Appalachian Southern

I am not sure where all the time has gone since my last post. Just trying to get all the materials ready for my wiring panel has taken some time. I am centrally locating as many of my DCC components as possible to minimize the rats nest of wiring that tends to develop under a layout. This centralized panel gives ready access to DCC bus power, 12 volt DC for power supplies, and 120VAC for other needs.  All of my power districts will be centally managed here on this panel. All of the DS64 tortoise controlers will also be mounted here. As the layout grows, the panel will grow to accomodate the needed devices. I have about five additional feet in which the panel can grow.

In the photos below you can see the red and black terminal strips which distribute the DCC bus lines to the layout. The blue and black terminal blocks house the 12 volt DC power for the AX lines on the DS64 units.  The wiring channels have lids that will cover up all the wiring when I am done. This is the same way I used to wire machines, and it works good for the layout.  This wiring channel is 1″ square, but I likely should have purchased 1″ x 2″ to accommodate all of the wiring. This is going to be a tight fit for the amount of wires that will call these channels home.

The first locomotive will be running in  a few minutes! I am excited!  Oops, can’t run anything without some LocoNet cables. I guess I will go and make those!

DCC Central Control Panel

DS64s Mounted to the Control Panel

8 Conductor CAT3 Cable to the Remote Tortoise Machines

DCC Bus Line Distribution Terminal Blocks

Shelf Holds Power Supply and DCS200 Next to the Control Panel

Today, the work continues on the AutoCad drawings for the BB&T building, here in Florence, SC.  As the drawings progress, I am gettting excited about the building process.  Once I complete the rear elevation, I should be able to order the materials that will be required for construction. 

This N scale model is going to be huge. From the scale drawings, it will be just under 12″ wide!

BB&T Building in Florence, SC

Front Elevation

Left Elevation

Revised Right Elevation

This week I have been working on installing the tortoise switch machines and installing the drops from the track to the DCC bus lines. Each rail  gets its own feeder to the DCC bus lines. The isolated frog of each switch also gets one drop so the tortoise can control the polarity to the turnout frog. This will allow the motive power to crawl slowly through the turnouts.  All is going well so far.

Tomorrow I will start mounting the two Digitrax DS64 units that will be required to add DCC control to these six turnouts.  At that point I can also add my 12v DC power runs to each DS64 and wire up the Tortoise switch machines.  I use DIN rail mounted terminal blocks with jumper bus bars to tie the rail drops into the bus lines.   Here are couple of pictures of the progress so far.

Wiring Drops to the DCC Bus Lines

In the following picture you can see the wiring drops from each turnout’s isolated frog.

Six Tortoise Switch Machines Installed

For my second scratch building project, I have selected the BB&T building in Florence, SC, my hometown. This building in N scale will be about 9″ x 7″  from  the initial work on the elevation drawings. Quite a large building, but I have plenty of room on the layout to accommodate a building of this size. The first step, I have learned, is to create a set of elevation drawings for the building in AutoCad. I have completed the right side elevation drawings at this point. Please excuse the fact that they are labeled incorrectly in the drawing below.

The best way to scale the photos was to count the actual bricks in the building. Knowing the size of standard bricks and their mortar joints, it is pretty simple to derive the dimensions of the building and windows.  The soldier course of bricks above and below the windows really adds a touch of flair to this building.  While I still have more work to do on the elvevation drawings,  here is where I am currently with the progress.

Below you will find a few of the photos I took of the building to produce the elevation drawings, and the right side elevation drawings of the building.  The brick detail is left out for clarity, except what is found between the first floor windows.  I am completing the drawings in full scale and will then scale them to .00625 of actual for N scale.  We will see how this works out in the coming days.

Have a good afternoon.

BB&T Building in Florence, SC

BB&T Building in Florence, SC

Left Side Rear of the BB&T Building in Florence, SC

Left Front BB&T Building in Florence, SC

BB&T AutoCad Right Elevation Florence, SC

This morning,  I completed a scratch build of Sinclair Station from the original build article at N Scale Limited. This was my first scratch build attempt and the final results are quite pleasing. I hope to do more scratch building in the future and improve my skills even more. In order to provide some insight, here are the final steps that were followed to complete the build.

