... Anyone good at computer graphics? posted: 30 Aug 2010 03:38 from: Martin Wynne Dear all, My computer graphics skills are minimal. This is my best effort to represent a country goods shed with office extension, internal platform and awning over the loading doors. As you can see, it won't win any prizes: 2_292139_500000000.gif I saved it as a GIF image with transparent background. And this is what it looks like inserted on the sketchboard as a bitmap item. I rotated it into line with the track, stretched it to the correct size, and gave it a little transparency to show the internal track: 2_292139_510000001.png Now such objects can be drawn directly on the sketchboard with vector precision if desired. But it would be great to have a selection gallery of such clip-art items ready to just pick and place. Station buildings, engine sheds, signal boxes, water towers, cattle docks, coal drops, trees, etc. In a variety of sizes and attractive styles, perhaps some based on real locations. What's fairly clear ...

... shall have a look at it again over the weekend Once again many thanks, Nick. posted: 12 Jul 2013 22:28 from: Paul Boyd Hi Nick Llanastr Mawr (assuming you're referring to Iain Rice's plan) is tight in P4. Oddly, I tidied up my version of this just a couple of weeks or so ago- you're welcome to the attached box file. I think I decided that on the off-chance that I might actually build it, I would prefer to add a couple of feet to stretch it out a bit. However, my tiny two-bed flat might suit the plan as drawn better! Cheers Attachment: attach_1626_2256_llanastr_mawr_201 3_06_23_1942_09.box 324 posted: 13 Jul 2013 07:45 from: Nick Edgcombe Paul, Many thanks for that. Just what the doctor ordered!!!! I will be only using 0-4 -4 and 0-6 -0 tank locos so it should be ok.If it were to be stretched in which way would it be done? Once again many thanks for that, Cheers ...

... press tools. It's very difficult to do them in model form and keep the running faces in line and to gauge. Note that check rails are always vertical in any event, except some very old pre-group designs. It's worth bearing in mind that if you curve an inclined rail, the head runs round a different radius from the foot. Which in turn means that the head needs to be a fraction longer or shorter than the foot. On the prototype the gentle curves and heavy fixings mean the rail can be stretched or deformed by the fixings to achieve this tiny difference. On a model with sharp curves and flimsy plastic chairs there is no way this can happen, the rail simply stays vertical when curved and the chairs flex accordingly. However, if they are made of a brittle material they are likely to fracture. Maybe not immediately, but at some stage in their life. I suggest you could save yourself a lot of grief by making them vertical, if not already. Ditto anyone else experimenting with 3D printed chairs in resin ...

... a guide in Templot. The reduced version which you have captured there is not going to be much help for detailed track planning. The various resampling algorithms such as Lanczos3, Triangle, Mitchell, Bspline, Bell, etc. are usually available in a graphics editor program. For example they can be selected under the Resize/Resample function in the excellent free IrfanView program. However, the differences between them are hardly noticeable for our purposes. The big difference is between using any of them, and a simple pixel shrink/stretch. But you don't need a separate program because the two options are available on the sketchboard, renamed for Templot as design quality (fast -- simple pixel shrink/stretch), and display quality (slow -- Lanczos3 resampling). More about using these options at: topic 1928 I tried adding your image (original size from the Image Gallery) to the sketchboard. I set the image width for 4mm scale to 12500mm, which was a quick guess. It's somewhere near, as this overlaid B6 crossover shows ...

... but hopefully it's useful background. Yes, it is. Thanks. posted: 6 Aug 2007 16:58 from: Martin Wynne Paul Boyd wrote: The downside of broadband through the phone lines is the crap speeds and dodgy connections we have to put up with in the UK compared to the rest of the world Hi Paul, Bad Monday morning? I think that is a bit sweeping. Recently I helped a friend get started with ADSL broadband. He's out in the wilds of South Shropshire with an ancient overhead phone line stretched half-way across the Clee Hill. The line has caused ordinary phone problems in the past, and there was a warning from the ISP that the length of the line may cause trouble. In the event and much to my surprise he's getting a very reliable 2Mbps broadband service with only very occasional drop-outs. In fact he is getting a better upload speed than me! The error-correcting system (BroadbandMax) used by BT Wholesale to milk the last drop of speed out of the old copper wires seems ...

