Sunday 22 December 2013

2013 in review, what's planned for 2014


Well It’s come to the end of another year so I thought I’ll give a review of the year of what’s happen and what’s planed for 2014.
2013 has been very busy outside of Bendigo, a house move, working lots of days and the birth of our daughter, time sure has disappeared. With all that happing not much was done on Bendigo. I was hoping to have most of the rail laid by now. However many parts have been design for etching which took a lot time. I had to spend a lot of time making up parts for the future to fill up the minimum A4 sheet needed for the etching house. Once that was done I them made the decision to do the etching myself. I’ve also have decided that some of the etch parts I will now get 3D printed, which will be better with detail and strength. So it was a wasted few months, but many things were learnt so there is still a positive to it.
Doing my own etching has been a great learning process. The first run didn’t quite work out, but I was still very happy with the result.  I’m now looking at a new etching solution that does not need to be heated. I’m in the process of getting these acids.  Having a non heated solution will be a lot easier to use and I will be able to build a simple etching tank.
What’s for 2014
The first thing for 2014 will be the construction of my new modelling desk.  This will be a purpose built desk that will give me plenty of room to work on all my projects. I normally have a few projects on the go at once, usually a loco, rolling stock, a building and track work. So having set areas of space is important.  The desk is 1800mm long by 600mm wide and also 600mm high.  The angle bit is 1000mm long and has the same height and width.  I have also made a top self to run a bit of track for programming loco and speed testing.  The middle tower will hold power packs, soldering iron and a Pr3 interface. The two boxes below will hold draws, the one on the left will hold a mitre size and other tools. The one on the right will be for storage of models that are drying. The desk will have three many sections from left to right, Machining, Assembly, and Holding. I look forward to getting this done as I will be able to unpack all my train stuff and I won’t need to use the old small round table.
Click to make bigger
 


Once the desk is done I planned to get right into rail laying. I hopefully my etching skills will be ready and my 3d parts as well. I plan to start with the straight track and then moving onto the turnouts. I will also be starting work on the brick/stone road bridge as this needs to be done so i can get the landscape heights right.
2013 had many learning curves, slow progress on the layout but I’m hoping in 2014 will show the fruits of 2013. I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy new year.