Building a Kitwood Hill Models 45ft Gallows Turntable

[elwoodblues]

Great start Ron.

When you tighten the set screw on the spindle it will gall the aluminum shaft. After it is set (tightened) if you have to remove it it requires sanding. Just a heads up. Use caution.

Philip 

Thanks for the heads up Philip.  hopefully I'll never have to remove it but will keep your observation in mind when I tighten the set screw.

This is one of the things I like about the forum, all the help that will save heartache later.

[deemery]

Ron, I need to find a source for those large 'pogo peg' connectors.  I have some other projects (not turntables) where they'd make a great power distribution mechanism.

And on the shaft:  I assembled mine with the motor, tested everything before installation, then removed the motor.  That way I could manually turn the turntable deck around to make sure the lead track rails lined up.   Eventually, I'll go back and install the motor, but this TT is within easy reach so I can pivot it by hand if I ever get to the point where I operate with it...

dave

[elwoodblues]

Ron, I need to find a source for those large 'pogo peg' connectors.  I have some other projects (not turntables) where they'd make a great power distribution mechanism.

And on the shaft:  I assembled mine with the motor, tested everything before installation, then removed the motor.  That way I could manually turn the turntable deck around to make sure the lead track rails lined up.  Eventually, I'll go back and install the motor, but this TT is within easy reach so I can pivot it by hand if I ever get to the point where I operate with it...

dave

Dave, it you search for "brass spring plungers" you will find lots of options, although I didn't find the ones that came with the kit.

[elwoodblues]

Time for another update. . . . 

Part 3 - Assembling the bridge running rail



The kit comes with 2 alignment wings to aid in the installation of the ring rail.  The inner rail is a solid rail. in is held in place with the alignment pins that came with the kit.





The outer ring has a slot cut in it so that the rail can be soldered to the PC ties.





The rail soldered to the PC tie.  To do the rest of the soldering I just swung the outer ring to each PC tie and soldered the rail to the PC ties until they were all soldered.





The completed ring rail. 

[elwoodblues]

Part 4 - Assembling the Pit Rim and the Pit Walls



The first stem in assembling the pit rim is installing the wall supports.  These were glued in place using carpenter's glue.  I prefer carpenter's glue over wood (PVA) glue as it produces a stronger bond.





All the wall supports installed.  I let this dry for a bit before the next step.





Now the tricky part, installing the pit wall to the pit.    The instructions suggests that the easiest to do this upside down so that is what I did.  This was not difficult but a lot of patience was involved.  I picked a spot to start and aligned the first wall support into the slot on the base.  I then went around the ring lining up the wall supports.  I did not seat them all the way until I had all the wall supports locate3d in their slots.  Once they were all seated I glued them in place using carpenter's glue.





The completed pit rim and wall supports.

[elwoodblues]

The instructions stated that you might want to stain/paint the wall sections prior to gluing them in place, so that's what I did.     I used my favourate turntable stain for this, Hunterline's Tie Brown.  Once the stain was dried I cut the wall sections apart.





To install the wall sections I put a thin bead of carpenter's glue along the edges and pressed them in place.  This turned out to be easy as each wall section ended up being a friction fit with no sanding involved, which really surprised me as I was expecting that every piece would need sanding of some sort.  I am really impressed with how well this kit is designed. 





All the wall sections installed.  This completes phase one of the kit.

Thanks for looking in.

[Jerry]

Ron your doing a perfect job on this.
Great tutorial also.


Jerry

[PRR Modeler]

Outstanding Ron. You actually make this look easy.

[Rick]

Ron, I can tell you're enjoying this build based on how fast you're progressing.
Thanks for the detailed SBS's and photos.

[ACL1504]

Ron,

This is an excellent build and the SBS looks familiar.  "A LA ACL1504", funny.

The turntable will look fantastic when finished, heck, looks fantastic now.

Tom

[elwoodblues]

Ron your doing a perfect job on this.
Great tutorial also.


Jerry

Thanks Jerry, glad your enjoying the tutorial.

[elwoodblues]

Outstanding Ron. You actually make this look easy.

Thanks Curt,

So far it has been easy, I'm really impressed with the engineering that went into this kit. 

[elwoodblues]

Ron, I can tell you're enjoying this build based on how fast you're progressing.
Thanks for the detailed SBS's and photos.

Rick, I really am enjoying building this kit.

I learn a lot by reading other people's SBS so I figured others would benefit from mine.

[elwoodblues]

Ron,

This is an excellent build and the SBS looks familiar.  "A LA ACL1504", funny.

The turntable will look fantastic when finished, heck, looks fantastic now.

Tom

Tom, Thought you would like that. 

I'm really pleased on how this is coming out.