LAYOUT PARTY 2022-2023 Fifteenth Annual International Winter Layout Party

ppuinn Dec 17, 2022

  1. nscalestation

    nscalestation TrainBoard Supporter

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    So I have gotten as far as creating some circuit drawings for the automatic serial staging operation on the east end loop. I discovered that for this to work automatically, the double cross overs at Weso will also have to be connected to some sensors so they will route the trains in such a way that traffic around the east end loop will always move in the same direction.

    So for now, I am just going to set up the IR sensors on the loop so they will light the occupancy LED's on the East End Loop control panel. This will help with manual operation of the serial staging as this area is not visible without standing on a stool. Later, over time I can add the additional components needed to make this automatic when running the trains by myself.
     
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  2. nscalestation

    nscalestation TrainBoard Supporter

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    Some recent developments have come up that tie in with my working with these Azatrax IR sensors.

    I belong to two modular layouts, Peninsula Ntrak and a smaller Asian themed layout called AsiaNrail. There has not been an opportunity for me to set up with either layout for over 3 years. The Ntrak group was scheduled to have a layout in March but that show has been canceled. Then an opportunity came up to have a small layout for a week long exhibit in April at a local Aviation Museum. It's a small space and no one else from the Ntrak group was interested so we will set up the AsiaNrail layout.

    Most of the modules in the AsiaNrail layout belong to my partner in the layout and I have a few, including an Ntrak module that can be used to both layouts and sometimes acts as a junction between the two layouts. This layout if often set up as a point to point operation which can take multiple operators. I've always thought it would be great to have some automation for some of this.

    So I ordered an Azatrax point to point controller and am going to be creating a system that can be used on the AsiaNrail layout. It works nicely and it's just a matter of arranging the sensors and packaging the guts so as to be portable. This is my tempoary testing setup.

    WU25Dec22.jpg
     
    Last edited: Dec 27, 2022
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  3. in2tech

    in2tech TrainBoard Member

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    Is there anyway this thread can get a Color Tag like the other Special Threads? Makes it stand out and I always look for them whether I post or not, I usually read them cause they stand out!

    Just wondering, a custom one would be cool? A Winter Party one would be cool!

    Is it possible?

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    Oh yeah, it hasn't been a week yet, but I have done nothing. Hoping to start today? Or will I?
     
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  4. in2tech

    in2tech TrainBoard Member

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    One of the items on my Winter Layout Party list. After looking at this rats nest, maybe I should reconsider :) I'm gonna try my best at some point. I didn't think it was this bad. But everything works, me thinks :) Maybe it's better to ignore your wiring?

    IMG_2609.jpg

    I actually have to figure out exactly what I did month's ago, and trace it all, before I can make it look better, and still work :)
     
    Last edited: Dec 27, 2022
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  5. ppuinn

    ppuinn Staff Member

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    In2Tech: I like the idea of a modified label for Layout Parties like the one for Jim's Weekend Modeling Threads shown in your screenshot. I'll check out our options.

    When it comes to wiring rats nests, I feel your pain...
    For me, spending the time away from more enjoyable activities, risking baldness and my mental health by enduring the hair-pulling, crazy-making tedium of tracing and then labeling every single wire, has been WELL WORTH IT: I believe doing the unpleasant work now will save tons of time at every point in the future when you have to troubleshoot, repair, add to, modify, or cut back on anything in this area.

    It looks like there are several instances of 2 black wires going to ??a single lamp or LED? Besides labeling the Type of device and specific device number the wires go to (House 1, Sensor 5, Sign 3, Signal Mast 4, Dwarf Signal 2, Tortoise 16, Crossing Flasher 3), in some situations, it may be helpful to know which black wire is Positive and which is Negative.
     
  6. in2tech

    in2tech TrainBoard Member

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    Oh I know what you mean now about the dual Black wires. Those are the Atlas track joiners with wires on them. You can't see it in the photo but one wire has WHITE paint on it from a paint pen! I bought like 13-14 sets of them really cheap on eBay about a year ago. I think it was like 14 sets for $15.00 and they were brand new too, just got lucky!

    I removed all of the Remote Atlas switches/turnouts, and to be honest I was confused, but also made a video when I did it :) I also used WHITE paint pen marks on some of those wires too.

