# garage layout progress (Tankist Part 3)



## tankist

For Prior progress log see threads:
Part 1, Part 2
and photolog 


------
Left the electronics alone for this evening and focused on bridges.

new removable span from the descent bridge.











the plywood is thin and flexible so i glued in a square dowel on the underside. the plastic side "panels" were to long so i cut out 4 sections from the middle and super-glued the ends. rail is not yet attached to the span. 

DAIR #2512 approaching.











side view. it actually looks like a bridge now











while glue dried i started prototyping the culvert under the climb bridge from cardboard. no worries, there will be enough clearance when its done (some rock "blasting" will be required).











new shortened span with the plastic sides.


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## SFC Diesel

Looks cool man!


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## Big Ed

SSG. Diesel said:


> Looks cool man!



I agree it's going to look nice when done.:thumbsup:

The mountains look good the way you shaped them.


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## tankist

thank you guys. 


kept working on that bridge. concrete supports for the girder










some paint, check rail installed










the other side


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## Big Ed

Do they sell sections of the check rail?

Nice touch of detail they are.:thumbsup:


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## tankist

not sure, i wouldn't be surprised if they do sell something like that. 
but these were actually cannibalized from code83 track sections. cut them to size, gave slight bend and super-glued butting against the plastic mounting plates


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## tjcruiser

Really nice mountain textures ... VERY realistic!


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## tankist




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## tankist

built a consentration board for turnout position detection microswitches and started soldering leads (i have two for each turnout creatinga DPDT). good thing i decided to double-check if my wiring was conforming to color code i set. the very first turnout i test - nothing. no buzz on either NO or NC lead of one of the switches (the other tested out fine). so i had a fun task of getting the machine out as everything is buried deep at this point and sealed so not to let future ballast in. that's with already completed track work - not fun.

sure enough the micro-switch is shot  clicking but not connecting anything in any position.
ended up un-soldering and cutting everything from it, breaking it off, installing new one all while dealing with trackwork trying not to disturb it to much. which in this area is near impossible as there are 3 of them inter-meshed. good thing i decided to leave wire slack...


2 hours, coule cigarettes (i rarely smoke) and one beer later, everything closed up and turnout #1 is reporting position properly. but this is one frustrating evening. i sure hope that chineese microswitches have higher failure ratio then 1 to 16 ...





PS broke the switch casing open and examined contacts inside. no electrical connection. MFers!!!


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## tjcruiser

tankist said:


> PS broke the switch casing open and examined contacts inside. no electrical connection. MFers!!!



Tankist,

My wife an I bought a 25 year old house a couple years ago. Upon move-in, we were concerned about a slow-drip leak in one of the bedroom heating pipes. We had our trusty plumber run through a full system check ... turns out that whoever plumbed the house originally had put some flux around the copper pipe joint, but never actually soldered the thing watertight. It had been loose-fit and dripping away for 25 years! Dohhh!

Back to trains ...

Very nice work here. I was wonderng about the "stop 'em from derailing over the bridge extra rail pieces" ... what they're called, how you found them, etc. Big Ed pegged TJ Question #1 ... "Check Rails" ... and you (T-Man) pegged TJ Question #2 ... "custom made from Code 83 rail".

Thanks for keeping us in the loop ... a fun project to watch!

TJ


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## tankist

missed your post somehow



tjcruiser said:


> I was wonderng about the "stop 'em from derailing over the bridge extra rail pieces" ... what they're called, how you found them, etc. Big Ed pegged TJ Question #1 ... "Check Rails" ... and you (T-Man) pegged TJ Question #2 ... "custom made from Code 83 rail".


actually it was brought to my attention these are called guard rails in US (but still "check rails" in UK). and T-man is actually other member, not me .


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## tjcruiser

Dohh !

Too many T's ... I get my own name confused sometimes. Sorry 'bout that. No intent to confuse our most handy Russian with our most capable O-gage vet!

TJ (<=== empasis on T!)


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## Pton46

really nice, can't wait to see whats next


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## tankist

that was one piece of a weekend.

Saturday
after I burned by the DOA micro-switch i verified all other turnout position detectors. all checked out fine apart from one instance of miss-wiring. soldered all 48 leads into quick disconnect concentration board (rectifying the one erroneous switch making eight consistent 6 pin connectors. 

overview. instead of bunch of wires thats what sticking from underneath the table now









8x6 connectors









other side. not industrial grade job but it works.









