JR-Chiisai

[Martijn Meerts]

Not been a lot of visual progress since the last post. I was ill a few days, and generally just feeling rather tired most days. However, I did manage to go up to the attic and run some trains if nothing else.

 

I managed to configure and speed measure some more locomotives and did some setup changes in iTrain. At some point I have 5 locomotives running on the local line, going between the yard and the local station.

 

While things were running, I worked on the wiring of the express and shinkansen lines. Most of that is not completed and I just need to add the actual occupancy detector. I may need to move the one for the local line a little bit to make some extra space, but that's easy enough. I'll likely add the occupancy detector in the coming days, which means that for the first time ever, trains can run up the helix to the shinkansen line. For the express line, I still need to install some servos before I can run trains there as well.

 

 

 

I have also started adding some bit of foam which will eventually be the scenery. Nothing is glued in place yet, since I'm not sure where to go with the scenery just yet. I also need a little more practice with the various hot wire cutting tools I have before I can thing about shaping the foam. I should probably also get some more rock casting molds so I have something to work off of.

 

Finally, I did also mark the first cross section of the 2nd section for cutting. I'm just wondering if I should use the jigsaw to try and accurately cut it, or do a more rougher cut, and then use a router to accurately recreate the contours of the connection cross section of the first section. Of course, I don't have a router, so I would need to get one first 🙂

 

 

Finally, I've been watching a bunch of woodworking videos lately, for some reason Youtube started recommending me those. It's making me look into possible isolating my garage and build a bit of a small workshop / storage space there. Of course, the garage is a bit of a mess at the moment (it's a recurring theme in my house I guess...), and worse, the ceiling uses asbestos boards. Those I will need to have removed by a specialist company. I'm also thinking of building some custom storage cabinets / shelves in the small guest / storage room. Once the attic starts filling up more with layout, I'll need to move some stuff down to this room...

 

[cteno4]

Wooo hooo! Go for it martijn, you need a woodshop, it’s a whole nother hobby to dump money into and accumulate more toys! Actually dont need a huge space for a nice little shop if you plan it out well and make everything as mobile as possible. 

 

Jeff

[Martijn Meerts]

Well, the accumulation of new toys has already started 😄

 

But yeah, won't be able to build anything big. Definitely no space for the bigger tools you usually see in woodworking videos. The garage isn't very big to start with, and with the insulation added, it'll even get a bit smaller. I'll need to insulate it from the inside, so likely just a vapour barrier, studding and something like Rockwool insulation. I also still need space for a couple of bicycles and other bits and pieces. Before that though, there's a lot of old junk in the garage at the moment, so that has to go first. Something to do during spring I guess.

 

 

[cteno4]

Talk to your local insulator. Foam board and spray foam can be quite compact for the R value, but it is a plastic, not eco material. Cover over with like 12mm ply. Some love to have tons of pegboard to put tools on, ive always hated that myself and am a tool chest user for tools, but thats a very personal choice. Any overhead space not in use like a rafter space you can use for lighter storage area or place to store hanging bikes? Ive been adding large shelves just over my height around the shop walls and over windows for more storage boxes of stuff i dont use often.

 

The only really big space tool is the table saw. But it’s a very central tool to a lot of wood working. There are other work arounds, but they are a whole hobby in itself. But you can fix a smaller table saw with folding side and outfeed tables or use folding roller stands so it can be compact when not in use with bigger pieces of wood. They also make decent work spaces having a nice heavy metal table top, but of course using it and working on a project on it isnt the best thing to attempt! I love my table saw and it’s really the workhorse of the shop. There are alternative ways of cutting with a circular saw and various bench jigs, but i find them tedious myself. I do have a panel jig to cross cut larger ply pieces easier with a small circular saw.

 

Next is drill press in amount of use. Then followed by sander, Planer, and joiner and then band saw and router table.

 

I find next to the table saw i end up sing the drill press a lot all the time. I tend to like to use screws over nails and dowels and such as well for connection as well as bolts and threaded inserts. All of which need more precise drilling than you can do with a hand drill well. Luckily they dont take up a huge space. The new direct drive ones are awesome and are even more compact, but expensive right now [they should come down in price as i expect they will eventually take over most nicer shops with time thier performance is so much better].

 

A nice belt and disc sander is always very handy and does ot take up much space and can even be just clamped to the bench when in use.

 

Planer i find really handy as i make most all my own dimentional lumber out of larger boards and ply wood. Ripping on a good table saw with fence grips [little wheels that hold the wood firmly against the fence as you feed it] gives you pretty good parallel cuts and they dont really need to be run thru a joiner so i just run each cut side thru the planer and it makes very nice clean dimentional lumber that can be spot on width. Small to medium sized planers can be put away, they are a bit bulky and heavy but can just be plopped onto a folding work table or bench for use and put away in a cabinet when not in use.

 

Joiner is nice to get edges very flat if a big curvy for one reason or another or if it has any divits in it.

 

Band saw is handy for more free form cutting. You can of course do this decently with a godd hand held jig saw with some practice and care. You can also resaw thin pieces of board on a bandsaw, but that requires a larger marching and special wide blades.

