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Philip
Fireman
USA
1044 Posts |
 Posted - 01/27/2008 : 11:55:46 AM
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Arthur,
Looks like its going together real good!
Philip  |
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CieloVistaRy
Fireman
USA
2512 Posts |
Posted - 01/27/2008 : 10:01:14 PM
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I have been experimenting with several ways to weather the wood that is to be used on the gallows turntable.
Here is the final result:
I used a mixture of the old wool/vinegar method, taking care not to let the wool sit in too long (as that would turn the mixture a dark brown instead of the gray I want).
After I took out the wool, I strained the mixture through thick papertowel to keep out the wool particles which I was told can interfere with pickup/DCC.
I applied it to several test pieces of heavily distressed basswood (turning them light gray). Then I applied a mixture of a dollop of floquil paint thinner and a touch of floquil grimy black which I think was key in accentuating the grain and even causing a few vertical irregularities! [:-tophat]
Next I think I will apply bragdon's powders and thin out with Acetone a.k.a. Chuck Doan (he has a thread on the tractor diorama he built in the craftsman corner). And then apply the chipped paint technique which was discussed by Doan, and subsequently used by Marty (lab-dad) who was kind enough to point out to me that acrylic paint must be used (he uses mineral spirits instead of paint thinner).
So far, going good. More to report soon!
The Patriots have landed in Phoenix, and I am watching the news conference while treating the basswood pieces!
[:-football][:-football][:-football][:-football][:-football][:-football][:-football][:-football][:-football][:-football][:-football][:-football][:-football][:-football][:-football][:-football][:-football][:-football][:-football][:-football][:-football][:-football][:-football]
Arthur |
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CieloVistaRy
Fireman
USA
2512 Posts |
Posted - 01/28/2008 : 12:02:31 AM
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By the way, the size of the scrap basswood pictured above is roughly the size of an O scale tie.
Arthur |
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CieloVistaRy
Fireman
USA
2512 Posts |
Posted - 01/28/2008 : 11:35:50 PM
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Here is the turntable, so far.
However..
if you look at the longitudinal timber farthest from the foreground (to the right of the porter), you will see that it is not even with it's twin counterpart. I must have gotten so excited that I neglected to exercise a little common sense and give everything the once over before gluing on the cross ties. [:-banghead][:-banghead][:-banghead][:-banghead][:-
Ah well, I have a long way to go before earning my NMRA merits..
I can saw off one end and apply a little weathering, but the other end will still be a little short..
hmmmm..... [:-grumpy][:-mummy][:-yuck]
Oh well.. I'm going to work on the middle cross ties which have to be sanded down because they are a lot more narrow.. also putting together the tower.
Arthur |
Edited by - CieloVistaRy on 08/31/2008 5:17:15 PM |
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Philip
Fireman
USA
1044 Posts |
Posted - 01/29/2008 : 09:19:37 AM
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quote:
if you look at the longitudinal timber farthest from the foreground you will see that it is not even with it's twin counterpart. I must have gotten so excited that I neglected to exercise a little common sense and give everything the once over before gluing on the cross ties
Are you talking about the 2 timbers that appear to be sandwiched together?
philip |
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KVRailfan
Crew Chief
Canada
784 Posts |
Posted - 01/29/2008 : 1:48:18 PM
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There has to be some way that you can disguise /hide the 1/8th inch? Maybe a dirty old rag tat the fireman dropped???
It's looking really darned good Arthur, Keep up the terrific work.
Steve
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CieloVistaRy
Fireman
USA
2512 Posts |
Posted - 01/29/2008 : 3:08:22 PM
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Philip,
Yes the two timbers running along the length of the turntable to the right of the porter.
Steve,
Good idea. What I think I am going to do is carefully saw just a little off both ends, on both sides of the turntable.. stain again and then cover it with some weathering (soot marks or grease stains).
Someone, somewhere in this forum said that the great thing about weathering is that it can be used to cover up mistakes. The more mistakes the more weathering..
So I foresee this being one heavily weathered piece of equipment! [:-eyebrows]  That would fit in just right on the Cielo VIsta anyway.
