Access Hatches

[Aikidomaster]

I am thinking about having some deep scenes which include a mountain (up to the ceiling) with the mainline going around the outside (42 inch radius). Problem is access to the track against the back wall. Access hatches seem to be the answer. Any books or articles or thoughts on how to build them?

[Motley]

It's not that difficult, I have a couple of access hatches on my layout. I just used a jig saw and cut a square  out and attached a hinges. I plan on hiding them with some scenery.

[richhotrain]

My advice is to avoid them like the plague whenever possible.  They are nothing but trouble.  And, why is it that the derailments always occur at a point where you need to reach them via the access hatch.  I had two on my current layout because of hard to reach turnouts and crossovers on my double mainline.  I finally moved the crossovers to a more accessible location.

Rich

[Doughless]

Aikidomaster

I am thinking about having some deep scenes which include a mountain (up to the ceiling) with the mainline going around the outside (42 inch radius). Problem is access to the track against the back wall. Access hatches seem to be the answer. Any books or articles or thoughts on how to build them?

 

If I can picture what you describe, it sounds like if the track is inaccessble by being laid between the mountain and a wall, then the back of the mountain probably won't even be seen.  And a 42 inch wide, benchwork-to-ceiling mountain sounds like its big enough to stand in.  I think you could just leave the back of the mountain open and wouldn't need any concealed hatches at all.

[wabash2800]

 

If you must build them you might try what a friend of mine did: He mounted a hardhat with the built in netting (or whatever you call it) inside it on the underside of the hatch. So when he wants to lift the hatch, he ducks on the layout and places his head in the hard hat and pushes up. Since there usually is no good place to set a lift-out, he leaves it on his head while he rerails the errant car, etc. Of course, this works well provided the liftout is light enough to do so. My friend used a piece of styrofoam for his. Also, be sure not to skimp on the size of the hole or you will be sorry. He did and he is...

And yes, he doesn't like his two pop-ups and wished he would have gone with a walk-in-design with the layout on a shelf with perhaps a peninsula instead of a mostly island design.

One interesting pop-up I saw years ago was a hinged section of a mountain. It hinged out of the way when necessary and provided plenty of access.

[farrellaa]

I have three liftout hatches on my layout (under constructiion) and plan to use a corner support that will allow me to lift it up with guides on the corner support ( a metal pipe/tube) and then pivot it 90 degrees out of the way. It will lift high enough to clear any adjacent scenery/structures and not have to be placed anywhere. I have the design mostly worked out but haven't built them yet.The hatches are going to be light weight using thin plywood for the sides and foam/plaster for the surface. I plan to make a prototype first to get all the bugs out of the lift/pivot mechanism. Just a thought on a new approach to an old problem.

Bob

[MisterBeasley]

There are 5 liftoffs in this picture:

I my case, they are all small, nowhere near man-sized.  They're designed for access to to subway tunnels beneath.

They are all foam construction.  The one in the lower left, with a vertical oil tank on it, is thin foamboard and only about 8 inches square.  The rest are odd-shaped pieces of 2-inch pink foam.

I disguise them by laying a strip of plastic wrap (like Saran Wrap) on the fixed base, and then covering the gap with a strip of plaster cloth, overlapping the liftoff and the plastic wrap strip.  When the plaster cloth dries, it has the contour of the gap, but it doesn't adhere to the fixed base.  I then remove the plastic wrap and add scenery to the plaster cloth.  With ground foam at the edge, it's hard to see where the gap is, even after several years of use.

I try to make the edges of liftoffs irregular in shape.  That way, the eye isn't drawn to a straight line down the side of a "natural" mountain.  At one point, I did use a railroad-tie retaining wall as an edge cover, which worked out very well, too.

I arranged the liftoffs so that there is no track on any of them.  I do have some illuminated buildings, and I'm still grumbling about that mistake.  I'm slowly adding plugs and jacks to make the removal process easier, but it's a low priority project that's going nowhere fast.