HCD layout - beginnings - first layout Seems I'm doing more work on the underside of my door than on the train side. Got a bit "derailed" for a month or so with a home renovation project but got back to the door today. Glued and screwed some 1 x stock to the bottom of the door to provide some additional support when I set the "sawhorses". Am building some maple "trestle style" horses to support the door. Just having a bit of trouble getting matched maple boards right now to finish. I x stock has notches routed in them to allow for routing the wiring on the bottom of the door. The 2 pieces bolted to the bottom will support the control panel, as soon as I decide on the final dimensions. That assembly will bolt to the underside of the door and wiring will have some form of plug connectors so that the assembly will be removable for moving, etc.. The last photo shows one of my "sub-assemblies" that will go on the top of the layout this weekend. All shown has been soldered and lined up on this board to simplify the track layout on the foamboard. The rest of the trackage will be almost all flex-track so these "sub-assemblies" should speed up the actual track laying. Will just have about 6 more days to work on it and then off to Orlando for a couple of weeks, then home for about 3 weeks and then back to Orlando for about 6 to 8 weeks. Hope to be running a train by electricity by next week or at least by the 23rd of May. Going a bit slower than I had hoped.
You are making progress so it's all good. I like to do as much track work on the bench as possible also.
Also, wondered when most people put on the perimeter skirt boards. Do you go ahead and sculpt all of the foam scenery to shape and then trace the perimeter shapes onto the skirt board, cut it to that shape and then install it, or do you install it and then cut it to the shape after you have molded the scenery. I was planning to go ahead and sculpt the foam to more or less the final outline and then contour the skirt board to that shape plus about a 1/4" or 3/8" extra for the plaster / sculptamold whatever, that would be added to the final shaping and then install. Just curious as to what others were doing.
You can do it either way. Whichever seems to work best for you. Myself, I like to have the boards first, to help give an outline of where I want to go with carving. Boxcab E50
Got my foam glued to the board tonight and will let it set for a couple of days to cure. Hope to trace my track plan on the foam on Monday or Tuesday and hopefully get all of the track in place by Wednesday night. Kind of dislike cutting, trimming and fitting flex-track joints but it is what it is, time consuming. 90% soldered joints so it will take a bit of time to make them fit pretty tight. Will try to post some more pix when I get started on the track. Planning to leave mid-day Friday or so, so I need to get cranking if I hope to run a train before I leave (won't have the track and roadbed glued down but at least I might be able to make a locomotive go around).
All track is finally adhered to the cork roadbed and I ran my first train on it today. Just temporary power but power to all rails. Video's (SHORT) here (train is going the wrong direction but that's OK for now. I did turn it around to test switches and it does fine): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81TlZq7DtZ0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQkarMvwUEU Now to get to the scenery part and also install feeder wiring and hook up the powered switch wiring and then go back and cut out my lake and make some bridge piers. I have the bridges "removable" so that I can go back, take them out and do the foam carving and build some piers to support them. Made some templates of the footprint of DPM buildings so I can also do some layout for the town. So far I'm happy.
Nice! The white loco is a great one to use in videos because it is easy to see / follow as it moves around. You may want to get a similar caboose or freight cars. Nice plan also. Have fun.
Actually, the white loco is just a "temporary" one. Got it, about a 10 year old Atlas unit that had never been opened, and the caboose, also never opened, for the princely sum of $28. I just wanted a DC loco to run for awhile until I got all of my DCC stuff, so when the guy offered it to me I jumped on it. Plan is a adaptation of the one in the Dec. 2010 (I think it was) of Model Railroader mag. That's an Atlas thru-truss bridge. Makes up to 10" long (N-scale) and takes all of about 10 minutes or so to assemble. It is setup for snap-together but I ended up gluing the top parts to the sides. The bottom did snap together VERY WELL. I used a very short section (about 9/16") of snap track to attach it to the plate girder bridge as the bottom elevations of the bridges are not on the same plane and the tracks in each bridge would not come together without a little bit of straight track between them.
Track work looks really solid. I do not see any shake or shimmy of engine or cars, anywhere. The track plan seems like an evolution of a door layout Kalmbach/MR did way back in the 1970s. I liked it then. I see much more potential now. Boxcab E50
Loco will look good with an Alcoised weathering package. Just brush on some black chalk powder on top and sides of the hood......Mike
Thanks, I appreciate the "hard look" and comment. I laid all of the roadbed first and then block sanded it smooth, put a little putty in the void areas and then laid the track. After soldering the track joints, took a flat needle file and cleaned up the tops and inside of the rails. Quality control of Atlas track and switches for rail dimension is not real good so there were some high spots at rail joints that had to be feathered back to keep them smooth.
