I finally was able to download the template for this turntable while waiting for it to arrive. It seems straightforward enough except for one area. What are those four 5/16" holes used for?
I would think for mounting it down but that is awfully large for that.
73
Bruce in the Peg
Bruce,
There are 8 of those 5/16" mounting holes. They are 'hidden' and you have to dtril them out as needed. At the club, we drilled out 3 or 4 of them and used coutersunk brass screws to hold down the TT. We used body putty to cover then and airbrushed the entire rim/flange with a concrete color. I suppose you could use RTV or latex caulk to affix the TT once you have it leveled.
Jim
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
Bruce, in two such mounting experiences, I have never done more than sit the pit into an appropriately sized hole and left it at that. On a bare foam lip supporting edge, your TT won't move. The torque imparted to the pit by rotating the bridge with an engine on it is probably 1/50th what it would take to make the bridge and pit want to counter-rotate simultaneously.
Remember that you will have at least four separate track ends using the lip as a support. If you do what I did, I used Code 100 which meant that I had to grind shallow parallel grooves into the lip surface to seat the various rail ends so that the engine didn't have to lurch and bounce due to the height disparity between the rails on the bridge and the various bay and lead rails. So, by gluing them all onto the pit surface, there you have anchoring points that will very securely keep your pit where you placed it.
Does that make sense?
I have a couple questions on this RTR table too (mine is on the way). The instructions are very clear that no dirt/dust should be allowed to enter the center hole in the pit. Well, on my prototype, the TT pit was dirt, not concrete. I would like to model it as such.
Does anyone have experience affixing dirt to the bottom of this model TT pit inside the perimeter "rail"?
One other question, again from my prototype...the pit didn't have walls except 1. where the elevated lead track ran up to it (no enginehouse), and 2. a short run-off track opposite the spur. Any way to cut the pit wall down on the kit without ruining it?
Thanks. -Andy
The turntable has a cogged rail running just inside the outer bottom edge of the "floor" where the floor meets the ring wall. That must be kept scrupulously clean. And I mean it. Even more demanding are the tiny contacts at the bottom of the central "well" in which the bridge rotates and from which it gets its rail power, and the system indexing communications.
So, if you can figure out how to mask the outer rail and if you can paint swaths of the floor with matte medium, sprinkle sand, wait until it dries, and then invert the pit and shake off what hasn't bonded to the matte medium, I'd say you should be okay. Of course, it goes without saying that you will have to mask the central well...and be darned good and careful about it. I would cover it with saran and elastic, and then cover that with masking tape...just to be sure.
Yes in a word DON'T if you want tp paint it a dirt color that might be ok but I don't recomend putting any type of ground cover in the Walthers pit. #1 first and foremost that thing doesn't like dirt of anykind. I was balasting the yard area where I have my 130' TT and some of the balast got into the pit no big deal, yeah well the mechanisim is so delicate that the littlest bit of crud made it skip and eventually grind to a hault. Right in the instructions they recomend covering the pit if not in use for some time. As I look over at my open pit I'm wondering why I didn't cover it after using it the last time. What I found to work the best was the lid or cover to Rubbermaid cake server my wife had. It fit perfectly and has a little handle at the top.
#2 reason is the pit on the 130" & 90' are both modeled after concrete pit TT's so putting dirt in it wouldn't really look prototypical if thats what your going for. What I did to give it a little more realisim is I scribed some craks in it andweathered the whole thing with Idia Ink and alchol. I placed weeds etc arond the endges of the pit but nothing nside it. Form follows functions as they say and that my general first rule of my layout. It all has to work first then I make itlook right.
Bottom line is it's your railroad if you want dirt i the pit I would be extremely careful on how you do it and keep that center hold plugged so as not to get anythng inisde where the electrical contacts are located.