Dishcloth and scissors

Not much to report from yesterday. After voting (London mayoral elections) a trip to my local decorating trade supplies, see below, and spending too long watching the EEVblog on YouTube - Dave Jones is a real nut but really informative and entertaining...

Pound shop cloth wipes make the first layer

Back to the sound proofing experiment and it is time to cover the cardboard lattice with the first layer. The choice here is endless. The standard covering for chicken wire was plaster impregnated bandage sold for years under the brand name of Mod-Roc it has now become a generic name for all similar products aimed at modellers. Unless you buy the stuff wholesale, it can be an expensive option. Even at whole sale prices it starts to get expensive on a large layout. Newspaper or paper towel is another alternative. this can be pasted down over the lattice and works well. In fact anything that will cover the lattice is fair game and has probably been used at one time or another. Here I have opted for a different approach. The landscape will be built up from layers of material all bonded together to make a hard, durable shell that will stand some punishment but is easy to work and can be modified to accept landscaping features such as planting and structures.

Steady progress and the landscape takes shape

My regular visits to the High Street (See my High Street Bargain Hunter page) unearth all manner of offbeat materials and here I am using some Handy Wipes - they look like thin 'J' cloths - found in our local 99p Store. 30 in a packet and I used fewer than eight to cover this section. The wipes are cut up into small squares. I can get 16 out of one cloth. These are then stuck over the lattice, overlapping them as you go, at various angles to produce a smooth substrate for the next layer.

First layer is complete!

Free PVA - Found in a skip

 The are nearly as many different types of PVA on the market as there are fishes in the sea! most if not all will do the job for us. The most economic way to buy it for landscaping and general use is in a tub/tin/plastic bottle as a building product. It is sold as a sealer or as an adhesive. It can also be found in large er quantities in craft shops. have a good look around and compare prices. it is all slightly different in its make up but the cheapest stuff you can find will do the job. With my cheap-scape's hat on, it is possible to get it for free!Yes I do mean free, zilch, for nothing. For reasons I can't understand, a lot of tradesmen will throw out part used containers of PVA at the end of a job. Perhaps they can't be bothered to store it, maybe it was priced into the job and they will buy more for the next job, I don't know but all I know is I have found several amount of the stuff while indulging in that most profitable of pastimes, an Anglicised version of what the Americans call 'Dumpster-diving', skip hunting! You will be amassed what gets put in a skip at the end of a job. Just remember that even rubbish has an owner and always ask before removing anything from someone else's skip.

Now that is done, it will need to be left for a day or so to dry hard and then it is on with the next layer of Handy Wipes this time soaked in something that will stick to the first layer and be readily adsorbed by the wipes. You could use powdered filler or any of the plaster of Paris materials sold in craft stores or by the numerous sellers of scenic products but by far the best material I have found is Artex, textured finish powder. and the best way to buy it is in a big 25kg bag from one of the decorating trade suppliers. If you don't need that much smaller bags are available from the DIY stores but you will pay nearly as much for only 10kg. I'll show you how I get on next week.

Ralph.   

The Postman came today

Hmmm.... What a lot of knobs! If all else fails I suppose
I had better read the instructions!

In my quest to get to grips with all this electronic stuff I have been looking at all sorts of material on the internet, tutorials and data sheets, components and projects. The information is going in like water into a dry sponge. And like water into a dry sponge, it takes a while for the first drop to appear. That happened last week when I suddenly realised that time was as important as value and to measure both I needed something more than my digital multimeter. I decided the workshop was not complete without an oscilloscope. So I set about looking around. Figuring that my best bet was to look for something cheap and cheerful. The O-word was plumbed into the eBay search engine and several pages were there ready to study. Not really knowing what was what I decided to have a punt at a few cheap listing and see what happened. To my surprise I won one and it arrived today in a big box full of bubble wrap!  Now all I have to do is teach myself how to use it - should be fun!

I knew reading the instructions was a waste of time. I got this to work by inviting
somebody who had half a clue round to have a go!

Also today my mate Tim (you know, my pet Nerd) was here eager to have a go at programming the Arduino ( See Wednesday 25th April's posting ) and attempt to teach me some programming, not an easy task! I think he went home exhausted but I did understand some of it and a few years of study should do the trick. We managed to get a little further on and I am slowly getting the hang of this but why you have to say HIGH and LOW and not ON and OFF is still a sticking point. The upshot is I am a little nearer understanding what is what but there is still a way to go.

Ralph.

Stick, stick, stick, Ouch!... Stick, stick....

