This week we launched a new series of videos called the After Hours Video Series. This series will feature a collection of videos shot in an informal relaxed manner highlighting various modeling projects that I am working on. Since producing fully edited video is a time consuming process, these videos are only lightly edited, and not narrated, simply watch the video and take from them what you will. I think these will be self explanatory, informative and should provide some helpful tips, especially those covering track building with Fast Tracks tools.
Nn3 Code 55 #6 turnout built in this video series
First up in the series is construction on an Nn3 #6 code 55 turnout. I decided to tackle this as we have not yet created any videos dealing with building trackwork in the smaller scales. The process is pretty much the same as HO scale and larger, but a bit more care and patience is needed to work with smaller parts.
I shot this last Saturday evening while listening to the St. Patrick’s day edition of Randy’s Vinyl Tap, so lots of catchy Irish music playing in the background. Beer was consumed.
The build is in 5 parts, all included below. Watch them in order, and in HD if you can. They are all shot with a HD camera and now that YouTube can stream HD video, the quality is far better then what could previously be shown. If the video stalls, simply pause the video for a few minutes, this will allow it to buffer ahead a bit and will play smoothly after that. Full screen is even better.
Part 1
Prepping and inserting PC board ties
Forming guard rails
Filing frog points using the PointForm tool
Pre-building frog points (to be installed later)
Part 2
Forming stock rails using the StockAid tool
Soldering both stock rails in place
Forming switch point using a PointForm tool
Soldering curved switch point/closure rail in place
Part 3
Preparing and installing straight switch point/closure rail
Soldering guard rails in place
Soldering frog point in place
Tweaking frog point
Filing and sanding top of frog points
Part 4
Removing turnout from fixture
Final soldering of switch points to throwbar
Filing and fitting switch points
Cleaning turnout with wire brush to remove traces of flux residue
Gluing completed turnout to laser cut QuickSticks
Breaking away QuickSticks
Dressing ends of wood ties to remove QuickSticks tabs
Part 5
Clamping completed turnout in vise
Cutting electrical isolation gaps in rail with jewelers saw
Deburring rail gaps with sharp edge file
Drilling throwbar for switch machine wire
Testing completed turnout with Nn3 boxcar
Feel free to embed or distribute these videos.
Feedback always welcome.
-T.
About the Author:
I'm your host, Tim Warris, a product developer in Port Dover, Ontario. Since March of 2007 I have been documenting the construction of the former CNJ Bronx Terminal in HO scale. For my day job, I design track building tools for Fast Tracks, a small company I own and operate. Fast Tracks makes it fast and easy to hand lay your own trackwork. Stop by our website to learn more!
Continuing with my latest obsession of video, I dug up a real oldie.
My last go-around with video was around 1993 when we bought our first video camera. Like everyone, everything we did was recorded for about 2 years until the thrill wore off. I got tired of trying to edit the video using 2 VCR’s, which inevitably took a whole day end left me with 3rd generation low quality video. Even with those limitations, I did make quite a few little documentary’s, usually having to do with building my former layout, the Port Kelsey.
The video above was one of those little documentary’s. I dug out the VCR and tapes yesterday and recorded them onto DVD’s so I could import and edit them on the computer. That sounds simple enough, but like everything related to video it had to be a 28 step ritual. Eventually I was able to get the video into a format that allowed me to edit the original video down from 45 minutes to a more reasonable 6 minutes. I am convinced that YouTube’s 10 minute video limitation will go a long way to getting people (like me) to edit videos down to a length that is watchable. One of the big issues with home movies is that they were always mind-numbingly too long! Really, just how much video of grandma’s parakeet can someone really take?
This video shows us (Vita and I) preparing my old Port Kelsey portable (HA!) layout to take to a train show in Ottawa. This was the first time I had ever done a train show. I was invited up to Ottawa by the show organizers and they had agreed to pay for me to rent a van to drive the layout there, which came to over $600!
A few years before this I had cut the layout in two to move it, and could never get it to line back up correctly, so in the weeks before this show I completely re-built the bottom of the layout to securely join it together into a single piece again. This added about 75 pounds of plywood to the layout. The video starts with a bit of me finishing off the rebuild with some paint.
Watch as we do a nail-biting balancing act to haul this 200lb behemoth out of our basement and maneuver it into the back of the van. Somehow, between my brother-in-law Anthony and myself we manage to get it out without any damage. After a 6 hour trip each way, and a two day show, it is returned home safely.
Hard to believe this was over 14 years ago, about 3 years before the layout appeared in Model Railroader.
-T.
About the Author:
I'm your host, Tim Warris, a product developer in Port Dover, Ontario. Since March of 2007 I have been documenting the construction of the former CNJ Bronx Terminal in HO scale. For my day job, I design track building tools for Fast Tracks, a small company I own and operate. Fast Tracks makes it fast and easy to hand lay your own trackwork. Stop by our website to learn more!
New Videos will be shot with a Sony SR-11 High Definition Camera.
After playing with a few video posts last week I decided to invest in a decent video camera. I like using video, its much quicker to make a video than it is to set up and shoot individual photos. While video won’t replace photos for everything, some projects, like building trackwork, are well served with a bit of video.
The videos I posted last week lacks a bit in quality. Details are hard to make out at the resolution from the camera I was using, and uploading the video to YouTube only made this worse.
The camera I was using is about 3 years old. When we bought it we thought digital video was more advanced than it really was. While it is called a digital video camera, it still used magnetic tape, which is digitized when copied to a computer with software. This is nice for editing, but the quality just wasn’t there, so the camera really didn’t get used all that much.
So we moved up to a High Definition (HD) camera. Things have really advanced in the last few years to say the least! This camera has a built in 60gig hard drive, no tape. So the video all stays digital. It records in full HD so there is no lost detail. Combined with YouTube now streaming HD video and the results are great!
The video above is a short test shot done with the new camera. Its not much on content, just a short pan of the wrong engine sitting on some of the Terminal trackwork and a few Jordan Miniatures vehicles. When you watch it be sure to click on the little HD button to ensure it is feeding the high definition version. For a real treat, watch it full screen.
-T.
About the Author:
I'm your host, Tim Warris, a product developer in Port Dover, Ontario. Since March of 2007 I have been documenting the construction of the former CNJ Bronx Terminal in HO scale. For my day job, I design track building tools for Fast Tracks, a small company I own and operate. Fast Tracks makes it fast and easy to hand lay your own trackwork. Stop by our website to learn more!
