New Kato layout

I came across several web sites of modelers who use Kato exclusively. One of the primary reason was the reliability of the Unitrack. I have never encountered any derailments or connectivity issues and the turnouts operate flawlessly. My initial reason for purchasing Unitrack was the ease of setting up and taking apart the track. I only wish the ballast was darker in tone. Aside from that, I'm pretty happy with Kato. There were two sites, Quinntopia and JRM who gave me inspiration to rework my Kato layout. It had never occurred to me to have two different levels of track independent of each other. The higher level would be represented by the elevated viaducts and single ground tracks placed at the lower level. I've been mulling over my original Kato layout for the past couple of weeks now. I still want to have long sections for running my high speed ICEs, but run slower passenger service trains like the LINT for rural service. I placed an order for two LINTs from Hobbytech. I think the track layout for the viaduct level is finalized, but the ground level tracks still need work. I want them to loop continuously without manual intervention as I am still far from being DCC ready.
With this particular layout, I plan to create modular tables 744mm x 302mm. The length conforms perfectly to three straight 248mm tracks. By going with this unusual dimension, I can extend the track simply by adding a table on each side. You can see this in the plan as it shows the right side of the track extended by adding three more 248mm straight viaducts. In the photograph, I didn't have enough straight viaducts to extend the right side of the track. I'm planning to go to Windsor Plywood and get a sheet of 5' x 5' x 3/8" birch plywood. Cut into one foot widths, I'll have enough to cover the straight sections of the layout. Since I don't have a table saw, I'll have to get them to cut it for me. For the S-curves, I'll cut those table tops with my jigsaw.

What does this mean for my railway station layout? I still plan to complete it, but its construction is on hold right now. The idea is to be able to connect the railway station layout to this Kato layout. There is a possibility of linking one of the lines from the railway station to the Kato lower level track. The only question is how to get the train up onto the higher level tracks.

Shinkansen Osaka to Tokyo

I managed to get the viaducts set up into a herring bone layout. Here's the video of the train running at full speed. You can compare this with the other video I posted a long time ago running my ICE1. It is a little slower than I had observed at Hobbytech because I'm hauling four extra passenger cars.

I mentioned that Minitrix locomotives run silent compared to the Kato. However, Kato has better quality tracks. The turnouts work flawlessly and the setup is fast and easy. Their main market is Japan. As a consequence, space is a luxury most customers do not possess. A lot of people live in apartments so they set up their tracks to run their trains for a few hours and then take apart for storage. Kato Unitrack is virtually maintenance free. Yeah, its a little bit more expensive, but it's worth it. Like I said before, you get what you pay for. And most of their products are made in Japan, not China. That's a huge plus for me.

Oh I just placed an order for two more Shinkansens. A N500 Nozomi and a Series 700. The only other high speed train I need to complete my collection is the TGV. Unfortunately Kato produces that for Lemke and according to Johnny, they aren't responding to his queries. I guess they don't care about North American customers. If only Minitrix would release a TGV version, I would get it.

Off the wagon

It's a sickness. It's been awhile since I had visited Hobbytech. I've been busy working on a game for the iPod hence the lack of updates to the blog. Since I was doing errands in the area, I thought I'd drop by and say hello to Johnny and the guys in the club. And maybe pick up a viaduct track piece. I was expecting to spend no more than $10. Instead I walked out of the store with a Shinkansen train set. Talk about impulse shopping. Johnny had one running on his short oval track. I couldn't believe how fast it ran. It's twice as fast as my Minitrix ICE1. He hooked, lined and sunk me. I couldn't resist and bought it along with the expansion set. I couldn't have a Japanese bullet train with only four cars now could I? Of course not. The problem is that I haven't had the time to play with my other trains or find time to work on my railway station layout. So what possessed me to add to my dusty collection? Not sure, but I know this won't be my last Shinkansen.

I'll have try to find some time to set up the tracks and run it at full speed. Video to follow. This is my first Kato train set and I am quite pleased with the quality. Their atttention to detail is very good. I'd say it's almost at the same level as Minitrix. The one thing that Minitrix does better is their motors. Minitrix motors run silent whereas the Kato motor has a slight hum, but it actually gives it some realism to the Shinkansen. I rode the Series 700 when I visited Japan in 2000 taking me from Osaka to Tokyo. It has a similar appearance as the E4, but it was not a double decker.

Interchange

I managed to get the last turnout and assembled the interchange that connects to the railway station platform. Anselm had picked up two left R4-15 degree turnouts from Germany for me. I just couldn't wait until November. That's when Minitrix is starting up their production run. Since Marklin went into receivership, parts are in short supply in North America.

