Free-moN: At Home & On The Road

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Moved on to the Mountain/Gorge seciton of the Wye Knot module. Added more trees, took more stacked shots:





Nothing like working on trains to procrastinate making the presentations for the Iron Horse Express clinics 
Back to work.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

On the less-glamorous side of things, I removed all the Bullfrog control rods from the Effett Yard modules.
It looked like this mess:



Which was messy and the rods got in the way of clamping.
And, really, when you have only a 16"-wide module, you can easily reach under and finger-flip the Bullfrogs from either side.

So to aid in the fingering, I glued the wooden sprocket "wrenches" (that come with the Bullfrog kits) onto the throwing plate itself to add some grippiness:





So now the whole thing looks much cleaner:



And the modules should be a little lighter and easier to clamp.
We'll see how it works next week at the Iron Horse Express convention.

[Mavryk]

MC, I'm sure you've heard all this before, but the detail you manage to get in such a small scale is....is....uh, mind boggling. How the hell do you do it? Are you sure it's N scale? Got to be a camera trick. Either that, or you wear glasses with 2 inch think lences so you can see what you're doing. I really wish I was in California so I can see your modeling skills in action. My hat's off to you sir.

 

BTW, remember when I was talking to you about modules vs sectionals? Well, I made my first sectional the other day. It's 2x8 made with 1x4s with a 2 1/2 inch chunk of foam for a top. I decided to learn the ropes in HO scale with plans on going N later on. You can see my thread named finally getting the ball rolling.

 

Lorne

[Schuylkill and Susquehanna]

The modules look great!

The switch machines sticking out from the plywood look like they could be accidentally bumped and broken easily.  You might want to consider tacking some lauan plywood or Masonite underneath to protect them from getting broken.  Holes could be cut to allow you to manually move the Bullfrogs.

The scenery is amazing.  I model in HO, and I tried N scale for a bit.  I can't figure out how you got such great detail in N scale - it looks amazing!

S&S

[MisterBeasley]

Your skills as a photographer are only exceeded by your skills as a modeler.  Well done.  I toot my whistle for you.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

MisterBeasley

I toot my whistle for you.

As long as it's only your whistle :)

Thanks for the kind words, all.

S&S: Understand your concern but the only way the Bullfrogs will break is if something heavy falls into the module while inverted during transport, and I put a board / table on top before stacking the next module.
(screwing a board to the module itself will just add more weight and bother).

Been a busy week at the NMRA / PCR Iron Horse Express Convention in Dublin, CA.
Lots of groovy presentations and layout tours by lots of master modelers.
We, the Silicon Valley Free-moN anarcho-collective, were lucky that the convention gave us a 17'x32' room to set up in for the week:





A bit tight, and of course we had to leave out a bunch of modules like the Bridge O' Wonder, Alviso and others.
But a decent 150' of mainline circuit.

We had to share the room with Tom Knapp (MMR #101)'s amazing little Nn3 module of 1920's San Luis Obispo:





Not only does he bash together his own Nn3 locos from Marklin & other mechs, but installs DCC decoders and SOUND in some of them 
The dude rocks.
And makes our layout look big and clumsy next to his.

Nils forgot to bring the Wood Mill building mock-up (a lovely large industry chunk) but has been busy scenicking some sections and wiring up a bunch of lights, including a flasher on top of the log grabber.
I thought lights wouldn't really stand out on modules but his LEDs look great and add a lot of "life" to the modules, so now it looks like I need to learn how to install and wire LEDs 

Here's the video:

Dwm5EijLSbs

Spuds, who doesn't have a module yet, makes up for it by finding his way into almost every shot. So feel free to play "Where's Waldo" / "Spottin' Spuds" and/or a drinking game (which would make the video look really good by the end  )

Well, it's back down to Dublin for the last day of the Convention, then it's cramming all this back in the car
Stop by the Dublin Holiday Inn before 5ish if you get the chance.

Thanks for looking.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Wow. Five months and no Free-moN Fun.
Nothing like the deadline of an upcoming show to get the ol' rear end moving.

