Gary's Townstreet Competition Thread

The brass tube used for point push rods is only 3mm in diameter. I don't think SWMBO's high heels have a point on them that small, let alone a golf club handle ! I will say that I looked at cutting an old Hornby/Triang wheels set in half and plunging them in, but the diameter of the axles is as wide as the brass tube ! Pity really, as the wheels would have looked good.

Cheers, Gary.

 

Speaking of matt finish...



Good song.

Cheers, Gary.

ps, Would you believe I was looking at these the other day when I picked up the slide switch !

 

So, I managed to make up some platforms for the Townstreet plank.



These are made from foamcore board. I had a few sheets lying around and it is so easy to cut.



The small panel pins (above) hold the face of the platform wall in situ whilst the glue dries on the spacers/supports behind. I used a hot glue gun to put it together, then once dry, ran a bead of PVA around it (inside).



^ Not the sharpest pic, but I clad the platform wall/face in Scalescenes dark brown brick.



^ The top of the platform was finished with the Scalescenes platform kit papers, which was the edging pavers and bitumen (tarmac). A small strip of bricks were used on the end of the island platform. The island platform looks very narrow, but it is 10'6" wide. The main platform (left) is 15' wide, but will have my low relief conversion on it.

You possibly had noticed that the van in the above pic just squeezes past the edge of the platform. But the pic below looks prototypically correct in distrance !



It is rather close, actually too close for comfort. The largest van on the layout is the Class 128 Parcel van, which is even longer than a MK1 Parcel/Brake van.



Looking down from above shows the closeness of the van to the platform. Now it doesn't look prototypically correct ! (above)



^ By pulling the platform back a little, I can adjust the clearance of the brake/parcel van. The longest vehicle/van to be used is the Class 128 Parcel Van. This may mean pulling the platform back some more and trimming off the excess. I will check and re-check before fixing the island platform in place.

As it stands now, I need to remove approximately 10mm off the platform end. Ofcourse it will be the opposite end, which sits hard up against the backscene (side scene).



To remove the excess, I will use a hobby saw rather than a scapel or utility knife (Stanley).

More to follow, soon.

Cheers, Gary.

 

Thanks Ed, I think I will do exactly that. It is always a PITA to have to cut and shut a fixed model. Luckily, I haven't glued the second platform down into position.

Something I didn't mention last niight was that I had painted the sleepers in a wash of Humbrol matt dark grey (No.67) and Humbrol matt tan (No.187).

Cheers, Gary.

 

Finished all the under board electrics today. The electrofrog points have been wired to the slide switches and all works ok. I tested the track power on DC before even attempting to wire it to DCC, as I think a DC test is way cheaper to repair than DCC decoders !!



Above. The piece of code 100 track thumb tacked and glued to the base underside is the power bus.

Below. All soldered up. The paired purple and white wires running to the lower right hand corner are there to hook up a DC controller for testing purposes.



Below. To keep exposed wires seperate on the micro switches, I drilled three holes through the micro switch mounting blocks and fed the frog wires in these.



Now, the power supply and frog test using an Alco RSD4/5 diesel...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZrxgFJ9XEY&feature=youtu.be



So far so good...

Now I can get onto wiring up the NCE PCP before starting the back scene, bridge, back scene buildings, parcel depot, front siding factory/warehouse, ballasting, detailing etc, etc...

Cheers, Gary.

 

Couple of items arrived today in the post, which means I'll now have to pull my finger out on the plank, only so I can catch up to Ian's progress !



Plenty of girder pieces for the scenic break bridge. At £4.00 each, I thought I'd buy more than I needed !

...and this lovely wagon... At £12.00, this I thought was a bargain. Plenty of great detail on the horse box compared to Hornby's previous van from 25+ years ago !



The goats do need transporting in style !

Now, I better go get on with the plank, Ian's surging ahead...!

Cheers, Gary.

 

Way back in the 9th post of this thread I mentioned I had purchased the Scalescenes R005 Large Station Building that I will be kit bashing into something different. Well, this afternoon I printed out a few of the templates and began cutting them up, rearranging, gluing together, until I had something that resembles a goods/parcel depot.



Using these sheets above gave me the base for the building. Measuring and cutting them to fit together. Measuring the distance between the windows was critical so that I could replicate the spacing further along the length of the building (below). The very centre windows do have a different spacing, 29mm as opposed to 19mm between each window. This can be remedied by reducing the length of the lower (platform door) section of the template. I would only need to remove approximately 5mm from each end of the outer single doors.



The very end of the prints I left alone as this area may need trimming up to fit the site, or if I want to alter the window arrangement. The outcome of the piecing together is shown below. This measures 585mm or 23" in the old money. Scale this down and it measures 146'3" long. I have decided that it should be three stories high as there will be a road bridge to the left of the building.



Just for something different, that possibly isn't far from some of the designs of these buildings is to have a slightly different centre section with the windows, ie office area. I like the idea of another raised section within the roof line. Perhaps this should be at the very left hand end of the building closer to where the main road will be. Hmmm, I think about this...



The paper template was stuck to a piece of MDF and sat at platform height to gauge how big this building will be and whether or not it will or will not be imposing.



The bridge girder sections have also been started. One of these can be seen in the above pic between the tracks.

This template is just that, a template. I do have some other ideas on how this could look using other components from the station building kit. Once I am totally satisfied with the plan, I will reprint the sections and glue them directly to either card or 3mm foamcore. I think the foamcore will be much stronger overtime and with possibly less warping that comes with card.

Cheers, Gary.