Quote from: jbrock27 on November 23, 2014, 06:43:30 PM
That was a great idea on the tunnel.  I love the look!

A Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours as well

Thank you and,

thank you

I finished lining the tunnel using the chooch flexible wall and it came out better then i thought it would, i even had enough to line the ceiling of the tunnel too lol






I also finished the tunnel "yay" and placed and trimmed the profile board background





I cutout a total of 3 excess ports in the tunnel area




I had some old thin strips of vinal laying around from work so i will use it as a hinge of sorts for the excess doors, once i plaster it all together it should look and work good. I'll add a little handle later to open and close the excess doors






As always, since i am doing a video series of my layout build, here is part 5 of the series,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAxHPq9Mi3I

well, till next time have fun with your model trains

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving

Quote from: Nappen on November 22, 2014, 01:44:32 PM
Hi all,

First, I am a complete novice with trains, but my daughter has the Bachmann Alaska Rail set, a bunch of other track and cars, and a second set (rail chief that was 20 bucks because the locomotive was missing but all else was there).

When she sets up a large tracks, it seems that the power lessens far away from the power source. Is there a way to boost the power from the standard power supplies that come with the sets? I figure hooking two up would not be wise.

I think those track sets are DC power and if they are there are a lot of variables to deal with when it comes to losing power to the rails the longer it gets. You will need to make sure that the rails are connecting well to each other and In my opinion running track leads also should be done.

I'm not sure if there are power boasters for DC power (i use DCC) but you can try to do a search for that on here and also do a search for track leads to better help you understand what you may need to do to get the proper power to each track rail or hopefully someone else here that uses DC power source can better help you 

Quote from: jbrock27 on November 21, 2014, 10:08:29 AM
Nice retro bridge and trestle there! Who made that one: AHM

Before I glue assembled ours together (AHM and 2 actually) I spray painted the trestles of the bridge section flat black and then after assembly, I painted the walkways on either side of the track platform, wood color.  Makes a difference.  Before switching to Atlas grey stone block piers, I spray painted the wood looking piers a brown (Rustoelum primer). 

I will be weathering the bridge section (i ran out of paint lol) and i will paint the wooden sections on top of the bridge as well and weather those too, i agree with you, it will make a difference 

Quote from: Joe323 on November 21, 2014, 08:38:54 AM
Hmm never thought of using the Chooch flexible walls as a tunnel liner.

They worked out pretty good I did have to use a little hot glue to keep them on the Styrofoam, i am almost done with the tunnel section when i finish it i will post a few pics of it.

Quote from: wiley209 on November 21, 2014, 12:25:55 AM
Nice retro bridge and trestle there! Who made that one: AHM, Life-Like, Model Power, TYCO or Walthers?

I'm also working on an E-Z Track layout for the local hobby shop's museum.

The bridge is from an old tyco bridge and trestle kit set. I've had this bridge set for a long time, It maybe from the 70's but not sure.

I would love to see the layout you are building 

Quote from: jonathan on November 16, 2014, 08:15:59 AM
I am really enjoying your work as the layout progresses.  Sharing your work with photos is makes all the difference.  Thanks for letting us watch your layout grow.

I like your weather stripping under the EZtrack.  Looking forward to watching a train run across the rails.

Regards,

Jonathan

Thanks Jonathan and, you're welcome. i am having a lot of fun building this layout and i do believe doing build threads and such are a good thing for the hobby. this is my first layout build i have ever done so, by no means i am no expert at it haha so yeah just goes to show that if i can do it, anyone can!

over 20 years ago i bought a bunch of ho scale train stuff, like a train set (which i did not use lol), buildings, accessories and stuff like that but was never able to build it back then do to having no space but now since i have my house all to my self i can do it yay  so a mix of old and new will be used for my layout.

Got a little more progress to my layout done.

I glued down the sections of track for the tunnel areas and put some ballast on the entrance/exit tracks of the tunnel areas about 9 inches a little more then i wanted to but once i started i got excited and went to far lol i used a blend of medium and fine ballast it came out pretty well, i think

a few pics of one of the sections





i also got a few pieces of this stuff, i will use them as tunnel liners for about the first 6 inches or so



like this



I had to cut the trusses of the bridge a little to make them line up with the rest of the E-Z track, was easy i just glued them back together with some plastic cement and once i weather them it should hide the glue, i hope haha



lined up really well




I cut a small section off each end of the E-Z track where the bridge track meets the E-Z track with a small hand saw with a micro fine tooth blade, came out good




drilled and ran all the track feeders, i used 18 gauge stranded wire for the feeders, i used 3 in total.



