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Arboretum Valley

83K views 543 replies 65 participants last post by  Norman Byrne 
#1 ·
Hi

Now the baseboards are almost finished, I thought I would see if I can share some photos:



An overall view to show perpective. On the left you can see mark 3 tables. I was not happy with these so they had go:



So on to mark 4:



Lets see if this works

Regards

TNT
 
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#3 ·
Hi

Thanks, planning to put 14mm holes between each cell.

As to good carpentry, not so much, but its got better, this is mark 4 and nearly 12 months into it lol. You should see mark one it was horrible.

regards TNT
 
#5 ·
That's a great looking space you have there and free and unencumbered too.

Nice carpentry too by the way


I look forward to see how you fill the space with a railway.

David
 
#7 ·
Thank-you for your kind comments.

A few more pictures:

First a couple that show what I had to do before I got a room I could work in.





The last of the left hand main tables about to go in:



The plan such as it is:



My wife who i call lu , have a go at making her own trees: I think they look ok, she is much more artistic then me




And I gotta put at least one train in here, others to follow when I finally get them back out of their boxes



Regards

TNT
 
#9 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hi
Yes and a little daunting.

I really hate the space wasted in modern buildings namely the loft. I always said if I was going to build a house, I would have a room in the loft.

Well not a new house, but when we were doing an extension and at the same time the existing roof needed repairs, i just said to myself put your money where your mouth is.

And actually in the scheme of the extension adding the specially made joists only added a small amount to the overall cost.

So, some good luck out some bad luck.

Lets hope that I can actually use it in something that actually looks ok though


My ambition sometimes far outweighs my capabilities.

Regards

TNT
 
#10 ·
QUOTE (trainsntrees @ 22 Mar 2011, 17:25) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Lets hope that I can actually use it in something that actually looks ok though


My ambition sometimes far outweighs my capabilities.

This can be said for many who start building scale models. The great thing about posting pictures on here is that there is more than one person looking at your work in a constructive way and therefore can bring up any possible 'sticky' areas you may not notice yourself. Great work so far and tell the missus that those trees are looking great.

Cheers,Frame.
 
#11 ·
Hi TNT
Have to agree with you about the loft space being converted into a proper room. It`s something I would like to do to my loft but lack of funds means that it would never happen. Still I enjoy my trips up to loft, scraping knees and banging heads aside it`s enjoyable
Regards Mike
 
#12 ·
Nice stuff Redtop, look forward to seeing some locos running etc! Don't rush though - next week will be fine.

I'm not jealous of the room - I reckon half the fun is trying not to bang my head on something and having to crawl on all fours to get to the end of my storage loops! However, it looks a fine job - far better than mine.

One suggestion - don't drill holes for wires, they are never big enough and a pain in the backside at times! The other risk is drilling through for a tree (or whatever) and going through a few cables at the same time! I have some comb trunking for the "complex" areas and use cable ties stapled to the frame elsewhere. I leave the ties fairly loose until I'm sure all the cables are in place (and then find I've missed something).

Nice trees too - they look as good as any I've seen in the shops etc!
 
#13 ·
Hi
Thanks, not thought about that. Yep clipping and spirrals seem a good idea.

Lu will be well chuffed about the trees its here first try, but she keeps pinching all my cable !!


She has been experimenting with a few other stuff, waterfalls and beach scenes, ill try and post some later.

Gonna have to take a trip to Blackpool and get some photos for backscenes of the beach, havent worked out how they join them all together though, will have to learn photshop or something.
regards

Kal
 
#14 ·
Hi

So all the tables are finished, now I am just arranging all of the elevations and different levels for the trackbed scenery.

I have decided to use the Streamline 100 in unseen areas and lay new 75 from here on in.

A few things have now come to the fore which I am having difficulty deciding on.

The plan now is to take 4 tracks in a tailchaser around the room twice in a molested figure of 8, i.e it goes around once at ground level amd then once a level 1 before coming back to the main station.

Where I am undecided is , should I run the two express(fast lines) in between the two branch(slow) lines so all up traffic is nearside and all down offside, like the peterborough to kings x lines or should I run the two express lines side by side and the two branchlines the other side of the 10 foot?

Second question is whether it will look odd if I do the express lines in concrete sleepers with branchlines in wood?

I need to think this through before I go an buy loads of track.

Regards Kal
 
#15 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hi

Some new photos of my aaagh !! going too slow layout.

Well as you can see got a final ish idea of what I want and set about the boards with a saw


Working out my curves and overpass, wish I could actually use that dang winrail i bought, but no! for me it's see it! do it! i am afrai i'm, too impatient to wait to learn a darn programme, i will be finished before i work out how to use it.



