Scalefour Jubilee Weekend

On receiving the latest Scalefour News and reading what is on offer over the Jubilee Weekend, and knowing I have much to learn, there are many Learning Skills demonstrations I'll benefit from.

The ones that stand out for me are; 2D CAD, 3D with Fusion360, DCC Chip fitting, Painting figures, Painting & lining, Painting & weathering, Soldering, Making a loco chassis, CSB, Springing wagons, Oh, and possibly making use of the test track to see if how some of my locos perform. That was from just looking at the index so no doubt when I read the article fully there will be others.

Then, of course, there is the "eye candy"... OK, I've seen many of the layouts before, but there is always some element that is worth noting again or even elements not previously seen.

Anyway, as I don't think one day will do the visit justice, I've booked a room at the Conference Centre (Friday - Sunday).

Really looking forward to the weekend.

The start of another year

2025 seemed to pass in no time.

Rospeath Lane is drifting further behind the schedule I've set myself. That said, I'm still making steady progress. Some wise person said "You can't smell the roses from a galloping horse" or something like that. Well, I'm not actually smelling roses, but I am enjoying taking my time constructing this layout with all it's (new to me) technological challenges.

The hope was to have power to the track along with some turnouts operational by the end of 2025. Well I achieved part of this milestone this week and had a loco moving on parts on the layout. At the time I there were no turnouts operational, this is the task I'm currently prioritising.

Underneath the Running Shed board

Underneath the board with the control panel

Starting on the wiring within the control panel. 

Hope to tidy up that mess of wiring a little once all the wiring is installed.

Control panel 

In the last photo, three yard lamps are just visible. I was considering installing these at this stage, especially as the boards are spending much time upside down. I then felt they might be a too fragile to be installed at this stage as they could be damaged especially during track ballasting. The transport end panels have been installed, this is so the boards can be turned upside down on the floor, making it easier to install the wiring.

I've also constructed one of MERG's District Cutout kits It passed the first round of tests, but unfortunately, it didn't cut power to my test track before the NCE Power Cab cut out. The local MERG group suggested a fix, which I've not implemented yet. At this time of the build, I thought progressing with getting all the wiring in place and turnouts working was more important. I've allowed for installing the DCOs at a later date.

MERG's District Cutout board

Someone suggested to me that DCC wiring is not as complex as the wiring required for a DC layout. I must be missing something...