix my own mistakes.

But getting closer to figuring things out with manufacturer's turnouts.
For the Altas C55, just slipping in the shims helps keep the point rails from popping up, no matter what method of turnout control you use.
For the ME C55 #6s, my "fixes" are to repair my own bungling in snapping off the throwbars by accident.
The holes in the ME throwbars are smaller than the Atlas, but I've found a slight filing / grinding of the wire takes it down enough to slide through just fine.

Easily distracted, I tend to make a lot of "D'oh!" mistakes, like installing one Bullfrog close the cross-support before inserting the z-bend connector:



No biggie, as I just unscrewed the Bullfrog, inserted the z-bend, then re-attached the Bullfrog.
But I tend to do a lot of forehead-slapping moves like that.
And if you can't laugh at yourself...

By the way, you can see the support for the red control rod sheath still attached to the Bullfrog on the left.
Those are totally unnecessary on this module: just having the red sheath can work fine for the 11" max on this module, and the structure gets in the way when using the z-bend and using both sides, so I just chop it off.

After a lovely day yesterday with a Silicon Valley Free-moN group work session, I got one yard section totally wired up and ready to roll.
Came back home, hooked up the small sceniced extension and the DCC, and ran some trains:





Except for the rear "2" on my 2-10-2 slipping off the point rails when backing up over ONE turnout coming from the diverging route (need to check the gauge & inspect the rails), all the trains ran fine over all the trackwork.

Today will be installing the shelves and control rods on the on the opposite side (now that everything underneath works fine, don't need to prop it up on the workbench), and then hooking up all the wiring on the other yard section.

Should have a fine & operational staging yard with powered frogs and turnout control for the setup at the Coast Division meet June 10th.
Thanks for looking.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Finally got all the track wired up, as well as all the Bullfrog turnout controls installed and wired, which means it's time to run some trains!

While the yard sections and insert make a 10' double-ended yard module, since I made each section with Free-moN standard endplates, I can split the yard and create two stub-ended yards:





So I sandwiched my Sonoma Shoo-fly, added some detachable extensions to the stubs to create some runarounds, and so was able to run some long(er)(ish) trains through.
Enjoy the (short) video, featuring my new 2-10-2 (which will shortly have sound installed, I hope):

watch?v=ntryw3aQzNY

Thanks for looking.

["JaBear"]

Gidday, still like those oak trees, (even the "wilted brocolli" one ), especially the shots taken through them. They would have been a great place for a young fella to build a tree hut.

Thanks again for sharing,

Cheers,the Bear

[MisterBeasley]

Inspirational, to say the least.

Does the Free-Mo standard provide for multiple parallel tracks at module boundaries?  I noticed that your stand-alone extension fit perfectly with the middle of the yard.  Is that just because you defined your own track spacing, or does Free-Mo set that?

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Thanks, guys.

Mr. B: Free-moN just calls for a single main centered at the end of a 12"-24" module.
(while my staging yard main looks off center, remember that it is centered for the 12" on one side, with an extra 4" hanging off the other)

For the staging yard I chose 1 1/2" track centers to leave room for fiddling fingers.
Right now some dudes in our group are building a couple of single-to-double main modules and the interchange that goes with them, and I think they're going with 1 1/4" track centers.
Which really makes them sections of a larger module, except that the Main is still usable even if the second main becomes a siding or "abandoned" track if that section is used somewhere else.

So the short of it is no, Free-moN doesn't stipulated anything about multiple tracks across module ends.
That's sort of up to each club / group for unique sections / modules.

The detachable extensions I built to fit the end of the yard (and both extensions can be put together to create it's own short runaround), but if someone else had a raised main and lowered siding that was 1 1/2" apart then they could use them too ;)

I'll probably be building another staging yard insert that has a track split off to a single "main" (making it a "y" insert) so a stub-end classification yard can be tacked on or it can be the interchange from other line/modules.

So many projects!
And when you start building Free-moN modules, it's hard to stop!
(Still need to figure out where I'm going to store all this stuff!)

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Busy week as we're getting ready to show/run some trains on Sunday.
(And the Euro Cup started yesterday. Need to get a TV out in the garage: Wife's not happy I keep bring train stuff into the house to work on while watching)

Started building the machine shop in the staging yard.
First made a pit by cutting out the center & then turning that into the bottom with some pieces of scrape styrene:



Decided to install the machine shop at a slight angle to break up all the parallelism.
Had to cut a channel in the ply for the pit.
After installing replacement ties, I spray painted the track Grimy Black:



Installed "concrete" strips of scored styrene for the diesel service area, then painted the rest of the ply "mis-tint tan" [WHICH I SHOULD HAVE DONE BEFORE LAYING ANY TRACK AT ALL!!!] (more on that in a bit)
Couldn't resist throwing down some dirt on the wet paint, which led to throwing down some cinders as well (haven't quite decided how I want the yard to look, but sparse dirt & cinders is an ok base ground cover):



BIG NOTES TO SELF:
--Paint yr ply at the start: seals the wood and provides smooth surface for throwbars (painted every other layout first: didn't on this one as in too much a hurry to get things operational for a show)
--Don't forget to douse your throwbars with LaBelle oil BEFORE wetting ground cover and soaking with diluted white glue. The oil creates a barrier and so prevents the diluted white glue from creeping under the throwbars.
Because I forgot both, I had 7-8 throwbars that I had to unstick and then scrape out with a thin-blade knife and file [D'oh!]

But all worked out okie dokie, and I finished building the machine shop, though I had to move the chimney a bit:



The chimney is CA'ed for now, but I might break it off and use a magnet / dowel if it becomes a nuisance during transport.

What's that blue light in the shop, you ask?
Hmm.....

[cont.]

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Before we get to the blue light, here's another nifty addition to the staging yard:
At the last show, we had to jerry-rig a NEC PCP with a piece of track to act as a programming track, so...
I isolated two tracks (the outside diesel service track and the machine shop track) to serve as programming tracks during operations:



During normal ops, the tracks are connected to the main bus, but we can flip to programming mode through an on-off-on toggle on respective sides of the module:



The toggles are hooked up to some short wires that have Anderson powerpole connectors, so we can hook up the "DCC in a Toolbox" I'll be building later today:



As this Staging Yard is designed for primarily practical purposes, I think the programming tracks (with enough space for 2-3 loco consists) will help out moocho.

The main bus splice will also allow me to run trains at home, or if we don't have the fabulous "DCC / JMRI in a box" that we normally use.

Now back to that blue light...

[cont.]

[mcfunkeymonkey]

So I made the Machine Shop with the roof removable for access:



And will be detailing the interior over the next couple weeks.
Need to get a bunch of machine shop equipment in there.
Might put up some interior walls, too, to cover the plastic window frames & detail-less walls (though nobody will really see it, given the 50" height).

But started with some dudes working:



The grates in the middle cover a hole that houses a welding circuit:



Operated by a toggle on the fascia.
Workers need to do some work while people are programming, right?

Very silly feature but adds some fun.

For now the welding lights are run by 9V battery mounted by a clip to the module wall:



Eventually the circuit and more lights might be connected to the accessory bus, but for now, that's it.

And now it's back to watching the Portugal / Germany game while installing low-pro wheels and MT trucks on some old reefers so I have more rolling stock to roll tomorrow ;)

Happy weekend, all.
Thanks for looking.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Had a lovely day running trains with the Silicon Valley Free-moN dudes at the Coast Division Meet in San Leandro, CA:

watch?v=wAGq6zOyUyI

The space we had available was a funkily-angled atrium at the Boy Scout Headquarters building, but, hey, Free-moN can fit anywhere!

Speaking of fitting things in, here's a "Behind-the-Scenes" of how I get my Shoo-fly & Staging Yard modules (& equipment) to meets:





Notice the high-tech shock-absorbing packing material.
If I build another module, it will be a good excuse to get a bigger car ;)

Thanks for looking!

[J.Rob]

M.C.

In using the bullfrogs do they need to be spaced so much lower than the base of the layout? How do you think they would work in HO scale with the longer throw distance needed. Also do they have springs which positively hold the turn out in position?

Thanks in advance, really enjoy your posts and get a real charge out of your kids working on the layouts with you, my youngest is 21 so I am enjoying yours vicariously.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

J.Rob

In using the bullfrogs do they need to be spaced so much lower than the base of the layout? How do you think they would work in HO scale with the longer throw distance needed. Also do they have springs which positively hold the turn out in position?

Free-moN module benchwork is 6" tall.
Most modules have 2" foam on top of 1/4" ply that rests on 3 3/4" side & cross beams (or directly on 4" side & cross beams).
The Bullfrogs themselves are about 2 1/2"+ tall, so when you mount them directly to that 1/4" ply, you only have about an inch of space to the bottom of the benchwork, as you can see on the one Bullfrog I installed on my Shoo-fly module:

[Note: I didn't want control rods / knobs sticking out the sides, so I MacGyvered a rod & plate that you could reach under and push/pull]

The Staging Yard module, on the other hand, has no foam, so there's just a 1/2" ply top on 5 1/2" sides.
In order for me to get the control rods down so they'll clear the shelves that protect them, I put in 2 1/2"ish spacers:

No so critical for the center ones, but very important for the ones close to the sides (and some are very close to the sides).

There's a spring which pushes a ball into slots that hold the Bullfrog in position for each throw.
It's very solid and strong.

It'd work great for HO.
The only issue I've run into is that any length over about 10"-11" needs to have the sheath supported, either with the support that comes on the Bullfrog (which you can see on the third BF from the left, but most I cut off because they get in the way when there's a control rod on each side) or with a Tadpole, which is sort of a separate post you can install to anchor the sheath closer to the BF.

