A change in rota this week saw me with a free day, so back to the layout (if it can be described as thus as such an early stage) it was.
An early start saw me visiting the wood yard for an eight foot length of 2”x1” (or whatever the Common Market measures it at these days) as surprisingly I’d used up all my stock on the abandoned project. The intention was to enclose the top of the fascia with this simple addition; my earlier thoughts about matching the ply rounded edges below didn’t seem to work in my humble. As suggested in my previous, I think a simple straight frame is more in keeping with Mr. Freezer’s original theme, but I’ll leave it to your good selves to consider whether I’m right on this.
I seem to be getting better with the table saw as my measurements were bang on. Only problem with this, or so I understand, is that unless there is slight gap between surfaces the glue won’t bond, so I routed through wall ‘troughs’ in the workshop and found to my surprise an unopened packet of corner brackets:
Before fitting, I also drilled a hole each side of the joint where the beams will meet the frame, as this is where the wires from the led lighting will meet from either side before running down to baseboard (inside the fascia) level, hopefully also serving to cover that annoying gap………….
With mention of lighting, I ordered a cheap set of bedroom/kitchen strips without control/dimmer/ transformer as I’ll simply wire them myself and use as is. I ordered the slightly dearer ‘white light’ set rather than the cheaper ‘warm light’ version. I think the harsher white suits the industrial /city scape better than the other which I relate to countryside scenes on a sunny day.
As can be seen in the above photo, I also removed the screws before countersinking them and filling in. Hopefully this will improve aesthetics somewhat when painted.
I also decided to address the partition on the exit from the fiddleyard. I only had 12mm ply left to do the job, so it had to do (a bit heavy).
But first I needed to remove the remnants of those supports which I cut off earlier in the build because of the obstructions they caused. Unfortunately, I was aware that there were screws inside. Chiselling off the remainders of wood to reveal them, I started to get cracking with the hacksaw. A five minute job, or so I thought. Once again, the top beams were in the way! So off to the garage to pick up my junior hacksaw. I’d have been better with my finger nail…….. Think I’ll need a whizzer to do the job. I used to have one for boat repairs but where it went is anyone’s guess. Not wishing to waste precious time, I decided to get on with the job anyway. I just screwed it on fir now, but once I find a whizzer or purchase one, I’ll glue it too:
So that was it for today. Not very exciting, but steadily chipping away at the to-do list.
I received this in the afternoon post, a reasonably priced unused article from a well known auction site:
Having successfully ordered them, I immediately visited MSE/Wizard Models site to purchase a brass fret of LNWR signal parts to make the working parts.
This was a method I used successfully on the GWR branchline layout. Ratio signals redrilled for brass tubing and supplemented with Modelu finial, Wizard parts and scratchbuilt handrails, they were made to work with gadgets from Heathcote electronics. Here’s a video of a single post on the layout which you may remember:
Apologies once again for the half speed content (don’t know how that happened!).
The kit allows four signals to be completed which is enough fir the platform starters and a ‘mini’ version which I’m hoping will serve as a starter fir the shunting bay (there’s a picture of such a minute signal in my yesteryear book of Wirral lines).
Btw, I forgot to mention that after removing the contents from the packet I noticed that there was something remaining inside. A shake if the box revealed this:
Whomever bought this kit originally must have had the same idea. There was no mention of them being included in the ad..
I suppose it’s too late to cancel my order with MSE. Ah, well.
Cheers for now.
jonte
