WEST ORTON

[Steve M]

Steve - the lighting looks great and very atmospheric, but perhaps there is no smoke because time has been called on steam and they are awaiting the arrival of some nice shiny new diesels

Richard, we don't do shiny when it comes to diesels!

[Steve M]

Early days on this project and still a fair bit of fettling to do, but you’ll get the idea.

https://youtu.be/xd66-nyqRjw

[bulleidboy]

Now your getting lazy . but it's a good idea. I presume there is a rod in a tube going down to a servo under the board?

[Steve M]

Now your getting lazy . but it's a good idea. I presume there is a rod in a tube going down to a servo under the board?

Yes, but only after my first plan for a hamster in a wheel driving a gear mechanism failed.

[Steve M]

A few trials and tribulations but I think I have finished this stage of the shed doors. I had an issue with the weight of the doors pulling the pivots out of vertical but I cured this by creating a brass door frame with holes at the top for the pivot rods.
I had to make the door openings in the shed a fraction bigger so they fit around the frame. The shed and the doors are completely separate so the shed can still be lifted off and the door should themselves can be removed with just four screws that hold the frame to the baseboard.
One limitation of the MERG servo controller is that as it is designed for use with signals, it limits travel to 90 degrees. Ideally for these doors I need 95 to 100 so at some point I will need to track down a more suitable control board.

https://youtu.be/uua1Y-W2XCc

The other thing I have no noticed is that as the resin for the engine shed has fully cured over the months since I made it from cast panels from Scalecast moulds, it has warped from end to end - the front of the shed sits about 1/4” too high leaving a bit of a gap. I’ll disguise it with th usual rubbish that sits in a yard but I may have to think about building a new shed at some time.

[Hound Dog]

Looks great Steve, but is there any means to slow the rate of the door opening as I think this would be far more realistic as I am sure heavy loco shed doors probably crept open…….. just a thought.

[RogerB]

Looks wonderful. You are a very talented chap. I use the same servo motors [or at least I will when I get the TT layout built] with a Megapoints controller. I am told they have a 180 degree potential but I am fairly sure the speed of operation cannot be adjusted. R-

[Steve M]

I have to save my pennies for a Megapoints board.
The Merg ones are limited to 90 degrees as I said but the speed is adjustable from a very slow sweep to what looks like a pinball flipper! The only snag with running them slow is that the pivot bearings are plastic to plastic which makes them a little jerky t slow speeds. So I’m running them a little faster to avoid this and let them bed in. A drop of plastic friendly oil may help in time.
Still the grandkids won’t notice the speed.

[Hound Dog]

Might have known that you would already be on top of the door opening speed comment……..

[Steve M]

Might have known that you would already be on top of the door opening speed comment……..

Only 'cause I knew you would make a comment. I need to have my excuses prepared in advance - learnt that the hard way Richard.