If Dan doesn’t mind me chiming in…..here’s a useful tip for those who worry about exposed holes when the plaster cloth has dried. I like to use Woodland Scenics Plaster Cloth Sheets (no.1193). I know that it’s a bit more expensive than the roll but the thirty pre-cut sheets makes shaping the surface of any layout a lot simpler. I’ve used this on small diorama projects. Using Woodland Scenics Foam Nails (no.1432) to hold the sheet in place, I would lay a dry sheet of plaster cloth to the surface that I wanted covered. Finally, I would use a spray bottle of warm water, apply water to the sheet and smooth out the surface with my finger or a small foam paint brush. This method greatly minimized any worry of exposed holes when the cloth dried.
One thing to try when a loco shorts right at the points. Some wheel flanges might be wide enough to bridge the teensy gap between rails right at the end of the frog. My 1860's Bachmann passenger cars would ALL short at this exact spot until I fixed it. So take some acrylic paint (some use nail polish) and just paint an extra millimeter or so beyond the frog, You're painting from the plastic onto the rail about 1mm. it is often enough to cure it. The way I diagnosed this was using a camera and filming very close up as I slowly pulled cars through the point and sure enough, spark was visible revealing the cause.
Another suggestion is to take an old credit card, cut it in half and slide it around the track to simulate a RR car truck. It should lay totally flat on the track with no wobble or air gaps going all around the layout. The problematic areas are changes in grade with curves. Don't use the 4 degree sloped risers as is. Like Dan said, use putty or plaster to build up/even out all the grade transitions into a more gradual rise/fall. Do the same thing everywhere there's a change of grade, track connections and especially with curves. Test, test and retest your track with all consists before you continue the build. We've all had track issues and it's critical to correct them early in the build phase. I would rate this as the #1 issue with the build. Using Atlas 36" flex track is also an option. It can eliminate quite a few connection points and you can stagger them.
If you do ballast the yard, maybe use another color or texture. Yards or notoriously messy and unkept. A lot of times you will see areas of oil and grease in the yard, especially around fueling or engine repair facilities. Sometimes, I will lightly airbrush the ballast and/or use a wash on it. Good questions that you answered.
Thanks Robert, that’s a great idea!! And I put the breaker back. I’m knew you’d yell at me if you found out I took it out. A moment of temporary insanity. Haha.
Hi Dan... love your channel! Thank you so much! Been watching for about 2 weeks now. Me and my wife are getting into this hobby and doing the "Grand Valley" layout. I have everything purchased (all being shipped as I write this) and pretty much going to follow in your steps. So that being said, I'm going with the NCE 25 Power Cab DCC Starter System controller. Been searching through all your videos trying to get your set-up as far as the electrical side of this. I have the Power Cab in my cart.. no idea what else I need. I'm keen to electrical related stuff, just don't know what I need. Can you give me your "list" of items I need that you have implemented in your electrical part of your set-up? Looks like you have it all down! Busses, looks like you have an amp booster, circuit breakers?..etc. Again, thank you for all your informative videos! My wife is really excited!! Subscribed!!
Hi, welcome to the channel! Thank you for all the kind words, I really appreciate it. The wiring is very, very simple. The NCE power cab starter kit will have everything you need. Basically, it’s just two wires to the rails, one on each side. The NCE will have a little PC board that you plug into, and they will give you a plug with wires to go to your track. To start off, you only need one or two feeds for your track. I started with one right in front of my station, but I added another one on the inside loop near the bridge. Later on, I added a third one in my yard. I usually just use wires soldered to rail joiners, that’s all it takes. The booster, busses, and circuit breakers and everything can come later on when you get used to the set up. I’m very excited to have you on board! I hope you send some pictures along the way of your build, and I will feature them on my videos. My friend, Bill was here yesterday and is giving us an update on his Grand Valley build. That video will be up on Saturday. Bill and his wife, Judy are doing it together, and they are very excited about it. Sounds like you and your wife are too! I’m so thrilled that my videos can be of some assistance to people. That’s the whole reason for the channel. Feel free to email me with any questions you might have along the way, and please take some pictures and send them our way! Have fun! -Dan
PS, the busses that you see under my bench are for the lights in some of the buildings, and some of the 12 V power going to the traffic, signals, etc. Woodland scenic has a very nice system called just plug, and that’s what we all pretty much use to light our buildings. it’s good to get the lights, so that you can wire your layout ahead of time, it will save time later, when you want to put lights in your buildings. But you have to know where you want everything to be, so you can run those wires. Look back at some of my videos, I talk about lighting the buildings and using the just plug system. It’s very simple, and is the best way to go versus hand wiring everything with power supplies. I have a 12 V power supply under my bench. Like I said, that powers some of the older non-woodland scenics items. -Dan
Hi, yes as long as you can get the 60° cross, and the 90° cross and all the smaller sections. Here is the updated track plan from Woodland Scenics. Thanks for watching. woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/images/instructionsNew/ST1483trackplan.pdf
Once again great video. So no matter the scale we can send photo's of our layout's, does not have to be HO scale? I'm in N Scale but really like your channel and just like seeing layouts no matter the scale when done well like yours. Your videos are always very fun to watch and give a lot of information that can be used in any scale. For instance if someone is building the N Scale Scenic Ridge kit, the track issues that can arise apply to all scales :) Can't wait till the next one. Maybe you can buy another Grand Valley kit and let us watch from scratch and connect the two of them :) Just kidding, or am I?
Thank you very much!! ❤️ Haha, I was just thinking about that last night, maybe starting a new one!?!? Hmmmmm. 🤔 Yes, send me those photos, I’d love to share them!! 👍🏼
@@DansGrandValley I sure hope so. If you announce it early enough, you could have a build party, with different people working on their HO Grand Valley kit's, or even maybe a few people would get the N Scale Scenic Ridge kit and build at the same time, or roughly, as sometimes life gets in the way of any hobby. I think most of use would like to see you build it again, and what changes you would make? You talked about an over and under somewhere IF you did it again, etc... Hope it happens. It would be fun to watch and really popular I think.
I use a bright boy most of the time, but I also have a Bachmann tanker car with a cleaning pad under it. I’ll def cover track cleaning in an upcoming video! Thank you Alex! 👍🏼 www.trainsetsonly.com/walthers-scenemaster-bright-boy-abrasive-track-cleaner.html
I use one of those long (24") paint mixing sticks used for 5 gallon paint buckets and saturate the end with WD40 Contact Cleaner and run it around the track. I have the same question if these cleaning cars really work especially for cleaning inside the hard to reach tunnels.
Really want to get this kit, but seems like everyone that has it also wants $150+ for shipping. The one on Amazon wants $300 for shipping alone. Any suggestions where to get one for reasonable shipping?
Check Tower Hobbies, when I bought mine I was lucky enough to find a code for free shipping. I’ll keep an eye out for deals and let you know. Also, some local hobby shops will carry it, but usually for a bit more than the online guys.
The box is 2 feet by 4 feet so it is pretty much always going to have sizable shipping. Maybe weigh that cost versus a road trip to a store that stocks it, if you can find one.
Hi Al, absolutely.! As long as you could make the smaller track sections work on the larger layout, I think it’s very possible. You can certainly get N scale tunnel portals, and a bridge and make them work with minimum modifications. Several people have asked me this question, but nobody has given feedback yet. So, if you do it, keep me updated please. Great question, thanks for watching.
