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Working Lift Bridge Diorama


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6 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Maybe I missed it somewhere in the 5 pages. How will you Represent the water ? Resin, paint, or something like rippled plexi ? 

No you did not miss anything. The water is going to be simple, one colour, and clean (super high gloss enamel paint) - much like they do for architectual design displays.

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Made wooden brackets to hold the servos and gate axles under the table.

EQJHAMo.jpg

 

Made a bracket for mounting microswitches for triggering other electronic circuits when the gates are either opened or closed. Gate lever, attached to gate axle, triggers the microswitch.

xBAHZfJ.jpg

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Thanks @Gorby for your response.

Though it is the vital part of any working model, not many respond to this part (electronics) of modelling.

Those who may be interested, I am posting what I have been doing to get this model to work.

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When the motor is turned OFF the drive shaft drifts to a halt. Under load of the cable system the drift ought to be less. This is important to know so I can adjust the location of the sensors which disable the motors, so the span, and the boat, can drift into their appropriate positions.

Bwa5qOP.jpg

 

Built two motor direction controllers, for span and boat pulley-cable systems.

NVcYVtm.jpg

 

cZDleNR.jpg

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I’ve “liked” your post above, but have to confess I have no idea what it is.

 

Electronics never were my speciality (along with differential calculus)!

 

Still loving it though.👍👍👍

 

Graham

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13 hours ago, Gorby said:

My dad was an electrician and would have understood all this gubbins malarkey, but I was the black-sheep of the family. I went into computing. :dunce:

Computing! These days it require a lot of smarts, and constant updating to stay abreast with it all. Good on you for going there.

 

I started with computers when the first DIY computers came out for common folk. The SCAMP computer. All it could do was perform binary LED indications (1977). I was 23, I suppose I was a nerd then. I built a few computers after that, but I soon lost interest after I went into the RAAF _ a different ball game.

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Thank you @GrahamS, @stevehnz, @Gorby, and @Corsairfoxfouruncle for your responses.

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Painted some 1/72 plastic figurines. Some are Counsil works in High-Visibility clothing.

My friend, after seeing these figurines, said: "Blimey, there isn't that many people living in Wardell." :D

 

The guy with his hand up, is my first altered figurine. He was the same as the one preceeding it. Since then I have been Dr Franfenstein with these little fellows.

 

DzNWhfE.jpg

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There is the matter of a boat traversing, under the bridge, in both up and down stream directions.

Because the boat does not turn around, it is NOT to appear to be reversing (stern first) when coming back.

To get around this, I decided to build a boat of symmetry. A boat with two bow sections. Bought two cheap wooden boat kits from China ($13.50 each).

I played around with the boat image to see what two bow sections ought to look like. Here is the kit.

 

CAMNLtt.jpg

 

This is my first model boat, and the little amount of instructions is in Chinese...great help that is.

As you can see (below), the keel, deck, and cabin walls, get cut in half from the two kits and joined together.

 

The planks were hard to bend, and knew that the glue won't hold the plank under such tension.

Internet research indicated to use a planking iron, but I could not justify the cost.

Came across a DIY method using a tea-candle and a tin can. It worked wonders. Shaped the planks to almost fit the hull shape. 

 

tXmyZaE.jpg

 

Since the boat is to appear to be in water, anything under the water line is to be removed.

I drew the waterline. Added a waterline plank. Then filled in between with planking.

 

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Filleted the boat (like a fish). Sanded the bottom until it was all flat and smooth.

 

gyZed18.jpg

Notice the two captains at the two helms.

 

 

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This is really progressing well Peter.

 

I noticed your vice in one of your pictures. I made one just like it many a year ago!.

 

Though I don't have mine anymore, went missing when my father passed on and the contents of his shed were emptied.

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2 hours ago, Romeo Alpha Yankee said:

This is really progressing well Peter.

 

I noticed your vice in one of your pictures. I made one just like it many a year ago!.

 

Though I don't have mine anymore, went missing when my father passed on and the contents of his shed were emptied.

Hello @Romeo Alpha Yankee (Ray).

Which one, the large blue one made from a broken large G-Clamp with worn down flat files for vice jaws. Or the smaller hand size vice. If it is the smaller, then perhaps you were in the RAAF, where pre-traders (filies) had to make a vice with micrometer precision. I made mine at RAAF Base Forest Hill (Wagga Wagga), 1980.

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35 minutes ago, Getunderit said:

Hello @Romeo Alpha Yankee (Ray).

Which one, the large blue one made from a broken large G-Clamp with worn down flat files for vice jaws. Or the smaller hand size vice. If it is the smaller, then perhaps you were in the RAAF, where pre-traders (filies) had to make a vice with micrometer precision. I made mine at RAAF Base Forest Hill (Wagga Wagga), 1980.

Peter, It was the Filies one, I made mine in '82. Went onto be an InstFitt

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Added navigational light hoods.

GdMDSgZ.jpg

 

Attached a figurine to a block of wood, The kit had a winch without drum or handles, so I made my own.

PPyMsOH.jpg

 

Added hinges to doors (piece of copper wire). Stained the doors and other bits with coloured inks. Unravelled some string to make out a sailor doing some splicing.

IOId8lx.jpg

 

Added the gunwale and cleaned up the hull. Made some eyelets for rigging.

4UjP3w7.jpg

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Peter,

I've just done another catch up viewing.

Yep, it's still amazingly impressive.

I have to say the electronics are well above my pay grade too!

(I can however change the batteries in the TV remote).

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Thanks @Pete in Lincs for your compliment and humour.

 

It reminded me of when I was repairing car radio-cassette players and CB radios for my hippie neighbours. They lived in a commune without electricity. Now and again they got off their face and connected their equipment, to a recharged battery, in opposite polarities. 'Bang' and smoke often followed. I got sick of repairing the same radio again, so I added a bridge rectifier behind the equipment power socket. This automatically corrected the polarity regardless how you connect the DC equipment. No more repairs were needed after that.

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Made up several LED light leads. The red and green LEDs are clear when OFF, so not to confuse direction of boat.

Only one side of LED soldering required insulation (to stop short circuit. The black mark at other end is to let me know which lead is the cathode (K)(-) of the LED.

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Added mast light.

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Made a hand rail for cabin roof.

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The forward wall of the wheelhouses were too tranparent, and the interior LED light would shine through them. So I darkened it with a shield between the LED and the wall.

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Added two stern light hoods, and the hoods for port and starboard lights. Made a radar antenna too.

The Nav lights switch over from front to back, and left to right, when going back under the bridge.

qnZV8Xa.jpg

 

ZfToJBP.jpg

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2 hours ago, Gorby said:

That's brilliant. Difficult to believe you started with a cheap wooden kit. Is there any relevance to the name 'Bingal'? 

Wardell, where the bridge is, was originally Bingal, an aboriginal name. Near Wardell is Bingal Creek. I cannot find what Bingal means.

 

The name reminds me of the word 'bingle', meaning a collision. The boat is like a bingle, a collision of two bows sections.

I thought of creating a bingle between the deckhand and the misplaced rope, as a paly with words.

 

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