Picked Up A Light Box For Model Photos

I ordered this light box from Amazon for taking pics of models.  Seems to work very nicely.

Amazon's description seems to include a number of aliases: Finnhomy Professional Portable Studio Photo Light Studio Tent, Light Box, Table Top Photography Shooting Tent Box, Lighting Kit, 16" x 16" Cube

My First Power On Board (POB) Project

I'm starting a new project: Modify an old SW1500 to use POB (aka Dead Rail). I'm going to try to use a Stanton self-powering truck to replace the original motor assembly. I hope this will create enough room to then add an over-the-air DCC and sound, along with batteries and a recharging circuit. I am expecting to not have enough room, but we'll see. For inspiration and guidance I'll be using a couple of posts from the Small Urban Rails website.

I'll be documenting the progress for this project in SW1500 Switcher With Power On Board (POB).

Struggling To Build A Layout In Trainz

 I've gone through YouTube tutorials and have started to embed the various commands and buttons used by Trainz in my mind.  It's been a trial.  I've been trying to create a layout base, and was raising and lowering terrain and placing the base fascia, and the terrain wouldn't raise the way I wanted, or I couldn't raise it close to the base fascia without raising the fascia inadvertently.  The basic manipulation mechanisms are pretty straightforward, but there are a few hidden tricks that are needed along the way, and I really haven't found internet searches too useful ferreting them out - I've just had to puzzle them out myself.

Here are steps to use for layout building, to the point I've reached so far...

1. Use the ruler to determine the basic layout base shape.  The ruler measures in real-world units, even if the route scale factor is set to a scale like HO.
2. Outline the layout shape using base fascia.  This was a pain to figure out.  The facias are object splines - select the object category, then the object spline button, to get these.  Since I just thought they were objects initially, and didn't see them listed in the object list, I figured I needed to download them using the DS.
3. Also, when placing the base fascias, it's best to line up the edges with the black or yellow grid lines.  It's really a pain raising the terrain to meet the fascia top otherwise, as I found out.
4. I tried to download a DS layout that had some nice fascias, floors, walls, and layout features like turntables.  After over 30 hours of download, it finally finished with a failure.  Along the way there were a couple of other failures, Burt a retry would start the download again at the point of failure.  But the third one would not even try to continue.  The result is a route with a broken link indicator.  Now I was seeing items I was interested in my installed content, but by this time I'd realized the story behind fascia object spines, and it's possible I'd had it all along and didn't need to subject myself to the painful download attempt.
5. The fascia I chose was "EMM Model Trainz Fascia Spline".  Working with fascia object splines is a pain.  If a fascia ends at the end of another, they will join and bend.  You have to choose the split button, then click at the exact right point to un-join, at the base of the fascia right at the join, which is hard to see.  Same challenge using the move function.
6. Set the object spline height value to zero to prevent the fascia from raising up when raising the ground near it.  There was a lot of pain figuring this one out.
7. In the topology function, use 5m resolution.  The vertical faces of the layout base are never absolutely vertical, and at 10m don't get sharp enough.
8. Use the topology hight function to set the overall base height.  For the EMM fascia spline, and value of 60 seems the one needed to get the layout base to match the fascia height.

Trying Out Trainz TRS19

I decided to buy the Trainz TRS19 train simulation a couple of days ago.  Dave Balser had sent me a plan for his layout, so that I could study it and work out different switching scenarios, maybe even practice switch lists and such, since I can't actually visit hime and operate his layout due to COVID-19.  I'd seen information about TRS19 and thought it might not be too hard to actually simulate Dave's layout with it.   Then I could use the simulation to "operate" his layout, which would be a great way to become familiar with it.  Then, when I can visit his home again some day, perhaps I won't stumble around so badly trying to run trains on it.

I'm running this on my MacBook Pro so the performance is not as great as if I had a really strong computer.  I also was a little low on disk space so decided to try to install it on an external USB drive.  This worked out, luckily.