I used the XtrackCad software to figure out the necessary pieces without having to cut any track. Unfortunately the dimensions of the Minitrix track pieces in the software weren't correct so I had to measure it with a ruler and figure out the pieces manually. As a consequence, I'm going to also measure the full length of the interchange before I construct the table. Speaking of the table, I think I'm slowly converging on the overall design of the tables. It's a little complicated involving single pass and sliding dovetail joins. Since the train layout has an architectural theme, I thought the construction of the table should be like a nice piece of furniture to complement the layout. Right now, I'm checking out various dovetail jigs. I like the Leigh jig, but it's very expensive. Unfortunately, there aren't many hardware stores in town that sell dovetail jigs so my choices are limited.

Era of steam

My model steam train arrived in the post today. Along with a couple of turn outs and catenaries! I ordered some Sommerfeldt catenary to see what they were like. They are of excellent quality and built of metal like my steam train. I've seen other catenaries that were less expensive, but they were all made out of plastic. You definitely get what you pay for. Now I have to figure out how many I'll need to complete my layout. I'll have a lot to do over the winter, but for now I'll keep accumulating equipment and focus my time in the garden while the weather remains warm. And before you say anything, the catenary are for my ICEs, not the steam train.

Era III

I wonder if there is a help group for model train addicts. I was surfing the internet and was looking at the Eurorail Hobbies website. They had a limited edition Era III steam train on sale. I pined over it for a week. In the end, I couldn't resist and ordered it along with a Faller viaduct. I picked up a bunch of freight cars for it from Hobbytech. This is a sick disease. Here's the list of Era III rolling stock I've just acquired or ordered. God help me.

11457 (1/1) BR 89 Steam Locomotive with two heavy duty flat cars Era III15138 (1/1) Tank car Era III15199 (2/2) Freight train baggage car Era III
15270 (1/1) Freight train baggage car Era IV15501-08 (4/4) Box car Era III
15501-09 (2/2) Stake car Era III15644 (2/2) Tank car Era III/IV

Summer

Summer has finally arrived in Canada. It's been a very cold Spring, which is good for modeling, but not good for hiking or gardening. The nights are still very cold (3c brrr). At least the temperatures are in the double digits during the day. The weather has been really weird this year.
I managed to finish up my trees for the club's layout. I took a picture of the trees after I spray painted and sprinkled on the woodland scenic powder. I have to say that the powder does make the trees more realistic. However, I didn't cut into the air filter fibers enough as Hans and Al had advised. As a consequence, my trees looked too conical in shape. I'll have to do better next year. You can see them in the top picture of the club's layout, which was taken at the SuperTrain show. The show was in April. I apologize for the lateness of my blogging. Work has been getting in the way. I love how the catenaries looked on the club's layout. It gave the layout a whole new dimension. Pictures don't do it justice. I'm still debating whether to include catenaries in my layout. I ordered a Sommerfeldt catenary just to see how it looked. Unfortunately HobbyTech doesn't carry that brand so I had to order it from Eurorail Hobbies. Other manufacturers' make catenaries, but Sommerfeldt offered more realistic and better quality and are constructed of metal.

The organization of this year's train show was much better than the previous year. The show was quite successful in terms of attendance and the club's layout was well received by the public. Brian kept telling people that our layout straddled the border between Germany and Austria. The train took passengers to Germany for bier and Austria for streudel, which was the reason that the train didn't loop in a circular fashion. I think there is a desire to expand the layout in the future so that it will loop around.

There were lots of exhibitors at the show this year. One of the exhibitors was Black Forest Wood Products and they had a selection of Proxxon tools for hobbyists. I picked up a table vise from them. I haven't had a chance to use it yet, but I definitely like the quality better than the previous vise I purchased, which I returned. I'm seriously thinking of buying the miniature bandsaw, but that will have to wait until I get back into modeling this Fall. Hopefully Fall comes late this year. I really need to get to the mountains to work off those Winter calories!

More kato

I picked up some more Kato unitrack last week and finally managed to find some time to put the track together for a test run with my InterCity. Unfortunately the floor is uneven in some areas so it looks more like a roller coaster ride.

Station status

I thought I'd give a quick update on the railway station module. Slow. I've completed two thirds of the across track ceiling trusses. Only 20 more to go. Ugh. I would have been finished, but the trees for the club's layout took higher priority due to the impending show in April. Hopefully I can get back to my own layout soon. I am considering not building the along track trusses, but I'll have to see how it looks without them. In principle, I just want to give the impression that this is a station. I think that can be achieved without going nuts. I mean without me going nuts.

