I finally finished the second town on my closet layout. All the buildings across the tracks are permanently mounted on a lift-out for access to a tunnel using Rob Ray's first contact method. Rob, I figured out first-hand why you now use pogo-pins!
That's so cool. I really like it. Yeah, I noticed it was a Caterpillar. It's not usual to see a scraper in Z scale. I'm at this moment working on a 1950's Euclid. Finished the front unit few days ago. Working now on the rear unit. Joao
Good Lord, I LOVE that!!! I started my career as a heavy equipment operator 53 years ago on one of those, a twin engine unit I would sure like to have a couple of them!
Thanks! Happy to find someone who worked on this machine I'm modeling! A couple of years ago I wanted to model a bug-eyed Euclid but didn't find enough technical stuff. I finally found some basic drawings and dimensions and got my hands on it. This one I'm doing is a twin-engine 24-yard, the TS-24. As soon as I get the whole vehicle finished I'll post it here. Joao
So. when the guy from Spinneyworld came to see HAKUHO at the Manchester Christmas show he said he was doing some KEI vans and also some larger vans ( Ford transit/ Merc Sprinter) Not the best photo mainly because the 3D prints are nearly the same colour as the office shelf. Won't be doing anything with them just yet. The upstairs office is full of 1/32nd Thai rolling stock under construction and these little things could easily get lost Quite a difference between the Z scale vehicles and the Gauge 1 Thai Rail LS low sided wagon And for Robert Ray who was amused at the thought frequently written off Bedford/Suzuki KEI vans More soon Kev
Not EXACTLY on my workbench (on the secondary layout at the moment), but I WOULD like to figure out how to get the forks to move up and down! The new (to me, anyway) 7-ton fork lift from Artitec. A very nice piece of Z equipment.
I have collected quite a few Artitec vehicles, as their detail is second to none in Z Scale. But I really like that 7 ton forklift. I guess I will have to get some too!
Reynaulds, Eurorail Hobbies, and a couple of the big shops has them. I got the red combine about 2 years ago when they came out with another bigger place, but I can't remember which one
I fired up the 'ol Fiber Laser this morning, and cut a bit of .004" thick Phosphor Bronze sheet into Semaphore Blades, and attempted to make a B Type short blase train order semaphore for my Lester Depot: The Phosphor Bronze sheet cuts pretty good with 15 passes at 90% power, taking about 1 seconds a pass, each pass has 16 semaphore blades. I made both short and long B Type train order semaphores, and both pointed and straight blade A2 type blades for mainline traffic semaphores used on the Northern Pacific Railway. I found diagrams with measurements online, so these are cut to a prototype scale for Z: The long term plan is to motorize the semaphores using those tiny stepper motors, and control their operation through JMRI signals to trigger Arduino's to move them to the 3 states of Clear = Green = Vertical, Approach Slow = Yellow = 45 degrees Up, and Red = Stop = Horizontal for approaching the depot. I made a pivot point that I can connect music wire to , requiring only .2" of travel for all 3 states, and the small linear stepper motors have .25" of travel, so when the .005" music wire arrives, I will try to form it to push and pull the semaphore blades into aspect. I still need to come up with a homing sensor for initializing the stepper motor them move to the starting aspect, and of course a "sketch" that takes button inputs to drive the stepper to the requested aspects. Sounds easy, but this is super fine micro assembly for all the hardware, and over my head programming for the sketch. But once completed, it's a matter of copy / paste to duplicate the mechanism for any kind of semaphore I might need down the road.
Working semaphores would be fantastic and I totally believe it’s complex! But boy I can’t wait to see it in operation!
Sometimes I picture you Robert, in a mad scientist like setting, between "Young Frankenstein" and the scene from "Better of Dead" when he's cooking the hamburgers and Van Halen "Eruption" playing in the background!! The Phosphor wire, is that the stuff that moves when powered? I remember an article long time ago in Model Railroader, they were using it for animation? Your the next level genius of Z-scale!!
