Planning A Trip North...

All,

Another busy weekend...

Following a chat with Warren Herbert from Gwydir Valley Models it has been decided that the collection of completed & planned Laser Rail Bits kits will be going on a road trip.

There is a convention planned in the Northern Tablelands next weekend & Warren has kindly offered the opportunity for the "collection" to be on show.  While i don't profess to know much about this get together, it is time that i swallow my apprehensions & put the kits under the microscope of the modelling establishment & hopefully there will be some feedback which will help decide the future of some offerings & the fate of others.

I was offered the chance of a showing of our wares by Garry Laker at the Loftus Convention earlier in the year but a last minute incident involving my daughter put paid to that weekend...

So the weekend so far has been a flurry of activity trying to finalise some items & get everything packed & ready to leave here on Monday.... Don't let me down Aussie Post!!!

As part of the preparation process i decided to include the platform signal box for the trip & have spent some time attempting to refine the components.  I must admit that i am far from happy with this little number & here i was thinking that a simple skillion roof structure would be a walk in the park.  I have now finished two signal boxes complete & while the undecorated one will be sent north... I decided to have a play around with the second one.

So what am i not happy with...

Well for starters i decided to finish the corners off with some angle trim & while this certainly hides the component joints it is well over scale & i will revert to a diamond joint where there is a square trim piece on the internal of the wall joints & a scale timber trim on the exterior joint. Also the roof structure is not quite right & will require a redesign that provides closer to scale size components while still allowing a strong assembly.  I will also have to find a two / six panel window assembly for the front face as even though i was unfazed originally...the eight panel variety is bugging me know. There is still the question of guttering & while i have used plastruct channel to replicate the quad guttering & it does look convincing...it would be nice if this item was available locally.  I should have a quantity of 500gallon water tanks arriving soon & these on a timber frame being fed with downpipes should complete the scene.

I know some would also be puzzled by the colours i have selected for the painted sample.  This colour was in use for the station building & cream shed located at Narellan back in the 50s/60s ... I have some photos that certainly show this colour ( or a very close hue ) used & while it is not entirely my cup of tea...I was intrigued enough to try the scheme out. I don't think this scheme will be adopted on anything else I build.

While i has fiddling around i decided to utilise this sample to also try out some weathering ideas i have had which entail the use of water based acrylic, thinned with IPA ( Isocol ) applied in 4 or 5 light coats & left to dry between each.  When dry i have sanded back the colour in some areas & when bare timber has been revealed i then dry brushed some Raven Oil mixed with IPA onto these areas. Not sure if the result is what i was looking but like all things weathering... I will try anything.  It would certainly be interesting to have several coats of differing colour & when rubbing back it would reveal feathered edges of the ages of colours.

Lastly a humorous footnote... I managed to spill a complete paint pot ( white for those interested ) all over the timber paling fence samples being prepared for transit... So at present they look as though they have been in some kind of neighbourhood dispute & will of course not be making the trip north....

Anyway i have added some shots... 

On the left is the sample going north & on the right is the guinea pig...

   




Roof Installed

Weathering has commenced...

A Little More....Maybe overdone...



Platform Signal Boxes...

All,

First of all i would like to thank all the people for the mini flood of emails responding to the timber water tank stand posts...Apart from the local gang...I have had EOIs from as far away as Israel, Brazil & Old Mother England!!!

It must be obvious by now that this kit will be the next release & if time permits during the week,  the final details, instructions & box labels will be printed & all going well ( the real job stays un panicked ) by mid November they will be available....Here's hoping !!! 

To those who have followed the posts on the other projects planned...they will be all done in one incarnation or another...The period over christmas & new year should allow a fair bit of progress on that front.  BTW none of these kits either planned or available now are "limited run" kits. Once released they will be available for the long term. One thing i have learnt...even with the meagre range we have is that dreaming up a project & working it up for release is one thing...but replenishing the range once released & exhausted is another thing altogether. There may be times where a kit is out of stock but this should be only for short periods  It is an ever increasing spiral & one i must admit i enjoy...If it wasn't for the need to generate an income from the "real business".

Now to the reason behind this post.... My long suffering wife suggested that i have a weekend off...just sit on the lounge & catch up on some reading.. she offered...So i did... ???!!!

I decided to retrace my steps in regards to the Cream Shed project & pulled another pile of publications from the ever increasing library with the view of looking for more examples. Well one thing led to another & i got sidetracked onto signal boxes.  Not the elevated main line variety but the much forgotten branchline examples that were in vast numbers & decorated many country branch platforms many years ago.

With the basic skillion roof design of the cream shed completed, it should not take that long to work up some drawings & samples for a timber version Standard Platform Level Signal Box.  And so it was that part of the weekend was spent perusing the Greg Edwards files & then researching the differing examples that existed in prototype form. 

One thing was evident from the start that just like most things railway...It it pointless just relying on departmental drawings & more important to find examples that belong to a certain family of structures.

So armed with drawings & photos of Wauchope, Barellan, Ganmain & Mittagong Junction etc etc & documenting the minor differences...It was time to produce a version of a 18' 8" x 12' 2" Platform Signal Box.   This initial choice will be followed by the tiny 10' 2" x 10' 2" & the marginally larger  21' 8" x 12' 2"...mind you if these never see the light of day as kits...they will find a home on the layout anyway.

The other attraction of this basic design is that it will come in handy for finalising out of sheds, waiting rooms etc etc

As can be seen from the photographs, this kit is our first foray into a composite type kit & incorporates Tichy brand windows & doors.  Yes it is possible to laser cut windows successfully but the scale size components are very fragile indeed... & assembly would be a nightmare.  The front window assembly is not exactly to prototype...8 panes instead of 6...but i have seen examples of an 8 pane unit...so i am unfazed by this anomally

The need to incorporate other manufacturers components into kits has been coming for a while & i must say that the Tichy brand is up there quality wise on top of that... Don Tichy is a very easy person to deal with... so utilising his stuff in future would be a delight.

For this project the only other components required will be corrugated card, chimney pipe detail for the larger versions, guttering & downpipes & a water tank for some versions  All but the guttering is a relatively easy task to procure & it is amazing that someone has not come up with an easily sourced scale quad guttering detail item...I must do some research on domestic guttering O/S & see what they use...

Anyway that's enough banter for this post...Take a look at the shots....keeping in mind that the sample is a first up trial & the roofing material, guttering & downpipes are yet to be fitted..




General View..

         

The rear showing the vents which i have "cheated" and tried to replicate with the laser rather than a separate detail item...

Opposite end view... I have tried a different technique on this kit & tried to get a better appearance of rusticated weatherboards





 

Water Tank Update...Update.

All,

As i had promised myself...the elevated water tank samples are complete...

It has been a frustrating week with a trial of birch timber which i had obtained to trial for the columns & bearers of this project an absolute disaster. The birch is essentially a rather expensive ply & the charring which occurred due to the material & laminating glues being "cremated" by the laser was totally unacceptable.  To be honest i have been wanting to trial this stuff on the laser for a while & i have now "been there", "done that",  "bought the T shirt" & am not happy Jan...

So... the end result is that all timberwork in this proposed kit(s) will be basswood.  As much as basswood can be a little brittle across the grain at times...it does look like timber should & does weather & age like timber should.  When the kit is assembled  the individual items come together to form an extremely strong finished article.

 I have decided the baseplate will be 3mm opaque acrylic with the column holes all cut out & ready to go.  The acrylic will give a solid base which will not warp etc over time or during layout scenery building.  The acrylic will accept PVA glue so scenicking the base is no problem.

The rest of the items are all precut & shaped to aid construction.  The footings will remain basswood as the adding of cast components will just add to the cost of the kit & existing footings can be readily painted an aged concrete with ease.  The columns & bearers will be one piece as per the last posting.  There will be 4 of these components & all that is required is the footings to be slid on to each column prior to locating & gluing the columns into the base.  Once these 4 composite components are installed & square to the base plate & each other... the 7 joists can be added & as the bearers have precut recesses... this operation is dead easy & you will end up with a very square & accurate looking stand.  The last items to be added are the diagonal braces & again they precut & shaped to make construction very easy.

The kit should take around an hour or so to complete...taking away glue drying time...

Now to the tanks...My original plan was to purchase the tank kits from the respective manufacturers & offer a complete tank stand kit... but due to a number of political issues this will not be happening in the short term.  There is also the concern where many modellers will already have a tank kit or two in the drawer & all they need is a stand for them.

While talking about the tanks & to aid in our decision of how many kits to produce in the first run... I have included an email address   harlow@harlowgraphics.com.au  & would seek "expressions of interest" for numbers & another  issue  of importance to canvass is which tank you are proposing to fit to the stand.  While the Ian Lindsay tank is a simple placement once the stand is complete... The Silvermaz unit is another issue altogether. The tank floor that comes with the kit has joists moulded into it & we  have fabricated a replacement acrylic floor to make fitment to our tank stand easier...but knowing which tank you intend to use will give us a better idea of how many of these replacements to make...

On the subject of plumbing....to get the kit out there in the first instance & keep pricing down... will mean we will have to shelve plans of including plumbing... While looking at the many photos of the prototype i would feel sure that many modellers will already have all the bits needed in the "scrap box"

Also over the christmas break it is my intention to watch a lot of cricket & golf... gather some tank kits " retail" & build some of these kits & offer them as finished items on our stands with water, plumbing, weathered etc etc...i will post if this happens...& they will most probably appear on ebay.

In closing...during the week i will attend to the pack notes & box artwork & hopefully within the next week or so another kit can be added to our range....

As for price of these kits...while this has not been finalised we would anticipate a price of around $30/35.00...Which when added to the tank cost would put a water tank completed on the layout for around $40/45.00

The acrylic base with column locations ...pre-cut

The original Casula / Sivermaz tank floor on the left & the replacement floor on the right

 

Stand completed with modified Silvermaz tank ( new tank floor )



Close up of stand detail...



Bare Stand...