Benchwork - Roadbed
Down at the station
It has been a long time since I have posted anything. My schedule has been sideways for the past 7-8 months. However I have made some progress on the layout, but not near what I had planned or hoped to accomplish. I spent the better part of the summer building two skewed thru girder bridges.
Foam or Homasote
I am going to start on my staging area soon. It is in another room separate from the layout. What should I use for the base, foam such as the rest of the layout or should I use plywood topped with Homasote? I would not think noise in another room would be a bother or would it? Plywood w/Homasote, should I use cork on save the expense for the layout proper ? I feel lucky that the real estate owner, a.k.a. wife and CEO, granted me the space. Your opinions please.
Layout Lighting
In your recent copy, you had a notice about lighting for your layout.
The Modeler , after doing some searching , found LED strip lighting. Inexpensive, and easy to install
A friend of mine has been using a brand that has been coming out of Chins, and has ( I believe ) 4 colors.
Red , White, Blue, and Yellow. It also comes with a control pad the you can chose which color you want, and
you can also dim the light.
this gives you the opportunity to go from daylight to sunset to evening.
Superelevation for a branch line (cheap and easy method)
I needed to find a simple way to super elevate the curves on my small branch line to a scale 3 inches. Yes, that’s right, only 3 scale inches!
After researching several different options (some quite involved), I decided using poster board might be a good option. So, off to my trusty local Hobby Lobby to investigate.
Turntable resurrection
I had an old Diamond Scale turntable bridge and spur gear salvaged from a layout many years ago. The original hydrocal pit was long gone so I decided to make a new one from wood. I spoke to Nils at Diamond Scale and he is sending be the worm gear and a few other odds and ends. Here's a couple of progress pics:
Foamcore framed T-Trak module
I'm in the process of planning the framework for a T-Trak interchange module. Track plan can be seen in the post below. Here's the question:
How tightly can Foamcore be bent?
I have three options I'm considering:
1) Plain rectangular module - Takes of a lot of extra real estate, but definitely the simplest build.
2) Cut corners - the "empty" corners of the module cut off to give an angled "near diamond" shape to the module. Doesn't require bending, but also doesn't give a smoothly flowing shape.
TOM MILLER'S LAYOUT
When I attended the National Narrow Gauge Convention in Kansas City in September, I met Joel Bragdon and purchased a copy of a video featuring the construction of Tom Miller's layout. In the video he demonstrates a small adjustable right angle brace that he used under his track bed. I have tried to find a contact e-mail for Tom, but have been unsuccessful. In the process I saw that he was (or has) moved.
Benchwork; a bit of a problem, after some advice
Hi all,
I've got a bit of an issue with my benchwork, and would like to get some thoughts on the matter.
When I laid the track for my main (stub ended) yard, about a year ago, the track and benchwork were level. But, as I discovered when I installed the fascia last weekend, the frame on which the rest of the benchwork rests has developed a sag. As a result of this, freight cars parked in the yard sidings roll towards the turnouts, and end up fouling the clearance points.
Progress Update # 2 - October 2014
The support structure for the main level has been completed. The full scale drawings (discussed in my August 2014 blog) of the layout were taped together and laid out on the supports with the help of poster board. This gave me a good idea if the tracks were where I wanted them.
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