Fast Tracks has videos demonstrating all these options.
[scroll down to the "video" tab]

Hope this helps.
Feel free to ask any questions.

[J.Rob]

Thanks. It sure does. One more question can they reach turnouts 3 feet away as they come in the kit or will they need to be MacGyvered as well? For got to mentioned I also enjoyed your recent articles as well nice work.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

J.Rob

Thanks. It sure does. One more question can they reach turnouts 3 feet away as they come in the kit or will they need to be MacGyvered as well?

The control rods come in 36" lengths, and you can always join them together.
[scroll down the product list to 'Control Rod 36" ']
They have hangers / joiners as well.

As long as the sheath (red) control rod tube is secure, theoretically you can have the turnout as far away as you want.

As my Free-moN modules are 24" and 16" wide, I don't have any practical experience with distances over 11" (and at that length the sheath needs to be anchored, which is what I'll do today on one).

Just remember the rods require about 1 1/8" travel, so both the knobs and the yellow control rod will stick out from the fascia 1 1/8".
And the yellow is bright.

If I didn't have that shelf protecting / blocking the view of the knobs, then I'd probably want to paint at least the yellow control rod (and maybe the knob, too) before installing.
The yellow is a bit tacky.
But I'm not sure if the paint would rub off over time.

Well, it's going to be a hot one today, and the garage always gets 10-15 deg hotter than outside, and they're repaving the road right in front ("I love the smell of asphalt in the morning..."), so maybe I'll just bring a project on a tray inside and watch the Poland-Russia game where it's cool.

[sfcouple]

J.Robb,

I use these Bull Frog turnout controls on my HO layout and do have some turnouts 3 feet away from their control handles and they all work great.  I have one with control rods at some pretty unusual angles and it works perfect every time, actually these control units have proven to be flawless for me. They and Fast Tracks come highly recommended.  

Wayne 

[J.Rob]

Thanks for the quick reply and the good info I was considering these for some turnouts that will be too far for easy operation by ground throws.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Seems like after a show the train stuff just sorta sits for awhile, as I play catch-up with work and figure out what project to tackle next.
I need to install a Tadpod support for one of the Bullfrog cables (just a few inches too long for firm action), but I really didn't feel like diving back into benchwork.
So I pulled out a box of Tichy Wreck Crane Train kits I got awhile ago and gave that a go.
The crew, supply & boom cars were all fine & straight-forward enough: hardest part was gluing the nuts centered.
The crane was fun, too, until The Threading Of The Cables:



Talk about blowing your eyes out.
Next time I'm painting everything bright yellow so I can see the thread easier.

But it all worked out, and now we have a wreck train to help out during shows:



Still need to paint the trip pins and add some details to the boom car.
Now to build the MOW shed next to the MOW track:



But it's nice to be back modeling again.

Thanks for looking.

[dexterdog]

Nice work on the wreck train M.C. But now it's been 11 long days with no update from you and at this point I am beginning to question your dedication to this hobby!

Surely you must know by now that you are an inspiration to us all and that we need to hear from you on a regular basis as you look down on us from the lofty Mount Olympus heights of model railroading accomplishment. We (I) eagerly await your next update...

Frank B.

Dorval, Canada

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Sorry for not posting my usual 20 kabillion pictures a day, but Other Things (like Life & Family stuff) been happening lately, especially with Japanese School Summer Intensive and then Summer Vacation in full force. But I just finished building, installing and getting operational the manual turntable for Effett Yard, and so, in an onslaught of quantity over quality, I present a plethora of progress photos.

Our Silicon Valley Free-moN group held a work party June 30 at Steve Williams’ house, and we worked on Murf’s Junction module as well as some single-to-double track modules. Scott Forrest also brought his RotoSaw with nifty attachment that allowed us to cut the 8ish” turntable pit hole with surprising accuracy:





As you can see, we just cleared the Bullfrog support, which would necessitate cutting a notch in the pit floor to fit around it.

The Voice of Experience says: Building a custom pit turntable is much easier if you do it before installing track, wiring and turnout controls like Bullfrog [“D’oh!”].

It also helps to have the right tools.
A week or so later I journeyed down to Scott’s workshop in Half Moon Bay (name describes the shape of the bay, not any saggy-swimwear styles), and we cut the pit floor out of ¼” MDF and fitted it into place with screws:



After using our advanced compass & geometry skills to find the center, Scott used his nifty drill press to create the vertical hole for the ¼” audio jack I used for the pivot and electrical contact:



While all the cutting and drilling were not 100% perfect, it was PDC [pretty darn close], and you’ll see how I constructed the bridge and pit walls to bring everything into very PDC alignment in the end.

[cont.]

[mcfunkeymonkey]

While I love Gallows-style turntables, Effett Yard runs all types of locos, so something more Transition Era is more appropriate. Even more important in Free-moN structure design is Solid & Robust: given all the moving and multiple operators monkeying around with everything, even with the best of intentions something delicate like a Gallows deck wouldn’t last long.

I found a 6” x 1 1/8” metal tie plate at Home Depot, and then used 0.08” styrene (which was the exact same thickness as the plate) to build an 8” bridge:



The channels in the middle are for the wires from the audio jack (with connection screws cut off to lower the profile) to run through the tie plate screw holes to the track.

Why not use the 8” metal tie plate for the 8” bridge? Having 1” of styrene on both sides allowed me to easily sand the ends into curves to match the pit walls by clamping the bridge to the cut-out circle of ply as a guide:



[If you have a grinder, I guess you could have done the same with an 8” metal plate]

As I hand-drilled the hole in the styrene for the audio-jack pivot, the styrene ends also allowed for slight sanding adjustments to insure centering: I just inserted the bridge in the pit and spun it around, and where an end started to rub against the side I took it back to the circle ply guide and slighted sanded it some more:



Surprisingly, very little adjustment was needed, and all the parts lined up pretty well.

So after soldering the feeder wires to the top of the audio jack, I GorillaGlued the metal tie plate to the styrene bridge base:



[cont.]

[mcfunkeymonkey]

I smoothed some lightweight spackle tinted with slate grey craft paint around the pit sides to make a more concretey look and cover the ply cross-section:



After it thoroughly dried, I used some fine-grit sandpaper to smooth it down to clear the bridge ends.

Atlas C55 girder bridge sides (leftover from the car float apron on our “Alameda-Belt-In-A-Box” project last year) got spliced together and then glued to the sides upside-down:



I also GorillaGlued some PC board ties to the top of the deck, and then soldered a section of track to the ties, allowing plenty of extra rail to extend over the side for finer adjustments later:



As the audio jack has just a little too much give and so makes the deck a little wobbly, I glued washers under the outside edges of the bridge to ride on a rail in the pit:



Ultimately, it took three washers on each side, which makes the bridge nice and heavy for smoother turning.

[cont.]

[mcfunkeymonkey]

The circumference of a 7 ¾” circle is 24.35”, so I had to use two pieces of ME rail (which came in 18” lengths) to create the pit rail. [Although, as I write this right now, I realize I could have just slipped out one rail from a length of 30” flextrack to make it. D’oh!]

I created a 7 ¾” circle on AnyRail so I could have the grid as reference, printed it on cardstock, sprayed it with adhesive and then placed ¼”-long PC board ties equally around the circle. After bending the rail by hand (not so precise) and then soldering it into a circle, I slipped ¼”-long stripwood ties evenly around & CA’ed in place:



After spray painting the whole thing Grimy Black, I CA’ed it to the pit floor:



The rail is not in a perfect circle, which really can only be seen when the bridge is removed and you look straight down. But as the rail is just a surface for the washers and not a thin set of wheels, then it’s okie dokie with me (The Yard is called “Effett” after what I say when I’m taking too long on a project and just end there).

The three washers on each side of the bridge brings the deck up slightly higher than the ply around it, so you can see I installed some layers of grey-painted styrene as a ramp up.

You can also see that at some point I painted the pit grey / concrete and then stained the sides. The floor will have some gravel and dirt fallen in, or maybe gravel all over with some plant growth. We’ll see.

If I couldn’t have a Gallows deck, then at least I could have some wood decking, gosh darnit. I installed stained strips of 1/32” x 3/64” basswood to make the decking:



Very tedious.
But a nice effect when done:



Still need to add some NBW details here and there, and I’m still debating about building a center arch thingy.

You can also see the light white wash and stain on the sides. Don’t want to use weathering powders on something everybody & their mother will be touching!

[cont.]

[mcfunkeymonkey]

I spread some caulk and laid down the tracks leading up to the TT, then soldered the end rails to two PC board ties I had GorillaGlued at the edge (definitely don’t want those rails moving!).

After the solder, I used my Dremel to trim the rails back to allow space for the bridge rails to swing through:





A pretty narrow gap, as things go, and cars & locos move onto the deck with nary a bump.

I used a Digitrax AR1 auto reversing circuit for the first time, and I’ve been pretty impressed. The unit is easy to mount (I slipped some 0.08” styrene behind to not bend the solder bumps behind):



and even easier to wire up: two wires from the bus to the AR1, then two wires from the AR1 to the audio jack. No separate power supply is needed, as it runs of the track power. And even on the slowest-speed creep locos passed on & off the TT deck without a single stutter or pause. There’s even a nifty little “click” sound when then power is reversed. It worked great for my NCE Powercab, and there’s a little adjustment screw to move the trip point when we hook up for shows & have more juice.

So I slapped down two small sections of flextrack as overshot safety, soldered the feeders for the approach tracks, and the TT was ready to operate:



The track on the far right is the coal / sand supply spur, and won’t be tacked down until I figure out all the steam engine service details (like do I really want a 6”-tall coal tower on a Free-moN module? Or make it removable? Or?)

