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//-->N Scale Modellerwww.nscale.org.auIssue 6 ~ January 2011• Building a Deck Bridge Kit• Weather or not: ‘how to’ series• Creating cameos: adding realism to your layout• Product NewsN Scale ModellerEditorialSince the publication of the inaugural issue almost eighteen months ago, 15 articles have been published andthere is a queue of articles either awaiting publication or being written. To date,NSMhas been read by over6,000 people from more than 50 countries. The pre-runner hard-copy NSMiA publication that ran over two yearshad a circulation of almost 200 copies and prior to that the long-running (14 years) hard-copyAustralian N ScaleModellers Newsletterhad a total of 320 subscribers.The popularity ofNSMis obvious and the positive feedback from various countries other than Australia isencouraging. This has included the USA, UK and unexpected countries such as Hungary and Zambia. Thecreating of an e-Mag has certainly increased the interest in reading about N scale modelling in Australia. It is hopedthat it will lead to an increase in demand for N scale Australian prototype products.The busy season of model railway exhibitions around the country is almost over and ready to give way to summertimeleisure activities. The exhibitions over the last six months or so have been reasonably well endowed with N scalelayouts; a sign that N scale is firmly established in the community and perhaps increasing in popularity. N scalelayouts have been displayed in at least 30 known exhibitions/shows so far this year. Also, at many of these,T-TRAK modular system layouts have been on display.In addition to just more N scale layouts being on display, N scale layouts and models have been winning displayand modelling awards. Of particular note is Ross Balderson’s “Sydney Central Station”, winning 5 awards at theAMRA (NSW) Exhibition held at Liverpool in October. Also at this exhibition, 5 first prizes, 3 second prizes and 2third prizes in various categories of the Open Modelling Competition were won by N scale modellers.As always, we welcome your feedback and the submission of any articles orpictures that can be shared with the railway modelling community.The NSM publication team hopes all the NSM readers enjoyed a joyous and safeFestive Season and wishes all happy modelling in the coming year.Publication TeamGraham CocksTrevor MayDavid BromagePublished by N Scale Modellers AustraliaEmail ........................................... nsm@nscale.org.au______________________________Articles may not be copied or reprinted without the permissionof the respective authors. Original articles in this publicationmay not be copied or reprinted without the permission of thepublisher. The publisher accepts no responsibility for articlessubmitted by contributors.Modellers wishing to submit articles should take note of thefollowing technical requirements. Photos must be forwarded asseparate items:1. Text may be submitted using Word or plain text by email if it’sa short item. We can do the formatting.2. Photos to be in JPG (JPEG) format. 300dpi or better. We canreduce the size if necessary.3. Text should indicate where a photo should be inserted, eg.(Fig 1 placed here)Assistance with article preparation is available from the Team ifrequired.While advertising is not accepted as such, N Scale Modellerwelcomes relevant product news from manufacturers.All correspondence and submissions is via the publication’semail address:nsm@nscale.org.auContentsEditorial ............................................................2Building a Deck Bridge Kit ................................3Product News .................................................. 9Powering Through Scenery ...............................14Weathering WAGR Flat Wagons .......................15Creating Cameos pt 2: The Rail Fan .................19Exhibition photos ..............................................21Upcoming Exhibitions ....................................... 22Cover:A logging train rolls over a deck bridge(photo: Dennis H Murphy)2N Scale ModellerIssue 6 ~ January 2011BUILDING A DECK BRIDGE KITby Dennis H MurphyI just love bridges. They can be big bridges or smallbridges, new style or old. They can be made of plastic,metal, or wood. I like them all. As far as I’m concerned,there’s no such thing as too many bridges. I find I enjoybuilding bridges almost as much as I enjoy working onmy N-Scale layout. And the best part of the hobby isbuilding bridges into our “train world”.A prominent aspect of my home layout is the loggingoperation. Every community needs lumber to keep thefires of business burning bright. And to obtain that lumber,the railroad needs to get into the woods. By the verynature of the mountains, there’ll be a need for bridges.What good fun!Over the past few years, I’ve had a lot of fun finding “odd” bridge kitsthat I can build. I’ve found a number of small cottage businesses thatproduce an array of products that has kept my interest level high.This article focuses on a company called Black Bear ConstructionCo. (P.O. Box 26911, Austin, TX 78755-0911, (512) 467-8400,www.blackbearcc.com).(cont’d p3)Issue 6 ~ January 2011N Scale Modeller3The project we will be building is their “Deck Bridge” kit in N-Scale (Part #DB-N).I’ll be covering only the “basics” of this project, not every aspect. That’s all nicelycovered by the detailed instructions that accompany the kit. What’s unique aboutthis companies’ kit is the jig for consistent construction. As long as you follow thedirections and use the jig, every bridge you build with this system should be exactlythe same.Very clearly in the directions it states to “pre-stain” all wood pieces. I found for thisarticle, the un-stained pieces of wood stood out better for the photos. Sooooo…..To start off I didn’t follow the directions exactly. Well, it IS a hobby after all! Butother than this one digression, the rest of the project follows the directions fairlyclosely. We’ll just have to see how the staining comes out when the project is allcompleted.Moving right along, the first thing I did was run through the materials list. All thedifferent sized wood is color coded for ease of identification.Except for one section of wood that didn’t have a clear marking, it was easy todetermine everything was in fact there.The next step was to read the directions. (What a novel thought… To actually READthe directions BEFORE I start a project!) I found the directions complete enough andfairly easy to understand. There were a couple of places where the directions couldhave been a bit more complete, but at those times I just had to look at the detaileddrawings to figure it out. I might mention here that this kit wouldn’t be considered ata “beginner” level. But for most of us, it’s not that hard either.Included in the packet were a number of pages of information. I was surprised tofind a detailed “Technical Bulletin” to help with the project.Also included was a “to-scale” drawing that I ended up using as a template. (A bighelp) It shows the complete bridge from a number of angles and with great detail.The actual directions move you along from one small aspect to the next. A couple oftimes I could’ve used a bit more information, but nothing major. Little things like atone point it didn’t state the size of some cross braces. No big deal, as there’s ampleextra wood to take care of any minor “miss-use” that can happen.As for construction, what I like to use is a toothpick and my old friend “Elmers” whitehousehold glue. Elmers seems to have been made for these types of projects, andit doesn’t stick to the jig material.You start your bridge by setting the outside main support beams. The wood fitssnugly enough that it won’t fall out if you tip the jig.In this series of photos you can see where I added the three layers of cross supports.There’s a very distinct way they go together, so make sure to follow the directionscarefully. A nice aspect of the jig is that you can make the bridge longer or shorterif you like. Once the glue is dry, there are holes through the back of the jig to makeremoving the bridge sections easy.Everything set up and ready to go. Notice the jig, which is used for making a numberof different parts for the bridge.4N Scale ModellerIssue 6 ~ January 2011Here are the almost finished side panel assemblies. You now need to add somesmall pieces to the ends, and drill some holes for the lateral tension rods that will beadded later.The other function of the jig is to make the end panel assemblies. You’ll notice twodifferent sets of lower groves. They’re for making standard gauge or narrow gaugebridges. The jig is designed to be used over and over, and all you need to buy arethe wood packets. For now, I chose to make this bridge as a standard gauge model.Next time…. Who knows?PHOTO # 12Issue 6 ~ January 2011N Scale Modeller5 [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]