Sunday
worked on the other side of quick disconnect board. in the future, when it comes to that i will be building different board to feed the turnout position to PC. for now it is wired as polarity reverserse DPDT harness. I didn't break the pin header strips into indivdual sections so to preserve strength. connected to the quick disconnect board is thin board with 8 connectors to the LED indicators and limiting resistors for these LEDs. white/brown wire pair is power input. 










connector for bi color LEDs with limiting resistors









polarity reversing DPDT connections in progress (4 leftmost done). looks horrible but so far no shorts. 









all the signals on control panel can be powered from track - DCC. on the right power is the input header. 4 shottky diodes make a rectifying bridge + small capacitor to smooth the resulting voltage. the quick disconnect harness will be powered from here. 7 pairs of connectors are for constant color diodes. more LED limiting resistors are on the underside









both thin boards will be located on the front side of control panel housing


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## tankist

Testing.
connected power to track and placed engine to verify my creation doesn't get the powercub into short protection mode. some glowing LEDS can be seen










power draw with the engine (headlight on) 










I simply love glowing LEDs. cant wait to seem them all powered and actually indicating positions.












BONUS 

Gathered and "Marinaded" (50/50 glycerin and denatured alcohol solution ) some moss from my back yard. i think its going to make excellent vegitation. 











small shelf to put away the tiny bottles of paint


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## slohmoh

Wow tankist that looks good.I have been watching youre progress over the last few months,and I now know I must take out all my wiring and start over.
Thanks for the inspiration.
slohmoh


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## tjcruiser

Tankist ...

Ma Bell has got nothin' on you ... very nice work with the telephone wire ... clean solders, neat circuit boards, etc. Very nice, indeed.

Where do you find glycerin? I built a cub scout toy flying thing with my son recently ... we were supposed to soak the rubber band (motor!) in glycerin before stretching/using it. I tried hardware stores, Home Depot, CVS ... no luck. We ended up using hand lotion, which has glycerin as its primary ingredient. But where does one buy glycerin? What does it look/feel like in its "raw" form???

Thanks,
TJ


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## tankist

thanks guys 

TJ, for soldering i really learned to work cleaner and more precise as i went. was allower the place from the start but now i can actually keep from meltin insulation and making solder drops to neighboring solder points. learning as with everything 


for glycerin i had to look allover. the guide i read said they sell it in pharmacies and chemical supply places. wallmart was supposed to have it as well , but mine didn't (i have sucky WM however compared to others). 
had to ask a friend who works in hospital and he got me a flask from their pharmacy. 9$ for smaller flask. i probably going to order it online next time. it is a clear liquid (but can be purple tinted too) and has flow of very warm honey. i can imagine it will be VERY good for rubber band motors lifespan and performance.


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## tjcruiser

tankist said:


> " ... has flow of very warm honey."


Does it taste good, too? :laugh:

Seriously, thanks much for the tip / feedback ... much appreciated!

TJ


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## bradimous1

I was just wondering what did you use for the texture on the Mtns.? The texture is awesome. Looks almost like you used aluminum foil and painted plaster over it... I am sure that isn't what you did... but it is awesome work... nice job!!!


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## tankist

Brad, thank you. but thats actually exactly what i used - crumbled foil as a form to cast plaster (of paris). the later pieces came out not to bad but first attempts sucked. now that i own WS rock mold i will be redoing the least good sections.

not sure if you seen my diorama progress thread but i'm very happy with the results there. thats the level i will be trying to achieve on main layout.


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## swiggy

tankist, I am extremely impressed!!! I will try the foil trick when i have a redo of my layout


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## tankist

TY Swig. but again, i really don't recommend foil. was to lazy to get the rock mold when i started (despite other members suggesting it). but now i think that was one of the best 9$ i spent and kicking myself for not getting it earlier. so eventually I will be redoing the rocks on my main layout. IMHO the result (diorama thread linky) below is much better.


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## tankist

turnout position indication project is complete 
after troubleshooting and removing one shorted lead and one disconnection, all the circuits are installed into the control panel enclosure and connected. cut and bent aluminum angles to mount the enclosure to the table

view from underneath.










the connector











applied power and it is Christmas   !!! decided on Green/Green for streight route, Red/green for diverging. it is not really signaling but untill i have full fledged PC controlled signaling system this will do










and it even responds to throwing turnouts! crossover is closed (or is it "open" when set to go straight), diverging route selected on the decent line (lower, right most turnout)









total power draw (again, plus loco with headlight glowing)


















half way there, now need to mount and connect the CDUs to actually throw the turnouts. 











