WARNING!!!
Nano Oil will destroy plastics!
I posted this a while ago and at the time I believed I was giving good advice. I was wrong!
hon30critterI used my #85 Nano Oil to lubricate the gears and the pivot bushings. I have to say that this is another strong endorsement for Nano Oil. I tried the motor before lubricating just to see in everything still worked. It was rather noisey. After I applied the #85 the noise was reduced buy half or more and the bridge rotated at a much higher speed at the same throttle setting.
Please read this thread:
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/261415.aspx
Sorry to have mislead you.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Here are the gallows installed. The picture is done without a flash so it's not very bright. When I tried the flash the weathering (rust powder) looked like the gallows were painted bright red. To the naked eye the weathering hardly shows. Stupid camera!
The beast is finally done, except for installation of course.
I have finally come up with a gallows structure that I am happy with! I used a Central Valley small box girder, some Tichy boxcar ladders and parts of an Overland Models boxcar walkway. The only parts that will be original from the Walthers kit are the electrical hookup on the top and the gallows side braces (not shown). The picture doesn't show the box girder detail but they have the 'laced' sides. Paint is yet to come:
gmpullmanI'll never look at another turntable without thinking about your project, Dave! ...And that's a good thing!
Now you have me blushing!
gmpullmanYou'll notice that the type of styrene that CV uses is a very "soft" type so go easy on the solvent-cements. Only a little bit is needed.
Duly noted. Thanks.
I'll never look at another turntable without thinking about your project, Dave! ...And that's a good thing!
You'll notice that the type of styrene that CV uses is a very "soft" type so go easy on the solvent-cements. Only a little bit is needed.
Have fun with your lattice beams!
Regards, Ed
gmpullmanSo far, IMHO, the Central-Valley cross-lattice beams, to me, look like a good starting place.
Hi Ed:
I got the CV beams today and the smaller ones are perfect for building the gallows. They are better than I expected so thanks very much for the suggestion!
Next step is to design the gallows and install them.
Sorry Ed, I had forgotten about your offer. You are a very generous person!
To be honest now that I think about it, at the time I didn't understand the sizing of the girders so I didn't want to ask you for something which would be a waste of both of our times. The CV girder selection won't be a total waste of money. I will be able to get a flat car load or two out of the spares that aren't the right size.
Thanks,
hon30critterThe CV parts should be here within two weeks so I will re-post once I have the gallows structure figured out.
Two Weeks! Aww, Dave, you should have let me send you a "care package" back in October.
gmpullmanWhat parts did you need, Dave? I have been kit-bashing quite a few M-E bridges, and some Central Valley ones, too. I can send you some girder parts I have left over. Many of the rivet plates from C-V and Tichy can be helpful for your arch, too.
Believe me, I have boxes of this stuff I'll never have a use for. Well, maybe your NEXT turntable then...
Don't hesitate, we're here to help!
Cheers, Ed
trainnut1250What kind of gallows are you building?
I won't be quite sure until I see the CV beam parts. I'm thinking of fairly narrow triangular side frames with 45 degree sections at the top which will be connected to a horizontal beam which runs between them. I think I will scratch build the side frames and then use the CV parts for the 45 degree bits and the top. There will be a fake power transmission cable connected to the top of the gallows. The CV parts should be here within two weeks so I will re-post once I have the gallows structure figured out.
Regards,
Scintillating video!!….Glad to see it works!!The cabin turned out well, looks very cool…
Great job on this project. What kind of gallows are you building?
Guy
see stuff at: the Willoughby Line Site
I have decided that I'm going to scratch build the gallows using the Central Valley beam parts as fodder. I have a sizeable selection of Evergreen Styrene strips and shapes to use as well.
I also have a ton of brass strip. I had toyed with the idea of using that but styrene is so much easier to work with. I like scratch building a lot, but not so much that I want to be making beams out of individual brass pieces !
hon30critterEDIT: I just ordered some CV beams. I chose to ignore the cost!
Well, here's another option...
I was having a swell time running trains tonight (five hours' worth! ) and I must have looked at this Walthers crane in my wheel shop about a dozen times.
Sure, the top beam is heavy (that's where your C-V lattice beams come in?) but the two uprights look pretty convincing. (minus the concrete footers).