Trees

The Supertrain 2009 show is less than two months away. I volunteered to help the club with the landscape. My task is to build trees for the layout so I'm constructing coniferous trees. Al described how to create them and it's not really difficult. It's just time consuming.
You need to get your hands on some natural fiber air filters. These are becoming more and more difficult to acquire as most vendors are moving towards synthetic materials. Fortunately you can still get the filters from Rona Revy. They're priced $5.53 for a 20" x 25" x 1" pad. It's manufactured by American Air Filters and the model is called Cut-N-Fit. Canadian Tire sells something similar, but it's unsuitable because the fibers are too densely packed. You want the fibers to be loose.
Taking the air filter, you'll need to cut it in half length wise so you'll have two 10" x 25" x 1" pad. Now cut 2" x 10" strips. Then take those strips and cut triangles so the base is 2". You'll want to take the triangle and cut circles out of the pads. Now apply glue on the skewer and push the circular pads you cut from the air filter onto the skewer. Biggest circle first, smallest last.
Before you can assemble everything together you need wooden skewers you need to stain them black or brown. I used acrylic paint and thinned it down with some water before applying it onto the skewers. The length of skewers depend on your scale. The club's layout is HO.
It's recommended that you make trees of varying height. Al described to me about perspective and placing shorter trees in the background gives the impression of distance. I never realized this until he explained it to me. I've got a lot to learn still and a bunch more of trees to make before the next step. About 50 more trees to go. Once the white glue dries, it will turn clear. Then I can paint and sprinkle some Woodland Scenic green fine particles to make the trees look more realistic. Although, I'm considering using some form of clear lacquer or shellac and thinning it down to a very viscous liquid and dipping the trees instead of spray painting. The paint is only used to cause the Woodland Scenic material to adhere to the fibers.

Wiring tips

I was at Hobbytech this morning. Brian was doing some wiring and gave me some good advice. As I learned, you can't rely on rail joiners to provide consistent voltage across modules. Most hobbyists run voltage on 18 gauge wire under the surface of the table top. They solder 22 gauge wire to the rail and connect them to the 18 gauge feed inside the table. Brian was showing me how he uses wire taps instead of solder to connect the wires. I see the benefit of the wire taps. Since the club decided to continue using the Marklin K-Track, they have to use three wires for the power lines. For two rail track system, a red and black is sufficient. I'm told that those are the standard colors used, but I may elect to go with black and white for my layout. The reason is that I can see some of the red wire connected to the rail. For my layout, a white wire won't stand out. Brian used molex and plastic connectors to connect the 18 gauge wire between modules. I really liked that set up. It makes for very easy connections. He used a 12 plug connector. It serves to connect power in addition to the signals and solenoids for controlling the turnouts. I'm still a long ways from wiring, but it's not as overwhelming as it had looked before.

I stopped over at Active Electronics and picked up a soldering station and digital multimeter. With model railroaders, there are common tools that are a must have. These two items are definitely a must have. Active was having a sale so I managed to save myself about 25% off the retail price. I could have saved a bit more cash and bought a cheap soldering iron instead, but I elected to go with the Weller soldering station. It's better to get quality items that will last.

Some of the guys at the office recommended Fluke as the brand for multimeters, but the price difference was too big. Since I was only going to use it for continuity tests on the tracks, my criteria was simply something that was easy to use. I also picked up a vise by Lenline that clamps onto the table edge. It has a lever on the bottom that is used to lock the pivot head securely. Unfortunately, the edge of the table prevented the lever from locking tightly in place. Even if I could, the pivot head still felt loose. The price was right, but it was a perfect example of that old adage, "You get what you pay for". They have other vises that looked of better quality, but this one was just poorly designed. I may have to go back to Lee Valley and reconsider that vacuum vise. I pulled a photo from some website for reference of that lenline vise. You have been warned.

Jig

Well I finally finished the jig last week. Just to give a summary of how I constructed it. The longest time was spent figuring out how to make the jig. Since it is pretty small, I was trying to figure out how to drill the holes with my cordless drill. I would have preferred using a drill press, but I didn't want to purchase such an expensive device just for this purpose. So I came across a jeweler's precision hand drill from Lee Valley, which was perfect and it wasn't that expensive. You can see that I taped the drawing of the truss onto the wood and started drilling where the peg holes would go in order to hold the plastic in the correct shape without clamping. By the way, don't do what I did. Remember to put something underneath the piece of wood. I drilled right through the wood and into my cutting mat. Doh!