    Thank goodness it is ONLY 2'x4', and even with that I get confused with my own work :)

    Hope we can get a Custom Label for the Winter Layout Party? Can't we pick certain ones when we make a NEW post? Except of course Special ones? Only ones I see are in Swap Meet for members to choose, which makes sense? At least a Blue background one for Winter would be cool? If possible?
     
    Last edited: Dec 28, 2022
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  7. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    It might be possible. We would need to see what functions are available.
     
  8. in2tech

    in2tech TrainBoard Member

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    Well, I just hope after I am done organizing the cables, it still works :) Removed all the AC switches/turnouts and the connections. Wires bundled under painters tape goes to my AC switches on the front of the base! Only thing left wired is the DCC power zones. The Atlas wired joiners and one Black wire is painted with White areas to tell them apart! Most of the holes have a red straw where my lights drop down for connection.

    Now I need to slow down and think how I want to do this? Already getting a headache :)

    IMG_2614.jpg
     
  9. Pfunk

    Pfunk TrainBoard Member

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    Hi-viz thread tag. Awww yiss :notworthy::)
     
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  10. in2tech

    in2tech TrainBoard Member

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    Well hopefully multiple post are allowed here? Moved up to the top of the base and have almost all the O Scale nails removed ( not really O scale, but dang they are big ), this is old picture before I started removing them last night. The mental list ( scared to write it down ), keeps getting longer as I notice other things, along with my original plan. I have 2 different heights of Roadbed cause I bought them 20 years apart :) Some within the last year. No wonder my track didn't line up :) Plan is to remove everything, meaning roadbed and track, and kind of start fresh, sort of? I thought parties were suppose to be FUN. J/K :)

    I am sure at some point I'll get tired and the post will be more weekly like they are suppose to be. have to take advantage of the energy while I have it :) You know the feeling?

    IMG_2613.jpg
     
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  11. RailMix

    RailMix TrainBoard Member

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    Somehow this got rolling when I wasn't paying attention, so I'm running to climb aboard- Juist not very well since I've been having trouble with my feet. I've simplified my layout ideas somewhat. I'm still planning for the same space, but will be eliminating hidden track and access from under the layout along with removing all grades. The new design will incorporate my old Michgan right coast module, which has stood in a corner lo these long years (since the old Blue Water modular club disbanded around 2009). The other end will be a 5' round, an idea I first saw in Model railroader almost 60 years ago and have always wanted to try. On the plus side, that end will probably sit on a very beefy round card table my dad built even longer ago than that by modifying an old dining table. The benchwork in between can incorporate some of the parts I made last winter. At this point, I'm still finalizing the track plan and working out structure placement. Operations will be out-and-back.

    Layout New.JPG

    IMG_1513 (2).JPG

    Once I get the CAD work done, I'm going to build benchwork and lay track if the DR. says I can, or alternately, either work on structures or dig into my big stack of unbuilt car kits and go off on a rolling stock bender.
     
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  12. GP30

    GP30 TrainBoard Member

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    I’m off on vacation until 1/9, but I haven’t made any progress on my goals yet. Over the past couple of weeks I’ve done a little bit of scenery base construction, built a hand full of turnouts and completed some old freight car projects that added 8 cars to the layout.

    [​IMG]


    Next week, however, I plan to work on the ceiling in the helix room, install a new basement window in there, cut some backdrop material plus finish some of the walls in the basement bathroom adjacent to the layout. Hoping to have guests later in 2023, so the bathroom is an important item as well.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
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  13. ppuinn

    ppuinn Staff Member

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    Welcome to the Party, Pfunk. Nice to have a new face joining us.
    It looks like the two office building models are made primarily with wood, but the frames for the rounded windows seem to have a thin (plastic? cardstock? paper?) sheet on them in some places. What is that sheet and how is it secured to the wood?

    I'm asking because I've used Evans Designs Model Builder software to draw walls and roofs, printed them on cardstock and printer paper, and then glued them to structures made of cardboard, foamboard, or sheet plastic. I've sometimes been disappointed when water-based glues caused paper and cardstock "skin" to wrinkle or when superglues bled through the paper or cardstock. How did you attach the thin material to that curved surface?
     
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  14. ppuinn

    ppuinn Staff Member

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    Welcome Tom! It's never too late.
    I see a turntable near the roundhouse near the bottom of your track plan...what is the circle on the middle left...a rotating bridge over a river or inlet?
     