A month ago we had a "work party", and member Eric-of-the-well-stocked-workshop brought 10 (TEN) 45-deg basic modules already constructed: https://www.facebook.com/SiliconValleyFreeMoN#!/photo.php?fbid=626095107414924&set=a.237976662893439.69715.182415681782871&type=1&theater
To which we added bus wires and cab connections (we use our phones to operate the trains but sometimes we need the ProCabs, thus the telephone wires).

I optimistically took 4 modules for scenicking, thinking it'd kick my caboose in gear to finally getting some modeling done. So a few days ago (a week before the GTE show in Santa Clara, CA 9/7 & 9/8: http://www.greattrainexpo.com/shows/2013SanJose.html) I started in on a 180 degrees of North California Slough / Wetland Wonderland.

Someday I want to build the Wingo Bridge bascule bridge http://goo.gl/maps/UPQ7Z, so why not make some of the approaching slough trackage?

Somehow I forgot that scratching trestles is one of the more time-consuming project 

But here's the report since Labor Day weekend:



My 4 modules: blank canvasses awaiting wreckage.

They're made of 2" purple foam sitting on top of a frame of the requisite 3/4" birch ply endplates as well as some wood Eric found in his garage when he moved.
They're pretty light.



Used clear caulk over the foam surface, but several applications of woodglue the endplate.
Soaking the cork makes it rock hard--important for module ends that get banged a lot.

Instead of Gorilla Gluing individual PC board ties, I used some of the fab pre-fab "GapMaster" units from American Tie and Timber http://americantieandtimber.com/4.html:



Very easy to glue and they're the same height as the plastic flextrack ties.

I wanted two of the modules to have long, low trestles over slough / wetland, much like the Sacramento Northern's Lisbon Trestle http://people.virginia.edu/~ggg9y/wreck.html before it dropped out from under a train of steel coils.

So I traced the curve of the cork on the other modules, and started the tedious process of building a two long trestles:



I use woodglue applied with a toothpick for the stripwood ties and CA or GG for the PC board ties at 1"-1.5" intervals.
Originally I intended to spray paint the whole structure when done, which is why I didn't stain all the wood pieces before assembly.

Thank goodness it was Saturday and 6 hours of English, Italian and Spanish soccer were on (Juventus' fab victory over Lazio featured in the photo) along with the appropriate adult beverage(s).

For the bents the jig is up! In the past I've made jigs on pieces of masonite, but the woodglue that seeps down usually ends up thrashing the surface over time, so this time I tried CAing wood blocks to a piece of plexiglass:



Crossbeams are basswood, while the vertical pieces are bamboo skewer pieces.
(The skewers do not take stain well, but I was going to blast the black "creosote" out of them so wasn't worried)



Small dabs of woodglue set in about 10 minutes.
Pop out of jig, add diagonal braces while starting another.
Repeat while working on other aspects of project and by the end of the day you have a few bents:



I needed a few longer bents for the waterway which I did after finishing all the "short" ones.

[cont.]

[mcfunkeymonkey]

After carving foam in a very warm and sultry garage, I caulked the seams and spackled the water bed:





2" foam, minus 1" to grassbed, minus 1/2" to water level leaves very little underneath for support (and allowed the pre-scored lines to show through), so I caulked some scrap styrene under the waterways:



And caulked up and possibility of a hole on top (later spackled over the caulk to take the paint).

More bents!



Long ones, this time.

Painted the whole surface a thick tan latex, laying it on thick at the seems and along the waterbed.
Then painted the waterways a dark muddy grey:



While that dried, I abandoned my idea of spraypainting the trestle and instead tried staining the deck and all the bents with "pure" india ink:



A bit better creosote color than my previous attempts.
Will weather with some whites and rusts on some NBW details later.

Used woodglue to attach bents to decks:



Bents are spaced about 17' apart: a fine balance between looks and getting tired of making bents  Later will add horizontal supports.

[cont.]

