Alan:
You don’t have to be a subscriber to take an active part in this forum. You won’t be cast aside into the darkness when your subscription expires so keep on posting.
Joe
Alan:
You don’t have to be a subscriber to take an active part in this forum. You won’t be cast aside into the darkness when your subscription expires so keep on posting.
Joe
Well that is some jim-dandy news! Very nice of MR to make this service available to non-subscribers. Knowing this, all I can say is disregard my earlier post. Sorry about the waste of electrons.
Carry on.
Finished installing all of the base 2" foam on the layout. http://www.lkorailroad.com/base-foam-landform-complete/
Next up is spline subroadbed to connect Kitzmiller tunnel to the north helix.
Alan,
Your website and graphics abilities are fantastic; what do you do for a living? Your layout design and execution are also fantastic. I can’t wait to see how you follow this up with structures and scenery. I love your Tortise turnout controls; wish I had seen this before I built mine. Keep up the ‘reporting’ end of your journey.
-Bob
Wow your pics look familiar. 1:1 scale XtrackCad printout on ply subroadbed with 2" pink foam on both sides. You may have 10X the layout area but some of our methods are certainly alike.
I bought a pack of carbon paper, slipped it under the printout and quickly transferred the centerline of the track to the ply by tracing with a pen. It was easy and eliminated all questions about where the center of the roadbed and track should be. Of course with your sweeping long curves precision may not be quite the issue that it is for me.
Also I found that the “waste” foam came in very handy when I started building the terrain. Curious- how many sheets did you use?
As always, great work!
“what do you do for a living?”
Thanks for the compliment Bob. I work as Marketing Communications Mgr for a large chemical company. While I would like to take credit for the web site design it is not mine. It is actually a free WordPress theme. Glad you like it. As for all other graphics used on my site, yes I consider myself an accomplished Abobe CS user.
We are even more alike… carbon paper trace is exactly what I will be doing too!
I used 4 - 4x8 sheets total with a little left over. I still have to make 3 triangular corner fill pieces so that will use up the last. Have to build the corner frames first. They are removable for access to the lights in the corners (bulb change, etc.). The arrangement allows me to stand up behind the benchwork in the corners.
Four sheets is not too bad. Lots of carving to come though and I bet you will end up buying more.
Since we are thinking alike I am eager to see how you manage your removeable corner pieces. I have to make two removeable pieces for center access panels and still haven’t decided how to do it so that they will blend seamlessly with the terrain and scenic details. Getting started on this is slowly rising on my priority list.
“blend seamlessly with the terrain and scenic details”
Yeah, that was a tough one. I tried to think it all the way through during the design phase. While I am not yet at the scenery stage I believe I have solutions that will work in my particular instance. They were incorporated into the basic construction. My solutions by location are: 1) fence and gate on the seam; 2) curb on road; 3) structure wall. I know that is not enough information to visualize the final product and it is yet to be seen if it works out properly but at least that’s my plan. The corner angle seams of the benchwork were positioned with these solutions in mind.
10 Mile Tunnel… or so that is what I am calling my hidden track that connects the north staging helix with the upper deck at Kitzmiller. Finished constructing the sub-roadbed this past week. The full story and many more pictures are here: http://www.lkorailroad.com/10-mile-tunnel/ The hanging end you see is where the north helix will connect once I get it built.
In this first picture the track is under scenery. I took the foam out temporarily so you can see the track below. The track is making the final curve before entering the visible layout through a tunnel portal on the opposite side of the backdrop.
In this second picture the hidden track will be inside cardboard web mountains.
Finally in this picture the hidden track is below the benchwork and will be behind a drape. After I get track laid, hardboard short walls will be put in place on each side to prevent possible plunges to concrete.
Ringing in the New Year with cork and pushpins!
Cork and glue have been a big part of my life for a while now. Nearing the end of the roadbed installation. I may actually get to lay some track before winter is over!
[:)] wow great job after looking at your pictures i feal that my benchwork is lacking something
Keep the progress pics coming. I’ve pulled a few structures and track off my layout in preparation for an expansion and new track plan.
Bless those who can work in a totally linear fashion. It just bores me to death. After some roadbed was down,. I’d lay some track. Then extend the roadbed, then more track, etc. After some track was down, I’d wire it up and test run over it. Etc.
–Randy
Randy, there is a method to the madness and a reason why all roadbed has to be completed before laying track. All of the sub-roadbed is modular-like. It can be removed section at a time and taken to the workbench where I will lay track, install switch machines, wire, etc. Track laying won’t actually be done on the layout. If the entire cork roadbed were not in place then there would be great risk of misalignment during track laying.
Alan, nice work and building technique. Like to make a suggestion to those masonite guard rails on the lowered track. The masonite is fine for the backside, however, 1/8" plexi or better yet 1/8" Lexan strips screwed to the subroadbed sides will
Bob, that is a very good suggestion. In fact you jogged my memory. I actually did something very similar on a slot car track many years ago to keep flying cars to a minimum. For the slot car track I went to Kinkos and had them run laminate through the machine with no paper inbetween. The result was a flexible, yet not floppy, very tough clear plastic sheet that I cut into strips. Thanks ever so much for reminding me. It is now the new plan.
Sub-roadbed and cork roadbed all finished! I am ready to lay track. Unfortunately, it came time to say goodbye to my old friend.
See the roadbed results and read the eulogy here: http://www.lkorailroad.com/goodbye-to-a-dear-friend/
I’m impressed with your workmanship!
Dave