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  15. Sumner

    Sumner TrainBoard Member

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    Been working on a few different things the last few days.

    Continued gluing foam down on the lower level...

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    Only have about 2 more pieces of foam to the left and that job will be done.

    Then it will be on to installing some fascia around the staging tracks on the other end so I can also run some 5 volt DC and DCC the buss wires on it. I need the two buss wires so I can run some test trains on the new track as I lay it and power LEDs and servos. Along that line I've also have to be able to control the turnouts I'll be laying. I have a number of options on how to control them with some switch machines I've developed ( HERE ).

    On my test track I have been using what I call the 'Toggle Switcher' to control some of my 'Gravity Switcher' switch machines. I love both as they have been simple and reliable. Recently though I came up with a different switch machine that I call the 'Spring Switcher'. So far I like it testing it and it is very compact under the layout and is controlled by a simple piece of fishing line running from a 'Toggle Switcher' controller to it. No wiring required except for some LED wiring if one wants it and wiring at the switch machine to change the frog polarity if you need that.

    So yesterday I put together the following test setup to test the 'Toggle Switcher' controller and the 'Spring Switcher' some more before starting to print a number of switch machines. Here is the test stand....

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    I'm happy with the results and set it up in kind of a worst case scenario as normally the control line won't have to make a 90 degree turn around an eye-hook. It was easy to setup and was very consistent in operation. I have another thread about it on here in the '3D Printing Section' and a video up of it all working on YouTube ( HERE ).

    Sumner
     
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  16. Pfunk

    Pfunk TrainBoard Member

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    It's actually from a piece of 4" PVC pipe. I bisected it lengthwise on a table saw (or, to be more precise, asked a friend to do it on HIS table saw!) then used a miter saw to cut the "slices". I originally tried heating and forming plexiglass but it refused to cooperate, and the curvature was a little too much for the basswood sheets I have, it would split out the second you tried to cut a window. So, did the long route and just cut a ton of 1/4" balsa sticks that are CA-glued between the PVC pieces. A rather time consuming pain, but it turned out pretty well imo.
     
  17. ppuinn

    ppuinn Staff Member

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    So those black marks are bar codes.
    Paul wrote: "...but it turned out pretty well imo."
    Yes, it did! Nice Job.
     
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  18. RailMix

    RailMix TrainBoard Member

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    The circle on the center left represents a swing bidge over a river I haven't drawn in yet. The bridge will not operate as it is too close to the wall.
    This time I also relocated turntable and roundhouse to the closet.
     
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  19. RailMix

    RailMix TrainBoard Member

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    I've been looking for a good, affordable way to control turnouts. This looks promising and since any fool can copy better than he can invent, I'm going to check it out thoroughly. Thanks for posting.
     
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  20. ppuinn

    ppuinn Staff Member

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    Despite taking 4 days out of town for Christmas, I've made some progress on returning scenery in the corner under the replaced gas valve to its former level.

    A few more trees have been added along the river, and near Tuloma Ag Services.

    For now, I've put back the wooden dowel stand-ins for Tuloma's Anhydrous Ammonia tanks, but I've got 2 Walthers Central Gas and Supply kits and I'll probably modify the propane tanks from the kits for storing Anhydrous Ammonia. (Googled pics of propane vs NH4 tanks suggest only minor differences in pipe configurations and signage, but if anyone knows additional differences I should consider modeling, let me know.)
    For more than a decade, my AMOCO tank farm has been unpainted PVC Caps set directly on unpainted Homasote with 2 AMOCO tank trucks parked nearby. This week I've carved expanded foam into spill mitigation berms and this morning finished "planting" grass on the berms.
    I painted some pipes made out of wooden dowels.
    I cut some cardstock to represent a concrete pad to go under the tanks.
    When the grass and paint are dry, I'll put the tanks and pipes in place.

    Over the weekend, I expect to finish up AMOCO by putting in a tank truck loading platform and driveway.

    On the left side of AMOCO, there is an access road to Tuloma Ag that crosses the tracks and my next Party activity after AMOCO is to refurbish the trees along that road and install a grade crossing to Tuloma, then put back the structures and details for Sconey Oil and Creve Coeur Transfer which are on the other side of the access road from AMOCO.
     
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