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Video: Building Model Railroader’s HO scale Virginian Ry part 4: Benchwork top
On the part of the 4x8 that traverses down; did you leave it connected to the board or cut it free? We left it connected on a friends layout and it was rather tedious to match the gridwork to a 2% grade. Anyway to make it easier? Maybe we should have planned beter and cut the risers for the grade.
A very informative dialogue for cookie cutter style build. Easy to see and understand David. Keep up the good work Model Railroader Magazine.
Another great segment, David. How long did it take to transfer the track plan to the plywood? Looks like a long process.
How often are the videos are going to come out. ie weekly. I love the information gives me the knowledge I need to build one of my own. Great series so far. Great job David!
How wide do you make your cuts? Is it just the width of your cork roadbed?
David love the segment but you for got to acknowlege your helper, your wife. Looking forward to watching the benchwork turn into the great layout that it is now.
I would like to know what hardware was used for the wheels and how they were attached to the framework.
Great job so far!
What thickness of plywood? Can we please get a list of track needed? Walthers has a sale this month and I would like to get all I may need during this sale.
Why code 83 over code 100? Just asking since I have a bunch of PECO code 100 turnouts? Hope to get some answers
Thanks
Joe
Hello all,
Thanks for following the series. I’ve included answers to some of the recent questions here:
• The plans, lumber lists, and all the dimensions are listed in the February issue of MR.
• The only dimension not included in the February MR is the leg height. Since optimal leg height depends upon the height of the user, I’ve left it off. My home layout is 50", which is great for me being 6 feet tall, but not so great for shorter operators. Let’s just say that the height you see here causes some problems. Watch for that in part 5!
• We’ll cover track in coming videos, and a complete listing of the track and turnouts we used appears in the March issue of MR.
• While I cut out the gap in the roadbed for the bridge, in hind sight, I should have cut the plywood for that area as one piece and either built the bridge around it or waited to cut out the bridge after I’d finished putting on the risers. To match the grade, I clamped a board to the two pieces of plywood roadbed on either side of the bridge and then added the risers. While this worked, it wasn’t easy.
• I left a minimum of 1-1/2" on either side of the center lines when cutting the plywood top. More in many places. The minimum gave me room for the cork and still left a half inch on either side of it to attach scenery. A cutting diagram is included in the February issue.
• It took an hour or so to layout the plan on the plywood. Part of the time was used in reconfiguring how the yard would work, as I wasn’t happy with the original plan from the February 2011 issue of MR that’s shown in the video. Use the plan from the Virginian series in the February 2012 MR instead. Draw the grid on your plywood first, it really works well for duplicating the plan.
There should be 19 or 20 videos total in the series, so there are plenty more installments to come. If you combine the videos and the articles in the magazine, you’ll have ne
Is most of the information such as leg height, thickness of plywood, building of frame, covered in detail in the magazine? Youmake it look it easy,but then again this isn’t your first rodeo. thank you for the quite enjoyable videos
In addition to your informative information, I also like your theme music. What is the name of the musician or musicians for the background music?
I learned this same cookie cutter technique at the Tanana Valley Model Railroad Club in Fairbanks, AK. It works real well, especially on a 4 x 8. The video reminded me that I can use the same technique on parts of my new modular layout. Thanks.
Where are your safety glasses? It would be good to remind people that when using power tools they should wear safety glasses (perhaps even goggles) to protect their eyes. I am enjoying this series very much- keep up the good work.
Hey MMR!
I was wondering if I could be able to find out what bridge you used for the “Virginian”. It’s the radius one in the mountains. I am starting my track work and really could use that information.
Thanks again 
HELLO DAVID…nice video… music good… the plywood cutting diagram in the feb issue was too small to be of any use …to build this layout… the material list was bad since it dose not include how many 8 foot pieces of lumber is needed for the whole project…benchwork view …not all lumber is marked with size… not enough time was spent on transfering the track plan to the plywood top in the magazine nor in your video… i hope your future videos will contain more info …same on the articles in MR magazine too…i have spent my whole life building all sizes of RAILROADS in all scales …lets hope that at the end of this project that KALMBACH will print up a book and a DVD for this RAILROAD…i would buy it…
David ,
Thanks for your response’s. However I have been following along and built the benchwork. I have my plywood and ready to draw out the track plan please just list the turnouts needed so I can get my track plan transfered to the plywood before cutting. Please don’t hold us back
Thanks
Joe
How hard would it be to convert this layout to N Scale? Any recommendations besides just cutting the dimensions in half?
Nice job. Good luck with the cookie cutting. Did one of those a few ywars ago with my sons. We had a great time. Now working on a flat layout concentrating on scenery. Will follow up on your progress.
Chuck
The cookie cutter idea has a lot of merit. But, what do you do if you are building or planning a layout of much larger size. The cost of the plywood would get very expensive, wouldn’t it?