A lot of plys!

I had to ply this baby bird out of my garage. It flew in and decided that for 20 minutes it was going to explore the inaccessible rear regions of the garage that I haven't seen for years. Eventually my encouraging sounds and gestures for it to leave paid dividends but it stopped on the way out for a photo opportunity. Not sure if it is a baby blackbird or thrush but I do hope it survives.

With one end of the baseboard having all its track wired and soldered in place it was time to think about the other end. I had already determined that I needed to thin down the sub base plywood to lower it and avoid a hump in the track. I had done this on the first two parts by using an electric sander ti sand off one ply of the plywood. However, in my never ceasing ventures of brute force and ignorance I thought there must be a speeder way of doing this and decided I could simply ply the one ply of ply that I needed off the plywood sub base! That is a lot of plys but I trust you see what I mean from the photo below!

My idea actually worked! Must tell Mrs. Woody!

The now one ply less ply was glued in place.

The glue was going to take some time to dry so I amused myself by going to the middle section of the baseboard and applyed myself  to adding some more track power feeds before gluing the track down

I better apply myself to getting Mrs. W's dinner ready!

Isolated!

With the hump issue sorted and the thinner sub bases glued in place the pre-pared copper clad strip was superglued on top and I was ready to solder some track!

Being lazy I also used the opportunity to solder the power feed wires to the copper clad strip rather than the rail itself. All this will be hidden from normal view so the cosmetics of it don't matter too much. However, much as I may feel isolated in my Man Cave, Mrs. Woody only visits on rare occasions for some reason, I was sufficiently thinking ahead to put some isolating track joiners in place. I need to be able to isolate the loops as once they are covered and out of sight I need some way of knowing that the train has stopped! 

Cutting wires to length they were prepared to be soldered in one go with the rail when it is soldered.

Half way through soldering the four tracks the wires are soldered in place and need to be pulled through from under the baseboard.

Looks a bit neater with the wires pulled through.

All tracks soldered and wires in place. Just need to put some track power feeds in the middle of the loops and then repeat the process at the other end of the baseboard not forgetting the isolating rail joiners or the loops wont be isolated!

Avoiding a short circuit!

 With the hump issue sorted and the thinner sub bases glued in place the copper clad strip needed to be cut through at specific points to avoid short circuits. It was far easier to do this off the bench but I had sensibly marked out where the tracks would go. This gave me a guide as to where to cut through the copper.

The copper is not that thick but it still takes a bit of effort with the saw to cut through it to the plastic base under it.

All the joints cut and with the multi meter I made sure that the there were not going to be any short circuits when finally in place and the track soldered on to it  - I hope! This is all time consuming work  and to be honest getting a bit tedious and mine numbing but doing a an hour or so each day means that the project moves on - even if it is at glacial speed! 

Finding the hump!

Back to the issue I left for a day or two that had given me the hump - literally! Whilst setting out the storage tracks at the back of the baseboard I found that adding the copper clad strip created a hump in the track. Leaving it would just have caused future running problems for the trains so it needed sorting. Having pondered for a day or so I decided that whatever the sub base strips needed to be removed. A screwdriver wedged between the sub base and the main baseboard resulted in the sub bases releasing their hold. I did see that there were two screws under these which on examination were slightly proud of the baseboard surface. Eureka! I thought this must be the issue! Out came the screws and the baseboard was further counter sunk so that the screws tops were now most certainly below the surface. Clean up the sub bases, reposition them, put track in place and slide copper clad strip in place. It should have been the solution but the hump was still there!

 

So plan B came to fruition. Use some thinner plywood. I cut four strips and put these in place and then the track and copper clad strip. The result was a huge  gap between the rail and strip. far too big to fill with solder and have a strong joint.

I then moved onto plan C! This was more drastic as the electric sander came out and I literally sanded off one ply of the plywood. Took a while but would it work?

Sub bases back in place, track back in place, copper clad strip back in place and wagon with my fingers on top run over the track. It had worked! no hump! So the sub bases have been glued back in place with some suitable weights on top, ready for the copper clad strip to be glued.

I can only think that whilst the plywood was 5mm thick, it varied slightly to the plywood I used for the sub bases on the removable section of the baseboard that I created early last year. Those sub bases had no hump issue. Just need to sand the other two sub bases at the other end of the baseboard now! Just hope that Mrs. Woody doesn't take the hump that I have spent so much time on this problem rather then sorting out some jobs on her chore list!

More motoring history at the museum.

An unusual Sunday as I was at the Rocks By Rail Museum. A local car club had booked a private opening so I was in just to help out. As with such events it was a great opportunity for me to see some interesting cars and catch up on motoring history whilst the car club members went round the museum catching up on railway history!

A wonderful Riley Kestrel still undergoing restoration but on the road.

