Recent content by Selector

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  1. Selector

    How much fun can you have in a foot & a half? (HO Scale)

    I'm afraid only you can answer that last question. What is 'too hard,' anyway? For you and for me are going to be two different things. You appear to have a burning desire to get trains running in your games room. It's not a bad idea, but the execution might trip you up if you fail to keep...
  2. Selector

    Contemplating a new direction

    If it helps, when I planned my second layout, it was quite ambitious for me. I was only two years into the hobby, not even, and I elected to try splines and Flex Track. I even began to build my own turnouts! o_O Dunno what got into me, but I went big...yuge! I thought about 'modeling', and...
  3. Selector

    E-Z TRACK for entire layout?

    Jeff, I had forgotten the plastic bases bending...usually upwards and forcing the rails into little bumps at the joints. EZ-Track makes 3' lengths, or did at one time. I have two of those that I use on my XMas layout. Laid flat, each rises at least a quarter-inch at each end. They are close...
  4. Selector

    E-Z TRACK for entire layout?

    I think you should do what your heart tells you to do. If you can afford to do it, and no longer have much yen for doing what it takes to make flex look decent (this is subjective), then go ahead an have fun putting EZ-Track or Unitrak together. My first layout was that way, and I had a blast...
  5. Selector

    Helicon 8 Photo Stacking?

    CombineZP works for me. It's free. Just be sure to return to the same aiming point, or very close, with each shot, and to convert all of them in a batch to tiff format before you insert them into the program. https://combinezp.software.informer.com/
  6. Selector

    My new crisis with my layout.

    For me, once I have decided that what I have is toast, or what I want is not going to be built unless I clear a path for it, it's just a matter of setting aside an hour or two to start the wrecking. After backing out some screws and giving a couple of hard tugs, severing some feeders, the rest...
  7. Selector

    Static grass

    Probably it would work, but I believe that this method comes AFTER having used a proper applicator. You still need to purchase or to fabricate a static applicator, use it to place grass in a pool of white glue or scenic cement. and then use the vacuum held some distance above to encourage the...
  8. Selector

    Static grass

    You won't place more than 20% of the grass than you would with the static applicator. Sorry. Your breathing and involuntary muscle movements will cause the wand to vary between X height above the glue and X+/- whatever-the-gross-variation it will turn out to be, but my bet will be at least 2...
  9. Selector

    Walthers 130' HO Turntable

    There is a lead track to your bridge, the bridge rails, and then bay or radial tracks....correct? The lead and bay/radials should have the same phase orientation, whichever colour feeder insulation to one or the other bus wires should be the same on both sides of the turntable. The bridge...
  10. Selector

    Small HO or N

    I had a Christmas layout with an On30 train set from Bachmann. I used the thick, fluffy, cotton sheets for snow that the stores sell near Christmas, and I had various ceramic, lighted, wintery scene buildings and a Station. It was a simple oval of EZ-Track with a siding running past the depot...
  11. Selector

    Which way?

    Due to their mechanics, our models do not ride the rails as the prototype does. Our tires are not truncated cone-shaped, and the rail heads are not shaped in such a way as to encourage the metal tires to ride over the tops and leave the flanges free to revolve without friction. So, this means...
  12. Selector

    Suddenly Quits

    Do a reset OpSw-wise and start fresh. Assuming nothing has gotten snagged and is no longer making electrical contact, nothing shorting, nothing chewed on by mice/rats, no weak solders finally let go...those kind of un-seeables-until-you-look-for-them, and you haven't inadvertently input...
  13. Selector

    Track cleaning thoughts and observation ( Traction tire warning)

    It takes a long time, and that is one of its benefits. If the metals are to oxidize, and there's no clear proof that the alloy really does oxidize, the coating should slow the exposure to air. https://www.columbiametals.com/products/nickel-silver Note that, in the previous link and in the one...
  14. Selector

    Track cleaning thoughts and observation ( Traction tire warning)

    People who use any type of alcohol also report having to do the procedure repeatedly, often every few days. I have abandoned alcohol. I now use kerosene or mineral spirits per the research done over at MRH five years ago. My tracks work great, and almost all of my steamers have traction...
  15. Selector

    Joints in the Backdrop

    At a exhibition, you line up the benchwork so that the rails meet properly, and then you clamp the very top edges across the gap between them. You can just use a carpentry clamp across the gap, or use the same cleats, one in front, one in back, to sandwich the top edges, and use one or two...
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