Fixing track on SR

Finally fixed some track ! And not with temporary pins, like everything done so far, but with glue. Trouble was, after the removal of the old ballast foam pieces from the SR segment, the ramp that was left behind wasn't very smooth, presenting all sorts of little dimples because of the glue that sticked to one side or the other (next time I'll use some of the magic ingredient i learned about recently - namely rubbing alcohol - before starting to dismantle old glued stuff). Roughly cleaning both the ballast pieces and the ramp didn't solve the problem entirely, because when testing to see how things would fit, the track was uneven - lower where the little dimples were and higher where little bits of old glue were left - instead of a smooth continuous climbing piece of track. So I thought about glueing the track with some sort of a distributed weight, like a train, so the resulting track would be right, while the uneven portions of ballast / ramp would be taken care of the glue. And since plain cars were too light, I pulled out enough locomotives to fix the current piece - 1 meter of Tillig track. www.lancemindheim/track_laying.htm provides very helpful hints about track laying. Their advice is to use a thin line of glue in the center of the line, before fixing the track to allow the glue to dry (honestly my thought was to paint area right beneath the track with glue - how much wasted glue would that have been). So after applying some glue on the ballast pieces, i fixed these with 1 pin per piece, then "drew" the white glue line on top of that. Next the track (that already had feeders installed on both ends) was layed, and this too temporarily fixed with pins, making sure there are no kinks or changes in the curve's radius. I cleaned the glue below the edge of the top end of the track, since I realized that without the next piece of track, i will most likely end up with a kink right at the junction. And since the Moment adhesive stated "express", i quickly added the locos on top and left it to dry overnight (the locos, from left to right: BR110, BR120, another BR110 - all 3 described in an earlier post and 2 BR 211 electric locos; none has the right wheels to run on the Tillig code 83 track). In the end I made sure the track is banked on all its length (since discoveries like bent ramp in the wrong direction are of course made right when the glue is being applied) - visible in the second photo as the red loco leans towards the inside of the curve. And speaking of things that won't fit, the plan for the SR segment, when placed over the constructed ramp, was a couple of centimeters to the left. And since the current plan is based on the old one, also drew in 3rd PlanIt, I can only suspect that the old initial printed plan wasn't truly 1:1, since this happened the first time I printed the actual plan, but luckly I measured the distance between the grid lines, only to find out the difference was more that 1 cm for every 20 cm (and then went ahead and reprinted everything on a better printer). Or somehow the original SR ramp wasn't correctly installed according to plan - anyway a better easement was possible using the extra few centimeters.
Right now about 3 weeks of vacation lie ahead, so the Paasche VL 1007 airbrush got a thourough cleaning, and the layout will get a rest. Last 2 photos show the Lenz BR 66 and the double decker car testing the now glued segment of track.

Test driving through PT !

The PT segment is coming together bit by bit. Finally all the electrical connections were made, the missing piece of track starting from the second switch was installed, feeders were connected on every length of track, all the frogs were polarized and all the green/grey feedback wires were connected to the wires heading to the new casette. On the left the Lenz BR 66 coupled with the TRIX cleaning car and a PIKO dining car (WR ge) are test driving the track - not a correct era assortment, but this car and only a couple (including the double one testing the temporarily fixed track on SR segment in the second photo) i've discovered to have the new kind of wheels compatible with the Tillig code .83 track. I was quite impressed with the electrical connectivity of the lighting system (normally the light would flicker as the car moves - due to loss of electrical contact made through the wheels and lack of any capacitor to overcome this, but this test was ok and the light was almost always on). Glitches with the wheels of the BR 66 were encountered while going in reverse through the second switch, but since it's quite a sharp one, this won't be done in real operating sessions. On the third switch the third big wheel used to go over the blade (when going straight through the switch, not crossing to the other line through the second switch), but a little bit of filling and slight bent of the blade reduced this to a minimum.

Ran into a few problems with the switch motors though, because sometimes, in a particular blade position, the Viessmann transformer used to power up everything would start to buzz, and measuring the current would show something like 90 mAmps, without anything being operated excepted the LZV100 digital station, that draws a 20mA current by default. The fault was traced in the end to the mechanical shoes on the 86112, that were touching another metal strip different than theirs (there's a good review and very good photos at http://www.modelrailforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=979 - the shoes are cleary visible in the third photo). Extra care must be taken with these, because by default some of them are too close to the next strip, causing shorts like the one i experienced. Care must be taken after the initial setup, when the little screws holding each pair of shoes together are placed back, because the pair has a tendancy to roll a bit. If the shoes are still too close, bending slightly (SLIGHTLY!) the shoe in the right direction will take care of that.

Another small problem, this time with the Tillig switches themselves, is that some tips of the switch blades, that go through the switch plate, are sometimes too small, and the blade has a tendency to "jump" out of the switch plate. After trying repeatedely to secure this tip of the 3rd switch, it came off, and kinda imagined the 20+ EURs that went up in smoke. Luckily i managed to solder the end, and next to it a soldered piece of wire, and now it works perfect. Sometimes the switch plate goes down in one side, and so blocks the switch from going in the other side. This happened in the same 3rd switch, and was fixed with a plastic bit from a tie strip, from those that hold the ties together.

