General Stuff(tm)

[stephen_usher]

I think that's as much as I can do for the RetroFest layout. The weather is breaking tomorrow and I don't have space to work upon it indoors.

Today I 3D printed 100 sleepers, made a few piles of them and painted them so that they look as though they're left over from lifting the second track through the tunnel. I've added a few passengers on the station (cheap ones from Amazon) and a telephone box in the station car park.

I've also finished the signage for the event.

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[HigashiJun]

Well done @stephen_usher !

It looks really gorgeous.

[rubber_jonnie]

Very nice attention to detail

What's interesting for me is that the platforms and buildings look no different to the ones I had back in the day, probably late 70s early 80s.

Or am I imagining it?

[stephen_usher]

Very nice attention to detail

What's interesting for me is that the platforms and buildings look no different to the ones I had back in the day, probably late 70s early 80s.

Or am I imagining it?

No, you're not imagining it as they are indeed Hornby buildings from the 1970s and 80s. Most of them are the "new" ones which appeared in the 1979 catalogue. Hornby still sell them with a slightly different paint job, e.g. https://uk.hornby.com/products/building ... ck-5-r8231 and https://uk.hornby.com/products/building ... ck-1-r8227

[rubber_jonnie]

Very nice attention to detail

What's interesting for me is that the platforms and buildings look no different to the ones I had back in the day, probably late 70s early 80s.

Or am I imagining it?

No, you're not imagining it as they are indeed Hornby buildings from the 1970s and 80s. Most of them are the "new" ones which appeared in the 1979 catalogue. Hornby still sell them with a slightly different paint job, e.g. https://uk.hornby.com/products/building ... ck-5-r8231 and https://uk.hornby.com/products/building ... ck-1-r8227

I'm glad I'm not imagining it

Amazing they're still selling them, albeit with a different paint job.

[stephen_usher]

Seeing as the ZX81 edge connector arrived today this evening I decided to take a look at the ZX81 sound card which was in the box of stuff I got a couple of weeks ago.

Only after removing the rats nest of wires and doused it in IPA to get the thick layer of flux off the board did I notice that every one of the pads where the edge connector fits on the board were missing and the traces were not in a good state either. To get this working I'm going to have to bodge wire every trace and somehow glue the edge connector to the PCB, as there's nothing to solder it to. It's a single sided board so, other than the two traces I'm not sure which pin they go to, it shouldn't be hard to bodge this together.

Anyway, no time to look into it this week now. I'd have to reverse engineer it anyway to find out what address the AY-3-8910 sits at in the memory map.

[stephen_usher]

P.S. Have some pictures... (I removed the solder mask near the edge connector holes to try to see where the traces went.

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[stephen_usher]

As a dry run I took the layout to the model railway club this evening.

Two lessons learnt:

1) Take a track rubber to clean the rails, again and again.

2) Make up a "timetable" of events for the locos and rolling stock which can be repeated rather than trying to make things up as I go along.

[stephen_usher]

This morning I planned to do a quick test of the layout and devise an operating schedule for the locos and rolling stock. Well, it didn't go as planned.

Firstly the Zero 1 controller key pad was too temperamental to use so I had to disassemble the unit and clean the solder contacts that the carbon impregnated rubber pads press upon.

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After finishing this and checking that the buttons work (better) I started getting ready for the test again...

One of the motorised points started sticking constantly... Then the mechanism cover came off after a clip broke. At least it gave me an opportunity to clean and lubricate it inside. Once back together I had to superglue the cover back on. It only sticks 50% of the time now.

Then one of the locos started to be intermittent. Checking the internal wiring (mostly) fixed that.

Another loco then stopped working entirely. After dismantling, cleaning and reassembling the motor a couple of times, replacing the carbon brushes and springs and finally sanding down and polishing the commutator it was finally stable.

Oh, and the Zero 1 controller seems to be randomly forgetting what it's supposed to be doing. This is a concern as all the RAM and ROM is inside the custom TMS1000 microcontroller in the unit.

Anyway, I seem to have got things stable again and late afternoon I managed to work out a usable operating schedule.

[rubber_jonnie]

This morning I planned to do a quick test of the layout and devise an operating schedule for the locos and rolling stock. Well, it didn't go as planned.

Firstly the Zero 1 controller key pad was too temperamental to use so I had to disassemble the unit and clean the solder contacts that the carbon impregnated rubber pads press upon.


IMG_4433.jpeg


After finishing this and checking that the buttons work (better) I started getting ready for the test again...

One of the motorised points started sticking constantly... Then the mechanism cover came off after a clip broke. At least it gave me an opportunity to clean and lubricate it inside. Once back together I had to superglue the cover back on. It only sticks 50% of the time now.

Then one of the locos started to be intermittent. Checking the internal wiring (mostly) fixed that.

Another loco then stopped working entirely. After dismantling, cleaning and reassembling the motor a couple of times, replacing the carbon brushes and springs and finally sanding down and polishing the commutator it was finally stable.

Oh, and the Zero 1 controller seems to be randomly forgetting what it's supposed to be doing. This is a concern as all the RAM and ROM is inside the custom TMS1000 microcontroller in the unit.

Anyway, I seem to have got things stable again and late afternoon I managed to work out a usable operating schedule.

Seems like model railways are as demanding as retro computers!