[mcfunkeymonkey]

All the vertical supports are not of equal length due to rapid Chopper II-ing, so I placed a piece of skewer in my Dremel to ream out holes:



Gently pressing the structure into the foam produces the guideholes.
Fitted:



But you can't install the trestle first if you want natural-looking ground-cover under it (too hard to sift the grout and get the static grass under there  ), so today I applied a basic ground cover of dirt, various grouts, sifted gravel, ground foams and some static grass:



The wet paper towel helps keep the static grass out of the waterway with all the diluted whiteglue seeping everywhere.
Used mostly 2mm & 4mm grasses-- tomorrow when dry will go back and apply some 5-6mm stuff along the water edge.

Place modules out in sunlight for about 20 minutes (hot day, don't want things warping / melting!) and then applied caulk to bent pile bottoms and installed the trestles:



Wanted to use caulk especially on the bent piles in the waterways as the Magic Water will find every crack & hole and seep down.

After dinner I mixed up a batch of Magic Water tinted with Floquil BNSF Heritage Green and Grimy Black and painted a THIN layer over the waterway surface:





[Sidenote: that A-frame bridge is the first structure I ever scratchbuilt and has been sitting around my workbench for 4-5 years, so though it was time for it to find a home on a throwaway 45]

Hopefully that will cure overnight and seal any holes, as well as help prevent major seepage and spreading when I do the big pour tomorrow (have to tomorrow, as it takes at least a day to cure and the show is on Saturday!).

Tomorrow will install & paint the track, wire, ballast, add bushes and trees, with the final pour of water last.
Fingers crossed I actually mix the Magic Water in the correct ratio so it cures in time for the show 

Thanks for looking.

["JaBear"]

mcfunkeymonkey

Nothing like the deadline of an upcoming show to get the ol' rear end moving.

Gidday MC, not an uncommon problem, if I don't watch out I'll be in the same boat. . Time seems to fly if I'm having fun or not!! Will keep my fingers crossed for you.

Cheers, the Bear.

P.S. Looking Good.

[Doug from Michigan]

Thanks for the update, and for taking the time to document your builds.  Your modeling skills and sense of humor always make your threads some of my favorites.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Thanks for the kind words.

I've been spending the past 4-5 months building an Horrible Oversized layout for a client, so it's nice to be back modeling Normal scale again

Laid down the track and soldered the rails to the pc board ties on the trestle deck:



Laided down the caulk then started at one end soldering the rails to the endplate, then used two 3-point gauges to hold the rails while soldering along the trestle deck.
Not the most accurate job (turns out I installed the trestles a wee bit too "inside" the curve) but worked out fine.

NOTE TO SELF #513:  Gap the PC board ties BEFORE installing onto the bridge deck!!!
This is probably the 7.5th time I've glued the pc board ties in and THEN remembered I should have gapped them ahead of time to avoid nicking the neighboring wood ties.
D'oh! 

Before I've spraypainted the rails before soldering them onto a deck, but this time I tried Neo-Lubing the rails with a microbrush afterwards:



Turned out ok and stained.
We'll see how it holds up.

I painted the pc board ties with Floquil Grimy Black, which matched pretty well.

This morning (midday?) I had to glue in the water-side plants, as I couldn't pour the "big pour" of Magic Water until they were in and the glue cured:



Yes, the tufts look uberGREEN.
Will mellow out after all the scenery is in (and the first layer of dust settles  )
No, I'm going to use a toothbrush to rub dirt into everything: mutes the harshness and ties everything together.
But need to wait for things to dry.
(So will probably happen at the show or after)

The brush is touching the grasstops with whiteglue so I can sprinkle some AMSI ground foam http://amsistuff.com/ on top to make miner's lettuce and other small leafy plants that blanket the grounds around water sources.
Just sprinkle it on a little heavy, wait 15 minutes or so, and then vacuum up the excess.

Spraybombing the track after scenery takes more blue tape and paper towels, but do-able:



And this is why you do the final water pour LAST:



All the scenery stuff gets sucked onto the semi-sticky surface.
Good thing this is just the initial layer to coat the bottom and plug the holes.