So still need to paint and ballast the track and scenic around the pit, but as is Silicon Valley Free-moN now has an operating turntable and won’t have to run steam and F-units backwards every-other trip around the turnback loop.

And, of course, there’s a short [2:30] video of the turntable in action:

watch?v=epkJUTE4njA

Thanks for looking, and I look forward to seeing how others custom-built their turntables!

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Having only two tracks to line up with certainly helped cover for the less-than-precise construction methods ;)
But we'll see how it holds up under operating conditions "in the wild" over the next couple months.

I might add a doghouse to the side at the center, or next to the pit just left of the left incoming track.
Need to do a study on where hands go when operating so nothing gets knocked over.

And I need to install some bumpers on the spill-over tracks so nothing makes a mad dash for the floor.

It was so hot in my garage when I shot the video that my iPhone actually shut down to cool off in the middle of the shoot!
But I wrapped an ice pillow around it for a minute and we were back in business.

Yesterday I finished installing industrial railing and ladders on some of the tanks that flank the yard near the diesel service on the other section:





I'm somewhat ignoring my own edict not to have anything delicate near the edge of the modules, so we'll see if the railing remains after multiple transports and shows.
But they'll make a nice partial backdrop for the yard on one side and partial viewblock on the other, so I think a worthy addition.
Especially after I weather the tanks, add gravel, an office, and a section of chain-link fence between the tanks and trains.
Gotta love ABS caps as cheap structures.

Well, back out into the oven (garage) to work on the yard office before the temp controls get switched to "Broil" this afternoon.
Thanks for looking.

["JaBear"]

Gidday,      

Cheers,the Bear

[MisterBeasley]

May I take a side track for a moment?

It's your fault that I've bought a static grass applicator, what with the great shots of your own static grass on these threads.  Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, after all, and I'd like to take my own modeling up a notch.

So, what do you use for glue, what strength, and what length of grass?  Thanks.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

My fault, eh?

All righty: Most of the grass I used on the Shoo-fly module is a combo of WS medium & light green (2mm) with Heki Summer or Late Summer (4mm) for the greener pastures and hills:

and then WS Honey (2mm) and Heki blondish color (4mm) for the module ends (for the browner look that Free-moN modules are supposed to have for greater continuity between modules:

 

The WS static grass is very shiny, so I always mixed it in as filler with the Heki 4mm stuff.
Before I did anything on the module, I used an old piece of foam that I had attempted my first turnouts on to create a test palate for all the different grasses and dirts I had:

 

And then I practiced some more on the detachable extension:

You can see the greener stuff towards the turnout and the browner stuff towards the work crew at the end.

One way I found to lay down thinner or thicker grass is the initial application of glue.
For thinner grass, lay down your dirt, spray with 70% alcohol, soak with 50/50 white glue and water, and then immediately apply the static grass (and don't shake the silliness out of it).
If you find you still have too-thick grass when all dry, just run your fingers through it and it will rub some out, which you can vacuum toot-suite.

For thicker grass (like Chia-pet thickness), allow your dirt to dry first then spray with alcohol (not soak, but enough so the electricity can travel through the area), brush some 80/20 (or even 90/10) whiteglue & water only in the places you want the thick grass, then shake the stuffing out of the applicator over those areas.

You can also do the thicker grass method over an area you already laid down some thinner grass, too. That's what I did around the cow pasture so there'd be longer grass outside of the fenced area:

Lashedup (Jamie) has a great thread that both reviews the Noch applicator and explores a lot of the various grasses and application methods.

Almost forgot: you can make it look greener & thicker by laying down some fine ground foam on the dirt before you apply the static grass.

Hope this helps, and I'm looking forward to seeing your greenthumb in action!

 

[MisterBeasley]

Muchos grass-ias, Senor!

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Spent the last couple days working on the coal & sand service track next to the turntable tracks.

First woodglued down two layers of cork to elevate it:

When the glue was totally set, I sanded the cork down to create the ramp up.
Then cut out spaces for the coal (far) and sand (near) unloading pits.

Used some Sculptamold left over from my daughter's "BFG Cave" diorama to add some hill on the right:



Painted the cork Grimy Black, then glued stained stripwood create the retaining walls and pits.

Cut out some ties in a piece of flextrack, painted it, then installed it with caulk:



Built a small sand shed & installed it, then threw down some basic ground cover of dirt, cinders and a little gravel.
I left the area around the turntable tracks bare until I build and install the coaling tower (still deciding if I want to limit the services to that right track only or have the coaling tower over the right track to be able to service both)(Leaning towards smaller & right side only).
Of course there'll be a bumper at the end.

Here's the other side:



And how it works in relation to the whole area:



[Dirt is still drying so still a bit dark]

The water tower will be on the left between the left TT track and the yard ladder, with water spouts between the two TT tracks.

So time to scratch a coaling tower, a sand tower, and a water tower.
But as of now, all the track for Effett Yard has been laid and ballasted.

My question for you: what's a good material for N scale sand?
Seems like most stuff out there (including real sand) is much to thick.
Thought about roughing up some pink foam and painting that sand color, but something of very fine grains would be better.
Perhaps cement? Or grout?
All suggestions appreciated!

Thanks for looking.

[sakel]

da-dee-dum

[sakel]

mcfunkeymonkey

Had a lovely day running trains with the Silicon Valley Free-moN dudes at the Coast Division Meet in San Leandro, CA:

'); // -->

The space we had available was a funkily-angled atrium at the Boy Scout Headquarters building, but, hey, Free-moN can fit anywhere!

Speaking of fitting things in, here's a "Behind-the-Scenes" of how I get my Shoo-fly & Staging Yard modules (& equipment) to meets:





Notice the high-tech shock-absorbing packing material.
If I build another module, it will be a good excuse to get a bigger car ;)

Thanks for looking!

This is me stealing the music in the middle of the video.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Well, the beat goes on.

Picked up some "Haystack" color unsanded grout that I'll be trying out later.
Meanwhile, I've been building the water tank, using stripwood, scribed sheet, music wire, and a 1 1/2" PVC cap:



Traced the PVC cap and then drew out placement for stringers and legs.
Built it upside-down, which seems to work alright.
The "door" is just the piece of scribed sheet turned around in place.
Also went ahead and tacky-glued the concrete bases to each leg [PITA!].



Stuck Grandt Line O scale 1" square NBW details on the legs where the rods would stick out.
Another PITA but looks kinda cool.

For the tank I loosely followed a prototype photo of one in Drummond, Montana ("Home of the World Famous Bullshippers") though painted it Grimy Black instead of Bullshipper Blue. The access door I just scratched out of 0.02" styrene and a grab handle:





Haven't installed it or really weathered it yet.
Still waiting for some ladders from TrainCat.
There will be one or two water columns between the two tracks.

Now onto the Coaling Tower!

Thanks for looking.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

While waiting for some NBW details to arrive for the coaling tower, I thought I'd get started on the first of two MOW buildings.
The second will be a plank-by-plank long shed, but the first is a brick shed with truck & rail loading docks, so I thought I'd share how to make some simple loading docks.

As I wanted the docks to wrap around three sides, I first traced the building on cardstock to get the space outlined:



Turned out to be 30', 25' and 55'.
The lines inside the spaces are for the stringers, which are HO 6"x6" stripwood cut to length, stained in the Big Jug O' Stain (BJOS), and then placed on thin stips of double sided tape laid over the ends of each section:



Using the Chopper II, I cut HO 2"x4"s to 7 scale-foot lengths for the planks and then gave them a BJOS bath:





Dries fairly fast.

[cont.]

[mcfunkeymonkey]

I use a toothpick to spread woodglue along the stringers and then tweezers to place the planks across:



I usually work in sections of about an inch at a time, as the woodglue gets gummy rather quickly.
It's not too hard to eyeball, but sometimes you can use a straightedge to even out the planks on the building side.

It's a bit tedious, but the planks look pretty decent when you're done:



After all planks are in place, I cover the platforms with a weights so everything dries flat:



Once everything's set, I flipped the platforms over and marked out the 5' intervals for the posts:



[cont.]

[mcfunkeymonkey]

After measuring how high I wanted the dock (about 6'), I cut more HO 6"x6"s and stained them.
There's probably an easier way to do this, but I just dab a little woodglue on the stringer, place the post, and then use a Lego to square it up:



I also placed some diagonal cross-braces on the long dock.
To fill the gap under the doors and between the columns of the DPM walls I glued a strip of HO 2"x4":



After sanding the dirt down, I glued the building in place (after making sure that building + dock would fit with some space at the track), and then CA'ed the docks in place:




Yes, the gap was intentional.
Always good to cut & stain a few more planks than you think you need!
(Can always use them lying around as more clutter anyway).

Need to get a few more Gold Metal Models stairs, but the one I do have right now gives you an idea:



More stairs, some barrels & crates, gravel & weeds around the ground, some tire tracks & a truck will "finish" this part.

Now on to make the plank-by-plank wood shed that will extend about 60' off of this one down the track!

Hope this helps get people scratchin', and thanks for looking.

[MisterBeasley]

Seems to me I've seen your work in the current issue of MR, September 2012.  Very nice article.  Thanks.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

MisterBeasley

Seems to me I've seen your work in the current issue of MR, September 2012.  Very nice article.  Thanks.

Thanks, Mr. B!

It was great to see the article in print, and in the fine company of all the other "Small Space Solutions" artists!
My philosophy is "There's always room for a layout!" and it's great to see MR include more N scale work.

There are more construction details & photos of the Mt. Coffin & Columbia River layout on my construction thread here on the forum.

