Hints

Over the time, I've been compiling quite a list of small notes, consisting of small hints and some activities that should eventually make it to the plans for each section of the model railway. Since every time I run into the pile I keep reading the same things - I've decided it's time to put the hints somewhere, and the activities to their respective plans. Hints are centralized below.

 1) When unmounting a point switch, it's more easier to simply gently lift the tile where the motor rod connects (2nd photo) - like this there's no need to go underneath and unscrew the "cheese" screw that clamps the rod to the point motor mechanism. If not doing this too often, the hole in the plastic tie shouldn't get larger in time

2) The plaster cloth "lids" should have a non-uniform contour, so one cannot easily spot the difference in height

3) To provide access to various wires underneath the terrain, buildings with removable roofs can be placed on that spot

4) A landmark for plaster cloth "lids" can be achieved by gluing specific plants on the terrain supporting it, so when the lid must be placed on the layout, there's no doubt about its final position

 5) The Noch glue, used for the static grass, is diluted 1:2 glue to water, so the there's no visible difference in the terrain color after this dries, especially at the "border" zone between the original terrain and the one that was soaked

6) The static grass should be pressed down lightly next to a figurine or on paths where there's supposed to be traffic

7) On areas where a plaster cloth "lid" will be applied next to a segment of track, there should be a minimum of 3-4 cm sideways from the foam support underneath the track - this will allow the edge of the lid to sit over the terrain, but not to close to the track itself (where ballast usually lies - making "hiding" difficult)

8) For the switch connecting segments D with C/SR, the "cheese" screw can be accessed with a long screwdriver, as seen

in the 3rd photo

9) For the same switch, removing the Tilling 86112 can be done using a mirror, placed like in the 4th photo, and using a curved screwdriver for the 2 screws holding it in place

10) The mobile rod for a switch motor can be easily removed if the point is brought into a "half-switched" position - this can be easily achieved by turning off the power for the switch motor, modifying the Phidget controller, then powering on briefly so the motor doesn't do the complete lap