Greetings -
I'm guessing someone has tried this, so I'll see what the responses show:
I'm building a firestation model and would like to make the garage doors operational. Advice/tips/tricks?
There is a video from the same guy that did the opening gate, in the March issue. Watch this video, and you'll be able to see his other videos, along with the garage door thing he used. His door lifts straight up, the building is high enough.
Mine is built different. Each door section is seperate, and is hinged with very thin strips of styrene, and a small wire is at the top of each garage door section, on each end, that fits in a track, scratch built with styrene, and it works the same as a real garage door. The pins follow the track. I lubed the track with the same lube I use in the gear box of my locos. I forget the name of it.
I don't have any pictures of the track I built, but it's much the same as a real garage door.
Mike.
My You Tube
There is a modeler by the name of Thomas Klimoski who built an operational industry door on a factory. Go to YouTube and search by his name. He did a video of how he built it and how it works. Quite clever, actually.
John is retired and loving it!
https://jmrailroad.wordpress.com/
Hi Bay Area Brad,
I don't know if you want the doors to roll up and down or swing sideways, but if you do want swinging doors here is a video of how one very creative modeller by the name of Wolfgang Dudler (now deceased unfortunately) built some operating gates. It might give you some ideas:
http://www.westportterminal.de/moving_gates.html
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
If You have enough vertical clearance, You can have sliding doors that slide up/down in what I use...Plastruct ABS 1/8/3/16'' H-columns. The doors on this structure did not come with doors...only dock doors off the ground. I used Pike- Stuff ABS 12 x 12 garage doors. I cut the door out of the side trim with a new xacto#11 takes about three cuts..keeping the trim intact so it goes/fits into the outside opening, those also had to be cut out. Then the H-columns are glued to the inside wall so the cut out door will fit in them......not to loose, You want a little friction so they will stay up on their own. I use ABS because it is not as ridgid as styrene and will bend to a degree without breaking.....This building started out as a Walthers Magic Pan bakery and is still a work in-progress. I have the Walthers Fire House shop and did the same to those doors. I started doing this since the Old Suydam kit days metal & mat-board.
I did not make the center door open and close because of the Miller animated sign that is above the door.
The silver looking corrugated roll up door in the pic' opens from the outside.
You may click on photos for a larger view.
Take Care!
Frank
JohnnyBThere is a modeler by the name of Thomas Klimoski who built an operational industry door on a factory. Go to YouTube and search by his name. He did a video of how he built it and how it works. Quite clever, actually.
Thats the guy I refered to in my post. In the current March issue, he has a swinging gate. You can watch the video on MR. When you open and watch the video, the rest of his videos are on the right side. One shows the door, that is easy, it just slides up a wall.
Hey guys -
Thanks for all the input! I've checked out the gate video and the sliding door video, and both are pretty cool. However, I'm wanting these be electric of some sort. My line of thinking now is trying some sort of RC aircraft servo such as is used to extend and retract landing gear or flaps on an RC airplane. Thoughts?
For more filler info: the model I'm adapting is the Walthers Fire Department HQ...probably just the four front doors for fire engines leaving the building. The building is two stories tall, so there is room to just use the 2nd floor for the doors to go up into when opened.
I'm checking online for the RC type servos I think might work (also there is a more general purpose hobby store nearby I might visit) but thought I'd also add to this thread in case anyone has given this idea thought.
Thanks!
Brad
PS: Actually, the second thing I found when looking at the A/C servos was this:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZAY4sNqY_4
Seems like it would be very easily adaptable! Thoughts from the group?
B
These are a bit pricey but one could easily be adapted to open one or more doors using a linking framework. So, I could open all four doors at once using one $70 servo. (I may continue to look and see if there are less expensive versions). I figured this would be good info in general for anyone looking to do something similar!
https://youtu.be/-AxIk3CEAmc
Cheers!
Well about all I can tell You Brad...is Good Luck! I have been playing around with RC Trucks/Cars since the mid 80's and have tinkered around with some animated projects for the layout, but the biggest draw back..is the size. You are going to have to put just about all of the mechanics under the building, along almost all the electricals, which is part of the problem, when it comes to adjustments and there will be many...just to get it to half work......there are still limits as to what You can do with 1/87 scale......many trials and errors......Again...Good Luck, To You!
I had to redo a paint job on an RC truck that I had built for one of My youngest Son's in 1993......He's 39 now...He wanted Me to redo it for His Son's.
Completely took it apart down to frame.....stripped all the paint and redid it. You can see all the parts that have to go in the truck to make it work. What you can't see is the 3 servos that control the steering, the 3- speed transmission and the servo for the king pin for unlocking it........this is in 1/12 scale....would be impossible in 1/87.....they just don't make the controls that small yet! Probably will when I'm dead and gone.
