The pace of work has slowed for several reasons of late, not least of all due to the need for further cogitation.
Unfortunately, a chicken & egg situation has occurred with the turntable build, as I’ve been conjuring up ways - some viable - to reduce the amount of ‘decorating’ required after the fitting of the bridge and its workings.
You may recall that the design of the kit prevented much relief being added to the walls to necessitate the unobstructed turning of the bridge, however, I still wanted to show some detail around the top edge as can be seen in the previous photo I’m working from, and which I’ll reproduce to save you wading through several previous posts:
In particular, it’s the iron shuttering (replete with drainage holes) and the adjacent fatigued render I’d like to represent. I’ve worked out a ‘frame’ method for supporting this detail, as much of it is in the form of plaster (gypsum), which is fabricated from lengths of styrene section and strips of embossed brick, a great surface for the plaster to adhere to. However, this requires knowledge of where the roads will be sited; hence the ponderings and their frustrating obstacle to progress. I won’t bore you with the full details, but to compound matters, there’s the instructions that accompany the Locomotech indexing system to take into account, which consists of a slim brass disc which has five slits cut into it to represent each of the maximum five roads allowed. Apparently, they ‘default’ to the Setrack settings commensurate with the template included in the Peco kit, although - much like the idea I had with the Arduino system I mooted at the beginning of the thread, controls are offered to assist with customised roads around the edge.
To cut a long story short, I decided it was about time to draw out the Peco plan for myself to see if this would help (it did, sort of, but not completely), and also to see how the dimensions of the plan would be affected, bearing in mind I’ve deviated from the plan’s Setrack based idea. To that end, I cut up an old roll of wallpaper to size, to which I stuck the Peco template, reckoning that it would be best to develop the layout from the location of the turntable:
In the end, it proved its weight in gold: I have a better idea of where the entry road will go and the exit roads to aid decoration/detailing of the edge, and I’ve discovered that a further six inches in length will be required to accommodate the Peco Loco lift, and allow a longer run for the shed roads.
Elsewhere, I reassessed my inclusion of an inspection ‘tunnel’. Whilst I haven’t abandoned the idea altogether, I decided to do so in half relief, following assimilation of the accompanying Locomotech notes, which mentions using the centre slot of the five for the entry road, in effect a form of datum from which to gauge the exit roads. Essentially, it advises loosening off the motor coupling to do so, which raised thoughts of perhaps making some adjustments of the siting of the well in the hole, with me thinking it would be darned sight easier if the well could be kept circular, hence the half relief option for the tunnel. Here’s one I took earlier during the recent clement spell, although further detailing has since been added:
You might just notice the ‘frame system’ I’ve adopted, about which I made mention further up.
I’ve also prepared a set of wooden rails/beads for attaching to the sides of the deck, as per the one in the photos further back of Leeds Central:
Tacked on with blutac for now, there are six in total (three per side), onto which I’ve included a worn paint effect using Tamiya flat white (even though it looks blue!). This was copied from the photo of that of Leeds, although it could have been a reflection of the light. Still, it looked interesting and broke up the dirty wood effect of the deck.
So, I’ll carry on with renewed vigour now I have a better idea of where the detailing will go, although I’m pretty certain I won’t manage it all before I have to wire it up.
Thanks for looking.
Jonte