Below, here it is juxtaposed (in my sixty-years I think that's the first time I've ever needed THAT word!) against the Diamond Scale gallows:
and for reference here is the white-metal Diamond gallows (I see one of my legs is crooked. These get soldered to brass strips below the decking to carry current to one of the rails.
The sides, arch and centre platform are five separate pieces and a pain to assemble. The copper wire was supposed to be temporary, twenty years ago!
The crane was part of the team track. I do not know if it is available separately?
https://www.walthers.com/cornerstone-series-r-team-track-scene-standard-kit
Here's a better photo of the Team Trak kit.
http://www.gatewaynmra.org/wp-content/uploads/2002/09/ho-building-14a.jpg
gmpullman So far, IMHO, the Central-Valley cross-lattice beams, to me, look like a good starting place.
Ed:
I really appreciate you helping me out! You are what the forums are all about! I'm not sure if I have looked at the Central Valley beams but I will do so now.
Thanks for your support!
EDIT: I just ordered some CV beams. I chose to ignore the cost!
Darn... I had $2.00 on Red 12 and just missed it!
I'll bet you're glad to be this far along, Dave! That is a smooth running bridge. Someday I may have to take another look at mine. I have a Pricey New York Railway Supply setup and the stepper motor has backlash now so I still have to use the finger method to align the rails.
Of ALL the photos of gallows I've seen recently, it seems like no two are the same. After our recent discussion on the Diamond ones, above, I have been looking at signal bridge parts to see if one of those would help you but they all seem to be "minimalist" and not have the lattice-work that I'm sure you would want to have.
I'm still looking. So far, IMHO, the Central-Valley cross-lattice beams, to me, look like a good starting place.
Nice work! Thanks for sharing
Ed
I seem to have fixed all the problems! The bridge power contacts seem to be working pretty well with only very occasional flickering of the lights. I'm hoping that a little run time will sort that out. I found a couple of very small pieces of epoxy that were stuck in the teeth of the large gear and causing a bit of a crunch at one point in the bridge rotation. Cutting the slot in the bottom of the motor housing turned out to be a good choice because I was able to run the motor back and forth and I could see exactly which teeth were causing the crunch. That allowed me to easily find the epoxy bits and clean them out without having to take the whole thing apart again. The noise level at normal speeds is quite acceptable. The bridge doesn't wobble at all.
See what you think. Don't worry, the video is short. I have bored all of you with my slow progress on the turntable enough already:
Thanks for your interest!
I re-installed the drive system tonight and the bridge actually rotated quite smoothly. There was an occasional minor crunch in the gears but nothing serious. I used my #85 Nano Oil to lubricate the gears and the pivot bushings. I have to say that this is another strong endorsement for Nano Oil. I tried the motor before lubricating just to see in everything still worked. It was rather noisey. After I applied the #85 the noise was reduced buy half or more and the bridge rotated at a much higher speed at the same throttle setting.
Unfortunately the contacts that provide power to the bridge track and lights performed very poorly so I ripped it all apart again to see what I could do. I increased the tension on the contacts as much as I felt I could do without breaking things, and I made some adjustments to get the contact strips to line up better with the contact rings.
I have to wait a bit before reassembling everything so I can test it again. Two of the screw mounting holes for the motor housing/lower bearing assembly broke off of the bottom of the pit. This was not the first time. I have re-glued them so now I have to wait until the glue is completely set. I've ranted about this obvious weakness in the design before. It just ticks me off that Walthers would go cheap on such a crucial part of the design.
I will reassemble it tomorrow and let you know how things worked out.
Regards all,
Got the bridge control cabin and lighting installed. In addition to the two bridge lamps there is a light inside the cabin as well as a light in the cabin control panel. Unfortunately the control panel light doesn't show very well:
Sorry, the pictures are a little fuzzy.
I still haven't figured out what to do with the gallows yet.
Thanks for the links Ed. Right now I think I am in the mood to scratch build something myself. I'll have to play with the design a bit and look at some more prototypes before I proceed.
hon30critterIs that an item that can be purchased separately?