.


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## tjcruiser

R2D2 and C3PO would be very proud!


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## tankist

it is almost 4AM...

the 3 solenoid driver circuits are finished and consolidated into 1 device. added additional capacitor to consistently throw paired turnouts (one channel driving 2 coils)











program track circuit. the turnout indication is powered from the "run" side. this way when switch set to "program" there no illumination but the red LED of the powercab base.










all came together. and the real surprising thing it all works! 












now with electronics out of the way its scenery time


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## Reckers

Tankist, I love the rock work----especially the color. Really impressive layout!


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## bradimous1

WOW... that is all I can say about that. Great work Tankist.


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## tankist

started weathering tracks. tried airbrushing acrylic but just didn't have the patience for 4 layers. decided to try that brown/rusty primer and really like how it turned out. rail is IMO has perfect color or very near (in my lighting conditions), airbrushing ties now should not be a problem.

newspaper world









after rusty storm









couldn't wait sprinkled bit of ballast, will be vacuuming it up shorlty and painting ties to quench that redish-ness. but i almost can taste how awesome ballasted and weathered track is gong to look


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## tjcruiser

Anton,

Great coloring / realism ... keep up the nice work!

TJ


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## slohmoh

Yup thats the ticket.Looking good tankist.:thumbsup:


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## tankist

second round of track coloring. mixed black and brown and a drop of yellow craft paints into very grimy black/brown thinned with plenty of water. this time around acrylic adhered good to the rail (well, the red is a primer after all). made several passes with airbrush on entire track giving it enough time to dry a bit in between to not shine wet. perhaps this color is still not exact but it is very close to how i'd like it to be. close enough... 
well, perhaps i will change my mind tommorow , lol


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## tjcruiser

Naive question ...

Is there really that much directional control with an airbrush ... that you can spray the ties the darker color without overspraying your rusty rails?

Hill contouring looks like it's coming along quite nicely.

Cheers,

TJ


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## tankist

TJ, when sprayed from the top, not much paint gets onto sides of the rail. top is later wiped clean again



TY guys. 

as i walked into the room tonight all i thought is about ballasting. stopped for moment and decided to improve the terrain near the tracks before i do, dig a ditch and generally remove some of the flatness etc... well, ended up taking the hammer to my first rock faces attempt . it was painful, and very sad lookign at the moment, but the thought that new ones will be of much better quality warms my heart...
in the meanwhile i poured two new rock pieces into the form. will be playing puzzle again tomorrow.

pics of the carnage:


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## Reckers

I love watching you build this thing, Anton. You're saving me an awful lot of mistakes, I hope! *L*


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## tjcruiser

Nice chopping, Anton ... I like the abrupt-cliff look!

Keep us posted ...

TJ


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## igmuska

tankist said:


> second round of track coloring. mixed black and brown and a drop of yellow craft paints into very grimy black/brown thinned with plenty of water. this time around acrylic adhered good to the rail (well, the red is a primer after all). made several passes with airbrush on entire track giving it enough time to dry a bit in between to not shine wet. perhaps this color is still not exact but it is very close to how i'd like it to be. close enough...
> well, perhaps i will change my mind tommorow , lol


Great looking layout!
One question about the curvature on the lower right crossover, is this outer turnout twisted between the rising tracks and the flat tracks?


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## tankist

igmuska said:


> Great looking layout!
> One question about the curvature on the lower right crossover, is this outer turnout twisted between the rising tracks and the flat tracks?


TY
no, both turnouts that comprise the crossover are flat. the one leading to the siding however is on the rise. with that the grade transition is very mild, took some work to make the locomotive plows to stop scraping


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## tankist

the new rocks in progress


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## tjcruiser

Nice ... those deep crevices between rock sections really add some depth and realism. They'll look especially nice painted with some darker colors, maybe some moss, etc.

Thanks, Anton!

TJ


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## tankist

yep, thats the target i'm striving to reach below. i generally like how these came out on my practice piece but I did notice several things i'd like to improve. hope to implement these on main layout.


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## Komodo

^
advertising nub 



tankist said:


> yep, thats the target i'm striving to reach below. i generally like how these came out on my practice piece but I did notice several things i'd like to improve. hope to implement these on main layout.



the moss looks cool!


