Building The LX033-OO Mileposts Gradients & Catchpoints Signs Kits.
A Look At Building The LX033-OO Lineside Mileposts, Gradients & Catchpoints Kit
Recently released kit into the Scalemodelscenery.co.uk kit range is the LX033-OO Laser Cut LX033-OO Mileposts, Gradient & Catch Points Signs. This is for OO /1:76 scale builds 29 assorted Mileposts, Gradient & Catch Point Signs. An ideal kit for an evenings project.
Kit contents
The kit comes in a recyclable clear packet, which contains one set of instructions, self-adhesive decals sheet & the kit parts sheet. Take your time to familiarise yourself with the kit parts.
All railways were required to provide quarter-mile posts on the trackside along their routes & lines. The section 94 of the Railways clauses act of 1845 states that: The company shall cause the length of the railway to be measured, and milestones, posts, or other conspicuous objects to be set up and maintained along the whole line thereof, at the distance of one quarter of a mile from each other, with numbers or marks inscribed thereon denoting such distances.
Generally, posts were painted white with black lettering, though around 1963 onwards mileposts were generally coloured yellow. This change coincided with the repainting of permanent speed restriction indicators from white to yellow, to help improve their visibility in snow. Though a good number of white painted posts can be found around the network & on preserved lines to this day.
Let’s Get Started…
You’ll need the following tools…
- Cutting Mat
- Sharp craft knife
- A sanding stick (a nail emery board will do)
- Roket Card Glue
- White or yellow paint
- Tweezers
- 2mm drill bit
- Drill or twist drill
First, paint the posts in either yellow or white depending on the era you are modelling etc. Here we’re using acrylic paint, & have given the posts two thin coats of paint.
Tip: Best results paint the posts whilst still on the parts sheet.
If using the gradients & catchpoints signs, paint these also as well. Again use two thin coats of acrylic paint.
Tip: For best results paint the signboards whilst still on the parts sheet.
Once the paint has dried, cut & release the posts from the parts sheet.
If using the gradient & catchpoint sign boards, cut & remove these also from the parts sheet.
Use the point of the craft knife to carefully lift one of the milepost decals. The 1/4, 1/2 & 3/4 markings go on the thin narrow posts.
For placing the self-adhesive decals use a pair of tweezers to carefully place the decal on to the post. This allows for accurate positioning of the decal.
The wider round top posts are one-mile posts. The decals highlighted in the orange box are for use on these posts. If you wish to customise the milage to one of your choosing, use the numbers in the highlighted yellow box. In the photo, we’ve cut & used the ‘M’ from one of the mile-post decals, & have used two numbers from the highlighted yellow box area to make up our own mile-post number.
Continue to apply the chosen decals to the posts & gradient/catchpoint sign boards.
For the gradient signboards & Catchpoint signboards, apply a small amount of Roket Card Glue or similar to the post. Then carefully place the signboard on to the glued post.
Repeat as needed.
Drill a 2mm hole on the line side.
Vacuum the debris up & then test fit the post into the hole. Once happy with the fit, apply a small amount of glue such as Roket Card glue, super glue etc into the hole. Then insert the post into the hole.
The post should face towards the railway track as shown on the right. This is one of the 1/4 mile mileposts. Feel free to add any weathering to give a worn or aged look.
The post should face towards the railway track as shown on the right. This is one of the 1/4 mile mileposts. Feel free to add any weathering to give a worn or aged look.
The gradient posts should have the angled part of the sign either pointing up or down the slope. Here the post is fitted at the top of an incline, hence the level sign. If there is a gradient either side of the gradient post then set the signboard pointing up or down both gradients accordingly.
To give you an idea of how far a mile is scaled down, a mile is 1760 yards. So converting this to scale distances, depending which gauge you are running, a scale mile converts rounding off to whole numbers to the following:
- 0 Gauge = 121 feet
- 00 Gauge = 69 feet
- N Gauge = 35 feet
If your layout is large enough then you can position the mileposts & 1/4 mileposts accordingly. Otherwise, use modellers license & compress the distance between the posts to suit.
Happy modelling.
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