Eugen..... I dont recall you ever saying what you use to solder with. A pencil soldering iron? A soldering station? A resistance soldering setup? A small hobby butane torch? Your solder joints look outstanding sir !!
Hi trainman I use a very old normal soldering iron Importand its to have the right solder and soldering paste
Hmmm... I've wondered if a combination of soldered brass and glued plastic structural elements, and a tiny decoder, could use the structure to carry electrical signals. But you've got only four poles, so that would also require DCC and some tiny decoder(s). Or are the bigger pieces large enough to be hollow tubes that could carry tiny wires? Of course the tubes would have to be soldered before the wires were threaded through them. I've heard of using a shop-vac to pull twine through conduit from point a to point b (even through junctions, etc.), and then the twine is used to pull wire(s). Wonder if that would work with fine sewing thread? That reminds me of a friend that built his own (1:1) airplane using light weight, high-strength steel tubing for the frame. Each joint was drilled through and welded, such that the entire skeleton became a pressure vessel. He pressurized it with an inert gas, and had a pressure gauge in the cockpit that would warn him of any structural failures (hopefully before they became catastrophic.) But that signal bridge is some AWESOME craftsmanship!
I've made a few cantilever grade crossing signals where I ran magnet wire through the structural members made from brass tubing. There are still joints were the wire exits and then re-enters another structural member. Man, my soldering skills were pretty rough when I did this one!... Second cantilever built... Magnet wire is great stuff! That said, there's still a limit to how much you can pass through the tubing. However, the cantilever itself on mine is one side of the circuit. So, that helps.