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## tankist

things are quite busy around here, summer probably... not to much progress but i managed to steal some time for the layout.

blended new rocks into landmass and injected plaster into cracks between molds. this is how things look now.











new concrete retaining wall (to be painted)









perhaps i'm being sidetracked but i just can't help it - wanted to build this wooden retaining wall and then said screwed it and ballasted short section. probably jumped the gun but if anything it will serve as inspirational section 

signal probably not going to stay there.


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## nsr_civic

looking really good!. hopefully my layout will turn out half as good looking as yours is!!


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## Reckers

It looks really good, Anton. Keep stealing time for it.


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## Komodo

wow, you do an excellent ballasting job. When i get a perm layout, i know who to ask to get a good turnout for ballasting.


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## tankist

so, my dilema i posted about here  had to be resolved one way or the other.
tokk a knife and a deep breath, closed my eyes and... well there is no going back now - lake it is 

some shores will be natural some engineered.
when it comes to that i see old wooden pier, and defiently a fishermann sitting in a corner...


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## tankist

summer is being a summer, birthdays, weddings, all kinds of outside the house events. we crawled in after another one of these cafe things, let the grandpa who was guarding the sleeping little one go home and I went into garage for couple minutes to "check how things are". wife immediately felt asleep, and AHA! its my private time! sanded and painted the side panels of lower module (assembled them last night). i generally love working with wood but varnish, when the grain starts to pop, is my favorite part  this time i was working with quite old and grimy wood (that's what i got from my free "lumberyard" this time). took quite some time to sand it down till somewhat clean. missed couple spots but i think still looks quite ok.

the protruding 1x3 is a base for handle - will be usefull moving this bulky thing around (and yet another support for plywood backwall ). will be camouflaged as structure during use.










little bit of rails so it looks more interesting 












this time around me working on yet another thing is not a result of my ADD. i was about to paint my new rock faces when i realized that i'm missing the module joint/transition area. so in order to not redo (yet again) stuff later i shifted to the lower module so i can build a convincing transition between the 2 areas.


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## tjcruiser

Anton,

That's not bad looking wood at all, for lumberyard scrap. Is it solid or plywood?

Just out of curiosity, you say "varnish" ... are you using that, or really a polyurethane? Poly is the common finish these days, with a hard, durable finish. Varnish -- as in a good marine-grade spar varnish -- has good UV ray inhibitors.

I've always found that simple, cheap foam brushes work quite well for flat-stock poly or varnish application ... they do a nice job of yielding a very even coat, with essentially no brush marks.

Looks nice! Keep us posted,

TJ


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## tankist

its a plywood. yeah, i'm using poly not actual varnish, it was to late last night ...

for first coat i use the ultracheap brushes. for second one (after sanding) i will try foam


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## Evan

Looking great! How did you make the mountains and hills? What stuff did you use? Lol it looks like it's made of out plaster.


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## tankist

Evan said:


> Looking great! How did you make the mountains and hills? What stuff did you use? Lol it looks like it's made of out plaster.


thanks for the kind comment.
my build thread starts from the pointpictured below and logs progress step by step, with pictures. if you scroll a bit up you will find that your questions were already answered .


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## tankist

so after taking prolonged break from construction, i'm back at it 
worked on transition between main layout and lower module. and while doesn't seem like much i spent quite some time figuring out how to acomplish things. results are below for your judgement.


overview















the R22 piece of track is cut at an angle including the tie. for precise positioning i used wood srcrews going through foam all the way into plywood as foundation. each half rests and superglued to 3 screws height of which was carefully adjusted to provide for correct elevation and superelevation. transition through this joint ended up being smoother then with arlas custom #4 turnout frog 












another angle












scenery transition is almost invisible from this angle - the cliff is overlapping into main mudule.












but from this angle it is quite bad.(even though it actually looks better in person). still work to be done.













without the module the edge is quite clean












when stored, the fragile edge of overlapping cliff is protected buy detachable cover















EDIT:

ohhh, almost forgot. got pictures of my layout being raided by Catzilla


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## SFC Diesel

Thats awesome man.


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## tankist

thank you 



first coat of india Ink on rock faces


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## bakkers2005

looking great, but its getting late here in oz, just saw the first page, i'll check it out further tommorrow, regards bob


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## tankist

completley redoing my wiring and going all digital - added retractable shelf where all the decoders, block detectors, PC interface and signaling hardware will live. computer will be hung underneath the table as well. shelf instaled and wires run. now the fun of connecting everthing . two DS64's are here, with room for one more and PR3 interface. team digital SRC16 will be used for the next control panel.

undeneath










shelf open. some supplies 










shelf closed. still need to paint the fascia and cut window for NCE faceplate.


