Climb to Kurama ( eizan Mini layout)

[Lina_Blue]

Wow! Those banked courves sure look awesome! Nice work!

[Kiha66]

Amazing work!  That switch looks like a pain to install right but the results are sure worth it!  I really like how your banked curves look, very natural.

[gavino200]

13 hours ago, Bubule said:

 Hey guys !! 😁

 

I'm starting ot lay the peco track today !

I have started with the crossing witch is a beast to wire .... 8 frogs to be juiced !  :goggleeyes:

 

 

 

Lots of work but no troubles ... because that switch is a pure beauty  : 😍

 

 

 

 

Lot of work underneath too, because you need four motors very close to each others to power that awesome point : Some tricks have been deployed ( Cutting supports of tortoise because frame is to close, 10mm plywood socket to keep the wires going smooth underneath the motors, Ect ...)

 

 

 

 

 

 

And a little Preview ... track have been laid banked in curves ! ! ! Lots of work but i think it looks far better. 😺

 

 

 

 

 

More to come stay tuned !

 

Best regards.

 

JEF

 

 

 

Great work. That double crossover looks very nice. What's the white material that you're using as track underlay?

[Bubule]

4 hours ago, gavino200 said:

 

Great work. That double crossover looks very nice. What's the white material that you're using as track underlay?

 

Hey guys Many Thanks for the comments. There is lots of work to complete on the project, and your nice words are boosting me and help to stay Focus on the build !☺️

 

The white marterial is a product use for insulation in house : Depron foam. You can buy it in DIY stores. It's very chip, sold in large dimentions sheets. Easy to use,  it's reduicing the rolling noises and you can shape it as you want to have great balast shape. I Also you use it to made my roads; With a thin layer of plaster mixed with wood glue on it. There is lots of thickness available, i use 2mm for roadbed in N scale. You can stick it with wood glue. Hightly recommended product : Test it, and you will never come back, it's the perfect roadbed. I use it since 15 years on all my layouts and had never problem with it.

[Bubule]

 

  Now it's time to lay tracks on the lower level. 😁

 

Like you can see, my method use very precise, frail and subtle tools. You cant do N scale without a nice collection of hammers, it's my favorite tool, very usefull 😜

 

So, i curved my rails, metal joiners are welded. I also weld the feeder wires underneath the rail for a better discretion.The banking wedges are made with some .030 by .060 styren strips shape to the curve in my fingers ( this strips have enought shape rebembering to do that way) and they are sticked when applying some wood glue on the depron to attach the track. I lay the tracks on the glue and wegdes. All that mess is heavily pressed during 6 hours since the glue dries to a correct mechanical resitance. I adjust the rails with care, with a dremel cutting disc. The quality of your adjustments is Absolutely the major point to care if you want reliable and smooth running.

 

 

 

 

 

Also have done some little wirings underneath the layout to juice some frogs for the first Test run :

 

 

 

 

And now ... IT IS THE DAY ! The great moment of the first run is arrived ! ! So here is my first video on my all new channel dedicated to the Kurama build. You  can gave some Thumbs and suscribe, it is not forbiden you know 😋 ... And hightly apreciated by the owner ! ☺️ It's a vid in HD, so you can watch it on You tube in full screen, eventought the ligth was not good tomorow when doing that first rushes.

 

And finaly notice that my english is so poor ... please forgive me !  I'm french and all froggies speaks english like spanish cows ... You cant figth against genetic ! 🤣

 

 

So take care folks, And see you soon.

 

Best regards.

 

Jef

 

[MichiK]

19 hours ago, Bubule said:

And a little Preview ... track have been laid banked in curves ! ! ! Lots of work but i think it looks far better. 😺

 

Actually, the only thing that looks better than a train going throug a banked curve is a train going through a banked S-curve!

[JR 500系]

Amazing stuff! Thanks for sharing! 

 

Now you need some interior lights in the Kirara ~  🙂  Any plans for the Autumn Colored Maple Trees' Tunnel that the Eizan Railway is famous for?  

 

 

 

Wow I saw you are using the RM-1J controller! Any feedbacks on this? I have one too, but mine doesn't seem to sound like the VVTF it stated that it should sound like... 