 

Router table is handy if you get into shaping edges. Hand routers can do a lot on finished pieces but not so easy on strip material where the router table is handy to feed stock thru. You can get small portable ones that you just pop your hand router into. A small handheld edge router can be pretty cheap and when used with bearing guide bits you can do a ton without a table.

 

Dust handler is essential from the get go. Both to suck dust from each machine in use and also one to just filter all the stuff that will end up in the air and end up coating everything in the shop if not well cleaned out [even then you get a film that needs cleaning now and then[.

 

Folding work tables are great for a small shop as you just open them up when needed for more bench space. They unfold like a sawhorse and then have wings that fold up to give you like 2’x3’ area to put a bench power tool on or your project. Many have some sort of a clamping/vise system built in. Some you can lock more than one together for larger temporary bench. They are not as sturdy as a good traditional workbench, but good enough for most purposes and fold away to little space when not in use.

 

There are a ton of youtube videos of folks building very compact power tool stations and workbench system. If tools are put on good roll arounds you can use the bases for storage and keep most of the toolls rolled up into a line on the wall and just pull out the one you need to use as you use them or toll them outside for big use. But i see some folks just going down the rabbit hole on these systems pouring a ton of time and effort into them which is fine if you are using the shop full time, but for part time you can easily find short cuts. I have a lot of my big bench tools on old craftsman tool chests so i can pack a ton of storage below the tool and it’s mostly all prebuilt. They are not perfect on size and shape always but close enough and pretty heavy duty.

 

For the hand power tools Ive moved to almost all rechargable battery ones. Pict a brand and stick with it so you can share batteries and it’s great to be able to just grab a tool and use it and not fiddle with power cords and such. The power of the brushless motors and batteries these days makes them all more than powerful enough to do anything really. Most are pretty compact these days so you can get a large number of them in a few storage drawers. Batteries are great then for emergency power for lights and recharging cell phones and such, great twofer. I went with the budget Ryobi brand like 30 years ago because of the value and my budget at the time, but I’ve never been disappointed by them. Nothing has broken or worn out on any of them [and i have a lot of them] and quality is quite good. Nicer brands are a bit higher quality and a bit beefier, but ive never found the Ryobis lacking at all and they are usually almost half the price, which means i pickup a new power tool for any job i need it for to have then for the future and thru bundles and sales ive ended up with a big pile of batteries. If i were doing construction and on site i would maybe use one of the fancier brands as tools get beat up fast there, but e

 

cheers

 

jeff

[Martijn Meerts]

Remember that this is a European sized garage, that has just enough space for a single European size car 😄

 

What I was thinking, is use 1 wall for a workbench with space for a mitre saw, and then cabinets below the workbench, as well as above the workbench. The opposite wall would then probably be for storage cabinets and for storing folding work tables and the like. I would love to have more space, but I would have to find something to rent, which currently is next to impossible near where I live.

 

I will still have to get plywood cut at the hardware store (or, more likely a wood specialist store if I do end up doing more woodworking). I'll just have to make sure to add a centimeter to all the measurements, and then do the final cuts myself. Most places where you can have plywood cut to your specifications have rather high tolerances.

 

When my cordless drill pretty much died not long ago, I went and looked at several brands for a new cordless drill and overal system. The old drill didn't have a battery system, so the batteries couldn't be used for anything else, and getting new batteries was impossible. Towards the end I was lucky to get like half an hour of battery life out of the 2 batteries I had. At some point the chuck develop a gigantic amount of play though, so it was just getting annoying to use. After a bunch of research, and checking availability, I ended up with a Festool cordless drill. It's an expensive brand, but some online shops have sales quite regularly. I picked up a T 18+3 drill in a set with charger and 2 batteries with about 40% off during a sale. I've used it quite a lot for building the layout, and it's just a lot more pleasant to use compared to the old one.

 

Since then I also picked up a Festool jigsaw (my old one tended to wander, and was a pain to keep straight), as well as 1 of their dust extractors. With the dust extractor hooked up to the jigsaw, there's hardly any dust at all, just a tiny bit of sawdust on the floor right below where you're cutting. I've actually been cutting contours in the 12mm plywood for the layout up on the attic, and I get more dust from the parrot than from cutting wood 😄

 

There's a few other tools on my wish list, but I'll only get them if and when I need them. Either way, doing any work on the garage is going to take a while. There's a large old dresser in there which has started falling apart, so I need to cut that apart to be able to get rid of it. There's also a metal frame that was used for an old layout which also needs to be cut up. And finally there's a bunch of junk stacked up which I removed from the crawlspace under the house. The previous owners had used the crawlspace to "store" some stuff, which I only found out about when I had the crawlspace insulated, and had to go down there to remove all that stuff...

 

 

Anyway, got a little more done on the layout, cut some more bits of foam and worked on lining up the shinkansen and express tracks going from the helix to the first scenic section. It's really rather fiddly since when I made the helix I wasn't as careful with measurements as I am these days. I also 3D printed up several servo harnesses so I can more easily mount them next to the 3 remaining turnouts on the helix. I'll work on installing those the coming days most likely. So there's several fiddly things to do now, which doesn't help the motivation. But I'll get there ... Eventually ...

