Making grades

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I know about the woodland scenics stuff but how could I make my own?

2

But of course, My Dear Watson! First, tell us about the table top. Foam, plywood, foam over plywood, homasote?

Also, what do you find most appealing at the moment?

Some use risers by AMI and WS, some make their own by building them out of masonite (make successively higher towers and then cut out a ribbon of masonite to lay over top to form the grade, curved or straight). If foam, make a long wedge out of several layers, or actually cut the same way as for the masonite and glue it all together.

In my topography, I formed them by carving out the grades into the foam layers, and then making them even (not wavy…bad for locos trying to get up them). I used long strokes along the grade with a wire brush.

3

There is always the old-fashioned tried and true solutions. I still prefer these and use one or the other depending on the situation.

  1. Cookie cutter method: If you use plywood for the sub base, use a jig saw and cut the plywood where the incline will be. Fasten risers (I use wood strips that make a tee) to the table supports under the plywood. I use a 2’ level to guage the percentage of the rise. A 1/2" strip of wood taped to the end of the level will give about a 2% rise. 1/4" would give you a 1% rise.

  2. Spine Latticework. This can be made in a variety of ways and is very strong and sturdy. I have ripped 1" x 4" pine boards (which are actually about 3/4" thick) into thin strips. Form them into the curves the track will take, glue and clamp them in place again using the same techniques as above. You can also use some 1" plastic molding for spline latticework. I saw a demo at division meet last fall but can’t locate the directions right now. Looked good and was very easy to work with. I may try it on the new sections of my RR.

4

I have a plywood table top and want something like the woodland scenics idea but that I can make

5

Heya cheese,
My way has always been to cut a required length of plywood for the roadbed, shave down thw proper angle at each end, then set the ends to proper height. After the roadbed has been placed and double checked, cut supports from scrapwood and slip under, moving them to where they will best fit. The edges are then disguised with plaster soaked paper towels and scenicked as desired. Turns are a bit trickier but the same principle applies.

dwRavenstar

6

If you want to make your own foam inclines (like the WS kind), get some extruded foam (at least 2 inches thick). The “thickness” will become the subroadbed along which you’ll lay your track.

  1. Cut a piece 48 inches long and 1 inch wide;

  2. take a long straight edge and draw a line from the upper corner of one end to the lower corner of the opposite end;

  3. cut along the line carefully;

  4. result: two inclines — each 48 inches long and 2 inches wide, giving a rise of 1 inch (or about a 2.08% grade).

These won’t be as flexible as the WS ones; but should work for long, straight inclines. The biggest challenge is to not break off the very thin part of the “wedge”, the bottom of the incline. If you have an 8 foot long sheet of foam, you could theoretically get 192 such inclines.

7

Timothy-thats what i am looking for I am going to need to make it a little wider than 1 inch though. I think i can figure out something for the curves

8

Adam,

What I had described above will give you a 2 inch wide place to lay your tracks which should be wide enough for HO or N scale.

If you want wider, use 1" thick foam and cut it in strips of whatever width you want. Just cut along the 1" side to get your incline/grade (a 1" rise in 48" gives you slightly more than a 2% grade).

For curves, if you cut notches about 1/2 way through along the inside of the curve, it should bend to form curves.

I have not tried any of this, so you do so at your peril. If it works, I’ll gladly take the credit. [;)] If it fails, well, you know who to blame… you! [swg]

On a now-defunct table-top layout, I used left-over WS inclines and cut them down to make shorter ones (I had a series of 1/2" high hills to climb). Of course, the WS inclines sets come with only one piece that high. So, instead of buying 4 or 5 more sets, I just cut down the left-over ones to the heights I needed, using my electric carving knife.

I also tool one incline and split it along its length to go under 2 tracks that curved away from each other part way down a hill. (I’m in N-scale so I could set 2 tracks on one incline). I used masking tape to hold the pieces together and to told the curve’s shape.