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The On30 Guy at Mid-Atlantic Narrow Gauge Annual Module Meet on 05/21/10
Posted in Modular, Shows and Events
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Midwest Meet
Wow, I’ve been back from beautiful Canfield, Ohio for almost a week now, and realized I haven’t written anything about it. It’s probably easiest to just post the pictures, at this point…
Posted in Shows and Events
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New Sound Decoder at Bargain Price From ESU
LokSound Select with optional speaker and NMRA medium wire harness
The good folks at ESU who make the LokSound decoders have just released something new: LokSound Select. At an MSRP of under $100, the new decoder offers some really amazing specs, including the ability to play up to 8 simultaneous sounds, up to four different engine sounds (different prime movers in diesels, different chuffs for steamers), and six high-output function leads. Further, it will drive two 8-ohm speakers in parallel, and the low current design does not require a program track booster! That’s all in a package 1.4″ x .6″ x .25″.
Posted in DCC
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Atlantic Scale Modelers & Scotty Mason’s Kits
Atlantic Scale Modelers Harbor Master's Office
Just downloaded my advance copy of MRH this morning, and in the news section, found an announcement of a new kit from a “new” supplier, Atlantic Scale Modelerrs. Atlantic Scale Modelers got their start back in the 70′s providing scenery materials to modelers and were a pioneer producer of what has become a staple in the modeling world — ground foam!
Atlantic’s first kit offering is this Harbor Master’s Office, which was inspired by a structure on Dave Frary’s layout. Dave Frary’s modeling, along with that of Bob Hayden, sparked my interest in Maine 2-footers many years ago.
The small footprint of this model make it a perfect “fit” for the shadowbox shelf layout I talked about yesterday, and I’m sure it will look great on the big layout, too.
Scotty Mason LCL Freight House
Another must-have for the big layout looks like it may be this new freight house from Scotty Mason. It’s patterned after a much larger structure located in Franklin, MA, but I think it would work just as well somewhere in Maine.
Posted in Structures and Scenery, Suppliers
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A Diversion
Donna and I were talking last night about the possibility of building, in addition to the main Maine railroad, an industrial switching layout that would be a small, bookshelf kind of thing. At first, we remarked about just how much railroad could be built in four square feet in N scale. But, the more I thought about it the more my thoughts diverged.
On the one hand, I have a lot of On30 stuph that isn’t going to make it to the primary layout — Peco track and funky gas mechanical switchers and little Porter steamers, for instance. On the other hand, I could build a whole lotta railroad in a very small space in N scale. Or, a compromise could be achieved in HOn30.
In any event, the idea has continued to grow, so to speak, from one little micro-layout into a two-, and then three-section affair, with each section being a complete scene. Essentially, three separate micro-layouts that are designed to link (and travel) together, each in a shadow-box setting. Overall length would max out at about 12 feet, and the overall depth and height would be limited to 12 inches.
Removable-pin hinges would be used to align and connect the shadow boxes, and for transport, the whole thing could be folded up and a protective panel added to the open face. When at home, the layout would simply sit on either book shelves or shelf brackets. On the road, tall folding tables (or standard folding tables with leg extensions) would be the layout base.
This is the kind of thing that could keep a couple of operators busy for at least a couple of hours, so, DCC would be the control system of choice. Since the layout would be so small, only a couple of locomotives would even fit. So, it’s a natural choice to use the modified MRC Command2000 system I have laying around.
Since the locos are going to be very small no matter which scale I choose, sound in the model itself is probably going to be a problem, so I’d have to make all the sounds ambient “suggestions”. This could be easily achieved using “sound only” decoders with their outputs coupled with various other sound modules through a mixer of some sort, feeding small speakers placed in each layout section.
Lighting could be provided for each box using strings of inexpensive Christmas tree lights (that I already happen to have on hand).
The more I think about this, the more I like the idea!
Posted in The Three Micros
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