While I haven't been building much with regards to module 1 just yet, I have started various experiments and tests. Primarily of course the first diorama, which is really helping me get the hang of building scenery. It also gives me a good idea of the investments I need to make to get all the tools I need/want in order to make good looking landscapes.

Another thing I'm experimenting with, is various ways of switching turnouts. Quite often the standard solenoid version isn't very reliable. I'm not sure how reliable Tomix is with their solenoid drives, but I don't really feel like finding out. Also, the clicking sound gets old fast. So, I've ordered various turnout motors and a bit of universal electronics that allows you to use RC servo's to switch turnouts. I'll be testing them and posting my findings over the next few weeks. In all honesty though, right now the Tortoise by Circuitron looks the most robust of the lot, and it's been proven time and time again to be VERY reliable.

Lastly, I really want some interesting lighting going on in my modules. For that I'll be adding a multitude of LED's to each and every building and god knows what else. Of course, I also wanted to be able to control all of it using the PC. At first I was just planning on getting some fairly affordable Uhlenbrock function decoders, the ones you usually build into cars and such. My reasoning was that I could put them inside a building and I'd have 4 seperate outputs available. It has plenty advantages really, but also some pretty big disadvantages. For example, the 4 outputs might not be enough for some buildings. Maximum amps per output might not be enough for say a big train station, and of course, they'll use up locomotive decoder addresses (although with so many addresses available, it's really not such a big deal.)

Anyway, purely accidentally I came across a series of circuit boards from Littfinski called "Light@Night". What this basically is, is an interface to the PC using an printer port, and on that interface you can plug in a circuit board with a lot of light outputs which each can be controlled seperately and with various effects. This of course seemed to be exactly what I was looking for, so I went ahead and ordered a startset kit. The kit came with an interface and cable, a basic light board with 40 outputs and a very basic version of the control software. With the control software you can set what each output on the light board should do, and you can combine various outputs in order to create large amounts of similar lights (station platform lighting for example.) With the complete version of the control software, you can also set various effects per output, such as simulating a gas lantern, a fluorescent light tube, warning lights, railroad crossing lights, blinking lights or even simulate a tv in a living room. You can also control external lights to simulate day and night cycles. The system is somewhat pricey to get started with, but there are a LOT of interesting options. More to come once I've started doing some tests.

That's really it for now. The diorama is slowly progressing, haven't had much time recently to work on it. Of course, I managed to mess up soldering the wires to the track, which is really rather ironic, since in my little diorama progress report, I did write that people should check the soldered connections and make sure they work. Ohwell ;)

Work has finally started on module 1. The wood is bought, and I've started sawing several pieces of it. It seems things are against me however, as it's very cold in the basement right now, and on top of that, the light down there died on me ;)

The trackplan of the module has changed slightly to allow for the main castle to be a bit bigger, no big changes, just the freight track has gotten a bit longer, and it's been placed further away from the 2 station tracks. I've also bought all the track required for module 2 already, and laid it out to test whether or not the trackplan is possible. It will be interesting to see, some of the slopes are really steep, and I'll have to do some testing whether or not the railbusses can get through there.

I've also started on the first of 3 or 4 diorama's. I'll keep a seperate progress/building report on that. Haven't gotten that far yet, but it's fun to work on and because it's so small, the task seems very doable.

Other than that, the first few pieces of my all brass and cast iron C62 kit have arrived, including the first set of wheels. The thing will be a monster once done. The diameter of the wheels is approximately 7cm. More info and pictures of all the parts will be coming soon, not sure when I'll start building though.

That's about it for now. Winter is coming up, so there might be some time for building. On the other hand, I bought a snowboard so I might either be out snowboarding or be inside unable to work on trains due to broken bodyparts ;)

Not much to say, I started designing a framework for the modules using Maya. I want to create a wooden frame that's sturdy, reasonable light, and most importantly, flexible with regards to placement. It should be possible to swap the legs out quite easily, so I can have legs of various heights. This allows me to set up the modules on for example normal height, kid's height or no legs at all when building them up on top of existing tables.

It's actually proving to be quite difficult to come up with something good though, I have some ideas, but when you think you've got the perfect solution, there's always something that's near impossible to do with a certain design. Biggest problem is really how to attach the legs, and make them height adjustable to make up for uneven floors.

More to follow...