Modeling topic

Any clever and cheap turntable controls out there?

Tue, 2011-11-01 13:23 — DKRickman

Finding myself in possession of a scratch built turntable (well, the guts of one - I still have to build the decorative parts), I need to make it turn. I've got some ideas for gears, etc, but that still leaves open the question of motive power. I could turn the thing by hand, of course, but I'd rather not have to finger my models too much. I could run a shaft out to the fascia and use a hand crank, but I'm not sure how that will look or feel to operate.

GP Quiz -- Win a Year's Free Subscription to MRH

Mon, 2011-10-31 14:44 — Joe Brugger

Here's the November quiz: Identify the actual locomotive type (for example, ALCo RS1) and the model manufacturer (for example, Con-Cor), listing them from left to right. Running down to your stash and looking at the locomotive numbers is cheating and won't help anyway.

5 comments

The CCT&E Update - The Drive-In Movie Theater

Mon, 2011-10-31 12:47 — DrSterno

Scenery - Structures

Hi All;

It's been a while since I've posted anything. However, some progress has been made on the scenery of the "CCT&E Ry".

I've always had the idea in my head of taking about a 7" Portable DVD Player and kit-bashing it, to turn it into a working 'Drive-In Movie Theater' for the "CCT&E".

Wood weathering

Mon, 2011-10-31 03:23 — pipopak

Large picture of weathered wood house at:

http://www.shorpy.com/node/11574?size=_original

LED Lighting Test

Sun, 2011-10-30 16:30 — LKandO

Benchwork - Roadbed

Is LED lighting workable for layout lighting? In my case, close but no cigar.

Here is my test setup. The bench top is 54" from the floor. The valance panel is 21" above the bench top. The LED strip is mounted 2" from the bottom of the valance. That makes the LEDs 23" above the bench top. The strip is a 5050 on 0.65" spacing (300 LEDs per 5m). They are powered at 12v drawing 2.6A.

Thanks Everyone!

Sun, 2011-10-30 15:20 — David Calhoun

What a great day! The "Greater Nickel Plate" lives - - we have a DCC power pack and controller; DCC decoders for the engines; track; power cleaner for engine wheels; new Nickel Plate Society Magazines to read; a new Nickel Plate T-Shirt for my birthday (Thank you, Peggy); and an assortment of other goodies I needed to work on the railroad.

Any experience narrowing an Atlas roundhouse?

Sun, 2011-10-30 11:40 — DKRickman

Another thing I found in my box-o'-trains is an Atlas HO scale roundhouse. Nice, I need a roundhouse, and had planned on scratch building one. This could come in handy..

Looking at it, the roundhouse is designed for 15 degrees between the stall tracks. I thought that's what I'd built, but it turns out that I went with only 10 degrees. Spreading the tracks isn't an option, for space reasons, so it looks like I have to kitbash the structure.

To DCC or not to DCC, that is the question

Sun, 2011-10-30 06:28 — DKRickman

No, this is not another thread asking whether DCC is worth the effort, or whether I ought to convert, etc. My wife bought me a big box full o' trains (HO scale), most of which I really don't have much use for. The plan is to sell off whatever I don't need, and hopefully come close to breaking even.

Mapping function keys on a Digitrax DN163 Mobile Decoder

Sat, 2011-10-29 22:12 — RCredbaron

I want to use the function outputs on a Digitrax DN163 Mobile Decoder to turn on and off lights.

Using the "Digitrax Function Remapping" table (http://www.digitrax.com/ftp/remap.pdf), F1 CV35, F2 CV36 and F3 CV37 have a value of "4" for the green function lead and "8" for the violet function lead.

A NCE Power Cab is used to set the CV values: CV35 = 4 for the green lead and CV36=8 for the violet lead. I get no response when the "1" or "2" are pressed.

Chesapeake and Ohio

Sat, 2011-10-29 05:57 — Rich49

I live in the UK. I am currently starting a model railroad, I have picked the C & O in the Appalanchians to model.

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