For the pegs, I used cylindrical tooth picks 5/64" in diameter. After drilling the holes, I cut the tooth picks in half and inserted them into the peg holes. The tooth picks weren't all the same dimension so I had to apply some scotch tape to make sure they fit tightly. I was pretty happy with the outcome. I'll probably use the same principle for all my jigs. I went to Michael's and purchased a sheet of birch plywood 12" x 24". It will be perfect for the bridge jig.

I was pretty excited to assemble my first truss. I thought I was careful in applying the solvent, but it still managed to seep to the underside of the truss. Of course, I didn't know this until I lifted the finished truss out of the jig. You can see the underside.

So I had to adjust my gluing technique by just applying a dab on the ends of the short plastic supports. This prevented excessive solvent from seeping all over, but it definitely took longer to put the truss together. However, I'm relieved that the results of my second attempt are decent enough that I can continue making the rest of the trusses. I held the truss above the platform to help me visualize how it would look. It's going to look great once it's completed.

Lastly, I reverted back to using the 1mm square plastic strips instead of the 1.5mm. The truss system held its shape perfectly unlike the 1.5mm square strips, which was much stiffer and didn't keep its curved shape as I hoped. It also looks like I'll only be able to make three to four arches each week.

Filler

Sorry about the lack of posts this past month. It's been difficult to find time to work on the layout with other commitments getting in the way. I thought I'd do a quick post today.

The DB logo is quite well known, but I didn't know that the name of the state corporation that controls the German railway system was DBAG until I started modeling. During reunification, West Germany's Deutsche Bundesbahn (German Federal Railway) merged with its eastern counterpart, Deutsche Reichsbahn (German State Railway) back in 1994. The DB stands for Deutsche Bahn, but I only finally figured out what AG stood for today. In its expanded form, it is "Aktiengesellschaft,""which translates to "stock corporation". I always thought it was GmbH. Our German office uses the GmbH acronym. I guess it is equivalent to our Ltd, Corp and Inc which all indicate a corporation versus a partnership or private ownership.

I had often heard others refer to the old term "Bundesbahn", which initially confused me because I always thought it was just, "Bahn". As it turns out they were modeling in Era III / IV whereas I was only familiar with Era V. It took me a bit of time to sort out that confusion.

Oh I forgot to mention that I picked up the remainder of my track bumpers for the railway station. I have all ten of them now. I also received my shipment of curved turnouts, but I haven't had an opportunity to connect them to the track. I still need to build the benchwork this Spring. The drop in the Canadian dollar really made it more expensive. I wish I had bought them earlier in the Summer.

Track bumpers

I picked up five track bumpers. Five more are on order. I'm sure glad I decided to buy the bumpers instead of building them myself. Although these bumpers are lightweight compared to typical ones you would find in a true terminal station, they will serve their purpose from a functional point of view. You can see from the photograph that there are some metal detailing on the bumpers. I like this attention to detail, but unfortunately it doesn't have the heavy appearance as the ones in the photograph I took when I was at the Munchen hauptbahnhof. The club has some from Marklin at HO scale, but I'd love to see Minitrix come out with some for my scale. By the way, I placed an order for four R3/R4 curved right turnouts. I'm slowly working down my purchase list of rail equipment needed for the layout. I think the solenoids and turn lanterns will be the very last purchases. The turnouts can be operated manually anyhow since I haven't made the jump to DCC yet. That's a whole different kettle of fish. For now, I'll focus on the architectural modeling. That's number one priority.

NachtZug

Christmas arrived early today. I picked up my NachtZug at HobbyTech. These are the Deutsche Bahn sleeper cars. With the NachtZug, I think my collection is complete, although getting the TGV Thalys train would be the icing on the cake. Unfortunately the TGV Thalys made by Kato is discontinued. I'd be happy if Minitrix would release an S-bahn train set with red and white color scheme. Overall, I'm pretty stoked with what I have. I think it works well with the white architectural model. Although I will have to spray paint the cork bed white or gray to reduce the contrast. It would be interesting to see how the model would look with Era III steam trains.
I also picked up some more supplies from PM Hobbycraft. I'm hoping to work on the jig for my arched truss structure this coming Xmas break. I still need to find some smaller clamps to hold down the plastic. The pinch clamps I picked up from Canadian Tire were great for holding the larger pieces together when I built the platforms, but now I need greater precision working with smaller pieces that compose the rooftop.

