Building N Scale raised overhead walkway problem....


goscrewyourselves

goscrewyourselves

I'm the one
Not new to scratch building but am new to N Scale scratch building, especially when it comes to scale sizes for materials.

Here is my plan - I intend to build a series of "Overhead Walkways" and am looking at Pastruct ABS products to do that. The support for the walkways will be "I Beams" and that is where I run into problems.

What size "I Beams" should I use to maintain some resemblance of scale? My initial thought is to use 1/16th sized beams. Will that size be suitable?

Secondly, what do you guys use to replicate steel grate walkways like this:

iiSwT1q.jpg


And ... what would you use for the railings as depicted in the same picture?

Any help/advice will be greatly appreciated.
 
1/16 in N would be a scale 10", pretty large for a walkway. I can't imagine a walkway needing anything larger than about 4". For the decking, there are a couple of companies that make etched brass details Great Lakes something-or-other and Model Memories, though I don't know if they make the decking. Or you could get one of Micro Marks do it yourself etching kits. For the railing, 0.016 (26ga.) hard brass wire for the stanchions and 0. 010 (30 ga.) for the rails. The solder joints will imitate the couplings.
 
The 1/16th size equates to around 8.75" and would be used as the main support beams running the length of the walkway which will be about 6" or about 80' in length. Anything smaller would be too small for me to work with.

I have actually come across a company that makes N Scale industrial stuff like walkways etc in brass so that is most likely the way I proceed with this small project, at least for the walkways and ladders.
 
This is just for me: not being an N scaler, but N is 1:160 yes? 1/16" is 0.0625 in. 0.0625 * 160 = 10. Where is my miscalculation?

I definitely understand "too small to work with"! I find things in HO that previously were no problem to be too small, couple springs being one. I guess that why I enjoy the painting part so much. Glad to see you found a company that fabricates those kinds of parts.
 
Red Oak & Western said:
This is just for me: not being an N scaler, but N is 1:160 yes? 1/16" is 0.0625 in. 0.0625 * 160 = 10.
Click to expand...
Your correct, it is 10". Not sure where I screwed up the calculation.

The biggest problem I have is getting my fingers to work properly with anything smaller than 1/16". The smallest scratch building material I worked with in HO was 1/8th and that was a challenge at times, at least when it came to my fingers being able to position the parts precisely.

The company is Gold Medal Models and they seem to cover a lot of N Scale Details as well as HO parts as well. Here is a link if your interested in taking a look:

http://goldmm.com/
 
No I haven't but they sound like a great tool to have. Thanks and I will pick myself up some! Ironically, I have a similar thing in pliers so beats me why I didn't think about the same thing in Tweezers?????

1 X pair ordered!

Thanks for the tip mate - these will come in VERY handy!
 
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Also check Ebay and the like for surgical gear. Things like clamps that lock into place are really handy. Start by looking at hemostats, you may like them.
 
Okay so I have ordered the tweezers and my wife (who has an Amazon account) is going to order a set of Hemostats for me this evening.

Have also ordered a number of items fro Gold Medal Models an hour ago and have received the shipping notification of those items already. The items are:

1 X 160-34 (Industrial Railings)
1 X 160-35 (Industrial Stairways)
1 X 160-38 (Industrial Safety Cage - ladders)
1 X 160-59 (Industrial Walkways)

So, a big thanks to flyboy, Bob for the tweezers and hemostat ideas.
 
So you guys can pick on me and laugh at all my mistakes? :p

But, I can do that and hopefully get some tips and guidance along the way cos I'm going to probably need that more than anything.
 
The hemostats look like a really useful item. I had no clue what they were till I looked them up. I would of guessed an electrical component (rheostat.....hemostat). Do a build thread.....I already learned something. :)
 
Mike,

The hemostats will be very handy when soldering things, especially drop feeders to the rail sides. Not sure, at this point, how they could be used in putting together a kit, but you never know - it will be a learning experience for me as well, their use and uses that is.
 
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