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

[finescalerr]

Actually there is room for two Ferraris. The problem is fitting them through that door. -- Russ

[Bill Gill]

Volker, if you really want to be cool...instead of a plain old red Ferrari mysteriously sitting in the showroom, how about Elon Musk's red Tesla Roadster currently en route to a solar/mars orbit

[Hydrostat]

Volker, if you really want to be cool...instead of a plain old red Ferrari mysteriously sitting in the showroom, how about Elon Musk's red Tesla Roadster currently en route to a solar/mars orbit

Including the house? Now that would be cool. 

[Hydrostat]

Some progress at the entrance:




the facade got some color, consisting of slightly brownish/yellowish tinted white wall paint and very fine silicon carbide, applied dabbing with some wide soft brushes.



Attaching the characters to the acrylic glass screen was a bit tricky. A friend (Paul, thanks a lot again!) etched the letters and their outline as template from 0.2 mm brass.



I glued the outline to removable double faced adhesive tape and then inserted the cleaned up characters. Removing the outline sheet leaves the cipher mirror-inverted behind.



Then a sheet of acrylic glass was applied with a thin layer of GS Hypocement to the Characters; excess is removable with alcohol afterwards. Hypothetically.



I had to learn and redo it some times ... well, note: GS Hypocement sticks to brass, but more or less not to acrylic glass. When I tried to remove the screen with the characters from the adhesive tape (taped to some aluminum angle section), most of them sticked rather to the tape than to the screen. So i taped it first to some paper sheet and this with usual tape to the aluminum piece. This allows to remove the double sided tape carefully from the characters, but still some fell off anyway. After several tries I made it the hard way, applying CA to each letter, which looked horrifying for the blotches of CA. But it is removable with aceton, which takes a lot of time with a soft brush, but it worked without scratching the screen to much. I hope this will bear up for some time ...

Cheers,
Volker

[Bill Gill]

That's "letter-perfect", Volker! The name and the facade are excellent.

If the CA does not hold up over time, Investigate the possibilities of using some type of 3M clear adhesive on a roll as a possibility.
I got some sample ends of various industrial 3m adhesives years ago from a friend. They worked well on dissimilar materials and stayed clear.
Some 3M adhesives are made for applications where they need to be clear and transparent. Many are intended to permanently attach things that will be outside, exposed to the weather -like automobile trim for example, so these are durable adhesives. You can contact 3M's technical support and describe what you are using it for and they can suggest and perhaps send samples to try.

[SandiaPaul]

another adhesive to consider is the stuff used to bond watch crystals to the case. not sure of the names of the stuff, but try the watchmakers suppliers.

[finescalerr]

How will you keep the brass from oxidizing? -- Russ

[Hydrostat]

Russ, good point. I was tempted to leave them brass parts 'raw', but it would be very difficult to get them shiny again. Cellulose lacquer seems to be suitable, which comes in silk matte and high gloss.

another adhesive to consider is the stuff used to bond watch crystals to the case. not sure of the names of the stuff, but try the watchmakers suppliers.

I thought GS Hypocement is a brand used in jewelry profession Obviously the acrylic glass is the problem.

That's "letter-perfect", Volker! The name and the facade are excellent.

If the CA does not hold up over time, Investigate the possibilities of using some type of 3M clear adhesive on a roll as a possibility.
I got some sample ends of various industrial 3m adhesives years ago from a friend. They worked well on dissimilar materials and stayed clear.
Some 3M adhesives are made for applications where they need to be clear and transparent. Many are intended to permanently attach things that will be outside, exposed to the weather -like automobile trim for example, so these are durable adhesives. You can contact 3M's technical support and describe what you are using it for and they can suggest and perhaps send samples to try.

Bill, thank you for your thoughts. I woudn't know how to cut out the tape that exactly.

Cheers,
Volker

[Bill Gill]

" I woudn't know how to cut out the tape that exactly." Volker
My thought would be to first unroll a bit of the adhesive (it has a protective non stick paper layer on one face), lay it sticky side up on a smooth surface,  lay the individual letters onto the exposed sticky side, cover them all with a sheet of non stick paper (maybe waxed paper?), burnish the letters onto the adhesive, remove the waxed paper and carefully cut around the perimeter of each letter using the brass edges as a template.

[Hydrostat]

That's how I would try to do it, but I still think it would be difficult to cut around the character's curves and corners that exactly, avoiding tiny pieces of tape peeping out from them?

[Bill Gill]

What if instead of using the tip of a blade you tried the tip of a very sharp, round stylus point that could trace around the letters right at their edge?
The adhesives I tried were all kind of gooey, not runny, but they wanted to stick to whatever they touched. The tip of the stylus would probably need to be wiped with something like silicone spray or WD-40 to keep it from sticking to the adhesive as it traced around the letters, and you would have to press lightly, tracing around several times to keep from tearing the adhesive.

Another thought, completely outside my experience, would be to find out about the very thin, very clear, very tough adhesives that they put on labels to apply to bottles. some labels are really hard to remove, yet the adhesive is totally invisible when viewed from the other side of the bottle, looking at the inside.

Of course all of this would only become necessary IF what you have now fails in the future, so it could all be moot.

[Ray Dunakin]

The sign looks great, and really brings the front of the building to life.

[finescalerr]

Volker, where on your layout will the new structure or structures go? Are you building an addition, are you replacing existing structures, or do you have something else in mind? -- Russ

[Hydrostat]

Of course all of this would only become necessary IF what you have now fails in the future, so it could all be moot.

Bill, that's what I do hope  ! But I'll keep your suggestions in mind; there are more alike parts to come.

Volker, where on your layout will the new structure or structures go? Are you building an addition, are you replacing existing structures, or do you have something else in mind? -- Russ

Russ, it doesn't relate to 'quiet earth' at all and so it is an independent project, but please let me cite a person beyond any doubt, a person with publicity that has given up everything his occupational life was about, retired from the world, forgotten by his friends: 'The model is about one-third to half complete, the third major structure for a [...] diorama I may never build.' When I was young (wait: that was only 4 or 5 years ago  ?)) I planned to build a huge segmental exhibition layout of a completely prototypical situation, which would be about 8.3 x 3.2 m:



Meanwhile I acquired a tiny weeny bit more adulthood and understood, that we don't know how much time we've got on earth - and that it may be a bit scarce in the light of my progresses' speed. Going to model shows isn't my main concern anymore - and I ain't got the space to erect and store all the parts at the moment at all. But: taking pictures, which became more important to me, is possible without having a completed layout. Nevertheless I can't stop following the initial idea and inspiration of that place and so I just started tinkering around with some parts. I'm quite sure to build at least the violet and upper green area, which containes the bridge as well as the building. As you can see, there isn't to much sense in it. But some hope - what a great prompting.



Cheers,
Volker

[Peter_T1958]

Hi Volker

This is really inspiring work and your technical skills keep on amazing me. Those two pics of the entrance show them very clearly - very clean work and with a little wear and weathering they will absolutly look like the real thing.

Meanwhile I acquired a tiny weeny bit more adulthood and understood, that we don't know how much time we've got on earth - and that it may be a bit scarce in the light of my progresses' speed.

Yes, a fact what occupies me more and more in my almost 60 years of life. When I consider that my second last project took more then 15 years, my last 5 years and on my present project I am working since six years, time will become a factor to be considered before starting a new one. But perhaps it's a matter of how many projects going around in my head ...

Lokking forward to every update!
Peter