Lots more ZIP progress today, though much of it is out of sight. Wires to the goods shed were buried in preparation for installing connections to the battery there and ballast installed to cover the various holes left from previous butchery to the track boards. The station building and telephone kiosk have been given a thorough cleaning for the first time in many years, though the station still looks decrepit. Never mind: weathering is good I'm told....
Both goods shed and station have had LED strip lights installed, using my new favourite product: copper tape. The tape acts as a "bus" with everything else soldered to it. It's so low in profile (80 microns apparently, whatever they are) that roofs and so on still sit flush. Here's the goods shed roof assembly being checked for operation using a 9 volt battery. Such a shame I put the short strip where the bottom one should be and vice versa. Oh well, resoldering is fun too...... :wits:
The telephone box is a favourite of mine, not least as it was a present from my daughter some years ago. The light has always been a bit "iffy" and the wires as supplied are too short, so I decided to install a 3mm LED instead. The kiosk can't be seen from behind, so more copper tape was called into service. It goes up the rear side of the box and under the black roof. The LED is soldered up inside and long connecting wires to the station building at the bottom of the kiosk. The white wires will get painted up in due course.
The BIG goods shed has received some signage in suitable places and the chimney has been added too. Roof vents and loading bays still to come as they need repainting to get rid of the horrid grey plastic colour Piko produced them in. One of my pet peeves is that people rarely think about where chimneys would really be placed. Mine is carefully within the walls and in a space likely to be occupied by an office or similar, out of the way of mail bags and the like. On the public side of the shed, some offcuts of felt have been used to give an impression of road access across the loop track. Not hugely likely perhaps, but it fits the site and looks better than nothing. Al though you can't tell from the photos, the LED lighting is on!