I also drilled and ran the wiring for some of the block signal lights i will be adding later




since i am doing a video series of my layout build, here is part 4 of the video series,

"spoiler" alert haha in the video i give a sneak peek of the block signals i will be using lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNsF4QNQfeI

well, till next time have fun with your model trains 

Quote from: Trainman203 on November 12, 2014, 09:06:10 PM
Ok I got the picture in a photobucket account.  I can't figure out how to get it into a post now.

i sent you a pm about it, hope it helps

Quote from: Doneldon on November 11, 2014, 04:57:22 AM
Saved-

You can cut plastics with your Dremel if you lower the RPMs. At full speed your abrasive or saw creates high heat which has the potential to distort the things you are working on, including the parts you want to retain. So ... turn the RPMs way down. You'll give up a little speed of cutting, sanding and drilling, but your work will be more accurate and less likely to degrade your final product. Many Dremels have this ability on board. If yours don't, you can get a rheostat into which you plug your tool to get the same control.

Be careful with that fine gray ballast around the moving parts of your turnouts. My friends use almost powdered ballast, not just small ballast. They are mainly concerned with color matching but aren't worried about texture.
                                                                                                                                        -- D

ah yes, one of mine has a speed control so i could use that one to cut with. I will be extra careful around the points and switch area when i do it  i'll post pics of the final results when i do it.

Quote from: jbrock27 on November 10, 2014, 07:01:50 PM
Yes Doc, thank you I realize the difference.
As you put it in the context you did, I now understand why you said what you did. 
Instead of calling roadbed track an improvement over traditional sectional track though, I would instead agree it provides a different option.  As you point out, it stays together better than the job rail joiners do alone on traditional sectional track (which can be solved by soldering the rail joiners together and this also helps keep sections in line-I like to join 3 sections together by soldering them and this makes it easier to work with.)  This makes roadbed attached track ideal for setting up and taking apart  layouts that are temporary, where traditional sectional track is not meant for that.

Saves And A Beauty, I love my Dremel tool too!  Just be careful to wear eye protection when using it-I have had bits of brass and plastic get flung all over the place.

yeah wearing eye protection is a good idea for sure.

it's free to upload your pics on photobucket, just make an account it's free and then upload your pics to your account. once you upload the pics you want to share use this code for the forum that i showed in the pic below



you can also use tinypic for free uploads as well you don't have to make an account with tinypic but if you use tinypic after a while the bandwidth runs out,

i would make a free account at photobucket it's just better, just use whatever password you want with whatever email you want to use.

Quote from: Doneldon on November 10, 2014, 03:31:50 AM
Saved-

Thank you for the excellent, illustrative photos of your layout's progress. I must say, your sweeping curves and elevation changes are rhythmic and lovely to look at. Why, they're almost to graceful to cover up with track and scenery! You did just a great job with the WS materials.

As regards cutting roadbed attached track, I've used a cut-off wheel in a Dremel tool. I carefully measure first and then cut the roadbed and the rails to the exact length I need. The Dremel makes roadbed joints just about invisible if done slowly and carefully, but that doesn't matter if ballast is applied. Although I no longer use roadbed attached track, I think it is an enormous improvement over yesterday's sectional track.

I have friends who crush some of their ballast nearly to powder for the tight clearance areas around turnouts. They use gray paint and sprinkle on the powder to ensure they have a color match without fouling the points or operating rod.
                                                                                                                                                      -- D

Thanks, yes it was a hard decision to cover up most of the incline work i did but that is just the way the layout was planed, i did already modify my layout plan to get a little more incline to show. working with the WS foam is pretty easy.

oh a dremel i have 2 of them, i love my dremel, the one thing i don't like about using a dremel to cut plastic is that it tends to melt the plastic but they do work very well when you take time with the tool.

I do have some fine gray ballast that i will use in the point areas, i will just take my time in those areas when doing it. 

Quote from: jbrock27 on November 09, 2014, 09:17:15 PM
Jesus Saves, And A Beauty!, never inferred you or anyone had any problems with their EZ track, just pointing out how it is easier to cut non roadbed track with Xuron cutters.  To me, that makes for an advantage for the use of sectional track or flex track, w/o roadbed.  Not everyone has a band-saw at their disposal. 
Nice work, lookin good.  The time and planning you are putting in shows .

I agree it is easy to work with and cut standard sectional track and i do like the advantages of using them, cutting the E-Z track has not been fun nor easy but i was up for the challenge. i was going to make this layout using standard track but since i bought the E-Z track i gave it a go. When i planed the tunnel area i already had some old code 100 track so there was no way i was going to buy extra E-Z track sections for that area if i didn't have to.

I made some more progress today, i put down some plaster cloth on the tunnel section and i also cut the tunnel walls and painted them flat black. right before i put the walls in place i will add some ballast and some random rocks to line the tunnel area probably only the first 8 inches or so.






I also laid down the section of foam roadbed for the tunnel section and working with this foam was so easy, it curved around the radius extremely easy.



here i added some old cork i had laying around to fill in the empty void under the track to lessen the noise and i will fill in the rest of the smaller gaps with some thin weather stripping, i have already tried this and it helps deadened the sound do to the empty void under the E-Z track a lot.



so, i want to wire up some signal lights to my switches so that when i throw each switch the lights will turn on and off respectively, does anyone know which wire does what lol or does anyone have the wiring diagram for these DCC decoder equip turnouts and crossovers?



Mr. Bachmann tech ... help!! haha i guess i could go through the motions of figuring out the wiring but if anyone know the wiring let me know.