doctorwayne's Summer Challenge - Part II: A shanty...

[doctorwayne]

Finally, a little more progress.

Thanks to Kevin's (nachoman) tip on doorknobs, that detail was added to all three shanties. Unfortunately, before I could take a photo, I decide that two of the shanties needed handrails on their front porches. I spent several days trying to decide between wooden railings and pipe railings, with pipe railings preferred due to their greater strength. Then I couldn't decide on a good construction method - solder would have been nice, although butt joints aren't especially strong and I didn't have any cored brass pipe tees on-hand.
I decided to try making my own from styrene rod, with wire for the actual railings. The railings are mounted in holes bored into the built-up "foundation" of ties, with everything secured with ca. The pictures tell the story - the styrene rod is .035" diameter, the brass wire .022" diameter, and the drill bit a #74 (.0225" diameter).








I brush-painted them with PollyScale Railbox Yellow:




While these little shanties still need weathering, some signs and their respective crossing tenders, they're essentially done. I'll add some pictures here after they're in place on the layout. Thanks for following along.

Wayne