The diary (2005)

Or: testing, repairing and swearing...

No single project works without a fuss: here's my ‘diary' of failures, retrying, ... In short: the setbacks and how I coped with them.
This is, too, an essential part of building "Marche-en-Bières", a part the reader of this website is entitled to know. Who knows, it might be useful for you, or merely as a comfort for your own setbacks with your own projects.

January '05: The turnout switch-engine prototype gets shape. Especially the electronics keep me busier than expected, because I want to make a compact device. After 3 housings and 7 printed circuit prototypes, I just need to make some further improvements, I think... Meanwhile I got quite active on another Belgian model railroad forum, with lots of interesting participants: Modelspoor Magazine, and I are making some moulds for the 'Boulroie' station scenery. The Magazine asked me to write an article about my home-build signals. This article needs a picture from a build signal with a piece of finished layout. My layout isn't finished anywhere, so: building retaining walls...

February '05: The first retaining walls are placed on the layout. I got an email, saying I have plenty of time for my article about my home-build signals in the Belgian Modelspoor Magazine, so this relieves me of some stress. I need to make a new mould and some new plaster castings, as some retaining wall castings are really poor, even for a severely weathered wall. Good news: the 10000th (Dutch) visitor on this website, bad news: my airbrush broke down... had to buy a new one. Because of the continuing dirty-rail problem, I started building a vacuum rail-cleaning car.

March '05: The rail-vacuum-cleaning-car is ready for now, but it isn't powerful enough, yet: I will have to make some improvements. Meanwhile I bought a digital camera to use on my article in the MSM-magazine. The camera software, however, caused a major setback: I needed to upgrade my computer operating system, causing my Internet connection to fail: it took me about 2 weeks to get everything right again. As I could now start writing the article, I decided to make some improvements on the home-build semaphores. This means that, while building these signals, I will write the article for MSM and rewrite the website pages...

April '05: I'm very busy writing the article and so, I'm building signals. Because I would like to build some so-called 'crocodiles' near these semaphores, I'm gathering information for them. The improvements for the vacuum-cleaning car and the switch motors just have to wait a while. At the end of the month, the home-build signals are ready and I've made a first 'crocodile' prototype. The webpage on the semaphores is completely updated and now includes a 'crocodile' part.

May '05: I bought myself a beautiful, cheap, second-hand TEE-train set, but it needs some large functional improvements: restyling the wheels to RP25, electrical pickup improvements, ... but it feels good to do this kind of work once again. An article on the home-build crocodiles is finished and sent to the magazine.

June '05: Inspirited by a model forum discussion, I'm preparing myself for the next step in etching: brass! I've already built myself a drying cabinet, a new tank and a double-sided lighting frame. This might become a new page for the website ... Meanwhile, my first article has been published. I'm proud of the positive feedback on it. On the layout, I'm finishing the 'Boulroie' station underpasses (weathering, catenaries, lights,...)

July '05: I've had a visit from ModelspoorMagazine chief editor, who 'ordered' some articles for the future. One of them is already written and sent. I finally restarted trying to build turnout switch-engine, version 4, I think. I hoped to have a new prototype this month, but the engines I used proved to weak. The electronics are fine, but the mechanical part needs re-mastering. I ordered some new motors and gears, and meanwhile built some small scenery (a fence)

August '05: I didn't do much of modeling in august, as I had to work all of the time. From the 22nd, I was home (holidays, finally) and could continue building. The first task was the switch engine prototype, which I managed to complete at the end of the month (finally - YESSS!). I planned some work on the Boulroie underpasses, brass etching, platforms, revising a diesel set, ... The holiday time would be too short.

September '05: After a week of rest in Tenerife I went back to work. There was a minor bug in the switch engine electronics, luckily I didn’t have to redesign the print layout. The diesel set is beautiful: directional headlights, interior lighting, ... but far too many current pickups: the engine can't get the set to roll - so some re-mastering is in order. I started the small series production of the turnout engines, but my home-built etching machine crashed (a design error caused etching fumes to enter the air pump - killing it) So I can design and build myself a new etching device. So what, I needed to build myself a double-sided UV-lighter, too...

October '05: A major disaster! The web-provider 'Scarlet' had a big crash. All FrontPage-compatible home2-webspaces have vanished. They didn't make any back-ups, me neither ... I only had a small amount of text and pictures from last year. Furthermore, 'Scarelet' didn't plan to support FrontPage any more, so I had to find myself a new web-authoring tool. After calling out for help at some forums, private mails and an advertising on a temporary website, replies flushed in. I really got a lot of help and support from lots of people, allowing me to restore the site in a relatively short period: the Dutch version was finished after 10 days of extremely hard work, on a new provider ...About the layout: etching has to wait, as I'm building a new device, while writing two articles on the subject for the magazine.

November '05: The English version of the site has been added, and meanwhile I'm getting some help to make a French version of the website. The site is growing fast... About the etching articles: they are finsihed and planned for the january en february issues. A new etching machine and UV-lighting equipment was built, and I made my first etched model: a little car, used on station platforms.
With this done, I can finaly start assembling and mounting my home-built switch engines. The layout wasn't touched in several weeks...

December '05: The layout had a thourough cleaning, so trains are finally moving again. I have lots of plans, but too few time in december: I want to rewire the hidden stagings and triangle, but this calls for developing a new electronic print layout. They should get the new turnout motors as well. The control panel needs some serious wiring and soldering, too. The platforms of Boulroie should get finished, but I need to rework some damaged tunnel walls first.
Of course I need to cleanup my work-area first ... Piles of magazines, tools, electronics tests, ... should be sorted. At the end of december it seemed I only had time for cleaning up and some electronics. The rest would be for january...

See: diary 2004 - photo's 2005 - diary 2006