Rocket Man

It's been a month since my kast post, mostly due to securing a 'proper' job. Woohoo!

I left the battery factory ASAP, and have now been appointed to set up and run a community ICT training centre. Low pressure, high satisfaction at last!

Since I've only been in post for a week, I'll let you know how I get on.

The weather has been just beautiful lately, so we went for a picnic and 'rocket launch' day up on the comon. I'd been playing around with bottle rockets and decided to give the prototypes a try.

There's a short video clip HERE for anyone that might be interested.

That's it for now.

Sort of a Job

Wow! It's been a while since my last post.

I took a temporary job on the 22nd of Feb, just to try and keep things on an even keel. Believe it or not, the task is to clean the silk screen print off 60,000 batteries and then re-print them. All for the princely sum of £12,000 a year. How the mighty have fallen.

I'd like to say that it's good honest work, but it isn't. It transpires that the batteries have been brought in from a far eastern branch of the company and are the cheapest they supply. We, (there are three of us engaged on the task), are cleaning off the 'cheapest battery in the range' print only to reprint them with the 'not so cheap battery range' logo and they are then to be re-shipped at a higher price. It's obviously some sort of fiddle.

Anyway, this job has taken up most of my time, along with various applications for other 'real' jobs.

One very nice, and unexpected surprise has occurred. My wife bought me a micro-lathe for an anniversary present. I have always wanted a proper workshop, but since I've never lived in a house with a garage I've never had the opportunity. She thought I might try some micro tools and gain a mini-workshop in that way.

The lathe is truly tiny, but a fully functioning precision instrument. Identical to a full sized lathe in every way and able to machine all but the hardest steels. I bought some index-able cutting tools and have set about making some of the original parts for the machine that have gone missing during it's lifetime. The machine is at least 30 years old, but is in very good condition.

Here's a photo of the lathe, it's an Austrian made Unimat SL 1000.

It needed a clean up, but this is how I got it. It's since been mounted on a board and is gleaming.

I have been avidly reading up on this lathe along with a whole host of stuff on home workshops and parts machining. I will try to get some accessories as and when wages allow, since the machine was originally shipped with a milling attachment and other bits.

One thing I will definitely attempt is casting my own aluminium parts using age old techniques at home. A blast furnace from scrap common odds and ends is first on the list. The idea scares the hell out of the wife, but I think I can master it. I'll post my progress with my home workshop as I go along.

Isle of White

My first post since last week. We've been away for a long weekend on the Isle of White.

The reason for the visit was the occasion of my fathers 70th birthday. My brother and I tried to come up with an event to mark the occasion, and since my father took his apprenticeship there, we diceded that a return visit after 50+ years would be nice.

My father loved it! He had been indentured at J Samuel White, the shipbuilder, and had lived in a house directly opposite the landing point of Red Funnel Ferries (then Red Funnel Steamers). The house is still standing, though now sadly boarded up, and is still the first house seen by passengers leaving the Southampton to East Cowes ferry.

We stayed in a National Trust Cottage at the top of The Needles Headland, a very scary drive to the top with a 300 foot sheer drop on one side! Not much fun in the dark!

The cottage was lovely, with stunning views and a real log fire. Very cosy and welcoming.

We visited places that my father had remembered, especially the remains of J Samuel White's yard which is now part of a trading estate. Below is what remains of 'the long shop' with my father in the foreground.

And what it was like in its heyday ...

We walked over to look at the 'Old Battery' gun emplacements and the Needles, both the images below were taken only yards from our cottage..

Finally three images of our visit. My father in front of the gib crane in J Samuel White's yard, a view across the Medina river of the same crane some 60 years previously, and a sunset from the headland garden of our cottage.

Controller Electronics

Well, I fitted the new shower unit today without any problems. The leak appears to be from around the shower tray itself, so lots of silicone sealant and we'll now have to wait and see if it has stopped.

Due to being on-site all day I haven't had a chance to do any work on the point motor situation, so I thought I'd start on a discussion about the electronics for the controller.

