Christmas 2019

Merry Christmas to all and best wishes for 2020. Hope to get more work done on Wardell 1950s section of the layout. Here is a typical Aussie scene. It Looks like dad got a new Aussie Charger for Christmas.

Juicing the Frog

Powering the Frog

I had heard all this talk about powering the frog and it wasn't until I started to retest the West Wardell section of the layout that at the points the locomotives would sometimes just stopped. 

An Internet search found these Frog Juicers from Tam Valley Depot I bought a pair of Dual Frog Juicers to power my four points on this section of the layout. One of the key reasons for using them as that I still wanted to hand-throw the points and still have power in the frog. . 

Whilst I had thought they were fairly expensive, I found them easy to install and faultless in design in ensuring no short occurs when using DCC electrofrog points. 

Above: Unopened Dual Frog Juicer

Road testing the Frog Juicer 

Here is a video of the test loco going through the points

Bottom view of Frog Juicer 

View of the frog juicer in action with the lights changing.

 

Buy a Chrysler Valiant. For All the Right Reasons

Recap of the Valiant Cars

Following on my previous post in June 2018 in getting some 3D prints of Chrysler Valiants, I finally made a model of my local Chrysler Dealership which was Boyded Chrysler Lakemba. It was situated on 804 Canterbury road. The building is still there but the dealership is long gone.

Above: My complete version of Boyded Chrysler on my layout.

Building the Model
Walthers has a Car Dealership Kit called the Wayne Bros. Ford Dealership and I used this as the basis for the Chrysler Dealership. Like all Walthers kits the footprint is far too large for my layout so I did not include the rear workshop building and used styrene to add the missing rear wall. 

Above:Unopened kit of the Wayne Bros. Ford Dealership Kit by Walthers

Above: Commencement of the build as per the kit 

Change to Australianise the kit
I decided to detail the interior with period advertising, furniture and available scale model Chrysler cars.
I also change the Ford emblem, add streamers across the car yard and replaced the Ford signage with a custom built a Chrysler/Dodge/Valiant signage both based on vintage photos available on the internet.

Above: Pictured left to right : Road Ragers Chrysler Valiant VH, Road Ragers Valiant VG Pacer,  Reel Rides Plymouth Fury convertible 1967 GTX , Masterpiece Plymouth Fury 1968 aka Dodge Phoenix and  Ricko Plymouth Hemi Cuda

Adding further realism

To give the finishing touches, I included period sale advertising on the windows of the showroom with the "Hey Charger" and sticker price. Car salesmen and customers were added and their clothes were painted in 1970s brown colours. 

To coincide with the street lighting, I used 2 x Faller white light interior lights for the interior of the showroom and also added LED to the signage and used LED Street lamps purchased from EBAY.

Final Remarks

Whilst the slogan to flog Valiant sedans and wagons with "For all the Right Reasons"did not appear to work and they were never as popular as the Kingswood or Falcons,  what did sell well for Chrysler Australia was the masculine image car, the Valiant Charger. With its catchy slogan  "Hey Charger"1 , the unbelievable can happen to you it kept Chrysler sales buoyant throughout the 1970s. 

Above: Evening Shot