Great Chesterford Junction Part Two

I hope to be updating with some railway progress soon, as I have been rather distracted by other events going on over the last week to two weeks.
I have also been upgrading my computer operating systems and also setting up a new system for my quite elderly and losing the plot Father in law.
My new second hand laptop, that I`m using to write this post, initially was set up to dual boot with Windows 10 and Linux Mint 20 XFCE, however I found I was not using Windows at all and reset the whole system over to Linux Mint Debian Edition 4 ( LMDE4 ).
LMDE 4 works like a dream on this laptop which is a Lenovo with good memory and a solid state drive.




On my work horse PC though, the same system is not as quite a happy mix. I mean, it works fine for everyday use, however I use Openshot video editor for my railway videos and under LMDE 4, that program has trouble accessing the video drivers that make it work quickly. The solution has been to install Linux Mint 20 Cinnamon instead on the PC, which then allows the set up of Openshot the way I want it. Linux Mint 20 and LMDE 4 are nearly exactly the same on the surface.
I am also experimenting with Kdenlive which is another video editing program which may give more some more creative possibilities.
Anyway, I`m running out of battery so will close now.
Gormo

 

Yes thanks Toto,
The system is running fine now and Openshot preferences now allow me to utilize the graphics cards and run multi layered videos without a hiccup.

So we now have a short running session to view.



Gormo

 

G`day Richard,
Yes the video has been received well on YouTube with similar comments to yours.
The Maybach`s are breeding......there`s two of them now.....unfortunately both with the same name and yes I went with the 3 car version on the DMU.
All running nicely I`m pleased to say.
I have also added the finishing touches to fences and wall from the branch line tunnel to the over bridge on the station as per below.
It`s funny you know....I was watching a show last night on TV, which was being filmed in North Yorkshire. I was checking out the stone walls there and I realized that my model stone walls are not too far removed in appearance from the real thing. I feel justified in my approach now...






Gormo

 

G`day Folks again,
My street lamps arrived in the post today from China.
I know Covid now has a role to play in deliveries, however my purchase information on Ebay was rather interesting. The date of estimated arrival was 20th July. The date of posting was 31st July.
I don`t know.........what`s the World coming to.?

So this is what the little suckers look like....a fair representation of a street light I reckon.?......it`ll do me anyway.





And here are some of them planted. Unfortunately the foreshortening with the focus on the camera makes them look like a little forest of light poles.......not so in reality.








When we turn the room lights off the street lights come into their own.
























I need to head up to the other end of the layout now and completely light up that area as well. Plus I want to add some more resistors to this lot above to tone them back a bit.
More as it happens
Gormo

 

Thanks Pete,
Yes mate.....once they have your money they don`t care.....I bet things would speed up if it were C.O.D......
Gormo

 

G`day Richard,
I have used these little suckers.




Now that doesn`t tell you or me much, so I checked online as it has been some time since I bought them and consequently can`t remember the value.

Assuming the colours are GREEN, BLUE,BROWN & GOLD in that order, we get a result of 560 OHM +/- 5% as per the online calculator below.



The lights at the moment have one resistor per light. I feel they are too bright and I feel they need three of these resistors in series ( daisy chain ) per light to tone them down.
The other thing is that the lamp hoods bleed light from the LED`s and consequently, when I pull the whole section out again to add more resistors, I will give the lamp hoods sufficient coats of paint to stop the bleed. I would think maybe two coats will do it.?
The LED`s just sit inside the lamp hoods, some better than others, so I have taken to Super gluing them to the inside of the hoods to keep them properly within the lamp hood.
These are minor criticisms I feel, of a pretty good little light. The basics are there and just need some minor help to improve them to our standards.
Hope this helps Richard
Gormo

 

