Cable Car stations

[muns]

Hi,

I am currently building (ok, trying to!) some cable car stations out of ply (pictures will follow) for my Rigi Duo set and I was wondering what the best method of making them a bit more resilient to the great british weather.

Any ideas welcome.....

 

[minimans]

I would think a good soaking in wood preservative and lashings of paint on a regular basis! you could try Marine ply for added longevity................

 

[casey jones snr]

Ours at the CFR have been in use for five years. During construction and after completion they were given many coats of preservative. They were then painted as necessary.

 

[Andy Worsfold]

Just a couple of quick photos taken on my phone. Nowhere near as good as the CFR but done on the cheap using the remains of my wife's old childhood dolls house. Scale purists look away now!

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You'll also notice that I've used one of my favourites, a £2.48 Wilko solar light inside the cable cars. These Wilko lights are great when taken apart and I now usethen to charge the batteries in all my buildings

 

[dunnyrail]

Like the concept of rachargeable batteries from old light fittings. I have a few kicking around that have gone pop. I assume that it os probably only the batteries so will try to reuse them in buildings as you have.

Possible option for the buildings is to try one of the following:-

1 - Old bits of decking covered with lolly pop sticks held in place with PVA and Nails then stained with clear matt varnish.

2 - Us off cuts of Soffit Material to make up the building. Can be skewed or pinned together to make a building not unlike Andy's.

In both cases I would use Roofing Lead for the roof, scribed to give tiles.
JonD

 

[muns]

In both cases I would use Roofing Lead for the roof, scribed to give tiles.
JonD

What a good idea, I have some roofing lead someplace.....

 

[Andy Worsfold]

My buildings were made very quickly and look better in real life...honestly. I too will use some lead at a later stage. My roofs are removable and attached with outside strength velcro. The £2.48 wilko led units are a steal and I use the circuit board and replace with those I get from TM models. I also attach more batteries to the circuit and use the wilko solar panels to charge them during the day.

 

[Casey's mate]

Heres some more pictures

 

[muns]

Well, today I have strung the cables and have a running Cable Car system. Will need to mark up the roof angles for the upper station so that I can get a roof on it - well thats the plan for tomorrow when I'm not watching the British GP.

I promise to take some photos.

 

[muns]

Well I have now marked up and cut the angles and roof for the upper station. And I managed to take some pics....

First of all some general pictures....

Upper cable car satation, on top of te conservatory roof

Cable cars on the wire - I have strung 2 running cables, the cars are pulled along these.

Location of the bottom station - building design yet to be confirmed.

 

[muns]

The running cables come into the shed and are run over pullys to anchor bolts which cn be adjusted to provide the correct tension.

The control cable also enters the shed and over pulleys to the motor mechanism which is attached to the shed wall.

I removed the timer and motor control electronics and replaced them with a decoder.

 

[muns]

To the upper station building....now with angled roof!

Tis glued and screwed together.

 

[muns]

It is bolted to a plate (an offcut of plastic facia board) that is fixed to the conservatory roof.

Here is the view back down to the lower station (after I had carefully let the wires down)

And one of our cats playinf with the cables, which by the way is 60lb fishing line.

Next job will be to give the wood some weather protection.

 

[Philbahn]

My My somebodys been busy Mark.

Running wire as well. Have you used anything in the beam as a wear strip?

 

[muns]

My My somebodys been busy Mark.

Running wire as well. Have you used anything in the beam as a wear strip?

Not at the moment, but I think I will try and obtain some teflon bearing sheet, if that don't work I will attempt to cut out the molded end wheels and replace them on with brass pulleys.

 

[Philbahn]

What about thin copper?

 

[muns]

1.5mm teflon sheet found on ebay http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=310229424176 and a couple of sheets ordered.

 

[muns]

Futher progress has been made over the lase couple of days.

The Upper station has a couple of windows cut out and varnished with yacht varnish. Then painted with masonary paint inside and out (but not the roof). On the outside the paint was sprinkled with ground oyster shell for effect.

Located some old flashing lead and covered the roof.

On the car font, the teflon sheet arrived and was cut to shape and fitted to the draw bar.
I also fitted Solar LED lighting into them. I will have to strip one unit out tho as it would seem that it is not functioning (it was the first one and I didnt check everything as I went along).

Tomorrow I must add some interior lighting (solar) and guard railings to the upper station - dont want the visitors falling off do we.

Will post some pics tomorrow.

 

[muns]

Almost done with the upper cable car station....

 

[muns]

And in position....

Yet to be fitted railings....