The control panel slowly fills up with wires! It may look complex now but by the end it will look even more complex! I just keep in my mind that I am dealing with one wire at a time!
I am also trying to keep things looking as though they are organised and tidy unlike my mind where the plan for all of this exists!
At the present rate of progress I think another two weeks will see it finished and hopefully wotking and working as I envisaged!
Work continues on the control panel with the jig saw of wiring growing but not to the extent of needing a picture to illustrate - yet! Hopefully as the wires are connected and soldered something magical will appear! Not sure what it will be but I am sure it will be magical!
In the meantime, back in mid May in a post (click here) I noted that on a bike ride I saw the local canal at a much lower water level than normal and commented that I would keep an eye on it. Well, two weeks on and 250 more miles on the bike since then this is what the canal looks like.
Magically the water has again disappeared! There is certainly now more mud than water!
Even this duck looks to be concerned about the lack of water! I will endeavour to keep a continued eye on the situation and hopefully get some more cycling miles under my legs! That would be magic!
Work on the control panel continues. Having got the main track power feeds wired in and proven to work the next stage is to get the four sectionalised hidden loops wired in. I could just have powered the loops conventionally but being hidden from my view and with DCC locos having an element of inertia which means even when you turn the throttle off they will still coast for a distance just like the real trains do, being able to turn the power off to the track is useful. First thing to do was add to the already existing looms of wiring.
The yellow wire denotes a feed to a sectionalised section of track.
Within the control panel the wiring for the sectionalised track is added to the main track power feed and then to the central pin on the switch. The other pin will be wired to the relevant output.
Here are the four section switches from up top!
I had to put the control panel in place to test the track power feeds which gave me a first look at how it looks with the track diagram attached and it looks good to me anyway!
Whilst my work so far may look like a birds nest of wires, I have witnessed the pigeons that I blogged about earlier being busy in the hedge that runs behind the Man Cave. Having a bit of a nosey I was taken aback to see a proper nest with nesting pigeon!
Well at least I have an excuse not to cut the hedge which is on Mrs. Woody's list of jobs for me!
I have made many a jigsaw over the years and usually enjoyed them. However, the current jigsaw is not quite as enjoyable as it is the control panel to My Last Great Project 00 gauge layout.
Like a jigsaw it is a case of getting the right part or in this case wire, to the fit the right place. With most jigsaws you get a picture to work to but in this case the picture is in my head which probably is not the best of places for it to be! However, I have wired up the main track power feeds and tested them and amazingly it all works first time! I hope that is a good omen for the rest of the wiring!
In the exciting World Of Woody, I have not only been wiring and soldering switches but also making wiring looms!
This is the first and simplest. Always best to start simple! The loom will take the wiring from the baseboard terminal connector to the control panel terminal connector. In essence it means that I can disconnect individual baseboards from the control panel or indeed the the control panel from the baseboards all without too much fuss! In the interests of my sanity I have been labelling up the point motor wiring so that as I connect into the control panel switches there should not be a need for too much head scratching! I could just do with some time to get on with this but there is a severe lack of that at the moment for me. Just too much excitement too!
Nothing too exciting today, well most days in Woody's life are not that exciting anyway, but I have started to wire up some of the switches for the control panel to My Last Great Project Layout.
I have about 30 to do so that will keep me busy in my exciting World!
Progress on the control panel! The track plan was coated on the rear with some spray mount and mounted to the top of the control panel and the DCC input panel was also bolted into place.
It actually looks like a control panel but at the moment that is it! It needs to work which will involve lots of wiring and soldering so lots more to do!
When I last posted about the control panel for My Last Great Project layout I did say I needed to find a sharp 6mm drill bit. I actually found four without looking too hard although the first one was blunt!! The second was fine though and I soon had the holes drilled. I also reamed then out with a tapered reamer and cut a hole for the DCC controller panel.
I just had to put a switch in to see how that looked.
All looks good!
This glacial progress but with other things to do other than model making any progress is good progress! And todays progress is that the track plan for the control panel has been laminated and cut to size. The holes for where the switches need to go have been punched out and the panel has temporarily been taped to the top of the control panel.
I have now used those holes to mark where on the control panel I need to drill the corresponding holes for the switches.
I just now need to find a sharp 6mm drill in the WMD Tool Store! That should be interesting!
If you are a regular pursuer of this blog you will probably realise my bike rides take me past a canal on occasions. It is always a nice to take a look at what is a little bit of industrial heritage that now is a tranquil recreational place and over the years I have seen the canal almost burst its banks and then turn into little more than a tiny stream. It seems at a mid way point at the moment. It is definitely down in level but not at a level where there is more mud than water! Not sure why it is down so much though. It is not as though we are in a drought. One to keep an eye on during further bike rides. Which reminds me I am just 6 miles short of 1400 this year so far. I was at about 800 at this time last year so a better year so far!
