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The hazards of layout building in Australia


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Much of Australia tops 40C at times.  Remote places and sun-traps can top 50C.  It's unusual to have an extended spell this hot as the linked report suggests.  Four or five days isn't uncommon in many places though, but typically in January - March rather than November.

 

There are bans on certain heat-producing processes and on use of naked and contained flames on such days.  Soldering isn't banned but is strongly advised against and to be avoided when possible.  

 

Other problems occur when trying to paint or glue anything.  Extreme heat can cause paint and adhesives to thin and vaporise.  But once on a brush paint can dry hard in seconds.  We live with it.  Another thing I try to avoid in hot weather is the use of IPA for track cleaning as it too vaporises and that vapour can be rather volatile.

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Much of Australia tops 40C at times.  Remote places and sun-traps can top 50C.  It's unusual to have an extended spell this hot as the linked report suggests.  Four or five days isn't uncommon in many places though, but typically in January - March rather than November.

 

There are bans on certain heat-producing processes and on use of naked and contained flames on such days.  Soldering isn't banned but is strongly advised against and to be avoided when possible.  

 

Other problems occur when trying to paint or glue anything.  Extreme heat can cause paint and adhesives to thin and vaporise.  But once on a brush paint can dry hard in seconds.  We live with it.  Another thing I try to avoid in hot weather is the use of IPA for track cleaning as it too vaporises and that vapour can be rather volatile.

Another problem, as I discussed with a few people last night (including James McInerney of AMRM) is for certain 3D printed plastics in the temperatures out here. With sheds/garages etc. reaching 45+ when in the sun for long hours, it can wreak havoc with certain plastics and methods used in the production of 3D printed items.

 

With it to be 39*C here in Sydney tomorrow, I think many of us may be taking a break from model making tomorrow.

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I looked seriously at the 3D printing possibilities when at RMWeb in Coventry.  To the point of establishing some costs to set up and produce.  The climate makes that a little tricky at present.  Although technology is improving all the time I have chosen not to proceed with the project.

Edited by Gwiwer
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Much of Australia tops 40C at times.  Remote places and sun-traps can top 50C.  It's unusual to have an extended spell this hot as the linked report suggests.  Four or five days isn't uncommon in many places though, but typically in January - March rather than November.

 

There are bans on certain heat-producing processes and on use of naked and contained flames on such days.  Soldering isn't banned but is strongly advised against and to be avoided when possible.  

 

Other problems occur when trying to paint or glue anything.  Extreme heat can cause paint and adhesives to thin and vaporise.  But once on a brush paint can dry hard in seconds.  We live with it.  Another thing I try to avoid in hot weather is the use of IPA for track cleaning as it too vaporises and that vapour can be rather volatile.

But in Northern parts of Australia are above or near the Tropic of Capricorn, including Longreach, which is actually on the line, so the sun is virtually directly overhead at this time of year. Further north, the sun would appear in the SOUTHERN sky.

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Another problem, as I discussed with a few people last night (including James McInerney of AMRM) is for certain 3D printed plastics in the temperatures out here. With sheds/garages etc. reaching 45+ when in the sun for long hours, it can wreak havoc with certain plastics and methods used in the production of 3D printed items.

 

With it to be 39*C here in Sydney tomorrow, I think many of us may be taking a break from model making tomorrow.

Zane, at the BRMA Convention in Adelaide last month one of the talks was on 3D printing, by someone who has done a lot of this not only for railway modelling but also in his professional life in the education system. If I understood him correctly, the use of polylactic acid (PLA) can lead to instability including at the sort of temperatures you mention. His recommendation was to use acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), which is the material that Lego bricks are made from apparently.

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Now that's a Transit Policeman to worry about!

I once had a honey bee land on an auto coach and ride on the roof until the train reached a Hydrangea plant which was in flower where upon it flew to the nearest flower.Naturally with the coach roof being white that attracted it in the first place. Ants often scurry out of the way from approaching trains and Sulphur Crested Cockatoos used to peck at the copper track bonds but only when the railway was out of use. Perhaps the current running through rails deterred them when the railway is in use.

Dogs are no problem but cats seem to view model railway rolling stock as prey. I even found my pink tongue on the railway gently rocking back an forth using the rail to cure an itch on it's belly.   

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It got to 43 here in the mountains where I live. Thank heavens for air conditioning. Trying to lay new rails in this heat is to be avoided. The shiny rails heat up super quick and it's like putting your hand on a hot plate on a stove,( or how I imagine it would be). My track is all covered so that even though on extremely hot days one can easily feel the heat, the rails being covered are only warm. Peco track is able to take outdoor conditions but within reasons. One just needs to take sensible precautions.

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  • 7 months later...

attachicon.gifflowers and lizard 002.JPG

 

This Pink Tongue Lizard has live at my place for over 12 years. He/she lives under the house in the winter time and in summer lives in an agricultural pipe near the garden shed where the photo was taken.

For those who don't know Pink Tongue Lizards are members of the Goanna family and are like Blue Tongues although smaller. They can climb but can't dig.

