I don't know about other states, but California currently has a specification for a stop sign, and if the sign does not meet the spec, it is not valid. My parents used to live in a housing development near Yosemite National Park called Yosemite Lakes Park. It is a private development with annual home owners association dues, etc.; but they have a county sheriff patrol the park. The association "saved" some money by purchasing stop signs that were identical to the standard stop sign except that they were about 2/3 the size of a regulation stop sign. The county sheriff gave a driver a ticket for running one of the stop signs, and the driver took a picture of the sign with a ruler next to it to show the size. He went to court and plead not guilty because the sign was not regulation and therefore not a legal stop sign, and won. The court advised the homeowner's association that California has specific specifications for every traffic sign and that signs that don't meet the regulation including size, color, and correct markings are not valid traffic control signs.
Thank you Wayne and Russ for your comments. I need to get some channel to use for sign posts. In the mentime I want to figure out the (somewhat) proper way to model a scaffold for washing Eddie's big window, and a hoist mech for the scaffold. To my way of thinking, Eddie insists on daily cleaning of his window, so a permanent structure is called for. I have no idea (as will be obvious when you look at my drawing!) as to how something like this would be built. I started with teh thought that there would be a cable on each corner of a scaffold. On each end, the two corner cable would join to one, which would run up to a pully. These two cables (one on each end of the scaffold) would run to a winch, having two seperate windings. If one cable came into the drum on top and the otehr from the other side on the bottom, they would be pulled in the same direction when the drum turns. I beams or something similar would support the cables and scaffold via pullies. The scaffold would be left in the up position, at the roofline, when not in use.
If someone can tell me if I am even close to a proper method, perhaps post or link to prototype pics or plans I would really appreciate it! Any modelling tips will be gratefully received as well.
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Oh, I also want to model a structure on the roof which would house the top of a flight of stairs from below for access to the roof. It would just have a door, could be made of any # of materials I would guess. Any pics I could work from would be great. Could it be shingled with asbestos type shingles used on homes back then, with tarpaper roof, or would it likely be masonry?
jglfan Wrote:Oh, I also want to model a structure on the roof which would house the top of a flight of stairs from below for access to the roof. It would just have a door, could be made of any # of materials I would guess. Any pics I could work from would be great. Could it be shingled with asbestos type shingles used on homes back then, with tarpaper roof, or would it likely be masonry?
My best guess would be: A door, at the top of the stairs, a "roof" paralleling the slope of the staircase, from the top of the door to the roof level, and sides that filled in the open area between. Most likely of the material used in the building, but would more likely be wood frame construction, and most likely cheap, so tar paper over all, sealed with hot tar.
As for the window.......if it is only one, no need for the expense of a powered scaffold, a "boatswains chair", or even just a harness and line tended by a worker on the roof. The securing point might just be a heavy timber, set inside the door of the roof access stair enclosure, or tied around a plumbing vent, or other rooftop structure strong enough to hold the weight of worker and water bucket.
The house I grew up in, had asbestos shingle siding from the mid fifties (Dad and I put it on) to sometime in the early 90's. A 2007 photo (Realtor ad) showed it to have new siding.
that stonework looks interesting. I may have to give that a try.
jglfan Wrote:Oh, I also want to model a structure on the roof which would house the top of a flight of stairs from below for access to the roof. It would just have a door, could be made of any # of materials I would guess. Any pics I could work from would be great. Could it be shingled with asbestos type shingles used on homes back then, with tarpaper roof, or would it likely be masonry?
Here's a couple of roof top structures I scratch built for one of my factories. The grey one is the access to the roof, and is simulated to be made of wood with a tar paper roof. The red one is access for maintenance of the elevator equipment. It too, is suppose to be just wood with a tar paper roof. Hopefully these will give you some ideas.
Thanks Pete, Ed. Funny I hadn't envisioned the slopeing roof for the stair access structure. When I read Pete's post, then saw Ed's model, it struck me how forgetful I am in that I was thinking a rectangular flat topped structure. Thanks for that info. I googled Boatswins chairs to see what the heck you were talking about Pete. One of the first links showed a multitude of scaffolding arraingements. I think what I'd like to do is build a permanent platform beneath the window, with railings. Then use a Boatswains chair to get the window cleaner to and from the platform.
Here's one on the roof of the power plant at Port Maitland:
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And a couple of views of National Grocers' roof, in Dunnville:
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Mine are all of simple sheet styrene construction - the angle-sided ones are a good place to use up all the triangular scraps generated when cutting gable ends for other structures.
Board and batten siding can be used as-is, while clapboard can be applied either on an angle to match that of the sloped roof, or reversed, with the plain side out. For your headquarters building, the stairwells could be finished in any material, but elevator head-houses could also be concrete.
Wayne
Nicely detailed roofs Wayne, they look great.
Im making a couple transformers today. I had tries to make transformers like the ones epaw made, but had trouble drilling the holes for the cooling pipes evenly. I had wrapped strips of masking tape around the body of the xformer, cuting to proper length, then removed it, laying it flat, and marked even spaing for eight pipes. I then reapplied the tpe to the cyclinder, and used the marks to drill. When I installed the wire for the pipes, I was not happy, they were not evenly spaced! So I decided to make more modern xformers (hey, I've already mentioned I take the easy way out!) There are just square tube with .010 tops and .020 x .060 strip cut to length for cooling fins. They will be painted green. Here is a pic with one assembled, and the other sitting there with its fins cut and ready. I used a chopper to cut to length, and slipped each piece under that rule taped down at 45 degrees. Quick and easy!
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Those transformers should be fine, there are plenty of similar ones in the real world. They can even be fed from underground conduite so you won't have to run aerial lines. If you do that just make a door on one side to service the X-former.
I do have a thought on the stop singes, I have heard that stop singes were at one time yellow and not red.(before my time) Do you have any idea of when this was?, or was this something that changed from place to place.
Red was introduced in 1954 from what I've read. I plan to use both yellow and red to set a time frame, which I will then ignore at will!
I have some leftover insulators from when I did the catenary in another scene, I thought to use them on the xformers. If I use three per xformer, what would be the wiring? I thought to use a conduit on the wall of the bldg., and have wires come to the xformers. Thanks!
Cool 1954. I'm trying to stay between 43 and 53 myself so I guess I'll do yellow. As for the transformer taps they are normally 2 to 4 "flags" depending on what the X-former is doing ( 3 phase, single phase, If there is a neutral, etc...). There is also a lug of some kind to ground the outside of the housing. that is usually a bare copper wire attached to a ground rod. On my transformer rack you can see it bonded to each can and then running down one of the poles.
Here is what I have gotten done over the last couple days. Going away for this weekend so nothing more for awhile. I have a book of signs from when I was a buyer for plant supplies back in 1980. I've had it squirreled away all this time. Back then, I thought I could copy and reduce the signs in the book for model use. After all these years, I scanned the ones I needed for this sign and printed them. The only problem I have is that when reduced to the size required, the black does not come out dark. There may be a way I'm not aware of (this would not surprise me at all!). But I think the sign is ok anyway. The other pic is the xformers on the platform with fencing around. Still have the steps and wall to work on. And some ground cover and light weathering. But I'm liking it. Have a great weekend everyone!
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Heh, the stairs are actually for getting from the upper platform to the lower one. I'm thinking of moving them to the right a bit so the landing in the middle can give access to the road level in between. If I do, I'll have to continue that concrete retaining wall, as it doesn't quite reach the bldg. Obviously I also have some railing work to do. A trucker can then use them to get to the back of his truck.