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## tjcruiser

Anton,

Good to see you back in the thick of the layout.

Nice pul-out shelf ... I did a very simililar one on my little Lionel O layout, albeit with much, much simpler electronics and components. It works great, though ... smooth sliders, tucks away easily, etc.

Cheers,

TJ


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## tankist

TY TJ, its just so bloody cold in the garage and my space heater nowhere to be found. i can ony do so much untill my fingers freeze 

moving along. 
power distribution board created. red jumpers will be routed through block occupancy sensor board (whenever that happens). turnout coil wires terminated. TO sensor wires next. waiting on my PR3 interface











fascia panel mounted and painted. NCE patch panel installed


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## gunrunnerjohn

In my first house, I ran real heat to the garage, that ended up being my workshop. Now my garage is for cars, imagine that!  My trains are in the basement, but it's finished and heated.


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## TapRoot

wow - I have lots to learn...Amazing stuff man and those rocks look crazy good!


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## tankist

thank you taproot.


installed PC that will be Running JMRI under my layout. the compact case eneded up being less compact that i hoped, so instead i just screwed my old Athlon XP board underneath the table and did small shelf for PSU and HDD. it is configured to turn on whenever it has power, later i might throw the On-off button on the front panel. 
the beauty of this thing is thati work on it remotely - from warm room 
installed JMRI and CATS extension on it already , learning the trade.











looking at that built in 6 channel sound card got me thinking about using this PC for sound generation as well. as suggested by another member it will probably be done with brinstonsound airhorn software.


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## NIMT

Awesome job on the electronics,:thumbsup: and brilliant thinking on the sound, (Can I steal the Idea for mine.) I have 2 PC's that run my RR and when I first started everyone thought I was off my rocker. You could take a flat screen monitor and lay it in the board to look like a lake??? Or get a small screen and make an old time drive in movie theater! Keep it up we're watching and learning!


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## nsr_civic

I'm loving the drive in idea!. I have a closet full of PCs I've collected over the years. Ill be working out a way to incorporate atleast one into my layout. I'm debating between a pr3 or the mrc pc link. I have the mrc express sys. But I want to get a pr3 to program my sound decoders... soo many choices.


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## tankist

Sean, thank you.
idea of additional animation could be really interesting but i'm not going to pursue it at this time  hans are full as it is. 2 PCs? i can barely figure out what to do with one

NSR 
if you going for PC control you can safley drop the MRC solution - proprietary closed format not supported by anything other then their limited software. nothing to think about here.


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## tankist

terminated all the coils and turnout position detectors. crimped loconet and NCE bus cables. split one PS14 powerpack between both decoders and PR3. wired all but the last coils to outputs of respective DS64's. 
this is simply awesome! even paired turnouts on single channel are thrown with positive clack. and activating these via PC is even more awesome! here is how things look now (track is still not powered).













one thing bothers me however. DS64 will respond to commands from track bus either directly from powercab or NCE-USB via PC. obviously they respond to their input comands (position toggle). but as soon as i connect them to PR3 they stop accepting comands from track. i can progam opSw on both via PR3 and decoder pro, reading board IDs and opSw's i just set. if i understand anything this means i crimped the loconet cables in correct way. opSw 14 is set to allow commands from both PC and Track (off), which even had it been enabled it still should have accepted commands from track. any idea on this one?


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## NIMT

Anton,
Looks great! 
I have run into some odditys when I'm running on PC too. I don't run DS64's so I can't help simulate the problem. I'll go threw my book of note and see if anything pops. You did say tracks not powered, could it be that the DS64's are looking for that?


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## tankist

tracks on layout are not powered. however the dedicated lead from block consentrator (the contraption top left) to the decoders is connected. otherwise how would they accept comands from the cab?


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## NIMT

Anton,
_Computer and/or Throttle Inputs?
_OpSw 10 used to set up DS64 for use with a computer.
*Thrown* (_factory default_) the DS64 accepts both throttle and computer commands.
*Closed*,the DS64 accepts computer commands only.
I don't know if this helps or not?


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## tankist

OpSw 10 is fine. i think the culprit is OpSw 14 after all. in table it says allows commands from both loconet and track leads, but in the description it actually says track commands are only executed if loconet is not present... which would explain everything.