The built-in metal connector holding the frog rails for the second switch wasn't firmly attached to the rails exiting the frog, so a bit of soldering was done there too to fix this.

Also painted about 9 tie strips, since they are urgently needed for the SR segment and for the double rail in front of the (future, to be) station. The last photos show the balcony where i do my airbushing (and drying) and my desk (the syringes in the picture, used to mix the exact amount of paints might lead one to the word "junkie").

And since I was already airbrushing, and remembering that the side of the track is just too shiny, I decided to try and airbrush the sides of a test rail and then mount the tie strip. Unfortunately this test failed, since the chairs (the little pieces that secure the track to the tie) would get rid of the colour when the track and tie strips are reunited. So the airbrushing will have to be done on the spot. Better get some masking tape...

Took some shots of the latest progress as of tonight. The aerial view shows the pre-tunnel segment, that starts in the north-west of the photo and ends just beyond the switch in the right corner, after which a tunnel is planned (hence the name - pre-tunnel). Also visible is the Phidget 1018 in the centre, connected for testing to the middle switch, and used to report the position of the switch to the PC via an USB cable. The orange device is a sort of bent screwdriver, and will serve its purpose when the switches are permanently glued, and the motor has to be extracted for maintenance; that's because the Tillig 86112 has a screw that secures the rod used to move the switch blades - and the screw has to be inserted horizontally, a bit of a problem because the motor itself is going to stand in the cut-off holes in the big foam board. So when the screw will need to be loosen, the device will come in handy from underneath the foam and wooden board, making it all possible. The elevated track in the centre is just old PIKO track that is for now left standing there since it is not impeding construction.

Next 2 photos show a closer look at the wiring that's been done so far, namely: feeders connected to all 3 switches (since 2 pre-made links on the back of the switch make everything work but the frog, just 2 wires per switch are needed), one wire as feeder for each frog of every switch connected to the white wire on the Tillig 86112, feeders connected to each end of the outer curve (linking the 1st and 3rd switch) and the same for the inner curve (linking the 1st and 2nd switch), return wires (2 wires/switch) for the feedback indication linking the new electric casette with the vecinity of each switch.

What needs to be done: install the trimmed ramp going from the diverging track of the 2nd switch parallel to the 3rd switch, connect the green / gray wires of the 86112 to the installed feedback wires and install small devices to connect all the corresponding feeders together (i'm planning a trip tommorrow to a shop that sells these), solder feeders to the missing length of track (that will start on the trimmed ramp), and sometimes not too far i hope, a test run with the BR 66 on a finally-wired-PT-segment.

There are some lessons to be learned so far: it takes me a *lot* of time to do some simple wiring, on something that is basically one crossover and 2 lengths of track connecting to another switch; more insulating connectors are needed that initially anticipated (both rails corresponding to a frog must be isolated from the next segment), mounting isolating connectors will leave a (obviously!) gap that will interfere with the track that's been cut perfectly to size with the Xuron tool, and last but not least, it's much easier to solder the feeders to the underside of the rails after a couple of ties from the strip have been cut and temporarily removed (instead of trying to squeze the solder gun through 2 ties). But the main point remains my snail progress (ballasting is not even in sight yet !).

PT switches painted

At last all three switches have now been airbrushed. The procedure used is not that complicated in itself, but unfortunately it tends to take some time, because of the little small steps. I settled on this after documenting around the web, and testing on several rail ties strips. It all starts with cleaning the rail ties. For this I use a container large enough to hold the piece needing to be airbrushed, and filling this with water and a bit of liquid dishwashing detergent. Next an old toothbrush is used to clean the ties thouroughly. The whole point of doing this is to remove all the grease or any other debris that's still left and might cause the paint not to stick properly. Water is then used to clean them, and the strips are then set to dry (a kitchen absorbant towel works best for this). In the meantime the paint is made. I use one third Tamiya XF-10 (flat brown), one tenth Tamiya XF-1 (flat black) and the rest of a bit over half is thinner (Tamiya X-20A). It's best to buy the bigger bottle of thinner, since the small one (50ml) will quickly run out. Next the tie strips are placed firmly on a newspaper using scotch tape - 3 glued to the underneath of the strip, and 2 on each of the 3 to hold it to the newspaper. I hang the newspaper so that the tie strip is upside down - and i've found 2 reasons for it - first, since my Pasche airbrush is bottle-fed, it means i can't tilt it too much because paint wan't be absorbed, however the airbrush stays perfectly horizontal since it only moves up and down (and left/right to get a good coating of the tie plates), and second, if a switch is being airbrushed, keeping it horizontal will get too much paint on the outside of the upper rail, since the paint mist will settle down. The airbrush is held about 10 - 15 cm from the target, and the movement is rather ample, as you need to go over each end as to avoid getting too much paint on the edges and less in the middle. I'm still unsure about the drying time after each coating, but it seems like anything more that half an hour in this 35 degree celsius summer days is enough. Now if this is a switch that's being painted, special measures need to be taken. Since I didn't buy the kit, that let's you assemble everything (ties, rails, etc), the whole completed switch has to be airbrushed. And for the paint to be removed easily after each coating, a q-tip dipped in little mineral oil is best. After the coat has dried, another q-tip with oil is used to clean to paint stuck to the rail heads, and also to prepare the rail for the next coating. After the last coat a q-tip with a bit of thinner is used to remove any trace of paint from the top and side of the rail heads.