Off we go, glue gun at the ready the hard shell starts to take shape

Today I have spent a few hours working on the section of layout that I am using to test out my silent running theorems. The hard shell of the landscape needs a support. Over the years I have used all sorts of materials. Chicken wire was a hot favourite, in the early days, I could buy small amount of it in the hardware shop when I was a kid. These days I am not sure where I would get it from without doing an internet search. It did the job at the time but there are all sorts of advances in materials and glues since then. In the mid 70's I wrote a small book on landscaping, while doing some freelance work for a publisher I used to work for. My little book explained the various techniques in common use at the time, nothing startling.  A few years later, while working on another model railway magazine, I had the good fortune to meet the late Jack Kine. For those of you who don't know the name, Jack was the driving force behind the BBC's special effects unit for the best part of 40 years (Google his name for more information). In his retirement Jack set up a small cottage industry selling scenic materials aimed at the railway modeller. Jack changed my approach to landscaping completely and I have used and adapted his basic ideas ever since. Jack too wrote a book on landscaping - far more interesting than my meagre offering of a few years earlier. He was always willing to try and share new techniques. I got on with him very well on the few occasions I was privileged to spend a few hours with him and we discussed new ideas and current projects. His method of translating the real thing into model form made a lasting impression on me and my modelling. I still follow his basic methods today. Sadly Jack died in 2005 at the age of 83 but his book lives on, though out of print it does appear for sale from time to time and if you see a copy, grab it. It is only a small paperback but it is full of Jacks superb illustrations and very readable text.

The finished lattice all trimmed and ready for its covering

Sympathy please - Injured in
the name of modelling

The landscape hard shell starts with a lattice of card cut from old cereal packets. This is archetypal Jack Kine. In his day the strips would have been stuck together with Evo-stick or white PVA. either of which will do just as well today. However I am a great fan of the glue gun for its speed and of use and 'drying' time. Love 'em or hate 'em glue guns do make a job like this much quicker. If only I could stop gluing my fingers to the job!

The lattice is open in the areas of open landscape and the tighter weave is employed where exposed rock will be modelled. Even without any other covering this area is very rigid. Next it is out with the scissors, dishcloths and a bag of.... No, you will have to wait and see...

Ralph.

Simples!

See, the most successful advertising campaign for years has even got me saying it, but this really is simple and effective. This weekend we are off to Ironbridge for one of our favourite shows, Meccanuity 12. This three day event always has a theme and this year the theme is stationary steam engines. There is also a competition for the best audience participation model. With this in mind we decided to build a few models for the younger visitors. At a recent meeting of our local Meccano club, one of my fellow members had a few small steam sound generator kits for sale. These little kits are aimed at the novice electronics hobbyist and are a bit crude. The thought of a small motorised steam engine model that also made a sound seemed like a good idea.

A simple modification makes the helping-hands stable

I have not made one of these little kits for over 30 years so it was time to get stuck in. the first thing I discovered was the little 'helping hands' is top heavy. I found myself  worrying more about toppling the thing over than burning the digits! Fixing it to the bench is not an option as it need to be portable and besides there are no fixing holes provided. This is not a problem as boring a couple of holes in the base is a simple job. Cast iron is much easier to drill than softer materials due to its high carbon content. Clearance holes were bored and a larger bit was used as a countersink due to the fact there was not enough room get my HSS rose countersink, bit set in the drill chuck, centred over the holes. The stand was fixed to the MDF base using a couple of wood screws. Now the stand is perfectly stable and my fingers are devoid of burns - Simples!

Ralph.

Where do you keep yours?

A contractor's saw is a good substitute for a larger piece of kit
and stowed under the worktop, it takes up a minimum of space

 My workshop is probably bigger than most built in the garden of a terraced house, void of side or rear access (everything has to be brought through the house and that includes machines as well as building materials. This is a limiting factor but it does not mean the basic machines have to be sacrificed. The practical limitations mean that nice old lumps of green, cast iron woodworking machinery are ruled out but it doesn't mean that I have to make do without a tablesaw or for that matter, a bandsaw. A bit of lateral thinking has enabled me to have the benefits of both.

My home-made panel jig is the most used jig in the workshop

The table saw is in fact a contractor's saw mounted on a small cabinet fitted with lockable caster wheels large enough to roll around without getting stuck on the smallest of obstructions. Luxuries like sliding tables and out-feed tables are also out of the window making way for extending material supports (an optional extra from DeWalt) and a home made panel cutting jig.

Dust extraction is provided by a portable 'dustbin' style extractor. When not in use the extractor is stowed under the end of the woodworking bench and the tablesaw is rolled away next to a cupboard and under the worktop taking up less space than another small cupboard. To achieve this bit of shoe-horning the saw is stripped of fence, guard and saw blade, the latter being wound down below the table surface. Once stripped of all its protrusions, the saw and panel jig becomes part of the scenery. It is a bit of mucking about but it is worth it to have the use of a table saw on the odd occasion it is required.

Ralph.

More silent running...

...Track and landscape contours

Getting there - The underlay will be trimmed flush with the end of the baseboard
when the glue has dried

Yesterday I built the frame and set the track bed in place. Before I could lay the track underlay the landscape contours needed to be cut and fitted. The internal parts are cut from expanded polystyrene foam 'rescued' from packing material. The outer contours are made from plywood and cut to shape using jigsaw. It is worth taking a bit of time at this stage. I have been a bit slap-dash in the past and it can never be corrected after the event. No matter how much effort is applied trimming and filling, it still looks like it has been trimmed and filled! Another little trick, that will save time later, is to cut two profiles for each end.