This one was cornered by me at the back door once and opened it's mouth and hissed at me. I bent over hissed back very loudly where upon it closed it's mouth and ran like the clappers.

It also startled a carpenter when he was doing some work inside the house with the front door open. It just wandered in to see what all the noise was.

I don't know if it's a she or he as I don't speak Goanna and he/she doesn't speak English.

I too get red back spiders but a quick squirt with household insecticide has them dead in a few minutes. Oddly they're called red backs but the red stripe is more orange than red and as they die it fades.

Female funnel webs are the most dangerous and when she mates with a male he has to get away very quickly otherwise she turns round and gives him a lethal bite then eats him. Hardly worth all the trouble of "courting" her in the first place. The difference between a male and female is that she has a glossy body and he has a matt one.

As for snakes I've never had one. But snakes will generally try to get out of your way. People only seem to get bitten when they pick up a stick and start jabbing at the snake who can't say "please don't do that as it hurts" so they bite in self defense and yes once warmed up they can move a hell of a lot faster than we can.    

I can tell you that my pink tongue lizard is now dead. I came home from work and he/she was in the mouth of a red belly black snake on the driveway. I went indoors to phone the wildlife lot and when I returned the snake had dropped the lizard and gone. All the markings from the head to just in front of it's hind legs were gone. I guess the digestive juice of the snake had done that. I've never seen the snake since. I guess it was bound to happen eventually.

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It got to 43 here in the mountains where I live. Thank heavens for air conditioning. Trying to lay new rails in this heat is to be avoided. The shiny rails heat up super quick and it's like putting your hand on a hot plate on a stove,( or how I imagine it would be). My track is all covered so that even though on extremely hot days one can easily feel the heat, the rails being covered are only warm. Peco track is able to take outdoor conditions but within reasons. One just needs to take sensible precautions.

When working in Saudi, when working on a car, we used to put the spanners in a bucket of cold water or we couldn't pick them up.

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When working in Saudi, when working on a car, we used to put the spanners in a bucket of cold water or we couldn't pick them up.

Track gangs had similar problems with crowbars and pinch bars in outback Australia. Laying them down on the ground would mean that within minutes they would be too hot to handle. When not in use they were usually stuck upright in the dirt and, if you were lucky, wet sacks placed over them.

 

Cheers

David

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Just to prove it's not all scorching sun in Australia that we have to model through here's the view from the front of my vehicle last Friday this would make any one from the top side feel right at home.

post-14985-0-57199400-1437270456.jpg

 

Then we have this from Bob up the "New England" region of New South Wales, wonder where that name origin's came from?. We were a colonial settlement.

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/97916-the-great-australian-outdoors/?p=1952351

 

post-14985-0-64835600-1437270678.jpg

 

Happy Modelling

Chris

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People mostly focus on the mobile nasties.  What about the plants!

We have lots of indiginous poisonous ones plus a whole swag of imported. 

A Gympie Gympie can kill on contact.

 

Also add ticks (cattle, scrub and bush varieties) and chiggers to the list of unpleasant encounters (sometimes deadly).

 

CFJ

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Not just in Oz, either. I'm 120 miles WSW of Paris, and this was in my railway barn the other year. It has not improved my motivation for being out there, despite a helpful RMwebber pointing out the lack of markings on the back suggests it is harmless. This is against the un-rendered interior wall of my barn.

 

attachicon.gifSnake 1.jpg

 

I now realise that the previously-unidentified droppings on the floor that I often find are snake-poo. Nice.

Take a positive view: snakes eat mice, after all. Sometimes even rats.

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People mostly focus on the mobile nasties.  What about the plants!

We have lots of indiginous poisonous ones plus a whole swag of imported. 

A Gympie Gympie can kill on contact.

 

Also add ticks (cattle, scrub and bush varieties) and chiggers to the list of unpleasant encounters (sometimes deadly).

 

CFJ

.... don't forget the Drop Bears....

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People mostly focus on the mobile nasties.  What about the plants!

We have lots of indiginous poisonous ones plus a whole swag of imported. 

A Gympie Gympie can kill on contact.

 

Also add ticks (cattle, scrub and bush varieties) and chiggers to the list of unpleasant encounters (sometimes deadly).

 

CFJ

I'm always minded of Mike Harding's verdict - "under the dunny seat, which is downright unsporting"

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  • 5 weeks later...
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How do you know, Kevin???  :jester:

I was up in the roof a couple of months ago, replacing a faulty phone cable and chased out a pair just like those, along with 7 species of spiders, possums, a couple of feral goats and 4 drop bears. What about you, have you checked your roof lately? What about those green eyes peering at you, each time you do number ones?

 

OK some of the above is true, I'll let you guess!

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  • 4 months later...
  • 1 month later...

On the plant front is the giant stinging tree which is a native to Queensland/Northern NSW. To come into contact with it's sharp thick needles is an experience not easily forgotten. Even months later the place where the needle contact you can flare up again. Apparently early travelers horses went berserk on contact with the sharp needles and the travelers weren't too impressed either.

One thing I've found odd is that the poms have brambles whereas we have blackberries. Brambles used to be a trucking company. 

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