The diary (2009)

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 '09: After the old- and newyearsparty's, I continued building the display cases. Describing this construction process for this website and the magazine is done while being on the train to and from work. At the beginning of the month I still have some ten cases to build, the connecting track has to be laid out and connected to a group of home-built turnouts, still in need of some finishing and their (home-built) turnout drivers. When this is one, I can start designing and making the electronics to make a semi-automatic filling and emptying of the layout with trains. The design of this system is in the back of my head, so it is not ready yet. I'm convinced to use a microcontroller, while the measurements will be done with both optical and current detectors.
When all this works fine, I can start finishing the layout around this new connecting track, and then I can mount my mini-layout on its final location. I guess it will almost be summer by then...

February '09: As opposed to january, I have a bit more spare time this month. The last cabinets can be finished and I started designing the electronics for the automated filling and emptying of these display-shelves. The electronic components are waiting to be used for some time now. I now know I'll have to use two microcontrollers: one for the shelve-layout connection an another to control traffic towards the rest of the layout.
After laying the receiving track I was able to make the last pictures for an article about it in Modelspoormagazine.
Meanwhile, I'm etching some steam engine parts for a friend, parts I'll most likely need for myself, too. I'm considering making a new etching-tool, capable of holding larger sheets. I've asked a company to make custom-designed clear plastic containers, and found some people who want these, too.
March '09: The display cabinets are finished. Nearly all of my rolling stock took place, and I'm surprised about the track length it consumes. A Modelspoormagazine article is sent to the publishers, together with another one I wrote earlier but forgot to send in.
The cabinet-filling automation electronics are getting built, and I've encountered the first serious error: Wrong IC, I'll have to solder SMD's instead. Meanwhile I'm working on another tricky part of this project: programming the microcontroller...
I've planned a series of articles on soldering, as I understand many model railroaders have a problem with this technique. I plan to go as far as building and using a resistance soldering device. Its components are meanwhile waiting for construction. If (or when) I get it built, and have some degree of experience using it, I will write the articles. I can use this tool to assemble some brass kits I acquired during the last years. I've received plexiglass containers to build a new etching-tool. Buying these group-wise got us a fair price from the manufacturer. At the end of the month, this brand-new etching-tool is just about ready for use. Lots of building plans this month (what's new?).
Something personal: I was married 25 years, so this called for a family party and a great trip to Luxor (Egypt).
At the end of march, I was very lucky to find and buy a second-hand steam engine kit. The model, a class 57 sadlle tank, was something I was searching for some time. As soon as my resistance-soldering device is ready and I had some practice with it, I might start building it...

April '09: At the beginning of the month, my new etching tank is ready to use. It has a larger volume - so I can etch larger plates. Faster and better, too, thanks to a better heating. Some more tips I found for a better etching proces started me to write a new article serie.
Now that the etching tool is ready, I can start building my resistance soldering device. Thanks to some free time from work, it's nearly finished at the beginning of the month. A delayed post-order of some parts caused finishing this device to be postponed.
A new laptop was useful in the second part of the month. As I had to work a lot, this meant writing articles and refreshing this website on the train from and to work. At the end of april, I became a granddad for the first time. My first grandson, Michiel, was born on the 25th!
May '09: The first half of the month, I had to work a lot and hardly had any model-builing-time. I'm considering taking part in the next mini-layout contest, October 2010. If I participate, this means other projects are "on hold". But the theme I'm considering is so tempting ...
During the few free days in May, I did some testing. Experimenting with brass and etched parts was quite refreshing to do. I bought myself a milling tool. A large amount of models I bought at an auction, made me spend a bit too much this month.
Meanwhile, my resistance soldering device is ready, I still need some time to practice with it. I started a new article on etching. A workshop on the subject at a model railroad club made me realise that my former description needs to be re-written.

June '09: Why should I act mysteriously about my plans? This is a diary, so possible setbacks should be told here, too... I'm doing some experiments for a large piece of scenery: a fancy-fair at the city square. One of the things I'ld like to build is a rollercoaster. My first design wasn't good enough: the rails were too big, the bogie construction was so complex, the thing didn't roll at all. At the upper left picture is a new type of track, which will certainly perform better. On the right, you can see a lot of parts I milled for the first prototype. They will get - I hope, that is - another future purpose. And I'm considering another fancy-fair project that will have even more home-made precision parts...
My new milling machine, the resistance soldering device and my lathe are used a lot, and of course my PC's at home and "on the road" for the designing. The month was promising a lot of free days, but due to illnesses of colleages, this became far less than planned.
The heat at the end of the month caused a serious setback: the hot-glue I used for the supension of my display-cabinets melted, causing some of them to fall down, with quite some damage to soime models. I now urgently needed to re-inforce these. This was my major occupation during the end of the month.

July '09: The cabinets are repared, the models with a lot of damage were put in boxes to repair "in the future". Half my holiday time was now used just to repair earlier damage. The wheather remained hot, and my lathe - and myself - suffered from it. It was hard to do any modeling.
At the end of June, I decided to go along with the mini-layout contest. The central theme wiil be a fancy-fair, dominated by a rollercoaster. I now finaly have a well-rolling bogie prototype that's not too hard to build in small series. After all, I'll need 32 of them (2 'trains' with 8 'coaches', caried by 2 bogies each) This also means 32 times 4 axes with each two wheels, so 256 home-made wheels to mill with my lathe. This isn't done in one day, but the wheels are ready at the end of the month, so I could start milling the 128 axles. Meanwhile, I made some new web pages for this and the next planned fancy-fair attractions.
As for the magazine: I'm working on two article series: one about etching, the other about soldering. The first serie wil be a thoroug update, as I nearly don't do anything the way I described it earlier. The first of this two-part article is sent to the editor of Modelspoormagazine. My resistance-soldering device is used a lot now, so I should be able to make a sensible article on using it.

