Justinmiller171 Wrote:Nobody near me has it, I checked every hardware store in the area and nobody carries it.

Byron Henderson has some tips on finding extruded foam in mild weather states here on his website

P5se Camelback Wrote:THIS is a link to Home Depot stores within twenty mile of Paradise, California. They may have the pink or blue insulation foam that you need.

Foam insulation is not used much down here in Florida. But I was able to find it, although not in the 2" thisckness I wanted. The H-D stores near me do not have the blue foam ... just the pink in 1/2" 4x8 sheets and the white beadboard in the 2" thickness.

There is also a Lowes in Chico ...

LOWE'S OF CHICO, CA
Store Number: 1201
2350 FOREST AVENUE
CHICO, CA 95928

Phone: (530) 895-5130
FAX: (530) 895-5144

The Lowes near me had the blue foam in 1/2" 4x8 sheets. I bought a bunch of sheets and will be stacking them on top of each other. You could do the same!

My guess is you might find the foam, either the pink or the blue, at one of these "Big Box" stores.

I have not ever seen sheets of the blue Dow “StyroFoam” or the pink Owens-Corning “Foamular” in a hardware store … you need a BUILDING Supply store to get this type of foam insulation ... it is a building supply ... it is not hardware.

EDIT: Had to do more research and actually FIND a couple of 'Big Box" stores in the area.

Thanks Bill! I checked there a few months ago and they told me that they didn't sell it, They must of just started to sell some.

I have used the white beaded foam for years without the mess everyone describes. What saved me, and my layout room, from the dreaded beaded snow, was using a STRAIGHT, NON-SERRATED edged blade, in a rapid sawing motion of short strokes. DO NOT just rasp into the beaded stuff or you will get it everywhere and the rubbing motion builds up a static charge, hence, beads stick to clothes and everything else.

I used a simple kitchen knife with a 4 or 5 inch blade, again, and I can't stress this enough, NOT a serrated edge. No saw-teeth, just a straight, sharp edge. The pink and blue stuff makes a mess too, just a different kind of mess.

The other tip for working with the white foam (expanded poly styrene, not extruded, like the pink or white stuff) is to use a low-temp glue gun to attach the foam to itself and any other surface. Hot-melt glue will just eat away at the foam and release the aforementioned gasses. This is also why I have stayed away from a hot-wire cutter. Noxious fumes are to be avoided if breathing naturally and freely is desired.

The best reason for using the white stuff is that it can be obtained from many dumpsters and household purchases. Put the word out that you're looking and it'll appear on your doorstep like zuchini in August. You may not get nice flat sheets for building up subroadbed, but then again you might...just depends on how much you find.


Galen

I started painting today, and maybe it's just the paint fumes, but I feel good that I am getting some work done on the layout .

I finished painting today! (Photos coming soon)

Next comes Track-laying and Wiring :?

:hey: Justin ... keep up the enthusiasm ... and now that you've started, keep the momentum rolling! Put some fresh batteries in the camera and start pushing the shutter button (and focus!)

Justin;

Quite happy to hear that you are working on your layout. Was wondering which of your track plans you're using.

Oh yes, while I'm thinking of it, Lowe's is now carrying their own brand of the extruded styrene insulation (at least in my area)
http://www.lowes.com/pd_304090-210-30409...26page%3D2They don't have the 2inch sheets here locally, but I did look at the 3/4 inches they are carrying and it's identical to that made by Dow and Owens - only difference being the light green color. Doesn't appear to have the thin plastic covering on it like the blue Dow insulation that I've purchased in the past and had to peal off before using.

Waiting eagerly to see how your layout work comes along.

FCIN Wrote:Justin;

Quite happy to hear that you are working on your layout. Was wondering which of your track plans you're using.

I currently have an extended Timesaver set up, If I like it I will keep it otherwise I am still undecided :?

After the paint dried, I laid track and then decided to add some basic scenery to a small area of the layout:

Cool to see you're going again, but the key to a succesful layout is don't rush, and stick with the plan.
If you don't have one, and just want to 'play trains', by all means put down some track and run those trains, that's what it's about, but just be careful that you can remove the track easily should you need to, once you've made up your mind on the final track plan etc. The timesaver is a great little plan, that can easily be expanded upon, lenghten the tracks, add a few spurs here and there to hide the fact that it is a time saver,or put the whole thing in an L shape in a corner of a room and it will already be less obvious, and have fun switching!
If you're into the SP, a new web forum has just been started up, the Southern Pacific Modelers society. While it's new, there's perhaps not too much to read and see, but that will change over time.

