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Jon Fitness' average 7mm signals workbench.


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Many thanks for that Mike. The one I have fitted is purely for a movement in the wrong direction along a main line. The usual simplified meaning for a shunt signal to a driver (as I understand it) is "proceed as far as the line is clear; be prepared to stop short of any obstruction"

JF

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Hi Steve,

If I can fight my way through the massed hoards round the now legendary Lime Street I'll certainly have a chat. As far as learning from others, many thanks for introducing me to servo operation! You've probably forgotten more than I've learnt regarding signal building!! :blush:

I still haven't mastered soldering built up ladders yet................ :fool_mini:

JF

 

Hi Jon,

 

Sorry we only had time for few words at Ally Pally.

Never been on such a busy exhibit before.

 

As to "solder-up" ladders - I've stopped a while ago.

I use the best (finest) flat etches I can find, preferably with half etched rungs.

I then solder fine Nickel Silver wire up the rear of the ladder stiles to give strength and depth.

I use .3mm wire on 4mm models and .6mm or .7mm wire on 7mm scale ones.

Polish up the edges with a fine file or emery board to finish them off.

 

Hope to have a longer chat at a future show somewhere....

 

Steve.

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Hi Jon,

 

Sorry we only had time for few words at Ally Pally.

Never been on such a busy exhibit before.

 

As to "solder-up" ladders - I've stopped a while ago.

I use the best (finest) flat etches I can find, preferably with half etched rungs.

I then solder fine Nickel Silver wire up the rear of the ladder stiles to give strength and depth.

I use .3mm wire on 4mm models and .6mm or .7mm wire on 7mm scale ones.

Polish up the edges with a fine file or emery board to finish them off.

 

Hope to have a longer chat at a future show somewhere....

 

Steve.

Hi Steve,

Ally Pally was a bit busy! Lime Street looked superb and seemed to be running well too!

I use D&S ladders as they do scale 30' lengths and they're nicely proportioned. Fairly fine without being too weak. I used the trick of soldering wire down the stiles when I was building signals for the garden railway as it made them strong enough to handle a bird landing and taking off again! I'll have to have another go and take your advice about filing the sides to get a flat edge.

Cheers

JF

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Right. At this stage I now have the handrails and stanchions (0.6mm) on and the ladders fitted. Just the ladder hoops on the 2 larger dolls to do then off to the paintshops.
post-7179-0-49001500-1333185061_thumb.jpgpost-7179-0-97558600-1333185064_thumb.jpgpost-7179-0-61170100-1333185068_thumb.jpgpost-7179-0-44377900-1333185072_thumb.jpg
Should be ready to plant in a few days.
JF

Edited by Jon Fitness
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Very nice Jon - I hope it might appear in WR (as opposed to GWR) colours as I feel the later version suited modern gantries and dolls a lot better.

If I had my way it would be silver/black and weathered down but my customer wants it pristine with white dolls. I think the main posts will be grey though. :derisive:

JF

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All painted and seems to have freed off reasonably well after 3 or 4 coats. A spot of oil here and there should smooth everything up.
If I can organise it, and anyone wants to see it I'll post up a test video with lights lit and signals going down and up & stuff. :locomotive:
post-7179-0-45802200-1333231209_thumb.jpgpost-7179-0-42696800-1333231221_thumb.jpg

JF

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Here's a bit of a video of the gantry on test. Its on Flickr as the file size is a bit big to upload here so I can't view it myself from work. Let me know if the link ain't working!

Click here

JF

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Works very nicely - definitely had a good Linesman adjusting those arms. Jon - is the distant a mechanical slot or is the slotting done in the electronics?

All done electronically Mike; much simpler!

JF

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Jon,

 

Very nice!

How do you drive five arms / servos with a Servo4 board?

Is that unconnected lead in the background the answer?

 

Steve.

Spotted!

It's just a test lash up to check everything works before delivery. The customer is supplying his own DCC powered MERG boards (I think they'll operate 8 servos!) Fortunately I had managed to set the servos up so that when I swapped one servo lead out for the 5th one the stroke was exactly the same. The only adjustment needed was one of the back blinds was a bit close to a lamp case and had to be tweeked out a bit.

Cheers

JF

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Honestly, although I still have 3 more to build, this is deffo the last GW signal for now!

Wooden post early pattern stop&distant with (because I forgot it at the time...) an additional c/o arm on a little scratchbuilt bracket.
All worked with the usual servos and LED lit.
Used my usual trim tape to secure the servos in a stack underneath but just to be sure I soldered a strap of brass around the stack and to the base as well.

post-7179-0-23847400-1333796387.jpg
post-7179-0-01669700-1333796390.jpg
post-7179-0-33985000-1333796394.jpg

Now where's my tray of U/Q bits gone?....... :senile:
JF

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