Having a Crack!

So I have purchased one of those static grass applicators from eBay.....

Below are the results.  The guy I purchased it from was Aussie Scenics, it was $40 with free post.  It uses 2 D cell batteries which makes it very portable.  It was easy to use and it gave me a couple of tickles when I wasn't paying atttention.  Oh and read the instructions, because when it says to short the dispenser with the ground pin after use, do so cause the shit of a thing strores a pretty good charge, even when the batteries are removed!

 The area near the coal stage.

 Around Boggabilla station and platform.

The yellow and red clumps are flowers/weeds from Noch.  They are pre made all you need to do is glue them down.

 The other side of the station.

 The longer grass clumps are also from Noch.

An overall view.  I think I might do it again with a dryer and longer grass to immitae spinifex grass with a green undergrowth.

Light up!

After reading Darren's Christmas post on his problems with his DCC shorting when the trains are travelling through his points when they are thrown in the wrong direction. I thought I would show my application of light bulbs which are wired in series with the frog that I found on the Allen Gartnier Web site for DCC.

The Tortoise machine showing the light bulb wired onto the common terminal of the PCB.  The other side of the bulb will be connected to the Dropper for the frog.  The Red and Black wires you see are the power to the Tortoise motor.  Not shown is the wiring to the N/O and N/C contacts.  They will go on the the 2 terminals between the Red wire and the light bulb black wire.

Here you see the Tortoise and light bulb in place.

The blue arrows are pointing to the common wire from the Tortoise to the frog.

With the point in the correct direction there is no light and the train works fine.

With the point thrown in the wrong direction the bulb glows, yet you see the headlight still working on the CPH.  This means that the DCC has not gone out on a fault and the train will continue through the point.  Unless it derails!

The bulb in place, soldered to the dropper from the frog section of the point.

A dodgy schematic to show the connections.