Some information: one bogie measures (in mm) 8x12x7. The distance between the rails is 7mm.

August '09: In the beginning of the month I'm making axles and wheelsets for the rollercoaster's cars, and some track is built, too. One important test is a piece of "diving track": Isn't there too much friction, can a car make it back to the top after diving? This means making a more or less complete rollercoaster train set. I had some free time at the beginning of the month, so this was be possible.
Meanwhile, I was able to photograph a real-life fancy-fair catterpilar (with an operating, closing cloth) while being constructed. The owner didn't have blueprints of his attraction, but I should be able to draw my own from the numerous pictures I took. I want to make a bumper-car attraction, too, and would like to start with a prototype this month. It's odd: I still have 14 months to finish this mini-layout, but I'm already getting a bit stressed: Did I byte off more than I can chew?
The second part of the article on etching was sent to the editor. As I'm administrator of the magazine's forum, I'm doing a large project in order to improve it. This, along with some updating of this website, I did mainly on my laptop, while travelling to and from work by train. Especially the English part of the website needed a lot of updating. In the second half of the month, the number of visitors of this website boomed, apparently thanks to quite some Italians.

September '09: My mini-layout is growing. For now, most of the time is spent on the rollercoaster, the main attraction. A third railpiece has to be rebuilt, as its bevel is far too steep. This causes too much friction for my (to ?) light cars. To increase weight, I try to cast some in low-temp-melting metal. A mould for this is being made. While waiting for another brass profile delivery, I started builiding the supports for the rollercoaster.
The first experiments with autonomously-riding bumper-cars are done. Testing, this means redrawing the concept, due to the very small pairts used. The slightest malformation is lethal, and soldering on a very small surface is not obvious either. The main problem is my lathe: its drillhead is worn, so drilling very small holes is not possible any more. After quite some internet surfing, I found a suplier, so spare parts are on their way around the end of the month. For now, further experiments with the bumper cars will have to wait.
The city hall on the mini-layout is designed from a lot of pictures I took from an existing, beautiful building in Borgerhout (near Antwerp). Buulding it in H0-scale will be quite a challenge, but I'm looking forward to it.
As for the magazine, new articles on etching are sent to the editor, an now I'm writing a three-part article on soldering. The first part only needs some additional pictures, the second part still needs the most work, the third part needs the text and some additional pictures. I will also try to help a model-builder-friend with another set of articles, describing the building of a steel factory and a signal cabin.

October '09: During the last weeks of september and the first of this month I had to work a lot, so not much was built. At least, not much worth taking pictures. During the second half of this month I have more free time, so things should evolve.
The main project for now still is the rollercoaster, the main issues being the track ans the couplings between the little cars. They should swivel easily, while keeping the cars at the same distance. Two ball joints and a rod between them seemed the best sollution, and that's why I casted both the cars and their couplings in metal. This went - after make a second mould - quite well. The supporting frame for the coaster is growing, and I just might start with the chain lift this month.
As for the bumper cars, the next stages will evolve simultaneously with building the city hall. I know this seems odd, so let me explain this: I couldn't find small, reliable rubbers for the traction parts, so I will have to cast these in silicon rubber. As I only need a few drops to do this, it's better to combine this with casting a mould for another project. And that's where the city hall walls come in...
The first article on soldering is sent to the publisher of Modelspoormagzine, I'm working hard on the next two parts. I stiull need to take quite a few photo's "from practice". By the way, I found some nice tools to simplify soldering jobs, just in time to describe them.
November '09: The first days of this month I enlarged my rollercoaster. The picture below shows it nearly half-way, meanwhile the track is even a bit larger. Now, I can start experimenting with the pull-up sysytem, the breaks, lighting, accessibility for the "crowd", ... The ideas to do these are present, but I can't start building if the downhill part isn't ready. Overall, this rollercoaster will keep me busy for a while.
As for the mini-layout of wich the rollercoaster is the main attraction, I have a slight problem... it wont be able to pass the door from my attic room. It is based on an inspection hole on my main layout, so this will have to be a bit smaller from now on.
Awaiting parts for the rollercoaster (brass profile strips, once again), and because I've been busy designing the catterpilar, I started buuilding it. After etching some parts, I assembled some of the basic structures. This meant very precise soldering, but since I now have the equipment to do this, this isn't much of a problem.
I have a lot to do at work this month, so less time to model things.

December '09: As the end of last month, the first half of this one I barely have any time to model things or even to go shopping for parts or paints. On the train to and from work, I do have time to design things nad write some stuff. De few parts I could model are the roof and some central pieces for the catterpilar. I had to do some more etching to make parts for the little catterpilar cars. At the end of the month, these are finished and ready for painting next month. The parts for the moveable covering cloth are ready, except for the cloth itself. I think I'll use a piece of silk for this. The lighting will be done with tiny SMD-type leds.
I wanted to do a bit more for the rollercoaster, and for the base of the mini-layout itself, but that will be something for next month (next year...)

See: diary 2008 - photo's 2009 - diary 2010