"Shoo-fly" Free-moN Module (2'x6')

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
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Well, the Free-moN bug has bitten.

Credit (blame?) goes to Steve Williams and the Silicon Valley Free-moN group for doing such excellent work on their own modules and putting on some great shows. Seems like every time I go to a local train gig, like a LDSIG meet or the x2011 NMRA convention, I end up hanging around these great dudes & their modules and wishing I had one to contribute. So time to get busy!

Even though the group is an hour away from my part of the Bay, I just had to start building something Free-moN, not just because of Steven and the groovy group, but because Free-moN is such a fab deal: single mainline, 50" layout height, emphasis on prototypical scenes and ops, and very few “standards”–really just the track (code 55), wiring, and endplates!

Anything else is pretty much up to you!

You could build a 20’ curved yard, divided up into five 4’ sections (for transport), and, as long as the endplate on the far left & far right are Free-moN, you’re good to go! Which means you could take a section of your “home” layout, attach 6" “adaptor” sections on each end, and then participate in a Free-moN event.

Seems like the best of all possible N-finite worlds!

Originally I designed a groovy 6’x6’ under-&-over loop module based on the WP Feather River Route, but that would have necessitated cleaning out more of the garage than I could easily do, and then the Silicon Valley Free-moN group got an invite to show in early April, so that set the deadline!

Ever since reading John Armstrong’s Track Planning for Realistic Operations I’ve been intrigued by his drawing of a “shoofly” (page 123, 3rd ed.). It’s a simple scene of track diverted over a fill while a crew repaired / rebuilt a bridge over a small stream, yet conta

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As the 1/2" ply is a wee thin, I braced it with some glued& screwed triangles:

So I assembled the frame and supports before:

  1. drilling holes for the bolts that connect the two sections
  2. drilling a hole for the wires to pass between the two sections
  3. drilling holes for the 2"x2" legs
  4. cutting out the holes for the NCE UTP panels
  5. routering the endplate “mouths” for the wires

D’oh!

And, as it turns out, the space between the frame supports wasn’t wide enough to allow a drill in to do all of that.

D’oh!

Thank goodness for this little miricle: The “Orbiter”!

Was able to get all my legs & wire holes in after framing. Very handy, that Orbiter!

The main track bus and accessory bus need to be 12 gauge wire and have Anderson Powerpole connectors at the endplates.
Those Anderson connectors are very cool, but a pain to crimp to stay on.
Until I realized that solder worked better.

So got frame, wiring, legs done:

About that white foamcore sheet:
Turns out that 2" pink foam isn’t 2": it’s about 1 7/8" (dimensional foam?)
So I was short coming up to the 6" endplate.
I thought about screwing & gluing a 1/8" masonite plate on top of the frame (upon which I’d attach the foam), but dang

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What’s great about it is that you can have a working scene and a bullet-proof mainline at the same time.
As well as a place for your crane & camp cars Smile

There’s only one turnout (which could be a dummy if you wanted), and the yellow “slow order” signs add operational interest.

Gonna need some cows & lots of static grass for this one Wink

Good thing I just made “The Banananator”:

Haven’t done farmland yet, so this will be fun!

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Another great project in the making. Looking forward to this one too.

Smile,
Stein

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Gidday, I’ll go along with Stein.

Cheers, The Bear.

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Thanks, Stein & JaBear.
I’ll do my best to not disappoint :wink:

Thanks for all the encouragement & well wishes: we’ll see if I can do “Module in a Month” Wink

The foamcore / caulk dried pretty quick and made a nice base.
The foamcore is the Elmer’s stuff you can get at Target: pretty cheap and stonger than some artstore foamcore I looked at (no Gatorboard around here, otherwise I’d snag that up quick). It’s also 3/16", which makes my 1 7/8" pink foam stick up a little over the endplate, but a little sanding will do the job.

