Giles

I did buy micro switches (to mount at the end of the 'bolt' so it would cut out on over-travel) but it travels so slowly, and there is excess travel available anyway, that I didn't bother fitting cut-outs in the end..... The motors are 12v, running on 1.5v andgiving me a lovely slow scale speed, and the switches are 'momentary' sprung to centre off, so there's not much danger in practice

I actually bought a Uniross charger from ebay but thre's quite a lot of choice - so long as you don't over-charge them

Hi Pete, yes - they do indeed. The motor/bolt assembly winds itself across at the same time as paying out or winding in the cable. The cable therefore always stays perpendicular to the drum, thereby making it a 'zero-fleet' winch, as opposed to a winch where the cable will naturally travel sideways as it winds on.

Thank you Barnabŷ! It'll make operation more fun....... But the winches do work very well.

Hi John, If you mean 'charging' the Lipo, I used a 2.5mm mono audio jack plug, with a socket mounted in the cab floor - you can just make it out directly to the rear of the servo The advantage of this, is is you wire it according to the diagram (it is indicated as the horizontal black bars) when you plug the jack in, it disconnects power from the receiver, regardless of the position of the on/off switch. However, there are lots of different plugs ou there to use - many smaller! Mounting the Lipo itself, I simply used some epoxy resin, as I could easily cut it away and replace it it necessary. Hope this helps!

The crane is basically finished, but I will now have to build a pair of powered sliding doors to sit behind the arch to 'reveal' the load ready to traverse out. A view of the 'Zero Fleet winches' which keep the wire rope aligned at all times..... simple really!

John, that's beautiful! I've seny you an email with a wiring diagram - let me know if it doesn't arrive.....

Thank you John! How are your lorries getting along?

I too filled the bunker joints and dressed down the tank sides on mine (followed by and gentle re-spray) and I've been delighted with it.... A small amount of work transforms the loco! I do find that the buffer beams are rather too pink - although didn't really notice untill after I weathered mine.

http://youtu.be/negf4qwRl6M The winches are 'zero fleet' -which - (forgive me if I'm teaching my Grandmother, etc....) means that as the wire rope coils onto the drum, it remains perpendicular to the crane, and doesn't travel sideways as the wire collects.... In this instance it's done by using M6 bolts as the drum, and using M6 nuts soldered onto a brass frame to mount the drum/motor assembly. As the drum/bolt rotates, it then travels sideways, carrying away the collected wire rope, whilst the incoming wire rope remains stationary relative to the crane.

I stand as someone who does believe in a future for R/C. However - it does no favours to distort the picture....... DCC IS surprisingly simple to install at a basic level - I've done it, and I'm sure many others have. Installing it it locos is arguably simpler than an RX (assuming no sound), and I found that wiring my layout was extremely simple. One also must remember points. They still need switching, either by power or manually - and many people are still going to choose power..... I know I would, for aesthetic reasons alone! It is also possible to get really good, reliable running through conventional means - so it does no good constantly decrying their achievements in that area. I had all sorts of problems with RC when working with 27MHz, trying to get these tiny RX's to work (only 18 months ago) it was only with the advent of Deltangs 2.4GHz teeny stuff that the job has really become easy, realiable and affordable - so any manufacturer who deals with 12v motors, moulded plastic and diecasting is well out of his comfort zone in this area. (the trials and tribulations of supplying and warranteeing compliant transmitters and receivers, and what happens over the years to the 2.4GHz frequency? - and they thought they were simply selling a model loco...) Sadly, I have at least one loco which would be inpossible to radio control without ruining it's appearance - but at some stage I shall still do at least one for the fun of it. Lastly, I suspect that loco manufacturers will never touch batteries themselves, and would only ever source off-the-shelf items - so specially shaped batteries may be a very long way off, unless someone develops a mouldable polymer battery.

Having been extremely busy with various things - I've not touched the crane for some weeks........ but I have been experimenting with various strings/wires/cables etc... to see how they behave. I've tried they extremely fine stainless wire rope from Eileen's Emp., but it isn't quite flexible enough - indeed the only thing I've found that behaves plausibly so far is silver snake chain (0,8mm) A rather expensive solution - but if that's what it takes........ It does need to be kept free from any twists when it's threaded, but if it behaves itself under the weight of just the hook, then under load it'll be no problem.

Stuart - I refer you to post 4 of this very thread! Enjoy......

The existing thread on radio control trucks can be found here..... http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/18108-radio-controlled-road-vehicle-and-powered-gantry-crane/

Thank you Marc - hope you don't mind me cheating - using the same photo twice!

Thanks chaps! We'll see how it progresses, but it should be possible to get it operating reasonably realistically (ish!)

Hi Barnaby, Yes, the slew pulley isn't drawn on the front elevation at all - it is off to one side, as the line picks up the carriage on the side. Thanks for that, Pugsley – those braids are a bit thin - I'm looking at 0.8mm, and at 'snake chain'......

Bank Holiday Monday - and I spent it in...... (how sad am I.......) Anyway, barring the motor mounts, I got the gantry completed. It turned out to bean excercise in careful soft soldering - adding components without melting previous work and the whole thing dopping apart.... Anyway, I got away with it. Di's had an awfully good idea for the wire rope (albeit expensive) so I shall do some experiments, and we'll see.....

Absolutely ! That's the very principle. Indeed, the Olivier Theatre at the National has just had a whole scenery flying system installed on this very system. You can indeed use very simple rollers instead of the pulley and bearings that I have used - or you can also use the same pulleys, but not bother with the bearings, but let the shaft rotate in the holes. For the loads we are talking, that would work perfectly well...... The 12v motors I have are already geared down to an output of 45 RPM, and then I shall use a speed control on that (the motors were only about £5 each from China, via Ebay.) Servos would work fine - if you take a pin out, or something - i can't quite remember- you can very easily convert them to give constant bi-directional rotative motion. I did it once, with no problem...... Certainly you could look it up on the internet.....! Auld-boot - glad your enjoying it - those Grandt Line bits and pieces are really nice - the delrin chain too!

Jerry - thankyou! I hope I shall do exactly that..... I'm sorry though not to see Wenfordbridge in the flesh.... (although I'm struggling to see that small nowadays..,) it would be a of a triumph in any scale, but in 2mm...! I'm afraid we didn't have very much time to chat at Shepton - it was a bit busy - but I do remember your equisite teeny narrow gauge very well - and thinking 'how.....?'

I still think his might raise and lower a bit though, because on both versions - his and mine - as the carriage traverses, the pulley wheel is forced to rotate. This does nothing on mine, but because he's actually using the rotation of his to drive his chain hoist, I would expect his hoist to lift up or down. However - I apologise for being pedantic - but Ishould very much like to fully unsertand whatI'll seeing - so if I've misunderstood, please do correct me! (some times these drawings are not quite so easy to interperate as they might first appear) Meanwhile, it's terribly useful to see another, very imaginative approach to the problem. I hope mine is simpler - I like simple....!

this is mine – the prolem that I shall have is keeping it from getting it too tall! (considering that I want it to come out of a building....)

Thank you Barnaby - very interesting! What was cleverly achieved on Wenfordbridge was an actual chain hoist, driven by a nylon line loop - very clever...... The slight down side is that so far as I can see, the hook would raise or lower as the carriage traversed. But quite an achievement! I'm going for the wire-rope type hoist, with the end mounted winch, rather than a carriage mounted winch. I'll probably just put the motors straight on the end - as it will disappear inside a building - rather than take the lines down to the bottom, although it would be easy enough to do that - just three more pulleys. Having said all that - that chap having made such a great job of it in 2mm makes one want to pack up and go home!