Thanks again, and I hope others find the article useful and N-gauging!
Cheers!

[NP01]

Fujiwara-san,

Indeed happy to see your work in MR this week ... I have been reading your posts and website for a while. I would really love to make your oak trees if I had the time. 

NP

(Palo Alto, CA -- 21x6' HO is my first layout slowly shaping up)

[mcfunkeymonkey]

So us Silicon Valley Free-moN dudes decided to build another staging yard, though one that doubles (back) as a return loop.
And I'm going to post photos in this thread because 1) it's a staging yard and 2) I'm getting confused with all the construction threads I've got going.

A main and two staging sidings, at 22", 23.5" & 25" radius curves (22" is the min.). We also wanted to make it as portable as possible, I designed the module to consists of 5 sections, all under 3'.
Scott Forrest, a man of many talents and possessing great woodworking skills and equipement, built the benchwork:



He laminated two layers of 1/8" MDF as the curved skins, and the benchwork came out great. [Looks like a mystic crop circle or a toilet seat] One leg per section is all we need!

Yesterday we hauled it over to Steve William's house and proceeded to laydown the mainline cork:



[Those are "tacky" model railroaders Steve on the left & Scott on the right]

Only the main has cork all way round. The two staging sidings will be laid directly on the ply, and so the cork goes only to the next section, where I'll sand it down to a 4"-5" transition grade.



After cutting the UTP panels in the middle two sections, we sprayed a first layer of flat black on the outer fascia. Amazing what a little paint can do to make it look good!

I'm going to install a 3"-4" tall styrene "backdrop" along the inside and attach some pink foam to create some California hills inside of the loop, so that'll get painted later.

So far I've built the #8 wye as well as one set of #8 36"/24" curved turnouts:



They'll be thrown with Bullfrogs, all under the "keystone" section. We'll use a PSX-AR for the reversing section (everything above the wye).

I'd finish building the next set of curved turnouts and attach pc boad ties to the section edges, but I left the bag of pc board ties at Steve's house ["D'oh"], and he lives about an hour away with good traffic, so as soon as he mails those to me I'll be back in business.

Hopefull all this will get done for the GTE show in mid-Sept.!
Thanks for looking.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

So now the staging loop sections occupy my newly-cleared workbench. When we glued down the cork, we didn't lay the glue across the joints but about an inch away from each side (I almost learned the hard way by almost gluing together the two sections of my Shoofly module!).

So when I got home, I just lifted up the ends of each cork section and soaked those with wood glue. Much easier to wipe up the overflow when the sections are separated!

Then filled in some spaces with spackle:



It's nice to have it in 3' sections: fits on the workbench & fits in the car! (hopefully with all the other modules, too!)



[Unfortunately, my car is smaller than the one in the garage!]

Sanded down the outer track cork to create the grade down to ply:



For the long staging yard, I had just sanded & sanded until smooth and my hand was cramped beyond recognition. This time I tried the forming tool for the "rough cuts", and it worked like magic.
I clamped the sections together when sanding the top & sides of the mainline cork across the gaps to prevent any dips.

I also learned from the staging yard that it's a good idea to paint the ply early: seals the wood & makes all processes easier (especially if you're laying turnouts directly on ply, which I realized later that I'm not here).
But as I went to paint the sections, I realized that if I painted everything, I'd lose the track center pencilmarks we made with a trammel yesterday.

So I just painted "outside" the track sections:



And that's why there's a section of unpainted ply next to one side of the cork.

But once I lay the track and paint it, the ply under it will get painted too. So all's well that ends well! (fingers crossed)

Thanks for looking.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Here's a close-up of the nifty leg set-up Scott built:



He glued a 90 deg triangle block of wood to the middle cross-brace, and the drove the bolt through that to hold the single "L-girder" leg on. Strong, firm, fabulous.
I Gorilla Glued the bolt & washer to the cross-brace so we can slide the leg on and then use one hand to tighten the wing nut.

Today I installed the backdrop:



0.06" styrene bought from Tap Plastics in an 8"x8' sheet, then trimmed with scissors to create hills. (foam & spackle will fill in the space between the styrene and the mainline cork) While the whole section was put together and clamped, I wrapped and clamped the styrene around the inside, then used about a whole tube of Walthers Goo and some screws to keep it in place.

That gap is where a road is going to go, perhaps with a front-side mirror across the gap. I'd like to say it's cleverly positioned, but that's where the 8' of sheet ended, and the other piece of styrene I had leftover from the shelf layout backdrop only made it that from from the other side [D'oh!]
So it goes.

After installing it, I went back and cut the styrene vertically to separate the sections:



0.06" is a little flimsy, but once the foam and spackle is glued in place it'll be a solid scenery structure.

While the garage door was open, I carried the whole shebang outside and sprayed the layout-side of the styrene with grey primer and the inside of the module the same flat black as the fascia:



All the styrene will be covered with scenery (probably), so I just didn't want any white showing through any trees / bushes / etc.

Got the PC board ties in the mail from Steve, but I don't have enough to lay all the track across all the gaps until another shipment arrives from Fast Tracks (next week?), so I'll probably be building the other set of curved turnouts and start gluing in the foam.

Thanks for looking.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

I plan on trying to build some endplates for these sections to ease transport and protect the scenery (always an issue with modules), but we'll see.

As I'm waiting for some shipments of PC board ties and Bullfrogs from Fast Tracks, I decided to start in on the scenery by laying down the foam. Caulk takes days to cure, so slobbering that on now when there's some time makes for a no-brainer. (some have commented on how fast I work: part of that is, working at home, I can pop out to the garage for 5-10 minutes and do some jobs that take time to dry/cure, but a lot of it is just planning which jobs take longer than others and doing those first)

So I ripped chunks of foam off a dearly-departed layout and just stacked them up along the styrene backdrop:




The clamp is to ensure the foam stays square (and squares) the styrene. I left overhang on each side of the sections so I can sand down to get a close fit when fitted together. (Yes, I could have cut even, smooth, one-piece sections from a fresh piece of foam, but I used what I have, and, really, in the end, it won't matter.  I hope.)

Here's all the sections:



And they'll sit there curing for a couple-four of days, while I build the second of the two-curved-turnout set.

Does the foam look bulky and gross? Sure! But have faith! Over 50% of that foam will be rasped away into the gentle slopes of the Sierra Nevada Foothills. I think I still have some rock castings left over, too, that will become exposed sections of hill and cuts.

Three weeks until the show, but it will all work out!

And now I'd like to take a moment to pay respects to the final section of a dearly-departed layout.
One section became my Mt. Coffin & Columbia River layout.
Another section gave up it's foam to become the BFG's cave for my daughter's 4th grade book project.
All of the wiring found its way into all of my later layout projects.
One section of benchwork support is my workbench, and another was the support for the Mt. Coffin layout for the past year.
All the turnouts I built for it gave me the skills to do the multiple-curved-turnout fixtures for Mt. Coffin and now the Free-moN modules.
The last section has sacrificed its foam for the staging/turnback loop module.
And now, here's all that's left of the Dogeared & Broken Spine RR, the urban switching layout that was to last me a good 5 years until a "life event" forced a move:



A couple more chunks of foam to give, and then into the Chainsaw it goes.
RIP.
(as in "RIP another chunk of foam off that so we can get this layout built!")
So it goes.

Thanks for looking.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

I've found my new Super (Glue) Hero!



I've been using regular Gorilla Glue to affix PC board ties to module / section ends.
The benefit is super-tight bond and no worries using the soldering iron (CA & epoxy pops with heat).
The drawback is the long cure time and the foamy-foamy expansion.
And, when clamping, sometimes you clamp too much:



[You can see the PC board ties I clamped INTO the cork under the ones I Gorilla Super Glued afterwards] [That was a first!]

But the Gorilla Super Glue has all the benefits of regular GG but cures in less than a minute without the foaming: I was able to put down all the PC board ties for all the sections in an hour, instead of gluing, clamping, waiting, waiting...

So tomorrow I can start laying track!

Especially since I finished building the two-right-hand-curved-turnout fixture, so all trackwork is ready to go:





The super-long throwbars are because I realized during our last build party, that I couldn't put both Bullfrogs directly under between the points of both turnouts: they'd be in each other's way!

But by spreading the throwbars out, and flipping one Bullfrog around, I can mount them pretty close together. The final throwbars won't be as long: I'm just waiting for the Bullfrogs to show up in the mail to I can get the spacing right.

That won't stop me from laying track tomorrow!
Will solder all the flex together first, and then wrap each course around the whole module at once to ensure smooth curves.
Wife & kids will be gone to Japanese school in the City all day, so should be a fabulously Free-moNy day!

Thanks for looking.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Marathon build weekend!
Started with pink foam blocks on empty benchwork, Finished with shaped scenery forms and running trains!

Spent a couple hours Saturday filling the garage with pink snow as I cut, formed and sanded the backdrop hills, then glued on some rock castings:




I worked on each section individually, and then fit neighboring sections together to get smooth transitions.
Eventually it'll look like the Sierra Nevada foothills in eastern California. There'll be a small town with a depot on the right at the short straight section. Maybe a farm with cows on the other side.
Otherwise, rocks, grass & a lot of trees (gotta start making some oaks again!)

Just to add a little variation,  carved out the continuation of a wash on the front side:



Burned the sander off!
Actually went too deep and broke through the ply, but some styrene superglued underneath patched it up.

When I put everything together, I slipped strips of 0.02" styrene between the sections to add some cut room on the tracks laid over:



Adds only a little space and doesn't throw off the curves, but makes for better cuts in the end.

