QUOTE (Lancashire Fusilier @ 16 Oct 2008, 16:43)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>Thanks for that Richard.
I think the Capt Jack nailed it though when he said about angling it so it is not necessarily perpendicular to the track as it doesn't actually have to be like that. The drawing from Richard indicates the perpendicular tunnel mouth dimension however angling a larger mouth could result in the same thing.
***Only in a face on view - and the railways didn't do it that way... why compromise the quality of a model to accommodate a wrongly dimensioned minor accessory thats clearly designed for toy trainsets not model railways!
Why buy and accept a wrong one when you can make one easily that will look correct.... and with care, a thousand time better than the shop-bought compromises!
The dimensions are all there....
So a bit of 3mm customwood/mdf/ or ply, cut to shape + a small allowance for the DAS thickness, add an ounce or two of DAS stuck to it with PVA & water mix.... wait for it to dry, sand a little, mark out with a pencil then add twenty minutes carving and you have a correct tunnel portal.
You could easily slit and open out a mail tube and create the first few feet of the tunnel at the same time, adding DAS and using the same technique... and then the wings, and the brickwork / drainage if any above and behind the tunnel mouth.... and the retaining walls for the cutting leading to it........
Plastic... who needs it!
Richard