0031 T Gauge: ballasts, soldering & train detection

Рет қаралды 2,730

7 ай бұрын

I've been trying different approaches to ballasting T Gauge track - it took a while to find materials and an approach that I think looks good enough - most of this video is about those experiments.
In my previous T Gauge video I had trouble soldering wires to the stainless steel rails - this time I try the acidic flux and solder that contains silver, to see if that solves the issues.
As a bonus I try out some infrared proximity sensors that I bought a while ago for automatic train detection.
Links to things I bought and mention in the video:
White grout: www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...
Gloves: www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09ZMPZLKG
Plaster of Paris 2.5kg: www.hobbycraft.co.uk/plaster-...
Manhattan grey tile grout: www.screwfix.com/p/mapei-ultr...
Aggressive flux: www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CJMDX33...
Solder with silver: www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08CRP4PYM
Soldering iron: www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...
5 infrared proximity sensors: www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...
Raspberry Pi Pico with headers: thepihut.com/products/raspber...
Current sensors: www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...

Пікірлер: 31

@iansngauge 7 ай бұрын

Hi Jonathan! Some great experiments here! I'm particularly interested to see how the infrared sensors work out! I was going to use current sensors to detect block occupancy, but that means more wires soldered to the track! An independent means of detecting passing rolling stock appeals to me - as, of course does writing code to manage it all! Thanks for the ideas! Oh, and 10/10 for the Christmas jumper! :) All the best, Ian.

@endoorrailway 7 ай бұрын

Hi Ian, thanks 🙂 Yes I was pleased with the infrared detector outcome. It ought to work just as well in N gauge - with the extra option of turning it 90 degrees to have both bulb and sensor pointing through one sleeper gap. The sensor info says it can detect as high as 25mm. Essentially it's a cheaper DIY approach to the similar Heathcote Electronics IR detector, but like you, I enjoy the programming part of it too 🙂 Lol thanks - it's pretty much a blanket with arms, so nice and snug as well as festive 🙂🎄

@Demun1649 6 ай бұрын

I buy ballast made from real stone. Works very well. Grout is dust, not tiny, little stones in different grades. And oversize signals would reduce the chances of a SPAD.

@endoorrailway 6 ай бұрын

Thanks for the info - stones would probably be nicer to work with - where do you find ones that are small enough? The tgauge.com ones say they're mineral, but I didn't like them. The dry grout powder is indeed dust-sized, but I think that can look right for 1:450 - the fact it's not the same material as the real thing doesn't matter - it's the resulting look that matters to me Lol, maybe on the real railway, but not on my Dawlish T Wall - the trains aren't going to be automated, just the signal changing to danger after the train passes, then back to clear after a set time

@Jarecian 6 ай бұрын

Interesting. My first instinct would be to use the finest sandpaper available, gluing that to the baseboard, and glue the track on top of it. Paint with an airbrush, then wipe off the rails? Just a thought.

@endoorrailway 6 ай бұрын

Thanks for the suggestion - I think perhaps that would look too flat for what I'm after - the sleepers have quite a bit of depth to them, so I think they need to be mostly embedded to look right, and the surface overall needs to be a little bit "wavy" to look like the real thing. Sprayed fine sandpaper may be a good option for some other surfaces though - thanks!

@WeyounLP 7 ай бұрын

Something you might wanna try are texture paints used in tabletop wargaming. They're basically a thick paint that dries into different kinds of groundtypes, like mud, rocky surfaces or even cracked earth. Look at AK interactive texture paints or Citadel technical paints. They're pretty robust and they're pretty consistent, but on a big ballasting operation probably somewhat expensive.

@endoorrailway 7 ай бұрын

Thanks for the idea - I've seen those kinds of paints used for other things before, but price very much puts me off. I'm not sure whether or not their textures would be fine enough either, but I haven't seen them in person, so they may well be. If other things fail I can get some samples to see how they go - thanks for the info :)

@foldionepapyrus3441 7 ай бұрын

@@endoorrailway having seen both T gauge and those paints (well some of them) in person I'd say they don't generally look scale enough to work for T. Though making a texture paint yourself with finer more T gauge grits and an acrylic medium may be a nice way to apply ballast at this scale - you can get mediums of various thickness to get that right surface tension. (My T-Gauge project got most of the way through the baseboard geometry and bulk terrain features but then went into the crate and haven't managed to come back out again yet - so I I've not got to this stage of finishing T).