Arthur |
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Frederic Testard
Engineer
France
10948 Posts |
Posted - 01/29/2008 : 4:29:17 PM
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quote:
What I think I am going to do is carefully saw just a little off both ends, on both sides of the turntable..
I think it's the best solution. It will be hardly noticeable when everything is stained and weathered. |
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Philip
Fireman
USA
1044 Posts |
Posted - 01/29/2008 : 5:06:16 PM
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I made some marks. Is this correct? If so I would use the exacto saw and plow this area out exercising great care and not get into the crossties. Re-creating the appearance of the gap along the whole timber.
philip
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Frederic Testard
Engineer
France
10948 Posts |
Posted - 01/29/2008 : 5:49:26 PM
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| I forgot to tell you that you must not forget to put tons of NBWs into these beams. They will add a lot of interest to the table. |
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CieloVistaRy
Fireman
USA
2512 Posts |
Posted - 01/29/2008 : 6:04:24 PM
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Philip,
Yes that is the one- and there is a gap, it just doesn't show up well in this particular photo. Thanks for pointing it out. The gap does seem a little too narrow.
And yes, I will be getting tons of the NBWs. Just trying to figure out which ones are correct sizes. I am trying to find the rectangular ones from Grandt Line.
Thanks,
Arthur |
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lab-dad
Fireman
USA
1351 Posts |
Posted - 01/29/2008 : 7:54:42 PM
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FWIW
I'd start over.
Your not too far along, and you will only wish you had.
I hate starting over, kick myself for making mistakes
but in the end am always glad I "did the right thing".
If you think you can fix it go ahead, can always punt later.
-Mj |
Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment. |
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elwoodblues
Fireman
Canada
2809 Posts |
Posted - 01/29/2008 : 9:23:09 PM
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Arthur,
For whats its worth I agree with MJ. If you are like me, you will never be happy with the result. Like MJ has already stater you are not that far along and starting over might be less work than trying to fix it. |
Ron Newby
General Manager
Clearwater Valley Railway Co.
http://www.cvry.ca |
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CieloVistaRy
Fireman
USA
2512 Posts |
Posted - 01/31/2008 : 5:32:33 PM
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Mike and Ron-
Probably you're right- [:-paperbag] it's just that I hate to throw anything away. There is a solution, however.. I was planning another turntable for the end of a branch line- this one will go there and the next one I build will be the centerpiece of my switchyard. I have learned a lot from this [:-banghead] and will post all my notes at the end. [:-tophat]
Here's some progress pictures- you can see where I carefully sawed off the ends of both longitudinal timbers and restained with wool/vinegar:
Here is a closeup of the shoes. I am going crazy with Sculpey.
I rolled out a small piece of sculpey and pressed the bottom of all four posts into it, baked it and cut each side at an angle and painted them with floquil grimy black. Will touch up with more paint and bragdon's powder.
This is something I am thinking of using for the cables. It is the right thickness, but the texture is something that I am wondering about.
Does anyone know if the cables used on gallows turntable were of the twisted strand type? If so, I could get away with a little texture...
Now that I am nearing the completion of the top part of the turntable, I have been thinking about the turning mechanism.
Here is something I found at ACE's hardware: a radial bearing which is a tube containing ball bearings, with the inner ring moving independent of the outside one:
I have been reading up on how people build their homemade turntables, and it seems like the main problem that everyone runs into is that the turntable binds on the outer rail, no matter how level the table or the pit is.
Example:
http://www.housatonicrr.com/DIY_turntable.htm
Where Craig Bisgeier set out to scratchbuild his own turntable and ran into the binding problem.
Based on his report and on a few others, I have come up with the below design:
Now, this is where I am extremely grateful to be part of this forum with all the experts and pros there are in here.
I want to toss this out there and see what your comments and advices are. Please make your suggestions! 
Would love to hear from all of you! [:-jump2]
Thanks,
Arthur
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mdcustom
New Hire
USA
2 Posts |
Posted - 01/31/2008 : 10:22:15 PM
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| I am getting ready to build the old Valle Car Works 56' Gaoolos turntable kit, The plans included in it is a copy of an old (dated Feb, '08) blueline. They are a nice set of plans but lack the detail drawing that the original set from 1908 must have had. |
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A-frame Gallows Turntable