More lessons learned

In my desire to see how the trusses would turn out, I hurried the assembly of the prototype without the use of a jig. So I placed a printout of the truss on a piece of hardwood and clamped the pieces together using the printout as a guide and applied the solvent. What I discovered was that laserjet toner runs when it comes in contact with the solvent. Since I had clamped the pieces against the printout, it resulted in the other side of my truss turning black. So a jig is a definite must. However, I might consider trying to see if acetate is stable when in contact with the solvent. If so, I could create a printout on clear acetate and simply have the printed side facing down so the toner never comes in contact with the solvent. I don't think it will work as the acetate is probably some form of a hydro carbon just like the toner.

Another lesson was that it isn't necessary to score the styrene clear through the other side. In fact, that's absolutely not what you want to do because it will cause the edges to form a raised lip on the side where you score. This was definitely contrary to what I had expected to happen. I guess styrene has different properties than wood. After several attempts, I discovered scoring the styrene by a sub millimetre trench with the exacto knife was more than adequate. You just have to be patient when bending the styrene plastic so it will create a clean straight edge. Apply steady and constant pressure on the opposite side of the scored line until the plastic breaks away.

Lastly, the initial platform was created by cutting the styrene into 2" strips and gluing them together to form a longer strip. A problem can arise if not all the strips are exactly 2" wide. You have to sand the edges where the pieces connect to remove any obvious bumps. I discovered it was easier to glue three styrene sheets end to end and then cut out a 2" wide strip. This made for less sanding and cleaner looking edges.

Experimenting

I haven't got around to making the jig/template yet. Instead, I wanted to experiment with the 1.5mm square strips to see if they'll work be better than the smaller strips. I also wanted to see if this truss structure will work. I think it will, but it's going to take a long time to build all the arches. I calculate 70 across track trusses, 60 along track trusses and 90 diagonal trusses will be required. At one a night, it's going to take a long long LONG time to finish the platform module.

Slight revision

I think I've settled on the design for the rooftop structure. Instead of the 1mm square strips, I'm leaning towards 1.5mm square strips for greater rigidity. There seems to be some plasticity to the styrene to allow me to bend the thicker plastic to the desired shape. The only concern is possible twisting.

Arched roof top

I finished the final platform last night and picked up some more styrene from the hobby store today for the truss structure. It'll be employed for the arched roof top. However, I'm still working out the design. The above diagram is my first attempt. I used a program called Inkscape to design it. Just click on the link. It's an open source program free for download. My concern with the design is whether the curved part will hold rigid enough to retain its shape. I may need to experiment with it to see what will work best. I went with square 1mm x 1mm styrene strips. It was the smallest I could get that I thought could withstand the level of flexing required for the structure. I also had to consider durability. Anything smaller and it would be prone to breaking. I definitely want something that can take some physical abuse requiring minimal maintenance. But it also has to be easy to work with otherwise I'll be cursing all winter building this thing.

Arrived in the post

Sweet! My package finally arrived from Eurorail Hobbies today. My portals. The viaducts. And more importantly, the station announcer. The device is activated by a photo sensitive device, which is triggered when trains arrive or depart the station. However, it's quite large so now I'm trying to figure out how to install it so it's not visible yet still stay audible. I'll probably have to position the photosensitive device into one of the platforms and run wires into the station building. It's the only structure large enough to house the speaker. I didn't like the background noise. I was hoping the sound quality was a lot cleaner. I wonder if I can electronically replicate the bing bong?

Trains on the brain

Okay, this is bad. I was sitting at the bus stop thinking of how to build the jig for my roof top truss structure. I'm getting close to starting the roof as I'm nearly finished the last platform. It seems like every waking moment, my mind is on the model train layout. Hopefully this is a temporary phenomenon and I'll pursue other interests. However, I must admit that designing has given me a wonderful outlet for the creative side of my brain. My dreams have become more frequent and wild. Unfortunately I don't ever remember my dreams when I wake in the morning. Speaking of dreams, it was always a desire of mine to be an architect when I was younger. I guess all this modeling is giving me an opportunity to pursue this passion. I admit that the idea of building a model of my own town is very appealing.

By the way, my order from Eurorail Hobbies has been shipped. I'm so excited. In that order are a bunch of ICE portals, viaducts and a station voice announcer. I came across it on the website. It was only twenty bucks. I'm hoping the audio quality is good enough that I can incorporate it into my layout. I'm also hoping the announcements are spoken in German. That would be icing on the cake.

