Bits, Pieces, & Clutter

[shropshire lad]

Franck ,

  It is a shame that the spikes are no longer produced , but thanks for enquiring for me/us . It looks as if we will have to come around to your house and relieve you of the rest of yours ! I shall just have to go back to my usual way , and cover the sleepers up with dirt .

  I had forgotten that I sent you that stuff , it must be old age catching up with me .

  I have started thinking about building a layout based around your photos more seriously over the last few months but I haven't come up with a suitable track plan that will work . Hopefully , I'll get there in the end .

  Now tell the truth , have you giving us all of the photos you took of the mine or are you holding some back for your own use ? Can you give us a idea of what happens to the track either side of the snow shed ? It would be very interesting to know .

  Nick 

[Malachi Constant]

Those photos are fabulous!  (Nick, remember to keep lots of trees in front of the cliff obstructing much of the view of the track and trains)

Pretty darn sure I've seen them before ... maybe here as Nick pointed out, but seems like I've also seen them on the Gn15 forum ... maybe Franck posted them there?

There are some lost wax brass NBW's and such that might stand in for those spikes ... but seems like those would get even pricier.  (And plastic parts that would be suitable where the hardware isn't actually fixing the rail to the ties.)

Meanwhile, thanks for the inspiring trackwork and photos, Franck & Marc!  -- Dallas

[Malachi Constant]

Oh no!  1:35 Scale Rulers again ...

Well, after the surprise with the "inchimals" on the Expo Tools ruler, I decided to call The Scale Card and order some of their rulers.  Called on Friday afternoon ... the fellow said he might be able to mail them on Saturday ... and they actually arrived here (cross-country) on Monday.  (I was really just hoping to reach him on Friday so he could mail them today!)

Pros & Cons:  Posted a photo below ... the inch marks (12 to the foot!) are clearly marked and easy to read.  The longer mark and number every third inch makes it really easy to take a visual measure.  The metric side has a small mark every 2 scale cm and counts off every 10 scale cm.  On the 6" and 12" rulers, the little inch marks go all the way out to the edge, which is good for marking.  On the wallet card, all the marks are inset from the edge to allow for cutting of the cards.

Accuracy:  
-- The 12" rule from Scale Card has 34'11" scale in 12" actual measure (checked against two other steel rules, excluding the Expo Tools one.  Appears there's an error of approximately .025" actual in one foot actual measure.)
-- The 6" rule is closer to correct and appears to have less than .010" error in 6" actual.
-- The wallet card appears to be extremely close to accurate.

By comparison, the Expo Tools ruler with the funky "inchimals" (10 marks per scale foot) has 35'0" scale feet in 1 actual foot of measure.  So I guess the best choice is to pick-n-choose based on what you're building ... and, of course, consider choosing one ruler and sticking with that to maintain consistency.  (If you're building a door and a door frame separately, use the same ruler for both!)  

Web site is www.thescalecard.com -- note that they do NOT have secure on-line ordering.  If any of my international buddies need these, let me know.  I can order by phone and forward thru the mail.

Cheers,
Dallas

[shropshire lad]

Those photos are fabulous!  (Nick, remember to keep lots of trees in front of the cliff obstructing much of the view of the track and trains)

Pretty darn sure I've seen them before ... maybe here as Nick pointed out, but seems like I've also seen them on the Gn15 forum ... maybe Franck posted them there?

There are some lost wax brass NBW's and such that might stand in for those spikes ... but seems like those would get even pricier.  (And plastic parts that would be suitable where the hardware isn't actually fixing the rail to the ties.)

Meanwhile, thanks for the inspiring trackwork and photos, Franck & Marc!  -- Dallas

Dallas ,


  For me one of the main reasons for modelling this scene is that it would have lots of trees in the foreground making the viewer work harder to see the trackwork behind  them  . I know this tends to go against commonly followed practice of having the bulk of any trees on a layout at the back but as I've never built a layout by myself before I like to do things arse-about-face ( as we Brits say) .

I know I have posted the link to these photos several times before but I don't think they have reached the GN15Forum yet . But as I don't go there much these days I could easily be wrong .


