I am in the way to build a small yard which will serve my under construction Rotary coal dumper.
This Nscale yard use handlaid turnout by Fastrack and some laying track I want to share whith you, so I will post new pictures of the ongoing work on this small yard.
I build this small yard at the workbench on a plywood base of 3/4", my standard for all the structure of my layout; I use open grid whith side of 5"1/4, this allow to hide and protect a Tortoise motor.
I use ME code 55 wheathered flextrack with handlaid Fastrack Turnouts mixed whith some Peco piece of track.
All the curves are traced whith the yardstick method which give extremly flowing track.
. The track is glued on the plywood base whith an acrylic glue (Tech 7), feeder are soldered under the track to be invisible. Pieces of track featuring some turnout togheter are made at the workbench to simplify the assembly I use the Fastrack turnout but not the laser cut ties system, I feel it quiet expensive for a lot of turnout, so I glue individual ties under the turnouts, they are stained in a mixture of black ink and isopropilic alcool, making the staining proccess longer or shorter give a lot of colour variation. more to come
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The track is glued on the plywood base whith an acrylic glue (Tech 7), feeder are soldered under the track to be invisible.
Pieces of track featuring some turnout togheter are made at the workbench to simplify the assembly I use the Fastrack turnout but not the laser cut ties system, I feel it quiet expensive for a lot of turnout, so I glue individual ties under the turnouts, they are stained in a mixture of black ink and isopropilic alcool, making the staining proccess longer or shorter give a lot of colour variation. more to come
Pieces of track featuring some turnout togheter are made at the workbench to simplify the assembly
I use the Fastrack turnout but not the laser cut ties system, I feel it quiet expensive for a lot of turnout, so I glue individual ties under the turnouts, they are stained in a mixture of black ink and isopropilic alcool, making the staining proccess longer or shorter give a lot of colour variation. more to come
I use the Fastrack turnout but not the laser cut ties system, I feel it quiet expensive for a lot of turnout, so I glue individual ties under the turnouts, they are stained in a mixture of black ink and isopropilic alcool, making the staining proccess longer or shorter give a lot of colour variation.
more to come
As seen before I put all the ties under each turnout because the assembly are made at the workbench for good adjustement.
It's take no many times as you think to do the job. I put some whithe glue around the rail and insert each ties.
This is the finished job I didnt' have used my airbrush for this piece of track, I just gently brush the whole track whith Polly Scale rairoad tie brown, this give a good color for a yard track To finish the painting job, some ties are individualy painted whith some gray and brown thinned whith railroad tie brow to break down the uniformity of the colors
This is the finished job
I didnt' have used my airbrush for this piece of track, I just gently brush the whole track whith Polly Scale rairoad tie brown, this give a good color for a yard track To finish the painting job, some ties are individualy painted whith some gray and brown thinned whith railroad tie brow to break down the uniformity of the colors
I didnt' have used my airbrush for this piece of track, I just gently brush the whole track whith Polly Scale rairoad tie brown, this give a good color for a yard track
To finish the painting job, some ties are individualy painted whith some gray and brown thinned whith railroad tie brow to break down the uniformity of the colors
As you you can see on the next pictures I have paint whith a brush some ties to kill the uniformity of the base color of the track ( Railroad tie brown-Polly Scale)
I use Vallejo wash used to weather models, but her they are useful because is a very thinned color, nearly translucide which don't mask the base color and give a nice touch to the track, Grey, Brown russt are used (acrilycs water based) I also use Golden artist color fluid acrilycs, they give the same results; in fact many models I build are painted whith Golden acrilycs, they offer a great range of colors, they are opaque, matte and cover easily plastic Happy new year from Belgium
I use Vallejo wash used to weather models, but her they are useful because is a very thinned color, nearly translucide which don't mask the base color and give a nice touch to the track, Grey, Brown russt are used (acrilycs water based)
I also use Golden artist color fluid acrilycs, they give the same results; in fact many models I build are painted whith Golden acrilycs, they offer a great range of colors, they are opaque, matte and cover easily plastic
Happy new year from Belgium
After a small break because of the new year and so much things to fix for my work to begun the year, I'm able to work again on the yard.
