Thanks so much... :tb-biggrin: Not exactly...I need to import everything from America for my modeling needs... :tb-sad: And that's why I do extensive scratchbuilding... I have been buying stuff for last three years to gather everything so that I can start a new layout... It's quite a stretch, honestly... but in the end... I'm loving the fact that I have started building it... :tb-biggrin:
Thanks! :tb-biggrin: She does some of the carpentry and most of the soldering work too! :tb-biggrin::tb-biggrin::tb-biggrin:
Trackwork Well, I am done with the track work. Some shots: And finally a representation of the port with the track: To read through the detailed description, please visit my blog: Wrightsville Port: N-Scale Waterfront Layout: Trackwork I have made some exciting experimentation with uncoupling... will post the details soon. Next: wiring... dying to see the trains running... :tb-biggrin:
Trackwork Contd Forgot to mention, there is a small portion left... the run around and the engine house spur. Waiting for the turnout to arrive from USA.
Bascule bridge in operation. Here is a very basic, hand driven operation of the Bascule bridge. As of now the bridge is lifted using a very simple hand driven lever operated from under the table. For some reason I'm unable to upload the video here, please check the video on my blog. http://wrightsvilleport.blogspot.com/2010/11/scratchbuilding-operating-bascule.html
Uncoupling on a curved mainline at your will! Yes... that's one of the very exciting part of this project that I have achieved so far. I needed an uncoupling area near the bascule bridge in my plan and it was impossible for me to accommodate a 4 inch straight line without altering the plan to an extent that I don't like it. It took me quite some time and an accidental purchase to find the solution. Here you go: I bought a starter pack of S.L. Enterprise's totally hidden uncoupler a few days back for a totally different purpose: modeling moving N scale vehicle without spending as much as a Faller car system. Basically it's a set of 4 highly powerful, tiny buttons of rare earth magnets on a protective iron plate. The whole assembly is pretty small: 25mm X 15mm with four magnets placing on four corners to create a small, but powerful uncoupling zone. I did a small experiment and saw that yes, placing these magnets strategically will uncouple the cars and would even let me do delayed uncoupling! Now what about uncoupling at my wish? My ready made solution was to create a simple hand driven lever system to bring the magnets closer to the tracks when required and taking them away when I don't need to uncouple! Here are some pics: The small iron handle at the bottom of the picture lets me 'activate' uncoupling when needed and bring it back to the default 'inactive' state when I just need to run a train without uncoupling. Now look at the placement of the magnets-they are not really symmetrical or parallel to each other. And that is required when you have to uncouple on curved track. Not placing the magents that way will pull both the uncoupling rods in the coupled cars towards one magnet which will not let you uncouple the cars. To watch the video of how this uncoupler works, please visit my blog. There is a lot more detail about the uncoupling plan as well along with my another experiment of bashing a HOn3 uncoupler for N scale railroad.
