By Wolfgang Fichtner
Last month I posted the picture below on the first page with the question
of how it could be done without glue. That Wolfgang did it is clear;
we are looking at the picture. But how?
This arch has generally been considered unrealistic to attempt in Anchor.
I would not have tried it. But I will have to reevaluate the
possibilities when building with Anchor stones.
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A close-up view of the arch
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The use of a spacer (Distanzstück) made of wood strips is the key. Some mathematics is necessary to determine just how wide and thick (9 × 2 mm) the spacer should be. Wolfgang writes: The arch consists of twenty stones # 15 and two # 4. Thus each stone is at an angle of about 8.6° (21 joints spread over 180°) from the next one. The filler stones of the wall (Füllmauerwerk) are set back 12.5 mm (a half Richter unit). Wolfgang made the T shaped spacers to maintain a regular spacing. Of course, he built a lower support to carry the weight of the arch stones while building. He pointed out that the arch would be easier to build if one placed small cardboard strips (about 2 × 11) between the stones. But some (like me) might considered them to be cheating. Others might consider the spacers cheating; I do not. The arch spans 162.5 mm.
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Another view of the building, after Wolfgang added a wing of the railroad station.
If you want to see a picture of the real station, it is on the web: www.epilog.de/Berlin/Eisenbahn/Lehrter_Bahn/Beschreibung_Lehrter_Bahn_T000133.htm
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