2020_03_29 Playing with lighting

2020_03_29  Graeme helped me fit more lighting

As before, we used 3M backing to secure strips of Led's to aluminium angle. The angle was very short on one side which tilted the throw of light about 15 deg.
The 3M from China is not reliable, so we secured the strips with hot glue, every foot or so.
Be careful not to heat up the leds, because they are constructed with low melt solder and hot glue can "unglue" them from strip. Ask me how I know?

A Jaycar hot glue gun using 11mm glue sticks was a great improvement on the cheap reject type I was using.

 

 Join the strips together, and as I needed 10 m of strips we added the power to the middle where we joined the strips together

 With dimmers installed, I can vary the light to simulate early morning, midday or afternoon.

NOTE  BLOGGER had a fit and lost the pictures (about a week after posting)
I have added those I could find and lumped the rest together.

 

*Both strips on full output.

*both full on.

*Just the warm white on full.

*Full on warm white. Early morning?

 *Just room lighting
.

*Just full white.

*Again full white.

*Both strips full on. The warm white softens it just enough, I think.

*Again same as above.

Thanks  Graeme, glad to see a friend, and I guess after tonight, that will be the end of visits, till we find out what really is happening  in this strange world of ours.
Thankfully, I have plenty to keep me occupied. AS I hope you all do too. Stay healthy my friends.
Cheers
Rod

2020_03_21 Track to light

2020_03_21  Darkness to light!!  Thanks Q

We just keep plodding along

Graeme  called in for an hour or four and we got the Albury side lighting working. It's  dark outside, and the interior lights off.

You can see the clamped on fascia?  This will be full height and cover the lights and the timber frame. Painted green to match other fascia. It does not stop the light reaching edge of layout and yet the control panels will be clear of light and reflections when installed.

 Interior light on

And now the layout lights are off.

Track works

 (sorry about fuzzy pic)

 Still trying to sort out the helix and of course I need to install another reversing loop. This is mainly to keep the negative wire towards the wall. This started off because I used 45amp bus wires because I thought I had to run a continuous bus line. Knowing better now, however I maintain this restriction, because I am not prepared to completely change all the previous wiring and disconnect and reconnect those thousand odd droppers once more.  The cause of all of this was I could not get 45amp matching black bus wires (at a price I could afford. Two hundred meters of copper cable was $60 and one hundred meters of black aluminum (could not get copper then) was $190. So I spaced the bus a foot apart. The red wire nearest wall was a black wire and the reversing sections allowed this to be maintained... stupid... stupid...... stupid!! Anyway its all spilt milk, or water long under the bridge.

 AlDay

  Al day Thursday :)

 We added the last track to the coal siding (At least Al did)

But first,
 Although Albury has only one crossover allowing the XPT to move from platform road to the main, we found the reversing loops were sending freight trains back along the platform. And so we added a second crossover to pass them through the through road. 

 At the coal siding we need to add the second arrival road and runaround.  And that completes the BG track on the whole layout...Yippeee!!!!

Well perhaps just a little more so I can fit the cement and Super Industries in place.

So a little more progress, hope you all enjoyed.
Edit
Spent two days rewiring the top level from top of the old helix to Allanvale and around the Peninsular via Bullarto and Trentham to Honeysuckle.
And now my Digitrax system refuses to start up, and I have no idea what changes I made to cause the fault. I only found out after those two days when I tried to start it up and run a train or two.
Next week will be a difficult one.
Cheers
Rod

2020_03_10 Two Exhibitions this weekend. Video about IDR W

 2020_03_10 Slow times with many interruptions


 Hi All
Not much to report, as I had to head to Melbourne account a family illness and various other interruptions.

The German designed Diesel hydraulic Class W
This rebuilt version lost its Mercedes motor for a GM. Lifted body mods including a new exhaust.

 In real life it was a useful VR engine, however the fitters and especially the drivers thought they were crap. They worked for a long time and as depicted even got rebuilt.

 Doing what they were built for! Shunting.

 In both guises they were able to shift loads between yards and deal with the job at hand.

 Spartan inside with seats added as what would seem an afterthought.

 10 hoppers and that's a short 1% grade its climbing easily.

 In olden times it would move a lot of tons between Brooklyn and Tottenham. and Sunshine Grain silos. And take a load home to North Melbourne when the job was done.

This is a magnificent model. IDR a small manufacturer has lifted the bar and now we can hope the others will take notice!
In this picture the capacitor is holding the lights on, even 30 secs after turning power off. With sound turned on, it still stays alive for several seconds and that's a great reason for all manufacturers to include "stay alives" on their lighting boards,

Video is here (Double click)
IDR release the VR W Class

Cheers
Rod