Downloads from the developer are pretty slow, and there was a glitch in my installation (don't use the period character in the Trainz passwords!).  But I've been going through now a bit, and it really is neat.  They have built in tutorials for running trains which were very fun.  I also have started going through some YouTube video for building up simulations.

One thing I found was there is no real documentation for TRS19.  Instead, a Wiki is maintained with instructions for using the game.  Also, they use a Discord chat for a community forum platform, and I had good luck asking questions in the "support" thread.  Their Trains website also has a comnunit forum.  Finally, I did get the email to use for problems

Related links:

• Support email:       anewera@n3vgames.com
• Trainz website:      www.trainzportal.com
• Trainz support:       support.trainzportal.com/index.php?
• Trainz Wiki:           online.ts2009.com/mediaWiki/Main_Page
• Trainz WikiBook:   https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Trainz
• Discord Trainz:  Discord Chat 
• YouTube tutorials for constructing a simulation (this is the first episode):   Trainz route building tutorial Ep. 01 by Sharadise
• A site to locate downloadable "content" (that is, 3-D models of structures, cars, locos, etc etc)   Lots of this is available from the Trainz folk, via their "DLS" (Download Station), but apparently many Trainz users provide content from other download sites like GoogleDrive.  These are hard to find, and this site has an extensive collection of such links, and includes to a search function:  Trainz KUID Index.  To use this, you have to pay a subscription fee which is $15/yr.

My Handi-Helper

At the 2008 NMRA convention in Anaheim, I talked a bit with Leslie Eaton, MMR 289. She was using something called Handi-Helpers, and really liked it. I meant to get one for myself. Below is an excerpt from a clinic Leslie did at the convention, that included information about the tool.

I have a metal product that supposedly helps with soldering. It has joints that are tightened with little wing-nuts. But I have never been successful using it, and it seems really clunky.

I procrastinated for over a decade but finally went looking. But they weren't available anymore! Leslie had been so enthusiastic about the Handi-Hands product, including the various clip styles that it could use, that I was pretty disappointed I couldn't get one for myself.

I couldn't find a contact for Leslie, so I emailed the NMRA magazine and they had Jack Hamilton (The Tool Junkie) help me out. He hadn't used a hand-helper himself, but he was able to put me in touch with Leslie! I sent her an email and she sent back a nice reply!

"Paul,

Yes, I still use mine and it has help up beautifully over the years. It is especially good to hold cats while I weather them. I created an extra set of tips that go into the booster pin holes to hold the cars while I weather or airbrush them.

You might still find them online via a hobby store. Just a thought.

Leslie"

(I was very impressed with her comment, "It is especially good to hold cats while I weather them.” Boy, her handi-hands must be really good if it’s able to hold cats like that! I’ll bet they get pretty testy while being powdered with chalks! 😄 She meant "cars" of course.)

Anyway, I decided to go ahead and try out a similar version that I'd seen on the internet. It's one Jack Hamilton had also noticed. Boy, am I glad I did.

It was a while before I got up the gumption to try it, but now I'm very happy with how it's working out. I was worried that the multi-joint arms would be difficult to manipulate, and to accurately position small parts for glueing. It does take a bit of trial and error to position them, but doesn't take much effort, and stays fast to the position they've been put in.

To assist with additional placement, I use the handi-helper to hold another tool, made by glueing an alligator clip an old paint brush handle (an old hint from Model Railroader long ago).

Using these in conjunction makes positioning small parts for glueing much much easier. Here's an example where I was glueing metal rods to Grandt Line parts for a reefer's brake rigging.

Like I say, I am very happy with the way this has turned out. Thanks Leslie and Jack!

My Model Railroad Blog

I plan to post about my model railroading interests and activity, including project descriptions, layout visits, NMRA meeting information, rail-fanning activity, and anything else related to model railroading or railroading in general that I fancy.