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## NIMT

Digitrax is notorious for the double wording, or what I would call deceptive Annunciation. You have a better handle on this because of your electronics backing. I have a hard time with thrown and closed not being the same?


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## mozzie

Awesome job, well done!


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## NIMT

Anton,
Did you get it working for you?


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## tankist

yes i did. long story short is that JMRI keeps records of turnouts with more then just the accessory adress number. i needed to activate not just turnout 01, but *LT1*. L- Loconet, T-Turnout, 1 the actual adress. same turnout can also be stored as NT1, meaning the comand for its activation will be sent via NCE device (and subsequently disregarded by DS64).

i think i start to get the mentality of those JMRI guys 
configured the rest of turnouts in the respective table and was able to access them even without punching in addresses. its a real hoot to click a button on screen and hear the turnout clack on the layout! 

now to add feedback...


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## NIMT

I use JMRI for all my programing of all of my fleet. I also have a master list of all the loco's that I've done installs on and I can just punch it up and set up a new decoder in seconds.
I haven't gotten into all of what JMRI can do but I keep taking bites of it!


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## tankist

connected the turnout position detector switches to inputs of DS64's, rest of the progress is on the software side of things.

Left all early JMRI attempts behind and started fresh.
programmed decoders with addresses according to new numbering scheme. Entered all the turnouts into table and verified operation. JMRI Sensor table populated all by itself, added annotations to make things more comfortable to work with (system names LS26, LS34 are not really descriptive). Associated turnouts with corresponding sensors. thing of beauty - even if thrown manually the system knows turnout position. 
started drawing the panel. cant wait for my touchscreen to arrive.

Entered 2 locos into JMRI Roster. Working with JMRI throttle going to be sweet! however if someone has good JMRI Icon of Norfolk southern GP38-40 let me know (collection i downloaded is missing norfolk southern  )

Started drawing the Panel


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## Box Car Steve

*your layout*

Dang Tankist it looks like I'm going to be awhile building my layout! Boy that looks dang good my brother! Bad thing I'm using EZ baukman track, I hope I can make it look that good! Shoot I'll be working for 10yrs. to get the large layout done that I've got designed............ all I can say is WOW!:thumbsup:


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## tankist

thank you. 
indeed it is taking some time, and i'm sure not moving as fast as some. i guess i'm more after the process then result itself. you can make your layout look at least as good (and mine is still almost entirley bare) if not better, it only matters what goal you set for yourself. 

be patient, push yourself higher, don't be afraid to revisit what you once thought finalized sections, share your work and ask questions . good luck and lets see progress on your layout when that project takes off.


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## tankist

here is my work so far with this JMRI thing. working within 1024*768 boundry, getting used to how it will look and feel on 15" touchscreen. 

i don't have block occupancy hardware yet so the panel for now only displays position of turnouts and activates them on click - i still can't get over the fact. this is just to awesome  
i also played with wiThrottle - installed engine driver on my phone and voila - free walkaround throttle! what a neat idea.

as for the panel itself i will most probably rearrange it completley later on when i have more idea of what i want to do. for now this is first functional attempt. comments from seasoned JMRI user are welcome.


hmm... i might start separate thread on my JMRI adventure...


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## concretepumper

Cold garage railroad. Is that named due to it being cold in your Garage?


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## tjcruiser

Anton,

Is there a hotel near your house?

I'm ready to sign up for a seminar at Tankist College. This stuff is waaaaay over my head, but I'll promise to sit in the front row and not ask too many stupid questions! 



TJ


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## tankist

new addition to family - Team digital BlocD8 Block Occupancy detector.

all wired up and configured. and it even works!


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## gc53dfgc

tankist said:


> new addition to family - Team digital BlocD8 Block Occupancy detector.
> 
> all wired up and configured. and it even works!


Anton do you have an electrical engineering degree or is all this electronics stuff just stuff you learn as you get the goods and read the manuals? I like what you are doing with the layout and all of its automation and electronics capabilitys but it is also over my head even with me doing complexed DCC installs.


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## gc53dfgc

Any progress?


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## gunrunnerjohn

I'd like to find a similar product for TMCC layouts, it looks pretty neat.


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## tankist

oh, i'm sorry , i missed your posts. somehow i no longer get email notofications on this.

no i have no degree, but i am quite interested in subj of electrics and electronics. i guess i have the ability to read documentation and follow progress of other people.

progress is slow, circumstances leave me only couple hours a week to work on the layout if that, but soon i will have exciting (at least to me) announcement .


