I’m starting a new n scale layout on a 36" hollow core door and wanted to know a little more about the interior of the door itself. I know most of the inside is a corrugated cardboard or such, but what is the size of the wooden frame that goes around the inside, and does it typically have wooden cross members every so often or at the center? I’m trying to anticipate a question later on if there are other points of support besides the outer frame.
Most of the time it is about a 2x2 around the edges with cardboard in the center and no crosspieces. You can remove a door knob of an interior door and measure the thickness.
Dave H.
[#ditto] The center portion of the door is two sheets of veneer separated by corrugated cardboard, either in a grid or a spiral. The cheaper ones use really thin veneer, which is why they feel so flimsy. That, and the fact that the glued-up veneer has the approximate consistency of armor plate and doesn’t take screws well, are the main drawbacks of hollow core doors.
OTOH, if you are going the all glue (or caulk) route, a hollow core door is one quick and dirty way to get a table that has a smooth surface, true square corners and DOESN’T weigh a ton. Many people have used them successfully for simple starter layouts, or as the basis for modeling relatively flat countryside. And they are a Godsend for those among us who are technologically challenged by woodworking tools.
However, if the object is to model Appalachia, the Canadian Rockies, the Himalayas or (in my case) the Central Japan Alps, that perfectly flat surface is way less than ideal as a starting point. That’s when most people fall back on L girder construction.
Just my [2c]. Feel free to disagree.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - on steel stud L-girder benchwork)
A hollow core door is nothing more than a collection of thin wood strips and a whole bunch of cardboard. Take it from a fire fighter that’s busted through a bunch of them. Most of the time, the frame is made of 1 x 1’s or 1 x 2’s with the space in the middle taken up by folded cardboard strips or solid cardboard blocks (I hate those things). On a very few occasions I’ve come across hollow doors filled with expanded foam. I hope these are extremely rare, in that the foam gives off extremely toxic gases in a fire and can be a worse fire hazard than the cardboard filled door.
Not that I’m that far along, but I haven’t found any problems yet with using a door as a layout. We all design and build within the constraints of time, space and money that we have at the time. My previous layouts were built strong enough to drive my truck onto, but suffered greatly when it came time to move.
Dave mentioned a door knob which triggered a thought that there has to be a little additional wood support inside the door where the door knob goes. Doors in my house indicate that the knob is 36" from the bottom. I drilled a couple of pilot holes 36" from each end, on both sides, and struck a core of wood. Didn’t think about that before, but it may come in handy later.
Back a year ago, I related here that I was intending to use a hollow door for my yard surface on the layout. Someone suggested I find another material because he felt that the hollow door would be very noisy. I took his advice,…so I cannot say he was right.
I don’t have trains running yet so I cannot comment on a potential noise problem, but since I have a level of foam on top of the door and am using cork roadbed, I don’t expect a problem.
Yep they have gotten really cheap. I had to take an inch off the bottom of one and it left me looking into the door. I had to glue a 1x2 into the bottom.
Enjoy
Paul
You might consider using some 1x2 lumber to frame a block of 2-inch foam. It would be lighter and probably stronger, too. Veneer can be a problem, and the foam definitely won’t expand and contract with humidity like the wood door will.
I’ve built a 20x40 foot HO scale layout and my home HO layout on hollow core doors and have no noise problems at all because I cover them with 1 inch of sound board.
Hi Chartiers
I think in “N” it must be OK I have recollections of MR doing a layout called the EZ and Kwick .on a door.
But unable to help on whats inside the door.
regards John
Thanks for all those that responded to the question. What’s inside the door seems like a mute point now since I finished the wiring today and mounted a small control panel on guide rails so it can slide under the layout when it’s not being used.
Noise is not a problem. Not worried about expansion/contraction and combustibility of the door as my house is full of them.
I think if you plan on adding folding legs or other firm supports under the door, they pretty much have to attach, via support lumber, to the thin frame of wood that runs along the inside edge of the door. The 36" location where the knob usually goes seems like an additional support place if needed.
I think SOP is to attach a 1X4 across the door at two points and screw the folding leg frames onto those.