Petermac's Railway

Coming along really well. Remind me never to build a stone/brick viaduct on a curve.
Looking forward to your air brush experiments.

I've spent the last few "train" sessions installing servo motors operated by the Megapoints system on the new electrofrog points.

You may recall I am replacing all the insulfrog points with electrofrogs to improve running.

As a temporary measure before I build a proper mimic panel, I'm using the Megapoints switch panel designed for exactly that purpose.

This panel, once the remining 12 switches are installed, can control up to 24 servos.  What one controls with these servos is up to the operator - in my case, initially, points.  1 row of wires connects the LEDs and the other, the push button switches.  Currently, there are 12 servos connected although, because some buttons operate 2 servos (cross-overs etc), I'm only using the first 8 switches.



My chosen convention is that the top row of LEDs is lit when points are set straight.  When set for the turn, at the press of the red buttons, the lower row lights up and the top row is out.  Everything you see here is "plug and play" with no soldering required.  All the hardware is supplied by Megapoints at very reasonable cost (once you've swallowed the initial cost of the circuit board controllers).

A single RC type cable connects this master controller to the actual servo control boards placed wherever on the layout.  Each servo control board handles 12 servos and RC type leads feed from the board to the servo mounted under the point.  This board - one of 2 required for the time being, is around 2 metres from the switch panel.  Again, everything is a simple "plug and play" with no soldering required.




On a few occasions, battens prevented fitting the motors below the baseboard so I glued them to blocks of wood with the operating wires (piano wire) running through brass tubing.  The servos will be covered by strategically positioned track-side buildings although in this shot, motor No 3B will be front, sides and roof only because I fixed it before adding the lower point (No 7) and it's rather close to the track………………. :oops: :oops: :oops:



I like the Megapoints system very much - it's easy for dummies like me, all the work having been done by Dave at Megapoints, it's versatile in that modules are available for servos, Tortoise type motors and solenoids.  The are modules for almost everything one might require - DCC modules, feedback modules etc. etc.

The initial investment is maybe quite high but once you've got that, the rest is almost pocket money expenditure.

I make up my own servo leads to whatever length I require - the crimp tool and a box of assorted connectors cost me around £20.  The wire itself (3 core Futaba type flat wire) is around 80p per metre.

Hi Peter, very interesting about your servo's. May I ask what method you are using under the baseboard, something DIY like aluminium channel or something ready made like lazercut servo-mounts ?

You've obviously read up on the Megapoints system Roger.  :thumbs

I'm using both mounting systems - on my old layout, I used aluminium channel but this time around, I thought I'd try his laser cut ply mounts.
To be honest, whilst the Megapoints mounts are well thought out, I find screwing them to the underside of the baseboard very fiddly - there isn't much room alongside the servo to get in with the small screws and I don't think fitting the servo after installing the mount is an option once the point is in place.  

To be fair, I'm retro fitting the servos and my baseboard is probably the worst possible height for me - not high enough to sit upright and my arms aren't long enough if I lie under it.  Working underneath is a right pain for we oldies………

If I were starting from scratch, I'd draw my trackplan then drill holes for the point operating wires, fit the servo mounts then fit the servos with the operating wire poking through the hole and finally fit the points dropping the tie bar onto the wire rather than poking it through from below.  Naturally one would have to be accurate with your placings - that's why I never ever do it that way ……….. :oops: :oops: :chicken ;-)

Hi Peter, I reckon all you have said pretty much sums up my past experiences with solenoids too, a messy and fiddly job at the best of times and not something I expect to be any easier with servo's. I normally excavate the holes from underneath using a dental bur on a mini-drill after drilling a pilot from above however that was in 6mm ply for N-gauge, I am not looking forwards to the same process in 12mm ply! Sawdust in the eye is the major bugbear and if it's not that its blobs of solder on your legs…ouch!! Like you say in a perfect world I would do it all from above before laying track but the world is never that perfect  :) I think I will initially go the aluminium channel route, an alternative would be to glue the servo on a wooden block and use a short piece of metal strip with a single screw as a fulcrum for the wire but all this joy is yet to come for me  :)

Regards
Roger

Hi Petermac.    I have an idea which may help your quest to avoid “ solder in the eye syndrome “. Most modellers would probably argue with me, but, it is just my idea. If one wishes to avoid getting solder in the eye try this???Make the baseboard as usual with which ever material you choose, and then replace the screws with hinges, fit hinges first, then on the opposite side fit spring latches, making certain that the catches are a good fit.    
Lay the track as normal, following the break apart system of your choice. Best wishes Kevin 

. . . or just wear goggles!

