Rob’s been in touch again, this time with his model train level crossing.
(His last post is at the bottom of this one.)
He’s been working on his castle too, and I have to say, I really enjoyed the youtube. Hope you do too:
“Hi Al,
I have a video that you might be interested in. In it, I discuss the type of camera I use and my favorite go-to close up camera mount. One of your subscribers asked what I use the last time you posted one of my videos.
The camera is a Sony FD AX33. It is a middle of the road camera. The camera mount is called a Cinegear Folding Tilt Adjustable-Mount Plate and sometimes referred to a Z mount.
Except for the area surrounding my new castle ruin, my basic castle is finally done.
It has taken well over a month to build it, but it is good I could stick with it to completion because it is turning out to be a good addition to the layout.
We take a good look at it and to give it scale, I placed a couple of figures on it. They really bring the size of it into perspective.
The shotgun microphone sounds I tried for were somehow nullified by YouTube. I have no idea how they did that. I did find it annoying that they did, however. It did not reduce viewing enjoyment for anyone else, just me.
I also discuss future plans for my harbor area. I plan to have one, possibly two ships tied up there. I want to create the hustle and bustle of a busy wharf or quay with ships unloading into train cars/wagons and workers busy at their tasks.
One other thing I demonstrate in this video is my level crossing in full operation.
I did not find a kit to my liking so I built this one from scratch.
The electronics are standard off the shelf units but combined in unique ways to provide a total solution for a United Kingdom style crossing.
I did have one custom circuit provided to me. It was an adjustable on-delay relay. There are six sets of sender-receiver type train sensors to ensure the gates are always down when train(s) are present.
Thank you so much for all you do.
Rob”
Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.
A big thanks to Rob for sharing his model train level crossing – I found it really interesting listening to his thoughts on his layout.
That’s all for today folks.
Please do keep ’em coming.
And if today is the day you get started on your layout, the Beginner’s Guide is here.
Best
Al
PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.
PPS More HO scale train layouts here if that’s your thing.
It`s perfect ,especially railway crossing,love it
I truly do not understand why European trains do not look the same as American trains. Interesting that English steam is more aerodynamic. I worked in heavy trucks starting out and there was a great debate whether a square box cabover was any less efficient, apparently it didn’t matter.
I could not figure why your gatekeeper stood on the wrong side of the road but then it hit me. I was immediately wondering how he could be mounted in a small platform and would be pulled back into his shack when there were no trains, Certainly the ends of the gates have enough travel. I love your castle. I live in Hamilton where we have a castle a city father owned. I think it would be nice to see a copy of that. However Canadian castles do not have the great stonework Europe does.
A model train layout for the ages! I really like the crossing gates. Jim from CB.
Great layout. Castle is amazing. Noticed the Topside Creeper in the background in one of the video shots. Do you like it and does it help with working on areas away from the edge of the table? What is the height of your table? Thinking about getting one even though they are a bit pricey. Would appreciate any thoughts you have about them.
Topside creeper was a waste of money.
Once again thanks for the update Rob. Love the long sweeping curves you have managed to get into the layout also the house u set construction just below the castle. The castle idea is quite unusual in fact I can’t tecall having seen a layout with one installed on it. The whole idea of using the castle to give night and a focal point at that end of the layout is really good. For me the stone work is unrealistic showing huge stones igjet up the castle in areas when in real terms the individual prices of masonary would start to get smaller in size. I think the mortar joints are way over scale Just compare them to the figures you have highlighted in your video. The mortar joint would be about an arms width thick. In fact the joints were really well fitting and needed little mortar between them. A small point, excuse the pun. A great layout and always a joy to see how it is developing. Colin Scotland