I just received the Woodland Scenics 2" risers and 2% incline starter. I am completely confused about how to use the incline starter. It includes 8 pcs 2 foot long and 1/2" thick at it’s highest point. How do I form an incline up to the 2" riser, if I stack 4 of the incline pcs. on top of one another it seems pretty steep for engine to climb. What am I doing wrong? I have seen WS videos but they only briefly touch on the installation of the inclines and don’t really explain it. The instructions that came with the inclines is basically useless. HELP!!!
Woodman:
You will need to get some 1/2" risers to form your grade. Start with one incline starter at the point where your grade begins, and then lay down a piece of 1/2" riser at the high end of the incline starter. You can then lay the second incline starter on top of the 1/2" riser starting where the first incline starter meets the riser. You will have to do this a total of 4 times to reach the height of the 2" riser. There is a diagram on the Woodland Scenics site showing how to build the pieces up. On the page below, click on ‘Instructions’. Go to page 2 of the instruction sheets and look at the second box down. (Edit - be patient - it seems to take a while for the instruction page to load).
http://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/Item/ST1412/page/2
Keep in mind that you will need 8’ of track to reach the 2" height at a 2% grade.
Hope this makes some sense.
Dave
There are two different products.
The “Incline Starters” are designed to transition from level track into a grade of the indicated percentage, which you will construct with some other material, or to be used on top of progressive sets of risers. So your 1st set would go up to a 1/2" riser. The next set would go from this 1/2" riser to a 1" riser, and so on. This is item #ST1412 and retails for $6.99 a set.
The “Incline Sets” are designed to create a 4" rise (approximately) in a run of given length (16’ if you’re using 2%), although you can use half the set if you want only a 2" rise, without the use of additional risers. This is item #ST1410, and retails for $19.99 a set.
The instructions on the WS website seem pretty clear to me, but that’s probably because I know what to expect from the product. Perhaps a more careful reading with an eye to what you really have in your hand would help clarify things. If you still find things murky, WS sells a “Subterrain Manual” for $8.99 which is very clear and very thorough.
Note that while the Subterrain system is a good way of making layouts and scenery, especially if you’re a beginner, there are other methods which work just as well, and are usually less expensive.
I wanted to add a 2% incline on my layout, and looked at the Woodland Scenics inclines.
I wanted dual tracks, so at least 4 sets of inclines and risers were going to be needed to do what I wanted.
Cost would be just over one hundred dollars.
Instead, I bought a sheet of white foam, 3/4 inch thick, by 4 feet by 8 feet.
I started at one end and carefully tracced out a 2% incline with almost “zero” at one end, and 4 inches at the other.
I then carefully cut them out. I made 2 for each incline, or a total of 4.
I then set them in place on my layout with “T” pins ( my base is 2 inch foam)
Then I bought cans of spray foam insulation ( the kind that hardens when it dries, and sprayed inside
the white foam sidewalls.
After the foam dried ( it rises above the sidewalls) I trimmed it off flush with the sidewalls with a hacksaw blade, sanded it down level using a file and a sanding block.
Next I spray painted it,( Earthen brown) then laid down my roadbed, ( I used cork on the inclines).
Then I spray painted the cork with a light gray spray paint. After drying I put down my track. using a very thin layer of gray latex caulk.
Total cost for building the inclines was about $45.( less paint , track, and cork).
If i had done it with Woodland Scenics, it would have run almost $120.
I did it for $75 less and the spray foam glued everything in place as it dried.
The cans of spray foam insulation were the large ones Menards sales( I bought them on sale).
You can use them for other scenery uses also.
One other slight advantage, was no gaps to fill in as would have been the case with the Woodland Scenics incline sets and risers.
TheK4Kid