It’s time to wire up my son’s layout, and I’m planning to proceed along two tracks at once. I’m going to cut and glue the control cabinet together, and while it’s setting up, run the leads from the track and turnouts from the track end towards where the cabinet will be.
I have some nice oak one-by four scraps, and a 26" by 26" piece of quarter inch A/C plywood, also veneered with oak.
The plan is to construct a box from the 1x4 that is about 26 inches wide and 13 inches front to back. That will allow me to get both the top and bottom from the single piece of plywood. About 6 inches from the right and left end of the frame, I’ll add two more 1 x 4s, on edge, front to back, which, when covered in fixed plywood, will create two “wings” for a pair of transformers. All of the wiring then will sit in the middle “bay”, and on top, all of the turnout and block control switches will sit in the middle area, about 14 inches wide and 13 inches front to back. The plywood lid of the center section will be hinged on the layout side, allowing easy access to the inside of the wiring/control cabinet.
There are 9 turnouts, and 6 DPDT block control switches, and there is room for everything, but I need a nice way to portray the layout so the kids will know what switch controls which block or turnout. Because I plan to fini***he plywood surface with a light oak stain and satin finish poly, I can’t mask the layout “etching” diagram in the usual two color method, so I’m leaning towards some sort of finished tape or pinstripe solution.
In a perfect world, I could drive one mile to the nearest no stoplight “town”, and find a roll of quarter inch wide “brass” tape that’s easy to cut with scissors, yielding smooth and professional looking edges and ends, has a perfectly mirrored finish, and won’t be affected by the polyurethane finish.
I have yet to find this perfect world though, so something’s going to have to give.
The nearest arts and crafts store is about
