The November 2012 Model Railroader had an article on page 52 about building a “Layout Gate” to do away with a duck- under. I wish to do the same but can any fellow modeler advise me on what the angle of the cut in the deck should be. A local friend has suggested 45deg. but that seems seems excessive. This information was not in the article.
I think it depends on the depth of the board and where the hinge point is. You have to remember that the corners of the board are going to describe a circle around the hinge. You may need to draw the gate to scale and use a compass to draw circles for the corners to figure out how much clearance you need. You could also do it in the computer using a program like Inkscape or a CAD program.
ETA: Here’s a pic that should explain it. The red dotted line shows the angle of the cut needed to allow clearance. The greater the depth of the board, the greater the angle needed.
Steve S
If you have a sabre saw or a keyhole saw, you could just cut the curve in blue instead of the angle in red. This way you would gain extra space on the fixed layout (more trees, buildings, etc.), and also you wouldn’t have those sharp corners that you could accidentally run into.
Here is how i did it. The thread mentions of a much more comprhensive article on this type of gate…
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/11/p/127351/1685866.aspx
Guy
Thanks guys. I will go with what Steven S and Susquhanna and Southern have proposed. Cutting the board following the curving line should work out the best. Thanks again.