So I've made the basic framework for the elevated roadway. I'll have to do some more tomorrow if I can get away with it....so far on these holidays I have also built a dry-stone wall in my front yard, planted a set of seedlings, planned out my new vege garden and I'm going to lay a floating florr in Tom's room - just a few other small proejcts!!
You can see from the photos below a minor variation to the framework I drew up a few posts ago. It's all working our really nicely (fingers crossed - it's Agile carpentry here ;-) ).
You can see the basic support timber above and the profile below.
I've rested the 6mm MDF base here. On top of ths will be the roadbase of 3mm MDF which I will carry all the way through the curve down to the main base board.
The curved road is shown here (below) prototyped in foam-core. It will sit on top of the 6mm MDF as shown.
Just to demonstrate, I've place some track on a 3mm cork base to show how the top of the tracks aligns with the ground level of the village section.
I've built a removable section on which I can build and detail the village. It's a strip along which I will put the main buildings - just 100mm wide.
The tram way and main road will run in front of this removable section.
You can see from the pictures that it's simply a box section made from 25mm thick polystyrene foam - light but quite rigid. I have mounted a lot of locating plates on the final version (not shown) to ensure it's reliably positioned in the same place.
Hmmm...now I am thinkgin of it, it may be work coating this in a final layer of paper to get it really sharp edged. Let's see.
I've used ordinary PVA to glue this together but also used bamboo skewers to reinforce the structure. Theyve been pushed through at 45 degrees. and you can see a few tell tales here and there.
Note also that I have now completed most of the cork underlay for the track.
The first exhibition of 2013 in Sydney will be the North Shore Railway Modellers Club held on the 2nd and 3rd of March 2013 at the Forrestville Memorial Hall.
Be there or be 'somewhat less daggy than me' !
Well I've been struggling with this for a while and I've finally got an answer...
Use ordinary Peco track and build a road around it. Crazy, you say! Ha!
I've discovered the magic ingredient - plasticine. I've yet to test it but I'm sure this will work out. More on this as I construct it.
In the mean time, I've worked out the gradients and the various issues around curves etc so here's a solution prototyped in easy-to-work foam core.
- Clean up - the table, room, floor
- Build removable section for town
- Build permanent roadbed for tram
- Reinforce foam trackbase on various ramps
- Lay cork under track in all visible areas
- Lay and fix track except to main section
- Create removable tram track section out of timber
- Lay tram track with sensors and sections plus long wiring
- Create tram roadbase - plasticine
- Put tram section in place
- Create removable town section and set aside
- Solder track sections
- Add wiring and sensors to all sections
- Lay sections and run wiring to control system end points
- Remove main section
- Create sectional track pieces and solder
- Add wiring for power
- Remove springs from all points
- Lay track sensors and wire in
- Lay and fix track
- Secure all point servos in place and add main track springs
- Test track with basic motor controller system with points held hard in place
- Rework point control system software and put point control system in place
- Integrate systems and test
- Wire signals
- Add relay control system for lighting
- Place all signals in place, wire lights and test
- Plan village layout and add lighting with wiring
- Integrate track by returning removable control section and connecting up track
- Test by running system with basic software
- Write and test complex control software
- Scenery comes next
