Destination boxes for G scale trams

[tramcar trev]

Here are a few pics of my "standard" destination boxes as used in Sydney untill the first of the P class trams came along with inbuilt destination boxes..... None actually finished yet but you can get the jist of this from the pics, they are cast in clear resin with 2 warm white 3mm LEDS encapsulated to provide the illumination for night time running....
I chose Bondi as the first destination, probably everyone has heard of the "Bondi Tram"....
The destinations will be cut out and placed in the space for them and then a skim of clear resin will create the glass. Then the remainder will be painted so that the light only shines through the destination screen at night...
The real thing can be seen on the front of the O class tram in the first pic, the longer one goes on the roof midway along so the passengers boarding from the side know where they are going, but not necessesarily whom they are going there with...

This chaps is why I get no where with my tramway, I tend to bog down on the details.... Oh yes I use a Chinese Micro Mill that I bought on Ebay for only AU$600, and worth every red cent....

 

[DoctorM]

Now there's attention to detail!

I always used to get criticised at work for seeking perfection where others felt it unnecessary.
PPP! my colleagues often used to shout, meaning "(seeking) Perfection Prevents Progress"

Hope you get there in the end!

 

[ceejaydee]

Excellent work but..... 'Show us yer milling machine please Mr?'

Whenever I see metal chips I have an overwhelming desire to see the lathe or mill that created them - mis-spent youth as an engineering apprentice I suppose.

As for the three p's I remember them being used twice in succession for something else along the lines of 'P1$$ poor planning - promotes poor performance' - but that's the Army for you

Please excuse the vague attempt at hiding a naughty word.

 

[GarryH]

Brilliant, love to see a few more pics as work progreses.
I took an excursion to Kew last year and found an exhibitor called Ashley Best was there, I have known this man for years as a customer and had no idea of his hobby. It turns out he has been building 3/4inch (I think) scale trams all his life and has won the gold medal many times at the model enginnering exhibition. He invited me to his house to see the trams and his working layout. PPP is only a matter of time his brilliance will outlive him. He spends 2/3000 hours on each tram and is intending to build one example of all the trams from his youth. He has build about a dozen so far....work out the ppp and hours involved in that! PS I have a few pics somewhere I will have to find and post them...hopefully they will be a good incentive to keep going regardless of speed.

 

[tramcar trev]

Excellent work but..... 'Show us yer milling machine please Mr?'

Whenever I see metal chips I have an overwhelming desire to see the lathe or mill that created them - mis-spent youth as an engineering apprentice I suppose.

As for the three p's I remember them being used twice in succession for something else along the lines of 'P1$$ poor planning - promotes poor performance' - but that's the Army for you

Please excuse the vague attempt at hiding a naughty word.

Oh allright here it is.... well mine is identical to this one even the same supplier.... Not sure that mine is actually ( Genuine).... Does an exceptional job on small work like this but for major work its painfully slow....
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Sieg-X2-Dove...0452470567?pt=AU_Hardware&hash=item5198985327
I have an antique Myford super7 lathe ( genuine) but if I was going to set up to do this sort of model engineeering I would get one of these; http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Sieg-M1-Mult...0725650924?pt=AU_Hardware&hash=item3f088199ec

Both machines are copies of the Emcomat ones at a fraction of the cost....

 

[ceejaydee]

Thanks... Old machines are good

My oldest would be a Drummond lathe from around 1912; although it is in bits at the moment...