At one time you could, Dave. This site was last updated in 2013. I do not know what may have happened to the Diamond Scale stuff once they went out of business. There may be some tucked away in somebody's parts bin.
http://www.diamond-scale.com/pricelist.htm
Part Nos. AK 101 or 102.
[edit] Possibly, Rob's Trains in Alliance, Ohio may have some information on Diamond Scale parts? It seems the business was sold to them and this page has a November, 2016 update.
http://www.diamond-scale.com/
Might be worth a call...
Good Luck, Ed
trainnut1250Here is a shot of the El Portal TT that I am currently working on.....
Guy, I love the details like the support cables and the NBW castings!
trainnut1250A slippery slope isn't it? First you start by weathering, then its replace the boards on the tt bridge deck, then its scratch building railings and control cabins....Where does it all lead???
In this case I deliberately jumped on to the slope! I don't care for most 'out of the box' structures, although I'm pretty happy with my Blair Line and Bar Mills models after detailing them. I'm hoping that the origin of the Walthers turntable won't be too obvious when I'm done. Also, I'm really hoping that it will operate reliably when installed. Why else bother with it?
Hey John:
Nice setup!
JOHN C TARANTOArch is Diamond Scale.
Is that an item that can be purchased separately? I'm looking to do something a bit different with the bridge arch. The one Walthers supplied is too bland IMHO.
Dave,
A slippery slope isn't it? First you start by weathering, then its replace the boards on the tt bridge deck, then its scratch building railings and control cabins....Where does it all lead???
The cabin and the lights are Looking real good....
Here is a shot of the El Portal TT that I am currently working on.....
I know it doesn't look like much, the ground dirt is the first coat of several to come. Watching your progress has been inspiring.
Photo of my CMR 100' turntable. Arch is Diamond Scale. The roundhouse is Heljan.
I didn't like the Walthers bridge control cabin so I decided to design a new one. The original was a bit too clunky. Fortunately or unfortunately I ended up with almost exactly the same thing. This one has a few more exterior details. I'm bald on top so I added some window awnings. I'm always the first one to know when its raining. At least now if I am imagining myself in the bridge control cabin my head will be dry! I still have to put some sort of control panel in it.
You can also see the bridge lights. I had to pull an old Inter Mountain trick by dying the LEDs orange because their 'white' was too harsh.
Wow!! The railings look great. The fine wire really works well. If I lived closer, I’d come over and help with the boxes and moving stuff for the layout.
Scratch built bridge railings:
This turned out to be a whole lot easier than I thought it would be. I had envisaged having to construct some sort of fancy jig to get all the uprights in the proper locations but I ended up using the bridge itself as the jig. First I drilled holes in the ends of the extended bridge ties that support the railings slightly larger than the .020" phosphor bronze wire I used for the railings. I removed the ends of every second bridge tie because I wanted to make the railings a bit simpler than those that came with the kit. Then I bent the top railings to form the uprights for both ends of the railing's span and glued the railings into place. Next I inserted the intermediate uprights into place and CA'd them into the bridge ties. After a little tweaking to get everything lined up it was a simple matter of soldering the tops of the intermediate uprights to the top railings. A couple of the 'T' joints had to be filed a bit and voila! It took me less than 1/2 hour to do the railings and the results were better than I had expected. Phosphor bronze rules!!
trainnut1250When does it go on the layout?
It goes on the layout just as soon as I have a layout to put it on. I will finally be starting to build my layout this year. It has been a long time coming. I had to wait until my son moved out and took his exercise equipment with him that took up 1/2 of the layout space. That happened in September. In November we had a garden shed installed so I can get the rest of the stuff that is occupying the layout space out of the way. Next step is to build some shelving in the shed and some storage cabinets in the garage to hold the stuff that can't go in the shed. Then I have to reduce the size of my mechanical work bench (not the model train one) and clean up several feet of storage shelving that holds my power tools and various household supplies and equipment. How fast all of that happens will depend on by back. It won't be a quick process unless a miracle happens to reduce my back pain.
Nice job on the pit re-weather!!! You could still have that stain in the pit and boards in the center of the bridge (hey, maybe they planked the bridge recently or stuff runs down between the boards and rails…)
Second attempt at grease stains in the pit. Much better IMHO!