... slide chairs and E4CH 502A common crossing chairs no cutting of chairs is necessary I am currently trialling building a turnout with a pre made Vee and using the special chairs functionally in setting the wing/closer rails, similar (but not the same) to the way the C+ L ready made turnouts are built. This may make the building of turnouts much easier for some posted: 28 Jan 2016 11:46 from: Stephen Freeman Hi, Ballasting with the template in place is very likely to result in the paper template stretching and deforming and then shrinking, however if glued to something more rigid like cork, it is probably going to be less of a problem than with foam. Separating the turnouts from the templates is always going to be a little tricky and usually requires the application of a solvent that doesn't affect the plastic timbers or chairs to soften the adhesive. White Spirit usually works for double-sided tape. I'm not sure what you could use for balsa cement. PeterD wrote: Borg-Rail wrote: Hi, So far so ...

... Hi Martin, Having a few problems printing a background shape along with my trackplans. I did a drawing of a room with walls and the like and scanned it into the PC. I can put the drawing into Templot OK and it shows on the pad as expected. I can't however get it to print correctly( or at all!). On a Canon IX5000 inkjet I get an entirely black shape( therefore not being able to see the trackplan) where the background shape is when printing with the 'Print Pictures( Stretch)' option ticked- expensive on ink with A3! If I go for the 'Outlines Only' option I just get two diagonal lines from corners to corners where the shape should be- I can however see the trackplan. On a HP Laserjet P2055 I get no background shape printed with any option. The trackplan is OK. Bear in mind that I am printing with 'Advanced Printing Features' and 'Print Optimizations' both disabled for this printer. I seem to remember you muttering something about my system being shot to pieces ...

... topic: 3610 Grouping Turnouts posted: 12 Feb 2020 00:00 from: Jason Johnson Hi all, Still learning the basics but boy, is this a great piece of kit. I have created a crossover, moved, shortened and stretched sleepers to suit where I want them, is it possible to group them together so they move as one? Been trying for hours and just cant work it out, cant see any info either so I have decided to let it beat me and ask the question. Thanks in advance, Jason. Attachment: attach_2988_3610_A5LCR.JPG 258 posted: 12 Feb 2020 00:34 from: Martin Wynne Jason Johnson wrote: I have created a crossover, moved, shortened and stretched sleepers to suit where I want them, is it possible to group them together so they move as one? Hi Jason, Sure. I'm a bit tired tonight to write a long explanation, so here's a bit of video instead: http://flashbackconnect.com/Default.aspx?id=jcsJMl9lLpdNladIu8zX7A2 Sorry it's so scruffy, it's just to show ...

... they don't always have the transition they should and the pegs don't always join them, rather my eye does but I'm thinking it might be ok as the curves in the areas I have done at the bottom mostly are generous. Some track joins clearly haven't been done yet but it is because I haven't figured how to marry the two different track centres. I can bodge them with fixed curve joins as I have in some areas yet the parallel track spacing I'm trying to keep best as I can. The diamond on the scenic stretch will be a single slip eventually. I've had to position some points in odd positions as they are avoiding baseboard join areas but this is no worry. The fiddle yard has so far been designed with 6 tracks, the middle two as run throughs with two lines either side for other trains, either one or two. I don't want the whole bottom section as a fiddle yard as the plan is to have the top half as a scenic run with a back scene and in future ideas the whole board is planned to ...

... action. That function is intended for beginners coming from other software rather than experienced users. Getting the sleeper spacings correct across template boundaries uses the roll rails to match functions. That's intended for more experienced users and best left until your track plan is finalised, in the same way as other functions such as timber shoving. More information about rolling rails is here: http://templot.com/martweb/pug_info_2.htm Scroll down to new roll rails functions. c) Each end of the ruler is moved independently. The ruler then stretches between them. It is primarily intended for measuring purposes -- if you want an object of fixed length which you can move around, instead of the ruler use a dummy plain track centre-line-only template. ALT+ LEFT-CLICK sets one end of the ruler. ALT+ RIGHT-CLICK sets the other end. You can zoom in on each end to do this, and CTRL+ FULL-STOP (period) changes the mouse pointer to cross-hairs for precision. For a precision read ...