Spread caulk over the foamcore and then placed the pink foam:

I intentionally left it a little long on both sides where the sections butt up, so I can sand it to a good fit later.

Attaching foam to foam over a large area takes a long time to cure (no air!), so I’m not planning on carving until the weekend or next week.
Tomorrow I’ll take off the weights and clamps and start laying out the track & maybe caulk down the cork.
But today I built a #6 turnout as well as the Bullfrog I’m trying out for turnout control:

The Bullfrog was pretty easy to put together: very well designed!
And has a switch to power the frog. Not bad for $6!
I didn’t get the control rods / knobs (they even have a set up for Free-mo modules!) because I figure I can make my own.

I’m going to have to re

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This thread actually made me look up the Free-Mo activity in my area. Whenever I see a Free-Mo setup at a show, I’m impressed by the way it all comes together. With fewer constraints on geometry and track arrangement, these layouts seem to show a lot more creativity.

Thanks for putting this photo essay together. Can we get a look at the underside and the wiring standards once it’s done, to see how the Free-Mo concept implements connectivity?

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Thanks, Mr. B.
Isn’t Free-mo and Free-moN cool?
Some of the stuff in Europe in both HO and N is spectacular: I’ve seen some German clubs fill a huge building with modules that flow very nicely from one to another.

The most difficult aspect of Free-moN is storing the modules!
I could easily build 4-5 modules of different scenes and learning new skills on each, but then where would I put them?
I’m already taking up 1/2 the garage as it is! [:-^]

As for the wiring, check out page 40 of Dave Falkenburg’s fab slide show.
He’s got some very neat & tidy wiring on his Alviso module.
Anderson PowerPole connectors are very reliable and easy to use.

I’ll take some wiring picts of my own later today after I take off the clamps on the pink foam.

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Storage is always an issue when you build a modular layout (or just various modules) and don´t have the space to put them up permanently.

For my “mini-modular” desktop-layout, I decided to get a cheap rack&shelf system to store the modules. While investigating into such systems, I decided to change the scope of my layout. It will no longer be a desktop-layout, but a point-to-point layout semi-permanently set up on a 11 ft. shelf. This will allow me to operate the layout without any such work as clearing the desk, assembling the modules, connecting the wiring.

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The diagrams I have are .pdf files, so I can’t post them here. A basic description for HOn3 Free-mo follows (more can be found at the NSNG, Free-mo, and hon3-free-mo Yahoo Groups):

Track/Power bus: red and black wires (12 gauge) running length of module. We use NCE DCC, HO uses Digitrax. At the module ends, 12" pigtails are made with red and black Anderson 30 amp Power Pole connectors (HO uses Clinch Jones connectors in a similar configuration). The red PP always connects to the right hand rail when looking at the module end. Black PP attaches to the left rail. During setup, red PP connects to black PP, and everything should work well.

Within the module, we require a circuit breaker between the red/black bus wires and track feeders so a short only brings down the module, not the entire power district. Usually this is implemented by having a local track bus connected to the main track bus through the circuit breaker. The bridge rails have insulated rail joiners on one end.

Accessory bus: a very recent addition to our standard, we have a 12V DC bus for running Tortoise switch motors and other accessories. We found every module having its own wall wart wasn’t working in many setup venues. HO Free-mo has a 16V AC accessory bus, with trailer plug connections. In HOn3 we use blue and white wires - blue is positive, white is negative - and blue and white

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Ulrich: glad you figured out a way to have the layout up and running without having to disassemble & store. That gets old fast! I’ll probably hang my 2’x3’ sections on the garage wall like trophies until I figure out more room.

Fred: thanks for taking the time to post all that info, and I’m looking forward to seeing your progress on your modules. HOn3 is a great way to the the detail of HO in a more N-ish space.

The wiring for Free-moN is a little different from what you described.

