PeterH's Great Central themed layout.

[PeterH]

Hello all. A bit more work was taken place since the last update. The embankment by the backscene has been completed and I’ll slowly be adding to it in time. Today I tackled the canopy lighting which has been an ordeal, most difficult bit of soldering I’ve done. Confined space and that enamelled wire doesn’t take well to solder even with flux! Go there in the end, please excuse the mess of wires as it was jury rigged for testing.





I was running the B1 up the club as well the other day and decided I didn’t like the mono-tone black look so I decided to varnish it when I got home. I think it looks better.

[manna]

G'Day Gents

Nice work on the lighting, the B1 looks good.

manna

[Bigmet]

I especially like how well the platform building integrates seamlessly with the glazed canopy structure, very neat indeed.

Now , Bongos were never that clean, even ten minutes after leaving the paint shop under their own power. Some dribbles on the smokebox from the blower once the boiler had some pressure, stains on the boiler clothing around the safety valves, dusty boiler top, a light dusting of track dirt and brake block rust around the wheels, running gear and tender frames etc. Oh, and the fireman's bike on the tender rear platform.

... that enamelled wire doesn’t take well to solder even with flux!

Burn it off with a match or candle, then a few wipes of fine grit until bright copper is seen. The enamel is heat resistant so that the insulation function is retained almost to the point of combustion; the secondary effect is that the heat from the soldering iron has trouble disrupting it sufficiently to allow access to the copper. Even now you may have a dry joint somewhere, solder in contact with copper rather than flowed on and bonded for a permanent connection.

[Bufferstop]

Fine enamel insulated wire can be a real PITA when it comes to soldering. The first thing I discovered was that really coarse grit didn't touch it, literally, it was quite possible for the wire to pass through the spaces between the grit. Something like 1000 grade wet and dry stands more of a chance. I settled for laying the end of the wire on a flat surface and scraping it with the side of a scalpel blade. If you can, get at least one full turn of wire around the post before applying flux, then solder. When I was taught to solder a "dry joint" wasn't just one without enough solder it was any joint where there wasn't a firm metal to metal contact before soldering was attempted.

[Bigmet]

The reference to 'dry' in a dry joint gives a clue. The solder hasn't 'wetted' at least one of the metal surfaces that were to be soldered, so there is only surface to surface contact between the metal and the solder: and it is yet worse, the heating required for soldering means that there is a surface film of oxide on both the metal and the solder where the contact is made. Current will still flow, but will further degrade the contact over time. If the joint is subject to any mechanical action the joint can pull apart as there is no mechanical strength in a dry point. These effects may be audible in audio circuits, because metal oxides introduce rectification into the circuit; which is why gold plating of plug to socket contacts is so widely used for small amplitude signals where a little signal disruption will become a readily heard nasty noise after amplification.

In a properly soldered joint with full wetting, the solder has formed a 'surface alloy' with the higher melting point metal; significantly for electrical conductivity, the electron cloud is shared across the solder and higher melting point metal, such that there is no incremental resistance in addition to that of the metals involved.

[PeterH]

I’ve found making a ‘mechanical’ joint with the wires then cocooning them in solder seemed to work best.
Regarding the clean Sheets B1 I will get around to dulling it a bit, got a better staring canvas now though.

So the canopy, stairwell and booking office lights are done and are looking pretty good! I need to finish off the embankment by the backscene before I tackle the waiting room and lampposts.

[whoshotjimmi]

I love the rural feel of this layout and the picture of the station lights in the pitch black surroundings really gives the feel of a cold night with the wind whistling across the moor. The brightness is spot on.

[Bufferstop]

I’ve found making a ‘mechanical’ joint with the wires then cocooning them in solder seemed to work best.

This was the way the connections were done in telephone exchanges up to the mid 1960s. Probably well beyond for some of the newer exchanges. They could be a right b' to unsolder. Then someone developed the wrapping idea to the point that they could design a tag where soldering wasn't required, but I didn't stay around long enough to see it to be adopted.

[PeterH]

I love the rural feel of this layout and the picture of the station lights in the pitch black surroundings really gives the feel of a cold night with the wind whistling across the moor. The brightness is spot on.

Even more so with the building chimneys smoking, the booking office and waiting room ones are fitted, just need wiring!

[PeterH]

Done some work on the road/bridge recently, the Bachmann bridge is made up of three parts and looked a bit disjointed. I’ve polyfilled, sanded and painted it - I think it has tied it together nicely. At the moment the road crashes into a hill on the backscene so I would like to make some representation to show the continuation of the road. Someone to think about.

The light is a little bright at the moment as I’ve been sorting out the power source. Only the stairway was wired up so once the rest of the station is linked up it should tone it down.

[Bigmet]

... At the moment the road crashes into a hill on the backscene so I would like to make some representation to show the continuation of the road...

Seen from eye level, it looks fine to me. I 'read it' as a classic example of traditional road engineering: the road descends on the far side of the bridge at 1 in 5 or steeper, and then there's a blind right angle turn to the left to bring it parallel (or nearly so) with the railway, running behind the hedge and fencing.

What it needs are the speed limit and warning signs: quite possibly 20mph approaching the crest of the bridge, the gradient sign, and then the left hand turn sign.

[PeterH]

I take your suggestion about the road, especially the signs. I’ve been getting on with a few other jobs. Firstly the running in/station name boards. These were designed for me by a friend of a friend and printed off by a different friend. The model railway community is a wonderful thing! It’s looking okay, photos show up all the faults! In situ it looks better I think.







There’s a second non-noticeboard one as well but I won’t be adding that until later. I’ve been working on extending the embankment so don’t want to work on that end with messy modelling going on.

[PeterH]

And now with bench seat and people-ing! I must say I’m pretty happy with how it has come out.







Next I really should wire the lights up properly and the point motor under the bridge needs realigning. After that more embankment work.

[PeterH]

And the Waiting/Tea Room is now in place. I’m going to be working on the grassy bits next. Once that’s done I can think about getting the three lampposts in.

[PeterH]

And I’ve also been working on the smoke for the buildings.

YouTube link (click image).