Corinna off the wall at the GSMTS

I spent the past weekend at the Great Scale Model Train Show in Timonium. As planned, I took Corinna for the On30 modular setup, and everything worked a treat! My modules ran well, and were a subject of much curiosity and discussion. There are more pictures at the MADmodules site.

Motrak Models HO scale "Little Depot"

I also went a little wild on the shopping front. In addition to some basic scenic supplies for the layout, I went ahead and bought a few things for the HOn30 project — a MinitrainS Plymouth diesel set and a very nice little station kit from Motrak Models. Stylistically, it’s a perfect match for the other two HO station kits I have already on hand, and so will work very nicely on the mini-layout.

I was not able to see all of the available Peco track for HOn30. Apparently, it’s not all available in the states — we’re limited here to a “medium” radius turnout and meter-long flex track sections. The Peco medium turnouts are pretty similar in size to a regular Atlas snap-switch, but with chunkier ties. I’m going to spend a little bit of time to see if I can find someone in the UK who ships to the US to try to get a couple of the “set” series HOn30 switches. If I can’t do that, then I’ll just go with Atlas and bury it in the dirt.

As an aside, I previously mentioned that Tom Bell was designing a few conversion shells and whatnot for HOn30. Since my last posting, he seems to have increased his offerings on the Shapeways site, and he now has models in HOn30, TTn3 and On30 listed at very reasonable prices. I’ll probably be ordering an item or two from him in the next week or so…

In the mean time, I’ve decided it would be prudent to build a “proof-of-concept” mini-layout prior to going all-out on the three-piece display. I’m thinking that 20″x30″ or so will still be the size to get going with — just a loop with a switch or two for fun.

Corinna modules

As drawn, the parallel track spacing is a touch wider than I was planning, and he’s used #6 switches (I’ll be using #5). the gray dotted line near the turntable represents the “usual” track route for our modules, and ends with 30 degrees of 26″ radius curve. The curve shown in red is where the actual track might go, and is 30 degrees of 48″ radius. We may tighten that up a bit — or not — in practice, and go to 60 degrees of whatever the new curve is.

A couple of other minor track shifts are required to accommodate various features I’d need, but otherwise, this is just about good enough to start construction…

Warped Fomecore roadbed

Anyway, despite having applied a layer of glue across the full surface of the sheet, it is pulling away from the plywood sub-roadbed. The plan to correct the issue is a two-parter. First, I’m going to try using staples to hold the foam down. Then I’ll re-scenic around the foam.

I took a few pictures at the show, which you can see here.

Kimberton was nice and relaxed — a little smaller than previous years. I didn’t pick up much, except for a few pairs of SR&RL freight car trucks, and a couple of really nice older books on the WW&F — Big Dreams and Little Wheels by Ruby Crosby Wiggin and The WW&F Two-Footer by Clinton F. Thurlow. The both contain some info and photographs I hadn’t seen before, and the price was great.

We debuted a few new modules this time around. The modules that Sean Heath and I built as Maryland Minibunch modules some years back came back to me from John Weigel’s layout a couple weeks back, and Kevin Hunter and I built some new legs for them and we got them running for the weekend. The still need a bit of renovation, but they did generate a lot of interest.

Kevin Hunter and I drove up together with our modules. I recently put a hitch on the van, and used it to haul all of our stuff. The old van took us up there just fine — almost. Just about 15 minutes before we arrived, it started misfiring. I called the local Ford dealer to see about it getting fixed, but they didn’t have parts, and were completely booked. In any event, the van got us home just fine, so I’ll take it in next week.

In other news, Corinna & Southern Forneys #9 and #10 have been sent to the Big Horn & Moose Drool shops for a little dress-up. Other locos will be following as time permits.

Charlie and the gang weren’t able to make it with their modules due to problems with their truck, but we were still able to put up a great layout.

Corinna Station

Corinna Station is built using the Grandt Line Sheepscot Station kit. I spent just a couple of hours on assembly and touch-up painting. It still needs to be weathered (I did it in software for this shot), and the station sign needs to be made and applied, but it’s otherwise lookin’ great.

