Black Hawk & Ironwood - Hon30 Mini Southwest Layout

[timwatson]

Looks like a good opportunity to Hand Lay some turnouts. 

Been awhile since I have gotten to work on this lil guy.

I ended up doing just that I created a 3d printed turnout template for no 2.5 turnout. I have unsoldered the old track and am moving in the new turnouts.
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[Chris333]

Haha RIP FastTracks.

[timwatson]

I finally made some new progress on the Blackhawk nothing spectacular but definitely necessary. Wiring! Today I got the feeder installed and bundled up.

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I used bamboo skewers after I drilled into the base foam. I tape the wires to the skewers from the bottom and fish them through.

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The skewers ready to have wires taped.

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Wires taped ready to be pulled.

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The cool thing is leave the skewers on and taped while you clean the wires at the bottom and they won’t pull backed down through the hole. Ask me how I learned this one!

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How do most people connect power to a small layout? I have a few options. Just wondered if there was a simple elegant one?

[Chris333]

My power jack is on the right
https://photos.app.goo.gl/RHByez7wXUWVA21Z6
https://photos.app.goo.gl/TzCeNtpHXeLzVDseA

[timwatson]

What kind of connector is that?

[Chris333]

5.5x2.1mm jack


https://www.amazon.com/VizGiz-Connector-5-5x2-1mm-Terminal-Replacement/dp/B07MPS3QD8

[timwatson]

Thanks Chris that looks like it will work.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I really dig this!!

[timwatson]

Thanks Ed, wiring is probably my least favorite part so getting here is a pretty big to me deal. So many feeders for such a tiny model railroad. Next up is wiring the hand laid switches.

[timwatson]

@Dave V had mentioned the small wheelbase locos and the non-powered frogs might be an issue on the Peco track. I was concerned about the same thing. So I did a quick test and made a video on whether that was the case. Here it is.

I made a 12mm wheelbase loco and tested on both nscale and OO9 turnouts. As you can see other than the drop-down it’s got no stall issues. I was pretty surprised. I hope it helps.

p.s. Pls excuse the giant finger it stalls sometimes.

Tim

[Dave V]

Thanks, Tim!

That's useful stuff! FWIW, that simplifies wiring in terms of passing sidings.

[Dave V]

@timwatson , question:

In your video I see three turnouts. One appears to be a Peco HOn30 insulated turnout, one a modified Atlas N gauge turnout, and one a powered-frog Peco HOn30 turnout. The insulated turnout is the one that confuses me. The ties appear to be perpendicular to the straight route rails all the way to the end (North American style), but the Peco "set track" OO9 turnouts I see online with insulated frogs have ties that are "crooked" with respect to the straight route:

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Which turnout is the insulated frog one?

[Chris333]

Looks like one of these:
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1541/1303/files/ST-405_406_plan_sheet.pdf?v=1634036408

[Dave V]

Looks like one of these:
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1541/1303/files/ST-405_406_plan_sheet.pdf?v=1634036408

@Chris333 , if you look at your own link closely, you'll see it's identically the same turnout I shared...but the longer I stare at the video, the more I can see that the ties are "crooked" with respect to the frog. I guess it's not as noticeable from the side...which is good to know.

[Chris333]

I've done ties like that before. It gets the people talking