Also started experimenting with weathering the stained bents:



Had good luck on other wood projects using a white color pencil, and it seems to be alrighty here, though I probably should have thrown it on before I glued all the bents together.
Might also try a white paint wash or dry brushing here or there.
But that can happen after the show.

Also ballasted the track, with a cinders layer under the mixed grey topping:



Still need a bunch o' bushes and a few low trees.
Thought about making an abandoned fishing hut on piles decaying into the wetland here but will save for after the show.

When all scenery and ballasting reached the "meh" level of acceptability (and when it was certain the SF Giants had blown another game before the 7th), I went ahead and mixed up a big batch of tinted Magic Water and poured a healthy amount into each waterway:



I use a old brush trimmed short to push and pull the water into place.
Part of the fun of Magic Water is that it really doesn't set until the next day, so you really have to make sure that your module is FLAT.



In fact, I usually pour only half of the concoction first and carefully observe if there's any "flow" in one direction or another.
In both of the photos above you can see shims of various materials (the bent jig, a metal plate, a piece of stripwood, etc.) positioned to counted the uneven waterway surface.
20-30 minutes after pouring, I go back and check to see if there was any slow slide to one side or another.



But I intentionally left the sides high, so worse comes to worse there's a shallow patch somewhere.
Easily fixed with another pour after the show.

Many small details left to do (horizontal supports? weathering? bushes? walkways / pathes? etc.) but the track is set, wired and ready for operation, and the scenery is okie dokie for now.
Really want to work on making realistic reeds and brownish watergrass (as opposed to sticking tufts in magic water), but that will be part of the project for the next show in November.

Tomorrow is unbolting and removing all the seats in my car and hauling most of this stuff the hours or so down to the show for setup and then trying to make it back before the Friday rushhour!

Thanks for looking.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Fortunately, it turns out I got a good 2-1 mixture on the Magic Water, so it's pretty much cured after 24 hours.
Also, using a toothbrush in weathering powder and dirt helps blend the grass and tufts [compare brushed left tuft to untouched right]:



But was a bit impatient: the toothbrush flings up blades that landed on the almost-cured water surface.
Careful tweezing and vacuuming takes care of most, though long fingernails and carelessness also scratches the surface:



So would have been better to fuss with the scenery the next day when the surface was totally smooth & solid.
So it goes.

Added a bunch o' bushes and some short trees found around the workbench:





So now "show presentable" (i.e. decent and basic scenery done but nothing wow).

The biggest plus is that the water is cured and we can use all four 45's tomorrow.
We have about 6 modules of 12'-16'-24' long, so will need all the 45' curved modules we can get to fold everything into the 35'x40' space.

Hoping the U.S. can come from behind 2-1 against Costa Rica with 30 minutes left to get that much closer to qualifying for the Brasil World Cup.
But will zonk out soon after the end of the game.
Gotta get down to Santa Clara (an hour away) before 8am so we can set everything up before the 10am showtime 

Thanks for looking.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Trains are up and running at the Great Train Expo in Santa Clara, CA this weekend!
Getting to that point was a bit epic, and now that we have over 10 dudes (more like 15), 30 modules and about 350 feet of mainline running, we're definitely learning loads.

First up, very long straight modules take up a lot of space and require moocho 45's and curved modules to fit everything in:

On Friday we just dumped a lot of modules in our space, as there's really no reason to try to plan something until we see which modules and modelers actually make it.

On Saturday morning, in 2 hours we were able to physically manhandle the modules into a plausable layout:



Some started leveling and clamping while the rest of us moved pieces into position to see what would work.
Part of the trick is to evenly spread out the longer modules with passing sidings.
The other part of the trick is to fit within the space allotted.
All made more tricky by the "actual" angles created by clamping as opposed to the "fantasy" angles fashioned when just eyeballing 
And the fact that even with all the 10 new 45 deg. modules we still didn't have enough to make things easy: the last few feet of planning became a master Tetris match.

But soon after the doors opened, we had the whole layout laid out, wired up, skirted and ready to roll:



30 modules (many made up of multiple sections) to make up over 160 feet of mainline, which makes for a circuit of over 300 feet.