Corinna Station placed into platform

Corinna Station close-up

One thing that I have learned on this module is that Fomecore is not a good base on which to place track or scenery if you’re going to use a lot of matte medium to secure scenery materials. Even though I literally painted the underlying plywood with glue when I laid down the Fomecore, the added moisture from above is causing it to curl up. I can only guess that it’s peeling the lower surface right off the foam as it warps (you can see the result in the wide-angle shot above left). Fortunately, it’s only used as  a scenery base (I think) and not a track base, and I’ll just have to hide the edge with more scenic material. Otherwise, I’d have some pretty twisted trackage

Station Walls with two-tone paint applied.

Tonight’s excitement — painting the station some more. Just about all the parts are painted, so, tomorrow night I should be able to assemble the station.

I also determined that I want to build the station with its included base for strength, especially since this is to be used on one of the modules. Of course, the station floor is supposed to be flush with the platform, which meant a modification to the platform was in order. Using the base as a guide, I scribed the opening in the decking with an X-Acto knife, and then cut away the decking and one layer of the supporting Fomecore.

Modified platform, ready for station to be inserted

The base of the station is a snug fit in the hole, and the floor lines up just right! While it probably won’t be seen once the station is assembled onto the base, I went ahead and touched up the two raw-wood bits around the edges.

Platform with station floor in place

After “date night” with Donna tomorrow night, I’ll assemble the station, and we’ll see how it looks!

I had used Woodland Scenics fine talus material for the ballast, as it did a decent job of simulating the oyster shells used on some early railroads on the Eastern Shore of Maryland — back when I was modeling the Eastern Shore. The problem with the talus, especially on a module, is that it doesn’t glue very well. No matter how much matte medium I soaked it with, it just didn’t want to stick. So, I scraped most of it out, and replaced it with Woodland Scenics medium-sized Gray Blend. It looks much better.

One the station, I decided to use the Grandt Line over the Banta kit for a couple of reasons. First, this is a module, and so the building will be subject to a little more abuse than one on a part of the layout that never leaves the house. And second, I was able to find the Grandt Line kit more easily. What can I say?

Anyway, I started the model by painting the floor and building sides. Many of the Maine narrow-gauge lines used a similar two-tone green paint scheme. I elected to follow suit. For the light green, I used a color called “Mint Julep,” and the dark color, I’ll be using “Plantation Pine.” The darker color is a little too dark to be absolutely correct, but I like it. The “Mint Julep” is pretty darned close to being the color used at the WW&F museum.

So, that’s all for now. Sorry, no pictures tonight. Maybe tomorrow, when something may be worth showing…

Station Module, platform area

I decided to work tonight on putting in the platform that’s been foamcore and cork for three years now — I’m really sick of looking at that glaring white pan-handle-looking thing!

Platform in place

Here’s the platform in place — or at least, most of it. I used coffee stirrers as the wood for the platform, applied with Pergo flooring glue. I found that the coffee stirrers really swell when you paint them. So much so, in fact, that the boards buckled at one point, and I had to remove a board!

Platform completed!

It was an easy matter to split the board I removed and replace it in the platform. I painted the wood with a dark brown craft store acrylic, and then applied some “driftwood” stain to simulate weathered wood. I over-did it in a few places, so I went back and applied more of the broad brown. And, I used the Floquil paint markers to simulate a few newly replaced boards.

Overall, the platform ended up being a lot larger than I had envisioned it, but, I was pretty much stuck doing the whole deal. Also, there’s not much space between the passenger/freight make-up/departure track and the first yard track, so I’m hoping that the WW&F prototype stations will fit. I’m also going to add some sort of freight shed to eat up some platform space.

This means that I’m to the point of looking for an appropriate “Maine-like” two stall engine house. My most likely option is to use the Deerfield River Laser kit, with modifications as required. The existing single-stall structure will be modified to be used as a car shop.

I’ll add a picture of the module shortly…

To that end, I sought out and found some 1/4″ID/3/8″ OD bronze bushings (at Lowe’s, no less!). I’ll insert these into the 3/4″ plywood turntable base, and, provided I can get them installed properly, I should finally be able to get the turntable to work as good as it looks — and even be able to finally install a motorizing system of some sort.

So, two years into the project, and I may finally be happy!

The Mid-Atlantic On30 Modular group setup at the Great Scale Model Train Show this past weekend. The above gallery features some really crappy pictures from my little point-n-shoot digicam.

For various reasons, only two moduleers, Kevin Hunter and myself, brought modules to the show. Even so, we had a great time and talked to lots and lots of folks about On30 and On30 modules.

