"Somewhere in England" N Scale World War 2 Railroad

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Lee Bishop
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Re: "Somewhere in England" N Scale World War 2 Railroad

Post by Lee Bishop » Wed Apr 28, 2021 9:21 am

Having seen a guy making a 1/48 scale B-17 to have spinning props (and hearing what a nightmare it was for him), and I've love to see a video of this 1/144 scale one running!
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Re: "Somewhere in England" N Scale World War 2 Railroad

Post by armyairforce » Wed Apr 28, 2021 10:01 am

Lee Bishop wrote:
Wed Apr 28, 2021 9:21 am
.....I've love to see a video of this 1/144 scale one running!
Here you go....

https://youtu.be/u6mq3YXOprA?t=118
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Re: "Somewhere in England" N Scale World War 2 Railroad

Post by armyairforce » Thu Apr 29, 2021 7:01 am

The Nissen huts for around the hangar are resin cast, and came from the mould I made for my Area 51, built back in 2005/6. Some aircraft parts, plus other bits and pieces were cast with left over resin from each batch mixed.

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A couple of the huts will go by the loading platform.

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Re: "Somewhere in England" N Scale World War 2 Railroad

Post by armyairforce » Thu Apr 29, 2021 7:04 am

The beginnings of the T2 Hangar, the doors. made from corrugated styrene and thinly cut strips.

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The ends of the hangar came next, layering styrene on top of 1/16 balsa to stiffen it.

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Re: "Somewhere in England" N Scale World War 2 Railroad

Post by armyairforce » Thu Apr 29, 2021 7:06 am

All the doors are made and fitted to the hangar ends, along with the top runners.

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Sides cut and skinned and all propped together for a photo.

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Re: "Somewhere in England" N Scale World War 2 Railroad

Post by armyairforce » Sat May 01, 2021 7:46 am

Glued together and placed on the airfield template to check clearances for the Catalina to roll in and out.

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Some 3/16 balsa strips were glued into the roof to support the roof styrene.

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Re: "Somewhere in England" N Scale World War 2 Railroad

Post by armyairforce » Sat May 01, 2021 7:48 am

The roof sheeting now fitted.

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The Nissen huts are all cast, cleaned up and painted.

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Re: "Somewhere in England" N Scale World War 2 Railroad

Post by armyairforce » Sat May 01, 2021 7:51 am

The hangar was painted with black and streaks of dark grey, to give a slightly uneven, weathered tone to the finish.

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Several white metal military vehicles and soldiers turned up in the post around the time I was working on the hangar.

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Re: "Somewhere in England" N Scale World War 2 Railroad

Post by armyairforce » Tue May 04, 2021 12:19 pm

Around thirty figures, six GMC CCKW352's, four Dodge WC62's and eight Willys or Ford Jeeps. Built and part painted.

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The painting of the vehicles is complete in this picture, including one "Follow Me" Jeep for the airfield and the hoods have been given a gloss coat ready for the star decals.

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Re: "Somewhere in England" N Scale World War 2 Railroad

Post by armyairforce » Tue May 04, 2021 12:21 pm

A number of GI's were bought to guard the airfield.

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Now with decals on, but still not quite finished.

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Re: "Somewhere in England" N Scale World War 2 Railroad

Post by armyairforce » Sun May 09, 2021 10:53 am

Rather than wait for the layout section, I made a separate base for the hangar, just big enough for the building and part of the apron at each end. The white strips are pieces of grooved styrene for the door runners. The slot down the centre of the board is for the Catalina movement mechanism, the start of which can be seen in front of the board.

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Here's the hangar, placed over the door runners, which can be seen more clearly now.

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Re: "Somewhere in England" N Scale World War 2 Railroad

Post by armyairforce » Sun May 09, 2021 10:54 am

The screwed rod pushes and pulls the smaller square brass tube, which slides inside a slightly larger square tube. The raised section on the end lifts the moving section to the surface of the base board, where a smaller section brass bar will be connected to the bottom of the Catalina.

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Re: "Somewhere in England" N Scale World War 2 Railroad

Post by armyairforce » Sun May 09, 2021 10:58 am

Here's the final drive bar, sitting on the surface on the hangar floor. Two small pins will be fixed to this to attach to the rear hull of the Catalina.

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This is the completed mechanism fixed to the bottom of the hangar base. An old servo motor drives a bevel gear on the end of the screwjack. Micro switches limit the travel distance.

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Re: "Somewhere in England" N Scale World War 2 Railroad

Post by armyairforce » Sun May 09, 2021 11:01 am

Here's the modified servo, now just a geared motor.

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The micro switch is wired up in the normally closed position. As the ramp on the sliding bar moves towards it, it slowly breaks the circuit, stopping the motor. The diodes linking the terminals, prevent the motor from running any further, but will allow current to flow when the polarity is reversed, so allowing the motor to run the other way, pulling the sliding bar back again, even though the microswitch is still open until the ramp clears the button.

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Re: "Somewhere in England" N Scale World War 2 Railroad

Post by armyairforce » Tue May 11, 2021 12:50 am

The Catalina would move from being just inside the hangar to mostly out. A Jeep would be connected to the tow bar, which extends from the front of the aircraft, so it looks like the Jeep is towing the aircraft out of the hangar.

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This is about the position of the Catalina in its fully out position. I needed to leave room in front of the aircraft on the apron.

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