@endoorrailway 7 ай бұрын

@foldionepapyrus3441 Thanks - that's good to know :)

@Nick-rz3dq 7 ай бұрын

Some kind of terrain paste like smart mud from VMS might work. Night shift uses a lot of these products on his dioramas that should give you a good idea of scale and texture. The other thing I’ve used for very fine scatter material is crushed up clay cat litter. It’s soft enough that you can use a mortar and pestle or probably a spice grinder and it seems to absorb a water PVA mix ok. It might need to be sieved for this application which could be tricky

@endoorrailway 7 ай бұрын

Thanks for the suggestions, I certainly wouldn't have thought of any kind of cat litter!

@thegrowler-blackwoodngauge 7 ай бұрын

Very interesting experiment on the ballast Jonathan. Have you considered crushing N gauge ballast ? Cheers Euan

@endoorrailway 7 ай бұрын

Hi Euan, no I hadn't considered that - depending on how easily it breaks that could be a good way to go, though I think N gauge ballast is still granite, so it might put up a fight! I'd have to get some kind of grinding equipment though. Thanks for the suggestion :)

@andrewhedrick1612 4 ай бұрын

have you tried baking soda and superglue? i use it for dirt at a larger scale so may work as gravel at this scale

@endoorrailway 4 ай бұрын

No, that's not one I've tried, but sounds like a reasonable option - I'll have to see if there's any in the cupboard - thanks!

@AegisPupus 7 ай бұрын

Try spraying 60 or even 90% isopropyl alcohol on the grout.

@endoorrailway 7 ай бұрын

I didn't think of that - thanks - I'll have to add isopropyl alcohol to my to-buy-to-try list!

@gillespage5489 7 ай бұрын

@@endoorrailway If the point is to get passed the surface tension problem, I would definitely try that... maybe soapy water too..

@foldionepapyrus3441 7 ай бұрын

If you really want to get scale grit size it will look too smooth for our puny human vision, and so won't be worth it anyway - a little bit oversize will sell the effect best. Though as a source of fine grits look at lapping grits - you can buy bottles of grit in varied sizes with even the biggest being pretty darn tiny.

@endoorrailway 7 ай бұрын

It'll certainly be difficult to see in great detail, but if you think about photos or in-person views of the full-size railway you can see the stones and their size compared to the tracks from quite a long way off. But I agree - if they end up a bit over-scale it won't matter - I'm just seeing what I can achieve without extreme faff :) Thanks for the tip about lapping grit!

@gentleclash 7 ай бұрын

I have no idea what I'm watching lol I think you are making mini rail model to look realistic?! To replicate gravel on mini scale, i would mix sand water and glue in some specific ratio depending on grain size of sand and the texture required.

@endoorrailway 7 ай бұрын

Yes sorry I probably should have given a little introduction! This follows on from some previous videos where I explained more - it's for a railway at a scale of 1:450, so it's very small, but I'd like the ballast around the track to look as realistic as I can achieve without too much effort. Thanks for the suggestion - sand's a reasonable idea, but I've struggled to find some fine enough for N gauge (scale 1:148), so I didn't consider it for this. I've wondered about creating some chalk dust to mix into paint, but even if it works I think it could be a long process to get enough of it.

@PeckhamHall 7 ай бұрын

Just use saw dust with PVA and plonk it on.

@endoorrailway 7 ай бұрын

Thanks for the suggestion. I think sawdust might be too large in T gauge and lots of the bits won't necessarily be as sphere-ish as ballast, but I've wondered about doing something similar with chalk dust - it just seems likely to be a lot of effort to get the necessary quantities.

@PeckhamHall 7 ай бұрын

@endoorrailway sugar, flour, chalk try it all, but maybe lay the track on 2 sheets of kitchen roll 3X the width of the track to wick the glue from the bottom, icing sugar or sugar or and blend of both with water glue and paint and soap and bleach would be probably good maybe.

@endoorrailway 7 ай бұрын

Thanks for those suggestions - maybe my ballasting experiments aren't over yet after all! 🙂

@Demun1649 6 ай бұрын

Why didn't you wear a mask?

@endoorrailway 6 ай бұрын

I didn't say whether or not I was wearing a mask, but you've guessed correctly! I wasn't working with this in a way that made it throw up dust - working with small quantities and very gently moving it with the brush, so I didn't consider a mask necessary

@Demun1649 6 ай бұрын

@@endoorrailway I wear a mask at all times when sanding, spraying, even acrylics, and especially with dust, or when making realistic T trees. As an ex-paramedic, I've seen many cases where a mask would have worked to keep the ambulance away. Just imagine the mask is like an apple. Keeps teachers, and paramedics away. 😜😜🤪

@endoorrailway 6 ай бұрын

That's worth bearing in mind, thanks - it's likely to be all the more necessary if I proceed as planned because I'll probably need to sieve it on