 

[Bubule]

The RM-1Z is for me (subjective point of view) THE BEST ANALOG CONTROLER i have tested. The Slow speeds are very smooth and the accleration and braking are absolutely perfectly done. You really have the feel to drive your train. The quality is top noch !! Full metal ,very nice finishing. Despite the price very expensive of that beast i think it is one of the best buy i have done in model railroad world. The only point that i think is not perfect is the sound of the horn. It's not has good as my tomytec 101 (Witch a love too ! But the accelartions are not progessive with the trottle  (it is for braking) and you are not loosing some speed when running free at neutral).

 

The effect on newbies is also stunning ... They have star in the eyes when testing these controller.

 

 

 

[Bubule]

 Hey guys !  😁

Before disassembling the power supply and returning to work i have made some adjustements on the switch motors and tracks.

These test have been an occasion to test all my keifuku "raden" Mobos roster. So here is a video to show  you these cute engines running so smooth 🤤 🤗

Best regards  !

 

 

[nickhp]

So do you like your new eBay Geisha train?

[Bubule]

21 minutes ago, nickhp said:

So do you like your new eBay Geisha train?

 

OH Yes ! A pleasure to run, and a pure beauty in curves !

[nickhp]

Great, glad it went to a good home.  I had planned a layout for it but have been hooked on B Trains so am selling off everything else...

 

Regards,

 

Nick

[Bubule]

2 hours ago, nickhp said:

Great, glad it went to a good home.  I had planned a layout for it but have been hooked on B Trains so am selling off everything else...

 

Regards,

 

Nick

 

I am so happy to find them. It's a pair of sold out items quite dfificult to find at a decent price. It was a very good deal for me !   Thanks to you Nick ! Be sure the geishas will be handle with care 😉

Edited July 7, 2018 by Bubule

[Bubule]

2 hours ago, nickhp said:

Great, glad it went to a good home.  I had planned a layout for it but have been hooked on B Trains so am selling off everything else...

 

Regards,

 

Nick

 

[gavino200]

5 hours ago, Bubule said:

 Hey guys !  😁

Before disassembling the power supply and returning to work i have made some adjustements on the switch motors and tracks.

These test have been an occasion to test all my keifuku "raden" Mobos roster. So here is a video to show  you these cute engines running so smooth 🤤 🤗

Best regards  !

 

 

 

That "real train" style controller looks like fun. The white glove is a nice touch!

[katoftw]

*Randen

 

I wish I had you collection of Keifuku trams.  It is probably my fav tram network in Japan.

[JR 500系]

Aahhh thanks for sharing that video of the RM1Z (or 1J)! Now I do know that mine isn't the only one without the VVTF sound... It sorts of 'supposed' to have the VVTF sound but when I questioned the seller he said that was normal... 

 

 

By the way, great collection of Randens! You need the Keifuku Police PAT tram  to complete your collection!   🙂

[Bubule]

1 hour ago, JR 500系 said:

Aahhh thanks for sharing that video of the RM1Z (or 1J)! Now I do know that mine isn't the only one without the VVTF sound... It sorts of 'supposed' to have the VVTF sound but when I questioned the seller he said that was normal...

 

By the way, great collection of Randens! You need the Keifuku Police PAT tram  to complete your collection!   🙂

 

The VVF is not the default sound of the controller. You need to change it before your first run when you have powered on the device. The standard sound when power is apply on the system is E233-0 or TRTA 10 000. Driving parameters are120 km/h top speed, 3.0 acceleration rate and 5.0 déclaration rate.

 

 

If you want the E231-500 with VVF you need to ( in this order ! ) : By the way it will also change driving parameters to get 120 km/h top speed, 3.0 acceleration rate and 4.2 déclaration rate.

 

1 - Put the reverser switch to neutral.

2 - Put the trottle at B8 ( position 8 brake )

3 - Press reset button

 

The controler will ding one time and do a new starting sequance. When done you will get the VVF sound. There is 20 different sounds and driving parmeters profiles in the memory.

 

If you want the E231-0 you need to  : By the way it will also change driving parameters to get 120 km/h top speed, 2.5 acceleration rate and 4.2 déclaration rate.

 

1 - Put the reverser switch to neutral.

2 - Put the trottle at B8 ( position 8 brake )

3 - Press reset AND Horn/door button Simultaneously.

 

Whe sytem will Ding two times before rebooting.

 

Test it and tell me if it have fit your wants.  You can see the  different sounds provided and the trottles position to get it all in the instruction sheet in a table. It was difficult to understant the way it works but  when you have understand the principle, it is really easy to change sounds.

