It was the art of soldering for me and doing one of those long outstanding jobs that exist on my (not Mrs. Woody's list!) list of things to do. It was to solder up a phono plug to connect the power from my DCC controller to my 009 narrow gauge layout Chalkdon. Prior to this momentous moment I had used a pair of crocodile clips which was not really the best way to do things!
With this job done I can easily move the DCC controller from this layout to my USA switching layout for which I soldered up a similar plug some time ago. Amazing how time flies by!
Just out of interest, the Kato track that I posted about yesterday has a discrete means of plugging a power supply in with this socket under the track into which the ready wired power wires just plug into. That is an artful solution!
More art on the canal which I have posted about recently in the form of the art of finding more wrong than you originally thought! Out on a bike ride I stopped off to see how things were going. More Hi Viz present and an overheard remark of 'well its rotten' which I presume is part of the lock gates which can now be inspected with the water level so low. No doubt more art will follow with the art of repairing!
Finally we have the art of realising it is just going to happen and perhaps sat navs are not that good! Whilst travelling through the Lincolnshire town of Grantham which has the East Coast Main Line railway bisecting it with several low bridges I got caught up in traffic which was at a standstill not because of the road works but due to that truck the other side of the bridge. The driver was trying to make a 180 degree turn onto a side road that goes under the arch on the far left of the picture below.
He gained a bit of an audience over the five or so minutes that he tried to turn the truck but eventually he gave up and drove off probably with a health deposit in his dashboard sware jar!
Right I am off to practice the art of making Mrs. W's dinner!
Kato are a Japanese firm that produce a great deal of n gauge equipment that caters in the main for the home market where space is at a premium for Japanese modellers. However they have developed quite a catalogue of USA outline stock in both n and H0 scales and have done some UK both in n and 009 all at competitive prices.
This is the Kato CV1 track pack which is an oval of track which you may not think is that unusual. However, this pack is unusual!
Whereas the minimum radius n gauge track supplied by UK and most European manufacturers is 9 inches, this Kato track pack has 6 inch radius curves meaning this oval of track is just about 1 foot by 2 feet. That is small! I have a plan for it but like most of my projects will probably emerge around about the earth's next glacial age. But, in the meantime I needed to have a play so it was just like being a young lad at Christmas (only 77 days to go at the time of writing this!) with the train set on the floor!
I knew that the Kato chassis that I use for the 3D printed locos I have built would go round the curves but would anything else? Most manufacturers state that 9 inches is the minimum radius that their rolling stock will go round. Well that is not completely correct! Getting some of my USA outline stock out, most of the diesel locos would go round but given their bogie wheel configuration that was perhaps to be expected. Most of the rolling stock seemed happy enough too.
With the diesels having gone OK round the curves would a more rigid wheelbase steam loco do the same? This 2-8-0 loco had no problems.
The 4-6-2 had no problems but the lengthy coaches did! They derailed due to the couplers not having enough movement.
Whilst all this may seem a bit frivolous and Mrs. Woody could find better things for me to do with my time, it does prove that you can have a small layout that just about any home could accommodate. In fact Mike Potter from Budget Model Railways on YouTube proves the point with a layout he has recently built and this is the video.
It was great to see life in my USA outline stock and this has experiment has again awoken my love of the scale which means more projects whirring in my mind! Oh dear!
After several weeks of creating a mess in the Man Cave building the Tiger 1 it was time to tidy the workbench, after all I had spent the morning tidying the house much to Mrs. Woody's amazement!
Nice Tiger tank on the cutting board!
I even went as far as giving the floor a wash bringing me to my knees!
By the colour of the water that floor really did need a clean!
So with the workbench tidy and the floor washed I had a few minutes to have a quick look at this.
More of this another time though as its time to make Mrs. W's dinner!