Trackwork-Complete Well yesterday I received the final shipment from US in this year! A relatively humble package of just a Peco Right hand turnout and a side mounting turnout motor. Now as I discussed earlier, I added an additional spur to the plan exclusively for Loco parking (And now I am thinking of doubling it up as a stop for the single RDC unit that brings passenger to the port). This was not in the original plan, but I thought it wouldn't be much of a problem to fit it in. And I was so wrong! It was probably the biggest challenge for me in laying the tracks. I had to spend hours to find the right spot for the turnout because as soon as I include the turnout, it changes the curvature of the rest of the track in that side of the runaround-and it started getting screwed badly. While trying to keep the curve broad, I was getting S curves and if I wanted to remove the S curve, the minimum radius was becoming less than 9 inches! However, after hours of struggle I finally found the right spot that would keep the minimum radius more than 11 inches without any S curves. This incident tells me that for small layout planning is ever more important than in larger layout. When you have large area at your disposal, a few inches, or even a foot might not make much difference, but for a small layout even a centimeter can screw your happiness. Anyway, this is how it stands now: I wanted the run around tracks to be parallel to each other, but inclusion of this turnout didn't let me do that. Even the spur is not exactly where I planned it-but hey, I am open to accept changes! For some fun and testing purpose, I tried running my Life-Like Proto GP-38 on the steep grade of 6.5% in the trestle with two cars. And yes, I am satisfied with the smoothness of the grade. And this little 4 axle wonder delivers some awesome slow speed action even at 6.5 % grade! Have a look: Wrightsville Port: N-Scale Waterfront Layout: Trackwork-Complete
Brick (Hotel/Residential) building I was tired of working on the benchwork, trackwork and planning on the electrical work, so thought of taking a breather by doing some light modeling. If you look at the plan, the entrance of the layout needs to be covered by something-a building, bridge tunnel... I was thinking about the choice for quite some time, and then settled for a relatively tall building which will also improve the appearance of the town with it's presence. It's really really hard to model a brick textured building in N-Scale. but they look so amazing, and fit in so perfectly with the era we're modeling, we just had to have them!! So, we eased our work a little by ordering Walther's Modulars (Cornerstone series) for Brick buildings. the front needed to look authentic, so we used the modulars for the front. The back however was mainly made of cardboard, the floor separators in the building's interior was also made of cardboard. Since this building is going to be in the front of the layout, I am planning on some good amount of interior detailing on each floor and exquisite lighting in the interior. This is how the building looked once assembled: Now my job was over at this point and I handed this over to my wife for painting and weathering. She decided to use old fashioned charcoal(colored) powder mixed with a little bit of water and a crop of liquid soap. This highlighted the grooves on the surface, making the bricks prominent. This also gave the building an aged look that I really like... I used Cornerstone series roof details: And finally this is how the town looks at the moment. As I mentioned, I need to add a lot of details to the building yet. The ground floor will have a restaurant/cafe with open air service. It will also have a departmental store, or a clothes showroom. This weekend, planning for finishing wiring on the layout so that I can finally see th trains running...
Nimo, Great work on the building! If you are interested check out the N Scale Limited site N Scale Limited for some really great info on urban modeling. Yours, John
I just went thru the 4 pages of this thread so far for the first time, and...WOW . You've done a fantastic job of planning and execution so far!! Kudo's on all the scratchbuilding projects, especially considering the raw materials you used - inspirational! And hat's off to your wife, she's a top notch modeller also. Looking forward to following your progress.
Looks good. Your wife has some talent, as does the fella who built the building, but in the end without that paint job, well it wouldnt have come to life. Good looking Port.
How awesome is Trainboard and the Interwebs in general? I'm sitting here in Lincoln, NE USA checking out a very cool layout that's in Calcutta, India-- kinda blows the mind. Your pike is really nice. I wish I could get my wife interested in trains. She doesn't hate them, but when I show her my latest accomplishment, she usually responds with a "meh". It must be really nice to share the hobby and it looks like your skills complement each other. Keep up the good work.
Thanks Dave, I wouldn't call myself a modeller, but more a support staff.. lol... But yes, an indispensible one, to this modeller i assist!! Thank you! I agree with you on the part that the "fella" has talent... but as they say, "Behind every successful man..." . Normally, the scratchbuilding projects are pretty straightforward in colouring. This was the first one that was challenging and I am really happy that it turned out just how we wanted. Thanks again for the appreciation and encouragement! :mbiggrin: Mouli
Indeed :tb-biggrin: and you know what? Even when it comes to my profession, i recruit people in the US, sitting here in Calcutta!! We dont actually share the hobby of model railroading. Thankfully, it just overlaps. Mine is model railroading and she's more interested in scratch building and painting... Actually, majority of the benefit goes to me! :tb-tongue::tb-tongue: And yes, as the wifey already stated, without her talents, my work is incomplete especially when it comes to modelling. :tb-biggrin:
