Trestles and Termites...

All,

As I commenced writing this post I became aware that this is Post No. 100.  When I informed Vanessa of this fact her reply was "Amazing how one person can dream up and write that amount of drivel...Congratulations anyway".....Sophie was less celebratory as her reply was "Whoop De Do Basil"....in reference to her love of the Austin Powers movies...all tongue in cheek I hope.

Firstly I would like to address a comment made in reply to the last post regarding trestles and in particular the wing assemblies and the possibility that we may have erred in relation to the angle of the wing wall sheeting timbers.  I thank Graeme for posing the question as I must admit that the wings ( as simple as they are in design ) had me baffled for some time as each consecutive trial assembly just did not look right.  Apart from the wing wall pile diameter I thought the last attempt was almost there....but the comment did have me rushing for our research material file to check the facts. Even though we have departmental plans and some early photographic evidence that the timbers on some structures were indeed angled... after lengthy pondering I feel Graeme's comments are valid and the vast majority of trestles ( that had wing walls incorporated ) do show the timbers to be level....so we will work toward this modification and will post the results when complete.  While on the issue of comments...I take the opportunity to thank those who contribute as this exchange of info is important to the decision making progress of both the kits and my modelling experience as a whole.

    

The remainder of the week has been taken up by normal work, kit stock replenishment and a little job that I have been meaning to get to for some time.  Apart from the main layout room I do not have a dedicated modelling room and remnants of my hobby participation are pretty much scattered all over the house, business and layout room.  I have for some time had a corner of the layout shed earmarked for conversion to address this issue and as the doctor said "take it easy for a couple of weeks" ...I felt now was the time. 

As an aside we removed two large gum trees that were located about 10 metres from the layout shed about 4 months ago due to the trees exhibiting some major cracks at the bases and a general appearance of not being well.  The resultant findings were that one of the trees was sponsoring a large termite nest in the lower trunk and indeed it was time for these two gums and infestation to go.  This revelation left me with a giant hole in the pit of my stomach as the proximity of these trees to the timber "mother load" that is the train room was too close for comfort.  In hindsight it was a dumb decision to partially line the existing portion of the shed with normal framing timber and this new addition of a hobby room would be lined with termite treated timber and extra vigilance would be exercised both now and in the future for the shed as a whole.

But I digress....the proposed modelling room will be a 3 metre x 3 metre area with benches on 3 walls with the main criteria(s) being a permanent location for the air brush cabinet with the exhaust plumbed to the outside and a spot for an old rotary engraving machine that is now utilised as a hobby milling machine.  There are two good size windows in this room for natural light plus good views of passing trains on the main south and I have run enough power to the room for most future needs and a reliable security system with remote cameras.  The rest of the room will be used for general kit building and hobby storage.  I will also take advantage of the room's proximity to the layout room and will run a "repair road" through the wall so that troublesome trucks can be easily despatched from the layout to the workshop for repairs etc...

I have included a shot of progress...The layout room is adjacent to the wall at right of shot...