Soldered four sections of C55 flextrack together, pre-curved them, and then started laying track down with caulk and soldering across the gaps:



For how I lay track across seciton ends, see my "How to make Beautiful Butt Joints" video.
Four sections of flex fit nicely from straight section around to straight section.
Running the flat car on the left around before soldering ensured smooth curves.
The turnout fixtures are also caulked in, with the wye soldered to the modular end.

[cont.]

[mcfunkeymonkey]

After laying down & soldering all the curves (and cutting the joints in case of an earthquake or bump), I connected the curves to the the turnouts through the straight sections:



All railjoiners are soldered.

This is what happens when you get ahead of yourself and cut the rails before you solder them!



D'oh!

To be fair (as an excuse), it was a long day and that was the last section to be connected. Just held it with tweezers and soldered it:



Turned out fine.

Also attached the PSX-AR auto-reverse / circuit breaker to the side of the keystone module:



The center will be busy with Bullfrogs when those show up later this week (I hope).
Free-moN standards call for 12 gauge wire between modules (that's the blue & orange), but we used 16 gauge speaker (70's shag carpet brown-yellow) wire for the sections because that's what we had, and it's enough for this space.
So the main bus will go from the terminal strips, into & out of the PSX-AR, and then out to the sections.
Everything above the wye's point rails, including it's frog, are on the reversing section.

[cont.]

[mcfunkeymonkey]

So with all track laid & wired & tested:



it was time to run some trains!

Moved the loop down to one end of the garage & connected the Effett Staging Yard with instert, and that took up the rest of the garage:





Reason I made the staging yard as long as possible was to see how the max-long train would work going around the loop.
Turns out 20-car trains (about 8 feet) go around great.
The main is 22" radius curves, with the passing sidings at 23.5" and 25".
There was very little "chasing the tail" (being able to see the loco on one side and caboose on the other), though the dips in the backdrops helped give peeks of the train's progress.
The 50" railheight helps a lot too.

And, of course, there's a (less-than-5-minute) video:

watch?v=42qyZ1LUpik&feature=plcp

Even was able to back the 2-10-2 with all 20 cars through the turnouts without problems.
Woot!

Best part: got everything broken down & put away & vacuumed before the wife & kids came home from karate!



So now I can file the rails flush with the section ends, and then get to work on the fun part: scenery!
Paint track & hills & rocks, lay down dirt & basic ground cover, ballast, & start adding grass, shrubs and trees.
But most of that I can do a section at a time (need to, so the glue doesn't stick the sections together!).

But at the very least, Silicon Valley Free-moN has another return loop and staging / passing module.
And that rocks!

Thanks for looking.

["JaBear"]

Gidday MC, what can I say apart from once again thanks for sharing.

You made the comment on your  "Summer Shunting Shelf Project", ............"Most of the time I think people don't comment because I'm doing N scale "

If I didn't have to be realistic and acknowledge my eyesight and hamfistedness  then you would have certainly sold me on N scale.

Also if you hadn't said you were modelling N scale and hadn't posted the photos of the modules in your car, I would have assumed it was HO.

Thanks, and Cheers, the Bear.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Cheers, Bear!
And thanks for taking the time to chat ;)

Much unglamorous but necessary work today:
--slipped in a kabillion replacement ties
--painted track (grimy black)
--painted/stained rock castings (watered-down Big Jug O' Stain with some slate, stone & concrete added)
--fine-sifted dirt
--painted landforms ($3 mistint latex)
--sprinkled dirt on wet paint

The photographic evidence reveals a dirty mess:







All the dirt won't stick to the paint, so I'm hoping a whirlwind doesn't rip through the garage before tomorrow, when I can lay down other shades of dirt, talus, some ground foam, maybe even some static grass.
I'm still debating between spring & summer (anyone know how to make manzanita?)
Also gotta start making some oaks! (at about an hour a tree...)

Anyway, I know it looks pretty blah right now, but patience, young grasshoppers... ;)

Thanks for looking.

[MisterBeasley]

My wife and I have been talking about where we want to live after retirement in a couple of years.

I wonder how I will explain to the realtors that I want someplace with a local Free-Mo group.

Seriously, other than going to shows and seeing Free-Mo layouts, this thread and its cousins is about the best publicity that Free-Mo could have.  Thanks again for sharing all your work with us.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Thanks, Mr. B!
Remember "No Free-mo? No Go!" ;)

And another marathon build weekend, in which I:

--laid down basic ground cover (dirt, ground foams, fine-sifted gravel, etc.) and talus
--added cinders around the edges of tracks (will stick out a little when I ballast)
--installed three grade crossings out of spare ties
--applied static grasses
--added bushes and tufts
--made & installed over 20 dedicuous trees
--made & installed over 20 pine trees
--made & installed 4 oak trees
--scratch built a farmhouse, a warehouse, a stucco & spanish tile depot / freighthouse, and three false storefronts
--touched up painting the turnouts and staining the replacement ties under the points
--ballasted 3-out-of-5 sections of the module

Would have finished ballasting but the module had been standing in the garage all weekend, and my wife had the silly notion of wanting to park her car in there tonight!

So except for the ballasting and a few more trees to hide some partial buildings, I think this one is pretty much good to go! (Well, until the Bullfrogs show up, and then I can install those)

On with the pictures! (There's quite a few, so bare with me).
Basic ground cover & cinders:





Those were the deciduous, and here's the pines:



And let's twist again, like we did last summer...



Not sure if making 4 oaks at a time speeds anything up except the carpal tunnel...

[cont.]

[mcfunkeymonkey]

The three little grade crossings:



used Aileen's clear gel tacky glue this time & liked the working time and tackiness.
Seems to hold alright.

Wanted to try a cement road, so just laid some coffee stirrers down, tacking the ends with white glue (and sometimes a spot of CA):



For my roads I tried the same trick on the "Alameda-Belt-in-a-Box" layout: watered down & tinted lightweight spackle.
Man, you think it's too thin, but as soon as it hits the ground, it starts hardening and foaming a bit (or seems like it).
Had to water it some more and pour some gap fillers.
The trick is NOT TO TOUCH IT until it's TOTALLY DRY (like a day or so).

But when it is dry, you can sand it smooth and rub some dirt into it to weather:



My other nifty discovery of the weekend was NEOLUBE.
Yup, but not for steamers.
For staining stripwood replacement ties directly under the points!



Why didn't I think of this earlier?
Not only does it darken the rails and ties, but ensures smooth throwing action!
D'oh!

[cont.]

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Added mucho trees:



Tried to vary the locale as you go around.
This side is more pine-y & mountain-y (greens, pines, etc.), while the other side is more brown like the foothills (weeds, manzanita).

I also, while doing the static grass on the workbench, briefly joined the sections one at a time to try to blend the sections together and hide the gaps.
(can't keep the seciton together or the diluted glue will seep down & make one big module!)
Not sure if I was totally successfull, but there are distict scenes.

Had a bunch of buildings to build, and so I drew out some simple dimensions for all the buildings at once:



Makes cutting & marking a lot easier when you can just hold the styrene or wood next to the section and tick it off.

For example, here are all the pieces for the depot cut & ready to get stucco'd:



I'm basing the design loosely on the Tidewater Southern depot in Turlock, just because 1) it has a depot and a freight section & 2) I wanted to try stucco & spanish tile roof.
For the stucco, I followed Dave Schneider's technique he shared over on Railwire:



Basically Liquitex "Ceramic Stucco" stippled on, dried, then sanded down to N-scale stucco.
I painted my primer grey first, and then the white, which I think turned out okie dokie.

[cont.]

[mcfunkeymonkey]

So here you can see the finished stucco texture, as well as the depot mid-build:



I probably could have sanded it a wee bit more, but true N-scale stucco would be very very tiny.

Here it is installed:



Not too thrilled with the size of the "Devil Mountain" sign (the "Turlock" was stenciled right onto the building), so might redo that one.
(BTW, Mt. Diablo towers over the East Bay, so it was either Devil Mt. or Devil's Camp)
(Briefly considered the town name of "Britches"... hmmm... still considering...)

Here's the whole town of Devil Mountain:



Not bad for 9" of space & three tracks!
Still need to put in some trees behind the depot & over the storefronts.
And stuff.
Lots of stuff.

The other buildings are, left to right, Pappy's Whiskey & Dynamite Co., the Tombstone shoppe, Lucy Furr's Pleasure Parlor, and Bub's Saloon:



Will look moocho better when I'm done with it.

[cont.]

[mcfunkeymonkey]

For the farmhouse I used some scribed clapboard siding I had lying around, sprayed it grey, then misted it with white:



Love those Legos!

0.02" styrene subroof, with RLW random cedar shingles stuck on.
The shingles have some sticky, but I find spraying the subroof styrene with adhesive helps keeping the peel down.



It's only three sides (why model what no one will see?), and I actually had to cut off part of the roof in the back to fit up against the hill.

So here's the scene:



Pond on the left, road up into the trees, then house.
To me it seemed a little bare.
Needed a big massive tree, but I didn't want to make any more oaks (those suckers take time!).
But I did find a WS armature that I bent, painted & "oakified" it.
So now:



Needs lots of junk around, included a rusted 1920s pickup truck.
But a fun scene to pass by.

[cont.]

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Alrighty, last one! (for now!)

So after ballasting, I took some sections outside for a little last sunlight. Here's the oaks in the keystone section:





Should be a nice scene to watch trains roll through, one way or the other.

Trackside shot of the depot burning in the sun:



And the farmhouse enjoying the rays:



So I need to finish ballasting the main (raised inner track), and I'm debating whether to ballast all three tracks, or keep the lowered two passing tracks in cinders.
Hmm....

So tomorrow: more trees, more bushes, more ballast, more....

