2017_04_22 Al Day just gone. Worked very hard.but..

2017_04_22  Al and I had a lot of work on, today. However when Al left for home, it felt like we had not gone forward at all.

Then again pictures show we accomplished heaps!


Up end Trentham New track works

Remember the lean on the B Class in the video. Al decided, after some SDS code 88 wheel sets would keep derailing, that he would replace the track. We use Micro Engineering  code 70 flex here, and he replaced all the faulty hand laid track as well as the short piece I added over the crossing. He did an excellent job, and I see my job is still undone. Need to solder those wires on!

ME track is extremely difficult to lay. For one, only one rail slides easily, and so when you go into a curve, you need to choose which side the fixed rail should go on. Here Al found an S bend, which meant you needed to curve the fixed rail on the wrong side. The only way to curve ME track (or Shinohara and older Atlas track) is to lay it out on a flat surface and keep bending it a little at a time. test fit and adjust till you got it right. Al did a great job, and the track is easily his best effort, much better than I can do, for sure.  We will add missing sleepers next time and try out our new ballast machines.

Now the SDS tanks go through without a problem!

Al was able to remove some of my packing under the crossing, and it looks flat to me (and the camera it would seem :) )

More Diamonds that will not work.

Each end of the diamond is insulated. The two metal un-insulated connectors to the frogs ate directed via mono juicers, one for each frog.
The BG works just fine, however the SG direct shorts, may have even blown the juicer. Mods include
checking all insulated approaches. All four tracks that is 8 rails are insulated and remembering our last effort double checked. I changed out the Peco code 100 to code 75 adapter , left the links in place and insulated the connection to the code 100 SG track.
I also decided that as I have power districts ending at the crossover. That is SG district A becomes District B and same for BG.
I connected the two outside rails of the crossover to Black and Red wires in SG district A and BG district A, thinking something silly may be happening here. Like black is common, isn't it?

Finally I think I might have a bad batch of mono juicers. One works (red light changes to green)
The other stays red and shorts and turns led off till short removed.
Again I am stumped!! So I walked away to think on it, perhaps sleep on it....

More baseboard modifications?

Graeme is visiting Monday, and his roaming eye always finds the problem areas, and suggestions are forth coming, aren't they ? :D

And so we created a tray under the girder bridges to help with modelling the river. This required screwing a flat bottom under neath, which of course meant the undersides had to be cut clear to allow tray to fit in. The tray was fixed in and strengthened

I then widened the bench to 500mm to allow for a better scenery fit. here the changes to the middle island bit....

And on the Albury side. more required here when we work out where the foam board will fix.

The top level overhangs, so I guess the bottom should at least follow under it?
Continues Monday :)

Cheers
Rod