P4NewStreet - modelling Birmingham (UK) in the 1980's - 1:76 scale

[jim s-w]

Hi all

Finally made a physical start on my model of th shopping centre. The ramps at the Wolves end were drawn up as a set of parts in Illustrator and cut out on my friend, Tim's laser cutter.  The first of the 2 beams has now been basically assembled and mocked up for a picture.



At the moment the top beam is loosely held on with blue-tac but you get the idea. The Laser cutter has turned what would be a bit of a mission into something that's been quite a nice project so far and at least assembly wise, pretty easy.

Cheers

Jim

[jim s-w]

Hi all

Sometimes I just get an urge to do something new or something that I haven't done in a while.  This week I had a bit of a hankering to do something with brass,  not like bunging a few CCU's together but something more creative, something from scratch.


My intended victim, an isolation mast from the Eastern end of platform 12.  I suppose I could have built a standard (ish) mast but ive done those before and fancied something a bit different, something that's a bit of a crowd pleaser I suppose.   So a drawing was made, some section picked up from my local model shop and the soldering iron and mini drill fired up for a couple of sessions at my workbench.


Heres the result of my labours.  It went together surprisingly well and despite the use of Colin Craig's insulators and my own etch for the registration arm it's all good old-fashioned fabrication work.  I have to admit im pretty pleased with how it turned out.


Close up of the handles and brackets for the isolation gear.


A typical 'platform enders' view of the interesting bit!

Question is now, is the urge satisfied or have I just made it worse?

Cheers

Jim

[lab-dad]

excellent build!
-Mj

[Design-HSB]

Just beautiful and definitely makes you want more of it.

[Ray Dunakin]

You are right to feel pleased with it, it's a beautiful piece of work!

[finescalerr]

That is really horrible. Remind me to contact you next time I need somebody to build something for me in brass. -- Russ

[Gordon Ferguson]

Makes me want to play with some brass 

Great bit of building , could easily stand as model on its own right  ....... That appears to be the secret of your project 100's of high class individual builds

[Chuck Doan]

Beautiful construction!

[Hydrostat]

Jim - Wow!

Looks very good to me. I especially like the very fine wires used for the cabling. Did you use a jig for mounting the parts? Are those isolators white metal castings? Which wall thickness do they have?

The whole assembly is somewhat tiny compared with my scale 1:22.5, but the closeup of the switch mechanism really blows me away. I'm really looking forward to seeing this painted.

Cheers,
Volker

[jim s-w]

Thanks all

I didn't use any jigs for this one, just worked on top of a drawing.  The insulators are pewter and made by my friend.  The minimum wall thickness is aprox 0.2-0.3mm the tube they are mounted on is 0.6 mm to give an idea of scale.

Jim

[jim s-w]

Hi all

I've painted up my mast and changed the mounting for the contact wire, here's how it looks in temporary position.



Cheers

Jim

[artizen]

Stunning.

[Gordon Ferguson]

Superb, love this sort of detail

[finescalerr]

I wonder how many model train guys would have the slightest clue what research and craftsmanship has gone into your layout or, for that matter, why you've approached it that way. -- Russ

[eTraxx]

I wonder how many model train guys would have the slightest clue what research and craftsmanship has gone into your layout or, for that matter, why you've approached it that way. -- Russ

I count me among that number. Just wish I had his skills.