Got two piece of subroadbed cut. Not attached yet, but I did slice up a sheet of plywood to make lots of brackets.
Upper level backdrop:
Subroadbed 1:
Subroadbed 2:
Getting there, slowly.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
I wasn;t about to get a table saw for just this one use, plus handling a 4x6 sheet, as I expected, of 3/4" plywood is not easy, even with extension tables. ANd I don;t trust the big box guys to cut properly - their saw has coarse teeth anyway. The specialty wood place where I got the good 3/4" 13 ply birch for the structural bits, as far as I know, doesn;t offer a cutting service, and chopping a full panel into 3" strips would get expensive pretty quickly if they charge per cut. This seemed liek the best option - worst case, I could back my truck load of plywood into my driveway and cut it right off the back of the truck, but the good stuff only comes in 5x5 sheets and they aren't quite as hard to handle, downside is while a 4x8 sheet fits my truck (over the wheel wells), the 5' width does not, so I have to get them to deliver it. They won;t bring it into my basement, but they will put it in the garage, I just lift a sheet onto a furniture dolly and wheel it into the basement.
rrinker...I finally got a chance to start cutting plywood with my circular saw and Kreg Rip-Cut jig...
Mark P.
Website: http://www.thecbandqinwyoming.comVideos: https://www.youtube.com/user/mabrunton
Got some backdrop up on the upper level in the same corner now. ANd I finally got a chance to start cutting plywood with my circular saw and Kreg Rip-Cut jig:
The saw clamps in the sled, the part with 2 slots (for left or right hand motor circular saws) and the lower piece slides along the edge of the piece you are cutting for accurate repeatable cuts. I also have a Diablo 60t blade for smooth cuts - and it cuts through the 3/4 birch like butter, nice smooth edges, no tear outs. First piece came out 1/8" wide - initial calibration is to put the sled against the blade and zero it, but then you have to set the width using the scale and pointer and make one cut to adjust it. It's not really critical, when attaching the pieces I am leveling the tops, so if one piece hangs down by 1/8" it's no big deal. But the second oen came out dead on 3" after I adjusted the indicator, and now they will all be exactly 3".
I'm considering not using the outboard space blocks in each pair of arms like I did with the first one. At least where the arms are 12" or less. Yes, they wiggle side to side a bit - that is until I install the plywood subroadbed on top of them. And then the fascia. Wider areas may need in to manage the flex, but even there I am wondering - such as the 2' wide yard section. That will fully be covered with 3/4" plywood from the wall to the outer edge of the arms. There's no way that's going to move side to side.
rrinkerI can probably get the sneak path in with a 3% grade - maybe not unworkable, since it would ALWAYS be downhill if used
Mike
SO here are some pics of additional progress. Brackets started down left hand (longer outside) wall, this is the side that will have the yard. And backdrop being put in place.
I also started framing out the area for the engine terminal. Definitely will have a support leg in the corner there. I have my old legs salvaged from the old layout, but I can't get at them. Perfect place to reuse them.
What I really need is a faster way to make the brackets. I'm thinking I could possibly cut strips of plywood and then make up the sections with the spacer at the far end in bulk, and then go around attaching them to the verticals.
I may have made things harder on myself by deciding to have the main start a slight upgrade behind the town while the yard lead extends to become a bit of a city switching branch. though all that really needs is a 2-track wide strip of plywood lifted on risers while the rest of the shelf stays flat. 2 reasons for that - reduce the rise required in the helix, and also this sets the level for the branch that goes around the outside - since it is only a single deck section, I want it higher than the lower deck fir a more optimal view. The loop around the outside of the helix can also be aon a grade, meaning the grade can be fairly minimal yet accomplish the goal. Downside is, I can't really have a connection at the far end of town between the main and the switch lead/city branch, even at double the grade it would take half the distance to come back down to the 0 elevation. ANd I kind of wanted to put a sneak loop in from the branch through the wall to reconnect to the main, which will not be possible without an absurd grade. If the uphill is 1%, I can probably get the sneak path in with a 3% grade - maybe not unworkable, since it would ALWAYS be downhill if used. Mainly for display running, and a shortcut to work the bottom deck before the top deck is done.
Looking forward to seeing your work Randy.
Wow, has it been almost 2 months? I FINALLY did some more work today. Stopped by Lowes because SWMBO wanted flowers to plant outside, so I grabbed some masonite foor backdrops and also a sheet of 3/4" plywoood for the end of the area I've been working on - this is where the turntable and engine house will be so I figured why bother making it open grid type benchwork, I'll just cookie cutter a piece of plywood. In a short time today I got started on the verticals down the long wall and got two sections (tootal 16') of backdrop up. Still needs to be sanded, spackeled, sanded again, and painted, but at least there's something there.
Tomorrow I plan to be down in the basement most of the day, building the support area for the plywood base and getting that in place. I'm not holding my breath but maybe some track even - though I don't think I have any caulk and only a tiny amount of roadbed.
