Well dear reader, firstly I must apologise for the rather lengthy interval between this and my previous regurgitation of meaningless drivel. Somehow I sense your own disappointment - maybe it stems from the notion that the interval wasn't long enough for you. Oh well, "Ne'er mind, eh?" as we Southern Englanders would (probably) say.
Truth is, I've been on my holidays for a couple of weeks. To Florida. Again. Actually, it turned out to be a reasonably pleasant break; certainly the week in Fort Lauderdale was a notable success. I recommend it to anyone who has yet to see it but was idly thinking about doing so. Despite being on the Eastern - Atlantic - coast of Florida, the sea was very reminiscent of the tepid bathwater of my childhood - although to the best of my recollection none of my baths was ever interrupted by shoals of small panic-stricken silver fish propelling themselves from their watery world into the air above, pursued with equal vigour by a 4-foot-long barracuda. So anyway, I am back, eager to continue this epic saga - probably more so than you are to read it.
Now it came to pass, in the days leading up to my departure for warmer, albeit barracuda-infested climes, I took the opportunity to wire the track with a feed from the adjacent 'main line'. On the face of it the wiring is simple. In practice, however, I spent most of a day wiring it. In fact, I spent a lot of time wondering why it wasn't working - and then unsoldering all my carefully soldered wires and re-applying correctly. I eventually worked out (by actually reading the instructions that came with each point) that because I was using electrofrogs, I needed to apply power to the toe of the point, and have insulating breaks where there are facing points. Duh. No pictures of this - it's too embarrassing.
Thereafter I commenced to 'inset' the tracks by applying a layer of very sloppy mortar up to rail height on the outside of the tracks, and to sleeper top height in between the rails.
Then I let it dry overnight...
Let's say it together: "Uh-oh!"
Disaster!
I broke a point blade: it would be the one I had almost completely immersed in cement - I was trying to free it after it seemed to be gunged-up with stray filler...
After more than a few carefully chosen words - requiring a Direct Debit mandate from my bank account to the 'Swear-box' - I worked out what had happened. Some exploratory surgery around the tie-bar revealed the problem. Whilst the cement was wet the previous day, I wiggled the point blades back and forth in an attempt to clear the path for the tie-bar, but as the cement dried it must have 'caved in' a little, just enough to obstruct it. When I pushed it again the following day, it didn't move, and rather than take any sort of care I tried to force it... "ping"... not a good plan.
Seeing as I haven't compromised electrical continuity, I think I might get away with just glueing it back together. These points won't be operating with any regularity anyway - I certainly won't be powering them up. In any event, I am definitely averse to digging it out and replacing it.
By the way, did you spot the G-Scale 'storm-drain' protruding from the dock side in the picture above? It's a bit of 7mm diameter brass tube with some holes drilled in the body, hopefully to allow egress of rainwater from the tracks... Thus far it seems to have worked.
Well the holiday was looming ever larger, but since the MD had everything covered viz packing, labelling, passports, tickets, suncream, book etc I felt no need to intervene and mess up all her carefully laid plans... so I started building a factory.
You will doubtless recall, dear reader, from Part 2 of this epic, that I had obtained some wall sections from a PIKO brewery building kit, with a view to building the low-relief factory walls. In commencing to use them, I wanted to just do enough to allow me to fit the loco shed (from Part 7, remember?) into the corner where it belongs. The wall panels were stuck on with 'No Nails' glue - supposedly so strong I'll have to knock down the real wall to get rid of the model one! Time will tell I guess.
Finally, a picture of the corner walls in place, with the loco shed cut to fit, and the Hornet with driver Arnold, presumably expressing his disappointment at all the oil leaks on the tracks. Yessir, it's all starting to come together!
Truth is, I've been on my holidays for a couple of weeks. To Florida. Again. Actually, it turned out to be a reasonably pleasant break; certainly the week in Fort Lauderdale was a notable success. I recommend it to anyone who has yet to see it but was idly thinking about doing so. Despite being on the Eastern - Atlantic - coast of Florida, the sea was very reminiscent of the tepid bathwater of my childhood - although to the best of my recollection none of my baths was ever interrupted by shoals of small panic-stricken silver fish propelling themselves from their watery world into the air above, pursued with equal vigour by a 4-foot-long barracuda. So anyway, I am back, eager to continue this epic saga - probably more so than you are to read it.
Now it came to pass, in the days leading up to my departure for warmer, albeit barracuda-infested climes, I took the opportunity to wire the track with a feed from the adjacent 'main line'. On the face of it the wiring is simple. In practice, however, I spent most of a day wiring it. In fact, I spent a lot of time wondering why it wasn't working - and then unsoldering all my carefully soldered wires and re-applying correctly. I eventually worked out (by actually reading the instructions that came with each point) that because I was using electrofrogs, I needed to apply power to the toe of the point, and have insulating breaks where there are facing points. Duh. No pictures of this - it's too embarrassing.
Thereafter I commenced to 'inset' the tracks by applying a layer of very sloppy mortar up to rail height on the outside of the tracks, and to sleeper top height in between the rails.
Then I let it dry overnight...
Let's say it together: "Uh-oh!"
Disaster!
I broke a point blade: it would be the one I had almost completely immersed in cement - I was trying to free it after it seemed to be gunged-up with stray filler...
After more than a few carefully chosen words - requiring a Direct Debit mandate from my bank account to the 'Swear-box' - I worked out what had happened. Some exploratory surgery around the tie-bar revealed the problem. Whilst the cement was wet the previous day, I wiggled the point blades back and forth in an attempt to clear the path for the tie-bar, but as the cement dried it must have 'caved in' a little, just enough to obstruct it. When I pushed it again the following day, it didn't move, and rather than take any sort of care I tried to force it... "ping"... not a good plan.
Seeing as I haven't compromised electrical continuity, I think I might get away with just glueing it back together. These points won't be operating with any regularity anyway - I certainly won't be powering them up. In any event, I am definitely averse to digging it out and replacing it.
By the way, did you spot the G-Scale 'storm-drain' protruding from the dock side in the picture above? It's a bit of 7mm diameter brass tube with some holes drilled in the body, hopefully to allow egress of rainwater from the tracks... Thus far it seems to have worked.
Well the holiday was looming ever larger, but since the MD had everything covered viz packing, labelling, passports, tickets, suncream, book etc I felt no need to intervene and mess up all her carefully laid plans... so I started building a factory.
You will doubtless recall, dear reader, from Part 2 of this epic, that I had obtained some wall sections from a PIKO brewery building kit, with a view to building the low-relief factory walls. In commencing to use them, I wanted to just do enough to allow me to fit the loco shed (from Part 7, remember?) into the corner where it belongs. The wall panels were stuck on with 'No Nails' glue - supposedly so strong I'll have to knock down the real wall to get rid of the model one! Time will tell I guess.
Finally, a picture of the corner walls in place, with the loco shed cut to fit, and the Hornet with driver Arnold, presumably expressing his disappointment at all the oil leaks on the tracks. Yessir, it's all starting to come together!