Here's a rough sketch of how it worked out (iPhone can't capture the immense final layout):



The shaded and lined modules have the long passing sidings.

Here's a more detailed triptych:







Everything set up and ready to run, then: NOTHING.

The DCC-In-A-Box seemed to go crazy all on it's own, which led to this scene for the next half hour:



Add your own audio track of choice colorful epithets.
Turned out the NCE command control box had a board that jiggled enough to touch something.
All things sorted out and trains started rolling!

The long expanses of single tracking and intense lack of any ops plan quickly clogged trains all over and revealed that we've reached the point where we need jobs--at least ONE central dispatcher giving verbal warrents when drivers reach certain key junction / passing siding modules--and we need to sit down and come up with some kind of ops plan.

Probably tomorrow!

[cont.]

[mcfunkeymonkey]

The recently-scenicked Northern California slough/wetlands 45's turned out pretty well:





And wanted to get some video today but the model railroad gods-especially the Trickster figure "Loco"--had other plans for me today.
While setting up the modules this morning I went into a squat and heard a great RRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIPPPPP!!!!



A breezy style which I rocked until lunch when I visiting the nearby Ross for some fab $5 shorts of the plaid kind.

Then, after lunch, while soldering points that popped-off some turnouts, I got distracted and looked away while attempting to pass the soldering iron from right hand to left and grabbed the wrong part of the iron:



[You can also see the fab $5 shorts in the background].
Immediately grabbed an icepack from my snack cooler, but it got to the point where I thought there might be some serious damage in there, so drove the hour home (stopping to get another large soda with lotsa ice to hold while driving) to the local ER, where with lancing, burn cream and med all turned out okie dokie:



Funny thing is that I didn't scream nearly as loud as Rick did when some kid touched his SP Daylight

Good news is that it's only a 2nd-degree burn.
Bad news is that it's hard to type.
And unbuttoning my new fab $5 shorts is a pain in the bandage.

Been soldering for 5 years without a mishap.
Well, I guess I don't have "Fingers of Asbestos".
Yet.

But lots of great progress on many modules!
Definitely our "biggest" show so far.
Looking forward to running trains and working on ops plans tomorrow.

Will also get some video, I hope.
Unless my fab $5 shorts burst into flame.
And then I'm sure someone else will video that instead.

Thanks for looking.

["JaBear"]

Model Railroading Is Fun. 

Gidday MC, I had wondered from early on if the single track was a design flaw as, from my limited experience, train show attendees expect to see lots of trains running, and a single track point to point would seem to preclude that. However the Free-moN concept must be popular as ,reading between the lines, I gather that the participants in the Silicon Valley group have increased in number. It would almost appear that its been too successful and  growed too quickly and as a result of the rapid expansion are the unforeseen operational problems and setting up the modular pieces of the puzzle.

However, wardrobe malfunctions and close encounters of the soldering iron kind aside, I would expect that the enthusiasm of the SVFM chaps will quickly resolve any issues, besides would Model Railroading be Fun if it was too easy

Hope things tomorrow , or is it today work out OK.

Cheers, the Bear. 

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Thank's Bear.

The single track isn't really the issue--later in the post you'll see that the problems mainly involve operators not paying attention and not looking ahead.

Funny thing: both my wife and daughter were more worried and horrified by the plaid shorts than my burned, mangled hand.  

Alrighty! On Sunday brought my real camera and had time for videos.
Here's the overall:



Just realized it's kind of a heart shape, with Devil Mt. in the middle.

Ryan brought his kids down from Sacramento again (with a 4' module, too!) and they made sure the freight kept rolling:



You can see Effett Yard had to be flipped around to fit in our space, so the junction where we usually clamped on the Storage Yard O' Necessity faced into the aisle.

So we stuck it on the branchline of Murph's Murph Junction (16'):



Which also has a long stretch of double track which came in very handy with all the long trains rolling.

