October 17
Tonight I am just reading a bit on the Internet. Not really doing anything. But check out this Swedish homepage: http://jorgenedgar.se/kurser/x10/start.html. He makes locomotives etc. by order. And he has made a lot for himself. Among it pretty much any Danish diesel locomotive in scale N. And he makes them out of plastic and cardboard. I guess he spends a lot of time on each locomotive…
October 22
There is not going to be much model train this weekend. The goods I have ordered from NiceLED for mounting interior light in the Lima B wagons have not arrived. I suppose they are on vacation.
But I am reading (and writing) a bit on the Internet. Right now, I am reading niels-modeltog.dk and how he has built Svenstrup Station out of Heljan brick wall and roof plastic card and Auhagen details. I suppose the result is nicer than it will be, of one builds out of cardboard, where the contours in walls and roof are non-existent or wrong.
The plastic card can be ordered from Heljans homepage (delivery 85 kroner). Windows are another problem. I wonder if one should still make them out of cardboard? Or can I find some made from plastic? Locdok seem to have a good selection of windows, gutters etc. from Auhagen. But naturally that is German, which is a different style than Danish.
I am not sure how he manages to make corners, window openings as nice looking as is the case.
See also Sydvestjysk modelbaneklub from Ølgod. They have made their own cardboard houses. They have made some out of kits from Epokemodeller and they have been modifying and building Faller plastic kits.
Some day, I want to build houses from Spøttrup – the station (see this film from Spøttrup lokalhistorisk arkiv), Nymølle Teglværk (Sydvestjysk Modelbaneklub have been building something similar, a chimney is available from Faller), maybe Spøttrup Borg?
October 23
From time to time, I can act fast. So now I have ordered Faller 130507, which is a plastic kit for 2 German houses, which have to be painted to look Danish.
And the plan is to buy a bit of Heljan brick plastic card at Hobbymessen in Rødovre in two weeks. It seems a bit stupid to pay 85 kroner for delivery of a couple of cards priced at 75 kroner. Maybe I could get my local model train dealer to obtain them. But right now, it does not seem that anybody nearby keep them in stock
I.e. I will stick to my plan of building out of cardboard for concrete buildings, but brick buildings will be made out of plastic. Maybe I will do everything in plastic when it comes to it.
October 24
I was at Togdillen in Vanløse after work to buy a couple of pølsevogne (a very Danish thing) and a bit more. They have a lot of stuff that cannot be found in their web shop. For example a small selection of wood strips, brass pipes etc. And a larger selection of (very thin – 0,5 mm) profile plastic sheets, for pavement, steel roof etc.
They did not have any Heljan brick wall sheets. And I couldn’t immediately find any standard plastic sheets either. But they probably have them anyway, for I saw an Evergreen display like the one below. And I have read here, that Evergreen is the best there is:
Evergreen sheets and profiles can also be bought in the Internet in Denmark at På Sporet. However, they charge 100 kroner for delivery.
Togdillen has a lot of stuff that is no longer being produced – such as the “pølsevogne”. And they also produce some nice things themselves. For example a lot of houses from Korsbæk / Matador (a very popular TV show from the 80’ies). And they still have a few IC3 trains, that they have produced out of Heljan parts.
November 5 – Hobbymesse etc.
I was at Hobbymesse in Rødovrehallen today. It was mostly a shopping trip, where I bought the above mentioned kit from Faller with 2 houses.
Besides, I bought some plastic sheets, that are not Evergreen, but something cheaper from Witzel Hobby. We will have to see if they are any good. Otherwise I found out that Kystbanen in Charlottenlund is having he entire selection from Evergreen.
I bought the Heljan brick wall at RC Kongen, who shares address with Heljan, but is selling the products cheaper and with cheaper delivery.
I succeeded in talking with somebody from Risløv Hobby about airbrush. It is not to be used indoor, unless one has an effective suction system / painting cabin, since a fine fog of paint is spread several meters away.
In the afternoon, I was at a postage stamp exhibition in Birkerød. There I saw the 3modul.dk club with a big model train layout. I had a good chat with one of the members, which made me consider joining the club (100 kroner per year).
But more importantly, he teached me how to mount 4 LEDs in a car: Connect all 4 in series and connect them directly to a 5V power supply, such as a USB charger.
And there are two possibilities:
Either the car is equipped with head and tail lamps with “real glass”, where the LEDs can be placed behind the glass.
Or (and that is almost simpler) drill a 1 mm hole and use one of the very tiny LEDs that are bought with copper wires already attached (they are smaller than the 1 mm hole). The LED is simply put into the hole (from the inside) and attached with a drop of transparent glue that covers both the LED and the hole. The glue he uses is Micro Kristal Clear, which can be obtained from (among others) Togdillen.
He also thought that the cheapest place to buy the LEDs is at ledbaron.de. Web shop: http://stores.ebay.de/ledbaron I can see that they also has the very thin wire as well as tiny connectors. Or one can search for “LED 0402” at mouser.com.
November 17
I have just seen a strip cutter from Faller, model 907004, for not a whole lot of money here.
Beside that absolutely nothing is going on from my side. I am way to busy at work etc.
November 24
I have sold my MR tog, even though it had become quite nice and well-working with thin wires to connect the two wagons. I cleaned the wheels, lubricated the train using fat from Trix and attached new rubber “tires”. But of course, it is still a Lima train made 100% out of plastic, so I did not get that much money from it.
I hope the new owner will be happy for the train. And then I might buy a new MR/MRD train when Mck starts producing them as promised.
Besides I am “looking at” wood for my new baseframe. And I have been printing the layout in 1:1 so that I can start the build. I have not yet ordered track etc. But I plan to have the wood available so that I can start building during Christmas.