Thanks for looking.
All & any comments & suggestions appreciated.

[dexterdog]

Whew... I'm exhausted just reading this. I don't think I've made as much progress on my layout in the last year as you have in one weekend! (Okay, a long weekend, but still...) As always, I enjoy your posts M.C. Excellent work, and keep those updates coming! I can't help but be inspired by your efforts.

Frank B.

Dorval, Canada

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Thanks, Frank.

So the Great Train Expo is a little over a week away, and, until the Bullfrogs show up, I'm pretty much done with the staging/return loop.
Added a bunch of tufts, some more trees and bushes, finished ballasting the main & cindering the passing sidings (I think I'll leave it like that for visual separation).
The main thing was making two more oaks to fill in the background around the town of Devil Mountain:





Still need to add a few details like people, crates, a bench for the depot, redo the depot sign (too big & it bugs me), scatter some sandy grout, and find a place for the lone "holy freakin' cow".
Maybe build an old wire fence somewhere.
But pretty much done.

Also realized that this staging loop, when broken down, gives me 5 separate dioramas for photo shoots:



Will be easy to take outside on sunny days for some better photos than this one!

Also cut & drilled the plywood endplates that will allow me to "box" corresponding sections with scenery facing in for storage & transportation.
So after today I can box these up and find someplace (?!?) to store them while I go gangbusters on the Effett Yard staging module and hopefully get back to the Shoo-Fly module and get a vineyard and bridge-building scene in there.

Nothing like a show deadline to light a fire under your rear!

And, of course, a video:

watch?v=8za35S VrUM

Sorry about the whacky lighting.
Hope to have better videos at the show next weekend!
Hope to see you there!

Thanks for looking.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Moocho more details, including peoples:



Under a hot California sun Dudes waiting for the train and a pair struggle to throw up a crate while Hank has no problem throwing up the crate of whiskey he drank at Bub's Saloon:



The lady's from Lucy Furr's Pleasure Parlor are taking a break from the heat inside and looking very lively next to Mr. Krypt's wares on display in front of his store:



[Look like Hanks still heaving]

And looks like the sun's going down but the train has yet to arrive, and passengers & crates just waiting to get out of Devil Mountain:



And waiting, and waiting...

[cont.]

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Also tried out the endplates:





When I realized that I somehow mis-measured by about 4" [D'oh!] and left a lot of light between the sections.
So tomorrow I'll chop off 4" and then the sections will be a lot closer together (9"x16" or so).

Those 4" on two modules will make a BIG difference when packing all this in the car next week!

And in my newfound quest to discover new uses for the miracle that is NeoLube, I think I got a winner:

Staining Trip-pins!

I don't know about you, but every time I toothpick some paint onto a shiny trip pin some always ends up in the coupler and makes it a bit sticky.

But NeoLube not only stains the pin dark, but helps keep the coupler action moving faster than Lucy Furr.



You can also see how I weighted down the Atlas gons as I replaced the Accumates with MT's.

All in all, a groovy modeling day:



Thanks for looking.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Bullfrogs finally showed up, so I spent yesterday morning building 5 and the afternoon installing them.
No foam on any of these sections, so, like Effett Staging Yard, there's 5 1/2" of space underneath and I use wood-block spacers to get the Bullfrogs down so the control rods  pop out under the shelves.
Can't clamp the spacers, so in the past I've tried tacking with a screw (which sometimes actually pushes the spacer up or to the side) or even holding it in place with blue tape while the woodglue dries.

But, in a flash of madness/insight, I thought of a solution:

Woodglue on the inside, with CA on the edges!



The CA would cure and hold the wood block in place while the woodglue dries (providing one of the strongest Bonds on the planet, and without steroids!).
Would it work?
Would the two glues touch each other, setting off a massive explosion?
Would the bond at the end be enough for the constant pushing from the Bullfrogs?

So I pushed the block against the ply, held for 30 seconds, and:



Everything turned out hunky dory!

Woodglue dried well with blocks firmly pressed (held?) against the ply.
Bullfrogs installed and firmly in place.

After this pict I installed all the control rods, so it's ready to rock!

You'll notice that the bottom Bullfrog is not wired up: That's the wye and doesn't need the frog powered from the Bullfrog as it's not isolated and so part of the auto-reversing circuit.
I did, however, install the microswitch just incase we wanted to install throwbar-controlled signals to remind operators which direction the wye is thrown.

Also very important:



I cut off all the screw tips that were sticking inside.
As the modules get handled a lot, and not always by people who know (or remember) where the ouchy points are, it's courteous and nice to remove any possible causes of bloodloss.

And got all the endplates recut and bolted together:



I'm Gorillla Gluing the bolts and washers to the endplates to ease assembly.
The bolts go right through the holes for the alignment dowels, so it's all good.

Takes up way less space on the workbench now!
Though it's going to be quite a Tetris puzzle next week trying to pack it all in the car.

Well, off to help another Free-moN Friend with some scenery & static grass.

Thanks for looking.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Alrighty: all Bullfrogs installed & wired, sooooooooo it's pretty much "done".





I wonder if I'm forgetting anything... ;)

Don't worry: I cut them off.

Everything works fine, so away this module goes (I found some space under the Mt. Coffin & Columbia River layout), and on to the others!

Here's a rare, rare view of a nearly clear workbench:



Don't worry: I messed that up soon after the photo.

4 1/2 days to go to the show! So which of the kabillion projects to do on the other two modules first? Hmmm....

Stay tuned!
(And thanks for looking)

[MisterBeasley]

mcfunkeymonkey

Maybe it' just me, but I think that wye cries out for a signal bridge.  You mentioned something to remind the operators of the position of that turnout.  And who among us doesn't just love signals?

Do you need two trips to transport all your modules, or have you upgraded to a U-haul truck?

[mcfunkeymonkey]

No U-haul for me.
I'm pretty sure I can Chinese-Box everything, especially after unbolting & taking out the back seats ;)
Fingers are crossed!

Before tackling Effett Staging Yard, I took a break from scenery work to finish a steamer project that's been sitting on my workbench for a year.
Back at X2011 in Sacramento I found a 2-6-0 someone had built off a Kato 2-6-0 chassis:





Notice the Japanese three-axle tender.
I wanted to turn this into the Effett Yard yardgoat, so I changed the tender to a slopeback, installed MT905 Z scale couplers front & back, steps, handgrabs and installed a DZ125 decoder (in the tender).

So here's what it looks now:



Not sure if it's an improvement, but at least I have my yardgoat!
[More important: given the loco "graveyard" that is my workbench, this is the first loco project that actually works after taking one apart and attempting to "improve" and put back together!]

Still need to add some cab curtains to help hide the motor.
And thinking about removing the pilot to make it a 0-6-0.
It's pretty heavy and runs pretty smooth (though a little faster going backwards on the same speed step), so we'll see how many cars it can shove this weekend.

Thanks for looking.

[sakel]

Why the Z-scale couplers?

[mcfunkeymonkey]

sakel

Why the Z-scale couplers?

Looks better (and more proportional) than N scale couplers, which can look like The Thing's fist sticking out of a loco.

 

What happens when you don't screw the cap back on the NeoLube while it's sitting on your module while you're lubing up turnouts?



D'oh!
Big Stain.
Soaked it with alcohol and most wiped up.
That area's scenicked with static grass and tufts now, so hardly noticeable.
But a good reminder to keep a lid on it!

Spent the last couple days blowing out my eyes and back building a coaling tower for Effett Yard:







Not the most prototypically accurate (i.e. should have two chains & pullies on each chute, etc.) but it does the job.
(and remember: it's "Effett" Yard)
How do dudes get up to the door at the top?
Well, until I get my ladders from Traincat, I guess I'll have to put a rope in there.

Alrighty.
Almost time to schlup this stuff down to San Jose & set up for the Great Train Expo tomorrow.
Still have to put in a water spout, sand tower, diesel facilities, and a MOW shed.
Maybe some people too, but I can always do that at the show.

Thanks for looking and hope to see you in San Jose!
(Do you know the way?)

[MisterBeasley]

Ooooh, please post some videos of the whole thing set up with other modules.  It's great to watch these modules going from lumber to layout, and then seeing a train traversing the whole thing brings it all together.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

First day of the GTE show at the Santa Clara Fairgrounds went pretty well.
It's amazing how a totally unorganized group (that is us, Silicon Valley Free-moN) can get together and put up a large layout in a few hours!
Here's the one "set up" pict:



Murph and Eric are putting together our "Ring of Fire" that we ignite and have jump through every time someone says "Why are the trains going so slow?"
No, that's really the return loop / double wye Eric built in about three days for X2011.
Gotta say, it was nice to finally have TWO return loops, one on each end of the layout!

Here's the other one:



Having the extra two tracks on the new return loop was awesome: amazing how many more trains you can run when you have more than one place for them to pass!
It was also a good spot to set trains up so not everyone was crowded around the staging yard.

Our set up is basically a big "3", with the return loops on each end and Murph's new junction module in the center to lead off to a branchline.
Turned out to be a nice big fortress, though a little linear: a couple more curved modules will allow a bit more undulation.

Here's a shot down the long middle:



All the modules with passing sidings (Devil Mt. return loop, Effett Staging Yard, Steve Williams' Lockhart) are pretty evenly space out, so timing is pretty good for meets & passing.

Here's a look back to show the distance between the yard and the return loop, with my Shoofly & Dave Falkenburg's Alviso modules in between:



[cont.]

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Here's Murph's junction:



He's got a couple modules that go from single to double track, which is groovy as another passing place.
He just laid some of the track and wired it up morning-of-show, so we'll work on it some more today.