This specification was developed over a two-year period and went through I-don’t-know-how-many iterations and variations, variously referred to as OCMods, OCUM and a probably a few others. Of the standard sets that came out of those often heated discussions, the Mid-Atlantic group specification has been adopted as the baseline standard for more On30 modular groups around the country than any other standard set.

It’s not a perfect standard, by any stretch of the imagination. But it is probably the best out there at present. It allows for a great deal of flexibility in module arrangement and lends itself to integration with other standards with relative ease, and with minimal compromise to its own design.

The electrical and DCC portions of the spec predate this module spec by about two years, and was one that I developed for the Four County Society of Model Engineers. It was specifically designed for use with NCE-brand DCC equipment, but also carefully designed to work equally well with Digitrax or Lenz systems. One item that the spec didn’t account for with NCE or Lenz systems was the need for a very large modular setup requiring more than a single booster (or set of centrally located boosters). While this was not a problem for Digitrax systems, which integrate the throttle bus and the booster bus on the Loconet cable, it requires that a second cable be strung out for remote boosters.

The bus as implemented in the spec calls for a six-conductor flat “Telco” cable or a Category 3 six-conductor network cable, terminated with 6-pin 6-contact RJ-12-style connectors. Loconet uses all six conductors, while NCE and Lenz only use four conductors for the throttle network (+12V, + Data, – Data and Ground). Further, NCE and Lenz use only two wires for the booster connections, making it theoretically possible to add the booster bus and throttle bus together on the same cable, and split them back out where needed. The drawing representing this will be developed some time in February, and will be posted to the Mid-Atlantic On30 Modules group on Yahoo!Groups and also uploaded to the On30Guy web site.

As built, the center of the turntable floats about 3/32" above the cast "pivot" bushing. All of the weight is carried by the little wheels at the end of the bridge. On my particular model, one of the wheels does not precisely track the ring rail (the other three wheels line up perfectly). This, coupled with the slight slop in the bushing, allowed the bridge to bind up when the turntable was "armstronged" around.

This evening, I fooled around with the thing a bit, and tried inserting some washers on the shaft between the cast bushing in the pit, and resin block in the center of the bridge. When I reached a thickness that raised the center just a hair above ring rail, suddenly, the turntable rotated super-smoothly! As I thought last May, a larger bearing surface in the center of the bridge does the deal. My task now is to find two nylon or Teflon washers exactly half thickness of the area I need to fill. Finally, I’ll add a collet on the bottom of the shaft to hold the bridge in place and apply just a little friction to the whole works. Ideally, I would like to use a pulley and another nylon bushing for that, to accommodate future motorized or hand-cranked operation. But, I’ll take what I can get.

In reality, things, I think, went really, really well. Especially well, when you consider that the modules present had never been connected together before. Two sets (mine and Charlie’s) had never even been to a public display before!

You can view pictures or a slide show from the weekend.

So, here’s where I get to brag a little. Using the IKEA Ivar shelving system for module supports worked perfectly. Setup was blazingly fast — I was in, up and leveled in a little over an hour! We had a great time running trains (at least I did), and if I’d had time to get the yard switcher built, the yard would have functioned exactly as it was planned to.  In any case, we were able to make-up trains, send them down the line, come back to the yard and break them down again. And, locos could be turned for the next trip.

David’s Bachmann-bash outside-frame 2-8-0 was a hit of the show, drawing comments from everyone who saw it. In this shot, it’s just coming off the bridge on his return-loop module set.

One issue that we did have was leveling at several of the module joints. While all of the joints on my modules worked very well, in a couple of cases, we’re going to have to go in and perform some surgery on the modules.

I ended up buying a lot of toys — more than I had really planned, actually. I picked up a few things specifically for the modules: A Banta Alna Center station kit, and some parts for the engine house. I also bought another one of those lovely Bachmann outside-frame 2-4-4 Forneys, as well as two throttles for my DCC system, and a really nice looking side-door caboose body to ride on a Bachmann caboose frame.

Last, but not least, there was a great laying-on of hands by the assembled baronship, and John (Unca Weigley) Weigel was anointed as the newest Rail Baron. John is now known as the Rail Baron of Green Boxes.

