Post #8

 The big day hasn't come yet for laying the track but that hasn't stopped the collection of various items for it. One of the distracting things that seems to waste my time is going various internet site looking for items that may be of interest. Various Facebook sites and Ebay and Youtube seems to be sucking up the time.

I was on the Ebay site recently looking in the HO scale items for sale in Australia. You generally start on page 1 and maybe end the search around page 20, it is then you realise the latter objects will turn up the next day on page 5, so why am I wasting my time looking?

It has been a very long time since I had the traction bug and I guess that was my learning curve time, a first time for traction modelling and only being in my twenties I was certainly a novice to this type of modelling. But I was willing to give it a go.

The first 'new thing' I had to get my head around was how do I lay track? Wow you can't buy tram track, I am going to have to learn how to do that. Well all I can say is even if it didn't look pretty, it did work. Using the method of cutting shim brass and gluing it to the baseboard with Pliobond then hitting it with the soldering iron it stayed rock solid. Also the right of way was able to be ballasted and the brass strips magically disappeared.

So when I start again to lay track I hope I can make it better than the first efforts. You can see the track in the video in #Post 5.

And as well as the track improving I also want to make the overhead look better. Over the years of modelling you should find your end results getting better or at least that is the aim. I often view pictures of other modellers overhead efforts and wonder if they have tried hard enough? I must admit I am not sure what is harder to do better, is it the hand laying the track or putting up the overhead? I guess both have their challenges. 

So when I was wasting my time the other night on Ebay I came across an offering of a packet of bits and pieces made by Detail Associates. The packet description wasn't very clear as to what was inside. There was a mention on the label of three different diesel types something that I had learned about many many years ago when modelling Santa Fe in N scale. I couldn't shake the packet to see the contents more clearly, but eventually I could see in a corner of the packet what looked like eyelets which I eventually worked out were lift rings to enable the roof hatches on diesels to be removed. But I could see a better use for them. What I was going to try and use them for will be pole attachments for the overhead wire. One thing for sure is that they will have to go into a wooden pole and the chances of finding such a small drill and then drilling a hole into a metal pole are next to none.

Macro view of wire supports

As  seen on Ebay

Anyhow when I get into the overhead assembly I will be giving these a try, don't know how they will go but when I get to that stage it will be shown here. Until then I will keep collecting.