Update

Okay, I've managed to finish four out of the six platforms. I hope to finish the last two platforms this week. It's starting to come together. I'm still working out how to implement the arched roof top. Originally I was thinking of making the truss structure out of sheets of plastic. However, I've had a change of heart after working with the platforms. There's no way I would be able to cut out identical arches using the sheets. I would go mad. So now I'm considering using skinny styrene tubing that I can bend into the arched truss structure, but I would need to build a jig first.

Refined version

Well I think I'm getting closer to the final version of the layout. I know there will be additional modules to extend the north and east lines. And although the station is a terminus, there will be another module on the west end to hold the station and the town. The town will take the most time to build. I may decide to break that part into two separate modules. One for the railway station and courtyard and the other longer module for the old town square. For now, I'll focus my attention on the platform area and then begin building the bridge. Hopefully I'll have gained enough experience with styrene to tackle the station building. I've got two ideas for the building. One is similar to the Koln station with glass exterior. However, I haven't seen any clear sheets of styrene plastic. The other is an older style building with steep roof and a clock tower. I'm leaning towards the latter because it gives me the option of running Era IV or V trains without any inconsistencies provided I avoid using the ICE tunnel portals. I could even run Era III locomotives, but I'd have to avoid installing catenaries. But I really like the look of those portals. If I'm ambitious, I might custom build a wide portal to accommodate both north and east set of tracks.

If you squint really hard, you can see the connector tracks between modules. Jurgen described his experience with the club's modular layout. While preparing for the train show, they had some damage to the track as some of the tables shifted. Most modules use a single track connector that extend by a certain distance into each module. This single track links the permanently fixed track by way of rail joiners. The connector is not screwed into the table top. After that experience, he said they were going to go with a three-piece design instead. Two short track pieces at either end of a long straight track to form the connector instead of a singular long track. If the table shifts unexpectedly, only the short little pieces will be damaged. The permanent track will remain undamaged and firmly affixed to the layout. Taking that to heart, my connector will be composed of two 1" pieces at each end of a 4" piece. The N-Trak society specifies a single 8" length of track for connecting modules together. However, that is only applicable if I want to connect my module to someone else's module.

The other words of wisdom Jurgen passed on to me was don't screw in the rails that go through a tunnel. The reason behind this is that if you have to access those tracks, it will be a bugger trying to remove that track because you won't be able to manipulate a screwdriver in the tunnel. So now I'm thinking of using clips for the sections that go onto my bridge. The clip is fixed to the table and the track is simply snapped into the clip. I'm also considering allowing the truss structure of the bridge to be removable.

More changes

Version 26 and growing. Sigh. I seem to be having some difficulty with the switching. Ideally, trains coming from either north or east lines should be able to access any of the platforms at the station. That's what the guys from the club told me. It makes sense. For example, all trains coming out of the station might need to be diverted onto the east bound tracks while the north set of tracks are closed for maintenance. That's what would happen in real life. Unfortunately I have limited space to work and my first attempt at switching allowed only the middle two tracks to be accessible by north and east set of tracks. So I'm considering using a cross over switch just before the bridge. You can see from the above drawings that I decided to put a bend in the layout at the switching yard. This will give the layout some depth, but complicate my bench work plans. On the plus side I'm definitely getting better at using the XTrkCad software. Now I've got to figure out how to draw sweeping curves for the bench. Al built a corner module for the club's layout. The sides of the module is perfectly curved to match the track work. I like this much better than the typical angular look of most benchwork.

Costing

I was playing around with XTrkCad and discovered that it can generate a parts list of the layout. It can also total up the cost if you provide it a price for each part. Here's list of parts for the center section where the switching occurs. Good thing it's taking so long to build the models. I can spread out the purchase over a period of time.

XTrkCad Parts List

--- ---------------------------------------------------------
Qty Description
--- ---------------------------------------------------------
010 Minitrix 14903 Gerade-17,2mm
006 Minitrix 14904 Gerade-10,42mm
005 Minitrix 14905 Gerade-76,3mm
015 Minitrix 14906 Gerade-54,2mm
003 Minitrix 14908 Gerade-27,9mm
009 Minitrix 14909 Gerade-33,6mm
006 Minitrix 14917 Bogen-R3-15
012 Minitrix 14927 Bogen-R4-15
006 Minitrix 14954 Weiche-R4-15-L
008 Minitrix 14955 Weiche-R4-15-R
006 Minitrix 14934 Elektromagnetischer Antrieb-L
008 Minitrix 14935 Elektromagentischer Antrieb-R
006 Minitrix 66741 Weichenlaterne-L
008 Minitrix 66742 Weichenlaterne-R
014 Minitrix 66740 Beleuchtungseinrichtung fur Weichenlaterne--- ---------------------------------------------------------

