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    Using linear servos as switch motors

    This is interesting, I'm in the process of using servo controllers and servos to do a similar thing. This looks like it may wind up being more complicated, but more flexible as well. Certainly allow for more flexibility in terms of pairing off turnouts. Before you go reinventing the wheel...
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    Is Your Layout Ready for Visitors?

    I'm definitely not ready. I think in a pinch I could get the set up ready to actually run a train or two around the inner loop, but basically none of the turnouts are functioning at the moment and there's a ton of crud sitting on the table itself. That being said, I think tomorrow, I'll be able...
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    Leaving the paper templates on the layout

    TBH, you probably could just leave it in place. I personally used what is essentially Elmer's glue to glue the foam track bed to the foam board. Brushing on a sufficient amount of thinned out glue would probably get enough saturation to get not have issues with adhesion when the track goes down...
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    DCS Remote Cable

    Excellent, it amazes me how many different styles of jacks have been used for power over the years. The cheapo Bachmann starter set I got when I got back into model trains uses what appears to be an audio jack to power the track. My old HO set used a very simple set of wires, IIRC.
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    DCS Remote Cable

    Some pictures or additional information would be helpful, googling for it led mainly to things like this: https://www.ebay.com/c/1548378304 . If so, that's not so much proprietary as it's just a really, really old connector. I don't think those have been used much since I was a little kid.
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    Where Are All The O-Scale 2-rail Steam Engines?

    Ah, there's ways around that problem. Surgeons use motion reducing levers for that. Combine something like that with templates and much of it probably could be done. That being said, nobody seems to make the levers, which is odd as they're rather easy to make, they mostly just require the...
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    Where Are All The O-Scale 2-rail Steam Engines?

    You may have to settle for Brass or see about getting somebody to 3d print you a basic shell to put over an easier to get locomotive. A quick google indicates that there are a few people out there with 3d models of various steam locomotives. You'd likely need to add any rails to it and paint...
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    Redo on my Chinese railroad layout

    A bit of a late reply here as I hadn't had anything to say. But, right now, you can get a laser engraver/cutter to attach to several of Creality's 3d printers with minimal need to modify anything. The main physical mods that I've seen involved either installing a switch or disconnecting the...
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    Redo on my Chinese railroad layout

    I'm still waiting on a couple parts, but I've got nearly everything I need. The top left to right are the mount for the servo tester and toggle box for the actual switch. It's probably hard to see, but the toggle controls the direction and the DPDT switch controls the actual powering of the...
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    Looking for feedback on new N-Scale layout

    Keep in mind that even youngsters do break legs and over time that the ducking under may become an issue. Personally, I'd make it a simple lift out section and wire that into the rest of the track using a simple terminal block. You can still duck under it as your design calls for, but when you...
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    My stupid noob questions

    If your budget allows, you'll likely want to upgrade to DCC at some point. It is more complicated and tends to be more expensive, but the trains are much more satisfy to operate and you can work with more than one on the same track without having them having the same speed. They also feel more...
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    Considering tearing out my old HO layout.

    TBH, if there's a trainshow or swap meet near you, that's likely going to be the best way. I don't like selling things like this on ebay just because it can be a hassle to get the right packing materials to actually send safely through the mail. If any of it is at all collectable, you can also...
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    How many prefer to buy DCC equipped vs. DCC ready?

    That's more or less why I just buy DCC equipped ones where possible. I'm not particularly anal retentive about my locomotives being completely right in the model, so it's less of an issue than it could be. That being said, if I had to have a particular model that isn't DCC, I'd consider doing it...
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    Laying Cork Roadbed

    TBH, I'm a bit curious as to why even bother with cork when there's better materials available. I've personally been using foam trackbed from Woodland Scenics, but I suspect there are other options. It's easily bent into the right radius, glues down easily and damps the sound from the tracks a bit.
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    Thoughts

    Mostly because our eyes were not intelligently designed. Unlike some species like some frogs where the elements of the eye move to focus, our eyes have to change shape to do so. If we look 20 feet away for 20 seconds every 20 minutes, we can reduce that a bit, but over time the eyes are going to...
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    ?? dcc system N scale with Ho scale ??

    Depending upon your comfort and expertise, it might be worth looking at DCC++, it has a bunch of features for working with complex layouts. I can't tell if it will allow you to properly control them both at the same time, but it should allow you to switch back and forth relatively easily and it...
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    Sometimes track plans don't work out

    This is definitely true, my layout is pretty much a nightmare in terms of the various curves going on because of how much I needed to do on the module. I just plan on never running any trains very fast through any of it. It's also easy to forget that the curve itself is just effectively just...
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    FLAT 3D....Serious Post

    Barring a budget large enough to hire somebody to paint one, probably the next best thing would be to create a 3d model in software and then print that with whatever perspective you're looking for. The more you constrain your viewing angle, the more realistic you're likely to be able to make the...
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    FLAT 3D....Serious Post

    It depends what you mean by "work." The more constrained your perspective is on the "layout" the more realistic it's going to look. It's definitely going to look odd when there's a train mixed into the scene, but it's definitely doable to create a layout picture that appears to be 3d from one...
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    Redo on my Chinese railroad layout

    I've been rather busy with school, but now that I've graduated, I'm working on this again. I've found what appears to be a great method of controlling the turnouts from below here, https://1fatgmc.com/RailRoad/Servo%20Control/Servo%20Control-Index.html . It looks rather cool and like something...



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