I have checked the track many times, have put temporarely a locomotive on the track and check it again and again.
The Tortoise are ordered and are I beleive somewhere between US and Belgium.
To not lost my time, I have begun to ballast the track and yes I must admit, it's not really my cup of tea.
I use since years, a real black sand which is sold by IKEA for flower ornements.
Its not tinted sand, it's, I beleive, a volcanic sand, it's structure is like cinders and the color is good compared to cinders ballast picture of yard.
After a careful brushing, whith small soft brush, the sand is misted whith distilled water cut whith isopropyl alcool (70-30%), white glue diluted whith distilled water (50-50%) an a few drops of detergent is eye dropped on the sand; 30 hours later, the sand is hard like rock
Very nice work Marc! I wish I had the time and patience to handlay my turnouts. Looking forward to seeing more of your progress.
Here are some pictures how I glue ballast, Nscale need some techniques because the track is tiny and ballast granules could derail a train especialy on code 55.
I also added some details and foam between the tracks, everything is glued togheter.
I eyedrop the water/alcool around the edge of the track never in the middle because this could move the ballast on the track and ties. Capilarity move the wetting agent between the ties. When the ballast is fully wetted (a small area at once) I eyedrop the glue again along the edge of the track and again capilarity do the job by gluing the ballast between the ties. here is the dry ballast, here the wetted ballast, the ties are dry the ballast is saturated whith the white glue, you see some place where the glue is still not between the track
I eyedrop the water/alcool around the edge of the track never in the middle because this could move the ballast on the track and ties. Capilarity move the wetting agent between the ties.
When the ballast is fully wetted (a small area at once) I eyedrop the glue again along the edge of the track and again capilarity do the job by gluing the ballast between the ties.
here is the dry ballast,
here the wetted ballast, the ties are dry the ballast is saturated whith the white glue, you see some place where the glue is still not between the track
here the wetted ballast, the ties are dry
the ballast is saturated whith the white glue, you see some place where the glue is still not between the track
As mentionned before I hate to ballast so It took me some times to finish the ballasting of the already laid track.
I also make a change in the track arrangement, by changing a turnout by a double slip to win some place in the track before a nearly tunnel were I didnt want to hide a turnout.
I used a Peco Nscale code 55 double slip slightly modified and a #8 I build whith my Fastrack Jig; after tunning everything work like a charm.
This yard eat all the rest of my Polly Scale railroad tie brown, however Golden artist acylic offer a perfect match color, the only difference is Golden color is more opaque, the double slip and the #8 are paint whith this Golden color and the picture show no difference. And now the big project: The high lift coal dumper; I need to build this WE a jig to build the right and left side of the tower, share you the next time some pictures.
This yard eat all the rest of my Polly Scale railroad tie brown, however Golden artist acylic offer a perfect match color, the only difference is Golden color is more opaque, the double slip and the #8 are paint whith this Golden color and the picture show no difference.
And now the big project: The high lift coal dumper; I need to build this WE a jig to build the right and left side of the tower, share you the next time some pictures.
THE BIG PROJECT
After more than 2 years of study to how to build a hight lift rotary coal dumper in Nscale, construction has begun this week end.
This is the more simple part of the project whith his twins; I mean the two lateral side of the tower.
Construction will include mostly brass but also styrene, because of Nscale and also to easier construction.
I plan to build it quiet detailled and of course working like the real thing
All the structure of the machine will be brass like the right side I just finish this afternoon.
The first thing to do is to reduce the plan to Nscale, the plan is mostly HO scaled so it's was quiet easy for the most part and I have made several reduced copy in Nscale to work whith.
For the structure, I just cut a plan , glue it on a piece of cardstock and use it as a template to solder everything like the real thing.
All the brass profile are at scale, so You could imagine how big and strong is the real thing.
