stephenashton

Chaz - Thanks for taking Dock Green to Telford. I really enjoyed seeing this layout 'in the flesh'. It's an absolute gem and looked really engaging to operate too.

Chaz - May I echo the comments above. It really was worth persevering with the YouTube uploads. Both All three videos were great. I really wish I'd been to Basingstoke or Warley and seen this in the flesh.

Edited to rectify the cross-post with #1401 above!

A few points to add to the comments above:

• Don't model the scaffolding based on modern practice, there would not be any toeboards and minimum of handrails. 1940s health and safety: if you fall off it's your fault for not looking where you were going.
• Don't give the workers hard hats or florescent vests. What's wrong with a tweed jacket and flat cap?
• Do give at least supervisors ties.
• Do show cement being mixed on site, probably by hand on boards rather than in even a rudimentary cement mixer.
• Do show loads of sand, bricks etc. being wheeled up a ramp formed from one scaffold plank.
• Do show waste materials being thrown from scaffold without a chute or hoist.
• Don't show too much support for the sides of deep excavations. Working in areas as risk of collapse was known and accepted.
• Do show a supervisor (with his hands in his pockets) stood on the edge of an excavation just where he himself could cause a collapse.
• Lifting equipment would have been much more rudimentary and you might have some fun building a Heath Robinson-like hoist system.
• Don't be tempted to show the site office as much more than a wooden shed, certainly no portakabins, welfare facilities, etc.
• Do show one small wooden WC hut, but perhaps with luxurious weed growth behind it ... ;-)
• Don't show health and safety warning notices.
• Don't worry about fencing the site: if anyone strays onto site and hurts themselves it's their own stupid fault.
• Do show nightwatchman's hut and brazier. A guard dog or two wouldn't go amiss.

Thanks Rabs, Michael and Stephen for your input.  I'll get some video up of the operation once I have something more to show.

No problem. As I said, I hope it works for you. Looking forward to the video.

My hope with the traverser is that an arduino controlled stepper motor will be accurate enough, using micro steps if needed.   That's the next task after building the test traverser, a 250mm version of the 800mm full size one.  I should be in a position to wire up the motor and start testing code by mid-February I think (waiting for component delivery).

My worry doesn't relate to the accuracy of the motor, but the reliance on the magnetic field to maintain a reliable and predictable relationship between the magnets in the traverser and the magnets moved by the stepper motor. I really hope it works for you, but it seems to me that:

1. the momentum of the traverser will prevent it from stopping precisely enough, and

    

2. the inertia required to start the traverser moving will mean that small adjustments made by the motor won't translate into the movement intended.

I hope I'm wrong. I love the concept of the model and the techniques you are using.

Alan - I'm really enjoying watching this model develop. There's some lovely work here and I really like the way you're using modern methods to create the model.

I like the design of the traverser but how are you going to stop it accurately enough? 

The fret saw is from Squires and they advertise it as 'high Quality Fixed Piercing Saw Frame'.  I cannot argue with discription as it certainly does the job and is a modest £6.99.

 

The blades are, again, Squires. They are carbon steel with hardened teeth. 25 TPI & 15 TPI  The 15 TPI I mainly use on plastikard.  £3.10 per pack of 12. They do stirling work and seem to last forever.  I fact careless use breaking them before wearing out seems to the norm for me.

Hi Ken - I've been following your thread avidly over the last twelve months or so. There's some lovely modelling here. I've stuck my head above the parapet today because these posts are really useful. A fret saw is virtually at the top of my wish list for new tools and these details will be invaluable, plus you've provided some useful tips as to how to use it too! Thanks for sharing this information. I'll be watching the rest of the build with interest ... Stephen 

Scalescenes works better for me. Somehow the textures on the Smart Models kits seem a bit unreal. It's hard to put your finger on why, it's just the Scalescenes kits look more 'right'.

The more I see of this thread, the more I wish I'd gone to the NEC last weekend. It looks absolutely great.

... l think it will be worth in the end ?

Based on these photos: yes and yes, again. It's looking much, much better ... watching with interest!

Looks like l have to strip the whole thing down now that l have started..

George - It looks like you are doing a superb job of breathing life back into this model. It's fascinating to see how resilient the brass is. Seems as if you'd have to work really hard to ruin a model so badly that it cannot be rescued!

OK chaps I would like your opinions, a while ago I said I was intending to coat the pit sides in a concrete finishimage.jpg

I'm thinking of using Concrete wall No 2 from the above range. I can't decide whether it would be to much of a contrast or whether to just weather the sides with more black powders.

What do you think?

Great work, Steve. I'm planning to start a (small) O Gauge layout with an (even smaller) diorama. So I'm watching this with interest.

Regarding your current dilema, I'd go for Concrete Wall No 2 toned down with black weathering powder.