Right now i've settled on 3 coats of the same colour, since it seems to produce the best results. From my experiments, there is a visible difference between the second and the third coating, so if you're planning to do your own airbrushing, i strongly suggest agains any shortcuts, since the effort to remove the glossy plastic look is well worth it in the end.

I remembered this weekend that i ordered some weathering stuff, namely Noch patina pulver (61165) and the Woodland Scenics Earth Color Kit (C1215). Since the WS kit is paint-based, and that kinda scared me off, i turned to the Noch weathering powders to see what could be done about the rail ties. The trouble with the ties, after they're airbrushed, is that they're pretty much the same colour, and so not that realistic. So i took a couple of tie strips that have been painted, and tested all the 8 pigments. The idea was to use a drybrushing technique - getting just a little bit of paint on the brush (preferablly old and stiff) and lightly touch on the details - in this case the wood details on the ties. The best results came with the ash and cement pigments - maybe because they're finer than the rest, and tend to leave just enough colour behind to get a nice effect ("less is more" seems to be a rule in weathering).

Pre-Tunnel Segment - one step closer

The end of the week sees all the three switches wired, and PC-controllable.

But let's start where we left off - the second switch on the PT segment. A couple of tests were done to ensure everything works ok at this point, and the BR 66 worked flawlessly (first photo). Next the place for the hole in the foam board for the third switch was marked, I heated up the soldering gun, started cutting along the markings....and soon stopped. The thing is this last switch does not need to be "sunk"; both its starting and ending point are well above the ground foam level. So instead of carving the whole switch ballast contour, adding the 13 mm pieces where the old squares were, and glueing on top the 30 mm thick board, so the required height could be met, a portion of the ramp where the height was lower was used (4 mm lower actually - since that is the distance from the bottom of the tie to the bottom of the switch ballast piece).
Next on the list was a minimal wiring - connecting all the return conductors (red on the 86112 Tillig switch motor), and the other 2 wires (pink/yellow) to a Phidget 1017 board. The return conductors were all connected to the center casette (a future post will detail the wiring), using a Viessmann connector (if you're looking for something like this - the code for the yellow one is 6842), while the Phidget and its corresponding wires were placed in a new casette that was dug, right below the front track in the second photo. Also new holes were carved in the foam board for easier access to the wires.

The outer track was cut to size using the Xuron tool, and Tillig connectors were used when needed to hold the rails together.

What needs to be done next: solder feeders to the end of each track segment (the Viessmann 85501 connectors are good, but they will fail eventually regarding electrical conductivity), polarization of the frogs (the frog of the Tillig switches is not "live" - but the 86112 motor comes with wires especially for this), insulation between the diverging track of the switch pair (Tillig 85502 connectors), cut holes in the base wooden board for later access to the switch motors (and the really important thing - find a way to hide it), connect the wires for the feedback indication (which way the switch is set), airbrush the ties on all 3 switches, and any remaining track strips (6 strips are already done since a couple of months ago), and mount the last remaining piece of the ramp up to the station.

Status Report 2

Last week the switch next to the tunnel was temporarily installed. The first photo is taken during the mounting of the switch motor. The next one shows the mounted switch, with an TRIX 24050 cleaning car testing the track. On the old track, the mobile cleaning pads fitted on this car would snag at rail joints, causing it to derail or jump off the track. Yet another reason for the complete migration to the Tillig track. Part of the plywood used to hold the switch motor together with the ballast piece is visible on the second photo, right next to the wires feeding the switch. One of the tunnel portals will be placed right next to the end of this switch. Also visible is the Viessmann transformer used to test the switch, and next to it the Lenz LZV100 command station, used for testing the performance of the Lenz BR 66 through the switch. It worked almost flawlessly, except for a small bump in the center wheels on the right spur, and some loss of electrical contact possibly due to the polarization of the frog, for which I didn't find time just yet.

Today work was done for the first switch in the pair of switches that will be located next to the station. The hole was carved since last week, and now the small pieces of foam 13 mm thick, that will be mounted on the same location as the old foam squares, were glued to the corresponding ramp segment for this switch. On top of this another 30 mm foam block will be added, and finally, the switch ballast piece will rest on all of this. Also the plywood for this switch was glued to the ballast piece. The last photo shows work on this switch, and next to it, the ballast for the second switch of the pair is placed for markings.