Other new modules joined the party, like Rick's 12'-long Silicon Valley CalTrains Station, with separate frieght bypass (on the left):



Built especialy to accomodate his uber long El Cap, COLA and Daylight passenger trains.
Too bad they fit in only a few other places on the layout.
The station lights up, too.

Youngster Patrick brought in a 45 deg module with an Asian Urban scene in progress:



The lack of scenery on the surrounding modules made it look like a section of Post-Apocalyptic Neo-Tokyo, which I guess made us Free-moNsters the Godzillas.

Nils took a break from his 24'-long Davenport Cement module to build a 2' bridge scene:



Complete with eagles and their nests, deer, lightning strikes at trunk bases, and some lovely fast-moving water.

And as Rick's CalTrains station module is made up of 3 sections, he took the 4th of the two pairs (matched for easier transport) and created a ghost town in a desert:



Many of the fab detailed structures are available at Showcase Miniatures
http://www.showcaseminiatures.net/structures.html

[cont.]

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Running trains-wise, we decided to try to develop an ops plan to combat the craziness from Saturday.
Here it is:



Most of the clogging was due to people leaving their trains on passing sidings (instead of the storage yard) and then wandering away, or not paying attention to their trains--got busy talking to people, etc.--or just not looking ahead to the next passing siding to see if there was space or a train coming.
So these two rules--physically (and mentally) stay with your train & LOOK AHEAD--helped moocho to keep things running smoothly.
Eventually we'll get to track warrents and specific "jobs" (both dispatcher and local switching), but that might take more organization that we're capable of at this point.

We'll see what happens for the November show!

And sometimes, if you can beat 'em, join 'em!
At every show there's a point where Nils strings together as many cars as he can into an Uber-Train and clogs up as much of the layout as he can:



The run ends when he can't get the train around the Wye Knott return loop.
(He actually took about 15 cars off by that point but it still wouldn't fit).

Soon after late Sunday lunch Rule G was tossed and the silliness really started.

My 2-6-0 Mogul decided to play chicken with Nils' Uber-Train and won:



And letting the chips fall where they may, SP gons had fun tumbling down the Shoofly slope:



For which everyone observed a moment of silence:



Or maybe they're just running trains.

At 4 o'clock it was time to pack up, which we did by 5:





And I was back home with the seats bolted back into my car by 6:30.

All-in-all a groovy weekend of running trains!

Even the hand is doing better:



A little Paint and it's looking good. I'm just glad the pain scaled down to N as well.

And, of course, the video:p://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3W-9KoroBMI

3W 9KoroBMI

I try to keep 'em short, but there were so many more modules this year!

Thanks for looking and hope to see you at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in November the weekend before Thanksgiving!

["JaBear"]

Gidday MC, enjoyed the video though I had already expected that I would. Out of curiosity how far into the layout do the viewing public get to go?

mcfunkeymonkey

but that might take more organization that we're capable of at this point.

Yeah I wish you all well, organisation can require a heck of a lot of diplomacy, the danger being that some people only relate fun with spontaneity but not organisation.

You may have created a monster but already looking forward to the Alameda update and video.

Thanks again for sharing,

Cheers, the Bear. 

[lone geep]

That's sure some wreck! Did any cars fall off the railroad? Keep up the great progress!!

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Haven't done diddily/squat on my Free-moN modules since the last show back in September (been working on the dude's "Meadow's Lumber" HO layout), but we just had a show with a pretty groovy configuration (sans Newlywed Nils' "Bridge O' Wonder" or "Davenport Cement" modules)

For some reason Picassa Web Albums is not letting me upload photos, so those will have to wait.
But here's the video from the Great Train Expo show this weekend.

http://youtu.be/WLt44abVSW8

Fellow Free-moNster brought a Looxcie camera so finally there's some POV shots mixed in.

Thanks for looking.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Great Train Expo: Richmond, CA on Jan. 4 & 5

Located in the beautiful Craneway Pavilion (old Ford plant) on the San Francisco Bay, this Great Train Expo will feature layouts of a variety of scales, including the Bay Area Z Scale "BAZ Boys", Peninsula Ntrak, my own Silicon Valley Free-moN anarcho-collective, as well as G, On30 and the NMRA "Build a Memory" layouts.