The link is here: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://southernpacificmodelerssociety.freeforums.org/">http://southernpacificmodelerssociety.freeforums.org/</a><!-- m -->


Koos

I just watched one of Bob Ross's Painting videos on PBS this morning, now I can't wait until I get to paint my backdrop

I am almost done with track-laying, I still need to buy one more turnout and a piece or two of flex-track, but I have enough down so I can run trains, but unfortunately my dcc system won't work again

I expect to have all track down and wired by the end of next week, Hopefully I will have some more pictures up by then.

What's up with the DCC system you've got? Are you certain there's no bad connection of even a short circuit somewhere that 'snuck' in while laying your track and wiring things up? Check if all frogs are clean and have no bits of 'junk' wedged in, and if you use Peco 'electrofrog' turn outs, make sure that the two rails leading up to the frog point have insulated rail joiners installed.. There may be other brands of turnouts that need the same treatment, but it's easily overlooked.

Koos

I guess these things are pretty obvious, but make sure that you've got your NCE PowerCab connected to the correct plug and using the correct 6 wire flat cable and not the supplied 4 wire cable. I read somewhere that the original users manual showed the cable locations wrong so be sure you're connected correctly as in this diagram [attachment=6751]. Make absolutely sure that you don't have any sort of short from the power panel wires and on your track. I've never had any problem with mine and even got a longer 14 foot cable that I use so I can walk from one end of the layout to the other. Just love the NCE system!

Only other thing that I can think of would be if you don't have power feeders to all your tracks, you'll lose power to your loco when it's on a section of track with no power feeders and you line your switch so that power is cut to that track. Visualizing a typical TimeSaver track arrangement, I can see all sorts of locations where that could happen.

Just some thoughts.

torikoos Wrote:What's up with the DCC system you've got? Are you certain there's no bad connection of even a short circuit somewhere that 'snuck' in while laying your track and wiring things up? Check if all frogs are clean and have no bits of 'junk' wedged in, and if you use Peco 'electrofrog' turn outs, make sure that the two rails leading up to the frog point have insulated rail joiners installed.. There may be other brands of turnouts that need the same treatment, but it's easily overlooked.

Koos

I am using the newer Walthers turnouts and they should be Dcc-friendly.

FCIN Wrote:I guess these things are pretty obvious, but make sure that you've got your NCE PowerCab connected to the correct plug and using the correct 6 wire flat cable and not the supplied 4 wire cable. I read somewhere that the original users manual showed the cable locations wrong so be sure you're connected correctly as in this diagram [ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]. Make absolutely sure that you don't have any sort of short from the power panel wires and on your track. I've never had any problem with mine and even got a longer 14 foot cable that I use so I can walk from one end of the layout to the other. Just love the NCE system!

Only other thing that I can think of would be if you don't have power feeders to all your tracks, you'll lose power to your loco when it's on a section of track with no power feeders and you line your switch so that power is cut to that track. Visualizing a typical TimeSaver track arrangement, I can see all sorts of locations where that could happen.

Just some thoughts.

I have the cab plugged into the right place, no problem there.

I currently have it plugged into a lone piece of flextrack and it still won't work, I however, have the wires just tucked into the rail joiners so that may be the problem

Thanks for the help guys!

Do you have a voltmeter / multimeter, or if all else fails, just an ordinary 12 or 15V bulb handy? Just to check if you actually have any power on your (test) track? While tucking wires into a rail joiner is not very reliable, it may still work for test purposes. If you have no power, perhaps there's a blown fuse in the system? Is it in some sort of programming mode perhaps which stops you from actually controlling a train? Just thinking out loud here :-)

Koos

I think the problem may be the connector where you plug the wires from the track to the panel, I still do not know for sure how you plug the wires in

EDIT: Ed I looked at the diagram you posted and realized I have the panel upside-down so I plugged the panel into the other plugin and suddenly it started working
Thanks Ed!