G-Scale cars outdoor conditions test - start!

I've bought some G-scale sized (more or less) cars last year with an idea of putting them on my garden layout. Without much effort my collection grew beyond of what I needed for a start. Currently it consists of six cars.

None of those cars is a cheap toy and all of them were priced at 10 Euro or more. Most of them are die-cast metal with plastic parts and they feel pretty solid. However only one of them is declared weather-proof, so there's no way to know how they will do outdoors.

Today those cars are in pretty much perfect condition... But since I've managed to build my first piece of a G-scale road, it's time to take them outside...

Hyundai i30, Welly	VW Beetle, Kinsmart
VW Bus, Kinsmart	Trabant 601, Yat Ming
Alfa Romeo MiTo, Bburago	Opel Blitz, Pola G

So let me treat them with sun and rain and wind and see how they'll do. Today is the beginning of their outdoor test and in 100 days I'm going to check on them. Let's see which ones turn out capable of being a part of an outdoor layout...

...and as soon as I took them outside it started raining pretty heavily. I guess the test is on then. Good luck, my cars!

LGB 10310, G-Scale lighted track bumper

Both PIKO and LGB offer a selection of track bumpers in case you want to build a sidetrack. There are a few models to choose from but I could find only one that offered an extra feature - a lighted sign. And since I care a lot about how my layout looks like at dusk, I've decided to purchase exactly this one.

The element is LGB 10310 and it is priced at around 15 Eur. The ArsTecnica store had a slightly better offer and that's where I made my purchase. The model comes in a rather small cardboard box.

The package consists of two items. We get the bumper itself and a plastic bag containing the lighted sign set. No track is included.

The lighted sign comes unassembled. Three plastic parts have to be put together and inserted on top of the light source. Interestingly a regular light bulb is used here. I really expected an LED but I guess the design of the model is already some years old and hence the "20th century solution".

Here's what the assembled model looks like. I have to say it really makes a good overall impression. The plastic material LGB used seems very rigid. I'd be surprised if it didn't last outdoors.

The bumper needs to be inserted on top of a track piece. It fits perfectly on straight LGB brass rails.

Four latches keep it firmly in place.

Here is the final outcome with the light off...

...and with the light on. I'm using 16V DC source even though the manual suggests AC voltage.

I've installed the bumper on an LGB track just for the photos. And my layout uses mostly PIKO track. This forced me to remove it from the LGB piece...

Taking the bumper off was not that easy. And once I succeeded, I've decided not to have to do it ever again. Hence the solution with a very short straight piece. This way the bumper can be attached at any place in the layout without any effort.

Two more photos taken outdoors. During the day...

...and at dusk.

Opinion? Looks really nice and very, very solid. I'm happy with my purchase.

How to get "warm white" garden solar lamps

Garden solar lamps are available in many sizes and shapes. It so happens, that the cheapest of them look more-or-less like G-scale sized street lamps. They're not really that beautiful but considering their price it would be a sin not to use them on your layout... At least until you can afford something better...

So they're less than $1 per piece and they work pretty well. Unfortunately I could not find them in "warm white" flavour. At first I thought I was fine with "cold white" but once I saw them on the layout I couldn't stand the colour and I knew I had to do something about this.

So let's try to turn the "cold" solar lamps into "warm" ones...

Opening the housing reveals a very simple electrical circuit. The LED we want to exchange is clearly visible. It almost feels like it's meant to be replaced.

Unsoldering the element takes 5 seconds. No special equipment or skills are required.

The "warm" LEDs can be ordered on Ebay or anywhere else. I got a bag of 100 of those for less than $3 with free international shipping from China.

Soldering the new LED takes another 5 seconds. Again - no special skills required, just remember that the polarity matters (test before soldering).

And voilà - the first upgraded solar lamp with "warm white" light is ready. Only four more to go and I can start working on the platform for my train station :)

Garden works, part 10: Yes, it's again about stones...

...but I promise it's the last time, really. At least for now :)

Another 12 tons of stones have been delivered to my place...

...and it again took two weeks to transport them over to my garden. But after it was done, the layout frame was almost full.

What I needed now was 5-7 tons of fine and nice rocks to create the surface. However, I also wanted to separate the layers so that the stones would not mix. Hence the usage of a strong agrotextile...

The 6 tons of fine gravel have been delivered soon later...

...and it took only four days to carry them over. Really! Transporting fine stones is so much less effort than doing the same with the large ones. The difference is unbelievably huge.

So the wooden frame is full now. Looks like a significant success and a reason to celebrate! It took a tremendous effort to deliver a total of 34 tons of stones but the result is exactly what I imagined it would be.

Now I can finally ask my crew to lay down the track!

LGB 48681-03, G-Scale live stock car

And here's another G-Scale railcar I brought from my recent trip to the US. This time it's LGB and it's a live stock unit. Seems like my American freight train is getting longer and longer... And I still don't even have a locomotive for it...

I've ordered the car from OnlyTrains.com where I found it listed in the "Specials" section. The price was set at $50 so it was really affordable for a large scale item. Interestingly a pack of 3 similar cars was priced at $250 which didn't make any sense. So I bought just this one. Its catalogue number is 48681-03.

The car comes in an LGB branded box. The package is 51 cm long and feels sturdy on the outside. The inside however brings a surprise. There's no styrofoam at all to protect the model and instead some properly shaped cardboard pieces are used. This is fine however. The car survived an air travel in a registered luggage which definitely proves the packaging is sufficient.

The content of the box:

• a yellow live stock G-Scale car
• a coupler hook (since only one of the couplers has a factory installed hook)
• a plastic brake wheel
• a metal brake wheel mounting rod

Let's take a look at the model...

The body of the model is nicely detailed. It is supposed to imitate a wooden car and the surface of the plastic walls reflects it very well. The material LGB used seems to be however of slightly lower quality than I expected. It does feel good in hand but if you put a source of light behind the car, its plastic body does seem a little transparent. Never seen such effect before with any of my models.

Another thing I do not like that much are the black screws holding the pieces together. It's not a huge issue but they're clearly visible. I don't know why the manufacturer decided to leave them this way. Even my daughters' doll house is built with properly coloured screws.

The doors of the car open and close. And I appreciate it very much. Such simple feature allows so much freedom when re-creating a scene and makes the trains so much more interesting...

The wheels are plastic. It's not a surprise in this price range. They can be of course replaced with something better if needed. I'll leave them the way they are for now...

The brake wheel is an element we're supposed to install ourselves. I'm fine with that, however I would appreciate it very much if it was either obvious or explained how to do this. I'm really not sure whether I'm supposed to just push one element into the other or perhaps I'm supposed to use glue here...

The underframe offers some nice details. Separately applied rods and planks definitely add to the overall feeling about the car.

The painting consists of red lettering only but it's perfectly sharp and it looks very good on the yellow plastic body. All-in-all the car does look very much alive. I think weathering fans would have a lot to do here but I like it the way it is.

And now for the final test...

Moooo... The cow is slightly out of scale but still fits inside :)

Summary

The car does look very nice overall. It does miss some extra finishing (black screws) and I do have a small doubt about the quality of plastic that was used. But it was definitely a very good deal. I very much like its rich colour and I love the opening doors. And it also offers some nice details which make the model a valuable addition to my collection.