I too was faced with what to do with my ceiling. I’ve got 7 feet from floor to joists above. I was really hesitant about dropping the height by putting in a drop ceiling. Then I went to Home Depot and found these drop ceiling panels. They aren’t made of the usual hard cardboard/cellulose material. Instead they were made like a 1/2 inch piece of fiberglass insulation with a white vinyl sheet glued to one side. The beauty of this is that because these things are completely flexible, you don’t need to drop your ceiling very much. They flex and bend as much as you need to get them in. My ceiling is 3.5 inches below the joists. So I still have 96% of the height of my basement.
I too, have duct work that drops down quite a bit below the joists. What I did there was to built a short wall on each side of the duct work from 2 x 2 lumber and 1/2 inch drywall. I hung this wall from the ceiling joists and put the suspended ceiling in between the two walls.
So I virtually have the full height of my basement throughout most of the basement, and around the duct work the ceiling is 9 inches lower. I get a ceiling that hardly inconveniences me and I can still slide out a ceiling panel to deal with plumbing, electrical, or air conditioning issues (like I had to when my air conditioner gave up the ghost).
This series looks like it will be both fun and informative. Chuck has a really nice layout to start with. I have a layout that I expande about a year ago, so I am going through the throes of “rehab” on the older area and trying to get some scenery and finish on the newer area. That’s why I will be watching these videos closely. The “Virginian” and “Thin Branch” series inspired me to contruct the expansion, now Chuck’s rehab project might give me some techniques to bring everything together.
I can sympathize with Chuck’s low ceiling situation. One suggestion would be to paint the ducts etc into a dark color, like retail stores do when they leave the ceiling open for flexibility and mainenance.
Follow on to prior comment.
How about flooring and lighting suggestions? I know even lighting can be a hard task to get rid of shadows. Flooring, especially in basements, is an issue dealing with levelness and moisture issues. Duckunders? Another good topic.
Staging yards? My idea about Ports of Entry or tunnels.
Great first video, i really like the mug, and i think Drew is a great host, could Chuck comment on the size of bus wire he used and the size of feeders and how often he spaced his feeders, thanks.
Tim from The old Kettle Valley Railroad area in British Columbia
For Tim Burrows: The bus wire is 14 AWG wire running along the entire length of the layout. The feeder wires are 18 AWG and are spaced every three feet on the mainline, or on each section of 36 inch flextrack. All of the classification yard tracks are also wired… The layout is divided into three power districts with two 5 amp power boosters. Even on the steepest grade, I have never had a problem with a loss of power. Hope this helps you out.
This is great guys. Normally we see a layout being made from scratch, but see how to fix up those little areas we at no so happy with is great. Looking forward to episode two.
Is Chuck able to put up a ceiling against the floor joists and leave the ducting exposed? He could use thin plywood or MDF if painted in a lighter colour it wouldn’t feel so enclosed.
Anyways Chuck you have a great looking layout, I can’t believe you only started it 5 years ago.
Keep up the good work.
For powering the servos for the crossing gates…will you be using power from the track bus or does Chuck have a separate bus for accessories – or – will the power come from a power pack included in the kit? It would be good to discuss the most common ways trackside accessories can be powered. Great show; looking forward to the next episode!
Awesome series. I like the fact that the cameras are getting more than just what is being worked on as I have planned to locate a station platform near the edge of my layout very similar to one Chuck has near where the grade crossing is being installed and I wasn’t sure how it would look but it does look alright. Keep up the excellent work. MRVP has almost become a Tv channel for me.
For Michael Maurer: To answer your question about the power supply, the instructions state: A power supply of 9V to 12V AC or DC is required. It may be a simple wall wart battery replacement, a simple transformer, or an old train set controller. The power needed by the system is about 3/4 amp(750 ma). For this project we used an old Radio Shack 12 V Class 2 DC Transformer that only powers the gates. The NJ International set does not provide a power source with the gate and servo kit. Hope this helps.
this is a great idea I’ll be supporting this video’s session every month or whenever it comes out so glad that someone thought of that idea and hope that you do elderly gentleman layout that can no longer get underneath the layout that’s a great idea to travel along the countryside to help gentleman that’s been in the hobby many years
Excellent name for the show and I have to say it is real team work and chuck has a fabulous layout looking forward to part 2 getting loads of tips from Rehab my Railroad and for the ducting you could paint it as a light blue sky and would blend in with the layout .keep up the excellent work .I have 6 level crossing ,s to put in my HO layout .
I have a similar situation with my air ducts in my basement. What I did was paint the air ducts and then had the drop ceiling but against the air ducts. Not perfect, but sure helps with the dust and appearance.
Can’t wait for the next episode.