Katzhagen - Archive - July 2007
The silly season
As there still are no satisfactory exchange possibilities for what one is presented with what the weather guessers tend to call weather, and the so called summer turned out to be more of an insolence this year, I simply crawled into the basement. Given this kind of weather, garden railway projects literaly sink. Even mowing the lawn is ... hm, "difficult" under these circumstances.
Handicraft attack caused by lack of outdoor activities - granted, occasionally I tend to exaggerations...
A monument
was a must after Pola came up with its "Fritz" and "Johann Wolfgang"... As luck would have it, I found a bottle top from a well known sherry manufacturer which I kept years ago. After removing the cork and unsuitable details, the "monument" shown on the right was built without many efforts.
The base consists of parts from the Pola box of remainders. The sandstone-coloured steps are surplus inlays from one or two kits of half-timbered houses and the stone column was made from remainders of the big water tower.
A flat
tire on one of our bicycles led to the idea, to use the defective tube as a basis for a new kind of freight - tar board rolls !
The tube was cut into pieces of a length of 3.7cm. These were cut open, rolled up and banded with an appropriately printed label.
Prototypes for the banderole's laser printing, which is lightproof in contrast to inkjet printing, were available at all tar board manufacturers.
was a must after Pola came up with its "Fritz" and "Johann Wolfgang"... As luck would have it, I found a bottle top from a well known sherry manufacturer which I kept years ago. After removing the cork and unsuitable details, the "monument" shown on the right was built without many efforts.
The base consists of parts from the Pola box of remainders. The sandstone-coloured steps are surplus inlays from one or two kits of half-timbered houses and the stone column was made from remainders of the big water tower.
A flat
tire on one of our bicycles led to the idea, to use the defective tube as a basis for a new kind of freight - tar board rolls !
The tube was cut into pieces of a length of 3.7cm. These were cut open, rolled up and banded with an appropriately printed label.
Prototypes for the banderole's laser printing, which is lightproof in contrast to inkjet printing, were available at all tar board manufacturers.
Neither a monarch nor a poet...
Roof battens and tar board rolls
Recycling in the true sense of the word: Ice lolly sticks and a bicycle's tube - and plenty of time.
Replenishment for the battens is still required
Handicrafts program
The rolled up tube remainders' ends were glued with a contact adhesive, the paper bands with a paper glue.About 55 of these rolls can be made from a 28" tube. Exactly 40 rolls fit onto a pallet made by Busch.
Wood glue was used to connect the ice lolly sticks, forming a palletized load. After drying, the wood was sanded with a grit size of 40 first, then followed by a grinding with a grit of 180. To the children's delight 75 ice lolly sticks are not enough for an appropriate pallet - around 100 are needed.
Materials for the next work are visible in the background: More banana, kiwifruit and pineapple boxes...
News flash !!! - 15. Juli 2007, Silly Season's End!
After having experimented with the Pola level crossing for yeeeaaaars (to fully automate it in analogue operations, to teach the attendant how to crank, to tell the beast how to toll and to have the lights blink) I finally got around placing it in the garden today.
The old story - Where to put the cables ?
After the wiring was stowed away, the rest almost assembled itself.
Finally !
The cable connections between the components (barriers, hut and reed switches) are implemented as a wiring harness with weather-resistant connectors which makes it possible to remove each of the components quite easily. Just the wiring harness itself is installed permanently.
Garden railroader's delight :-)
Now the cement mortar has to dry before lane markings and further details can be applied.