 

[Martijn Meerts]

Not a lot of progress again, still not in the best shape after having been ill a few weeks ago.

 

I did got some more foam cut, and ended up destroying 1 of my hot wire knife thingies. I think I was a bit impatient and tried to push it a bit too much. Initially it just bent a little bit, so I bent it back so it was straight again. But with the next cut it snapped completely. I'll pick up a new one at some point.

 

Other than that, I quickly did a mockup of some trains on the various lines of the layout, just to get a quick and general idea of how things would look with the rough scenery in place.

 

 

 

These are the shinkansen and express lines. The shinkansen line will enter a tunnel just a little left of the middle of the section, whereas the express line will continue a bit further before entering a tunnel.

 

 

 

Urban line with some steam. This will become a simple station with a center passing track / freight track.

 

 

 

Express line, showing the really wide curve. Quite like the look of this, even though you'll never really see it like this once everything's in place 🙂

 

I have also been slowly working on a Greenmax engine shed. The idea is that is a more modern extension to an older steam terminal. While the kit does look decent enough, there's a lot of preparation to do. There's a lot of little nubs and whatnot from the molds, and while they are all on the inside, I want to add details to the inside as well, so I need to remove all those. The plastic is also fairly thin, so I need to add something like card stock on the inside to block any interior lights I'll be adding.

 

Finally, also been making some progress on the brass kits. I've been folding and soldering the wheel inserts to make it look like the train has spoked wheels. This is really rather fiddly, but all in all not terrible. Of course, with 1 more kit now almost done, I just had to go and order about 7 new kits.. Picked up several of the Usui pass locomotives, including 4 ED42s (not all motorised) to do a prototypical train. I keep telling myself not to get new kits, but hey 😄

 

 

[Martijn Meerts]

Since I'm still not quite able to do much of the heavier physical stuff (like moving the segments around and getting things ready to cut more wood), I decided to finally try out the small sandblaster I bought quite a while ago. According to the documentation, my airbrush compressor shouldn't have enough pressure to operate the sandblaster, but it turned out to work just fine. I picked up some glass beads to use as material rather than the included blasting medium, since the included stuff is actually toxic.

 

 

 

First quick test. The bonnet on the right side of the picture was sandblasted, very clear difference. I tried this little bit just in a cardboard box, but the glass beads were going all over the place, so there was no way I could do the entire model.

 

 

 

So, I turned the cardboard box into a really quick and dirty blasting cabin. It works surprisingly well actually 😄 I guess it could be one of my first woodworking projects, build a portable blasting cabin with some light built in. 

 

 

 

This is the entire model blasted. If you look closely there's some bulging going on on the sides and the roof. I'm not sure if it's because the pressure was too high, or if I held the sandblaster to close to the model. I did manage to fix it, but there are some visible marks. I don't really mind that, considering I want the models to look used, so some dents and such just add character (and they're a lot easier to add on these brass kits 😄 ) The next step for this kit is a quick bath in the ultrasonic cleaner and then some metal prep and initial primer. For the final colour, I first need to do some colour matching ...

 

 

 

Finally, quick comparison of the blasted EF13 and the shell of the H0 EF66. The blasting does definitely make a difference, and pretty sure it will make the metal prep / primer stick much better.

 

 

[Madsing]

Interesting. I didn’t know sandblasting was used for brass kits. Could you post a link to the equipment and materials you have used? Not that I plan to try any time soon, but I’d be happy to know.

 

Marc

 

[Martijn Meerts]

10 hours ago, Madsing said:

Interesting. I didn’t know sandblasting was used for brass kits. Could you post a link to the equipment and materials you have used? Not that I plan to try any time soon, but I’d be happy to know.

 

Marc

 

 

I don't know if sand blasting brass is a common thing, it's just something I wanted to try. My main problem with brass has been getting paint to stick to it.

 

My first attempt at priming brass, I could scrape off the primer just with my fingernails, even with Tamiya metal prep applied. I stripped it all off, then applied a coat of VMS metal prep (this stuff definitely helps, and it designed for preparing photo etched parts), but it's still not great for rolling stock that you might have to handle regularly. Roughing up the service with a fiber brush or sand paper is of course also doable, but it's often hard to reach all the small corners, and the small cast brass detail bits are challenging to sand.

 

For the equipment, I have a Paasche ER-1S. It comes with a small bottle of blasting medium, but like I said, that stuff is toxic. After reading some comments from people who used this sandblaster, they recommended going with either baking soda or glass beads. Baking soda is silly expensive here, so I went and looked for some glass beads. Managed to find a company that sells them in large quantities and in various sizes (I can't remember the homepage, but it's a Dutch shop, so not sure how relevant that would be anyway 🙂 )

 

Still have to check if it does make a difference for getting the paint to stick of course, but I'll hopefully get to that sometime soon-ish. I did get some new metal prep, since my old one had expired. I also got some VMS primer to test that as well, it's a relatively new product from them, but all of the stuff I have from them so far has been great.

 

I'll probably do some tests on some bits of scrap brass sometime in the coming days.