duck unders

[jwar]

Hi Charles. I would be glad too. I have recently sent picks to two others and I need to get my daughters dig camera and then I think I could E mail them. I will see what I can do this week end, e mail me if you wish...John

[sledgehammer]

This is what i built. Mine was really hard because the door is in the corner of my room. Im going to try to post pics we will see what happends. I can"t seem to post pics (or havent figured it out yet) If you want pics of mine send me your email address.

[Anonymous]

WP,
Would you consider providing some pictures or design details for us? Sounds like you have a good solution and, with the two height levels, a very interesting one.
Charles

[jwar]

I have two doors in my train room and a double height around the room layout.Went with 4 swing ups and have not regreated it yet. Did have one drop in and visitors removing it and setting on scenery or ather areas, added a hinge and no more problems. All are over center when up, they stay up and extreamly easy to use.

I drink lots of coffee and there in use constantly, going to get coffeee, the shortley therafter getting rid of it.,LOL Duck unders are great if ya height is the same as a mallard....

[cacole]

Duckunder = head banger = neck cracker = knee scraper = shoe scuffer = etc.
At my age, I would never even consider building a layout that required a duckunder.

[ahuffman]

I have bad knees and I hate duckunders. If you can't arrange a no-stoop track plan, I vote for the swing-out or swing-up as being most convenient, although the lift-out can work if you have a well-constructed pocket for it to sit in and align with the fixed trackage. One fellow in this area has the best solution for an around the wall layout without interior stairs. He built a pit with 3 steps down and back up into the floor of his basement to enter the layout. I bless his thoughtfulness whenever I visit his layout.

[dwRavenstar]

If the ceiling is greater than eight feet, say on the nine to ten foot range, you might consider rasing the actual height of the layout and constructing a platform to stand on during operating sessions. Less of a duck under and more room for shelving etc under the benchwork.

Dave (dwRavenstar)

[dacort]

I made my duckunder the same way I did the rest of the benchwork for the layout, basically open grid benchwork with plywood subroadbed. There just aren't any legs under the duckunder part, and the grid is raised a little compared to the rest of the layout, suspended off risers on the adjacent benchwork.

I don't really like duckunders, either, but I really had no other options in my space. I've tried liftouts before and like those even less, as they tend to stay lifted out (at least mine did). When I did a liftout I soldered the rail ends to brass screws driven into the subroadbed so that the screw heads just touched the underside of the rail. This kept the alignment fairly well, though over time it still developed problems. At least with a duckunder there are fewer joints in the track to cause trouble.

If I ever have more room I hope to have a plan without either liftouts or duckunders.

[Jacktal]

I don't recommend the duckunder solution but don't recommend the liftout section either as it is a pain in the...everytime you wi***o enter or leave the layout.We use to have a "permanent" duckunder layout at my club and we used to hear complaints by our elder members who had real pain going inside the layout.This situation has been somewhat fixed last year by cutting the layout open and fabricating a liftout section.Now what happens that it serves only the first member in as nobody will lift that section during operations to not disturb other fellow modelers.

The joints have to be so precise (N scale) that tracks constantly have to be repaired,being pulled off the last ties more often then none during reinstallation.A good system to allow easy alignment has to be incorporated in the design and still,we have to be very cautious.We will be redoing it this summer,and this time,it will be hinged so that it can be opened and closed quick and easy.

[earlfrye]

I agree with everyone. Duckunder bad idea. Try lift bridge or dogbone with no duckunder.

[scole100]

Look into a swinging gate or other way of opening up the pathway. There have been several articles on the construction of them in Model Railroader over the years. I had a duckunder in a previous layout. BAD IDEA. Start the layout without one, because it is not easy to fix the problem once you find out how much of a nuciance one really is.

[ndbprr]

Duck unders are fine when you are young. I'll be sixty this year and my feeling now is I'd rather not have a layout if it needs a duck under. ( Strong opinion to follow! )

[IRONROOSTER]

If you buld a high layout, the duckunder is not as objectionable. My layout is 58" to the top of the benchwork with a duckunder at the doorway. I laminated two 3/4" pieces of plywood 3 feet long to cross the doorway, so the duckunder has 56 1/2" of clearance. This makes it easy to get in and out.
Enjoy
Paul

[tigerstripe]

Your best bet in designing a duckunder is easy, DONT.
I have lost count of how many times I've been wacked.
Try a swing bridge or lift out section instead.

[Anonymous]

HI. this is my first post. I am buying a new home, and the room i have to build a layout in is the same size (11 x 24) as Pelle Soeborg's layout in the March 05 issue. I was wanting to duplicate his layout in some form, and was wondering if anyone had any advice for building a duck under. his looks like it would be bi-level.[?]