Before we begin, please be aware of two things, firstly I am not an electronics engineer, nor even an electrician. All the information given here is self taught, and experience of 25 years working in industry, books are a wonderful thing and a helpful electrical expert can teach you many things (thanks Keith).
Secondly - electricity can KILL. Usually the statement given is 'mains voltages can kill', but a 12 volt car battery can deliver upwards of 40 amps, which is enough to weld steel! Believe me. I've seen an expert weld 5mm mild steel plates using a car battery, so beware!

OK, as to our controller, we need to do three things:

• Convert the mains AC electricity to a nominal 12V DC for the locomotive motor.
• Vary the output to the tracks from 0V to 12V with as much control as possible.
• Be able to change direction (polarity) of the tracks

In addition it has to be cheap, simple to understand and use readily available parts.


In converting the 240V AC mains (or 110V in the US), to 12V DC (nominal) we need to either use a transformer or a switching power supply. You can build these yourself but there are so many cheap alternatives that a secondhand supply is an easy option. A used car battery charger, CB radio power supply, a printer or laptop power supply or even on old PC desktop power supply would do the trick.

The magic numbers you are looking for are an output of between 12V and 18V DC capable of supplying 1.5 Amps to 3 Amps (lower than 1 Amp will not be enough). Most PSU's used for in-car equipment run at 13.8V - ideal for our needs. For these circuits an output of 14 - 18 volts is best as will be seen.

The image below shows what would happen if we simply connected the PSU to the tracks. The only way to start and stop the loco would be to turn the PSU on and off. Also the loco would have two speeds, stopped and flat out! There is only one direction of travel since the positive and negative supplies are always connected to the same points on the motor. Not very good.




In order to alter the voltage to the tracks, and therefore the speed, we need to use a voltage divider. This is a very well known and common circuit. There is a mathematical formula for calculating voltage division, but lets forget that, in simple terms if you place a resistor between V1 and the positive side of the motor, and another between the positive side of the motor and earth, by varying the value of the resistors we can vary the positive voltage reaching the motor. If the two values of the resistors are equal, exactly half the voltage (6 volts) will reach the motor.
Obviously we don't want to keep physically changing the resistors, so we use a 'variable resistor' or potentiometer. There is one shown in the image below, these cost about £1.50 at time of writing. You need a 'linear potentiometer'.

























As you can see, there are three connections.
Inside the 'POT' there is a track of resistor material, one end is connected to one of the outer connectors, the other end to the other outer connector. The central connector is joined to a 'wiper' which moves along the track. By turning the control knob, the resistances on each side of the wiper vary, thus the output at the central wiper changes due to voltage division. Simple.

These pots are used for volume controls, gain controls, all sorts of things and are very common.

In theory, any value (given in Ohms) will work because it is the relationship in percentages between the two resistances that we are interested in. However in practice the amount of control to the loco is affected by the value. This is because we are really only interested in the voltages between about 4 volts (at which the loco starts to move) and maximum.



Here is our circuit with the pot fitted in as a speed controller. Will this circuit work then? Well, yes and no. In theory it should work at least to control the speed, but in reality it would last only a few seconds. The reason for this is that the track in the pot is very thin. In order to change the voltage, the resistor must dissipate the difference as heat. The more current drawn by the motor (in Amps) the more heat will need to be dissipated (this value is given in Watts just like a light bulb). Most pots will only sink a very small amount of current and a loco motor will force it to overheat and break very quickly.

A well run in and smooth loco motor will draw around 250mA at start up dropping back to around 100mA whilst cruising. An old sticky or stubborn motor could draw around an Amp at start up, so our circuit must allow for around 1.5A normal running.

We need to 'boost' or amplify the output from the POT so that it is not destroyed. Enter the transistor. This acts as an amplifier, a switch and a gate valve all in one. Pictured below is a very common transistor, the 2N2222A. This is a 'small signal' transistor, which has very fast switching and good amplification. They are small and cost pennies.



















The transistor has three connectors, the 'Base' which in our case acts as the control connector, the 'Collector' which takes the incoming current, and the 'Emitter' which gives the outgoing current.