Clear laser printer decal paper was used to print the Sinclair Station decal on an HP Color Laser Jet. After printing several copies of the decal on one sheet of clear laser decal paper,  a small brush was used to coat the decals with MicroScale Liquid Decal Film. Once the first coat was dry, a liberal second coat was applied. Once the second coat dries, the decal can be cut and immersed in water in preparation for application to the model.

Just prior to placing the decal on the structure, I brushed MicroScale Micro Sol onto the painted surface of the structure. I slid the decal into place on the structure, positioning it with your finger as needed. Once the decal is in the proper position, a small brush was used once again to apply Micro Sol over the top of the decal, being careful not to displace or move it. Once the Micro Sol dries in about ten minutes, you can move on to the final steps of weathering the sign / decal and the model in general.

The weathering techniques consisted of the india ink / alchohol solution procedure detailed on N Scale Limited, and several applications of Bar Mills weathering chalk.

Building this structure was enjoyable and rewarding.  I appreciate the work Chris Brimley did to detail its construction.  Without his excellent article, I would have never discovered the joy of scratch building my own structure. It has opened a whole new area of interest in my model railroading activities. Thank you.

How about something for free? If you would like one of the decals I had left over from my printing, please send me your mailing address and I will drop one in the mail for you.

Sinclair Station

Sinclair Station

Sinclair Station

Sinclair Station

Today I spent several hours taking a physical inventory of all of the rolling stock I have for the Appalachian Southern. It was a long boring process to write it all down and then to key it all into a spreadsheet, but it was certainly worth the effort. It gets difficult at times to remember what I have purchased in the past, so the spreadsheet will be very handy when preparing a new order or searching EBay for missing road numbers. It is quite simple to add new purchases as they arrive.

After my data was safe and secure in a Google Docs spreadsheet, I imported the data and created a new page detailing the motive power and rolling stock. You can find the link at the top right of each page entitled ‘rolling stock‘. The neat thing about this page is that you can click on the headings to sort the listings. Pretty cool for a couple of hours work. Have a great Tuesday.

Here is what I have done so far with my  first scratch building effort. I don’t have any weathering done yet, just a little painting. I realized today that I needed decal printing stock, so I ordered that. I also need to pick up some India Ink so I can do some weathering. With a little touch up painting here and there, I think the results are great for my first attempt. I actually built the building twice to improve on some mistakes I made earlier with the first version.  The original build article, with instructions, can be found here at N Scale Limited.

Sinclair Station Version 2

Sinclair Station Version 2

Sinclair Station Version 2

Sinclair Station Version 2

Here are a couple of pictures of my first scratch building project. It is exciting to see it come together from a few small pieces of styrene.   I actually just put the roof on and now I have to get ready to do some initial painting on the trim and construct the front doors.  The original article on this project appeared here at N Scale Limited, as built by Chris Brimley.

Scratch Building Sinclair Station

Scratch Building Sinclair Station

Looking Good!

Here is a photo of how the finished project should appear. Below is a photo of the finished version of Chris Brimley’s original build.

Sinclair Station as Built By Chris Brimley of N Scale Limited

Being that is Friday, I thought I would start my own version of the weekend roll-by. Not that I have a whole lot rolling yet, but here goes. This will just give me an opportunity to play around and take some fun pictures.

Misc Photos

Misc Photos

Valium is completely overrated… I was looking forward to the calming effects it was supposed to have. It is funny how Benadryl can knock me on my butt, but Valium does nothing….  With a sore mouth,  I spent the morning gluing track and inserting filler cross ties at my track joints. The scene is improving every day. Unless my plans change for some reason, tomorrow will be tortoise switch machines and DCC installation day.

Filler Cross Ties Improve the Looks of Things