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## Big Ed

tankist said:


> oh, i'm sorry , i missed your posts. somehow i no longer get email notofications on this.
> 
> no i have no degree, but i am quite interested in subj of electrics and electronics. i guess i have the ability to read documentation and follow progress of other people.
> 
> progress is slow, circumstances leave me only couple hours a week to work on the layout if that, but soon i will have exciting (at least to me) announcement .



You going to be a Daddy?
Grandpa?


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## Xnats

big ed said:


> You going to be a Daddy?
> Grandpa?


That means little tanklets scooting around


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## tankist

ehh, i actually meant about the project. i am already a dad to soon to be 3YO and thats taking quite some time . he is running around alright :lol:


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## norgale

Tankist did you use crumpled aluminum foil on the sides of the gulch under the bridge? I've wanted to try that and those walls look great. pete


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## tankist

yes, it is exactly that - crumpled aluminum foil. thats what i started with. the result is perhaps ok, but i wanted more and later took hammer and redid most of that section. now that i know what i know i would not advise to go with foil if very high level of finish is desired 

before:












after (today already painted with base but still in progress of finishing). used WS rock molds to cast the cliffs. looks MUCH better imho










i hope to finish this to be at least like my test piece /photo stand (same technology used)


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## gunrunnerjohn

I agree, the rocks look much better than the original foil rocks. :thumbsup:


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## norgale

I guess the second picture does look more realistic but I thought the foil rocks looked good too.
The reference to "tanklets" is funny. I got a laugh from that remark.I was a helicopter mechanicist myself. Ha! Pete


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## tankist

i didn't say it looks bad, it is definitely better then bare foam. i'm just saying it left me to desire more. i'm not sorry i went with foil, it was a learning experience. but there were better results to be achieved 

OFFTOP
i had a classmate who served as mechanic for F-16's. said it is a hellish job, and even being enthusiast of flight and specifically jet fighters he grew to hate the guts those planes. and the ever complaining pilots. i actually quite happy i ended up a crew member and not mechanic of an armor, those guys had it rough (although we worked alot with them as well).


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## norgale

I've heard the 16 had a lot of gremlins. Nothing makes a pilot madder than equipment that doesn't work in the aircraft. Of course the mechanic is the most handy to ream out when stuff is busted so your friend probably did catch a lot of flack. My choppers were all the old bubble canopy type. Pretty basic and simple compared with todays stuff. Pete


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## Saxon

This was a good tread, Thanks for the tech tips on the rocks ... love the final result .. will definitely be employing this methodology when it comes to building our layout.
Thanks

Jonesy


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## Massey

So how goes the progress tank? You have not updated in a while and I just read through all 3 threads. You gave me a few good ideas for my layout as well. Oh and where did you download the locomotive icons? and did you find any NS stuff? I have mostly NS on my layout at the moment.

I have plenty of Navy stories about pilots that would complain about their birds being broken. I was an Avionics tech while I was serving. I used to fix the fire-control radar (RF side) of F-14Ds and the tracking radar (digital side) of E-3Cs. I loved the job.

Massey


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## tankist

well there was no update since i'm taking extended break from construction. i'm not through with it and still running trains and keep building up a collection, but layout is on hold  i really would love to work on landscape, but before i do i need to install all the optical detectors and i just can't bring myself to do it.

for icons you can try 
http://www.djcooley.com/info/gifs/traingif.htm 
http://www.trainweb.org/rrgifroundhouse/
these are limited though, and unfortunately i can't find the link for the main resource. it is saved in favorites in JMRI machine, so it is not lost. try reading through JMRI roster manual, i think it is mentioned there.


and there is quite a difference , you got into navy by choice while we got drafted. can't say for sure, but i think you guys were paid better too. he was enthusiastic at first, but that ended pretty fast. me being in active field units meant double the base salary and less vacation time to blow it. still i had to manage my finances to make sure i meet the ends. him being in rear ment less money and more opportunity to blow it off. enthusiasm will only get you so far, but i gess it is better then being a galley rower.


