The Generation Game

Hi, All!

Big Mike takes it all in his stride...

I've been slogging away at the generator for the Faraday Galvanic Field Gun for the last couple of evenings and I'm pleased with the progress so far.

I honestly wasn't really sure how I wanted this to look at first, nor was I convinced that I could make the carriage look bulky and 'full' enough. What I did know, however, was that I wanted a couple of seriously chunky electro-magnets to form the main part of the design.

Pencil sharpener wagon has its canopy removed and the structure of the new deck is added. Coupling gear and buffers are added to the front.

So... I started gluing stuff together.

Obviously, I had already designed buffers and coupling stock to correspond with those on the gun. These and a nice wide deck formed the beginnings of the design. Other boxes and panels were added to disguise the carriage and stop it looking too similar to the gun carriage, as both carriages were built from identical pencil-sharpener wagons.

Buffers are produced from plastic rod and the head of a thumb-tack.

After a quick sketch I did at work while making a cup of tea, I came up with what is essentially a ninteenth-century circuit-board, reasoning that so long as there were wires joining all the bits and plenty of rivets, I couldn't go far wrong. Adding a couple of levers and a starter-dynamo-thingummy seemed like a good idea. There's also a gantry with handrail and ladder for an engineer to operate the controls. Oh, yes: it needed a spinny-thing. Of course.

Magnets are cut from plastic sheet by hand, then sanded smooth. They are then mounted on poles above the carriage deck.

A new touch I came up with was the inclusion of hexagonal bolts to denote removable panels. The bolts were cut from hexaonal plastic rod, with slots cut across their tops.

Details are gradually added. A plastic bead makes a convincing spinny-thing!

Stripped copper wires and (of course) guitar strings complete the look. Two fat cables run out towards the couplings, carrying power to the gun itself.

More details, rivets, bolts, gantry, controls and ladder are added. Cables snake across the deck and towards the gun carriage.

All this took a whole evening, with the final touches going on today. Painting is now underway and should be finished tomorrow.

Painting begins... Plenty of red to match the gun. Most of the black will become colourful brass and copper.

I'll keep you posted!


All the Best!