Looking good Randy! Your voice is fine. Nice progress.
Mike.
My You Tube
More of the support blocks added, and the first horizontal installed.
Getting there. Need to get hardboard for the backdrops before I go much further.
Edit: oops, two of the same picture.
Yeah, a phone isn't an ideal video device - if I have the screen in front of me so I can see what I'm shooting, then my mouth is not near the microphone. I guess I could try using my earbuds and recording through that microphone. Or see if I can boost the audio when I convert the video.
I should show your post to my GF. She always says I don't speak clearly enough and she has a hard time understanding me. Maybe I just need to say "yinz" and "pop"
Have to see where I get tomorrow - I'm almost out of the little blocks, so I have to cut up another 2x4 and drill them. Or I can continue with the verticals down the yard side, I still have 10 more prepped. Otherwise it's time to break out the circular saw and the Kreg guide and start cutting plywood strips.
BigDaddyYou sound OK, I think it's normal to think your own voice sounds terrible.
I would say that you sound great!. Your voice is clear and easy to understand, and the video progresses at a decent pace. Too many videos move at a snail's pace. Your's is good.
The only minor problem I had was that I had to crank the volume up to max. on my el cheapo computer speakers, and even then I had to listen carefully. No big deal.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
You sound OK, I think it's normal to think your own voice sounds terrible.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Yesterday I prepped some more pieces, cut to length, drilled pilot holes. So today when I went to the basement, I was ready to go and get stuff built. I need to do more of this, work more in an assembly line fashion and complete a stock of pieces in one session and then use them in another.
As such, I now have all the verticals on 2 walls of the yard/town room, and a lot of the support blocks in place. I even did a quick video update.
Back wall:
Back corner:
Rest of the 'new wall':
Video walkaround:
I may have to do silent videos from here on one, and put title cards in or something. I sound horrible. There is no editing - I just upload what I shoot. Straight from the phone.
rrinker ...There are only more 3 inside curves (that are 90 degrees) around the entire layout, so thus far I'll say it's more positive than negative. There are 2 right angle outside curves - that may be an issue....
1/8" Masonite applied atop 3/8" drywall at all corners, with the Masonite abutting 1/2" drywall. Screwed, taped and mudded - no cracks, no joints to be seen.
Wayne
Well - FAIL.
It's still there. But I noticed the front (inside) veneer has cracked about half the width, just after the curve starts along the left side. Compressed in on itself too much. The back side, where it is stretched out - is just fine. Go figure.
Time to get the hardboard - either Lowes or my plywood supplier has it.
The underlayment I have is probably fine to make the 'hat' on top of the upper deck, at least in areas where it is no more than 18" wide, since they are all cut to 16" wide pieces. I'm not going to mix materials. Hardboard will handle the outside curves, too.
I might have to do something like that on the two outside curves to keep the backdrop close to the wall and curved. Or not curve it - the one is at the end of the added middle wall and the short wall before the helix, and it continues the town scene, so a building could disguise the 90 degree corner. Or even use a short piece at a 45. The other outside 90 is on the opposite side of this wall, where the branch turns down towards the door. If I make that a 90, I can probably hide it with some trees.
Directly opposite the one I already installed is the other inside corner, heading on to the wall with the yard. At the end of that, there will not be a curved backdrop going to the moveable section in front of the furnace, so the other sharp inside corner is all the way down at the far end of that wall (northeast corner on my plan) and then on the outside of the short wall for the branch to come off the helix and swing on to the outside of the added wall. It's a total of 6 more pieces to curve - upper deck over the one I alrerady did, upper and lower deck ontot he yard wall, upper and lower deck in the northeast corner, and one deck for the branch. And the upper deck pieces can be more wasteful of corner space, especially over the yard and town areas where I don't plan many sidings to avoid conflict with operators on the lower deck. Over the yard, the upper deck will mostly be a deep scenery area (well, 2' depth for a double track main and little else - so that's realtively high depth to track ratio). I considered spacing the backdrop out a bit ont he upper deck to reduce the depth, but at the same time I have to make sure the lighting is balanced - same number of strips in less area will appear brighter.
rrinkerCons on underlayment backdrop (so far): It's much harder to get small radius curves than hardboard
I hope it works for you Randy. If not, there is always 0.080" styrene.
Positives on underlayment backdrop (so far): It's cheap. It's smooth.
