Radio base station - 7
Replicating this requires nothing more than cementing a
white metal casting to the enclosure. A Scale Structures
#2467 window air conditioner provides a one-piece casting
small enough to look appropriate without overpowering the
front of the enclosure.
Make a sign board
The final step in creating our base station vignette is to
add a small sign giving a hint to why this particular lineside
installation is there. Creating a plain alpha-numeric sign sim-
ilar to the one mounted to the Norfolk Southern enclosure
is easy using a home computer with a spreadsheet program.
All it requires is choosing the correct font, then typing in the
characters several times using varying sizes such as 8, 9, and
14
14: Each photoetched metal kit provides 3 styles of
large antennas that can be easily modified into smaller
railroad band VHF antennas by simply trimming the
thin metal then mounting the antennas to the lattice
frame of the tower.
15: The prototype equipment enclosure on the Norfolk
Southern. I modeled my equipment cabinets after
these units.
10 point type. This will give us a variety of sizes to choose
from. Now the sign can be printed onto cardstock, reducing
its size by printing using a reduced scale. Then cut the sign
to size and mount it to the front of the enclosure, the FCC
moniker telling everyone this is a radio installation.
Adding a modern lineside detail to the layout does not require
major effort or expense. It may also provide new life for an
older accessory that we may have passed over as toy-like, giv-
ing it a home beside the latest of our high-tech scale models.
15
Information continued on the next page ...
MRH-Jan 2014