The transistor will take 0.7v from the circuit to operate, we must allow for this 'Tax' in calculating the final output. As the potentiometer output voltage reaches 0.7v the transistor 'turns on' and starts to pass current from the collector to the emitter, as you can see from the diagram below, this bypasses the potentiometer and protects it from burning out.
As the voltage at the base of the transistor increases, so the output at the emitter increases, always 0.7v below the input voltage. So over all our 12V output will now only be 11.3V, additional transistors will add to this effectively dropping the final output, hence the requirement for a PSU between 14 and 18 Volts.

Here is the diagram with the 2N2222 fitted. So will this circuit work? Again yes and no. The 2N2222 is only capable of sinking around 800mA, and we need 1.5A. The reason for using this transistor is its good amplification, and fast switching.


















What we are going to need for the final output stage is a power transistor capable of sinking more power.

As you can also see, there is still only one direction of travel, this will be dealt with right at the end.

So far the total cost of our circuit, if we allow for some hook up wire and a bit of strip board to build it on, has reached the grand total of £2.00

Next we shall add a power transistor, this is fed off the 2N2222 in the same way as the potentiometer fed the first transistor. This configuration is known as a ' Darlington Pair' and is one of the most common transistor circuits used in electronics.

















In the new circuit diagram you can see the addition of a 2N3055 power transistor. The only reason I chose it was because I had taken one out of an old amplifier when I was designing my circuit. A better choice for our application could be a TIP 41a. These are cheaper, smaller and easier to fit than the 3055. Again they cost pennies.


You will need to use a small heat sink for the power transistor. Heat sinks are available for all power transistors, these range from a small flat plate of metal to huge elaborate finned contraptions. You only need a small one to help dissipate some of the heat. If you reclaim a transistor from an old, broken bit of gear, then the chances are that it will already have the heat sink attached.

Next - direction of travel. Reversing the polarity at the tracks is very simple. The outputs from the controller are wired through a Double Pole Double Throw (DPDT) switch. You only need a miniature toggle switch (about £1.00).

Here's one.























To incorporate it into our circuit, you wire the two outputs to the centre two connectors on the switch, wire two new outputs to one pair of end connections on the switch then wire a crossover between the four outer connectors. Trowing the switch now reverses the polarity.
The addition of a small value resistor ahead of the base of Q1 acts as a protection for both the track on the pot and the base on the transistor.















Here is the final diagram of the super simple controller. S1 and S2 are the DPDT switch.
So will this one work? Well yes and no.

I use one of these to carry out very basic running tests because it's so small and cheap. It is perfectly capable of driving a loco, and using a 10K pot it is fairly controllable. So whats wrong with it? Well there's no on off switch for a start, there's no overload cut out, there's no indicators as to whats going on and very slow speed running can be a little erratic. For the overload protection you could use a 1A fuse in the positive rail of the output from Q2. If you use a refittable type than you can just change it if it blows.

Fitting a SPST switch into the input from the PSU will give an on off switch. Fit an LED with a 1K resistor behind the switch and across the negative rail for an on off indicator.

Very slow running will always be an issue, one I'll discuss in the next post.

Bear in mind with this circuit the following when choosing the value of the pot:

12V electric motors, like all electric motors are designed to run at maximum torque and maximum power when fed with the recommended voltage. The motor designer will then build in some overload allowance such that our little loco motor will probably accept 15 - 16V before it starts to complain. The designer will also take into account that there needs to be some slower speed running so its a compromise.

If we say that at 16V the loco will be doing the equivalent of 125mph, then the vast majority of running is done at a speed nearer a third of that (around 5V) and shunting at even less (say 3V). The motor designer cannot possibly allow for that amount of variation and still have the motor run at full torque. Most locos need around 4V just to start moving, or the electronics in the controller need to give it a 'kick' start, then once on the move the speed can be turned down a bit.

Now, since the circuits transistors are taxing 1.4V before there is any output at the tracks, and the loco needs around 4V to start moving, the voltage divider has to be supplying 5.4V before anything happens. For a 12V system this means that the control knob is going to be at nearly half way before it start to move the train!

