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Nice installation of a very nicely built bridge. Happy railroading! Cheers from eastern TN

Your grandpa would be proud. You did a jam up job on your bridge. I make all my rust powders from 0000 steel wool soaked in a jar of vinegar for a couple of weeks. Pour it out and wait for it to dry. Then crunch it all up with a single edge razor blade. Every batch I've done comes out a different shade of rust from deep red to bright orange. I also use women's eye shadow makeup I get for $1.00 at the dollar store for my weathering powder. It sticks better than any weathering powders you could ever hope to use. And it comes in every color under the sun. Cheers from eastern TN

Excellent video , great commentary

Obrigado pelas orientações!!! Sou Brasileiro e gostei de sua explicação. Obs.: Desculpa por não saber o seu idioma.

Those are very contemporary lampposts. That’s a great idea and you also showed how to make the ‘volume manufacturing’ device.

Hey Bill just found your channel as I was searching for how to set up the IO Expander for DCC-EX. Your video was very clear and easy to follow. I get your point about using the PCA9685 for controlling LEDs. I was planning to go down the same route but also plug in a fast clock from DCC-EX to control LEDs with timed sequences. Hopefully it won't be too long before you produce the PCA9685 video... Where I see the DCC-EX EX-IOExpander coming into play would be for a control panel. I was looking at the idea of hooking up push buttons to it to drive switching of track routes on my planned layout. You could potentially use some PINS on the EX-IOEXpander for the buttons and others (or a PCA9685) to control LEDs on the control panel to feedback which route is set. If the layout is a decent size, it might even be possible to use multiple EX0IOExpanders configured identically (with different I2C addresses of course) to have several identical control panels located at different points around the layout for the use of multiple operators. Or indeed break down the control of the panels more locally on the layout as a form of signal box. It's really interesting technology. Best wishes from Sydney Australia, Jon

Why do you link the Megas together on the +5V lines, when they each have their own power supply? Why don't you link the Megas together on the GND lines to define a common ground plane?

I have used a similar idea but ended up putting only one wire (insulated) thru the copper (or brass) tubing and soldered the other wire from the LED to the tube. The bottom of the tube then became the negative on all my lights and the wire that went to UNDERNEATH the layout came thru from the LED as positive, The LED had somewhat stiff 'legs' so it was useful to have the look of a metal bracket with the shade coming UNDDER the wire brackets...The copper tube would have wire soldered into it and now I have both positive and negative under the layout ready to be wired into either series or parallel for access to power...

Hi Bill, I just found your video and it was most interesting, I am using MCP23017 devices to sense for Block Detection and I may have up to 8 of these devices on the I2C bus to the DCCEX Command Station, but as yet not at the stage of configuring, If you are Familiar with these devices I would be great if you could do a video ... the sense comes from a design of Diode voltage drop i.e the track is fed via 2 x 1N5819 diodes back to back and the voltage across the diodes goes through a LM339 comparator and is fed to an MCP23017 pin after a bit more logic ...Regards John

Howdy Bill! Yeah... I have yet to dive into the world of 3D printing, so am looking forward to your demo video. Thanks for sharing 🤠

Cool video.

I do the leveling a little differently. After I get the base as flat as I can I will lay the cork roadbed. Then I will lay the track on the bed (like you did) but here is the difference. I will take a ruler (4 foot like yours) and check the flat. Where I have a gap Like you have at the 17:10 time line, I will shim the track up flat with whatever I have handy. Then I will use cheap child's sand. The sand will fill the gap, form the needed edges, and then I hold it in place just as if it was ballast. Wet it and then use the glue 50-50 and the next day it will be hard as concrete. I have not seen any sound problems at all. In this way I can have dead flat track all over the layout. I'm not so concerned about the cork coming together at the switches as the sand can fill in there too...My road bed sanding block is about 8 inches long as this will give me a great flat end product and will show the gaps before I lay the track.

Hi. Seems like you did not post your creative videos for quite some time. Anyways please make a detailed video along with the laying of the tracks etc and let your rolling stocks free on the run for all your viewers to enjoy. I am very sure and thrilled to see the end results will be amazing. All the best dude. ❤

I learn a lot from you Bill. Thanks !!

A valid point was made that using plaster on your roadbed would increase the noise of the cars on the track. Now I can't seem to find the comment. But I just want to say that it may, depending on what kind of surface your tables are. If you have your roadbed sitting right on plywood it can. If you have your roadbed sitting on foam like I do, a skim coat of plaster won't really add anymore noise than ballasting does.

Nice! Looking forward to it! 🤠

Howdy Bill! Glad to hear you are feeling better! I like your method of plastering the roadbed... might explore that when the time comes. Nicely done and thanks for sharing 🤠

Amazing❤

Hi Bill! I’m just starting out at this scale of paint and distress on models. First time viewer of your channel and now subscribed. Thank you for such fascinating content!

Howdy Bill! That Model-T turned out great! Amazing what some patience and a little paint can do. Really well done - thanks for sharing 🤠

what is the link to this etsy shop?

Excellent bridge construction illustration! Thank you!

Great job.

You've always had the best mountains I've ever seen Bill !! Excellent bridge work !!

You put lot of effort into that buld and the end result is great! I totally agree the hobo camp under that bridge is a must 😁

Howdy Bill! Wow, really turned out great! If there is one thing I need to improve on it is being a little more creative. This is a perfect example of getting creative with what you have to work with. Thanks for sharing 🤠

My my apologies in advance for the audio quality of this video.

Very cool concept and project Bill.

It's not a "Hopper" it's a "Gondola"

About the difference in widths between the two pieces. I'll bet your coffee sticks are not all exactly the same width -- 'cuz mine aren't! (I also use them in lots of different places on the railroad. And they're not always the same thickness.)

Howdy Bill! Gotta be honest... at first I wasn't sure where you were going with it. And then suddenly - I saw it. Tremendous job repurposing one of your grandfather's cars. Can't wait to see it on the layout! Well done and thanks for sharing 🤠

just not to fast I would love to find some way to do it faster when you got a lot to do

Well done..I loved it. Grandpa would love it.

Like the way it turned out , great idea! 😎😎😎

Great idea.

Nice work Bill !!

[thank, you for youre great video]👍

It would be funny to see some unweathered water tower near house under construction on some of this rustic layouts😊

🤠🖐🚂

When mixing sculptamold, blends in latex paint to precolor. I use a dirt color. It's more uniform, and if you cut some away later, you won't need to match the color. It also toughens the sculptamold, and reduces shrinkage, too.

You sure can workmagic with Sculptamold Bill !!

Howdy Bill! Looks great! 🤠

[thank, you for youre video]👍

Howdy Bill! Yeah... looks intimidating as hell... lol. But your tutorials help quite a bit. I'd like to use DCC-EX on my shelf layout - it will be themed for 'last mile' switching. Well done and thanks for sharing 🤠

Thanks for the tip ... didn't know about the MCP 23017 I2C expander ...

Sweet !! Thanks for keeping us in the loop Bill !!!

Thanks!

Lots of progress!! If you haven't already, checkout useful EX-Toolbox which runs on your smart phone and connects to EX-CommandStation. All the best ...