Here’s a shot of the Anderson Powerpole connectors:

[That’s not a gang tattoo or snake bite on my right thumb, just a benchwork-building battle scar]

In Free-moN, the track bus wires have the red connectors stacked vertically and following the “Left Over” rule: looking from the end of the module the left track bus is over the right.
The accessory bus connectors are black and joined side-by-side.
At first I was crimping the inserts, but they were slipping out.
Took me 6-8 tries before I realized I should just solder them.
(D’oh!)

After drawing in the main and laying down cork, I played around with some track until the shoofly had decent curves and distance from the main:

Didn’t want a big arcing loopy thing, but also didn’t want it too close to the main.
N scale cork roadbed, like N scale Caboose groundthrows and so many other N scale things, seem to be sized more for HO than N, so I trimmed off a little less than 1/8" from both inner sides to narrow it down just a bit.

In the above photo you can see some of my references: Armstrong’s drawing on the right and a photo of a two-track shoofly around a four-track main that Chris333 shared.

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With the cork caulked down & sanded, I gorillaglued four pc board ties to the ends of the module:

I had soaked the cork & endplate area with woodglue, so that was rocksolid, and with the gorillaglue that track wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
Seems the pc board ties drifted a little to the right under the weight while curing: the black marks are the actual track centerline (nothing some cosmetic surgery can’t fix way later).

I also spray-painted the area that will be under the turnout Floquil grimy black: as Floquil is a solvent-based paint and will attack the foam, I taped off the area around the cork.
Even still, you can see a little hole on the left reminiscent of the affect of the alien’s drool through the Nostromo’s deckplates.

Also drilled 1/8" holes for the Bullfrog throwbar actuator rod as well as for the wire to power the frog.
Probably should have soldered the frog wire before laying the track (D’oh!), but it’ll work out fine.

Laid down some caulk, but left some space on either side of the gap between the sections to lay down some gorillaglue:

[The section line is at the 11 o’clock position]

I love gorillaglue (must be the funkey monkey in me).

Tacked everything down with T-pins, got everything aligned (thank goodness for caulk having a long working time!), and then soldered the ends:

I had already sanded the cork flush with the endplate.
The rails stick out about 1/16", and I’ll carefully file or dremel those later after everything’s cured.
I really hope it matches u

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Being an N scale modeler, I have heard of the Free-mo concept and have always thought it was a much better and more flexible alternative to N-trak modules. At some point I will be looking to expand my layout, which I have constructed to be readily portable even if it doesn’t conform to any standards. I was looking more towards being able to save any time and effort invested in my layout rather than junking whatever I’ve accomplished in case of a move, which has happened in the past.

Your current project has really sold me on building any future additions to my layout to Free-mo standards. You document all the construction steps involved clearly and with a touch of humor which I find to be quite an entertaining read. I find useful information in every one of your posts, so keep up the excellent work, as I am eagerly looking forward how things develop.

Frank B.

Dorval, Canada

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Thanks, Frank.
Glad you’re enjoying the thread, and hope to see some of your Free-moN modules soon!

So track is caulked, cured & secured to the roadbed.
I dropped in the feeder wires, and managed to sneak the frog wire next to the guard rail:

Doubt anyone will see it in a couple weeks.
Test car rolls through smooth everywhere.

Went to cut the rails where the two sections meet and found out why you should wear safety glasses:

The thin Dedeco cutting disc grabbed some gorillaglue I guess.
The other part bounced off my forehead (no cut or bleeding).
I wear glasses anyway, but next time I think I’ll slip some safety goggles over them.

The Dedeco discs are fragile, but do give a nice thin cut:

See also the isolation gaps on the frog in the first picture.

So I wired everything up using suitcase connectors for the feeders to the bus.
Also installed & wired the Bullfrog:

Everything worked great until the frog wasn’t getting power in only one direction.
Took awhile with the multimeter to figure out that one of the suitcase connectors failed.
Changed it & everything was ready to roll.
Which means: TRAINS!

http://youtu.be/TcawDLz5I8k

Time to get serious about scenicking!
Thanks for looking.