I tested loads of pots with values from 100 Ohms to 2 Mega Ohms (2 million Ohms). The higher the value the further I had to advance the control before the train moved, if the value was too low full speed was reached too early. I suggest you try values from 1K Ohms to about 20K Ohms for your pot. This range seems to give the best control over the 4 - 12V we want. You can bias the circuit with an additional resistor between the pot and the negative (earth) rail so that the pot begins to operate earlier. Experiment!

Next time, the capacitor discharge unit for the point motors, the overload protection circuit and simulated inertia and braking.

Problems

Hi folks,

No post for yesterday, I was working on a customer order - hooray! Some small jobs have been creeping onto the books so things look OK for this month.

My Father's PC has died and despite all my efforts it would appear that the motherboard has given up the ghost. This is causing him some grief because, since my mother died 18 months ago, his PC has been a bit of a lifeline to the outside world. It seems that the hard drive data is intact so we should be able to get him back up and running again.

I went to price up a job to fit a replacement shower this evening, it would have been a straightforward job since it's an instantaneous electric one and the element had burnt out. However, on actually viewing the site I became far more concerned with the fact that there is an obvious leak, either in the water feed or the waste pipe system. The ceiling of the kitchen below has become so water logged that a section 4 feet by 4 feet in in danger of falling down!

I'll be on site tomorrow so we'll see how we get on.

The model railway has hit it's first major hold up. I've spent a lot of this week wiring up the electrics to the control box. In the images below you can see the wiring loom for the isolating sections and the point motor switches. Note that as yet there are no electronics for the controller installed. This is because I have 4 different prototype designs in the testing stage and I don't know which one will be fitted yet. In the meantime I am just using my loco testing controller for some running tests.

Once the box was wired up I began testing the track for correct operation. In the lower photo at the top you can see the small 6 wheel diesel shunter used for the tests. I use this because of it's short wheelbase which is likely to show up any losses of contact over points and suchlike.

On testing I found that all the isolating sections worked as they should and all the point motors were firing as they should, but I was horrified to discover that only 4 out of the 7 sets of points were changing correctly. The nature of the problem soon became evident. The points are thrown by simple solenoid switches, one can be seen in the image below.

Similar ones to these are manufactured by Hornby, Peco and these known as Seeps.

The travel required to throw the N Gauge points I am using is only 2mm, but because of the thickness of the baseboard I chose to use for the station, the drive pin is flexing such that the motors maximum travel of about 10mm is not enough to throw the point!

Having examined the motors carefully some have a fraction more play in the solenoids than others. Only by a factor of about 1/2mm but when this is multiplied over the 25mm of the drive pin it is enough to fail to throw the points.

There are a number of possible solutions. I could dump the entire base boards and start over using 6mm MDF throughout, not a palatable idea. I could revise the mechanical linkage, possibly for a crank based system which would allow the motors more travel and more torque, I am still toying with this one. Or I could route out recesses for the 3 point motors that are suffering, thus reducing the length of the drive pin and eliminating the flexing. At the moment, the last is the most favourable but also the most messy to perform with all the under board clutter.

Mounting the motors above the baseboard and 'hiding' them would have been an option but the layout planning has not allowed for this. If anyone out there has been following this blog and is thinking of modelling in N Gauge, don't use a baseboard thicker than about 9mm if you are mounting the motors beneath the board.

The next railway post will include my resolution to this problem, and a discussion of the electronic systems.

Railway Electrics and Electronics

So to the electrical and electronic systems for my model railway.

Since I don't have the money for a computer controlled DCC system, I decided to use the tried and trusted methods for wiring up and controlling the layout ... with a few differences.

First and foremost I needed to convert the AC mains current to a usable DC supply. Rather than buy or build one I rummaged through the workshop and came up with an old HP power supply. This either came from an old printer or a laptop, but I remembered picking it up at a car boot sale for less than a fiver. It's output is 18V DC at 3 Amps. More than enough for such a small layout.

The image below shows the PSU installed under the station baseboard.


