NOVAHILL ...... U.S.A

[Trucklover]

Hey Nick, nice to see the stuff you bought from me getting some use, and those GWS gondolas look good in a string

If you did a slope down to the Mill, that would have to be a very steep slope, but it might work....

[upnick]

Hi Josh,

Yeah the gons look good in a line perfect for the steel scrap ........ still not sure if i should repaint them need to find the decals first before i start

Know what you mean about the steepness to the mill but i wasnt thinking of running the road to the mills there is a track behind the one the loco is on that ends at the end of the module on the right side so the road would end there as well but of course on the higher level.

Do a sketch of overhead in a bit to illustrate it.



Can you see what i mean now ?

[upnick]

Hi All,

After lowering the height of the foam more background buildings are needed i decided for variety ...... though the DPM wall section kits seem to be sold out everywhere here and Walthers modulars the same.

So on Saturday afternoon i went over to picturescue Clitheroe to my LHS and made up the following structure from the Walthers kit Still have a few walls left hopefully i can use around the layout possibly as friend suggested two wall ends with a pedestrian bridge linking them.



Spreading the kit out gives a good length.



A route in the K&S metals box provided brass tubing for the pipe from the watertank into the building.


One of the windows blanked of with brick plasticard next to the loading dock.


Inside ready for plasticard floors and lighting ....... the headhouse wall needs a capping stone and the inside of the upright pillar tops a piece of plasticard to neaten them up.


The motorised blower on the roof is loose and will join other items there with cables for power ....... & firescapes

I picked up Walthers Northern light and Power kit with a bit more track Kato RS2 Chicago Great Western and a pack of Kadees while at the LHS ... ( could have done with a few more packs of Kadees )


A picture of a carshop gave me the idea to have trucks removed from cars lined up in a mini diorama near or next to the shop the guy at the LHS gave me these for a couple of $ .

[Trucklover]

Nice looking structure Nick!! I like it

[upnick]

Hi Josh,

Thanks not looking forward to painting the windows on the structure

[upnick]

Hi guys,

This weekend got some of the backdrops sorted to allow me to see the buildings together aginst them properly for the first time.

This is to be the main building in the centre of the layout (Walthers American hardware supply) i took out the higher level block today and will have all the buildings on baseboard level.


With the windows left after converting the hardware supply i used some plastic sheet to make up another section of the same outlet further down the track


This one again scratchbuilt with more sheeting needing windows making i got the idea after seeing a structure like it on weekly photo fun 7-24 / 7-30 ......thanks for the idea bdw9535


The angled structure started life as DPM Laube's linen mill some kitbashing and this is the result a Walthers fire escape has been added, between it and the main structure of the layout i plan a road to create a crossing where the scalpel is onto the scrapyard.



Walthers Northern light and Power structure provided the scrapyard dealers the track running inside to pick up loads in gondolas a side road to hold empty/full gons ready to be used or moved away from the facility ...... the two roads leading off the board will go to the fifth module still to be made up and finalised.


Overall view from mid point to the dealers the road will go to the left of the structure with a fenced off area.



Mid point to the car shop end


A Walthers roof detail set has added more interest with air con units etc .
Need to work on other ideas to make it all knit together as always suggestions are most welcome.

[TCWORLD]

Glad you got the buildings sorted out, they are looking fine.

[faraway]

...With the windows left after converting the hardware supply i used some plastic sheet to make up another section of the same outlet further down the track ....

How did you do the well aligned rectangle windows?
My bad eyes and old fingers produce only substandard holes of undefined shape...

[Trucklover]

Nick, WOW thats really looking good. I like all the different backround structures, cant wait to see them all finished and painted

[TrainNut]

I apologize if you've covered this earlier or elsewhere but I see your using an NCE power cab and was wondering how you liked it? I'm thinking of switching from Digitrax and I've got my eye on the NCE.

[upnick]

Glad you got the buildings sorted out, they are looking fine.