Here you can see where the main station will be on level 1 to the back , the tracks to the foreground is the second half of the figure 8 at level zero



A Few trains



Regards

Kal
 
#17 ·
HI Thanks

It will be taking my time, like it or not, my problem is I am too particular, and once I know something is not right it winds me up


So please if there are an things are borderline wrong don't tell me or I will end up ripping it all up again ;0.

Of course any major ussues fire away.

Well finally happy ish with how to cross the near end of the room. Of course plenty of triming and reshaping boards to come to makes sure the landscape looks flwing, but I will do that when I see where the track fits.



Regards Kal
 
#19 ·
Hi

No as its only 80mm, but the plan is to cut out the ply below so that I can reach up from under if needed, but a good point, wish you had mentioned it on MK 2 and 3 of my project, but then I was not as member then and had not posted anything so it can be forgiven


Regards

Kal
 
#21 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hi

Yes I will use cork cut into 40mm slices with 60 degree ish shoulders. Not for the sound reduction as this is minimal, more for the longegivity and the desire to raise the tracks from the baseboard, Plus I have shed loads of it
.

To reduce sound. I am planning to use air cell theory with old egg trays in the drum of the baseboard, not sure if it will work but if you don't try... I will also be building draws adn portfolio slots under the tables, for storing tools etc and for a number of diorama board I intend to have as removable sections across the middle. I alo intend to create a cassette boards that slots between the two side to drive trains onto and lthen lift them out into shelf solt i will have on the walls. As you can see the walls are quite sloped so , i need to try a few ideas before i get it sorted.

Had a big change around to day, too much track and i wanted more scenery also decided the main station was better on the lower level and i have fallen in love with the bacchmann art deco station, and a number of other changes,which i am happier with now, ill post pics later.

Got my power disticts all planned out now and decided how to mix my existing code 100 with the new 75 i need to buy. Lou has been getting all her resin buildings out today, i never new she had so many, god knows where they will all fit.

Three zones, meaning two boosters, should see me ok.

Quick estimate of detection zones led me to 96 blocks :0 . hmm not sure how many you can actually have on the ECOS. Need to look into a bit more detail on detectors I still few things short on my understanding of the actual components.

Also gonna start thinking about rfid for loco recognition, I am awaiting Hornby railmaster to see what they have planned, I think it would be very short sited for them to have it only for there own control centres, so wait and see.

Regards

Kal
 
#23 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hi

So track laying one side this week and also I thnk I have finally worked out my power and control decisions. Well some of them.

So

Control Centre for Locos = Ecos 50200
Power Boosters will be 2 Digitrax DB 200+ opto 8 Amps with a an RM42 each which allows me to seperate each 8x4 board into a seperate power district.
Detection bus will be Loconet, the a PR3 acting as master and interface for PC.
Decoder Programming will be decoder Pro
Point control will be a Digitrax SE8C and Cobalt stall motors
Signaling will be with SE8C's
Detection will be a mix of BD 4 and BDL168

Pc program, still undecided but will be either JMRI, ROC or RR&C , all have pros and cons with the ECOS, How they handle Loconet and transponding maybe the decider.
Transponding still undecided, between LDT, MERG RFID and Digtrax transponding. Testing will be required, though RFID looks favourite.

So know what they track is going to look like, ish
and my power and control sorted , i think.

Time to order some bits and start laying track and power.

Regards

Kal
 
#25 ·
Hi

My wife made them. She used Copper wire, 1.5mm from household lighting cable solid core wond to make the base and trunk and mulistrand earth wire for the branches. She then coated it in Cork adhesive, which we bought for the cork underlay, but we found worked too well for that. However it is fantastic and cheap for making bark and as you will see soon, ploughed fields.

Regards

Kal
 
#26 ·
*** Kal, take every opportunity you can to stiffen the ply... 45x15 or similar on edge wherever it'll fit will help. You will be surprised how much/badly ply will move without it... its not as stiff and stable as it pretends to be :).

Sound: My roots are in this area :).

Using varied surface areas (your egg cartons) is for the absorbtion of existing sound waves - not to prevent their generation. As I think you know propogation and suppression are quite different.

Unwanted sound generation is far better suppressed first by having only the minimum continuous surface area (continuous baseboard area ONLY where tracks exist) and secondly by random stressing of the "guilty" panels - adding both mass and ***random*** stiffening will prevent the generation of the unwanted standing waves that create resonances / amplification.

Its looking really nice by the way... Keep up the excellent progress

Richard
 
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