7mm layout featuring trains, cranes and lorries

[GreengiantPH]

A small group of four of us meet weekly to build model railway layouts.
Our latest one, 'The Yard' which is still a WIP, features the interaction of trains, cranes and lorries moving and transferring various loads.
We use DCC with sound for the trains and radio control for the crane and lorries.
This is a video we took at our latest session which will give an idea of the sort of operational movements we can do.

Martin

https://youtu.be/2jpeZ1zqLHk

Edited by GreengiantPH on Wednesday 31st January 11:34

[andrewrob]

Impressive!
Would be interested to see what the inside of the truck looks like.

[dudleybloke]

That's amazing!

[simonspider]

Brilliant..I have bought a couple of the Bedford TK's (IXO models from Spain) to convert them into BR crew buses.
Fantastic work..

[lufbramatt]

Great skills reversing that artic! Superb layout look forward to seeing more

[GreengiantPH]

[Impressive!
Would be interested to see what the inside of the truck looks like.]

This is the small red lorry with the top off. I put 5p coin on to give you an idea of size Far left is the steering servo, in the middle are the on/off switch and the charging socket. The 5p coin is sitting on an iPod Nano battery, I think it is a 350ma one, just underneath to the left of the battery you can see the drive motor.



A close up from the other side showing the servo, switch and socket.



An underneath view showing the arm from the steering servo, the scratch built front axle beam and the steering arm. The front axle beam rocks around its centre which you must have unless you run on perfectly flat roads.



The rear axle is solid with a crown wheel drive train, we found no need for a diff. You can also see the motor and gearbox, these are readily available from most Robotics suppliers.



As a contrast the artic has a much bigger 650mah battery and no drive, the drive is from the tractor unit. You can make out some of the wiring that feeds the working brake lights. The battery on this one gives more than enough power for a two day exhibition.



This is the underside of the tractor unit showing the steering servo, motor, gearbox and final drive, charging socket is just in front of the axle.



Martin

[Andy-SP2]

Fantastic modeling skills and the video was excellent, many thanks

[dudleybloke]

I think the only thing the video is missing is narration by Ringo Starr.

[ciege]

Martin

Awesome staff thanks!!

[andrewrob]

Thanks for the truck pictures Martin.
Fascinating stuff!
What do you use as a transmitter and receiver?

[GreengiantPH]

andrewrob said:

Thanks for the truck pictures Martin.
Fascinating stuff!
What do you use as a transmitter and receiver?

Thank you.

For transmitters we just us cheap £20-30 two joystick handsets.
Receivers we use the excellent products from Deltang who we also find very helpful with technical enquires and advice.
The crane uses a 16 channel transmitter that one of us had kicking around, but now we are making a custom 3 channel transmitter, 3D printing the case, we sourced some really lovely joysticks which self centre beautifully, something cheap transmitters don’t always do. We had considered a small camera in the floor of the crane cab with a screen in the controller box to help with targeting the lifting, but having now re-engineered the hook and tweaked the loads we find it now unecessary to go down this route.
We have also replaced the single flange crane tracking wheels with custom machined twin flange wheels which has eliminated any chance of twisting while tracking. On the cross bridge we have introduced compensation on one of the axles which helps further with reliable running, something which is vital when exhibiting 7-8 hours a day.

http://www.deltang.co.uk

The receiver in the crane that powers three motors is no bigger than a small finger nail.

If you would like to see a blow-by-blow account of how we built the layout, it appears on RMWEB to which I can post a link should you wish.

A mate of mine who did the research and build development of the lorries has also done a mobile crane lorry with working stabilisers. I will look out some of his YouTube videos and post the links here.

Martin

[GreengiantPH]

I found the video of my mates radio controlled crane lorry he has built.
This video shows it in action on his layout Denton Brook which I help operate at exhibitions.

https://youtu.be/dtmj2a92sJw

Martin

[gruffgriff]

Thanks Martin, it was Denton Brook I saw at Farnborough then! Watching the vehicle movement and crane operation was really captivating, all of the rc gubbins totally hidden making it so easy to lose oneself into the scene and not see a 'layout' .....a fantastic dynamic element and dare I say over-shadowing the linear movement of trains...
A bloody good job well done, I'm jealous of you drivers!

[GreengiantPH]

gruffgriff said:

Thanks Martin, it was Denton Brook I saw at Farnborough then! Watching the vehicle movement and crane operation was really captivating, all of the rc gubbins totally hidden making it so easy to lose oneself into the scene and not see a 'layout' .....a fantastic dynamic element and dare I say over-shadowing the linear movement of trains...
A bloody good job well done, I'm jealous of you drivers!

Thank you, I was the one at the front right operating all the standard gauge stuff.
We were especially pleased with the Farnborough show becuase we came away with the ‘Best in Show’ trophy. Giles, the builder of the layout is a real master at this type of modelling and his layouts are a real pleasure to operate, you may well have come across another one of his ‘The End of the line’, tipping skips, working conveyer belt and RC lorries. That layout was sold on and still picking up awards with the new owner.

Martin

[sb-1]

Great stuff,wish I had even a little of your skills!

[Some Guy]

That is superb.