The Carolina Sandhills Lines in HO Scale

[Chris333]

Hope you like it! 

[dmidkiff]

I used the same AR&M ballast on my last layout, although the n scale version.  Just a heads up, the color can differ between bags, even with the same name, I found that out after I had already glued some down. I’d suggest getting a few bags and mixing them all together before going all the way with the rest of the ballast.

Doug

[davefoxx]

I bought two bags, so that sounds like a good idea.  Thanks, Doug.

DFF

[davefoxx]

Just messing around in a small area for paint, ballast, and roadway techniques:



DFF

[Vince P]

Hey Dave long time no here from days at that n scale site.  See you've also switched to HO also.

Looking good so far Dave any updates on this one.

Vince P

[wm3798]

I'm modeling a glacier, and it's moving faster than this thread...

[Jbub]

Dave is acting as two attorneys at the moment. I can't imagine his case load and just trying to keep everything straight.

[Vince P]

Dave is acting as two attorneys at the moment. I can't imagine his case load and just trying to keep everything straight.

.

Gotcha thanks hope things work out.

[Point353]

Dave is acting as two attorneys at the moment.

As in a hybrid of Perry Mason and Ben Matlock or Gomez Addams and Saul Goodman?

[davefoxx]

Hi, guys!  Thanks for the interest.  Yes, I am covering for two other attorneys that left our firm one month ago, so I'm actually doing the work of three lawyers at present. 

The snail's pace is partially because of work, but also because I'm sort of at a funk with the layout.  I've reached some steps that I can't procrastinate anymore without preventing the layout from reaching its full operational potential.  For example, here are some issues:

1) The wood trestle over the SBD line needs to be constructed to reach an unbuilt staging yard for the ex-Southern Ry. line.
2) Said staging yard.  I need to decide on the constuction method of a transfer table to get the power around cuts of cars for a runaround.  The length of this yard is severely cramped in length.
3) Structures.
4) Ballasting (enough said).
5) Other scenery, including static grass and trees.  I haven't decided what I'm going to do with the trees, because Super Trees work better in N scale than they do in HO.  But, I have a couple of boxes of Super Trees and may just suck it up.  We'll see.  I do know that I want to model springtime with lots of green foliage and flowering plants.  You don't see modeled that often.  Remember, I'm modeling the lush Southeast.
6) Lighting.  I bought several LED fixtures a few months ago, and I would like to correct the lighting in the layout room.  However, go to No. 7 below.
7) I would also like to add finished walls and perhaps a drop ceiling in the layout room.  Money and time really prohibit this, though, and it's hard to work on the layout with this issue looming over me.

So, I really just need inspiration to get back into the layout room.   The trains haven't turned wheels in weeks, except that about a week ago, I discovered the lack of use had allowed my ESU handheld controller's battery to drain.  I did plug the layout in to charge that back up.  I'm not sure how long it takes to drain the controller's battery, but that's inconvenient.

DFF

[Jbub]

The trains haven't turned wheels in weeks, except that about a week ago, I discovered the lack of use had allowed my ESU handheld controller's battery to drain.  I did plug the layout in to charge that back up.  I'm not sure how long it takes to drain the controller's battery, but that's inconvenient.

DFF

IIRC the remote has a stand by setting and an off setting. The default is to stand by and when you think you're turning it off it actually is just going into stand by which still drains the battery fairly quickly,  like over night. I'm sure there's some literature about it on the website.

[davefoxx]

IIRC the remote has a stand by setting and an off setting. The default is to stand by and when you think you're turning it off it actually is just going into stand by which still drains the battery fairly quickly,  like over night. I'm sure there's some literature about it on the website.

You are correct, and I do turn it off when it's not being used.  It's still draining the battery in a few weeks, though.

DFF

[Vince P]

Good to hear from you D.

So your like the blue man band everywhere & nowhere all at once.

[Carolina Northern]

You are correct, and I do turn it off when it's not being used.  It's still draining the battery in a few weeks, though.

DFF

Dave,

If it's any help, you can charge/keep charged the Mobile II on any USB charger or port on a computer. It doesn't need to be plugged into the Command Station.
I'm enjoying mine, the only drawback I see is it is sometimes kind of slow - needs a faster processor.

Don

[Jbub]

You are correct, and I do turn it off when it's not being used.  It's still draining the battery in a few weeks, though.

DFF

Hmm, parasite draw isn't uncommon but to drain a fully charged battery in a couple weeks... Either it's a crappy electrical design or the battery doesn't have a lot of capacity. I have a Samsung note 4 that I use as a throttle. Admittedly it has a large capacity battery but I've gone several months with it turned off and when i turned it back on it still had over 80% battery.