Building a DCC Programming Plank

DCC Programming Plank

As a side project whilst trying to finish off my TT:120 Minories layout, I decided to build a DCC programming plank for my N gauge locomotives which I'd started to collect. It needn't be very big, as I wanted to have it permanently connected to my desktop PC so I could program using JMRI. I also wanted to try out the British Finescale Code 40 track whilst doing this as such short lengths were relatively undaunting, never having built any of my own track before.

 

In another post, I described how I built a small baseboard out of foamboard and shortly after, how I built a British Finescale turnout kit and flex track. All that was missing was the DCC gubbins... 

 

Some months before, I bought a bulk job listing off eBay from Rails of Sheffield. It included a few different things:

• PiSprog board and enclosures
• Various power supplies
• Sprog IIv4 and power supply
• Peco track cleaner 

I have a weakness for eBay listings like this, where I can figure them out and get several end products out of one purchase.

Naturally the Sprog IIv4 would be perfect for my DCC plank. I then picked up a cheap Raspberry Pi3 and Android phone (I went for a Samsung Xcover 4 for less than £10!) and after an afternoon fiddling - I then had a full DCC command system using JMRI, with a 4.3amp power supply and control via either computer (using a VPN for remote access) or using the free EngineDriver app. I intend to use this in a future DCC layout so for now it's packed away but ready to use.

I digress. For my plank layout, I also wanted to try out wire in tube control for the point I'd built. I ordered a kit with some brass tubing and piano wire but this didn't turn out to be suitable. In the end I bent a bit of the wire and glued it through a mini slide SPDT switch. This was then wired to switch the frog polarity.

The track was layed on some spare cork, with some foam added at the end of each siding to protect against any accidents.

Whilst I may finish the layout with ballast and scenery in the future, for the time being it's now serving it's purpose as a programming track.

 

British Finescale Track - Part 2

British Finescale - Flex track

As well as the turnout kit, building the scale 60ft lengths of straight flex track was far more straight forward - it simply involves threading two lengths of rail (making sure to get it the correct way up) into the 3D printed webbed chairs which are securly held in the jig as shown below -

 

Above are my first attempts to solder two 60ft sections together after fitting the metal rail joiners (far fiddler to fit than the traditional peco ones!) and then adding dropper wires. In hindsight, I should've used smaller gauge wire as soldering 16 AWG is difficult due to the comparatively smaller surface area of the code 40 rail underside.

British Finescale Track - Part 1

British Finescale N Gauge Track - A5 Turnout

I recently built an A5 turnout using one of the British Finescale kits. As well as the turnout kit, I also ordered some flex track, rail joiners and a jig for constructing lengths of straight track. I previously ordered the introductory kit for 2mm FS (some code 40 track and a kit to build a 16t mineral wagon along with a book all about the scale) but found that the track was easy to distory and hard to keep straight. After coming to the decision that 2mm was a step too far for my skills and interests, I still wanted to try out building my own track, albeit using one of these kits.

 

Below are some pictures taken during construction of the turnout -

 

If I was doing it again, I'd take more care cutting the lengths of rail - particularly around the frog area as I didn't get these quite right which resulted in them coming free/moving later on, particularly when adding the soldered dropper wires.

A tale of track and ballasting...

 I've been experimenting with track painting and ballast this week.

I don't want a uniform look to my layout, as like the real thing, track colour and ballast varies over time as bits get replaced. To that end my approach is to take my time and complete the track painting and ballast in stages.

I purchased three types of ballast from Hornby - grey, grey basaltic, and limestone. I also purchased 3 railmatch paints - sleeper grime, dark rust and light rust.

These are the results:

The limestone and grey basaltic on their own are clearly overscale for TT 120. The grey on it's own looks... odd? I'm not sure why it looks so rounded.

I then decided to mix all all three:

Hmm, not sure! 

Moving onto a stretch of Hornby track (since that's what my roundy round layout uses) and I tried a mix of just the grey and grey basaltic rock. I also tried two different mixes for the rail sides; starting with a few drops of water I added all three paints for one half and then just the two rust colours for the other half.

Much better I think! I intend to use the mix of just rust colours for the sidings and less used sections of track. I'll also use the three types of ballasts in different areas of my layout, perhaps with some chinchilla sand or finer grey ballast added to improve the overscale look. The limestone for example can be used nearer the tunnel mouths with a transition to the grey/basaltic mix, and in areas like the engine shed I can just use the basaltic rock which dries darker. A black/grey wash with some coal deposits should help set the scene.

But first, I need to paint all of the track!