Building a Kitwood Hill Models 45ft Gallows Turntable

[elwoodblues]

I then turned the bridge upside down on the work bench and added weight to insure that the deck would stay flat while the glue dried.





Once everything was dried, the spacers were removed.





The last part of this assembly sequence was to to glue the upper spider to the underside of the bridge.

That's it for now.

Thanks for looking in.

[PRR Modeler]

That seems very complicated to me Ron.

[elwoodblues]

That seems very complicated to me Ron.

Curt, it seems complicated but the instructions have a lot of great photos that show the process.

[deemery]

A turntable is inherently a complex structure with some tight tolerances.  I don't think I've ever built a better designed kit than this one.  Everything went together perfectly and the result works really well.  The instructions are first rate (and when I had a question, it was answered quickly.)  

dave

[Rick]

Ron, it's coming together nicely and thanks for all the pictures.

[elwoodblues]

A turntable is inherently a complex structure with some tight tolerances.  I don't think I've ever built a better designed kit than this one.  Everything went together perfectly and the result works really well.  The instructions are first rate (and when I had a question, it was answered quickly.) 

dave

Dave, I agree with you on the quality of the instructions.

[elwoodblues]

Ron, it's coming together nicely and thanks for all the pictures.

Thanks Rick,

I figure if someone else wanted to build this kit the step by step would help. 

[elwoodblues]

Part 10 - Fitting the rails.

Next up is attaching the rails.  The instructions call for using a piece of flex track with most of the ties stripped off.  Seeing as my layout is 95% hand laid, there was no other option was to hand lay the rails.    If my calculations are correct, I'll have 95.1% hand laid track when I'm done.





First up was soldering the leads to the bottom of the rail.





Here is where things get interesting.  The instructions say that there are 2 centering gauges that are in with the gear bag.  Unfortunately the kit didn't come with the gear bag so there was no centering gauge. 





So, in order to center the rail I did what I always I made a jig. 





The rails spiked to the bridge.





The rails trimmed to size.





The last step is to file the inside if the rail.  This is to allow for easy alignment when it use.

Thanks for looking in.

[Larry C]

Ron excellent work; it doesn't get any better than that. Should work
flawlessly.

[deemery]

As an example of how well-designed this kit is:  Look at the instruction photos showing the track gauge templates.  There's a center hole that matches the hole in the bridge, and a pin that makes sure the gauge is properly centered.  The gauge has 2 widths.  One is for HO/On30, and the other is for On3, depending on how you orient the gauge.  It's too bad those parts weren't in Ron's box.  

dave

[PRR Modeler]

Outstanding modeling Ron. What are the rail spikes made from?

[friscomike]

Howdy Ron,

Wow!

Have fun,
mike

[elwoodblues]

Ron excellent work; it doesn't get any better than that. Should work
flawlessly.

Thanks Larry,

The plan is to have it work flawlessly. 

[elwoodblues]

Outstanding modeling Ron. What are the rail spikes made from?

Thanks Curt,

The spikes are Micro-Engineering small spikes (part #30-106)

[elwoodblues]

Howdy Ron,

Wow!

Have fun,
mike

Thanks Mike.