Something I knew nothing about, this Raymond Mays handbuilt 1930s car. One of only 5 built in Bourne Lincolnshire by Raymond May who was a famous 1920s/30s racing driver. He then went on to manufacture tuning parts. Even the local Weatherspoons pub in the town is named after him. Apparently of the 5 cars built, the only other survivor is in a museum in the USA.

Talking of the USA this was pure 1850s V8 muscle and great for it!

Back to teh UK for some 1960's classic with an MGB, Jaguar and Triumph Vitesse.

 

I found this took me back when a valid vehicle road fund license had to be displayed in the car windscreen. In 1969 it cost £9 and 15 shillings (£9.75) for four months! 

I did like this Vitesse.

There was also a contingent of European cars with this BMW and the Mercedes being part of that.

Not a bad way to spend a Sunday!

When things just dont go according to plan!

It was worked out in my mind that I would start dealing with the baseboard join and track breaks on the back four loops on my 00 gauge layout. Cut the sleepers off as required, attached already cut copper clad strip, prepare wires and solder track and wires to copper clad strip. Fairly simple which it has to be for my mind to process it!

It started well! Tracks lined up ready for sleepers to be cut off.

Sleepers cut off.

Then things started to go wrong. The copper clad strips should have just slid between the baseboard sub board and the rail itself. They didn't!

Running a wagon over the track with my hand on top told me there was a slight hump in the track. Not good!

I don't really know why there is a hump but I need to deal with it now or running trains in the future will just end with problems emanating from the hump.

I did try the pre-cut sleeper strip to see if that would slide in between the rail and sub base. There was still a hump! I need to ponder. Sometimes it is just better to stop, go away and think about before doing anything rash!

Cut and stick!

My day at the Rocks By Rail Museum began by adapting last years banners for the May Bank Holiday events to reflect this years date. Scissors (good job I was not at home as Mrs. Woody doesn't allow me to use sharp objects!), Double sided tape and a recent find of cut out parts of previous years banners saw the new dates cut to shape and to stick them down the double sided tape was perfect.

Just another 10 banners to hang around the nearby countryside!

After a bit of grass cutting it was time to catch up with what was going on at the Sundew cab. Obviously outside had some primer applied.

However it is inside where the biggest transformation has taken place. The walls and control panel areas have now been painted and Rob was adding the finishing touches to  the floor with a coat of green floor paint. Just hope it doesn't need cutting!

Mind you this seasonally early ladybird likes it!

It was then time for a bit of fun as under Robs eye I had a go in the drag line excavator.

I do enjoy my time doing this and especially when the play pen is still muddy! You can really cut that up and stick the bucket in!

Track and glue!

Back to sorting the sidings out on my 00 gauge layout. More wiring is needed, in fact a lot more wiring as this shot shows - 24 wires!

I am soldering the wires along with the rails to the copper clad sleepers - makes sense to combine one soldered joint.

Before soldering the rails and wires I applied PVA glue where the track would lie.

I did manage to solder three of the tracks - its slow work!

To ensure the glued track stays in place a few weights were added and the load spread over the track with some scrap pieces of plywood.

Hopefully the rest of the soldering should be finished in the next day or so then it is onto the four loops at the back of the board.

Brute force and ignorance!

Sometimes, despite thinking I may have a logical mind to getting things done, sheer brute force and ignorance are a tactic that I employ. Mrs. Woody would say that is more like the norm for me and I guess she would see evidence in her claim when I started tackling the pile of tree bits on the front garden that have blighted her vision of horticultural bliss for some months now. Having a log burner means you need logs to burn in it and seeing my wallet more as a source to fund my hobbies then buy logs I do collect bits of tree when they become available. At the end of last year I was lucky in that I had two trees in kit form having been felled by the local highway authority having fallen in the high winds. Unfortunately for me the bits are big - far too big to fit in the log burner so I need to get them into smaller bits and let them dry out for a couple of years. I know that you can get log splitters but again my wallet is closed to such expenditure especially when I have a lump hammer and a selection of cold chisels!

Its taking some time but a few more sessions should split the rest and then I can cut them to length. I really need to move those bags of compost for Mrs. W as well!

Continuing the theme of brute force and ignorance I decided to cut the strips of copper clad sheet for the hidden sidings on my 00 gauge layout. I decided that cutting four strips from a sheet of copper clad material was a far better idea then cutting 32 sleepers from the sleeper strip I have. I soon regretted that idea as I started cutting with my modelling saw. It took over half an hour to cut one strip.

Sitting back and thinking, a rare moment for me, I saw a panel saw and much as it would see many carpenters cry at the misuse and ignorance I used it to cut the other three strips. Brute force got the job done in 10 minutes and seemingly no harm to the saw!

This is where they will be used on the layout, the other two at the opposite end of the baseboard.

Now its time to get back to wiring and soldering the siding tracks hopeful without too much ignorance or brute force!