Cons on underlayment backdrop (so far): It's much harder to get small radius curves than hardboard
It may end up being a scarifice, but I actually screwed in place th first piece of backdrop around the inside corner. Luckily the screws I used use a Torx head, so I can load one on the drill and it doesn't fall out while I wrestle the piece of underlayment in place. It bent to a sharp enough radius (I did wet some shop towels and dampen the back side - I don't know if I actually got it damp enough to matter or not though). The force it was trying to push itself back out straight though - I wasn;t sure screws would even hold, but at one end, the joint is right in the middle of a 2x4, at the other end it's just about even with the 2x4, so I may have to cut it off somehow. One one side of the curve, two studs have screws in them, on the other side, it's flat against 3, but I only screwed it to two. The two corner ones, the backdrop is curves an dnot attached. It does come inside the support blocks that are on each vertical to extend the attachment area for th eplywood ribs, so I'm going to consider that a tight enough radius. Big test will be to check the staytus tomorrow and see if it's ripping out the screws (the unerlayment will tear, not the 2x4) or if it snaps. It wasn;t making any ominous noises when I shoved it into place.
There are only more 3 inside curves (that are 90 degrees) around the entire layout, so thus far I'll say it's more positive than negative. There are 2 right angle outside curves - that may be an issue.
Update - this afternoon the governor announced shelter in place requirements for my county now as well. So it was off for a last minute run to Lowes to get supplies - even if I wasn't actually working from home during the week, I now have enough wood to completely finish the area where the the yard and town go, and either start on the moveable section in front of the furnace, or the base of the helix (if I can get to the old legs from my previous layout). Even finish the backdrop in that area - I got a wood sealer/primer and plenty of sandpaper for my littler sander. Even some spare tools - like extra drillbits of the size I am using for my pilot holes, in case I break one. Even got a gallon of sky blue color - some Valspar "Carolina Sky" which looked good under lights the same color I plan to use (I took the sample down to the lighting department to make sure). Hard to see here but I clipped the sample to the backdrop:
Looks reasonable to me.
Well if that has held up, with just steel stud horizontals, and frames screwed to the wall studs, but no legs and no braces - I'm not sure why people think what I'm doing is going to sag. Once there's layers of scenery on it, it would even take a LOT of water to mage the plywood soggy - if that ever happens, I have more serious issues than the layout sagging.The test piece I build - most every time I walk past it, I hang off the end - so far nothing has moved.
Just a word on grid for layout. I used steel studs for my gridwork. Used a crimper to hold together and only screws used were to fasten back to wall. Less than a day to cut and assemble. My entire layout has no legs in front nor braces on back. My longest run is 14'. This is topped by 2" to 4" of pink foam. I used steel because my layout room is subject to various temperature and humidity swings. It has stood up wonderfully and resisted movement.
God's Best & Happy Rails to You!
Bing (RIPRR The Route of the Buzzards)
The future: Dead Rail Society
They're also supporting the whole layout. I really wanted to use dimensional lumber cut from 3/4 plywood, but after testing various options, none of them allowed for a nice sturdy attachment with no wobble. The extra 3/4" thickness doesn't negatively impact my track plan, and the extra depth will make it easier to run wires down behind the backdrop - power supplies for the LED strip lights, accessory power, , etc.
I was mostly worried about how tightly I could curve this stuff, but the first corner test seems to indicate no problem. Masonite still has to be primed to prevent bleed through, and I still think drywall mud will adhere better to wood than masonite. In fact that's one option I've seen for hiding plywood grain - skim coat the whole thing then sand. That is probably too much work. If the shellac-based primer can hide oak grain, it can hide this light stuff.
Masonite is less work, just saying.
Any reason you are using 2x4's for the backdrop supports?
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
I plan on primering it with good high-hide primer first. Likely the good shellac-based stuff, then sand it.
Before you get too far along, I would put a couple coats of paint on the backdrop material and see if you like the way it looks. It would be a shame to put in 200 ft of backdrop and then find out you can see the plywood grain in the "sky" and don't like the effect.
carl425The Irwin Quick-Grip clamps placed so the faces of the clamp are on both sides of both the 2x4 on the wall and the block will hold the blocks tight enough so the screws won't spin them.
rrinkeras the screw bites, they want to spin.
The Irwin Quick-Grip clamps placed so the faces of the clamp are on both sides of both the 2x4 on the wall and the block will hold the blocks tight enough so the screws won't spin them.
I have the right to remain silent. By posting here I have given up that right and accept that anything I say can and will be used as evidence to critique me.
I'm more worried about the other end, where it will have to form a convex curve. I don;t think it will bend tight enough, although some water may help. Or I may bave to notch in a different material to make the curve.
THese little blocks are a pain, I can line them all up nicely thanks to my laser level, but as the screw bites, they want to spin. That's WITH pilot holes drilled. Though I guess I don;t really need to try and be so precise with the placement, the roadbed will be supported on rises, and so long as the roadbed is level, or on an eevn grade with no dips and humps, it should be fine. They can't be too willy-nilly, or the backdrop pieces won't fit between the decks. But trying to get them all perfectly aligned on a laser straight line may be more effort than is required.
ANd I will soon be out of 2x4s again. Guess I should buy more than 8 at a time, but it takes long enough to pick through the pile of what is supposed to be the premium quality ones to get 8 at a time. Top Choice? I'm thinking Total and a different C word.
That looks promising Randy.