G`day Folks,
I decided to knock up a fascia this afternoon for the turntable area of my layout.
It`s painted and drying as I type.......should be able to fit it tomorrow.
One issue I have to tackle now is my turntable controls, which for longer than I care to remember, have been fitted in a temporary way.
So I have also designed a control panel for the turntable this afternoon. It took a bit of adjusting and re-configuring, but I think I am there now.
As my turntable relies on me accurately lining up the rails and then locking them in place before rolling a loco onto the table, I have a slightly unconventional control system.
The turntable is speed controllable down to a crawl. This helps with the alignment.
I used to operate it with only the direction switch....LEFT = anti clockwise.....RIGHT = clockwise with the CENTER position being OFF.
The trouble with just having the single three position switch, is that it`s easy to bump it and accidentally turn it on and there are no LED indicators to show it`s status. If the table is locked in place and the motor is on, eventually something is going to break.
The direction switch now will be purely direction only. To activate the turntable from now on you will have to select your direction and then either press and hold the MOMENTARY (push button ) switch or flick on the CONTINUOUS ( on / off toggle ) switch.
MOMENTARY will allow you to incrementally creep in either direction and CONTINUOUS will allow the turntable to rotate hands free. There will be on/off indicator LED`s for the CONTINUOUS switch.
So now there will be a two stage process required to activate the turntable. In the default OFF position, the CONTINUOUS switch will be set to the OFF position showing a RED LED, and the DIRECTION switch will be set to the CENTER OFF position.
There will still be a certain amount of responsibility on the operator to ensure the controls are set properly, however that`s part of the fun isn`t it..??
Accidental bumps should not start the turntable, as the two toggle switches required to start it will be set in different planes. CONTINUOUS being the vertical plane and DIRECTION being the horizontal plane, thereby requiring a deliberate movement to make anything happen.



Gormo

 

OK Folks,
The turntable fascia and control panel is 99% complete.........a video update below.......actually this is killing two birds with one stone..



Gormo

 

G`day Folks,
I found some time this afternoon to seal some Scalescenes brick paper and get my brick wall on the new fascia going.
The paper went on OK and then I started on the brick piers......this is how far I got before my eyes had done enough for the day and also, I was slowly going Gah Gah doing this.




It will be worth it in the end though, and I think it will look good, especially once the coping is on top of the wall.





This is the view from the yard side. I also need to put in some fill between the wall and the ground,as I left a gap there when I originally did the ground works.
Don`t know why now..???





And from a different angle




So that`s where I`m up to at the moment. I hope to finish the wall tomorrow at some stage and then move onto something else.
What seems to work for me, is just moving onto projects that take my fancy, if I try and continue on in some sort of 1,2,3 order, it becomes calculated and tedious and the Mojo levels drop. At the end of the day, everything is getting done.....just not in any particular order.....
Gormo

 

G`day Richard,
Well that was quite a process but with a good result by the sound of it.
It`s possibly slightly different in my case as I am running them of an old 12 volt variable speed controller which is tuned down 5 or 6 volts or so, so a different kettle of fish with the same principles.
I`ll keep in mind the resistors you`ve acquired because I`m still piggy backing the other ones I use anyway, so something with a bit more grunt may be better in my case.
Thanks for the info
Gormo

 

The wall build has progressed today to the point of completion.
The last of the brick piers were fitted ( little so and so`s !!!! ) as per the pics below.













Then I cut out some coping for the top of the wall. I`ve used some bricks from the Scalescenes range ( TX 02 page 2). It has taken 2 1/2 lengths of the standard part as supplied to cover the length of the wall. The coping was fixed with PVA and clamped with my little clips.









Once the coping was dried and ready, the clips were removed and then I turned my attention to dressing the bottom of the wall. I`ve used the same part as the coping and I think it finishes it off nicely.













And so there we are.......all done and dusted





More as it happens
Gormo

 

G`day Folks,
A bit more development around the yard area.
I`ve decided to green it, although there`s a way to go yet to stop it looking like a lawn.





I`ve started adding bushes and clumps of foliage........mostly home made flocking.




There`s a lot more to add but it`s a relatively simple job that requires some consideration regarding placement, but that`s all.




The grass area between the Collet and McVities vans may have some areas scraped away, because I have a Dapol water tower to fit into that space. It has to be built yet.



Flowers made from flocking have been added to the side of the siding. I just chopped up carpet underlay in my coffee grinder and added the yellow acrylic colour.
I loaded a small brush with PVA on one side, and then passed it horizontally across the top of the grass trying to just touch the tops of the grass stems with the PVA.
I sprinkled the finer particles of flocking onto the PVA and vacuumed off the excess.













So work continues.......it`s not so hard when you get back into it......things seem to get a logical flow to them sometimes, which makes it easy to progress.
It`s come a long way since these pics








I think too much time can be spent planning........just get in and have a crack at it.
If you don`t like it just change it......easy peasy.



More as it happens
Gormo