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Halwill Signal Box: Post Holiday Progress


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Back from the Hols, I an now moving slowly forward with the Halwill and "Sow's Ear" signal boxes and (at last) Mr Brunel's Hat :O

 

First off, work to date on Halwill. The instrument shelf has not yet been fixed in place ,nor has the signalling plan or the stove - all of which have been given the OK and will be installed in the next day or so

 

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The under roof (to be clad in SEF slates) is a test piece based on the mockup that was chosen by OldDudders, but it doesn't look quite right, however it's easy enough to redo the hipped roof and I'll re-use the roof assembly base which has strengthening bars cut to fit the box on the underside of the assembly

 

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As always, comments and critiques are appreciated

 

F

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Flavio,

 

A truly excellent job although i think one or two of the lever colours might not be right (how finnicky can this man get he asks??) but I'm not at all sure what colour the Southern painted mechanical release levers and they might even have been red as you have at least one painted. But it is a true sign of your artistry that checking along the frame - to the extent possible on these pics - I am finding blue levers where there should be blue levers for the diagram you have exhibited; very impressive. My only other question mark - which is nothing to do with your work in most respects - is that I am as puzzled now about some of the items on the block shelf as I was when the castings originally came out and I still can't make up my mind whether they are meant to be signal repeaters (which could be there) or block instruments (which definitely shouldn't be there) but at this rate I'll soon be on to counting angels dancing on the head of a pin.

 

Smashing job and I hope the client will be well satisfied.

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Huh, we can't win! The layout for which the illustrious Swiss is building the box will not actually ape all of the Halwill ironwork, but putting the full diagram up seems as good an idea as any. The principal difference in layout will be the loss of the WW2 sidings, but the yard is also simplified and reversed due to site constraints - and we can't fit a runround loop on the Torrington branch, either. Neverthless, I was responsible for giving Flavio the brief on lever colours, which are therefore more or less to match the diagram. Flavio points out that we are a couple of levers short, in fact, but I don't suppose our signalman will miss them! As for the mech releases - I think #38 is one - I must admit I was a bit uncertain about colour, and sadly failed to find any reference to lever colour at all in Pryer's "Southern Signals" - printed in the black and white era for gricer literature, of course. Thus, like a good NSE lamp-post - paint it red! [Having been Chris Green's Investment Manager, the mantra is well-learnt!]

 

As for the bits and pieces on the block shelf, they are, as you say, a bit indistinct, but as such convey the right impression. We have been unable to unearth any snaps of the interior of the box, so a lot of guesswork has gone into it. I make a few guesses and Flavio does the work! As an example of international modelling - Swiss modelling of a Devonian signalbox for a gink in France - I think we are ahead!

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That looks rather fine, Flavio. A quick question if I may though. How do you build the internal framework for a hipped roof? As I have a new station building under construction (4 walls done and ready for the roof), it's close to my mind!

 

Cheers,

Tim

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Basically, Tim, I don't...

 

There was a post somewhere on RMWeb detailing how to draw a hipped roof in the flat, derived from the dimensions of the desired roof i.e.after drawing the longest side of the roof in the flat, the triangular end can be calculated and drawn, as in my sketch:

 

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The above is the "correct way" of calculating and drawing an accurate hipped roof in the flat, I also have a quick and dirty method (you only need three dimensions: length of roof at gutter, length at ridge and height of roof in the flat), which allows you to experiment with various dimensions until the hipped roof "looks right" (which is what I finally did with Halwill)

 

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Thus by using thin card, I was able to quickly mock up 4 different versions of the roof for Halwill

 

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And Roof III is the one that will be installed.

 

Once you have a mockup that "looks right" you can then make the final roof - also by the "quick and dirty" method. I find that by using 30thou plasticard, the "quick and dirty" method results in a strong roof without the need for internal framing. Although you could build a cosmetic set of roof beams/frames out of square plastic rod.

 

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