Here's from the other end of the layout:



Steve's car boxes provide the scenery and viewblocks on the wye/return loop.
Ignore the big mess in the middle.

The staging yard quickly fills up:



I'll have to build a new insert that branches off to a proper storage yard to free up this space for through trains.
Rick Brodzinsky stopped by with his Cab Forward and some heavyweights to roll around the layout.
Quite the eyecatcher!

Since we don't have the cab bus hooked up everywhere yet (today's project), it's great that our iPhones work well as throttles!
Here's Scott checking the turnouts before heading out of Effett Yard:



I'll get better photos and some video today.
It's amazing how fast time flies when you're running trains and talking with a lot of people.
(note to self: bring cold drinks today!)

See you soon, and thanks for looking.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

GTE was a blast.
With a second return loop and four new members' modules, including a junction, we had over 120 feet of continuous running!
(double that, if you count going both ways one circuit!)

Not only that, but we were able to break down, pack up & leave in 40 minutes!
(Even more amazing: everything fit in all our cars!)

It was great to run long trains over long distances.
It was also great to meet so many people from the forums as well.
Trainboard vet Ryan Wilkerson even brought his two young sons from Sacramento (two hours away) for a day of running trains:



[Ryan's the dapper dude on the right, whle the scruffy Santa-in-training in the center is our own beloved Dave Falkenburg]
The kids Cade & Cort were awesome: they brought their own smart phones to use as throttles and turned out to be better engineers than most of us adults!
They ran scale speeds, even yard speed, actually listened to the dispatcher, and made sure to line the turnouts and watch of traffic.
We'll need them back at the next show to teach us how to run trains!

So we went from 3-4 operators yesterday to over 8 today, and man the layout got crowded quickly!
Luckily the new return loop can stack about 6 long trains around it, and Murph's Junction has a long passing track, so there are plenty of places to pass: quite a change back in April when we had only one passing siding on one module!

In between running trains we had other projects to work on.
After a couple of hours, Scott & Steve finally got my Kato NW2 consisted with Scott's Arnold S-2, and that pair could out-pull almost anything on the layout:



Here they are waiting in front of Devil Mountain on the return loop.

The layout was so busy the wreck train never got a chance to run (even though there were plenty of wrecks), but looked nice parked in Sonoma by the Shoofly:



And Steve demonstrates why it's not a good idea to wear open-toed sandals when dropping metal objects on your feet:



But he didn't admit "da feet" and soldiered & soldered on.

[cont.]

[mcfunkeymonkey]

We're definitely going to have to come up with some kind of operating plan now that we have more trains and operators on the layout.
All of Effett Yard's tracks were occupied pretty much all of the time:



In addition to a few trains parked on the passing sidings of the Devil Mountain return loop:



But through both days, trains were running and people were having fun!



And, of course, a short (5 minute) video:

watch?v=8hQdzJVDn4g

Thanks for looking & hope to see you at the next show!

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Always kind of a let down after a show, going from frantic building / scenicking to coming home and taking a breather.
Good time to clean up the workspace, take stock of projects, and just focus on some smaller detailing easily accomplished in a couple hours or so.

On Effett Staging Yard, I added a hoist crane to the MOW shed:



A water spout for the steam service:



[made from metal sprues from a Stewart Diesel Service kit, wire, and tender weight as a base]

Speaking of diesel service: got most of it in, and behind a fence, too.



Still waiting for some Traincat walkways and railings for the service platform.
Also still need to put in some bumpers!

Got some trees in, too, so the loo isn't out stark naked as a full moon in a... well, fertilizer field.



Need to get a lot of scraps, trash, bushes, etc., as well as an office for the tanks in, but the trees do bring in a lot of "world."

[cont.]

[mcfunkeymonkey]

A few short trees around the steam service:



A long view of the trees & tanks:



Not sure: I kinda liked it without trees. Made it seem older & more industrial.
But does tie it in with the other modules more.
And, realistically, most of those trees are going to be victims of 0-5-0 accidents after the next couple shows, so I'll have time to decide if I like them or not.
(And rebuild them with wire & solder if I do)

Wide view of the diesel service & machine shop:



And steam service end:



Looking more & more busy & real.
Fun to put all the little details in.
Any suggestions for more details appreciated!

Thanks for looking.

[MisterBeasley]

Thanks for the video.  I waited to watch it until I had some free quiet time in my office at home, so I could turn on the sound and enjoy the full effect.

Does the group have a "standard" configuration for the modules, or do you set it up differently every time, depending on the space and which modules show up?  Do you do the arrangement as a team, or is there a "module boss" who just has it all together and knows what works with what, and which modules just don't play nicely with each other?  As a side note, do you have pairs of modules that don't play nicely with each other, for some reason?

This might not be appropriate for your locale, but I like to break the monotony of flat yards with small rock castings and ditches filled with dirty water.  The ditches give you an excuse for a small spot of grasses and weeds struggling against the grimy ballast of the yard.  Small rock castings, placed horizontally, look like ledge rock.  Placed appropriately, they can give a "reason" why a turnout is placed where it is, and not just a bit further down the line.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Mr. B: we have no idea what we're doing or what modules will show up until the day of.
We try to organize a little ahead of time, but we're a pretty "loose" group, so we figure things out as we go along.
Only a few modules have passing sidings, so we try to space those out.
Other than that...
Of course, we've only done a couple shows with more than 6-7 modules, so we're figuring it out as we go.

 

Would have posted this earlier but was busy watching the SF Giants knock out the Dodgers from the playoffs and the Oakland A's winning the AL West Division
Exciting times for Bay Area baseball!
And my beloved SJ Earthquakes are leading the whole MLS league!
Woot!

Anyway, I finally finished some videos showing how I scratchbuild simple wooden structures like this:

Here's Part I:

watch?v=05gbRVOABgg&feature=plcp
 
And here's Part II:

watch?v=8wt5WI9Iqsk&feature=plcp
 
Hopefully the videos will help take some of the mystery out of scratchbuilding plank by plank and inspire people to build their own structures instead of building the same kits as every other layout.
I built this shed very quickly (about two hours total, including drying times) to get it on the Silicon Valley Free-moN Effett Yard module before the GTE show a couple weeks ago, so it's not the most complicated structure nor the most detailed (the yard is called "Effett" for a reason!)

But if I can do this in a couple of hours in N scale, imagine what you can do over a day or two!

Also been building a new insert for Effett Yard: still 2' long and has the 15 deg. bend, but I'm sticking a turnout on the outer runaround to lead to a basic storage yard, so the new insert is a three-sided section:



The 7-track storage / classification yard (we deal with unit trains for now, so it's pretty much one & the same) will be two 12" x 48" x 2" sections hinged together so it can fold up and fit in the last little space left in my car:



Also building a "transition section" from the flat yard to corked main that can be swapped in for the storage yard and act as a junction to regular modules.
But we'll see how that works out.

Anyway, thanks for looking.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

I built a new insert for Effett Yard: same 15 deg. bend but with a turn-off on the outer track to lead to a storage yard or to connect to another module (like a junction).



Custom-built the turnout to match the straight-then curve of the outer track with the diverging track beginning the curve to the single-track branch.

I used a Bullfrog to throw the turnout / power the frogs, but didn't want knobs sticking out of the sides, so I cut off the end of a paintbrush, filed a notch at the base, then wood-glued it to the Bullfrog:



Given the narrow (12") width of the insert, it's easy just to reach underneath and throw it.

Lining up the tracks to the two yard sections is easy, but to ensure a flush-straight alignment for the single track I used a trick Steve Williams of our Free-moN group taught me:



A small mirror is very effective in ensuring perpendicular alignment at the ends!
(Had to remove the "Disney Princess" cover of the mirror, though.  Sorry!)

While building 40+ vines for my Shoo-fly vineyard I was able to finish installing the track, drop all the feeders and install & wire the Bullfrog, so we now have a new insert / lead to storage / junction:



Some replacement ties, paint, ballast & ground cover & we're ready to rock n' roll!

Thanks for looking.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Finished (except for some misc. trackside details) scenicking the new insert for Effett Yard:



Yes, some of the tufts look like tribbles.
But after the tacky glue dries I can thin them down a bit.

Built the "benchwork" and legs for the 12" x 8' storage yard extension (folds in half to 4' x 12" x 5", which is about all the space I have left in my car).

Here's the mock-up of the ladders:



7 #7s, with a crossover at the far side to create a runaround.
Other 5 tracks are stub-end.

Here's the whole assembly:



[Tracks are just placed on the storage yard to show spacing]
Hopefully, this will allow a few more trains to run on our Silicon Valley Free-moN layout.
At our last show, some trains just stayed parked at Effett Yard, effectively blocking a few through tracks.
Now operators or the designated Yard Goat can put some trains back in storage to free up more space on the through tracks.
But somehow I think we're just going to have more trains ;)
If you build it, they will come!

But that's not all!
This is a Swiss Army Yard Insert.
I'm also building a short (2') 15-deg. curved "adaptor" module to go from the track-flat-on-ply up to Free-moN Standard cork roadbed:



It'll have a curved wooden trestle over a wetland / slough.
That way, if we don't need the extra storage yard, we can use Effett as an interchange yard with a branchline.
Always good to have the options!

Now off to build some #7 turnouts!

