Benchwork

I have started the benchwork.

It's 1/2" construction Plywood that I had the lumber yard rip for me in 5" widths.

I have glued and nailed the modules together.

The longest sections will be 8' and no one wider than 2'.

That will make it easier to move if needed.

This is the first two sections:

Following

I look forward to reading about your progress.  Beautifully rendered plan. 

I'll follow

I'll follow along!

Minturn layout

Very good plan I will follow with interest. Only drawback I see is a lot of hidden trackage, but I also see why.  Kudos! John Colley, Sonoma, CA

Very nice!

What is the size of your layout room?

Size

My room is 22' x 15'.

I will try to share as much as possible.

Like it!

Very nice, original plan Michael. I'm looking forward to following your progress. 

Mark

Fellow HOn3'er!

Looks like a great project!  Will enjoy seeing your progress.

Carpet

Finally some creature comforts.

Carpet laid and trim installed.

It made the room much more comfortable.

Progress!

The first benchwork is up.

The plywood construction makes it both light and strong.

And here is about a third of the benchwork up:

I selected to use 2x2 standing legs because if I'd used wall mounted brackets, it would have been difficult to match the wall studs.

In any case it's very sturdy. 

Decisions, decisions...

I'm planning the subroadbed, and the stations, yards etc. will have 3/4" plywood. But what about the lines then?

I haven't decided yet if I should use spline or ply subroadbed.

If I should build with spline, should it be 3/4" x 1/4" pine, or 1/4" hardboard?

How to fasten it on the risers? And how should the risers be constructed?

Any thoughts on this?

Just a idea

How I'm constructing "The Anneliesville & Navigation Co." in HO.

   Happy building !

Filip

The decisions continues... I

The decisions continues... I bought some 5/8" plywood to try as roadbed instead of 3/4". The wood spline roadbed is still under evaluation.... The spruce is strong, but really difficult to work with. My next experiment will be with 1/4" MDF that I sawed into 3/4" strips. It seems like a middle road between hardboard and spruce spine.

Some more progress on the

Some more progress on the layout.

Almost 80% of the benchwork is ready. The ones left to do are the curve sections. I've also added the first 5/8" plywood roadbed. I will use plywood roadbed on the stations and yards.

The inclines and upper tracks will be spline roadbed.

Spline raw material made from1/4" MDF that I sawed into 1" strips.

Tracks and turnouts. I laid out some Peco turnouts to make sure the roadbed will fit the plan.

Laser cut sweep sticks for HOn3.

These are invaluable! I got these made by a friend in the US.

It might be possible to lay the first tracks this weekend.

Some more progress today.

Some more progress today. I've glued the cork. It's standard HO cork that I cut off a 6 mm (1/4") wide strip to make it fit HOn3 (16.5mm - 10.5mm = 6mm). Now I have to order more cork .... I need about 40-50 yards. I've begun on the Spline roadbed. I'm gluing it with "No more nails" from Pattex on cartridge (I guess it's like liquid nails?). The splines are 6 mm (1/4") MDF, which is cut in 25 mm (1") wide strips. There is a need for huge amount of clamps though. Have to find some more, I know I have some... Time to make all the curved and Y-turnouts as well.

Backdrop work

I've started the work on the landscape painting on the backdrop. To make a representation of the Colorado rockies isn't as easy as it sounds.... You want them to be tall and imposing, and have the color variations of the real thing. On top of that I have to find a level of detail that I'm satisfied with. I use regular artist acrylics for it.

Fantastic

Graffen,

Fantastic work! Very reminiscent of Troels Kirk layout, I am looking forward to watching your layout come to life. Keep the updates coming.

Ross A

Homemade turnout

I built a switch to fit my layout, a three-way stub switch in HOn3. It is a #6 with 26" radius.

I will probably use a Tam Valley servo controller for it. It's really fun to build these.

Lovely...

It has two frogs and a toad!

Nice work Michael. 

Wouawww

I like handlay track, but I need to look severals time the picture of the turnout to find which frog is for which file of track; need to take a cup of coffee to be quiet to understand!

Just a joke!

Congratulation, it's a fine workmanship work; did you have build a jig or just a printed plan to build it ?

Marc

More turnout progress

Made a bit more on my three-way stub turnout in HOn3. One drawbar is made, now it's two more to hold the track gauge to make as well. It's a little tricky to make them because the rails must be able to move individually. I soldered micro track spikes to hold the rails in place.

Well done!

My friend Boone made several three way switches on different layouts including an HOn3 version. I found this picture from a visit I made after he passed away. 

I couldn’t get a picture of the control mechanism but it was a simple push/pull rod that had a round piece of plastic with indents filled in at the right spots. The outer rails have the small wires soldered to prevent the active rails from moving too far. Hope this helps!

I built a curved turnout

I built a curved turnout today. HOn3 with Code 70 rails. 28" and 22" radiuses. What's left to do is to make the cuts for the live frog and to clean the flangeways from solder.I build my turnouts to the narrow specs that Railway engineering promotes. I use their roller gauges and to check with the NMRA gauge, you use the flange end instead of the track end.

Built a # 6 left-hand turnout

Built a # 6 left-hand turnout in HOn3 with 26" radius.

They are starting to go together easy now. This one took not more than an hour to make. I use a drawn template to get the radius right. Otherwise it's just a matter of using the NMRA gauge and Railway Engineering roller gauges. The frog area has a narrower gauge to make the rolling stock roll better through the frog. I use the flangeway gauge to get it right.