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26/09/07: Still Going
Progress on Redhill has been slow, but at least in the right direction. Finishing off the road vehicle book, proof-readinging the baseboard book, articles for Hornby magazine, a week’s holiday and going to work do seem to have taken up far too much time of late!
The two 4’ x 2’ 4” boards in the centre have been cut down to four 2’ x 2’ 4” boards to make them easier to move single-handed. This now gives eight 2’ long boards running along the length of the layout. Amazingly it only took a small amount of juggling to get the junctions and points clear of the baseboard joins.
Numbering from left to right:
The roadway on board 1 is complete - this is just a loop with no fancy bits. As the entire length of roadway on this board will be hidden from view I have added a crash barrier all the way around to prevent any errant vehicles from impersonating a lemming. This high-tech solution is self-adhesive draught-excluder strip which has the advantages of being cheap, convenient and soft - so it shouldn't damage the vehicles.
Board 2 - roadway complete. The single road junction has been installed using a new type of actuator which is a big improvement on my previous type. I still use the disc under the road to align one of two guide wires but move it using a servo. This gives accurate, repeatable positioning without any thumps at the end of the travel. I believe that this will be a better long-term solution than the system that I was using. As you will probably realise, my long-term aim is to have a large measure of automatic control and the servo and control circuitry combination costs about the same as the cheap motor and control circuitry combo - plus it is easier and quicker to put together. The rear section of roadway will be hidden and so has had draught-excluder crash barriers installed. I am now tempted to revisit the front section and add a bus lay-by before the traffic lights. I think I will have to pend on that until I see how much space is left once the railway is in place.
Board 3 is currently having the servos fitted, after which there are about half-a-dozen hall effect switches to fit before it can be surfaced. This will be the major part of the junction with the traffic lights (the other part is on board 2). The hall effect switches will be used along with RFID readers to automate the junctions.
Board 4 is the approach to the traffic lights and bus station entrance. The guide wire has been laid but the groove has not yet been filled with plaster. Holes have been drilled for the junctions and hall effect switches.
Board 5 is the bus station itself. The grooves have been cut and the next step is to drill holes for the junctions and hall effect switches.
Board 6 is the approach to the roundabout and one-way street from under the railway. Again the grooves have been cut and the next step is to drill holes for the junctions and hall-effect switches. I have added a means for vehicles to dive between two buildings and disappear - they will probably be Royal Mail vans going to load at the post office.
Board 7 is the roundabout. The guide wires have been laid for quite a while and most of the grooves are filled. The two junction mechanisms that I had installed need to be replaced with new ones and the rest of the mechanisms installed.
Board 8 is more hidden roadway which will include the junctions to the, as yet unstarted, fiddle yard. The guide wires are laid and filled, but no junction mechanisms are installed.
Hopefully the roadway will be completed fairly quickly now that the necessary building blocks are in place. Once that is done I'll move on to the traffic lights, vehicle stops, railway, buildings, fiddle yard, .....
I have decided to go for the DCCar remote control system for the vehicles - this not only gives IR braking/collision avoidance but also allows control of lights, indicators and even speed. I had intended designing my own system that did much the same - but as someone else has done all the hard work I'll happily take advantage. Currently the documentation is in German but, with the agreement of Claus Ichmann, DCCar’s creator, I am working on English translations both for my own benefit and to make the technology accessible to those of us whose linguistic skills are limited to “Ein bier, bitte”.