When using non DCC control for a layout there are a number of systems that need wiring. Firstly you need to be able to vary the output to the tracks in order to control the speed of the locos. Secondly you need to be able to isolate various track sections so that only the locomotive you are using starts to move. Any other locos on the track need to be kept stationary.

If, as in my case, you are using point motors to operate the points, these need a separate control system. I wanted push button operation for mine.

Finally there is the possibility of adding lighting and electronic signals, but I chose not to have these on such a simple layout.

When using non DCC, it is nice to have a good looking control panel, so after designing all the electrical systems on paper I set about making a control panel.

Below is a sheet of anodised aluminium I had left over from a customer job. I bought these on e-bay, just search for 'Aluminium Sheet'. A 2mm thick piece should cost no more than a few pounds.

I next drew out a 'mimic board' which follows the track plan. This allows switches and buttons to be placed in an ordered and easy to follow pattern. I then drew on sections for the various controls. Below you can see the panel part way through construction. I have drilled all the holes and mounted the isolating switches and point motor push buttons. Again these buttons and switches can all be bought on e-bay for pennies.

The next image shows the back of the panel. All these connections will have to be wired up.

Below is the final panel front. Controls have had Dymo clear labels added along with mountings for the LED indicators. The point motor indicator panel is at the bottom left, the speed, direction and inertia panel is at the bottom right and the mimic board covers the top portion of the panel. 'Maes Ifor' ( Ivor's Field), is the name I chose for my fictitious South Wales area station.

Next I built a sloping box from leftovers of the MDF used for the corner section and glued / screwed the panel to the side of the station area. This can be seen below.

The point motors are operated by two solenoid magnets which, when energised pull a bar from side to side. This in turn operates the switch on the points changing their direction. The problem with this is that if the solenoids are directly energised from the PSU the coils may not have enough 'kick' to overcome the spring on the points, and energising them for more than a few seconds will burn out the coils.

In order to get around this problem a 'capacitor discharge unit is used to store up power from the PSU and then release it in a short, powerful burst when the button is pressed. With careful design, the circuit for this can also be used to ensure that once the charge has been sent to the point motor, if the button is held down inadvertently, no further charge reaches the coils until the button is released and the capacitor re-charged.

I set about designing and building the circuit. It is a very simple circuit and quite a few examples are available on the net. I simply used components 'reclaimed' from old devices. The capacitors were reclaimed from an old TV and the power transistor was from a huge number I had left over from another job. Almost any NPN power transistor would do. For example you could substitute a 3055 MOSFET from an old amplifier instead. I will publish all the circuit diagrams that I devised for the layout in another post.

Above is the capacitor discharge unit. The two blue cylinders are the capacitors, and the other minor components on the board for the protection and control circuitry. They are all glued to the base of an old battery box.

Box cover on ......

And finally installed onto the underside of the station baseboard.

Next came the wiring for the tracks. The wires were carried through holes in the baseboard and then through tie wraps to the controller box. Below shows the start of the wiring loom. I used red and black for the fixed feeds and brown and blue for the switched feeds (isolating sections).

The image below shows the wiring loom completed. the white wires are multi-core (six core alarm cable), that I had in the workshop. these will operate the point motors that require three cables each.

You can see the main PSU and the CDU under the board. The huge mass of coiled wires laying on the top of the baseboard will all have to be terminated in the control box! At this stage it is a good idea to ensure that all the cable ends have been clearly labeled.

The next thing to do is to design, build and test a controller. I wanted one that had the option of simulated inertia and braking for more realistic operation. When I checked the prices to buy one of these units I found that they were in excess of £75.00! Some were over a hundred. I thought I could do better for about a fiver!

I also wanted a switchable option for PWM control. This is a method of 'pulsing' the power to give better slow speed control. None of the manufacturers sold a controller that offered the range of features that I wanted, so ultimately I had no choice but to construct my own.

Till next time .......

The Station

Next part of my model railway was to lay the track for the station area.
Before I could start this I had to alter one set of points. The reason for this, was that past experience of 'N Gauge' had shown that the very small locos have difficulty in negotiating certain types of points at low speed.