Exchange

I spent Sunday designing the rail way lines for my station layout. As I stated in a previous blog entry, the layout was inspired by the hauptbahnhof in Köln. The platforms are situated in the left section. The center section will house the switching and the right section will contain a bridge crossing over the river. The center section took me quite a bit of time to work out. I went through many versions before settling on this one. At one point I had five electric double slip switches and twelve turn outs amounting to over $500. That didn't even include the solenoids or all the single track! Cringe. Here I thought the rolling stock was the expensive part of this hobby. Hoo boy was I wrong. Overall I'm pretty happy with the results and managed to optimize the equipment down to only 14 turn outs and zero double slip switches. In looking at Bachmann, Atlas and a few other manufacturers, I decided to go with Minitrix due to the quality. It's more expensive, but worth it in the long run.

Lessons learned

The guys at the CEE club have been providing me with some great advice, but there's nothing like hands on experience to really understand the nuances of a particular project. My first platform is complete, but there are some mistakes that I made along the way.

I mentioned the first mistake in the previous entry by being impatient and not waiting long enough for the plastic pieces to harden at the joint. The instructions recommend 20 minutes, but that is dependent on the amount of solvent you apply, which led to my second mistake. I applied too much solvent in some places and it literally melted some of the plastic. The instructions on the bottle said to apply sparingly, but until you try it yourself, it's difficult to know how much to use. Just be aware that the solvent is quite viscous and it does get into joints through capillary action. I'm definitely wiser now. The third mistake was applying too much pressure to a joint. As I said, the solvent literally melts the plastic so if you clamp too tightly, you will get some deformation in your joints. Fortunately, the mistakes with my first platform are difficult to see in poor lighting and most are confined to the base, which will be obscured by the trains.

Overall I'm pretty happy with the results. The platform looks a little plain so I am considering adding some architectural detail to give it more depth. However, once the arched ceiling is installed, the focal point will change, but that will have to wait. I have five more platforms to finish building.

Gluing and sanding

Now to glue the pieces together. Because the sheets for the platform are only 21" long, I had to glue three pieces together to make it long enough to span the table. Originally I decided to go with 4' long table, but my eight car ICE3 exceeded that length so I decided to go with a 5' table. Gluing the pieces together wasn't that difficult. The adhesive isn't really glue, but a solvent that helps to fuse the styrene pieces together. I laid two pieces flat on the table and made sure their ends butt joined tightly. Using the applicator that came with the solvent, I brushed the liquid over top of the joint and held them together for approximately 20 seconds as the instructions stated. The liquid worked its way into the joint. However, I discovered that it was necessary to let the solvent dry for about 20 minutes otherwise the joint was quite flimsy and would bend. So patience is a virtue when modeling with plastic.
After the pieces were firmly joined together, I cut 3" off the length of long strip plastic so that it was 5' in length and clamped it between a 90 degree aluminum corner bracket and a flat aluminum strip. This held the platform surface sturdy so that I could sand the edges to remove any discontinuity at the joints. Although the solvent dries clear, it is glossier than the styrene so you can see traces of the solvent at certain angles. Since these platforms will be covered by the arched trellis ceiling, I'm not too concerned. However, I will be more careful with the applicator on the next platform.
With sanding completed, I had to glue the side pieces of the platform to the top surface. Having the 90 degree aluminum corner bracket came in handy as you can see in the photograph. This will ensure that I will have consistent sides that are absolutely straight. The added benefit is that the platform heights will be consistent along its entire length as well. I picked up the 3' sections of the aluminum from Canadian Tire for under 15 dollars. While I was there I also picked up some small aluminum spring at the same time. I've learned from previous construction projects that having the right tools makes the job go so much smoother.

Cutting styrene

I finally started work on the platforms tonight. I decided on a width of 2" for the platforms, which works out perfectly to four strips per plastic sheet. I only wish they sold sheets in longer dimensions. They come in 21" lengths so I'll have to glue multiple strips together to get it long enough to span the table.

The first task was to pencil in the desired lines where I would cut the sheet. A fine pencil lead is preferred to achieve better precision since I would have to piece them together to form longer platforms. I want to minimize the amount of sanding at the edges, which will be required to ensure a consistent width between strips when they're glued together.

