Wichendon Machine Shop (restart)

[jbvb]

Looks good, Dave. 1890s electric lighting was fairly common in urban areas, particularly where there was hydropower. Edison figured out the carbon filament in 1879 and streetcar development took off after 1888.  But there was also gas lighting, usually from coal.

[deemery]

I wonder what the fire risk would be from gas lighting in a machine shop....

dave

[jbvb]

I wonder what the fire risk would be from gas lighting in a machine shop....

dave

My thought, not deeply researched: At worst, comparable to the forge, the ?coal fired? boiler for the stationary engine and steam heat, or the kerosene lamps they'd otherwise use.

[deemery]

I wonder what the fire risk would be from gas lighting in a machine shop....

dave

My thought, not deeply researched: At worst, comparable to the forge, the ?coal fired? boiler for the stationary engine and steam heat, or the kerosene lamps they'd otherwise use.

Yeah, the forge is a bit of a stretch from a fire hazard perspective, I added that because it made functional sense and the Sierra West parts worked well.  I did consider doing electric 'arc lamps' lighting, easy to do with LEDs. 

This morning I glued the two pair of loading doors into position.  One set on the back wall, which was previously installed (and it was hard to position the doors).  The other set is glued onto the clear wall before I mount it, I'll touch that with some CA to help lock the doors into position.  Then I'll glue the acrylic wall to the model.  I used Canopy Glue to attach the wood door frame to the acrylic, that seems to be holding well, so I'll use Canopy Glue for the wall to framing.

add Here's the doors installed into the acrylic.  There's a piece of .040 square behind each door to provide a better gluing (CA) surface.  Those are hidden by the door framing.  The acrylic pretty much snaps into place, I might not glue it but just depend on that friction fit.  But I will add appropriate trim on the corners of the structure. The roof panel is also a nice tight friction fit.  Being able to remove the acrylic to clean or repair any damage is probably A Good Thing.

Next step:  add the resistors and figure out the overall wiring.  Hopefully I don't mess that up and release Magic Smoke on the LEDs.

another add Lights are wired.  In retrospect, I should have added more lighting. 


dave

[deemery]

One more, in the dark....


dave

[Dave Buchholz]

You can get current controlled power boards from "We Honest" on eBay. There are several types of connections available in each board with a potentimeter to adjust overall brightness

[PRR Modeler]

Very nice lighting job Dave.

[Bernd]

That lighting looks interesting with the windows looking like they are hanging in mid-air. The Levitating Window Co. <lol>

That does look good being able to see what's inside without havng to lift the roof off everytime somebody wants to see the inside.

Bernd

[deemery]

That lighting looks interesting with the windows looking like they are hanging in mid-air. The Levitating Window Co. <lol>

That does look good being able to see what's inside without havng to lift the roof off everytime somebody wants to see the inside.

Bernd

And all the interesting stuff is on the ground floor, so you'd have to lift off the 2nd story too...

add  The Levitating Windows just add to the "magic" of a see-through wall.  You get the sense of the wall layout, and don't lose a lot of visibility because this kit (and this structure) had a lot of natural light/window exposure. 

dave

[deemery]

Well, I'm back at this, after losing about 5 days due to taking care of a sick dog.  (Didn't want to be in the basement when she decided "I need to go out IMMEDIATELY!")  I glued most of the corner trim into position (back wall, boiler room) and clamped that.  I also finally figured out the various parts for the trim, in some cases AFTER I cut alternative pieces.  That's OK, but the instructions for this kit were definitely "minimal".  Still, I'm back to making progress. 

 
(You can't have too many clamps...)

Tomorrow I'll do the corner trim attached to the acrylic front wall.

dave

[swisstrain]

Very nice job, Dave.

I think the idea with the acrylic wall instead of trying to create a removable wall (which, based on my experience shared earlier in this thread would have been near impossible) is really successful.

[deemery]

Even with the LEDs lit, the machine shop is pretty dim.  The kit came with larger and brighter LED segments, so I thought "Could I produce a light box behind the shop to illuminate through the windows"?   I did a mock-up to see how it worked:


Then I built a structure around the lights:

The diffuser panel here is .020 styrene, around a styrene structure that sits behind the machine shop.


You can also see the roof is on the shop, along with the eave returns.  

dave

[deemery]

I also did the loading dock.  This is almost 11 1/2" long, so the challenge is making sure the decking is perpendicular to the dock (after cutting and staining 100+ decking pieces.)  I do this with a thick steel rule and a flat square, double-stick taped to the cutting mat.  This forms the back and right end of the jig.  Then I put some decking pieces down, and align them with the 1" right angle block.  I use a thinner ruler in front to help keep things aligned.  I put down the decking pieces (this is assembled upside-down)  After a couple inches, the decking wants to pop up as I push the angle block, so I place that (steel) combination square head on the decking.  I add more pieces, slide the square head, and check alignment until I've laid down the full deck.  Then I put the thin steel rule onto the decking, add some weights, and glue the first beam into position.  When that's dry, I glue the other beam, aligning as necessary.  While the deck is still in the jig, I add the posts, using various blocks to keep the posts square/plumb. 




The deck test-fit on location:


Today's project was working on the two chimneys (the forge and the boiler) and the steam pipe from the boiler room to the steam engine.

dave

[PRR Modeler]

Great progress Dave.

[deemery]

Smokestacks:


The boiler actually sits 1/2 inch lower than shown here.  I need to prime, paint, and lightly rust the parts. 

dave