 

Tell me the exact model you want the sound i will tell you the procedure to get it. Lets me know if this procedure have solve your problems 😉

 

My two cents !

 

Jef

Edited July 8, 2018 by Bubule

[JR 500系]

Thanks for the advice Jef! I'll try it out and see if there's any more problems ~ Cheers mate!

[Bubule]

Hey all !

 

So i have returned to work ... banzai !

 I have made the control panel.

 

It is designed with a free vectorial software.

The CAD drawing have been printed with a color laser printer on a polyester higth quality A4 sticker printable sheet for laser printers.

 

I have cutted the base in a 1mm aluminium plate, with a tab saw. Size of the panel: 25 cm by 11cm.  I have Carefully filled and sanded the sides to get them smooth.

.

 

The blade is a higth quality tungsten carbonate one with lots of tooths.  Quite expensive stuff, but with that kinds of discs you can cut tender metals like alumium and brass in low thickness. Very usefull for that precise work.

 

 

I have drill the holes for switches with a column drill. First hole 2mm, second one 4mm, third one 6.5mm. Lots of work to drill 3 times,  but it is doing far much better work than drilling directly to 6.5mm.

 

 

Here is the plate drilled : The fixation holes at the 4 corners are 4.5 mm for 4mm screws.

 

 

The switches are mounted with a precision exagonal screwdriver : With this tool, no damage to the surface of the sticker.

 

 

The siwtch mounted there on this photo are all 3 way sellectors for the power districts. For each sections ( separated by  black vertical dashes on the control panel) you can select :

 

-  Upper position : Controller A ( RMC-M1Z,  Sanying Heavy Industries)

- Middle position : power is cutted on the section.

- Lower position : controller B ( Tetsudou J.N.R. Series 101, Tomytec )

 

 

Here is the panel completed. The standar switch are controlled by 2 positions switches. The Cisor crossing is drive by a 3 positions swicth ( and two inversor relay in background).

 

- Upper position the blue way is activated.

- Middle position The black way is activated (all direct)

- Lower postion The blue way is activated.

 

There will be a safety lock : If you have two different power supply selected on the crossing the switch will be locked in black postion eventhougt the postion of the button is different.

 

 

Here is the back : 4 inverter contacts switch type.

 

 

Need to wire and install it now.

 

To be continued, Best regards.

 

JEF

 

 

 

[katoftw]

That is awesome.  Are you using the switches to control power input to sections of track?

[Bubule]

7 hours ago, katoftw said:

That is awesome.  Are you using the switches to control power input to sections of track?

 

Yes,  that's it, there is two controllers for the layout. There is a selector switch for Each section of track.With Each Witch you can choose to run with the controler you want.

 

I have choosen this solution to have the possibilibty to run a train continously on the lower lever oval (exterior track) with the first controller. And in the same time you can run a train in point to point from the lower station (interior track) to the upper station Kurama with the second controller. It is creating much more animation on the layout. In exibition it a good thing to have two trains runnings.

It also lets me the possibility to allow to visitor the possibility to drive a train with a fun controller on the lower level. On th looped oval it's safe. It will be interactive for visitors to discover how train is drived ( traction and brakes) and experienced that it is not so easy to stop a train just at the platform with the big inertia of trains.

 

And you can also cut the power in the middle position of the switch. It's important because thanks to this option, you can stock a third train in a storage track at kurama. It alows more variety of circulation without intervention on the layout to change trains.

[JR 500系]

Amazing work! Really good workmanship! I love that poster on the wall haha!

[gavino200]

On 7/8/2018 at 12:00 AM, JR 500系 said:

Aahhh thanks for sharing that video of the RM1Z (or 1J)! Now I do know that mine isn't the only one without the VVTF sound... It sorts of 'supposed' to have the VVTF sound but when I questioned the seller he said that was normal... 

 

 

By the way, great collection of Randens! You need the Keifuku Police PAT tram  to complete your collection!   🙂

 

Where did you get this thing? I showed Jeff's video to my son and he loves it. I'd really like to get him one. How hard is it to learn how to use?

[MichiK]

3 hours ago, gavino200 said:

 

Where did you get this thing? I showed Jeff's video to my son and he loves it. I'd really like to get him one. How hard is it to learn how to use?

 

I've become a bit tempted, too, when I saw the video - the price, however, may make you think again...

Anyway, you can get it, e.g., at Hobby Search: https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10514949