Sunshine, Palm Trees and a Food Industry...

Discussion in 'Planks, Switching and Shelf Layouts' started by Gary, Jan 6, 2021.

  1. Gary

    Gary Wants more time for modelling.... Staff Member Administrator

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    Thanks Gormo !

    Cheers, Gary.
     
  2. Keith M

    Keith M Staff Member Moderator

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    It actually rather resembles razor wire, either way an excellent solution.
    Keith.
     
  3. Gary

    Gary Wants more time for modelling.... Staff Member Administrator

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    Latest video update...



    Cheers, Gary.
     
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  4. Echidna

    Echidna Full Member

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    Hello Gary and others,

    1 / re #49 & #56 above with respect to Railroad Crossing Flashing Lights / FL.

    At locations where traffic is basically servicing long siding/s, and therefore shunting up to, but not beyond the level crossing, there is usually a post mounted key switch to operate the FL. This allows local shunting to take place without activating the FL.

    On the Victorian Railways / VR for example, the key switch box was usually attached to a piece of rail, and the box is approximately the size of a one litre milk carton.

    At normal FL equipped level crossings, a test switch is usually located in the nearby relay box, and Track Machine Operators are usually accompanied by a Signal Fitter to activate the FL, as a Track Machine, due to its light axle loading, is not guaranteed to operate the initiating circuits.

    When we had walking Linesmen / Track Inspectors, they would also have an access key for the relay box, so that the Test Switch could be activated.

    2 / US FL and Boom Barrier installations vary with both railway and State. It is not uncommon in the US for a FL installation to have only a cross buck ( X / Rail Road Crossing sign ) . Stop on Red Signal and ... Track signs are therefore not always present.

    3 / In Australia, there is, under the Road Traffic Rules, a National Standard on LC signage, and prior to this, most States had, for many years, a similar design pattern anyway.

    On the VR, the "Stop on Red Signal" was white block lettering on a black square, with "Keep Tracks Clear" with Black block lettering on a white rectangle.

    These signs were below the twin red flashing lights, with the "Keep Tracks Clear" sign being below the "Stop on Red Signal Sign".

    The current standard now uses black lettering on a white square for the "Stop on Red Signal" sign.

    4 / I like the representation of the Armco barrier around the FL post, and this pattern was also used in Australia in urban industrial areas.

    Best wishes and regards, Echidna.
     
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  5. Gary

    Gary Wants more time for modelling.... Staff Member Administrator

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    Very informative Echidna. Thank you.

    I based my crossing off photographs, more so google maps. This way I can't get it wrong ! I will be adding cabinets near the crossing as these are found all over Miami, rail side.

    This may just be this weekends job, scratch building a cabinet, painting it silver and adding to the layout !


    Cheers, Gary.
     
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  6. Gary

    Gary Wants more time for modelling.... Staff Member Administrator

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    I still haven't built the crossing box yet..., but I have been working on some scenery instead.

    I have added extra fencing, bushes, another gravel railway crossing on one of the curved spurs and a lot more weeds, grasses and a few climbers on the fence, the vegetation type, not the 'trespasser' types ! Another area that needed some work is where the containers sit. As it was, the containers had a precarious lean on them. This has been remedied with some built up ground and road base.

    The container area...



    Gravel crossing...


    Fencing...


    Weathered fencing and climber vines and other vegetation...




    The bushes, weeds, car tyres and general litter along the rail corridor...


    I had also given the rails another coat of paint and I will probably give the ballast and sleepers a light going over with the air brush, just to bring the rust staining down to ground level.


    A couple of scenic pics with the train...



    That's it for this weekend...

    Cheers, Gary.
     
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  7. Vinylelpea

    Vinylelpea Full Member

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    It's really coming to life. Love that fencing especially the gates. Enjoying the build. :tophat:
     
  8. Gary

    Gary Wants more time for modelling.... Staff Member Administrator

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    Thank you. :tophat: Still plenty to do on the layout ! Started making some card board boxes last night to throw around as track side trash ! ;)

    Cheers, Gary.
     
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  9. jakesdad13

    jakesdad13 Staff Member Moderator

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    It looks brilliant mate, the detail is really lifting it to a higher level! Well done :tophat::tophat::tophat:

    Cheers, Pete.
     
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  10. Gary

    Gary Wants more time for modelling.... Staff Member Administrator

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    Thanks Pete. It is coming together how I imagined it ! ;)

    Card board boxes and packaging is starting to scatter around the rail corridor....



    I was always told, "if you drop something, pick it up before it becomes a bigger mess..." :lol:

    Cheers, Gary.
     
