12-20-2008, 04:38 PM
That is a nice tribute to your grandfather! I wish I still had some of the stuff my dad bought me when I was a kid, but alas, kids and delicate models don't always make the best of friends!
Given that I program computers for a career, it only made sense to go DCC! I wanted a system that could be hooked up to a computer, so I went with the Digitrax Super Chief... this afternoon I spent about 2 hours playing with JMRI tweaking the parameters of my locos... that is some fun stuff! (Except for the fact I spent about an hour trying to get my B23-7 to actually program!! Turns out the QSI decoder in that loco doesn't like direct byte mode which seems to be the default in JMRI)... once I turned on Paged Mode, everything was golden! (Of course the Digitrax manual talks about using Paged Mode...
)
So last night before I settled into the watch my Sabres beat the Kings, I decided to play with a little cardboard, plaster cloth, and sculptamold... I learned something in regards to open benchwork and using these mediums... if the area is large, don't do it! Turns out there was simply not enough support and the amount of sag was unacceptable to me... I figured tear it out BEFORE it becomes a problem once I begin adding additional weight to it. Needless to say I will be using the scrap lumber I talked about in previous replies. The good news is that the elevation between the back and front tracks worked great using this method, so I am learning what will work and what won't work.
The hot glued and weaved cardboard strips:
Covered with plaster cloth:
Once the sculptamold was added, the elevation worked great, the front... meet the trash can!
--Rob.
Given that I program computers for a career, it only made sense to go DCC! I wanted a system that could be hooked up to a computer, so I went with the Digitrax Super Chief... this afternoon I spent about 2 hours playing with JMRI tweaking the parameters of my locos... that is some fun stuff! (Except for the fact I spent about an hour trying to get my B23-7 to actually program!! Turns out the QSI decoder in that loco doesn't like direct byte mode which seems to be the default in JMRI)... once I turned on Paged Mode, everything was golden! (Of course the Digitrax manual talks about using Paged Mode...
)So last night before I settled into the watch my Sabres beat the Kings, I decided to play with a little cardboard, plaster cloth, and sculptamold... I learned something in regards to open benchwork and using these mediums... if the area is large, don't do it! Turns out there was simply not enough support and the amount of sag was unacceptable to me... I figured tear it out BEFORE it becomes a problem once I begin adding additional weight to it. Needless to say I will be using the scrap lumber I talked about in previous replies. The good news is that the elevation between the back and front tracks worked great using this method, so I am learning what will work and what won't work.
The hot glued and weaved cardboard strips:
Covered with plaster cloth:
Once the sculptamold was added, the elevation worked great, the front... meet the trash can!
--Rob.