Modules Acquired & Wiring Updates
Back in October last year, I purchased the modules of somebody who since left our group, giving me another 90° and 9′ of track. These fitted into the car quite snuggly, as they were already crated for transport. Bear in mind that I already have 180° and 6′ of modules of my own, but I’ve also bought a newer, hopefully bigger, car!
Read more…A Grab-n-Go Top Box Solution
Another recent addition to the toolbox was a grab-n-go Loconet wiring kit, comprising a reel of flat six-core cable, a set of crimps, a testing set and a bag of 6p6c connectors, all in a cake box.
Read more…Point Motor Wiring Looms
Currently under construction are wiring looms for Cobalt Digital IP turnout motors on now two of my modules. Cobalt point motors by DCC Concepts require a 10mm stripped bare wire for connectivity, and they recommend against tinning, even though fellow module owners have and it works.
Read more…Another Useful Tool
We’re continuing to push the local knowledge boundaries, so I thought I’d throw this into the mix, a portable bench vise for the travelling modelling kit.
A Very Useful Tool
As a complete aside, these gadgets are an absolute boon! No more multi-coloured finger-tips!
Read more…Adding A Bit Of Colour
In between mowing the lawns and pruning the wisteria at the weekend, I managed to get some base colours onto those 3D prints. As my Halford’s primers are running out, I’m replacing them with Plastikote from Toolstation. Halfords have apparently changed their paint supplier and gone is the range of manufacturer-specific colours for matching your restoration project, along with the quality. I can’t remember who told me to go to Toolstation instead but I’ll be forever grateful. Plastikote rattle cans are very good.
Read more…Improving Print Quality
Having been advised that a train of five hoppers plus caboose was going to be too long for most of the fiddle yards and passing loops in our modular group, I decided to print a sixth.
Irish logic? Maybe, but I’m entitled, second generation. No, that gives me two trains of three which, with removable loads allows for a little more interactivity.
Read more…Scaling The Learning Curve
Flushed with that apparent success, I printed a pair of flat wagons, one with bulkheads, both in two parts. These will take some weighting before they’ll track well on the modular layout!
Access to a Bambu Labs P1S
Work recently acquired an FDM printer, a BambuLab P1S. Obviously, it’s for work stuff, obviously. I might have printed some model railway bits on it, purely as part of the learning process you understand. The learning process does not yet involve CAD as it’s enough for me to download and print the work of others. Thingiverse, Cults3D, Printables et al have seen a reasonable amount of traffic recently!
Read more…Combining or Reducing Power Supplies
I have a Kitwood Hill Models Test Track Box into which I’ll be fitting the Digitrax Zephyr DCS50 it was designed for plus a Sprog II USB interface and I’d like to put one combined power supply into my Loco Testing Station, for use by both devices separately, not simultanseously.
