Backdrop ideas.

[LV LOU]

 Why not 1/8 Masonite? Not that heavy,VERY durable,just put a few screws into the side of the door,easily removable.I use it for a 13' high divider up the middle of my island..

[PAL_Houston]

Why not 1/8 Masonite? Not that heavy,VERY durable,just put a few screws into the side of the door,easily removable.I use it for a 13' high divider up the middle of my island..

+1.  And if you are nice to them down at your big-box, they will slice it into strips for you -- of widths of your choosing, and  you will get a nice, straight cuts too.  Worst case is they charge you for an extra cut or 2.

[pnolan48]

Source for sheet styrene: US Plastics Corp. They are on the web.

They sell 40 x 72 sheets in many thicknesses, and generally deliver in a few days. Important Note: Instruct them to roll the sheets up for UPS delivery. Shipped flat is exorbitant; shipped rolled is inexpensive. But I think you have to tell them to roll it. ANd I don't know if they have a minimum quantity--I buy 20-40 sheets at a time.

I get most of my styrene in 48 x 96 sheets from a local supplier. Any business that supplies sign shops should have it.

Second note: the 40 x72 is a little easier to handle when cutting into the 13" wide strips that I use.

[LV LOU]

+1.  And if you are nice to them down at your big-box, they will slice it into strips for you -- of widths of your choosing, and  you will get a nice, straight cuts too.  Worst case is they charge you for an extra cut or 2.

Actually Paul,that's EXACTLY how I got it home!! Lowe's didn't charge me to cut it,and they do razor straight cuts..Just ask.And bye the way,Masonite is DIRT cheap..Even now,I think a 4' X 8' X 1/8" sheet is less than ten bucks..I build EVERYTHING out of it,train showcases,control panels,ETC.. I just built the box for this power monitor,and most of the new housing for my tranformers from it,and the cases..

[Carolina Northern]

Lou,

I thought I was the only one still using Troller packs.
Love those things.

[davefoxx]

Why not 1/8 Masonite? Not that heavy,VERY durable,just put a few screws into the side of the door,easily removable.I use it for a 13' high divider up the middle of my island..

I recommend Masonite as a backdrop as well, except that when I use Masonite (e.g., for fascia), I tend to use the 3/16" thick Masonite because it's a little beefier.  Depending on height, it would likely be self-supporting (especially if there's a slight curve to the backdrop), and, as most of us know, it's very smooth and takes paint well.

DFF

[LV LOU]

Lou,

I thought I was the only one still using Troller packs.
Love those things.

I've been using a Troller walk around for decades,never had a problem.Actually,I just bought these on Ebay.My MRC packs I had never had enough power.I have a lot of nice old stuff,some of my lashups would trip the MRC after a few minutes..
  Yeah,everybody,I KNOW,these things will burn up my locomotives,yada,yada yada,kid,you'll shoot you eye out,well,so far,three months,not a single problem..And actually,short of some REALLY old locomotives that were junk when they  were new,I've never actually burned up a motor in 50 years,and I still have an MRC Tripack with pulse I used for ten years...

[peteski]

It would take a lot of voltage to arc trough the insulation in the armature winding (in a simple DC loco with no electronics).  Probably more than 50 volts!

[LV LOU]

 Pete,these are 2.5 amps per side,so those two packs put out ten amps.Word has it,if a locomotive shorts on a switchpoint,stalls from a mechanical problem,or derails unatended,the earth shifts on it's axis..

[peteski]

Pete,these are 2.5 amps per side,so those two packs put out ten amps.Word has it,if a locomotive shorts on a switchpoint,stalls from a mechanical problem,or derails unatended,the earth shifts on it's axis..

I'm not familiar with these throttles, other than what I recently read somewhere (on this forum), where someone stated that these might generate dangerously high voltage spikes which can burn out N scale motors.  That really didn't make sense, but I had no additional info.

But if it is high amperage then I agree that a short across the locomotive trucks could cause some damage (to the model, not to the motor).  Especially if they do not have a fast-acting  circuit breaker.

[LV LOU]

I shorted them to check the breakers,they work fine.I just put an old Atlas Rivarossi E8 and an Atlas/Riv FM together from parts I had,ran them for HOURS to break them in,after,they were barely warm..And I can finally run a lot of my old stuff that used to just sit on the shelf.I have some really nice old Arnold stuff,all with cut flanges,custom paint,couldn't even run two together with the MRC packs,now,I can run my ABA FA2's all day if I feel like it..I had 30-40 locomotives I almost never ran because the pack would trip..

[peteski]

I shorted them to check the breakers,they work fine.I just put an old Atlas Rivarossi E8 and an Atlas/Riv FM together from parts I had,ran them for HOURS to break them in,after,they were barely warm..And I can finally run a lot of my old stuff that used to just sit on the shelf.I have some really nice old Arnold stuff,all with cut flanges,custom paint,couldn't even run two together with the MRC packs,now,I can run my ABA FA2's all day if I feel like it..I had 30-40 locomotives I almost never ran because the pack would trip..

Lou,
Even is a power pack was capable of putting out 40V to the track, if you ran your N scale trains with the throttle turned up to less than 12V, that should result in your trains not running any warmer than with any other throttle supplying only up to 12V.  Even if the throttle is capable or higher voltages and amperages, it will only supply as much as the loco's motor will consume.

But I'm surprised at your problems with the MRC units. Most N scale locos (even the vintage Arnold or Minitrix) should never consume more than 300-400mA at the maximum voltage of 12V.  Unless the mechanism is seriously binding. But if the loco consumed that much current, the tiny N scale motor would overhead and smoke!  AFAIK, all MRC throttles are capable of supplying at least 500mA.  If they didn't, how could the H0 modelers use them (H0 models use motors which are larger, and more current-hungry than N).

[LV LOU]

If you notice,that power monitor I built monitors amps.The 3-4 unit lashups I run DO NOT use more than 300 to 500 MA,yet,the MRC Dualpacks I had would kick after several minutes,especially with any Arnold locos.These locomotives run like watches,the packs just didn't have enough power..Even some 4 unit Atlas loco  lashups would kick after a half hour.

[OHCR 4218]

I once had a truck melt on an atlas B40-8 thanks to an Aristocraft we use on our N-Trak layout and a little help from a visitor at the fair. We now have something that beeps when the layout shorts.

[LV LOU]

 I tested these packs with a rotary variable resistor I have,and an amp meter.It wasn't sensitive enough to do 2.5 amps,but anything more than 3 or so,way less than a dead short,will kick these in 5 seconds or less.If I do get and problems in the future,I'll just go to fuses..As is,if I get five shorts a year,I'm having a bad time..