What did you do on your layout today? (N scale)

[gavino200]

51 minutes ago, Pauljag900 said:

You knnow I d help if I could but I just dropped lucky on eBay Gavin,got all those trucks apart from the tankers for about £25.

 

Ooh! Nice. I’m jealous.

[cteno4]

2 hours ago, gavino200 said:

 

I especially like the Sagawa trucks! I'm hunting those suckers down to make a little parcel depot for my M-250 "Super Rail Cargo" train.

Kato had the containers as spare parts on the first run of the m250 but they were sold out right away (I checked as soon as my preorder of the train came in and I saw the parts list). I finally got a used addon set of 8 cars for $45 on ebay and used the container flats for my rr daughter containers. The sagawa trucks tend to go high as singles on ebay.

 

jeff

[gavino200]

23 minutes ago, cteno4 said:

Kato had the containers as spare parts on the first run of the m250 but they were sold out right away (I checked as soon as my preorder of the train came in and I saw the parts list). I finally got a used addon set of 8 cars for $45 on ebay and used the container flats for my rr daughter containers. The sagawa trucks tend to go high as singles on ebay.

 

jeff

 

I can't imagine an add-on set being that cheap while the train is out of production. I've been scoping out replacement containers on Buyee, but haven't bought any yet other than a pair of trucks. I think, instead I'll just wait for the train to be produced again and either pre-order replacement containers or buy an add-on set when the market is flooded. 

 

I want to scratch build structures at some stage. Maybe I'll start with a Sagawa depot. Insustrial warehouses are fairly uncomplicated, so it might be a good choice to start with.

[cteno4]

There were a number of the old add on sets on us ebay a year to two back and they went at reasonable prices, usually $75 range. I got mine cheap I think as it had a funny listing title, was marked used and was from one of those estate sales groups (I think some folks dont like buying from these as they usually know nothing about trains or the history of that one so they just get marked as used.) lurk ebay.

 

the trucks have gone sometimes for like $5-8 each from some Hong Kong sellers with a buck or two each for combined shipping. I’ve gotten 3-5 at a whack like that and done have like a 15 trucks, mostly the container ones. I’ve not searched much for them lately. It’s too bad tomytec does not do the two pack of the trucks or make a load extra of the containers to sell as many with the m250 would like to have a part of their container terminal as segawa m250 containers.

 

jeff

[gavino200]

1 hour ago, cteno4 said:

1 hour ago, cteno4 said:

the trucks have gone sometimes for like $5-8 each from some Hong Kong sellers with a buck or two each for combined shipping. I’ve gotten 3-5 at a whack like that and done have like a 15 trucks, mostly the container ones. I’ve not searched much for them lately.

 

 

Interesting. Like this one below? Do you just search for Tomytec vehicles and set the results to "Cheapest first". That's how I found this. Usually I just leave it on "Best match". Maybe that's why I never see any of these legendary great ebay deals.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/TA40-05-1-150-N-Scale-Car-B-fit-TOMYTEC-TOMIX/140448674810?hash=item20b364b3fa%3Ag%3AR~QAAMXQaBtRAa5S&_sop=15&_sacat=0&_nkw=tomytec+cars&_from=R40&rt=nc

 

1 hour ago, cteno4 said:

1 hour ago, cteno4 said:

 

It’s too bad tomytec does not do the two pack of the trucks or make a load extra of the containers to sell as many with the m250 would like to have a part of their container terminal as segawa m250 containers.

 

 

I think Tomytec has to know this. Their marketing strategy seems to be to never let anyone quite get enough. 

[cteno4]

Nope those are some odd vehicles that are not 1/150 Tomytec vehicles they claim. They may be tomica from the size they show there.

 

there were 3 or 4 stores in hongkong that had large lots of Tomytec collection sets they broke up and sold separately at decent prices and combined shipping. Sadly they seem to be mostly exhausted now. Since there have been so few of the collection sets released in the last few years not much at all available and what is there is quite high I see, I haven’t really looked much in the last year or two for these. I always thought I should buy a few extra collection sets each time and just put them away as I figured they would get rare, but there were so many sets coming out never thought it dry up this much! If I could get those ebay prices some of them have gone up 4-8 fold! 

 

Yep have to look at lowest price and also check daily with search notices. Sometime it’s taken a couple of years to find the odd item at a good price. Took 4 years to get the spaceworld train! It was also cheap but from a smoking household so it had to sit out for 4 months before it stopped smelling like an ashtray!

 

Jeff

[Kiha66]

It finally dropped below 90 today, so I was able to start using woodfiller on the layout benchwork and one of the ttrack modules.  I was sure glad to get back in the AC afterwards!

[Pauljag900]

 

A few few people have asked me about the wiring of my lights but I have nt done any in a while so this morning when I fitted the lights to the refinerery and wired them in I took some pics.

my layout base has a 5mm high density foam covering over the main base,this allows me to cut it away and make my diaramas on 5mm foamcard cut slightly smaller but overlapped with the tarmac sheets that I always use as the first base material.I designed it this way to minimise having to get under the baseboard.

so here we can see the foamcard base overlapped with the tarmac sheets.

there are five lampposts which are 3v ( small black and white wires )and three building lights which are 12v(red and black wires) I connect all the 12v together and all the 3v together and dig out channels in the foamcard  and hold them in place with a blob of hot glue.These are then connected to one wire which will be connected to the appropriate power supply.

this picture shows all the 12v building lights connected to the one wire running to the power supply.

