A snapshot in time. A glimpse of the Plettenberger Kleinbahn in 1/22.5 scale.

[Stoker]

SHAZAAAAAM!

[Design-HSB]

BOAH! Angeber!

Very cool.

Mark, this is not specified, but of course with Volker.
Simply the fact implemented in the model.
Volker, that's what I like about your work.

[1-32]

yes
these switches are the best i have ever seen in scale-great work
kind regards kim

[Hydrostat]

Ray, Marc, Anders, James, Helmut, Kim,

thank you all very much - I'm a bit overwhelmed. And I hat to laugh out loud about the "Shazam"  . I so often would like to be able to do it better than I did, but this poor piece has to work (this one is for Marc ).

The second switch is nearly completed. Indeed the prototype starts with a 50 meter radius, changing to 20 meter radius and then running straight through the frog. (Interesting that "frog" = German "Frosch" in our language is used for a little turntable for mining or industrial light railways, which you can position anywhere on the tracks by hand. The German word for "frog" is "Herzstück" (something like "core heart", meaning something like "most important piece").



The extremely worn out prototype had some additional distance blocks in the blades' area with the cipher of the manufacturer Both & Tilmann.





The rib pattern is made from Copper wire, that I bended around the part, soldered it and then filed it down.



The distance blocks at the frog are made from cardboard plates and ribs, drenched with CA and then filed to shape.



So the first stretch of track is done.



What you can't see in the picture is the wavy trackage, lowering a whiff at each rail joint. My hope is not only to have some nice photos later on, but to have at least some prototypical movements of the train - aside of running forth and back  - for shooting.

I'm never to sure how long my constructions may last when they are in use. Building this way sometimes means to relinquish easy maintenance access. I'd really like to start modeling the street at this state, but there are more tracks to come. And I'll have to decide how I can segment the area I want to model. I really don't like those visible module edges - and I'm not too willing to separate tracks outside the rail joints.

Cheers,
Volker

[finescalerr]

Outstanding.

The word "Herzstück" makes much more sense and offers a much better description than "frog". No wonder I drive a German car ....

Russ

[marc_reusser]

Lovely attention to that detail...and brilliant tip about how you did the ribs. Thanks.....I know it will come in handy someday.

[Hydrostat]

Thanks, Russ and Marc. Meanwhile the first stretch of steel sleeper track is done. Thanks again to Helmut, who milled down the rail base to scale.

The rails tend to bend away from the milled side so I had to straighten them by hand in the vice. I soldered a piece of angle section under one end of the rail for relieving the track fastenings of the somewhat delicate resin sleepers. When mounting the track there'll be additional blocks under the sleepers to settle the distance to the wooden plate - also for relieving the sleepers.





Cheers,
Volker

[Hydrostat]

Hi,

I spent a ridiculous amount of time with the drains topic. It started with handmade examples, which you can see at buntbahn here in the very first post and here with a SBS. But I was interested in other shapes beyond the opportunitys of scissors and paper, for example the switch box covers for this project.

First I tried etching technology. But there's a quandary of either pin sharp edges or high etching depth. This is 0.5 mm nickel silver. At the upper square cover the square risings tend to blur to undefined knobs.



You have to double up the material for realistic dimensions, which is easy, but very expensive in nickel silver. For that I tried lasered cardboard to double up the etched pieces. Please excuse the lousy pics.





But I didn't like that either for there's a lot of work to do at the edges. Etched and lasered parts from the same set of files can't be congruent. The laser beam makes a wider cut the thicker the material is. But I was amazed of the clean cut items and so I'd have the complete cover lasered. Etched part is above, lasered below:



That's what I was looking for. High image sharpness combined with high cutting depth. I feel that even the surface of the cardboard works better to represent cast iron than the nickel silver, which seems too smooth to me. You can use nail enamel, thinned with acetone, to make the cardboard more stable and somewhat waterproof. At least enough to treat it with acrylics and wet in wet with water color. If one uses less thinner the nail enamel may even serve as filler for the uneven surface.

Just to get you bored a qick snapshot of my portfolio, starting with the switch box cover by Both & Tilmann:



Same item, another provider: Bochumer Verein.



Dewatering covers for grooved rail:



And a small and modern kind of that:



This is an original Plettenberg item, a sidewalk integrated drain by Schütte Meyer & Co from Letmathe:



And the next both are from my hometown Wiesbaden, but they were typical for many other German cities:





Grid drains:



And the manhole covers; please compare with the etched part from above:



This is my favorite:



Fireplug covers:







Cover for drain ventilation (mounted in the middle of the street to avoid compressed air in the drain system):



Triangulation point:



Floor squeegee (oh lord, please let this be the right translation):



Cover for rainwater drain:



For a variety of reasons I searched for another provider. I think it was worth while. Above is the new version, below the old one.



Cheers,
Volker

[Ray Dunakin]

Wow, those look great!

[lab-dad]

Amazing how such utilitarian things can be so lovely.
Amazing work
Marty

[BKLN]

Amazing!

Yet another perfect example of the skilled use of modern technologies.

[artizen]

Fantastic results with the laser cutting.

Is the new laser provider using the same material as the first? The detail is so much more refined and realistic.

[finescalerr]

Are you showing off again, Volker? I think your perfection has exceeded my ability to tolerate it! -- Russ

[Hydrostat]

Thanks, guys. Much appreciated. It's your turn later on, Russ.

Is the new laser provider using the same material as the first? The detail is so much more refined and realistic.

No, it's a brownish cardboard, which isn't as dense as the former blackish product. Obviously it's much more a matter of the cutter's skills (and patience and of correct data) than of the material used. You all know the provider, it is Dave from VectorCut whom I can recommend implicitly.

I'm really curious if there's someone interested in such items? This is 1:22.5 scale but for it's vector graphics it's scaleable with minor effort. Please let me know.

Are you showing off again, Volker? I think your perfection has exceeded my ability to tolerate it! -- Russ

Please be lenient: I have to live every day with my annoying nature. I'm afraid I'll have to lower my claim or you have to raise your's to get in tune. Feel free to choose   .

Cheers,
Volker

[Design-HSB]

Hello Volker,

as you can see again the best is the enemy of the good.

Next to the way for the better, but come to the right place.