So, that’s the report for the weekend. Today, I get to clean up the basement some, and bring the modules back inside. I’ll begin the process of tying them into the layout over the next few days, and then get back to work on them — there’s still so much to do! Our next planned outing for the modules will be at the Great Scale Model Train Show in Timonium in October. By then, I should be well on my way to completing this module set, and have at least one of the 45° curve modules built. If everyone who committed to building one gets it done, along well as the other modules people are planning, we’ll have a really nice setup going.

Next time I get into a modular thing, someone remind me: ONE MODULE!

Here, the turntable module is attached to the end of the yard. The black area will be the foundation for a small engine house.

The turntable is, for now, an “armstrong” affair. I have some minor issues with it wanting to bind up as it’s turned. I think it’s because the bearing point for the pivot is cast from a fairly soft metal, and it’s gotten slightly out-of-round — a problem I’m not going to worry about for the moment. I’ll deal with that when I motorize it.

I ordered some materials from Paper Creek for the engine house, but found out today that there’s no way that they’ll be here in time to get the thing even started. The way I look at it, all the “unfinished business” just gives people something to look forward to the next time the modules come “out to play.”

For now, I’m moving on to things like electrical inter-connects and legs. Once they’re nailed down, if there’s time, I’ll move back to scenery and such.

I must apologize for not keeping people better informed of progress on the infamous turntable module. David, for one, must be sweatin’ bullets. Especially since his highly modified Bachmann OF 2-8-0 has emerged from the shops.

Well, never fear. The turntable’s here!

I’ve been quite busy since the crash I reported last time. Obviously. I didn’t deviate too far from the instructions, though I did do a few things in my own order. For instance, I put the pit rail onto the ties before painting, and sprayed the ties and rail a color approximating rail brown as a unit. That will more closely match the tie color on the layout. I did the same with the bridge deck.

I also was not happy with the design of the electrical contacts. Of course, I’m known for that!    Instead of the bent wire pickups in the kit, I substituted a pair of my Shay Wipers. Jack, of Freshwater Models, was a little put out that I didn’t like his wiper design. But, I don’t like anybody’s wiper designs.

Anyway, starting tomorrow, I’ll begin to wrap a module around this, and get it tied into the other modules. Who knows. Depending upon how far I get, I may cart this thing up to New York this weekend for a little show & tell …

Amazingly, the only damage was this one, small chip (dead center in the image) and a tiny amount of lost ballast. This is especially surprising, since it was the scenery that had everything so well stuck together — a mixture of the grout and the matte medium and ground foam.

Anyway, all I did to finally get them apart was to lift one end of one module, and gently shake them until they popped apart. Excellent!

With the two modules apart, and now leaning up against the wall, out of harms way, I’ve made up a work surface to start work on the turntable, which I may get into after I get home from working this evening.

This has also provided an excuse to mess around some more with a new camera — a Canon Digital Rebel XTi. Some of what this camera can do, especially as compared to my older, more “professional” Nikon model, is quite amazing. You can read all about the camera here.

It’s not so much that the two, as a pair, are heavy or bulky or cumbersome. But, they likely will not fit inside my van. If I can’t get them apart, though, I may have to resort to making a big, long coffin box for them as a pair, and carry them up on the roof.

Ah, well. Could be worse, I guess.

I’ve finally found what I think is an excellent alternative to Rail Brown: Apple Barrel #20511 Brown Oxide. The price is usually about 99 cents at larger craft stores like Michael’s or A.C. Moore — even less if you catch a sale. Plus the bottle’s twice as big as the PollyS Rail Brown. You cant’ beat that with a stick! Nor, can you argue with the results.

It’s amazing the difference a little time with a paintbrush can make. The picture at left is un-painted Peco On30 Flex track, and the picture at right shows the result after painting. BTW, I usually only paint the side that will be visible — painting by hand takes a long time, you know! But, on the modules, since they could conceivably be seen from either side, I’ll need to paint both sides of the rail!

 The 45° module is much smaller, and a little less awkward to move around. It’s also a lot more flexible when it comes to laying out the modules for a show.

Since we don’t really care much about running in circles, perfect symmetry is not an issue, as far as the final layout is concerned, so I’ve added the 6″ straight track at each interface that’s required by the module specs. That allows designing the 45° module so that it can be used alone to create a “dog-leg.” Or, the module can easily be flipped, creating an offset, and still meet the module specifications of a minimum 12″ straight track in the S-curve.

Of course, any number of straight modules could be inserted between a pair of curves, creating a “long curve” or a “long offset” situation.