Following a few pictures of this afternoon accomplished work.
This is one of the copy of the reduced plan
The piece of the plan I need glued on cardstock, Since many years like in my work I use a steel base and magnets to hold everything in place, Everything is soldered whith a fine 100 watt Weller soldering unit, here the already finished structure, I temporaly set a small piece of track at the correct height to see how it turns, this is a MTL 5o tons hopper, As mentionned, plastic will be used in some place, like these Plastruct truss lattice to model the crossing brace in the structure, See You later
The piece of the plan I need glued on cardstock,
Since many years like in my work I use a steel base and magnets to hold everything in place, Everything is soldered whith a fine 100 watt Weller soldering unit, here the already finished structure, I temporaly set a small piece of track at the correct height to see how it turns, this is a MTL 5o tons hopper, As mentionned, plastic will be used in some place, like these Plastruct truss lattice to model the crossing brace in the structure, See You later
Since many years like in my work I use a steel base and magnets to hold everything in place,
Everything is soldered whith a fine 100 watt Weller soldering unit, here the already finished structure, I temporaly set a small piece of track at the correct height to see how it turns, this is a MTL 5o tons hopper, As mentionned, plastic will be used in some place, like these Plastruct truss lattice to model the crossing brace in the structure, See You later
Everything is soldered whith a fine 100 watt Weller soldering unit, here the already finished structure,
I temporaly set a small piece of track at the correct height to see how it turns, this is a MTL 5o tons hopper, As mentionned, plastic will be used in some place, like these Plastruct truss lattice to model the crossing brace in the structure, See You later
I temporaly set a small piece of track at the correct height to see how it turns, this is a MTL 5o tons hopper,
As mentionned, plastic will be used in some place, like these Plastruct truss lattice to model the crossing brace in the structure, See You later
As mentionned, plastic will be used in some place, like these Plastruct truss lattice to model the crossing brace in the structure,
See You later
Hello guys,
I have the chance to have a free afternoon and I have used this time to hardly work on the rotary structure.
Sunday I have jus finished the two lateral side of the structure; I didn't have fabricated the walkway and the stairs along the right side, because I need to manipulate to often this part and don't want to broke and rebuild parts on a brass structure.
So this afternoon, I managed to build the frame floor of the clamp car counterweight, it's now fully finished , just the walkway and details need to be added but again I didn't make them now for safety.
I made the frame like the side column, by gluing a plan reduced to Nscale to a steel plate, magnets hold the brass parts in place for soldering them.
The frame is made whith brass shape of I beam, 3 and 2 mm. On the frame, small I beam are soldered over the frame; they are the support of the pulley. Before I solder them, the beam are drilled whith a 1mm hole. These holes are necessary for the pulleys shaft, the pulleys are in brass and comes from the ship modelism hardware, hopefully I have find the right size in the offer of pulleys. In the same time I made some modification to a double pulley This pulley need a rigid arm which is articulated and attached to the craddle; this is the attachement which lift the craddle to the upper level. And the modified pulley whith the rigid arm I didn't have resist to just put the already pieces togheter to see how they fit see you later .
The frame is made whith brass shape of I beam, 3 and 2 mm.
On the frame, small I beam are soldered over the frame; they are the support of the pulley. Before I solder them, the beam are drilled whith a 1mm hole. These holes are necessary for the pulleys shaft, the pulleys are in brass and comes from the ship modelism hardware, hopefully I have find the right size in the offer of pulleys. In the same time I made some modification to a double pulley This pulley need a rigid arm which is articulated and attached to the craddle; this is the attachement which lift the craddle to the upper level. And the modified pulley whith the rigid arm I didn't have resist to just put the already pieces togheter to see how they fit see you later .
On the frame, small I beam are soldered over the frame; they are the support of the pulley. Before I solder them, the beam are drilled whith a 1mm hole.
These holes are necessary for the pulleys shaft, the pulleys are in brass and comes from the ship modelism hardware, hopefully I have find the right size in the offer of pulleys.
