Update - No.2 - 19.02.11

Originally sent to friends and family only in Feb 2011


Hi Guys,

I've made some progress so thought I'd let you know what's happening in the layout room.   

No plywood has been cut yet unfortunately, but I'm on the verge of plugging in the jigsaw and actually starting to assemble something.  As I described in the last update, the layout will be on 4 separate levels all around the walls of the room with the helix linking them all within a central peninsula which extends into the middle of the space.  Trying to picture how this will all work and how the levels will look has been extremely difficult so I thought I would produce a sort of full size mock up against one of the walls and simply play with the levels until I was happy with the heights.  Getting the heights right is fundamental so it was crucial I took my time and thought this through.

Garage doors are plugged with insulation board

I'll describe the ideas here but to be honest just take a look at the photos and it should all become clear.  This was just a rough and ready set up so I grabbed some offcuts of board to represent the baseboards and I used archive boxes (just imagine they are not actually there) to give me the approximate heights I was after using a fold up table as the datum point.  If you imagine the table to be the first fully scenic baseboard level (which will be operated whilst seated on chair on castor's) and the second scenic level approximately 2 feet above it you'll get the idea.  I placed some largish buildings on the boards to give an impression of the model headroom available between the levels and made sure I was happy I could reasonably easily reach in and get to any point on these, the two most important levels.

Checking levels using tables and shelves

Checking levels using tables and shelves

Again, to help imagine the space available and how things would look, I thought I'd place some locos on the boards.  I opened the nearest stock box and found some Peaks (calm down Wibble!) and Kestrel to play with.  I placed Kestrel on the lower storage level and a Peak on the scenic levels and the uppermost storage level which is only about a foot from the ceiling.   After spending some time with a tape measure and making some notes I took it a stage further and replaced the board with offcuts of insulation sheets left over from the house build.  These are approximately 3" thick so give a better representation of the likely dimensions for the baseboards.  I fine tuned the heights until I was happy with them all and then made loads of notes so I could produce some sketches and plans.  Incidentally, let's hope I can build baseboards which are flatter than the bowing table top in the photos - ha!

Mocking up how the levels will work

As I explained last time, I do not want anything attached to the walls so the baseboards need to be free-standing This means the baseboards will need to be lightweight because they will be held up by some form of framework.   I think I have devised a system that can do this and today I have produced some foam-board scale models of the way all the components will go together.  It seems to be quite an elegant solution and it is certainly modular and transportable.  Whether it will be strong enough I will find out when the first frames have been cut.  I'll show you the models and the first frames next time hopefully. 

Mocking up the top scenic level and upper storage level height

Supermodel Coffin!

I will probably start work on making the first set of frames and baseboards tomorrow.  The last time I made a baseboard was about 5 years ago.  I wanted a test bed for getting to grips with DCC control and running in locos so I built a battleship strong box from plywood offcuts and nicknamed it the "Supermodel Coffin". 

Supermodel Coffin!

 



















That's all till next time Guys,  Hope this update has helped with the insomnia!


All the best, Corky!