I errr, had a bit of an accident!
When Craig Tilley came to take the pictures for model rail, I accidentally caught my arm on the loading gauge causing a bit of damage!



This loading gauge was one of the Ratio plastic kits and to be honest I made a bit of a bodge of it anyway, and being plastic it was an accident waiting to happen, I had already caught it a couple of times just cleaning the track.
So, Off to Modeller's Mecca for a replacement. I bought another identical kit and thought about making it removable for transport and cleaning.

Then It hit me!, why not make my own from odds and ends out of the scrap box.
After a couple of hours work I came up with this.



The only part of the Ratio kit I used was the etched arch of the gauge itself. Everything else was out of the scrap bin.
The upright is a couple of lengths of code 75 bull head rail, (which is what the prototypes seem to use)
The rest is just brass wire 0.7mm and 0.3mm. The operating wires are 5A fuse wire.
The bit of plastic tube at the base will now fit into a "socket" on the baseboard so hopefully it will survive a bit longer than the original!

Off to the paint shop next job.

 

Thats brilliant Frank ! but dont tell Lucy or she will be asking you to make a batch for the shop

May bump into you in there sometime as I usually go in in once a week on the way to the supermarket . I see both our layouts are now on the Modeelers Mecca web site :roll:

Hi Richard,
Thanks for the kind comment.
Yes, I use Modellers Mecca a lot. It's about the most decent model shop near me here in Telford.
I might bump into you one day. OR we may have well met in there without even knowing!
The local shops never seem to stock much of the sort of stuff I need.
In fact I need to get over there soon as I need some brass flats for another scratch build project.
More about that in this thread soon!

Hooray for scrap-box builders!

Parsimonious Doofer

It looks better than the original! :thumbs

Frank

I agree with Max i think it looks a lot better than the original

Brian

Yes, it looks much better than the original. Very good work Frank!

Cheers
Simon