Wouldnt 1/8 diameter bamboo skewers = 20 inch diameter fence posts? I only ask because the yard lights I made with 1/8 inch diamter brass tubing equals 20" diameter light poles.
N scale is small and sometimes you have to make things a little bigger than it should be in order to see it. Haha Joe
Thanks George, I like your figuring. As BNSF says recycling "old telephone poles". I don't want to totally hi-jack Joe's thread but here is an image of my project before being planted on the layout. Actually I was trying for phone pole as fence posts and also railroad crossties for some of the square posts. Know what I notice : I too have some of those 20" light poles. BTW, I have turned down the brightness of the lights. I have a short YT video of the finished product, if anybody is interested, I can make a thread out of it. Sorry for the hi-jack Joe, Carl
You guys know I'm just messing with you. As Joe said...its n scale...sometimes we have to fudge things and make them a bit bigger...just so they can be seen.
I didn't get to work on the layout yesterday but we went to Top Shelf Hobbies in Owasso and picked up a package of strip styrene for the stock yard. Really glad that the hobby shop was open, they could only let one person at a time go in. I finished one pen this morning and applied dirt on the base where the pen goes. Started to put dirt on the whole thing and then realized it would cover the guide lines needed for the other pens. That would have been a big mistake. Getting ready to work on the two dead spots in the track in a few minutes. Joe
Once again I didn't get to work on the layout much yesterday. I got one dead spot in the track fixed, a feeder wire was hidden in the bench work so all I had to do is solder it to the buss. When I was working on the other spot our neighborhood lost power for a couple of hours and it was late when it came back on. Earlier I finished one more pen on the stock yard less paint. Have one more pen almost done and will work on the last pen this afternoon. Will post photos of the yard later today. Joe
I finished the third pen and one fence on the last pen today. Had to buy another package of styrene strips this evening which makes three packs of the strips to build the stock yard, the total cost of the yard is a little over $13. Will build the last three fences and a gate tomorrow afternoon. My template for the yard is getting worn out from the straight pins used to hold everything, luckily the project is almost finished. Joe
I finished all of the fencing for the stock yard this morning and sifted dirt on the base. Just glued everything in place, now I'm trying to figure out what type of building should go with the yard. Thinking about a two story packing house using some DPM wall pieces I have been saving for a project. Need to add feed and water troughs and have some saw dust that I could use for feed. Really glad that the fencing is done, it was a very tedious job. Altogether used two and a little over a quarter packages of styrene strips or about 20 feet. Do you guys have any suggestions on what else to do with the project? Your help with this is greatly appreciated. Joe
The size of the stockyard would suggest a small local meat packing plant not one of the big guys. Had one like that where I grew up in the 1940s-50s. I would suggest a truck unloading ramp also because a lot of traffic would come from local ranches and farms.
Thank you for your response John!!! The stock yard would be for the local community of Van Buren Arkansas and like you said it would need a unloading ramp for trucks. The building I'm working on is a partial structure that goes up against the background and it's about 1.5 inches deep, 2.25 wide and 1.6 tall. I want it to be used for the oil depot also so all I would have to do is change the signs. It will be located just to the right of the industry bases with a parking lot on the opposite side and a road that goes to the Frisco Passenger Depot on module 07. Joe
That's really coming together nicely Joe. Now my farm will have somewhere to ship its cows. I was also going to suggest the loading chute as well. Not sure what all else you would need if you were to add that and the processing building. Just some details to dress it up?
I finished the building for the stock yard and oil depot, it measures 3.75 inches long, 1.5 wide and 1.6 tall. Now I need to make some signs for each industry and make sure they can be changed easily. I'm thinking about trying to use the sheet magnets that are hanging on our refrigerator for the back of each sign and attach the verbiage on top. For some reason one photo has a shadow and the other a shiny spot, the Sun was setting when I took the photos. Also did some touch up paint on the stock yard. Do you guys have any suggestions of another way to change signs easily? Joe
I would not use the sheet magnets. Some on my fridge tend to curl up over time. Some do and some don't so I don't know the reason. What I would use are those super powerful neodymium magnets. Then you can create a sign using real material like wood, etc. Or even print something out on your printer (like an old sign) and then glue it to the base (wood, styrene, etc). You can then use a metal plate on one surface with magnets on the other surface or magnets on both surface.
I did this exact thing a few years back. I counter sunk a couple holes in the columns on the front of a building... I then glued a 'rare earth magnet' in each hole and 2 aligned with those on the back of the 'sign'. The strong magnets hold the sign perfectly to the front of the building. Just make any amount of signs you want and change em out as often as you want to ! I still have some touch up to do to the paint behind the changable sign and print some more 'generic' signs for those above the window.
Looking good Joe! You are coming along nicely. You need some loading and unloading chutes. Cows, and the "cow pies/manure" need represented LOL.