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## tankist

Haven't been on for quite some time and here are quite the news - story of this layout is ending! It will be taken apart and scavenged for parts unless someone from chicagoland area sees it and says "wow, i want this" . but then we all know the Likelihood of that  

yet it is not a tragedy whatsoever as the reason for the end is that we are moving! bank accepted our offer and if all goes right in month and half or so we will occupy our new place. and there is a good sized basement good chunk of which is already allocated to our new layout. railroading basement was a requirement in our search. during our initial visit once wife was happy with upstairs we went to the lower level and her words were "wow , nice? how about this area here for the railroad". in time it will be a proper multi level around the walls layout, of as professional quality as i can pull off. aside of workshop all the painting and model building also will have a dedicated "Crafts" room . no more working in the cold!  on the downside i will to rename my railroad... :laugh:

of course lots of things will need to happen before i can start railroad construction , like total renovation of this foreclosure place that is unoccupied since summer. and then when it warms up tons yard-work outside. and then the question arises - perhaps i want to do my railroading outside? and perrhaps in size i can ride on! BIG yard!

i'm excited to no end. packing my trains (no! i'm not selling my collection!!!) and getting ready!!!


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## gunrunnerjohn

Wondered where you had been! Good luck in the new place.


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## N scale catastrophe

Congrats on the new place, we just went through a similar situation ourselves finding a house for our trains. Hope all works out for you.


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## tankist

gunrunnerjohn said:


> Wondered where you had been! Good luck in the new place.


thanks! it will be needed 

been busy bicycling summer and then it got to cold to work in the garage again. but frankly realization that my layout is at dead end with no possibility to grow struck me quite some time ago. all the expansions I could squeeze into my tiny place didn't add substance to it, just more of the same lack of purpose. that made it very hard to justify work on it and then it became plain sad and irritating. its great that some can live with a shelf layout which is pretty much a display. i can't, i wanted to go bigger, at least twice bigger. we knew we will be moving into better school district, that question was in the air for over a year. i just didn't know when will it will happen exactly.

now however the temptation is growing, should i go G scale 



Jill thanks. cool work you did on your canyon BTW


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## joed2323

Ho scale for life!!

Twice the amount of room with ho vs g scale, but im not going to turn this into one of those threads...

Awesome, congrats on the move..

I cant wait for you to get back in the swing of things, and start posting progress of your new layout....


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## tankist

thanks, me too 


while packing the trains i took this family picture. never seen them all in one place )


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## joed2323

Very nice family photo you have Anton.. Wow, i cant wait to see these on your next new layout.:thumbsup:


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## tjcruiser

Hi Anton,

Always nice to hear from you. Life pulls us all in many directions, for sure.

Congratulations on the new home-to-be. Knowing you, I'm sure there'll be many renovation projects in store, awaiting capable hands. Enjoy the challenge, and I do hope that it all offers you and your family years of happiness.

... and some fun, dedicated train space, too!

Cheers,

TJ


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## tankist

Hello MTForums members. I guess I will reuse this thread for reintroduction as It's been quite some time now (and paste some of it from my reintroduction on another board 🙂 ). Family grew yet again 🙂 so far my hobby was limited to collecting/ showing trains on shelf , once a year running on carpet at holiday season and dreaming of a layout. 

House renovation turned into quite a project, many unexpected issues surfaced. I am now an apprentice brick layer, experienced plumber, HVAC profecional and electrician, not to mention carpenter (and that's on top of my day job).

Now that my boy is of age we are contemplating a real modular build. Aside of my want to play with trains again This hobby will be my vessel to get him interested in CAD and electronics. My own skill with CAD , electronics , arduino , embedded computing grew quite a bit, again, not to mention carpentry. I aquired better laser cutter and some tools that not every garage has, gained experience making my own PCBs. It's all will be very different now 🙂

Can't wait to set of on another MRR journey.
Best regards! Anton


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## MichaelE

Nice to see some European equipment for a change.


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## gunrunnerjohn

Wow Anton, long time no see!  Welcome back.


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## CTValleyRR

Hey, a thread resurrection that actually makes sense!

Welcome back! I'm looking forward to hearing about your new journey.


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## tankist

Thank you guys. Still far from start, at the moment we are still in process of "surveying " for our future layout to see how natural obstacles of the landscape can be bypassed - you don't normally tunnel through a sofa or a book case ) 
One of the big requiments for the future layout is PURPOSE. I do want continuous running, but I do want layout that is operatable as well.

Yes Michael, I do have few European pieces. Love them 🙂 and I do like researching where and how things run. Late 19th - early 20th century time period was a very interesting era for German railroad. 

Beat regards


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## MichaelE

I agree, though my layout spans late Era III to V. Pretty much from 1945 to the early 90's as far as equipment used. They have some really old stuff still in service in Germany and Austria. 

On the other hand, some of their equipment is the most modernized available in the Western world.


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