And awayyyyyyyy we go!
- Thread starter Mrs.Mac
- Start date
Thanks for intoducing your helpers and showing us the progress you are making. Fun stuff. That's a neat looking control panel you have made Mrs. Mac
Wow!!!! You GO girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Very impressive work Mrs. Mac! How did you learn to do that wiring? For me this is the most challenging aspect of building a layout.
Val
Very impressive work Mrs. Mac! How did you learn to do that wiring? For me this is the most challenging aspect of building a layout.
Val
This is a great venture Mrs Mac,, and you have turned this into a fun thread
Great to see the layout unfold:thumb:
Now tell us more about this trolly line,,, when you have a moment
Great to see the layout unfold:thumb:
Now tell us more about this trolly line,,, when you have a moment
Great progress!!! Say, could you talk more about that nifty control panel? It appears to be covered with sheet metal, no?
Very professional look to it.
Ralph
Very professional look to it.
Ralph
Questions answered...
Arlaghan, if they ever figure out how to type I'm in trouble!!
Val, I learned how to do the wiring with a little reading and a alot of questions to Mr. Mac. He has an engineering degree, so he's a huge help in the consulting area. He's also the one who helped work up the bench work, although I did most of the actual construction myself.
interurben, What would you like to know about the trolley line? It won't be an overhead system, although I considered putting one up "for show" with the idea of actually hooking it up someday, but it might get too busy looking and would interfer with views into the town too much. It is a seperate point-to-point line. I will wire it up using opto-sensors and a reversing circuit from Circuitron to control track polarity. I will be working on hooking it all up this week, so we'll see what happens. I also have bumpers at both ends, so my old Lionel gang car can reverse using it's bumpers. Let me know if there is anything else you'd like to know.
Ralph, you're right. The control panel is sheet metal. And a real pain in the you-know-what to drill holes in. so, I did a little online research and came across a get little tip. Sandwich the metal between 2 layers of plywood to get clean holes. It worked like a charm. The switches are DPDT C/O from Miniatronics. I used out label maker with black on clear tape to label each of the switches. I've installed them into the layout like drawers that pull out from between the 2x4s. We had a bunch of friends over for train day yesterday and they were very impressed with what they fould behind the drawers. There are 3 of them in fact. 1 for the switch controls, one for the directions and cab controls, and one is a drawers for my tools and stuff that I need, but don't want resting on my lake area. If you want to know anything else, let me know.
Mrs. Mac
Arlaghan, if they ever figure out how to type I'm in trouble!!
Val, I learned how to do the wiring with a little reading and a alot of questions to Mr. Mac. He has an engineering degree, so he's a huge help in the consulting area. He's also the one who helped work up the bench work, although I did most of the actual construction myself.
interurben, What would you like to know about the trolley line? It won't be an overhead system, although I considered putting one up "for show" with the idea of actually hooking it up someday, but it might get too busy looking and would interfer with views into the town too much. It is a seperate point-to-point line. I will wire it up using opto-sensors and a reversing circuit from Circuitron to control track polarity. I will be working on hooking it all up this week, so we'll see what happens. I also have bumpers at both ends, so my old Lionel gang car can reverse using it's bumpers. Let me know if there is anything else you'd like to know.
Ralph, you're right. The control panel is sheet metal. And a real pain in the you-know-what to drill holes in. so, I did a little online research and came across a get little tip. Sandwich the metal between 2 layers of plywood to get clean holes. It worked like a charm. The switches are DPDT C/O from Miniatronics. I used out label maker with black on clear tape to label each of the switches. I've installed them into the layout like drawers that pull out from between the 2x4s. We had a bunch of friends over for train day yesterday and they were very impressed with what they fould behind the drawers. There are 3 of them in fact. 1 for the switch controls, one for the directions and cab controls, and one is a drawers for my tools and stuff that I need, but don't want resting on my lake area. If you want to know anything else, let me know.
Mrs. Mac
Update
Well, the weekend is over, and I didn't get as much completed on the layout as I had hoped. Laundry, cleaning, and having company over kind of got in the way. But I did manage to get some of the wiring connected for my switches. And I found one that is wired wrong internally. What a joy that should be to fix given I'm using Bachmann EX-track and all the controls are under the track. Mr. Mac has offered his consulting skills to help me figure out this one, hopefully without having to remove the switch.
All the control panels are installed and fully functional! Yeah!!! The drawer still needs a little work, but we're getting there.
Train Day was a blast. We had 6 kids over ranging in age from 5 months to 2 1/2 years. The oldest was able to use Mr. Mac's Lionel remote to control the "big trains" on his Christmas layout. It's wonderful to see how quickly kids pick up on technology. I think the parents enjoyed the complexity of my layout better, while the kids really liked the Lionel O-gauge stuff. Lots of big sound and smoke. A few of mine make sound, but it just doesn't compare.
Well, that's all for now. Happy modeling!!
Well, the weekend is over, and I didn't get as much completed on the layout as I had hoped. Laundry, cleaning, and having company over kind of got in the way. But I did manage to get some of the wiring connected for my switches. And I found one that is wired wrong internally. What a joy that should be to fix given I'm using Bachmann EX-track and all the controls are under the track.
Mr. Mac has offered his consulting skills to help me figure out this one, hopefully without having to remove the switch.All the control panels are installed and fully functional! Yeah!!! The drawer still needs a little work, but we're getting there.
Train Day was a blast. We had 6 kids over ranging in age from 5 months to 2 1/2 years. The oldest was able to use Mr. Mac's Lionel remote to control the "big trains" on his Christmas layout. It's wonderful to see how quickly kids pick up on technology. I think the parents enjoyed the complexity of my layout better, while the kids really liked the Lionel O-gauge stuff. Lots of big sound and smoke. A few of mine make sound, but it just doesn't compare.
Well, that's all for now. Happy modeling!!