Back at WMD HQ I am still working on the control panel for my Last Great Project Layout and I have raided the WMD Stores to retrieve the pack of switches that I bough back in 2024 when I first started planning this! Nothing like forward planning!
In the past I have used the stud and probe method to control the point motors but I thought back in 2024 that I would go hi-tech with two way centre off switches.
To fit the switch I will need to drill holes of the right size (6mm) in the top of the control panel. Drilling through paper, even if it is laminated as I will do for the control panel diagram, often leads to tears in the eyes of the driller and tears in the paper! So I broke out my punch set that conveniently had a 6mm punch. I was not sure if it would actually cleanly cut through the paper but it did on the scrap laminated sheet that I had to hand!
And more importantly the switch fits the hole!
Next stage is laminate the track diagram and cut it to size and then punch some holes in it!
A few more hours working on the control panel diagram that I posted about yesterday. It took some time as I had to move some elements around to make way for the arrows indicating which way the point would be directed by the switch being pushed in one direction or another. I think I now have it sorted though that may change as I actually start mounting switched!
You may notice a tentative name for the layout too - Woodsville Junction. It has only taken me about four years to think that one up!
Its all in the planning as the experts on various things always explain. Well, for once but don't tell Mrs. Woody, I have heeded that advice in my control panel project for my 00 gauge Last Great Project layout.
First off is to number each of the points with its own reference number.
This may make things clearer on the top of the panel itself but the real advantage is under the surface so to speak. With each point having its own number I can then create the necessary wiring more easily as I can run wires from the actual numbered point and its motor to the control panel switch and be able to identify it much more easily. Well that is the theory!
Next up I printed off the track plan which stretches across two A4 sheets. I then trimmed it down to see if it would actually fit the control panel top!
And it does! Just like I planned in the planning stage! The space on the right is where the DCC controller plug and socket panel will go - again, just as I planned!
Right, I better plan to do some of Mrs. W's jobs on her 'To do list' before I do nay more on the panel!
Back to building my control panel for My Last Great Project 00 gauge layout and I have had to put together a track plan so I can position the various switches. This is the first time I have actually drawn out the track plan which shows just how much track and how many points there are.
After a busy Bank Holiday weekend some progress has been made with the control panel for my Last Great Project 00 gauge layout.
I found an off cut of a suitably thin ply wood to allow switches to be fitted through it and that was cut to size before being given a coat of paint to match the rest of the carcase,
I then mounted the connector blocks in place using of all things screws salvaged from VHS video cassettes that I took apart years ago!
Because I had screwed the carcase together, I could take the front off making it simple to drill holes and tighten screws. I also mounted the CDU - Capacitor Discharge Unit - which will provide an electrical kick to the solenoid point motors once the wiring is in place.
Next job is to design the track diagram to go on the top so that the switches will make sense when they are mounted and wired in.
With the new connector blocks for my control panel now in my procession i just needed to fettle them as they were a bit tight to separate. Some careful work with a pair of pliers and some needle files loosened them off nicely. With seven to do that occupied me for a couple of hours!
With other jobs to do there has been no time for model making related matters today. However, I did get a delivery of some connector blocks for the control panel to my Last Great Project layout. Ordered yesterday morning from Electech Components who I have always had good service from, they arrived this morning which is great service.
I do like these connector blocks as they offer a solid solution to joining cables at a good price.
I just need to find the time to fit them now! Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at things, the weather has been good and encouraging growth of a vegetational type which means time is spent dealing with that. It is not only at the Rocks By Rail Museum that I carry out vegetational butchery - the hedges at WMD HQ also get the same treatment!
Out on a bike ride I came across this.
Looking from a distance it fits in well with the structure of the layout. I just need to think about the top and wiring now!
After yesterday's caravan cleaning capers I am fairly worn out so just a small model related job of painting the carcase of the control panel for my Last Great Project layout. So it was out with the grey paint which matches the profile boards already on the layout so I may rename the Slate Grey to WMD Grey!
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One of the long outstanding jobs on the My Last Great Project Layout has been to construct an operating panel. The wiring and point motors are all installed but I need to build the panel in order too control it all. At the moment there is a bit of a spaghetti of temporary wiring to allow trains to run which is not good. However, whilst cleaning up the WMD garage I found some suitable plywood to construct the carcase of the panel. In fact it was some plywood from the baseboard of the first and aborted Last Great Project Layout! Cut to suitable sizes the parts were screwed together to form a rectangular carcase.
As it was pre-used wood there are various nail and screw holes in it that need filling. Now I could go out and buy some proper wood filler or I could just stay in and use the plastic filler that happened to be conveniently located on the workbench.
So the plastic filler won!. I just need to let it dry and find time to sand it all down and paint it next.
Having given the 3D printed plate layers hut some additional detail and primed it, the time had come to paint it.
The bricks on the chimney breast got the three pencil treatment, the windows and door were painted the same blue as the signal box woodwork and the walls were painted in a light brown. It all needs a good doe of weathering but it will be a nice addition in some far flung corner or hidden spot on the layout once finished!