 B

:thumbs

A good tip there Kevin and, on the other side of my 'shed" that's almost what I did - no hinges but a flipped baseboard as here:



The only "under baseboard" soldering I ever do is soldering droppers to the main bus.  Otherwise, I de-mount whatever needs soldering and do it on the bench.

Can't those point servo's be fixed under the baseboared Peter?

BTW, what happened to the piercing saw you bought  :lol:

I know you have a big aversion to surface mounted motors Phil, and normally, I'd agree with you but in some instances, it's unavoidable.


In this area, there are 2 points plus a double slip sitting right on to of a big double batton under the boards.  You may recall I bought the layout already built inside the portable office unit and the previous owner had all insulfrog points operated by the "hand of God".  I've swapped the insulfrogs for electrofrogs and powered them.  Some were impossible to access from underneath.


Regarding the piercing saw, I used it to cut the arches in the viaduct sides but it's still work in progress - I have some Milliput somewhere ti fill and scribe the joins but can't find it at the moment ……..   Ordering more isn't an option until I can make up a reasonable order to make the postage worthwhile.  I'm 75 miles from our nearest model shop here and Covid restrictions limit me to a maximum of 10km from home plus I think model shops are closed as being "non essential" ….!

Here's a shot of the viaduct so far :

Understood about the motors.

The viaduct is looking great, I've used a thick mix of Polyfilla in the past for filling, that is if you don't have to drive 75 miles for it  

Hi Petermac.  Looking good, but you could, maybe, depending on clearance plant suitable buildings to hide the surface mounted point motors. The point motor marked 3B does look a bit tight to the track though.                 Best wishes Kevin 

The best way to cover that would be with foliage  ;-) That is if a coach doesn't catch it  :hmm

The wife said I've caught a bad case of foliage but I refuse to shave  :hmm
I wonder if its worth colouring in those servos so they arent stark white ?  And then hide them further as mentioned with buildings or foliage or a pile of redundant old sleepers ?

That Viaduct will be a thing of awesomeness Peter  :thumbs


Cheers

Matt

Now why didn't I think of Polyfilla …….. :thud

Actually, it's probably because the viaduct is hinged so could well flex during lifting and lowering.  That would surely crack the Polyfilla …… :hmm

I've had to move that "3B" point servo - it was indeed tioo close to the track.  :sad:

I was indeed going to hide them under buildings - or rather "sheds" but foliage is another option I hadn't thought of.  Immediately to the left of 3B is the main station which, if you recall, will be "under ground" as in Birmingham New Street.

I haven't actually worked out the topography of this area in detail yet.  I'm conscious that, unless I'm careful, it could look very contrived, or even "toy-like" with those hedgehog type tunnels …….. :cheers

They could indeed be painted Matt but hopefully, they'll be invisible…..

The viaduct is looking excellent Peter, well worth the thought that went into it.  And your skill with the piercing saw is excellent, very neat and consistent arches.  The investment in the stone sheet was also well worth it, it is going to look marvellous when it is finished off.
I don't think any of us like surface mounted points, but sometimes there is no option, and as yours are close to the station, some small sheds would be ideal disguises and once done, we will be none the wiser.

Michael

I second Michael's comment on the viaduct, very nice - at some point in the dim future I will need to build the "Seven Arches", so it is good to have some inspiration. :thumbs

Cheers,

Andrew  :cheers

Peter,

For cracks you might try an acrylic gap filler normally used around the house out of a caulking gun. There are coloured grades to be found.

I squirt some into a small plastic disposable syringe with a shortened nozzle then inject a fine stream where required. The syringe then can be wrapped in wet paper towels and stored in a ziplok bag for repeat use. This way it can keep for ages if stored somewhere cool.

At a much higher unit price it's sold in a small tube here but that's a  luxury concept.


Colin

Colin,

Nice tip re using sealant in the smaller syringe and keeping the sealant in a working condition -  :cheers

Very clever.  This is why I read all the posts, for these gems.
Michael