DaveB2
Registered
This could fit in a number of places so if the mods feel it fits better elsewhere please relocate it.
I've now reached the stage where I can run a train so I'm thinking about stations and lineside. As a wedding anniversary present my wife gave me a Piko Rosenbach station kit, now waiting for assembly, which in due course will sit on a grey concrete slab along with platforms cut from the same grey slabs. I thought I'd add a little visual "interest" to the station, the as yet unbuilt halt and possibly the bridge with some platform lights...... right up until I saw the price of the LGB version. Now I still wanted the lights but being [strike]mean[/strike] careful I needed a more cost friendly alternative.
This is my solution, it's a more contemporary style which won't suit all but, instead of £10-15 each this one has cost me around 9p and a little time. While I doubt there's an awful lot of originality here apart possibly from the "globe" it works for me and if it sparks any ideas for you it's worth sharing.
The standard is made up of five parts, two sections of copper tube, two ferules and a washer. The materials were chosen as I could rescue the tube from the scrap bin and cadge the ferules and washer off the maintenance guys at work.
I (soft) soldered it all up as I felt happy doing that but if you had plastic tube or preferred to glue it I'm sure that would work too.
The washer is there as an escutcheon so that if I don't do a neat job of drilling the hole in the concrete any damage is hidden.
A quick blow over with a rattle can covers up the different colours of the different materials.
I bought the LED?s complete with resistor and wires from eBay £4.50 for 50 inc p&p. At that price it just wasn't worth buying the bits to do it myself. The wires are threaded down the tube and the resistor and heat shrink fit neatly into the tube though I may add a dab of sealant on the "production" units.
The globe? the globe is simply the ball from a deodorant with a slightly undersized hole drilled in it which I opened out slowly with a reamer until it was a snug fit on the pole.
The result -
Not very long to make, not expensive to make and hopefully should be fairly robust too.
Dave
I've now reached the stage where I can run a train so I'm thinking about stations and lineside. As a wedding anniversary present my wife gave me a Piko Rosenbach station kit, now waiting for assembly, which in due course will sit on a grey concrete slab along with platforms cut from the same grey slabs. I thought I'd add a little visual "interest" to the station, the as yet unbuilt halt and possibly the bridge with some platform lights...... right up until I saw the price of the LGB version. Now I still wanted the lights but being [strike]mean[/strike] careful I needed a more cost friendly alternative.
This is my solution, it's a more contemporary style which won't suit all but, instead of £10-15 each this one has cost me around 9p and a little time. While I doubt there's an awful lot of originality here apart possibly from the "globe" it works for me and if it sparks any ideas for you it's worth sharing.
The standard is made up of five parts, two sections of copper tube, two ferules and a washer. The materials were chosen as I could rescue the tube from the scrap bin and cadge the ferules and washer off the maintenance guys at work.
I (soft) soldered it all up as I felt happy doing that but if you had plastic tube or preferred to glue it I'm sure that would work too.
The washer is there as an escutcheon so that if I don't do a neat job of drilling the hole in the concrete any damage is hidden.
A quick blow over with a rattle can covers up the different colours of the different materials.
I bought the LED?s complete with resistor and wires from eBay £4.50 for 50 inc p&p. At that price it just wasn't worth buying the bits to do it myself. The wires are threaded down the tube and the resistor and heat shrink fit neatly into the tube though I may add a dab of sealant on the "production" units.
The globe? the globe is simply the ball from a deodorant with a slightly undersized hole drilled in it which I opened out slowly with a reamer until it was a snug fit on the pole.
The result -
Not very long to make, not expensive to make and hopefully should be fairly robust too.
Dave
. I did consider table tennis balls but the deoderant balls looked a more translucent plastic and probably a bit thicker which I reckoned could be stronger once I'd driled a hole in it.
it's just between the two of us.