LR continued

The order finally came, and with it the switch that was needed to carry on construction on the LR - a Tillig 85314. It got the standard 3-coat airbrushing, along with 2 other switches (Tillig 85323). And since i found setting up of the switch and attaching the motor rather complicated, considering i've done 4 previous switches, i made a small procedure that beside the initial step of painting the switches goes like this:
- build the plywood that will support the motor and drill holes for the screws (2); drill a hole for the rod that will move the points
- drill a hole through the ballast (the one corresponding to the switch model - without the specific model the switch doesn't stay right !) in 3 places - corresponding to the feeders on internal/external point blade and one that sets the polarity on the frog
- cut the right path in the ballast for the rod that will move the points
- with switch mounted in its corresponding ballast piece and the motor attached to the plywood piece right under the switch - with the switch in one of the two positions (not anywhere between) - the postion of the ballast on the plywood is marked

- if the tie holding the point blades tends to "slip" under its place right beneath the track, thus causing the motor to block when trying to move, then a little piece of plastic, cut from the material holding the tie plates together in tie strip, is placed transversal to the tie holding the point blades' direction; this problem can happen because of the turned tips of the point blades that are not long enough - however the tips should not be secured firmly to the tie holding them, because this will prevent a smooth transition of the blades when the motor is operating

- the shoes in the motor are ajdusted so the correct distance to the other position of the switch is right (actually just the 2 shoes controlling movement to the other position)
- the spots on the track where feeders will be soldered must be cleaned properly - using a bistoury to remove any oxide, using different patterns of movement - not just left-right, because this will not remove all the oxide; then the feeders are soldered

- electrical connectivity between the right blades must be checked, to ensure that no damage was done to the conductive elements placed on the back of the switch.

Last week holes in the big wooden board were made for the switch on the bottom of the LR segment, and for the switch on PT right next to the tunnel. Also the switch on the top of LR was finally glued to position, and so was the one on the bottom of LR. The LR ramp has been completely glued (the red books are keeping everything together in this operation on the first photo). All the electrical connections were also done for the mentioned switches. Part of the line that makes the LR was glued to position, along with superelevated ballast: the difference in height is 1 mm, which is prototipically correct (on real railroads the height of the outer rail above the inner rail , also named cant, can have values of 100mm).

In preparation of the Gras Master tests, some dry pigments were also ordered (second photo). Got these from a local retailer, and along with plaster, these are used in a technique called zip texturing, whose main objective is to produce realistic dirt.

Also a couple of old wheels were changed, since the damage was so hard that there was no other way (mainly because of handling them with the hands as a kid led to exfoliation of the material (chrom maybe?) coating the wheels).

But the real shocker was the Gras Master + Silflor (or miniNatur, as they are sold in Europe). The result is just superb, and the 130 euros payed just for the GrasMaster are certainly worth it.