Number four complete. My wife has placed all four around the house among her antiques.
Now that I have experience building cases, I can turn my attention to the Nova Scotia case. The fusing glass backplate must be bonded to a case backing plate that can sink into the back router groove and be foilable. Sizing in progress. Gypsum crystal installed bearing my GypsumWorks Studio logo and year.
I collect old mirror and picture frame glass so I am using a piece of the former for the fusing glass support plate. It won't be visible inside the display case. The right side will simply be a mirror. Both have been cut to precise measurements, diamond ground and copper-backed foil applied. I will solder the two together first so they can stand on their own outside of the router grooves.
I have ordered two of Rapido's Royal Hudsons and think a case like these would be ideal for display if I don't have them on the layout. When we move and the new layout hasn't been built yet I will be able to at least look at them.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
BATMAN I have ordered two of Rapido's Royal Hudsons and think a case like these would be ideal for display if I don't have them on the layout. When we move and the new layout hasn't been built yet I will be able to at least look at them.
Wow, just looked at them (and their price tags)! love to put one of those in a display case for sure. Very nice.
Problems with other Forum members should be resolved off the Forum. This thread has been cleaned up. Don't make me do it again.
Let me clear up some misconceptions. Though the OP may never be able to run a train on his display cases, what he's doing is still related to model railroading, and therefore on topic for this Forum. He is also under no obligation to answer or even acknowledge anybody's questions about his project. If all he wants to do is present his work and leave, he's allowed to do so. This Forum has a long tradition of "build threads" that were exactly the same.
If you don't like the OP's threads, you are under no obligation to read or comment on them. Stop complaining because he does things (both modeling and posting) differently than you would. Live and let live.
--Steven Otte, Model Railroader senior associate editorsotte@kalmbach.com
OldSchoolScratchbuilderLike anything else, practice makes as close to perfect as you aspire to.
.
Absolutely true, I was certainly not willing to put the additional time and effort into honing these skills at a time in my life when girls and my 1966 Mercury S-55 were at their peak of interest.
Maybe I will look into adult classes on stained glass again.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Need a different front and top glass than those in my small inventory for the big display case. Will find something I like tomorrow. In the meantime, I finished a wide base for my two new Walthers Proto 55' Trinity 30,145 gallon tank cars (Christmas present). The base is made of canarywood from Brazil. It has been sanded, grooved and oiled. Going to use a more industrial-looking background glass plate.
Dual-track tank car case complete. Once again I developed a few techniques to make this build easier and faster.
This padauk base has been grooved for lighting leads and will feature a CN hopper with a real load of Nova Scotia gypsum. A stone (gypsum crystal) sign will be included.
Adding Peco static grass to the gypsum side of the large display. Also working on wooden ties and lighting for the small case.
Nova Scotia gypsum hopper case nearly complete. Wiring the lighting and it will be done.
Power pole light attached to an orange gypsum base (from Cheverie, NS) with the LED leads passing through the same gypsum hole at the pole's base. Simple mini connectors, using IC socket parts as before, attach to a small external battery box with an on/off switch. Nothing is attached to the case's wood base so changes are readily made, including a different glass case.
Another view with the glass in place. The next pole will have the light higher.
Three gypsum forms from three Nova Scotia locations in this small display: decorative orange gypsum (Cheverie), selenite crystal sign (Summerville), and wallboard-quality gypsum ore (Windsor).
Nighttime in Dartmouth and all is quiet at the gypsum hopper display.
Old School, I know you normally don't respond directly, but just in case - have you considered embedding the batteries in the wood base?Also, what's on the background shelves in the previous daylit image - rock samples? Vases? other fun stuff?
Hmm, I wonder what an LED directly under that gypsum crystal would look like, with the text carved in.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
chutton01 Old School, I know you normally don't respond directly, but just in case - have you considered embedding the batteries in the wood base?Also, what's on the background shelves in the previous daylit image - rock samples? Vases? other fun stuff?
I have thought of it and would embed the battery pack in the wood on the bottom side and switch mounted on the wood back if I was making a case for someone else. We have a large curio cabinet that my wife is letting me have - over 6' high. I can fit several display cases on each of the six glass shelves. Eventually the display cases will all be wired together with one switch lighting them all.
The background shelves are full of some of my wife's antique porcelain chickens. Good thing we don't live in a seismically active zone. Two of the chickens are special - they were in a kitchen scene in a Tom Sellick movie, filmed here in Nova Scotia.
rrinker Hmm, I wonder what an LED directly under that gypsum crystal would look like, with the text carved in. --Randy
I have played around with lighting the crystal. If the LED is in front of the crystal it can be read and looks nice. Problem with white or yellow light projected inside the crystal is that the entire crystal glows and the white text disappears. I haven't tried other LED colours but I like your idea so I'll try some - lots of colours in my electronics collection.
Here is the light in front of the crystal.
Hmm, guess that's a property of gypsum crystal - with other materials like plastic (acrylic anyway) and glass, if you project light in from an edge and then carve something in from the top (right angles to the light path), the refraction at the 'flaw' makes the carving glow. Before 7 segment LEDs there were a series of edge lit numeric displays used in test gear that used this.
Here is red at normal incidence to the bottom of the crystal.
And blue.
Amber.
And green. This wavelength seems to penetrate deeper into the upper part of the crystal To show the NS.
Well this little experiment shows promise. If I adjust the angles of incidence to the macroscopic sample and/or the crystalline planes, and choose the best wavelength (green to start) I may be able to light up the signs from within (i.e below). Thanks for this question !
Yeah, definitely has to do with the crystal shape and/or alignment in gypsum crystals (frankly, I had no idea gypsum formed clear crystals until seeing this thread). The light seems to scatter much more than it does when beamed through glass or clear acylic. The difference based on wavelength makes a lot of sense and gives some clues to the crystal structure.
Two other things that might produce interesting results - an IR LED (one of these days I need to get some) and an ordinary incandescent bulb (so you have a broad spectrum light going in - not a white LED).
All great ideas I'll have to explore. Thanks Randy.
Last application of fall static grass to the large display case.