Katzhagen - Archive - May 2007
Spring - It's turning green again
The brewery's parking lot was a subject to think about for a long time. But finally I found a solution for its "planting".
Green oasis in an industrial environment
A place to sit down and rest
I already stumbled across these trees in the end of 2006 at my
favourite garden railway
dealer. Since the trees were completely made of PE or some similar material,
they appeared to be weatherproof - and therefore suitable for planting them
on the brewery's parking lot. Natural green was impossible due to the flagstones
in this place, unfortunately...
Mounting the trees on the naked asphalt of course was no option. One day I hapened to rummage around in the Pola-/Piko-box-of-remainders and found the wall and flagstone parts - the idea for a kind of elevated flowerbed was born. Also, an opportunity to mount an illumination presented itself ! The bank-like coping was my wife's ingenious idea. Great - Thanks, Ella !
The illumination is based upon the known BRAWA illumination units which were mounted inside aluminum tubes with a diameter of 12mm. The tubes were cut to a length matching the base's interior height. Parts of the lamps' sockets needed to be cut off to fit into the tubes which are glued to the clear PS plates' bottom. For a perfect finish, 3mm high rings (same aluminum tube) were placed above the lights. Some additional flocking - done. I hope the flocking will stand the weather's moods - we'll see...
The signs mounted at the brewery's buildings are the result of some homework. Prototypes were available at the corresponding brewery's website. A first attempt using an inkjet printer and suitable transparancies which were applied to ABS-plates, looked good - at a first glance. Unfortunately, the colours faded under UV radiation outside. Remedy could be achieved using a colour laser printer and applying some clear varnish from a spray can.
Mounting the trees on the naked asphalt of course was no option. One day I hapened to rummage around in the Pola-/Piko-box-of-remainders and found the wall and flagstone parts - the idea for a kind of elevated flowerbed was born. Also, an opportunity to mount an illumination presented itself ! The bank-like coping was my wife's ingenious idea. Great - Thanks, Ella !
The illumination is based upon the known BRAWA illumination units which were mounted inside aluminum tubes with a diameter of 12mm. The tubes were cut to a length matching the base's interior height. Parts of the lamps' sockets needed to be cut off to fit into the tubes which are glued to the clear PS plates' bottom. For a perfect finish, 3mm high rings (same aluminum tube) were placed above the lights. Some additional flocking - done. I hope the flocking will stand the weather's moods - we'll see...
The signs mounted at the brewery's buildings are the result of some homework. Prototypes were available at the corresponding brewery's website. A first attempt using an inkjet printer and suitable transparancies which were applied to ABS-plates, looked good - at a first glance. Unfortunately, the colours faded under UV radiation outside. Remedy could be achieved using a colour laser printer and applying some clear varnish from a spray can.
"Curiousity, your name is cat."
Nightshift
Scheduled building activities
require materials and machines...
A service train which included a crane, protection and stock car already existed when a used depressed-center freight car (without load) just fell into my lap. This went together like chalk and cheese - a perfect match for "walking" my old FIAT FL10...
The right moment for this apparatus !
A caterpillar modell from the early 1970s
At the age of ten I already had played with this modell of a FIAT FL10 which was a promotional gift from the FIAT corporation for trading partners and which my father brought home at that time (around 1970).
According to that times established standard, it's a die-cast model. Just parts of the hydraulic cylinders and the treads are made from plastic.
The model emerged from my parent's house basement's depths a couple of years ago. After its restauration and the installation of operational headlights it just stood in a shelf - until it found its way into the garden today. I'm quite sure it will be an object to play with in the future more often.
Vehicles purchased purely by chance can be of undreamt benefit ;-)
Since there was no beer mat handy...