 

 

[Pauljag900]

Here both both sets of wires are glued into place and connected to the power feed cables ready to connect to the supply.

i always use a small piece of yellow heat shrink on the end of the 3v supply so I can identify it when I connect it up,and yes I ve connected to the 12v before now and had to replace them.

now it’s just a case of sitting it on the layout and connecting four wires to the supply via connector blocks.

obviously for a conventional board All this would be underneath,but it’s far easier for me to sit at the table to do it and then just connect up to the power supply.

The next item will be the freight yard so I ll post when it’s done as it will be slightly diferent as it will have to be done without removing it from the layout.

 

I m not saying this is the right or best way to do it,but I think it’s one of the easiest and it’s how I do mine and it’s worked ok so far.

Regarding loading and voltage that’s another story but is only basic mathematics,again this is only my understanding.

Most bulbs are either 3v,6v or 12v,this is the power supply you will need unless you connect resistors to EACH light or bulb to reduce it down.

the rating in Milliamps is how much power it draws from the supply,most led bulbs are 20ma for each bulb.

There are 1000 milliamperes to an amp.

As an example, you have 50 x 3v street lights to wire up to a 3v,1amp supply.

no need for resistors here as the power output matches the bulb requirement.

50 bulbs at 20ma each =1000ma,or 1 amp.

so a one amp supply will power 50 leds at a rating of 20ma each.

personally I use a 12v,5amp supply,and I have two x 3v 1.5 amp supply.I do nt use resistors but just connect to the correct supply.

this means in total I can power 250 x12v lights and 150 x 3v street lights,more than enough for most layouts I would imagine.

These figures are the maximum but I always keep below,as a recommendation,although I can power 75 street lights from one supply I keep it to about 60.

hope this helps someone.

 

 

 

[Pauljag900]

 

From the top,I ll try light it up later when it’s dark enough.

need to add some figures and fencing before returning it to the layout.

 

 

 

 

 

[bill937ca]

The Unitram Euro layout is a little disrupted this morning.

[Pauljag900]

5 minutes ago, bill937ca said:

The Unitram Euro layout is a little disrupted this morning.

Big changes buddy? Or just swapping stuff about?

[bill937ca]

29 minutes ago, Pauljag900 said:

Big changes buddy? Or just swapping stuff about?

I've already changed the layout base which was the biggest change.

 

A small extension is coming once a couple of pieces of track arrive.  There is an issue with the wiring which I will look into later today.  I am working on the block bases doing touch ups adding additional details over the next couple of days and then I will start working on the back side.  More buildings ordered.

[Pauljag900]

Figures and fence added a d back on the layout.

 

[Kiha66]

The refinery looks awesome paul, great work!  It really suggests a much bigger plant than the space actually fits.

[JR 500系]

That's a really nice refinery there Paul mate! It sure demonstrates the atmosphere of a refinery superbly and that weathering detail is just insane! Superb work! 

 

Love that little train into a restaurant concept! 

[Pauljag900]

Added some cargo and figures to the freight platforms.

Also fitted some lights in the roof but not connected yet,I ll do that when I ve fitted the street lights and white lines.

 

 

[Pauljag900]

Last night I fitted the street lights to the road and wired them this morning.

i actually used the same method as on the refinery and connected them all together only this time there was no need to be neat as I simply pushed all the wire under the freight yard base along with the point switch cables.

 

i then connected them to the refinery wires underneath and the same with the 12v lights in the truck stop cafe and freight platforms.

will post a pic later when it’s dark.

Edited August 13, 2018 by Pauljag900

[Pauljag900]

When having a clear out last week I came across these yard lights I d forgotten I had.However,they re 6v and are not leds,just normal bulbs so are a bit more yellow than white.I m thinking o f using them in the freight yard in between the tracks to illuminate the trains but I m waiting to see how much light the street and building lights throw out first before I make a decision.

This is another way that voltage can be reduced without the need for resistors.

if my memory serves me correctly I think it’s called wiring “in line”you can connect one wire from one of the lights to one wire of another and then the other wire from each light to the supply,so basically joining the two lights together.

the two black wires at the bottom is the power supply and the red and black are the lights.In this example,to try and make it easier to explain,I ve connected the red wire from each light together and the two black wires to the supply,it does nt matter how you connect them so long as the bulbs are connected to each other.

to work out the voltage going to each light you just divide the voltage of the power supply by the no of lights connected together,so in this set up it would be,12v supply divided by 2 lights = 6 volts to each light

 

 

This example is with 3 connected in line

12v power supply divided by 3 lights =4volts to each light.

not sure if the photo shows the diference in brightness but it’s quite significant.

 

That just about covers all my knowledge about lighting😂😂👍

hope its of some use to someone.

[Pauljag900]

 

So it s finally dark enough to take some pics of the illuminated freight yard and refinery

 

[Pauljag900]

[gavino200]

I put the details on the trailer collection and added them to the layout. From zero to ten trailers in one fell swoop!

 

[Pauljag900]

Is that car broke down or just parked somewhere it should nt be?😂😂

[JR 500系]

5 hours ago, gavino200 said:

I put the details on the trailer collection and added them to the layout. From zero to ten trailers in one fell swoop!

 

 

Nice! I spotted someone in serious breach of safety in the lorry parking yard, with drunk policemen in a patrol wagon nearby ~  😛

[Pauljag900]

My next small diarama is to fill in this area at the front where it meets the tram layout.