I'm Really Liking this Working on the Railroad Bit

So more middle deck today.  

So I had to cut up some more lengths of double slot rail first.

Then screw them onto the wall after of course measuring very careful 5 times to make sure I get the holes at the right height above ground level.  Having lined the shed with 12mm plywood sure makes it easier for building - it becomes part of the structure.

Then add the bracket - simple slot it in type jobbie.

Then make some more frames to sit on those brackets.  I'm using 42x19mm DAR pine timber for the frame and joining with screws via the use of a Kreg Pocket Jig to make neat holes for the screws.

Then join the new frame to the previous one with a couple of screws.

There, another 3 frames in place.

Now to add some foam.  I'm using 50mm thick XPS foam for the middle deck.

The rails for the brackets stick out 20mm from the wall.

So my trusty jewelers saw with a fine blade does the cutting very nicely and quickly.

Now the foam sits nicely against the wall.

There - foam sheets in place on the latest batch of frames.

Last job of the day was to take all the rails off the wall on the forst for frames, as I had made the rails longer than needed and that would have necesitated have a backdrop sheet of MDF or something added for the bottom deck.  Neating trimming each rail to the bottom of the bracket allows a neat finish and no need for any timber sheeting :-)

Oh, by the way, each frame is also screwed to each bracket with 2 screws. Solid as I reckon :-)

Tomorrow might be some more top deck frames since I started some more today.  I'm knackered again.

I Keep Forgetting to Post in the Blog

I plonk a pic or two up in Faceplant very regularly, but forget about the blog here.  As many would know, my train shed has now been powered, insulated, lined and painted. So now it is time for the railway empire construction phase. So I better start blogging about it.  So here goes for today.

So it was time to get the drop saw out again and start cutting some 19x42 mm DAR pine timber.

I have decided on my plan of attack for the middle deck -  A frame made of 19x42 mm DAR pine timber would be screwed to the double slot brackets from the wall.  

50mm XPS foam will then be glued onto the frame.

So I made my first frame and yes, guess what I forgot?

That's right - holes in the cross members for wiring to go through.  So off to the workbench and drill press and start drilling 17 mm holes in the timber.

Now the frame is good to go.

So in position I reckon the viewing of the decks looks OK to me.

The thickness of each deck is good.  With just some 30 mm foam yet to go on the very top deck in some places, where depth of scenery is required.

Later this arvo I decided to cut up some more timber to make another 3 or 4 middle deck frames.

Yeh, then I still had some time till dinner, so part assembled 3 frames.  Gee I do love the "pocket screw" method of connecting the pieces of the frame.  I bought the proper Kregg brand of jig so I can easily drill the holes, then use the Kregg 32mm screws. Simples.

So that's it for today, many, many, many more days, weeks, months, years to go.....  :-)

Move over Numbnuts, We're taking this Industrial !

So, for a very little diorama I am working on, it's Z scale at 1:220 scale, I need a bit of forest litter for under some trees.  So I best make some, hadn't I.

So it was off to the side of the shed where Sarah up the road keeps a few native bee hives and I grabbed a few handfuls of dead leaves from whatever tree next door drops them there.  They were nice and dry and crunchy.

Out with my mortar and pestle and I ground them up into a fine powder and bits and pieces.

Then I got one of my really fine sieves I got from some kitchen section in the shops somewhere and sieved the results.  Came out quite well - bit of effort, but hey - pretty much free.  The remnants that were not needed were chucked into the garden as compost.

Old bottles and containers are always hoarded around here as they do come in handy.  Old spice jars are just the shot as they have the right sort of top to dispense the scatter.

So I poured a few sieves worth of scatter into them for use later.

Then I realised I needed a few different colours of scatter.  I needed a faster way - so now it was time to go Industrial on the job !

I went across the road to the footpath that has some Lilly Pilly and Paperbark trees growing on it.

And under my Poinciana I grabbed a few handfuls of the compost I make from the leaves, twigs etc that drop down. 

So I brought it all in to my bench and got down to it.  

Now, being that Black & Decker are not too bad a brand of power tools, I of course had a nice chopper they make. Normally seen in the kitchen, mine has never see it - it has always been in the garage and used to make scatters :-)

Each material in turn was thrown in and ground up for a minute or two.

Then they were passed through the sieve.

And then placed into some plastic jars until needed a little later.  And the cost of course was nada.

PS. Normally I would put the makings into the oven at a very very low temp and cook for 5 minutes or so to kill off any bugs and their eggs.  Wouldn't want them hatching on your layout and crawling around, let alone eating parts of it.