Nick

[finescalerr]

If any of you guys is interested in Scale Card rules and has any hesitation, I have two comments: I endorse them without reservation. Jose Lopez, the owner, is a longtime advertiser and we are pretty friendly. He's as honest as they come and passionate about offering the best product in his field. I know about the issues he has had to overcome to produce an accurate rule. -- Russ

[Franck Tavernier]

Wow, that hillside (mining?) track is way too cool! Especially the roof to protect from falling rocks. Where is this track? Do you have more photos of it?

Hi Ray,

This track is in France, it's the coal mining line "Les Eduits', near Briançon...And yes I have more photos...





Franck

[shropshire lad]

Keep posting the photos , Franck . The last one is new to me . Is it an ore bin ?

  Here is another one I found last night . However , I can't be certain that it is part of the same line .

  Nick

[Franck Tavernier]

Franck ,

Now tell the truth , have you giving us all of the photos you took of the mine or are you holding some back for your own use ? Can you give us a idea of what happens to the track either side of the snow shed ? It would be very interesting to know .

 Nick  

Hi Nick, no I haven't giving us all the photos. These photos were taken by my friend Olivier Joseph (all right reserved), a few years ago... That's why I do not post all the photos here...and don't forget, it's Marc's Subject!

After the snow shed it's the ore tram...









Franck

[Franck Tavernier]

Keep posting the photos , Franck . The last one is new to me . Is it an ore bin ?

  Here is another one I found last night . However , I can't be certain that it is part of the same line .

  Nick

Yes Nick, it's the same line! Where did you found it? On the Saint Chaffrey website?

It was the pit head zone...



http://www.maplandia.com/france/provence-alpes-cote-dazur/hautes-alpes/briancon/les-eduits/

Franck

[Franck Tavernier]

Great track work, indeed. It's high time you start the project, and maybe publish more pictures for others to dream, or perhaps to build.
In any case, looking at the track on these pictures, there doesn't seem to be tons of spikes, right?

Hi Fred,

I started to work on this project, there are 3 years ago, by searching photos and documents... I must now begin to scratchbuild gas locos, track, rolling stock...

And yes, there is no spikes on this part of the track, but it's a little part of this line, and track is laid for the rest on...wood ties with tons of spikes  

Franck

[shropshire lad]

Franck ,

  Yes , that photo was on the Saint-Chaffrey website , along with this one .

   I am now slowly building a picture in my mind of how the line used to look like .Thank you for the extra photos .

[W.P. Rayner]

Very interesting photos Nick and Franck... now that's a line just begging to be modelled.

Belated thanks for the offer on purchasing the spikes Franck. Keep us posted if they ever become available again. I may take you up on your offer if they are close to prototype for the Heywood lines, still checking on that.

Paul

[Gordon Ferguson]

Early on in this thread Marc mentioned "cement mixers" and I posted a few photos of one I intended to model.
Whilst doing some more research on this subject came across these photos last week





There was something about this one which really appealed, although I think the overall rust finish is beyond my painting abilities it is interesting to see how the different planes and different steel/iron have rusted in different ways and colours. Decided that I would have a go at in 1/24 to go with my road roller. Having no lathe could not go down the route Marc has started on with his, so went back to draftsman days and thought I would play around with producing the mixing drum out of paper. Produced a few trial pieces and then made the mistake of getting involved with Dallas on the subject of scale rulers. with a 1/35 rule in my hand I noticed that one of my trial pieces was exactly right for a 1/35 scale model so that is what I have ended up modelling ( as well as a 1/24 version!)





The beer bottle is the only 1/35 item I have to give some comparison shots, and the photos are quick & dirty ones at the bench.


Other than some Tamiya tanks I made years ago this is a new scale to me and I have struggled a bit to get things like the steel C frames to proportionally right, have scratched them from 20 thou strip but have thinned all the edges - would have been better starting with 10 thou but didn't have any in stock. The drum is made from paper and balsa, wheels from paper and rod, the rest from plastic strip.

Now that I am ending up with my only 1/35 scale model going to have to find a use for it, thinking of it abandoned at the the side of a building (maybe a Nissan Hut) bit of grass, bit more junk etc.   

[marc_reusser]

That is one sweet little model. A great scene addition. Looks like I may have to copy it. Thanks for posting this.

FWIW, I didn't build my drum on a lathe, (the lathe and me don't get along) I cut up the mixers from some matchbox type cement trucks.

Marc

[finescalerr]

I really like it. -- Russ