To cut the sheet, I first put the sheet on top of a cutting mat to prevent damage to the underlying work table. With the mat aligned to the edge of the table, I did the same with the plastic sheet. Then I took my straight edge and placed it on top of the plastic sheet with its straight edge aligned with one of the pencil lines. I clamped everything down so the straight edge wouldn't move around while I cut the sheet with the exacto knife. A heavy duty exacto knife is better suited for this. On the first strip, I ran the knife many times until it cut through the plastic sheet. However, it is better to score the plastic and then snap the plastic strips apart to get a cleaner edge. Since the sheet was 1.5" thick, I found scoring it halfway seemed to work best.

The platform

The temperature this week-end was too cold to do any wood work outside so the benchwork was put on hold. The forecast for next week-end is 11c, but that may change. There's a saying for Calgary, "If you don't like the weather, just wait an hour". Depending on the weather, I may have to postpone any work on the benchwork until the Spring. However, I really need to get something going this Winter so I went to the hobby store and picked up some styrene plastic for my platforms. There were two brand names for plastics - Evergreen and Plastistruct. Both are good, but Plastistruct requires using their own special adhesive. Evergreen had a pretty good variety of sizes and I was able to find strips 2mm thick and 11.1mm wide. I'll use these to establish a consistent height for the platforms. For the platform surface, I picked up 1.5mm thick sheets. I was hoping I could find 50mm wide sheets at that thickness, but no such luck so I will have to do some cutting. With the train sitting on the track and cork bed, I measured a height of 13mm required for the platform. This should be close enough.

Tools

My apologies for the lack of posts. Summer is not the time to spend indoors. But now that Autumn has arrived, the temperature is getting much cooler - a signal to start thinking about model trains. In fact, I just joined the Calgary Eurorail Express club this week-end. It's a small group dedicated to modeling European railroads in Calgary. I met with some of the members and they were giving me some helpful advice on benchwork. I've been mulling over how to construct my benchwork for my railway station layout. Due to the lack of permanent space to display my layout, I decided to go with something similar to the N-Trak modular approach. My layout is going to span four tables. Each table is 2' x 4' in dimension. When connected together the layout will span 16'. The modular design allows for easy storage. Right now, I'm focusing on the section that will contain the railway station. I figure I can build the platforms and arched rooftop this winter. But before I can do that, I have to construct my table so I purchased a couple of power tools this summer to make the job easier. The primary reason was helping with the odd construction project around the house. Not shown is the circular saw for cutting the plywood. I bought the router this week-end in order to create a rabbit joint so that the plywood would sit recessed into the 1" x 4" frame. I didn't want the edge of the plywood to be visible. I wanted to keep things looking clean.

XTrkCAD Software

I came across a computer program called XTrkCAD to help hobbyists design their model train layouts. I was using another application called RTS, but the library of vendors was limited. By the way, the track layout picture in the previous entry was drawn with Microsoft Paint months before I came across any of these layout programs. RTS and XTrkCAD both allow you to specify different vendors, but XTrkCAD was the only one that came with a Kato N-Scale library. I finally put in an order to Caboose Hobbies to complete my track layout. I placed a custom order with Chinook Hobby West here in town and the only things I've received were the turnout extension cords. It's been two months and still counting. For some reason it is really difficult to get Kato parts so that is why I resorted to ordering from Caboose Hobbies. They have a greater inventory and their prices are at least 15% cheaper, which will help offset the shipping and currency exchange. Fortunately the Canadian dollar is almost at parity with the US dollar. Ordinarily I prefer to patronize Canadian stores, but price and availability has become an issue.

In the previous version, I designed the layout to accommodate a trestle bridge and elevated viaducts. Unfortunately I haven't had the opportunity to validate if there will be a problem with the locomotives on the inclines. This next version has all the ground track on the same level as the bridge and viaducts. In order to achieve this, I will have to design and build a special split-level benchwork. This will be a winter project. I included another layout that is built entirely with viaducts. This is the larger version of the video posted earlier.

Both circuits only allow for one train to run at a time because I haven't converted any of the locomotives to DCC. I want to wait until MiniTrix releases their command console later this year. In the meantime, I'll be content with running the trains on DC for now.

Rolling, rolling, rolling...

I managed to visit a few hobby stores during my holiday in Los Angeles. I picked up more Kato Unitrack, but I still need a few more pieces to complete my track set. Here's a video of my ICE 1 running on an elevated track with a trestle bridge. I was playing around with the track configuration to see if single track viaducts would fit properly to a double wide bridge. I didn't like the double track viaduct as the walls were way too high. It obscured the visibility of the trains. The whole purpose is to be able to view the train as it rolls along the tracks. I'm planning to lengthen the straight portion of this setup so it spans the length of the living room. I know the bridge doesn't go with the ICE, but I like the setup.