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MrMonkey -

Can you tell us more about the miter saw pictured above? It looks compact and interesting. Thanks.

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Hey Harry: it’s a Hitachi 10" 15amp Compound Mitre Saw
Picked it up at Lowe’s for about $130.
For $140 you can get one with a laser guide, but it just reminds me of sharks with friggin’ laser beams on their heads [;)]

This one is pretty lightweight, but sturdy and relatively quite.
I really like that it bevels both ways, and it made cutting the fame for a 30 deg module (15 deg each section) very easy.
A lot of people seem to like it to cut molding for home improvement projects.
Having it makes me want to build a bunch of benchwork!
(so I have to chant to myself: “no space, no space, no space…” [sigh]

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Thanks a lot, MrMonkey! I think I’ll look at one.

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So now I have an operating Free-moN module, albeit a “pinkfoam prairie”.
While waiting for the caulk under the foam to fully cure (takes awhile as there’s no air down there), I set about constructing a 4"x24" detachable extension so I can “stage” as well as have room to use the siding:

All built outta scrap wood, and will just clamp on (though I may drill one hole for a dowel later).
The vertical support is off-center to allow space for the wires to pop out of the endplate hole:

The triangular gusset is centered, though.

I ran a section of buswire under the extension with Anderson powerpole connectors on one side and U-prongs on the other (after about a 2’ length of wire) to connect to either a DC powerpack or DCC panel.
Caulked some pink foam strips on either side to create some low landforms to both prevent cars from falling the 666 scale feet to the concrete as well as give me more “test diorama” to try out different scenery techniques:

[You can see the bus & suitcase connectors for the feeder wires at the bottom of that picture]

The turnout I found in the parts bin that I made probably three years ago when I was just starting out back in the hobby, so needed to refurbish it a bit.
Spray painted the “main” grimy black while the siding is “rail brown”: never used that before, and seems a bit too brown. We’ll see.

I just put down a layer of the “new” dirt my son & I found this last weekend, as well as some old dirt, gravel, and ballasted the tracks.
After it dries I’ll post some more picts.

Also "b

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Detachable extension with first layer of ground cover:

Mostly tan dirt with some older brownish dirt, gravel and some cinders here & there.

The ballast is WS fine grey ballast with some fine-sifted gravel mixed in (60%-40%??) to break up the uniformity of the WS ballast color & texture.
Let me know if it needs more gravel or something else.

The siding ties are darn bright brown, so I’ll be weathering those a bit.
Goody bag of static grasses & foliage from Scenic Express comes on Friday, so will get to play around with greening up the sides soon.

Today’s task: figure out what I want to do in the “orchard” area. If I’m going to model Sonoma, I guess I could have a lush vineyard (pun intended) in contrast to the dead one by the old barn, or I could make it a waterfront boat launch (with the stream coming to feed the river just off-layout), or I could go with some other type of crops.
I’ve always liked the Tamales Bay Oyster Company siding from the old North Pacific Coast line (interesting industry, waterfront), and the tracks have been torn up long ago but the grade is still visible (and part of the picknick area now), but I think I’ll save that for another project.
So feel free to suggest any Sonoma / Marin crops or scenes for me to consider. Brainstorming is good.

Will be pouring over moocho pictures today and will try to compose the module’s scenery in my head (talk about a blank slate!).
See you when I return

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I’m interested in that narrow extension. For academic interest, did you build both ends to Free-Mo standards, so it could be used as a connecting piece, even though it has no legs and can’t support itself? Does Free-Mo have a provision for that sort of thing?

I’m working on a carfloat terminal. It’s in a narrow aisle, and I’m planning to make the carfloat itself a removable section so that I can get in there and work when it’s not “in port.” Does your extension just hang out, cantilevered off the end of the module? Or does it have some support on the far end? Is the whole thing stiff enough to do that without sagging at the far end?