Dean’s been kind enough to send in another update on his N scale (his last post is here).
Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.
A big thanks to Dean – as you all know, I do love an update.
That’s all today folks – you can always dive in to the Beginner’s Guide if you need more of a fix for today.
Best
Al
How about some links for ON30 in your e-bay cheat sheet? Thanks for a great site.
Excellently thought out.Neat tidy wiring with an easy effective easy to make design-GREAT WORK!!
Cooool layout.
Like the idea of using the phone type connectors. Cant wait for your video talking about how to wire it all up (I’m not a wiring guy!).
Pete
In Hot Silicon Valley.
You seem to have two left hand turnouts on the right of your yard. I’ve found that using a left hand one, then a right hand one avoids the “s” curve problem for the outside track, and thus cuts (slightly) the derailing issues we love so much.
I can certainly see the benefit of using styrofoam, which I assume is the same as the polystyrene insulation and packing materials we get over here, as we’re none of us getting any younger and timber is pretty weighty. However, I do wonder a bit about fire, I know they banned polystyrene ceiling tiles due to fumes and dropping hot liquid during a fire, what would a layout like this produce in a house fire? Is there some sort of treatment applied to prevent it burning?
You can get RJ11 (Telephone 2-Pair) connectors at Walmart, Lowes or Home Depot for about $8 per 20. The RJ45 (LAN 4-Pair Connectors) are also available and give you the option to use shielded cable or shielded-grounded CAT-6 cable. The nice thing about a good 4-Pair cable is that there are 4 twisted pairs in each cable, which is great for eliminating electromagnetic interference from other power sources. Clean control signals are a must in our digital age. I just bought another RJ45 Kit with crimp tool and 50 connectors for under $12.
Getting small lights for N-gauge (or smaller) mat be possible by using some older fiber-optic cables using one light source. The more fiber you use the less worry for your lighting system since it all originates from one simple control location.
Wireless video cameras are getting so small now that I just ordered one to install in one of my F7s. It is supposed to have image stabilization so it may be worth the trouble. I was thinking of using a Dummy F7 for the lead with the camera and having my powered F7 running in reverse and doing all the work. The Dummy F7 gives me a lot of room to play with so I can also install a fan to keep the electronics cool.
Every time i read Al’s handouts I always get ideas for my layout. A couple of my ideas caused such a disaster I would never share them with anyone. But you have to keep trying. I do enjoy building bridges and painting rolling stock by hand. I painted an entire Army train for my son and grandson. I also found dozens of Matchbox car/trucks that were perfect HO scale, and I painted all of them in Army camouflage greens. It looks great when you can set up 20 to 40 vehicles to support your train theme.
Thank you all for your ideas. And a big thanks to Al!
great info thanks for sharing I will check out the website.
Good idea using styrene foam to keep weight down, but it is wise to keep the wires and styrene foam separated. By this I mean, basically insulating the wire outer coating against the styrene as there have been occasions where the insulation has broken-down causing bared wires to short and cause fire. We use styrene foam as Underfloor Insulation in our houses and have a paper tape barrier to avoid this problem.
Wayne Mcclelland
Kiwi Down under