Full Version: Scratchbuilt loading ramp
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I built it about 1 year ago for a teamtrack on my N scale microlayout.
It was made using barbecue sticks and .030 " styrene sheet
It was weathered with a very diluted wash of India ink.
That's my 1st scratchbuilding project and I had a good time doing it.
The wood planks were made by lightly scribing the 2 styrene sheets with an Xacto blade

Jacques

[Image: ramp3.jpg]
Woah! that looks great! Have you made anything else since?
Thats a great looking loading dock you built there, i would say job well done on it Thumbsup Thumbsup
Really nice job! The supports look just like old telephone poles. So you simply scribed the decking instead of cutting the individual pieces of planking? That turned out great!
The ramp came out great, it just seems to be missing oil spots from that leaky forklift. Icon_lol
Thank you Kevin, Josh, Herc Driver and Lynn for taking some of your valuable time to reply and for the kind criticism.

A loading ramp looked to me like the perfect 1st scratchbuilding project.
It is relatively easy to build, paint and weather. And a loading ramp is a versatile "industry" on a micro switching layout.
The initial project was to cut and glue individual wood planks but I realised that in N scale it was not worth the trouble.

To Kevin: Right now, I'm scratchbuilding malt silos using cardboard tubes coated with some spackling compound.
It is about 75% completed, tonight I started building the conveyor structure located at the top.

To Herc Driver: I intended to reinforce the support poles with some diagonal bracing between adjacent poles. I realised that it would complicated the project.
After talking with my brother in law ( he is a mechanical engineer ) we concluded that if the poles are deep enough in the ground there is no need for bracing.
So the way it is, my loading ramp is still mechanically plausible.

Jacques