In the same time I made some modification to a double pulley This pulley need a rigid arm which is articulated and attached to the craddle; this is the attachement which lift the craddle to the upper level. And the modified pulley whith the rigid arm I didn't have resist to just put the already pieces togheter to see how they fit see you later .
In the same time I made some modification to a double pulley
This pulley need a rigid arm which is articulated and attached to the craddle; this is the attachement which lift the craddle to the upper level. And the modified pulley whith the rigid arm I didn't have resist to just put the already pieces togheter to see how they fit see you later .
This pulley need a rigid arm which is articulated and attached to the craddle; this is the attachement which lift the craddle to the upper level.
And the modified pulley whith the rigid arm I didn't have resist to just put the already pieces togheter to see how they fit see you later .
And the modified pulley whith the rigid arm
I didn't have resist to just put the already pieces togheter to see how they fit see you later .
I didn't have resist to just put the already pieces togheter to see how they fit
see you later .
see you later
After finishing some home work, I come back to work on the rotary project this evening.
I just prepared the up floor where all the pulleys are living; this the place where the many ropes which actuate the craddle are managed and are going to the pan hoist.
I use a double side pc board designed for electronics to make the up floor for rigidity and a easier use for soldering all the pulleys support
This is the pc board where all the holes are drilled and filled to the pulley size; a copied plan was temporarely glued on the board to situate all the pulleys.
The pulleys are temporarely put in their place
That's all for today, now it's time to go to sleep, see you later.
Not a lot of time tomorrow to work on the machine; however I managed a few time to an "how to do" session about the support of the pulleys.
This is a real upper floor whith all the pulleys,
I need 28 brackets for the pulleys support for this upper floor; I will made them whith small I beam cut in form and bored whith a 1mm hole and 4 pieces whith a 1.5mm Some pics of the study session and the prototype produced. The rule is in mm Have a nice week end.
I need 28 brackets for the pulleys support for this upper floor; I will made them whith small I beam cut in form and bored whith a 1mm hole and 4 pieces whith a 1.5mm
Some pics of the study session and the prototype produced. The rule is in mm
Have a nice week end.
Sunday afternoon I find some time to work on the rotary.
I made this small jig to build all the brackets for the pulleys, I started whith a piece of PC board cut whith two 45° angle and a small pin to hold the piece of the I beam.
The bored I beam is just put on the pin and I simply cut the I beam whith a like Xuron cutter, and filled the piece to have a good finish; I was atonished how accurate the brackets where So whith the brackets on hand I was able to solder some pulleys on the floor of the upper deck
The bored I beam is just put on the pin and I simply cut the I beam whith a like Xuron cutter, and filled the piece to have a good finish; I was atonished how accurate the brackets where
So whith the brackets on hand I was able to solder some pulleys on the floor of the upper deck
Nobody at home this evening, so I have some time for the dumper and can make a break to share some pictures.
This evenning, I finished to solder all the bra&ckets pulleys on the upper floor.
Some pulleys need some "special bracket" because they are at a different high from the other pulleys and also because they are horizontal; these are guide pulleys or serve as changing the direction of the ropes, I need two special brackets.
The plan didn't give many details of these brackets, so these brackets are inspired by pictures of this type of pulleys serving the same purpose,
and a rope (wire) temporarely placed to show how these pulleys are placed and the road of the ropes,
Not much time for the machine and some brass profile missing in my inventory, so work is a bit delayed.
But there is so much things to do and I slowly begun to study the craddle, probably the most complicated part of the dumper.
In reality there is a small wheel which ride in a U shaped profile to guide the craddle when it go up and down.
After a lot of research to find such a small wheel which can run a long time I ended whith a small roller bearing and this evening I prepared the profile and place "the wheel" to see if nothing occurs.
Whats a week! Just time to work and fix problems whith customers.
So didn't have any time to work on the dumper until this evening.
My order of brass profile is partialy arrived, so I have begun to build the two big beams which hold the pulleys of the pan and the support of the crane.
This was quiet easy to do whith brass.