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  11. paul_l

    paul_l Staff Member Administrator

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    Really impressive Gary, but what else do we expect from you :tophat:

    Paul
     
  12. Gary

    Gary Wants more time for modelling.... Staff Member Administrator

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    Thanks Paul. :tophat:
    The layout is coming along nicely now and wont be too long before I think it is 99% complete. I say 99% as layouts are never really finished... :avatar:

    Tonight I decided to build myself a fiddle stick to make operations easier, giving me an extra 38" of storage/shunting space.


    Made from a length of 42 x 19mm pine and strips of ply for the sides. As you can see, the fiddle stick runs across a door way, so this had to be made so I can put it into place when I want to have an operating session. The scenic end has a ball catch screwed to the bottoms so it can be located safely in alignment to the layout.


    The other end against the wall sits on a removable bracket and has two tube studs to centre the fiddle stick and stop it from moving about.



    The side walls are a nice fit, or I should say the 42mm wide pine strip is just wide enough for my stock to roll onto.



    I'm pleased with the sides as I know that rolling stock won't fall off with the walls being a close to tight fit !

    Cheers, Gary.
     
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  13. Gary

    Gary Wants more time for modelling.... Staff Member Administrator

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    A short 2 minute 'run by' video...



    Cheers, Gary.
     
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  14. Gary

    Gary Wants more time for modelling.... Staff Member Administrator

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    I managed to knock up a building to hide the front hinge block. This was made from left overs from a kit bash I had done for the JSRR, using the walls and windows to help hide the block from rail side.


    As you can see in the above photo, one window is cut in half and rather than hack down a window, it was easier to patch it up, besides I only had three windows left in my spares box ! The four side wall sections were pieced together by sanding a 45* bevel on the edges to meet with the main long wall, which was also cut down in length.

    Below shows how it fits snug around the hinge block.


    The next stage was to give the building some relief in places by adding down pipes, see below.


    I ended up drilling holes through the walls as to allow rain water to escape the roof to the down pipes. These holes have been drilled level with the gutters, which sit behind the top facade, see below. The roof material was left over from another Walthers kit that I had kit bashed previously.


    The model after paint...


    ...and the model after paint with a lean-to roof for undercover loading/unloading sitting in its final position. The lean to is a piece of corrugated card and styrene strip. You can see that I do have to make amends to the fence....


    Cheers, Gary.
     
  15. jakesdad13

    jakesdad13 Staff Member Moderator

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    Looks great Gary, it does the job and looks proper too! Well done.

    Cheers, Pete.
     
  16. ianvolvo46

    ianvolvo46 Staff Member Moderator

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    that is one seriously good build Gary :tophat::tophat::tophat:

    Ian vt
     
  17. Gary

    Gary Wants more time for modelling.... Staff Member Administrator

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    Thank you Ian for your kind words, much appreciated ! :thumbs::thumbs::thumbs:

    Cheers, Gary.
     
  18. Gary

    Gary Wants more time for modelling.... Staff Member Administrator

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    A couple of weekends ago I went driving to get a decent panorama photo of the sky that I could manipulate into a back scene for the layout. I chose one photo, cropped it down in Windows Paint and then threw it into PosteRazur to get the pic to the right dimensions I needed to fill the layout.

    The size of the print which I had printed at Officeworks is 350mm x 2640mm. I always over estimate the length so I have wiggle room.

    Here is a pic of the backscene I had printed...


    Not bad for a drive out, a play around on the computer and to have it printed for $32.00 AUD or £17.80 !

    Now I just need to get a length of 3mm MDF cut to size and glue it down using wall paper paste. :D

    Cheers, Gary.
     
  19. Gary

    Gary Wants more time for modelling.... Staff Member Administrator

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    A few pics of the layout from this afternoon when the sun was hitting the layout creating a nice effect....




    The top pics were taken with a Nikon Coolpix B500 DSLR.

    These pics below I used my phone camera...




    Huge difference !

    Cheers, Gary.
     
  20. Gary

    Gary Wants more time for modelling.... Staff Member Administrator

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    This week is about getting the back scene boards cut to size with small cut outs to sit around the aluminium angle and the hinge block.

    I decide to use 3mm MDF with a melamine (painted) face. I purchased a sheet 1220 x 900 and had it cut down to two sheets 350 deep x 1220 long. I neeed two sheets as this layout folds up over itself and the back scene needs to be removable. More on the fixings later.


    Each sheet had to be sized up against the back of the layout frame and pencil makes drawn on to indicate where and how much I need to remove to allow the back boards to sit level and square.


    The photo above and below shows where the MDF has been cut around the aluminium angle...


    The photo below shows where I cut it around the extended hinge block...


    Although it is white, from the front it don't look too bad...



    Hopefully after work tomorrow I can use some special hardware to fix these to the base board frame.

    Cheers, Gary.
     
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