The finished truck.....
Also redid the trailer..has a electric motor with servo, to raise and lower the landing gear.
They both started out as Tamiya kits. You are looking at around 1500.00 with transmitter.
Great job Mel.........doing it on a unpowered flat car though is one thing....getting that in a small building is another....no matter what the cost. Controls would have to be under the building. Who wants to look inside a model building on a layout and see nothing but servos/gears/pc boards, just to have the doors open? Especially a Fire house........where are the Fire Trucks?.....LOL
To each their own.......
Edit: Actually...with the servos under the base of the building, with the servo rod coming through the floor by the doors...you can use the H-columns like I explained in My post, to get the doors in a track to slide up and down. The rod could be in a L-shape connected horizontally to the door along side the H-column, that way you won't see the rod when the door is up......sounds viable to Me....
Fred Miller has done it and has a working model.
www.fnbcreations.net/tractionfan/index.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G675FPWuIGM&feature=youtu.be
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
I'm picky......I don't care for how the buckled door looks........everything else, I already have in the buildings. I have the same building...but I added 2 1/2 scale feet around the perimeter of the building so the doors can go up, they are split in half in the middle. The door ways/ windows in front were lowered to the base. Looks like it was made that way.
The building on the left is the same building that He shows. The front fascade is the same except I wanted larger doors on the front and back so a trailer can pull in. You have to manually pull them up though. All the electronics are in the roof, which is removeable...with a full interior, any servos would have to go underneath the building, which is what He more than likely did for a diorama.
A partial shot of the front....I thought I had the whole view....I'll have to take one. The little sign is animated.
He could be a bit more precise on his guide rails, but the big multi-segment doors like that on my neighbor's garage rattled and shook like that when going up and down too.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
how about a simple lead screw motor. use two relays and two limit switches. One toggle switch. Switch up to rase and down to lower. limit switches are adjustable to set up and down positions. Use R/C push pull control rod to attach to doors.
Bay Area Brad Greetings - I'm guessing someone has tried this, so I'll see what the responses show: I'm building a firestation model and would like to make the garage doors operational. Advice/tips/tricks?
2. attach the end of the garage door to a small hole in bottom of rack gear. Rack gear rides in it's own u channel which faces upwards. the u channel will have to have a slot for the pin from the garage door to slide though.
3. attach rack gear to motor gear. A small 6 volt motor will do the job
As the rack gear is rigid and the garage door hard connected to it, it will be forced to move up and down with the movement of the rack gear.Lego ironically has a working garage door with a slot arrangement similar to this. If you want I can get you the part # and you can order a pair of them from lego directly. I think their slot length is 4" You would just need to hard connect it to a gear rack.
https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/custom-gear-rack-small-rack-and_60575709824.html?spm=a2700.7724857/A.main07.67.7e3144c78nhwKnhttps://www.ebay.com/itm/20-pcs-x-Gear-Rack-0-5-modulus-Plastic-rack-pinion-drive-rod-DIY-parts/301092376967?hash=item461a811187:g:RnYAAOSwBPVZknUV
With Lego you can order part # 4582153 which is about a ~2" vertical slotted brick for garage doors and 6023978 which is the top piece which transitions from verticle to horizontal slotted brick
Don - Specializing in layout DC->DCC conversions
Modeling C&O transition era and steel industries There's Nothing Like Big Steam!
This is a general reply since there has been additional helpful info from the group - thanks!
First, the doors on the station will go up and down, not swing out (basically as designed to do in a normal modern station). However, while making them bend at the usual joints is possible, that's more work than it is worth for this effort and I'll make them go up and down as a solid door, again as they come from the kit.
The link of the linear servos I posted has three different servo lengths (also called by them "stroke"): 30mm, 50mm and 100mm. The door height is 2" (converts to 50.8mm) so I'd order the 50mm servo. That takes care of the required lifting precision almost perfectly.
Next, to reduce cost (I'd rather order 1 servo and control all 4 doors rather than 4 servos at $70 each) I'll build a framework that connects all four doors via styrene (H or I beam or similar), so that the one servo would raise all four doors at once. The doors will be in channels created from similar styrene as has been suggested by several of you.
The question of under versus in the building seem also pretty simple in this case: since the servos are fairly narrow (15.1mm) I'm nearly certain the servo will fit in the space between the 2nd and 3rd door and could be mounted inside the building. If necessary, I can scratch build an acceptable enclosure to make it look presentable when the doors are open. There is a 5/8" space between the doors (0.625") and the servo is 0.59" in width...tight but doable I'd say.
As I build this I can definitely document progress for the group and post back how it all goes (I'm guessing there would definitely be interest).
Thanks again for the responses!