Jump to content
 

Harlequin

RMweb Gold
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    5,592

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Blog Entries posted by Harlequin

  1. Harlequin
    I had an idea to knock up some pointwork. Left work early to go to the local model shop and bought some code 75 points, track and joiners.
     
    After battling out of town through the rush hour traffic jams I realised I hadn't thought to buy any insulating joiners!
     
    D'Oh!
     
    Project on hold for a few more days now, sadly.
  3. Harlequin
    I noticed that the new bullhead rail large radius points are still being described as 60in (1524mm) radius when we all know that's rubbish. They simply can't be if they are to give a 12 degree turnout angle and a 2in (50.8mm) separation between parallel tracks.
     
    I emailed Peco and they said the 60in radius is a "nominal" figure because the points include "combination curve"s. This is also rubbish because either "nominal" means the overall effective radius of the points, which you can measure and is not 60in, or the "combined curves" include some smaller radius sections as well as the 60in radius to achieve the 12 degree turnout and 2in track spacing - in which case they should be quoting the smaller radius. (If that's the case they may as well say the all their points are "nominally" infinite radius - because they include straight sections... ;-)
     
    They kindly gave me a phone number so I called and explained that mathematically the 60in radius is impossible for the large radius point, given the angle and spacing constraints. The person I spoke to:
    Was very resistant to accepting that the radius they had been quoting all these years was wrong. Said that it would be confusing to customers if they changed it now. Said that the radius was "given to them" by the original designer of the point and he probably worked it out by laying known radius curves onto a paper drawing to see which matched. Said that it doesn't really matter what the radius actually is as long as trains run smoothly over it...

    I said that I understood the problem of changing the quoted radius now but in the long run it must be better to give correct information rather than incorrect.
     
    Not very satisfactory, really...
     
    Phil
  4. Harlequin

    Giant feline

    By Harlequin,

    I just worked out (for obvious reasons) that my fat little cat is 67ft 6in tall at the shoulders in 4mm scale. That's roughly 20.5 metres - slightly taller than the Angel of the North.
     
    I dread to think what her tonnage would be...
     
    ;-)
  6. Harlequin
    Even though I'm a GWR man through and through I convinced myself that I really ought to have a Flying Scotsman. A distant family connection, a special offer from Locomotion and the feeling that every modeller should really have one at some time were enough for me.
     
    Now I find myself coveting the Hornby Stannier Duchess!
     
    And I don't even have a layout yet, just some track on a table! Argh!
  7. Harlequin
    I fitted the stiffeners today which make the side pieces into L beams for longitudinal strength and provide some racking resistance to hold the entire unit square.
     
    One of the ends had the PSE fixed wrongly inside the plywood. The stiffener stood proud so I had to chisel out a little rebate:

     
    The frame was remarkably square (1609mm across one diagonal, 1610 across the other) so I just glued, screwed and pinned the stiffeners into place without making any other adjustments:

     
    The stiffeners really work - the unit is very rigid in most directions now but it flexes a bit more than I'd like when one corner is lifted. I still need to connect the spines to the ends but I think some sort of diagonal bracing will probably be needed.
     
    Turned the right way up with the stiffeners at the bottom:

  8. Harlequin
    I completed the frame of baseboard #2 using the parts I cut at the same time as those for baseboard #1.

     
    There are detail differences but it's basically the same pattern. No corner braces on the top face because I don't think they add anything and no holes in the ribs because, ahem, I forgot. But since the frame is open the holes are probably redundant anyway and they don't affect the weight much - I can lift the unit with one finger.
     
    I need to make one more similar board and a simple bridging piece to complete my roundy-round test track.
  9. Harlequin
    I have now made board skeleton #3. I'm getting quicker!

     
    I'm getting used to the process, improving my working methods (e.g. using a longer fence on the table saw to get long straight parallel cuts in the boards) and simplifiying the construction by relying more on glue and leaving out some fixings.
     
    This is how the three boards will be arranged with a bridging section where the 6ft level is to form the roundy-round circuit.

×
×
  • Create New...