In the same Time I have begun to work on the small house under the dumper which shelter the hoist of the machine. Parts are from Walthers modulars.
Why mount the track directly on the wood?
gatrhumpy Why mount the track directly on the wood?
It's not noticiable on the pictures, but the tracks at the extreme right of the roadbed,(the one including one track of the crossover and the outside one parallel) are glued on cork, the rest not because this is a yard, yard track are often lay directly on floor between cinders in the 30's.
This include all the track you see in the picture, second don't forget it's Nscale and it's not necessary to put the track on a 1.5m cork you can see it, I prefer to mount it directly on the "floor".
This is the entry of a big yard divided in two ladder of 8 track each; it's also include runaround and facility and the exit for my under construction dumper.
I managed to scratchbuild the crane which is over the second floor of the high lift ratary coal dumper.
As mentionned previousely I use some plastic parts for the contruction and for more details.
If the mast is brass and he is working up and down, the main column come from an old Arnold Rapido catenery suuport which is modified to fit; inside the mast will installed a few small pulleys for the crane ropes, the little brass frame around the mast will hold the hoist of the crane.
Yesterday evening I finish the crane. I put some eyes catching details, may be more than necessary, but it was fun to do.
I put all the pulleys and scratchbuild some brackets for for the pulleys which retain the mast; I build a frame from brass for the crane hoist.
I also fabricated a base from styrene, and scrachtbuild a hook whith 0.5mm brass wire flatened whith a hammer and solder on a brass pulley bracket.
When all was in place I glued the brass frame on the pilaster using a acrylic epoxy.
And can't resist to temporarely put the ropes just to see how this crane look.
COMPROMISES!!!!! Well this is Nscale; the two girders which hold the pan pulleys assembly has 12 pulleys in reality, the thickness of the pulleys I use allow only 4 pulleys between the girders. To win in thickness, I filed hard all the pulleys and it's result of the possibility to put 6 pulleys between the girders and this give also a better to the scale look of the pulleys. See you next time
COMPROMISES!!!!!
Well this is Nscale; the two girders which hold the pan pulleys assembly has 12 pulleys in reality, the thickness of the pulleys I use allow only 4 pulleys between the girders.
To win in thickness, I filed hard all the pulleys and it's result of the possibility to put 6 pulleys between the girders and this give also a better to the scale look of the pulleys.
See you next time
I have build the girder which support the pan.
This girder slide whith a shoe along the edge of the main column in fact a I beam; it's also support the hinge of the pan.
It was quiet difficult to find a way to make it functionnal and stay in a good to the scale ratio.
I ended by using a small U square channel whith an opening of 0.6mm
I use this old cardstock mockup to show you how it goes. The girder slide along the I beam, low position The girder in up position
I use this old cardstock mockup to show you how it goes.
The girder slide along the I beam, low position The girder in up position
The girder slide along the I beam, low position
The girder in up position
Marc
You do fine work. Please keep the updates coming. The finished product should be a real winner.
Joe
JoeinPA Marc You do fine work. Please keep the updates coming. The finished product should be a real winner. Joe
Thanks a lot for your comment.
This afternoon I build the two brackets which hold the pulleys assembly on the pan.
These were quiet difficult to build because of numerous pieces and many axle which need extremly precise alignement.
It's nearly finished but need some adjustement.
This bracket hold also the pulleys of the chute which go inside the ship.
I put a picture of the plan to situate the parts.
May be it seems to be not a lot of progress, but it was time cosumming and great precision was needed to fit all the things togheter and at the right place.
The alignement of the pulleys to be sure the ropes don't be able to jump out was a precise work to do.
So I finish this week end to solder all the pulleys bracket and building the few missing one on the upper floor.
Still missing is the crane support, a few crossbeam on the big pulleys bracket assembly and the small water tower which will be set in the back right corner
I also finish to solder the small crossbeam on the pan pulley bracket; I made them whith a brass 0.5mm wire.
I hope to begin the craddle in the coming days.