gregh
electronics, computers and scratchbuilding
Way back in the bad old days when I had track power, I built a control panel for the reverse loop at Lilyvale. It was just a plastic box on a post about 1m high. These pics show it.
But now with all battery power it was no longer needed. I still needed some of the power wiring connections (for points etc). So I cut the post off and terminated the wires in a plastic food container box. Now to hide that box!
I decided that a Hebel (Thermalite to most of you) goods shed with styrene/corrugated aluminium roof would give a simple structure that would last outside, and I could lift up if I ever needed to get at the wiring. Just a couple of simple doors and no windows.
So I bought a couple of 50mm blocks for the platform part and a 100mm block for the building. I cut this 100mm block in half so it?s 300mm long and then shaped the roof line as you can see here.
(note for Aussie readers: Bunnings now sells a similar product called Ecobrick (gee it must be good if ?eco? is in the name!) It?s cheaper than Hebel, but seems harder to scribe.)
It goes where the pub is in the previous picture.
The junction box is above ground level but below the top of the hebel platform as shown here.
Then a couple of hours in the sun scribing the Sandstone blocks onto the hebel with a hacksaw blade. The white spaces are where the doors will go. It's coloured with cement oxides mixed with water and brushed on.
The doors are made from styrene, glued into the recesses. Similarly, the round ventilators.
I used aluminium baking pans from $2 shop for the aluminium sheet roof.
It?s pretty soft which makes it easy to corrugate, but liable to damage. I cut the pans up to lay flat, then smoothed them out using a round piece of wood to rub over the surface. I found that worked better than a rolling pin. Then roughened both sides with coarse sandpaper. I used my Fiskars cardboard corrugator. (do a google if you want to see one) Note that the length of a sheet reduces by 30% after corrugating.
to be continued....
But now with all battery power it was no longer needed. I still needed some of the power wiring connections (for points etc). So I cut the post off and terminated the wires in a plastic food container box. Now to hide that box!
I decided that a Hebel (Thermalite to most of you) goods shed with styrene/corrugated aluminium roof would give a simple structure that would last outside, and I could lift up if I ever needed to get at the wiring. Just a couple of simple doors and no windows.
So I bought a couple of 50mm blocks for the platform part and a 100mm block for the building. I cut this 100mm block in half so it?s 300mm long and then shaped the roof line as you can see here.
(note for Aussie readers: Bunnings now sells a similar product called Ecobrick (gee it must be good if ?eco? is in the name!) It?s cheaper than Hebel, but seems harder to scribe.)
It goes where the pub is in the previous picture.
The junction box is above ground level but below the top of the hebel platform as shown here.
Then a couple of hours in the sun scribing the Sandstone blocks onto the hebel with a hacksaw blade. The white spaces are where the doors will go. It's coloured with cement oxides mixed with water and brushed on.
The doors are made from styrene, glued into the recesses. Similarly, the round ventilators.
I used aluminium baking pans from $2 shop for the aluminium sheet roof.
It?s pretty soft which makes it easy to corrugate, but liable to damage. I cut the pans up to lay flat, then smoothed them out using a round piece of wood to rub over the surface. I found that worked better than a rolling pin. Then roughened both sides with coarse sandpaper. I used my Fiskars cardboard corrugator. (do a google if you want to see one) Note that the length of a sheet reduces by 30% after corrugating.
to be continued....