Peco produce two types of points, 'electrofrog' and 'insulfrog'. The latter have an insulated frog (the web area where the two tracks diverge). This simplifies the electrical installation, but it means that there is an electrically 'dead' area on the points. Below you can see an example of an 'insulfrog' point. The black plastic area at the diverging point is the frog, small locos sometimes lose electrical contact when passing over this area at low speed.


I had decided to use all 'electrofrog' points but I was one set short. So rather than spend around £10.00 on another set, I thought I would convert a set of 'insulfrog' points that were spare.
Below you can see the 'insulfrog' point at the bottom with the frog carfully cut out with a razor saw. Three of the sleepers have been removed as well. At the top of the photo are a set of points that I am trying to match. Note the all metal rails running throughout the point.


Below, I have cut out 3 new sleepers from paxolin copper-clad circuitboard material. I have made a small electrical break on each side to prevent a short circuit, though these are not really visible in the photo. The paxolin was then soldered to the outside of each outer rail.

Next, using some spare bits of rail pulled out of some offcuts, I carfully cut, bent and positioned the new frog and check rails. Once again these were soldered into place. Some minor filing and grinding to get the correct clearances, and the end result can be seen below.
The cost of the conversion in materials was zero, and it took about an hour from start to finish. Since the original points only cost me £3.00 at a swap-meet I think they are a bargain!

So armed with my new points, I set about marking out the station area more accurately. The baseboard was raised using a frame and the corner unit was glued, bolted and screwed to one end. This ensured that the rails would join correctly, and that the entire scenic area of the layout could be built as a single unit.
The station area board was then moved upstairs to my workshop. Below you can see the initial placement of the points to establish where the baseboard needed to be worked to fit the point motors.

Below you can see the trackwork has been laid and glued in place with impact adhesive. Also in evidence are the power feed markers (red and blue triangles), which were all calculated in advance.
What is more difficult to see are that some of the points will be operated directly by the point motors and some use a rod in tube method to connect the motors. This was done to hide the motor connectors under buildings in areas that were difficult to access.

The final photo shows the general arrangement of the station area with its simple track plan.
The control box is in evidence in the bottom right hand corner ready to take the electrical connections. This and the other electronic bits will be described in the next installment.

That's enough for today, it's been snowing heavily here for two days so I made a lot of progress whilst I couldn't get out of the street.

More to follow.....

Track Laying

Instalment two of the model railway.

I started in earnest on the fiddle yard. Below is the baseboard showing the frame used to raise the track level to match the corner unit.



Installing the track for the fiddle yard was relatively easy since all the runs come off points and there are no cross-overs. Work began from the throat end and the points were joined one after another, then the runs were simply joined off that.

The electrical plan had been designed in advance, so it was simply a metter of drilling some small holes to pass the feed wires and some 8mm holes to allow for the point changing motors to be installed beneath the board later. The electrically conducting joints were all soldered, and the insulated sections had feed wires added so that certain areas can be isolated using SPST switches.

Both the image above and the one below show that the upper and lower runs have wide aluminium plates used instead of sleeper beds. This is to allow for quick and easy railing of rolling stock to assemble / dis-assemble trains. Far cheaper, easier and quicker than using a shop bought re-railer.

The aluminium strips were left over from a job, and would have gone for scrap.

At the joints between the sleeper built track and the aluminium strips, the rails are soldered to paxolin / copper coated circuitboard strips, these allow easy solder connections for the feed wires and ensure that the rails don't move out of running alignment.

All the runs were glued down using contact adhesive, slightly nerve racking, but better than using 'track pins' which are terrible to use and look unsightly on a scenic section.

Apart from final finishing off of the sleeper sections and wiring up, the fiddle yard only needs to have some dressing strip added to hide the frame, and a cover made up to keep dust off the rolling stock.

Next - the station section....

Model Railway

Well, my wife and I scoured the house to find a place for a model railway. The loft was no good due to the head room (only 4ft), so my dreams of a huge continuous run with express trains dashing around were out.

