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Hi

 

I was wondering if anyone has any tips to how to build a great western style turntable in 00? Ive seen a article in railway modeller that uses two peco kits an a Dapol kit to create one an I was wondering tif this is the best way to go

 

Regards Neil

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Arch Laser are working on a kit to convert the Peco N Gauge turntable to a more GWR-ish appearance. It might be worth contacting them to see if a 00 version would be possible. In theory they might just be able to adjust the laser scaling by 76:148. I thikn Maurice at Osborns is their distributor so it might be worth dropping him a line to ask.

 


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Probably the key thing to making a GWR type turntable look authentic is getting the length right, 65 feet seems to be the usual size for major depots whereas most RTR models tend to be 75 ish feet.   65 feet will turn a King or an LMS Duchess.  I chopped one "Bay" out of a Dapol turntable  which is basically GWR in design to reduce it to 10 ish inches and made up a circular support rail and weird locking device and it works quite successfully though hand pushed.   It is surprising how much difference a couple of inches in diameter makes to the space in a loco depot.

Edited by DavidCBroad
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  • 6 months later...

hello

 

has anyone here built a metalsmiths GWR turntable?  it looks really nice on there website an thought I would ask on here to see if anyone has built one or got any info on them?

 

kind regards Neil

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  • RMweb Premium

hello

 

has anyone here built a metalsmiths GWR turntable?  it looks really nice on there website an thought I would ask on here to see if anyone has built one or got any info on them?

 

kind regards Neil

 

Ozzy O has modified one in 7mm it starts on page 37 post no 902

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/30482-building-a-gwr-grange-more-in-7mm-of-from-a-jltrt-kit-starts-on-p85-by-ozzyo/page-37

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I have also built one in 0.

 

The kit was pretty good. The table is made from etched brass overlays on a PCB structure. The pit is layers of MDF. I did not buy the optional operating mechanism, and did have some problems with drive belts - see my threads on the subject. Eventually I fitted an axial stepper motor with integral gearbox.

 

The table went together well, bit fiddly to assemble but looks the part IMO, but the pit does not replicate reality as well as it might, as it does not feature the very shallow coning or the concrete centre that the base of the pit shows in photos I have. Also the ring rail should be on a raised concrete ring around the pit. I'm unlikely to try to change mine now, although, with the benefit of a laser, it would be feasible. Too much work...

 

If you are doing a DCC layout, think about the power feed to the deck - you do not want the typical "commutator" using the ring rail split, as it will cause shorts and loss of sound. I powered mine (eventually, when I thought about it) by the rail as one pole, and the centre spindle as the other. Polarity can be handled by micro switches & cams (fiddly but practical), an Arduino and relay (my approach as the t/t is stepper motored and the Arduino does both) or a frog juicer (simple, effective, and expensive).

 

I would build another, but if I did, I suspect I'd make a few changes as above to improve the pit. Ozzy modified the table for Steve Fay, and it does look very much like Ranelagh Bridge, which is what he was trying to achieve - quite a bit of work though. Not sure what Steve did with the pit - you could ask on his thread, or pm him, I'm sure.

 

HTH

Simon

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  • 4 years later...

Just wondering about the Dapol turntable kit. Am I correct in thinking this is ex-Airfix/Peco?

 

https://www.Dapol.co.uk/c001-turntable-manual-25cm-diameter-503

 

Does it matter that the Dapol turntable as pictured has the steelwork above the track instead of below? I've seen real-life examples like that (e.g. Minehead and Cheltenham) but they seem to be less common than the inverted type.

 

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffnt&q=uk+railway+turntable&atb=v133-1&iax=images&ia=images

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