Neon Noir Designs

[Madsing]

Hi Joe,

 

I think that there are two additional vertical supports above the overhead wires. See the photo below. Actually, each line has two wires. The top wire has the shape of a catenary, it is only there to support the bottom wire which is in contact with the train's pantograph. I think that this vertical bar is called "vertical isolation bar", it is meant to hold the catenary wire (which lays on top of the two black cylinders), and it also maintains the distance to the registration arm constant and stable.

 

 

I have designed and 3D-printed a few of these for my layout last year, but I need much more and there is so much variety. I can share the files if it's useful.

 

Marc

 

[Kamome442]

22 hours ago, cteno4 said:

Seems like those fold up connectors to the rod may end up being more bulky looking than just the whole part etched. Getting to these sizes getting perfectly scale may just be a bit too hard, sometimes small details at scale are so small they disappear at a foot so enlarging a tad makes them more noticeable saying what they are at normal viewing distances. I get it that many want things spot on, but we look at things in not usual distances on our models usually and to make it look right to the minds eye things need a tad of fudging sometimes.

 

jeff

 

That's a good point. I will still test one out of curiosity, I will also test the flat etch version.

[Kamome442]

21 hours ago, Madsing said:

I think that there are two additional vertical supports above the overhead wires. See the photo below. Actually, each line has two wires. The top wire has the shape of a catenary, it is only there to support the bottom wire which is in contact with the train's pantograph. I think that this vertical bar is called "vertical isolation bar", it is meant to hold the catenary wire (which lays on top of the two black cylinders), and it also maintains the distance to the registration arm constant and stable.

 

There are the two supports for the upper wire (is that what is referred to as the messenger wire?) on the 2D drawings, I just haven't included them on the 3D model yet. These should be pretty straightforward to make as they just drop straight down with couple of insulators to isolate the wire.

 

21 hours ago, Madsing said:

I have designed and 3D-printed a few of these for my layout last year, but I need much more and there is so much variety. I can share the files if it's useful.

 

That is a lovely piece of work! I totally agree about the amount of variety. There seems to no end to the amount of variation. Thank you for the offer, if you are happy to share the files, it cannot hurt to have more information.

Joe

[UnfinishedKit]

@Kamome442 I’ll be passing through Japan briefly, but several times over the next few months. Can’t promise anything but are there any details you’d like me to photograph if I can get them?

[Kamome442]

On 4/28/2025 at 11:39 PM, UnfinishedKit said:

@Kamome442 I’ll be passing through Japan briefly, but several times over the next few months. Can’t promise anything but are there any details you’d like me to photograph if I can get them?

 

Thank you for the offer, that is incredibly kind. I am having to use some guesswork when comes to the dimensions of each part because most parts of catenary contain large quantities of hair standy uppy juice so it not something that can be measured easily. Luckily I can get a lot information from pictures of pretty trains by looking at the background. So sharing any photos of trains is always useful. If you should see some strange and interesting catenary and have the time to take a quick picture that would be amazing.

For instance I recently noticed this funky little critter from pictures being shared of the recently closed section of the KK Expressway:

Source: Google Streetview

Enjoy your time in Japan, not at all jealous 😉

Joe

Edited Wednesday at 05:50 PM by Kamome442

[Kamome442]

You Animal

I took a break from Catenary this week and did a little more work on the next batch of road signs. Drawing up the animals has in all honestly driven me slightly mad. There seems to be no end to the variants. I decided to limit the myself to 94, which is not even half of what is out there. Sadly I could not find good quality reference images of one or two that I wanted to include but regardless I am happy with the final selection:

 

I have a few gaps to fill on some of the sheets so I thought I would add some rectangular warning signs for a little variety.

 

I sill have a few more of these to draw up and then I can start to organise all the sheets, I think there will be 7 or 8 pages in total.

 

Joe

 

[brill27mcb]

Love the animal signs!

[UnfinishedKit]

Love these. 
 

if you are looking for more inspiration then the advertising signs that you see on every power pole and a a lot of station canopy supports would be a great addition. 
 

 

This is the sake advert in our living room 

 

 

[Kamome442]

21 hours ago, UnfinishedKit said:

Love these. 
 

if you are looking for more inspiration then the advertising signs that you see on every power pole and a a lot of station canopy supports would be a great addition. 
 

 

This is the sake advert in our living room 

 

That is an interesting idea, thanks @UnfinishedKit It would certainly have the potential to add a lot of character and colour to a street scene.