Free parking!

Quality building, modeling and beer!
(And the vendors even have some decent findings once in a while)

http://www.greattrainexpo.com/shows/2014Richmond.html

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Happy Free-moN New Year!

Just got back from Day 1 of the GTE show in Richmond, CA

Here's the Craneway Pavilion pier at 6:45am:



That's looking south, so the Berkeley Hills are to the left, Yerba Buena Island in the center, San Francisco far in the distance to the right of YB, and the Richmond auto unloading dock lit up on the far right. 
The sun is just starting to push up over the Berkeley Hills to the east:



The rails embedded in the pier used to come off the pier and curve around a causeway to run parallel to the plant, as in this 1930's photo of the Ford Plant:http://www.autolife.umd.umich.edu/Ra...mond_Plant.htm

Speaking of coming up from the East, a SPF (slobbering Pennsy Fan) friend from another forum appeared to run some trains:



K4 in California? But it's a steamer, so all's ok in the 1:160 world 

Even Newlywed Nils (left) showed up with his massive Paper Mill module, and youngster (and master diesel-detailer) Alvin (right) spent his last day of Winter Break with us before heading back to Boston for college (if he can get there with that winter weather):



Nils & Alvin (Wutter)

Notice Nils's short sleeves (it was really warm inside and out today!) and the 21st Amendment IPA can placed on the layout solely for scale reference 

That afternoon light was very, very nice (and warm!), so some picts:



Mt. Coffin short 45's and Devil Mountain return loop.



Mt. Coffin depot and Shoofly in Sonoma.



Rick B's Silicon Valley CalTrains station.



Nils' in-progress 16' Paper Mill module.



As a neighboring layout setup 15' into our space, we snaked out into the free-space in a rather loose "?"-shaped layout.
The Devil Mountain return loop is the dot (to the left of the "Free-moN" sign at the far left and back), with the layout curving around to the right & behind the camera to end at the Wye Knot return loop (foreground) at the other end.
Silicon Valley Free-moNsters Steve W. fiddles in the foreground on the Wye Knot modules, Scott F. (who's building an amazing S.F. State Belt module from scratch) stands ready to rock in his SP shirt in the background, and Rick B., hand on hip, holds the right flank.

The Silicon Valley Free-moN anarcho-collective is quite amazing: a small group but not a dud among the dudes!
Everyone has great (and various) talents to contribute--from JMRI / e-genius to detailing locos to carpentry to styrene-scratchbuilding-superskills to LED enlightener. 
We have no rules, no dues, no nothing, except somehow we build groovy modules and get together and have fun running trains.
That makes a Happy New Year for me 

I'll get some video tomorrow (maybe).

Speaking of happy new year's:



My wife claims to have spent 7 hours preparing the traditional Japanese New Year Osechi-ryori food, so I promised to include a photo of it along side other masterworks of craftsmanship.

Happy New Year!
Akemashite Omedeto!

[mlehman]

mcfunkeymonkey

Speaking of happy new year's: My wife claims to have spent 7 hours preparing the traditional Japanese New Year Osechi-ryori food, so I promised to include a photo of it along side other masterworks of craftsmanship. Happy New Year! Akemashite Omedeto!

M.C.,

Akemashite Omedeto!

My wife was admiring your wife's culinary skills. She says she hasn;t made that in a long time, but the picture sure made her hungry!

Great pics of the show, too.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Thanks Mike: Happy New Year to you and yours as well!

Sunday at the GTE Show in Richmond, CA was as good as it gets.

Beautiful day on the Bay:



TVs behind the bar/cafe to watch the Niners freeze the Packers:



[Feather River Chuck was lucky enough to have his stall--far right of photo--with a great view of the game!]

Oh, yeah: there was a large layout on which to run some trains, too!



All in all, a very groovy weekend!

And, of course, a video:http://youtu.be/ceW2WY0KVbA

[Is there a new trick to posting videos in the thread? Don't seem able to anymore with the new format]

Thanks for looking.

