Scratch Built Fire Hose Drying Tower


No I didn't, but don't think that would have made any difference. I drilled on the slowest drill setting (which was still pretty quick) and it wasn't until the bit broke threw the wood that it shattered like it did. Basically, the basswood isn't hard enough to hold itself together against the ferocity of the drill bit bite.
A trick that I learned many years ago when drilling basswood is to fasten a piece of masking tape to the back of the wood that you're drilling through.
 
That works for me - thanks 👍
I followed the thread, and your ladder and safety shield look great.

The only suggestion I would offer would be to paint the cage a light-to-medium grey, rather'n silver. Maybe add a tad or two of silver into your paint mix, but galvanized metal really looks grey. IMO anyway.

Whatever you are doing, it's really good work. Particularly when you remember it's N-scale. NOT easy to do, even with magnification.
 
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@Snowman

Thanks mate, I appreciate that a great deal. N Scale isn't that easy if your used to HO or larger but, like most things, you get used to it and figure out how to work with it :)

Point taken re the ladder and safety cage and will take your advise. I probably should have painted the ladder and cage BEFORE I soldered them together, now I can't "weather" the ladder as Iron Horseman suggested :(
 
Thank you but it turned to poo unfortunately. I cut the second opening too big and not aligned with the first. This was suppose to be nothing more than a "practice run" for the actual build so looks as thugh the "actual build will start tomorrow :)
I'm gonna suggest here that your "practice run"version is such a good version of what you might imagine to be a final version that you should maybe just move on.

There aren't many--if any--mock-ups or practice versions that will rival this one, practice version or not.

Five or ten years from now you might revisit it as you work around and back again to your model building...

...but, as RPI star structure builder John Nehrich said: "You get up the courage to go ahead with it, and six months later you come back and can't remember even what it was you did. Or compromised on doing.

As a mere mock-up it probably kicks a** compared to the rest. Just sayin.'
 
Darn mate - don't know what to say but thank you very much, I'm very much humbled and lost for words.

Unfortunately I managed to trash this one trying to drill too large a hole in it for the air flow - trying to do things the easy way and that is what happens :( Bottom line, if I am going to have my Hose Drying Tower, I need to build another one.
 
@Snowman

Thanks mate, I appreciate that a great deal. N Scale isn't that easy if your used to HO or larger but, like most things, you get used to it and figure out how to work with it :)

Point taken re the ladder and safety cage and will take your advise. I probably should have painted the ladder and cage BEFORE I soldered them together, now I can't "weather" the ladder as Iron Horseman suggested :(
Well...you could drip the paint...but I would actually go more with india ink. It would allow you more chance to rub it back off. If you are anything like me you add something, and then need to undo it...and undo it some more. And then some more.
 
@Snowman

Thanks mate, I appreciate that a great deal. N Scale isn't that easy if your used to HO or larger but, like most things, you get used to it and figure out how to work with it :)

Point taken re the ladder and safety cage and will take your advise. I probably should have painted the ladder and cage BEFORE I soldered them together, now I can't "weather" the ladder as Iron Horseman suggested :(
Yeah, tell me about it. My big problem at the moment is finding an EMBOSSED brick material to use in place of the Holgate & Reynolds sheet I used back in my HO days. I've figured out a "close enough" version of the diamond shingles (just a smaller version of pinking shears--pretty easy, actually--who knew?), but the brick siding itself...which can be painted but still have the brick pattern molded in...is not so obvious.

I can probably 3D mold it, as I drew the patterns up way back in '86, but it's harder to set up the molding station right now than pretty much anything else. Meh!
 
Finding anything that resembles real bricks is almost impossible. A brick is what 3" X 8" or something like that - that is just not going to happen in N Scale. Infact, I'm surprised they manage to get some thing realistic even in HO Scale.
 
By the way - the "New Tower Construction" will start on Monday - my crews don't work on week ends, slackers :(
Ok, let me suggest you try this, if you are going to recut your windows: Put your basswood or styrene tight down a hard surface, and then use a #11 blade to cut all eight corners on a window. Push straight down, and then...this is important...do NOT do what is so often suggested: "Scribe lightly, using multiple passes...".

If you do that, particularly in N-scale, you risk losing control of the blade due to lack of downward pressure...and then you cut across the outside of the window. I would, alternatively, cut firmly down once again from above...and work across. Then back again from the other side.

IMPORTANT: Cut a half-blade's width to the INSIDE of the opening coming both ways. Then use a flat micro-file to flesh out the corners. It might seem crude when using the blade, yes, but the closest work I've ever done used just this technique.

To build confidence in it, just try a few practice corners. Even in N-scale, if you can SEE what you are trying to do, you can probably do what you want to do.

N-scale rocks. :D
 
Finding anything that resembles real bricks is almost impossible. A brick is what 3" X 8" or something like that - that is just not going to happen in N Scale. Infact, I'm surprised they manage to get some thing realistic even in HO Scale.
Well, I long ago drew up brick patterns...with the idea I would make them available as HO scale sheets.

[I'm gonna have to prove it, I know. But I can] In fact I think I drew up patterns for half a dozen patterns, including English brick (which has an end on row, about every six rows up). I know I have it. The question is whether or not I did it 6 x HO scale...which would still probably scan even on my nearby printer, if I can do it without tearing the paper....

Interesting problem. I'll have to look.
 



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