G`day Folks, Welcome to another Gormo`s Shed here in 2020.......still am not used to 2020....it doesn`t look right somehow.???....I guess me being born 1/2 way through the last century could explain it, meaning my mind is set in another time????. 2020, when I was 20, was a futuristic time when everything would be automated and we would be walking about in shiny space suits, flying around like the Jetsons and robots would be doing all the domestic duties......Ha !!!! As good as technology is.....we ain`t there yet.!! Anyway folks, what does that have to do with Platform Canopies..???......absolutely nothing....it just popped into my mind so I thought it should be written down.... Yes folks...back on the subject of platform canopies. I built one a while back because my platform widths don`t really suit any of the proprietary kits that are available. I also have curved platforms in part but that`s another project. So I built my own canopy from mostly cereal box card, which means everything has to be designed and hand built. Sounds intimidating doesn`t it, but it does not need to be intimidating. All you need to do is break it down in your mind into it`s basic components. The roof panels are rectangles as are the skylight openings in the roof. The canopy ends are triangles as are the canopy trusses but the trusses have bits cut out of them. One end of the canopy support is a Peco Kiosk....already built at the factory...just needs painting and decoration. Canopy support posts are dowels. So we`ve got here the basic components.......ah yes you say....but I have to draw them all up and cut them out and assemble them and work out how to do that.?....OK that`s true, but each one is simple in it`s own right and the finished canopy is just an accumulation of simple pieces......you just have to make them all....but a lot of the manufacture is repetition of one piece. By the time you`ve made three or four of the one thing, you get pretty good at it and faster as well. I would encourage anyone reading this to have a go at scratch building. You don`t need fancy tools and fancy building materials, you just need to use what you`ve got with a little imagination, a good amount of time, effort and patience. Gormo