[HO-Velo]

M.C.  

Thanks for the show pics as well as your ongoing post.  Was looking forward to attending the GTE show and some reminiscing this past weekend, but ended up under the weather and missed out.  I grew up in Richmond, my parents knew some folks who worked at the Ford plant and my grandfather and grandmother worked at the Kaiser shipyards in the 40s.

regards,  Peter

[lone geep]

The natural light does wonders! If it wasn't for the fascia and the people in the background I'd think it was real! Keep up the fabulous work!.

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Was quite a jolt to go from the illuminated glory of the Craneway Pavilion in Richmond to... the Elk's Lodge in Alameda!

The Alameda, California Elk's Lodge is a beautiful Turn-of-the-Century building with amazing molding, scrollwork, painting, and quality beer ($3 a pint Anchor Steam, Blue Moon and Sierra Nevada! Woot!)
The clinics regaled the audience upstairs while the Silicon Valley Free-moN rocked out in the lobby with Byron Henderson and his Layout Design consulting crew.



As you can see, very "lodge-y" but we were able to wrap a long point-to-loop layout around the edges with plenty of space for people to walk around and talk.
(One benefit of rocking a modeler's meet is that you never, ever have to say "Don't touch, please!" or "Yes, this is N scale" )

Another benefit of rocking a lodge is the large number of props that really add to the realism of the layout:



A drawback to a lodge is the ambient "romantic" lighting in the corner:



that created a better environment for night ops and LEDs than most shows.

Nils decided to put his other modules on hold and build one better suited for switching ops:





7'6" long, BluePoint turnout control, and still determining which industries will go where along which spurs, but a very nice addition (long passing siding / runaround and long big-industry spurs).

We also took the opportunity to make a short presentation and request for potential ops suggestions.
Many modelers sat down with us and shared with us their suggestion, based on both practical experience as well as otherworldly inspiration.

So all in all a groovy day.
Normally I don't like doing "one-and-done" shows (set up and take down in one very long day), but the LD SIG--where I was first introduced to Free-moN and have meet many, many magnificent modelers from all over the West--is one that is definitely worth it.

And, of course, a video:

http://youtu.be/42ihLDmqga4

[how the heck to I post a video???  I've tried urls & embed codes & ???  What's the trick to the new system?]

Dark room + dark beer = crappy video.

Thanks for looking!

[fwright]

The private setups can be very special, and a lot of fun.

Question:  I assume that Free-moN mandates turnout controls on both sides of the module like most Free-mo specs.  How well did the Blue Point switch machines work with the dual controls?  One member of our HOn3 modular group tried them, and found out the "play" and friction brought in by the second set of controls made the Blue Points unreliable - especially the latching.  He gave up, and installed Tortoise machines.

I always wondered whether the problems were with the linkage, the particular turnouts, or the Blue Points themselves.

Fred W

[mcfunkeymonkey]

Fred:

Free-moN standards do call for being able to operate the turnouts from both sides.

On his Lockhart, TX module Steve Williams has pushbuttons for the Tortoises on each side recessed in the fascia.

On my Effett Yard module I used Bullfrogs (Fast Tracks) and originally had the rods on both sides:

Notice the short connecting piece at the Bullfrog: I'd bend them to a certain angle that allowed for the best force pushing & pulling.  If the connecting rod was straight then there'd be some awkward bending and sometime the plastic rod would bend instead of pushing the Bullfrog.

Perhaps that was the issue with you HOn3 dude.

What we found was that the rods were totally unnecessary!

Given the 50" height and 16"-18" width of most modules, anyone could easily reach underneath from either side and move the Bullfrog / Blue Point with his/her fingers.

So I took out all the rods and glued either little handles or the sprocket wrenches that come with the Bullfrogs to provide better grip for fingers:

Nice and clean:

Also gave us more room to clamp (some near the endplates were in the way) and made the module a bit lighter!

So that's the long, roundabout way of saying that Nils installed the BluePoints but no actuating rods: we just reach underneath and finger them.