Hi Tom,

Thanks busy here as usual

[upnick]

...With the windows left after converting the hardware supply i used some plastic sheet to make up another section of the same outlet further down the track ....

How did you do the well aligned rectangle windows?
My bad eyes and old fingers produce only substandard holes of undefined shape...

Hi faraway,

I made sure the plastic sheet was square before i started (though it looks it plastic sheet isnt always) then placed the windows approximiatley where i wanted them made small pencil marks where and used a square to mark it all up before cutting then a steel rule and scalpel to carefully cut them out trying the windows in as i proceeded.
Scrap plastic squares helped align the walls and my usual added floors for strength

[upnick]

Nick, WOW thats really looking good. I like all the different backround structures, cant wait to see them all finished and painted

Hey Josh bud,

Hows it going ? yeah the buildings are coming on well need to make up some clutter around them soon and maybe more buildings ... off to find the paintbrush again

[upnick]

I apologize if you've covered this earlier or elsewhere but I see your using an NCE power cab and was wondering how you liked it? I'm thinking of switching from Digitrax and I've got my eye on the NCE.

Hi TN,

I love the NCE powercab its so easy to use and of course upgradeable .. i have never used a Digitrax though their decoders are great .... this week i installed an Auto SW <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.ncedcc.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=1&Itemid=1&vmcchk=1&Itemid=1">http://www.ncedcc.com/index.php?option= ... 1&Itemid=1</a><!-- m -->
for programming you might consider purchasing with the powercab if you go with it .

If you need to know more let me know.

There is a yahoo user group for NCE

<!-- e --><a href="mailto:NCE-DCC@yahoogroups.com">NCE-DCC@yahoogroups.com</a><!-- e -->

[Russ Bellinis]

I apologize if you've covered this earlier or elsewhere but I see your using an NCE power cab and was wondering how you liked it? I'm thinking of switching from Digitrax and I've got my eye on the NCE.

T/N
I have used an NCE system when I was invited to run a train for a few hours at the La Mesa Club Tehachapie layout in the San Diego Model Railroad Museum. The modular club I belong to uses the E-Z DCC system from CVP. The main differences that I noticed between the 2 systems were as follows.

On the CVP unit the throttle is controlled by a potentiometer that has a stop built in. The pot is rather delicate and easily forced if the train doesn't respond to being stopped. The correct procedure if a signal is missed to stop the train is to Move the throttle up as thought to speed up and then close it again to send another signal. I have found that procedure to not be a problem since when operating I pay attnetion to what my train is doing and bring it to a stop before a "panic" situation arises. The club encourages children to run trains at set ups. We show them how to work the throttle including how to stop the train and what to do if the train doesn't stop the first try. Sometimes we still find broken pots. We send the throttles back to CVP and the cost for repair is $15.00. We consider that a cost of sharing the hobby with kids at train shows, and the club picks up the tab for a broken pot. We are also not sure the damage is always from kids. We occasionally find problems with throttles having broken pots after a show where kids did not get an opportunity to run trains. I'm afraid it is human nature to just put the broken throttle back in the box instead of reporting it, and the problem is not always discovered until the next show! One good thing about the CVP throttle is that when you energize the horn (diesel) or whistle (steam) function with the CVP The horn or whistle blows as long as you hold the button down and quits when the button is released. On the NCE throttle I used at the La Mesa club the whistle or horn was set to blow for a certain interval each time the button was pressed. I could not do long or short blasts to be prototypical. This may be a problem with older NCE power cabs that has been corrected on newer versions, I don't know how old the NCE unit I used at the La Mesa club was. I was using a tethered throttle at the La Mesa club whereas the CVP throttles at the modular club are all wireless. The result at the La Mesa club was that the train always responded immediately to throttle commands. I don't know if a wireless NCE throttle would miss commands. Some of the guys at the La Mesa club brought their own throttles and used wireless on the system. I also did not need to program the NCE. The club member who invited me in to run his train did all of the programming before he handed me the throttle.