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[martink]

I am afraid my camera skills are sorely lacking (though hopefully improving). I did use as much extra light as I had at hand (three desk lamps perched on chairs or clamped to a bookcase), but we had a dull and cloudy weekend down here in Melbourne so my preferred natural light option wasn't available. It will be easier to film when I get around to adding proper layout lighting.

I tried to make the signal shots as interesting as possible, but they don't show up all that well in the video. For example, the two home signals protecting the platforms are three aspect and quite busy in the shot, but their yellow state is barely detectable by the camera. I use a multiplexed driver chip to power them so yellow is actually rapidly alternating green and red flashes which works well for the human eye, but the camera shows this a slightly flickering reddish-orange. I can see them changing in the video, but I doubt most viewers would notice.

[tjejojyj]

I thought the framing and editing of the video were fine and sometimes you need a camera that has a lot of manual settings to get the final "10%" of polish.
(It always helps to have a compelling and interesting subject!)
Hopefully I'll be in Melbourne when your displaying it.

[martink]

It looks like Sarum Bridge will be making its debut appearance at this year's Caulfield (Melbourne) exhibition in August, one of the larger shows down here in Oz, so I've pulled it out of the cupboard and got back to work on it. Ah well, the best laid plans of mice...

I have completely reworked the speed control electronics, replacing the 3 555-based PWMs (one per speed notch) with 4 PIC-based units (one per section). These are all fully synchronised and driven by the one PIC to avoid speed surges when crossing section boundaries, and have basic inertia for smooth starts and stops. They are pretty much a drop-in replacement for the earlier bank - I just added a couple of extra plugs to bypass the old speed control relays and redirected a few other cables. It all behaves much better now.

I have also picked up a couple of new 16M motorised chassis, so over the next few days will be updating the two loco-hauled trains to be double-headed (adding a class 25 and a motorised siphon). With any luck, that should completely resolve the last lingering speed issues.

[martink]

The permanently coupled and wired double-headed approach seems to work out well. Here is a quick video of a basic creep and start/stop test. The wheels and track are not particularly clean, and some of the locos were stuttering along and needing a helping hand when running individually. This is using my original test track and the standard Eishindo PWM controller.

http://youtu.be/7BAgmvBZjas

[martink]

I am back working on the layout after a fair old break. This might have something to do with it being scheduled for its first public showing at this year's exhibition at Caulfield (Melbourne, Australia) in just over a week, one of our larger shows downunder. I'll try to post some pics and a new video of it in its completed (!) state after the exhibition, but here are a few work-in-progress shots.

----

The final form of the wiring. Most of that big circuit board on the left is now redundant and disconnected - I ended up replacing its controllers and speed-switching relays with a second board with a micro handling four synchronised PWM controllers, one per track section. It all works much better now - the trains speed up and slow down properly. I really should have done it this way to begin with and saved a lot of time and effort. The signals and level crossing controller are clearly visible.



The layout in its current state, buried beneath heaps of grass scatter while waiting for the glue to dry. Tomorrow I'll pick the layout up, turn it upside down, and give it a good shake to see how it all turned out.



The full set of buildings - still pretty rough and ready, but less so than the previous mockup version. Customised printed images wrapped around balsa formers, with Plastruct L-girders for roofs and short lengths of styrene strip for chimneys. The concrete footbridge is built from a length of Plastruct U-girder.

[dkightley]

There's nothing like a pending show to focus the mind!

Your layout is looking really, really good.....and I look forward to seeing more pictures and video!

Good luck with the final preparations....and for the show.

[martink]

Getting there at last - the station is finally starting to look like a station. Really just road vehicles, people and touch-ups still to go... ... and maybe some station nameboards and a new backscene.

[martink]

Here are a couple of shots of the final pre-exhibition scenic updates...

The vehicles and people really, really help. I tried using the Eishindo people, but they are just vaguely humanoid plastic blobs. I ended up using the pre-painted, etched brass (2D!) 1:400 people from a Czech company called Eduard (they do accessories for model ships and aircraft). Their 1:450 ship's railings also make good fences - you can cut them out as 2-, 3- or 4- rail types as needed.

[dkightley]

This is stunning!!

The little people and the vehicles bring the layout to life!


Looks as if I'll have to investigate this supplier.......


btw. Are the platform lights simply flat headed nails??? If they are, they look perfect!

[martink]

I was very pleasantly surprised by the standard of the Eduard figures (http://www.eduard.com/store/Eduard/Phot ... 1-400.html). BTW, the drawing on the linked page is accurate - that is exactly how they look. They are flat (which requires some care in placement for reasonable viewing angles) and a bit too vivid (a thin wash of light grey paint over the fret fixed that). I found that the easiest way to stick them in place was to leave the fretwork tabs on their feet, then bend these over with tweezers to make a stand. Bending the figures to put them on seats was also trivially simple.

The station lights are just Peco track pins.