A Sunday Arvo Project

Setting up WiThrottle using my old Digitrax DB150 DCC system and a PR4

So, I am using “JMRI WiThrottle” software on a Raspberry Pi 3 B hardware base.  I even bought the cute official case for the Pi.

 

The OS I am using is the Raspberry Pi OS version 3.5.23

JMRI, and hence PanelPro, is version 5.4+R9005ecb4ac.

The DB150 has a 16 volt AV power supply (3 amps capable) as it’s power supply.  By the way, this is the same power supply I am using to power my NCE SB3 when it is connected up to this type of setup.

 

Output from the DB150 is connected to the tracks via my normal plug/socket method.  Hey, I bought a hundred from somewhere once – they’ll last me a looong time.

 

The 6 wire Data Cable is connected from the “A” port on the DB150 to the left hand port of the PR4.

 

The PR4 is powered by a 15 volt DC wall wart type power supply, which happens to also be what I power my SPROG II and my ESU Lokprogrammer with.  The PR4 is also sometimes connected direct to my PC so I can use JMRI to push sound files to Digitrax decoderes and program them.

And of course the Raspberry Pi is powered by a 5 volt DC wall wart type with 2 amp capacity.

          

So there is nothing much different in getting the Digitrax DB150 and PR4 going compared to the NCE SB3.  Plug it all together and once you have the JMRI software on the Pi, bring up the preference page and make sure that you set these settings under the “Connections” page:

“System Manufacturer” to “Digitrax”

“System Connection” to “LocoNet PR4”

“Serial Port” to “ttyACM0”

“Connection Prefix” to “L” – auto sets anyway.

“Connection Name” to “LocoNet” – auto sets anyway.

And that pretty much is all I needed to do.  The Raspberry Pi has been set to connect into my normal WiFi at home, so I then connect my phone into that network and can then play with Engine Driver on the phone and drive my trains on the test track.  So now I can use either my NCE SB3 or this old Digitrax DB150 to test drive large trains and consists via WiThrottle.

                                                                       

 

I Need MORE Power Scotty !

OK, so I got out the old DCC system, the NCE SB3 Smart Booster, I have sitting in a dusty box.  I've not had to use it in ernest as I have not needed more power to the rails than the NCE PowerCab or the SPROG II puts out (about an Amp each).  Hey, I've only been programming or testing single locos or at most a couple of N scale ones in a consist.  But this little beauty, the SB3 puts out up to 3 Amps of power - yeeehaaarrr.

The SB3 on the left and the power supply on the right.

Well, I now want to do up some big consists - 6 or 7 (Tim the Toolman is grunting in the background, so maybe more...) locos.

Now, I also managed to find the old NCE USB Interface I bought years ago and haven't used in yonks since I got the SPROG II years ago.

USB Interface with USB cable at the top heading off to the PC and 

the data cable at the bottom heading off to the SB3.

So, for test running a few big consists, I have cleared all the crap off of the test track and cleaned it up again.  Now I need to work out and setup WiThrottle so I can drive the trains with my phone - much easier than buggerising around with the NCE Hammerhead (PowerCab).  Mind you, I have never setup WiThrottle before either - how hard can it be?

So a quick gander at the JMRI website of the instructions - yeh, yeh, I know what I'm doing.. hehehehe - ever heard those famous words before?

Funny enough, It wasn't that hard.  I got my USB Interface, plugged in the correct flat NCE 6 pin RJ12 Cable, Plugged in the USB cable into the USB Interface and then into the PC. Plugged the other end of the RJ12 cable into the SB3, Connected the power to the SB3 and then the output from it to the Tracks.

I of course already had JMRI installed on the PC - been using it for years - what a great piece of software for model train nuts.

And next I did this:

Made sure the PC was running on the 2G WiFi network at home and NOT the 5G one, as the phone is ancient and only uses the 2G WiFi.

Next were these steps:

1. Start JMRI on the PC

2. Edit Connections when the error pops up (steps 3-7)

3. Select System Manufacturer of NCE

4. Select System Connection of NCE USB

5. Select Serial Port of COM5

6. Select System of PowerCab

7. Select USB Version of V7.x.x

8. Actions

     Start Web Server

9. Actions

     Start WiThrottle Server

10. Fire up the Phone and Start up the Engine Driver application and connect to the Discovered Server.

The PowerCab is only to show how big they are compared to the phone behind it.  

Might be an old phone, but does the job.  Mind you, the PowerCab gets a bit of use

as a quick testing tool since it is all in one.

11. As the little furry animal says - Simples.  I played trains.  I'll tidy up the cabling and make a little box or something to make it all neat... later.

Now where are the rest of those SD70 MAC's so I can get them all running at the same speed for a good consist? .....