Thanks for looking.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

For the last week or so I've been building the curved module that transitions from Effett Yard's track-on-ply to the Free-moN standard track-on-cork-roadbed.
Almost an excercise in futility, as we'll probably always use the folding storage yard off the wye instead of turning Effett into a branch interchange, but you never know.
And it's been fun building a bridge again:





You can see the jig I built to get all the bents the same.
The "bar" across the center of the jig is the bottom of the shorter bents: I glued that in after I had built all the taller bents.
In the above photo you can also see the PC board ties I GorrilaGlued in gaps I left when building the span.
[And, ignoring my own advice, I forgot to gap the PC board ties BEFORE gluing them in, but it all turnout out ok with some mighty fine Dremeling later]



The NBW details are a bit time-consuming to add, but very, very much worth it in the end.
Just compare the un-NBWed bent on the left to the others.
Those are HO 1" nuts and HO 2 1/2" square nuts from Grandt Line (which, I just found out, is located in the next town over of Concord, CA).
I was going to run out of the square nuts, so I replaced the outer 4 with rectangular-washer NBWs (you'll see later).



Pairing up the bents at where the stringers abutt is good prototypical practice, and saves abutt-load of NBW details!

[cont.]

[mcfunkeymonkey]

The module itself has a sheet of 1/2" ply under some scrap 2" foam.
(so that means there's 3 1/2" of space underneath: perfect for the 1"x4" cross supports!)

As I knew there was going to be water on this scene, I made sure to seal the edges of the ply & hardboard fascia with caulk.
After shaping the foam, I slopped some sculptamold on to eliminate the foam seams and create the land portion of the slough:



Remember that this is a transition module that's going from ply to cork, so I added cork only on one side and sanded it down at a slight grade.
I also carved the shapes of the cribbing and retaining wall straight out of the foam.

Painted the foam and slough bed, threw on some dirt, gravel and a little ground foam, then test-fitted the trestle deck:



I'm doing things a bit bass-awkward here: usually I get the track in first and wired and running, but because of how I install the rails on the deck, I'm scenicking first.
I want to make sure I have a lot of grass under the trestle, which is a bit easier before the trestle is installed.

Put in the retaining wall and the cribbing, added some tufts after the static grass, and then installed the trestle:



Spray-painted a piece of flex track Grimy Black, then installed it.
I put the fixed rail on the outside & soldered it first, which made adjusting the inner sliding rail much easier:



Don't forget to scrape the rail bottoms before soldering!

[cont.]

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Painted the PC board ties a mixture of Floquil Foundation, SP Lettering Grey, and Grimy Black so the blend into the wood.
Ballasted the ends, and THEN poured the Magic Water.
Finally followed my own advice about doing the water last!!!



At the top of my workbench you can see some homemade tufts I attempted using hair planted in caulk on waxpaper.
Makes decent watergrass.

Water still needs a day or two to cure, and maybe another pour if it seeps too far under the scenery, but so far so good:



[I placed a piece of black foamcore behind the scene, which is why it's a bit creepy]

But soon trains will be ready to roll!



Still need to place the guard rails in (got some C40 drying right now), but I can CA those in.
Also need to put in some walkways / outer deck supports but those are easy.
After the water stops seeping I can go back and touch up with some dirt and tufts along the slough.
It's slow-moving, so I doubt I'll add any Modge Podge for effects, especially since MP seems to attract every dust & dirt particle known to man.
Need to stick an old rowboat down there somewhere, too.



But a fun project for something that will probably never get used at a show!
At least it's groovy for a small photo diorama.

Thanks for looking.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

I use Magic Water tinted with some Floquil BNSF Heritage Green & Grimy Black (need to use solvent-based paints for tinting), and the Magic Water tends to creep a lot.
Here's after one day:



You can see where it's gone several inches up the ground cover on each side.
It's almost cured, so I don't think it's going to creep any more than this.
I'm not too worried about it, as I can plant more tufts and even spot-drop some dirt and static grass on the more offensive areas, but it's supposed to be a wet slough anyway :)

[The sign is for those who love to touch modeled water such as my wife and kids, and neighbors who wonder over when the garage door is open, which it was all day yesterday because I burned my hashbrowns into cinders and smoked up the whole house and so had to do some heavy venting before the wife came home]

Here's a shot on how it'd look coming off the Effett Yard insert:



Upon reflection, I probably should have made the insert straight and had one turnout come off each side, then we could have the storage yard AND a branch-line interchange!
Hmmm....

Thanks for looking.

[MisterBeasley]

That is too nice a module not to use.  I think you should make another module, perhaps a foot or two in length, that would bring the track-on-plywood level up to roadbed height.  Then everyone could see that beautiful trestle, regardless of how the layout gets configured that day.

Just don't make it so dang nice.

Again, thanks for showing us all this nice work.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Thanks, Mr. B.

I'm sure we'll find a way to use it, if only as a nice photo diorama :)
(The bigger issue is finding space for it in my car!)

Well, it's cured.
While the Magic Water creeped a couple inches to each side, after curing it's not as shiny as when wet.
Actually makes a nice slight contrast with a slightly darker "ground" around the banks.
To cut the shine that remains, I remembered an old trick I figured out a long time ago: sprinkle some dirt on the shiny area under the grass and then use an old toothbrush to rub it in.
After vacuuming up the wayward grains:





It's actually a lot less shiny in person.
So a few new tufts and adding some watercress leaves (brush grass tops with white glue and sprinkle AMSI light green fine ground foam), I think we'll be good to go.
Time to attach the guard rails!

Thanks for looking.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Finally finished the transition module scene with trestle.
Added walkways, bushes and a bunch of miner's lettuce near the banks (helps break up the line created from the Magic Water creeping into the groundcover).

So here's some outdoor photos with the new Bachmann 2-6-0 (straight out of the box, no weathering or MT905 coupler replacement or anything yet):









I think it turned out alrighty, but any suggestions for improvement are always appreciated.

Now on to building more turnouts for the storage yard!

Thanks for looking.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Been working on the 12" x 8' folding storage yard that attaches to Effett Yard. Some progress picts over the last week:











All the turnouts will be controlled by slide switches.
The slide switches for the cross over (end of runaround) needed to be fitted partially under the track, as there's not much space.
Tracks are at 1 1/4" centers.

Here's the clearance when folded up:



Ar 5" wide, should fit in the car 

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Also been building the small but very handy 45 deg. modules.
At 2' across at the widest, they just fit a 22" radius curve with a couple inches of straght at each end.









That last pair will have industries along the spur, so when connected it's a short runaround and large industry, but if separated there'll still be an industry on each end.

We'll see how it works in practice 

 

Thanks for looking.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Took out all the 1/4" bolts & t-nuts ("Mr. T" nuts?) I had been using as levelers on all my modules, chopped 4" off the ends, and installed Rockler levelers:





The Rockler levelers require about 2" sq. space for install, thus the cleats around the bottoms.
[screw split one (D'oh!), which is why it's still being clamped]

For anyone doing modules, I highly recommend the Rockler levelers.
http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=5217&site=ROCKLER
At $17 for a set of 4 they're bit more expensive than bolts, but man are they awesome and make height adjustment a snap (or twist).
MUCH easier than bolts!
And as we're doing more shows in the near future, ANYTHING that makes setup easier is easily worth the money.

Also finished building the endplates for Effett Yard:





Which makes the module much easier & safer to transport, as well as occupy a smaller footprint in the car (YEAY!).
Can also stack things on top! (Yeay!) 
So more room for more modules!

[cont.]

[mcfunkeymonkey]

On the 45's, I installed pockets for single legs using my patented "no screw" method of spreading wood glue in the center of the surfaces and CA at the edges. 
The CA cures quickly and holds everything in place while the woodglue emulsifies and cures.



As single units, the 45's don't need legs: clamping to a larger module with legs on each side is enough.
But if you use two or more 45's in a row (as either a curve or a snaking straight) then the legs take the pressure off all the clamps to hold it up.

Originally I was envisioning one 45 to have an abandoned crossing across the rails, but then I remembered all the structures and trees I have left over from Mt. Coffin, and so built this little wayside stop:







For now the water tower is removable with two long spikes holding it in place, but that might get perminantly affixed, depending on packing space on Sunday.
Still needs bushes and tufts and details, but it's nice to see Mt. Coffin live again (or at least pieces of it, like the Creature in Frankenstein).

Only a couple of days until the Coast Div. meet and lots of tasks to finish before then.
Today will be dropping feeders and wiring up the folding storage yard.
Woot!

Thanks for looking.

[Blue Flamer]

M.C.

Thanks for all the tutorials and video's. You make it much easier for we mere mortals to follow along with what you are doing and how it will look with trains rolling through the finished scenes through your excellent video's. Keep up the great work. It is greatly appreciated.

Blue Flamer.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Thanks for the kind words, BF.
And glad you find the videos helpful.
They're fun to make :)

Here's the other 45 I'm scenicking.





Same deal: needs bushes, tufts, etc. (that's today) but you get a sense of the scene.
Think I'm going to leave the creek dry, though I can always put some water in later.
And at some point I might cut the concrete culvert out and install an old A-frame trestle.
We'll see.

Now to figure out where the short is in the storage yard!

[Bikerdad]

I stand in awe, and am humbled by your industriousness, creativity, attention to detail and problem solving.  I'd like to make a small contribution that could help simplify a recurring complication.

Wax paper.

When you're clamping two modules together for scenicing, you're always worried about gluing the two together.  before you clamp 'em, put some wax paper between them.  It's very thin, and will prevent the modules from becoming too fond of one another.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

I do love wax paper!

Probably one of the most useful household items for model railroading!
I use it a lot for scratchbuilding: lay it over the plan I drew on cardstock and then build the wooden structure over it so the woodglue doesn't stick to the paper.

Wax paper might work between sections while scenicking, though I find just remembering to unclamp the section right after scenicking works well, as then you can wipe the drips off the section plates.

Of course, remembering to unclamp is the key, and wax paper would help while scenicking after the 2-3 beer :)