After much scratching of heads we finally decided that the only safe, unused and covered area was in the front porch! There are two shelves about 30 cms wide by 1.6 meters long joined at the corner. Not very inspiring but beggars can't be choosers, so I set to work planning.

The 'normal' gauges and scales were out because of the restricted space, so no 'OO' or 'HO' scale. That left me with three possible options. 'N' Gauge, 2mm Finescale, 3mm Finescale. I soon abandoned the finescale options since the thought of hand building yards of track was too depressing. 'N' Gauge it was then.

At a scale of 1:148 or roughly 2mm model size to one foot real size it would fit with enough operating interest. I decided to plump for the ever popular late 1940's to late 1960's covering British Rail's hayday. With some licence this would mean being able to run steam and diesel locomotives, along with a large range of rolling stock.

As to the design, I went for a 'Branch Line Terminous' station with a viaduct corner section and a non-scenic 'Fiddle' or Marshalling yard at the other end.

Here's the basic station layout on it's chipboard base, the chipboard was a mistake as shall be seen in a later post, but the basic elements are shown here. The simple track plan has been drawn out and the semi-constructed buildings are evident. Some slight re-arrangement took place before the final plan was arrived at.

Here's the fiddle yard board with the track design drawn up, again the MDF shelf that I used as the baseboard was a mistake, but it's done now.

The corner section built from 6mm MDF, if I ever do another layout this is what I will use for the baseboard material. Since the viaduct was to be curved, no kits were available, therefore it had to be 'scratchbuilt'. The first three pillars (made of cardboard) can be seen on the bed waiting for fitment.

The five pillars in place, the lower portions have been dressed with 'brick papers' and the arches are under construction, once all the glue had set these pillars became extremely strong.

The pillars have been dressed, the abutments added, and the archways installed. The parapet and approach walls will be added after the base has been built up into mountains. The back frame has also been added.

That's enough for this post, watch this space to see how progress goes.

Control Box

I finished the re-wiring and replacement of the control box today. I managed to get a new relay for the one that had been playing up, and more importantly I fitted an isolating switch in case any other poor soul has to work on it.

The final wiring installation could have been a little tidier, but I was constrained by the type of cabling that had been used and I was only commissioned to make it safe after all.

Anyway here's the re-installed box, compare it to the one in the last post!

Some Work

Today I got the first reasonable order that I've had for over 3 months. A customer phoned up to say that they were having problems with their automated gates and garage door. They said that they suspected a relay was playing up in the control box.

I went there at 9.00am this morning to appraise the job and came away with an order to entirely replace the control box panel. Mostly to try and make it safe.

Below is a photo of the control box, and when I opened to door you can see why there might be a problem! Whoever did the original installation should be shot, if I had done work like this I would be utterly ashamed, and wouldn't expect any further work to come out of it.

Believe it or not, there is 240V AC of mains voltage 'live' in this box! No wonder there were 'a few problems', I'm surprised they haven't had a fire.

Reviving a hobby

It's been a couple of weeks since I last posted, and having time on my hands I've spent the fortnight reviving a hobby I haven't followed for many years.

In my childhood, and my youth, I made and painted scale models and figures. This continued until I was in my late twenties by which time I had achieved a level of skill to exhibition / competition standards. The hobby fell by the wayside with only minor recurrances since then.

Anyway, for reasons that I am not really sure of, a friend of mine gave me three small metal 'fantasy' figures to paint. I dug around in the loft and found I had kept all of my old modelling tools and brushes, but I had no paints that I could find. So I added some model paints to my 'X-Mas' list and a few models just to see if I could still manage a reasonable level of success.

It certainly tought me that my eyesight has deteriorated somewhat! Below are some images of my first attempts to get my hand back in.




These are the three figures I was given to paint. Some kind of skeletal warriors. The one below was supplied with the set of paints I got for X-Mas.

In both cases the figures stand about an inch tall.

I talked it over with my wife and decided to try and utilise these skills to try and build a model railway. I wanted it to be a fixed model rather than a 'train set' and since money is priority I decided to scratch-build as much as I could, buy secondhand and make do and mend.

I will publish my progress on here as and when work progresses.