The end profile boards are cut in matched pairs. The second
one will be used on the adjacent board

The second profiles are used as the end of the adjacent baseboard frame ensuring a perfect match. Once the profiling was completed I laid some oversized strips of high density foam over the MDF track bed. These are deliberately cut over-width so that the hard shell landscaping can be fixed to this overhang creating yet another mechanical break. This is not a total isolation, as the hard surface will connect the shell to the track bed. I am hoping the very thin and light amount of material will transmit little or no vibration into the frame - time will tell. Staying on my recycling theme I found some old cork wall tiles in our loft and thought they would make perfect track underlay for the fine scale (SMP) OO flexible track. I am not sure if you can buy cork wall tiles any more (shows you how long we have lived in our house!) but a strip of the standard cork underlay would do the job if you have not got any old wall tiles kicking about - I knew they would come in handy one day!

Polystyrene intermediate formers and multi-layered
track underlay helps to keep noise transmission to a minimum
 

The whole lot will be weighted down overnight and left to dry. I have used a PVA glue (Original Titebond) to glue the wood together and the underlay down. I like Titebond and have been using it for a decade or more. it has plenty of 'grab' and cures quickly. Any PVA will do the job, white or yellow, it is a matter of personal choice. However, I would recommend buying it in bulk as it is much cheaper that way. I usually buy the odd small bottle and keep refilling it from the bulk container making it much easier to handle. For model railway use I would not recommend the 'permanent' or type II or III versions of PVA as they will not wash out of clothes and if, like me, you prefer to apply the stuff with a brush and mop up with a sponge it will ruin both if not washed out before it cures. When everything is dry, the ends of the underlay will be trimmed flush and the woodwork sanded ready for undercoating. The track will also be glued in place using PVA.

Ballasting will be carried out by laying it loose and 'solidified' it using diluted floor polish. When dry, the ballast will will hold the track in place, without the need to use track pins, thereby maintaining the mechanical separation. I will show you the section again, in a few days time, once I have laid the track and let you know if it runs any quieter.

Ralph.

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Silent running...

...well almost!

I must admit that if you had told me that I would be considering adding sound to a model railway 20 years ago I would of told you that was the last thing I would do. Today sound has come on a long way from the the vinyl LP record of steam/diesel train sounds and the portable record player. Digital Command Control (DCC) has revolutionised the concept completely with sound chips and on-board speakers as well as resynchronisation of the sound to the actions of the locomotive. The ability to programme the chips (easily) from the hand-held controller make it all the more attractive.

Silent Running - we hope!

Sounds good? Yes, but for me there is still a problem - it' TOO LOUD! Go to any model railway exhibition and you will see fantastic layout where superb attention to detail has been lavished on all the visual aspects. Trains are run at realistic speed within a well throughout operating schedule the sound is so load that they are audible even when out of sight. and far away. Having never exhibited a layout with sound I can only presume there are a couple of reasons for this. One maybe the operator is in the wrong place to be able to judge the volume from the viewer's position and increases the volume until he (or she!) can hear it. As most DCC controllers (other than the most basic units) are walk-around models, either wired or wireless, there is no real excuse for this.A more likely explanation is that the volume is cranked up to mask the roar that is generated and then amplified by the baseboards as the train runs along a solidly laid track and track bed.

Wouldn't it be nice if the viewer could hear a train in the distance only faintly and the sound to become crisp as the train passed buy and to diminish as it disappears into the distance. This does happen on some of the larger layouts as physical  distance will make this happen. But what if your layout is not 40ft long? The only way to do it is to reduce the volume coming from the on-board sound system and to drastically reduce the mechanical noise created by the train running over the layout. One way to do this is to introduce mass into the baseboards. Filling them with concrete would do the trick but my make them a bit on the heavy side! Another solution is to mechanically disconnect the track and the trackbed from the baseboard framework yet still holding it in place.

The plywood-underlay-plywood sandwich is very strong
but time consuming and pricey

To this end I have been experimenting with laminated floor underlay tiles and have built sections of rail bed laminated up from plywood-underlay-plywood sandwich. Although this system is very strong when dry, and would need fewer supports over a given length than convention single sheet road bed, it is not cheap and involves a lot of fabrication. A much simpler method I am testing at the moment involves using small pads of the underlay material glued to the top of the risers and the track bed glued to the pads with no screws or nails. This should dramatically reduce the transmitted noise between the road bed and the frame.

The risers shown here with the underlay pads separating them from the track bed

The next step will be to separate the ballasted track, which will be laid on ⅛ inch thick cork, from the road bed using ⅛ inch thick high density foam. Come back over the next few days and see how successful the sound proofing is.

Ralph.

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