SSC-construction update 3

A quick post tonight with a couple of pix of where I'm at. I've put down the points to see how they all line up, and it all seems to be ok. I marked the sleeper spacing for between the turnouts and all going well I may get some glued down tonight if I get off here quickly enough.

A little bit more searching through my track detail information and I discovered a couple of important things. I had said that the trackwork pre 1900 had been the only time that 3' spacing was used on branchlines when in fact it has been used extensively well into the 1960's. I also plan to try to emulate the real thing as far as trackwork at rail joins. The theory was to lay an extra sleeper to support the two ends of the rail at the fishplate, the practice was a different setup altogether. A simple cost effective solution was just to lay one sleeper at an angle so that two ends were closer together to support the joint.

The back drop is not my winged keel, it's just faster to get to the layout if I leave it covered with the sheet. Yep the dust cover is warranted, remember the dust storm?

OK I was able to get some sleepers down tonight, the goods siding is layed and in not much time at all. A half hour here and there can really add up over a week or so, hopefully I'll get back out there some other night this week. Have a good one, Geoff.

SSC-construction update 2

The last couple of days has seen me able to spend some time working on the first module of SSC. Next on my list of jobs was to link the lever frame to where the points will be located. I wanted to use the flexi cable to link from one point to another. The cafe' curtain spring wire stuff that you buy from spotlight is spot on for the job, and best of all it's cheap! I bought one pack thinking it would be enough and of course it wasn't, so back I went into the place that no man should venture voluntarily. I mounted the lever frame in a simple box to allow me to scenic around the frame. I painted the interior matt black which will be the colour of the facias also.

I already had the Modratec bits for the linkages, and a couple of lengths of piano wire for the linkages. I had a discussion with Craig regarding the galvanised wire he uses and I did buy some so that I could try both types of wire. For the amount of travel and the distance covered I found that the piano wire worked better for me. It seemed that the galvanised wire moved around too much inside the curtain wire. I think that because of the small diameter of some of the curves that the galvanised wire became bound up because of its lack of strength.

The Modratec products work exactly as they are planned. The clutch system is simple but effective. It allows a greater amount of travel than required and you're able to adjust it easily by the location of the wir in tube.

Along with the wire in tube I also attached the front contoured terrain board which previously was just sitting in place.

The backdrop board is in place also and is drilled to hold the lighting pelmet, although I haven't put that in place yet. I was thinking that I'd give myself a bit of space to work on the scenery without the pelmet getting in the way.

During this week I have also glued down the cork base for the trackwork. I enjoy this simple job as it really shows how close you are to actually having some track to run on. I use just one half of the split cork that you can buy for HO, as I want the ends of the sleepers a little exposed as they were on 'Pioneer' lines.

The SSC layout is following the simple 'Pioneer' lines and I would like to make it seem different to other layouts, with its hand layed trackwork and uncommonly represented pre 1900 trackwork. The trackwork of the pre 1900 period had significantly different spacing with centres closer to 3' rather than 2' that is commonly seen both in the real world and the modelled equivalent. The length of the rail used was about half as long as that used later, therefore track joins will be an obvious addition. I got hold of some really nice fishplates from Detail Associates that I'll use for the joins.

I put a couple of points in place on the layout and started working out the manual connections and also the wiring. I will be using micro switches as done by Modratec to change the polarity of the frog also. A simple thing to set up and should work really well.

So that's about it, hopefully soon the backdrop will be painted. A couple of bits to get at the Ipswich Show this weekend, but that's a whole other post! Geoff.

13 Class sound? Part 2

Well I've just had to come in due to a bit of rain beginning to fall outside. Damn shame really I was really enjoying the garden work. Oh well... maybe some modelling time now.

Just quickly I found a site that sells DCC sound decoders that has a heap of info regarding the tsunami decoders. The great part is that there is a link to the manufacturers site which has sound samples. Great stuff, and it really got my enthusiasm going for the 'possibility' of installing sound. I will use an Aussie shop to buy from, and just use the other sites for reference. I like being able to deal 'locally' if I can especially because I like to be able to easily contact the dealer if there are any problems, and because I already know them and vici versi. For those of you who may be interested here's the site http://www.soundtraxx.com/

The one that I was looking at was the Tsunami light steam setup. This model would suit the wheel configuration of the '13' being a 4-4-2 arrangement.I still need to convert the measurements to metric so that I can understand a little more easily how it will all work in the space that I have. The decoder measures 1.0"lx.5"wx.22"h. A quick look at the loco body and I should be able to locate the decoder in the boiler. The speaker will probably be in the bunker as Gary suggested. The site actually suggested two ways to locate the speaker, either locating the speaker twards the rails or inverting it (drilling holes in the 'coal') and having the sound come up through the coal. Not sure about that yet. Oh yeah then there's the speaker itself, Whoa Baby! sooo many choices! I think I'll need some advice from the experts for that choice.

I'll be contacting Warren (GVM) tomorrow as he has the full range of the Tsunami decoders and probably the speakers as well. Not that I've made a decision yet, just making sure I have all the info, Geoff

13 class Sound?

Well I was at our usual bi-weekly Tuesday Niters this week. Thanks for a great nite Craig, the layout is coming on really well. It's amazing how much a bit of scenic work can change the whole feeling of a layout.

As is usual during the course of the evening we have fairly wide ranging discussions regarding anything about our hobby. This week somehow we got onto the subject of sound decoders and the possibility of me installing one in the 13 class. What a great idea I thought, just for a moment, as the realisation struck me that I know nothing of what the requirements would be.

Austral, our local hobby store does order in pre-programmed decoders which would certainly make it easy for me. Then there's the decision of what brand decoder, and what speaker.

The idea of having the 13 ciculating around on the layout with a gentle steam chuff certainly does have me thinking that this really is the way to go. I did have a quick look on you-tube for any 13 class locos, but the closest was a NSWGR 10 class. Here's the link if you'd like to view it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNXtZlVxdBw

So when I'm actually off work at a time that would enable me to get to my local hobby store I suppose I'll just have to keep searching the web for possibilities,

Geoff.