What a great deal....

I was down the local shops recently and slipped into one of those so called "two dollar" shops and had a quick look around. Well they got that wrong with many items now over the magic "two dollars"

I was up aisle two and while I was breathing in so another person could squeeze past I noticed this package on the shelf. It was a small packet with the title "Deckakard" and referred to a "universal levelling system. There were two in a box for $3.99. After I thought about it for a moment I realised that some legs on the layout were not as level as they could be and for a lousy $4, I grabbed them, took them to the cash register and went on my way home.

When I got home and opened the pack there were a total of 54 card like pieces. They measured 90mm by 60mm. Strangely there were no instructions in the pack. I assume they thought that they were self explanatory on how to use them. So with 54 cards you can to pack up gaps under legs from 0.05mm (1 card) to 13mm (The full deck).

I was disappointed when I opened the second pack to actually find a card missing. I felt like I was a few cards short of a deck. I was always told that when the chips are down to pick yourself up again.

So I turned up again at the shop and explained about being short decked. The shop assistant  told me to wait at the counter and went off to a back room. After a while waiting my patience was wearing thin. An old maid wandered down from the back room and after smelling gin and rummy on her I was ready to poker. I reached into my bag and put my cards on the table.

I always call a spade a spade and I knew I held all the trumps with the Fair Trading laws on my side. I said to her " I am not playing with a full deck of cards and have been dealt a bad deal and would like an exchange please."

Now as strange as it may seem she had an ace up her sleeve. She showed this  ace of spades to me and then I said yes that's the one missing. I now felt that I held all the aces and left the shop with no spite or malice and went home to try out the system.

As soon as I got home it was time to try out the Deckakard system under our outdoor furniture. You may think the ground is level  but as can be seen this chair required quite a few cards to stop the rocking. 

It was also put under a table. Being of plastic nature it will only have the four legs grounded when heavy items are placed on it.  The gap was large and took up nearly half of the first pack. The beauty of this system with the thin cards is the ability to get a precise level. You don't really need to measure the gap, just keep putting them under the leg until the rockin is a stoppin.

Down in the layout room one of the stools was particularly bad and uneven so two legs had to be packed.  Now it is very stable and you don't feel like you are about to fall. Notice how the closest leg  has more under it.

 

 You can take a chance that you have bought enough packs home to fix all the levelling problems. But if the occasion arises that you have only one card left you have to "know when to hold them and know when to fold them" It is not recommended to go above two pack high as this would either indicate poor carpentry  or a big hole in the floor.

And lastly two of the cards in the pack have these words on them:

I told you I wasn't making it up...

Eden (borrowed from the www)

 If every concept drawing for new railways in Australia had ever been carried out and built, then the place would have been crowded with tracks. Planning a new railway in pencil is very cheap, getting them built is another matter.
One of the good things about model railways as a hobby is to be able to build what ever we choose. We can strictly follow the prototype with every nut and bolt, selectively compress to fit in stations or go down the road many have chosen by going completely fictional.
I originally chose to model the South Coast railway because I liked the green scenery preferably over the dry western style. A majority of scenic materials are green. I also have a fondness of rain forest type scenery. Having said that modelling a dry style layout is so easy. Just open your bag of tanny coloured foam, wack it down over a bit of glue, chuck in a few brown weeds and its done. Maybe a token gumtree in for good measure. On the other hand the greenery scenery is a lot harder to get right but when its done right it looks magic. I am still striving to obtain the look.
So I pretended my system would be an extension of the current Illawarra line that terminates at Bomaderry, but head much further down the coast.
Stations so far modelled are Bega, Bodalla, Narooma, and branch stations of Kameruka and Candelo the terminus. They have been modelled how I like them and a name tag applied to the stations.
At this stage I was not aware of any plans to actually build a line down the South coast into Victoria.
Recently I came across a Victorian map which actually had this proposed line dashed on it. And some of my stations were actually proposed. So mine has been built, the real thing is yet to come.

So to fit into my imaginary world I have proposed that this line down to Orbost was actually an extension of the standard gauge. What the Victorians did was to standardise some of their rolling stock and locomotives so they could travel right up into NSW. This also allowed the NSW stock the chance to head down to Orbost all the way from Sydney.
You never know that in the future I might get the chance to actually cross the border and model some more stations.

Way back in 2008, I was invited to the 25th Modelling the Railways of New South Wales to show off some scenery. I was not comfortable being in front of a group but said I was happy to do up a board with some scenery on it and answer any questions on the spot.
The board ended up being about 6 foot by 2 foot and was going to be the entry point to a Victorian branch line terminus and was for Brad Hinton from Arm Chair Modeller blog.
While it was being built I also took many photos and put them together into my first ever Powerpoint presentation. All trial and error.
I recently came across this file on my computer and thought rather than waste it I would put it up on Youtube hoping someone may get something from it??.
I took the music off it rather than go through the copyright garbage that Youtube police. It goes for nearly 40 minutes so if you are interested or suffering from insomnia have a look. Having converted it to Youtube the fast readers of text will just have to be patient as it is designed for slow readers of text.

Enjoy

And Wire not?

I had a long conversation tonight with Jim of The Kamilaroi Model Railway fame http://kamilaroimodelrailway.blogspot.com.au/
We touched on many model railway topics as usual and I rang Jim in response to an email he had sent me regarding overhead wiring for layouts.
Gentleman Jim was actually doing some overhead for a friend on his layout. He is a few steps ahead of me in that my total battle chest is a few bags of various assorted insulators and two Southern Rail overhead staunchions.
Since the staunchions have been put in place, I seem to manage to bump my elbow on them. Pre electrification was never a problem.

Jim mentioned that he had purchased some brass wire off a company at Marrickville - A & E Metal Merchants. https://www.aemetal.com.au/Webstore/default.aspx When trolling through the various products it seems as if they are geared towards the jewellery and craft trade rather than a large metal merchant.

He had ordered some 0.5mm and 0.7mm wire. It comes in 10 metre lengths wrapped in a bag. Their prices seem amazingly cheap. The 10 metres of the 0.5mm wire was only $2.85 and the 0.7mm wire only $3.32.  He intends to use the 0.5mm wire for the contact wire and the 0.7mm for the caternary wire. This is true to prototype as the catenary wire is a thicker diameter than the contact wire.
Trolling through their website there are plenty of other materials suitable for the modeller. In the brass section they have various sizes of brass tubing in 30cm lengths. They also have round, square, half round and brass sheets. The brass sheeting would be good for etching or other model making.

They also sell fine small diameter drills (again aimed at the jewellery trade) and many other tools such as saw blades etc.

Don't worry if you can't make it to their store in Marrickville, their web site is well set out for online ordering. If you are going to visit the web site suggests that you pre-order as they don't have a showroom.

Anyway have a look at this site, it might be another good find for the modeller. Good one Jim.