Big jim’s Garage conversion and layout thread

[Revolution Mike B]

Looking good Jim 

[big jim]

not much to report over the last few weeks, today however i got the remaining flooring and im off thursday so if i get a chance i'll try and get that done, ive gone for the same wood throughout, i was going to put a threshold bar in and go for a darker wood in the main room but decided against it in the end and decided on a continuous run of the same stuff

 

got some architrave that i'll see if i can use as skirting, however if it doesnt look right once in position ill use it around the door instead

 

got some angled LED mounting track on the way for the very top of the wall that im going to mount the wifi/smartphone controlled multi couloured led strip lighting into, that will point down at 45 degree over the layout area all round once i get round to that bit

 

electrician coming thursday to sign his bit of the job off and then council to sign the whole lot off

 

also priced up kitchen units from wickes to fit along 2 walls of the main room, they come out at just under £450 for floor units, ive not looked at wall units as im hoping to have display cabinets along the long wall and the rear one needs space for the projector screen to fit (which is also on its way), i may put one or two up in the utility area though

[KeithHC]

Jim Screwfix do kitchen cabinets on line. They come assembled and delivered direct to you. Might be worth a look. Just put two top cupboards from the same source up in our kitchen.

 

Keith

 

Ps not connected to Screwfix just a happy customer.

[teaky]

Screwfix are part of the same group as B&Q, so the cabinets may be the same or similar.

[big jim]

Funnily enough I looked last night and the 1000mm wide base unit is a lot more expensive than the Wickes one, £150 compared to £57 (including doors, hinges, handles) 

 

 

[big jim]

Productive morning in the garage this morning, electrical has been and signed his work off as well as doing a few other bits and bobs that were forgotten when he was round last time 

 

and I spent a few hours doing the floor

 

[big jim]

After all that worknit was only fair I had a play

 

fitted the projector bracket to the rear wall 

 

nicked the eldest PS4, hooked it up and had a play of gran tourismo4 

 

i can see this room being taken over though!

 

the plan is to fit a wall cabinet on the internal wall next to the projector to house various consoles with a HDMI switching box to change between them, audio wise I’m going to run a jack lead from the projector audio output splitting to a phono lead, which will into my technics stereo and the other will run into the gaming chairs which have built in speakers

 

Now clutter like bikes has moved to the shed and the room is actually ‘a room’ it’s feeling like something special, so close to being finished and ready to be filled with trains!

 

 

 

[big jim]

and finally for tonight, ive just ordered the kitchen units from wickes, so glad i held off from doing it earlier in the week as they are offering an extra 15% off until monday which took £70 off what was sat in my on line trolley, because of the saving i also ordered units for the utility room and extra wall units for either side of the projector screen, all told i got over £100 off and as i used topcashback website to link to wickes i will get a further £12 back through them too

 

busy week in work next week though so not having them delivered until the week after when i can hopefully get them fitted (and arrange for the council to do the final sign off)

[big jim]

Sat in all morning waiting for wickes only for them to decide they would be delivering at 16:00 despite me paying extra for a 8-1 delivery, that on top of them attempting delivery Saturday while I was in work really narked me off! 

 

Anyway whilenj was waiting I fitted up the led lights 

 

 

they change colour using the phone on WiFi 

 

 

they can also pulse to music via the phone mic, ideal for a bit of a rave up! 

 

Wickes defiantly delivering tomorrow morning now so hopefully I can crack on with building a few units before work 

[big jim]

Big job broke out!

 

 

kitchen cabinets all ready to open and build, was hoping to get them started this morning with my dad but wickes delivery that should have happened yesterday morning before 12 finally turned up today at 13:00 so a whole morning lost 

 

but we got plenty done in the shed 

[KDG]

Jim, that's a good looking train room. Well done, great job.

[big jim]

Council have been and signed the job off (just a couple of cosmetic jobs to tidy up), I will get my certificate next week

 

my dad came round today and built the cabinets, I can’t take any credit as all I did was go out and buy the chippy dinner as whenever I was in the garage he put something together wrong or I dropped the screws on the floor so he told me to go and have a sleep as I’d been working all night!

 

 

 

We were going to put a 500 wide cabinet in the corner but it lined up with the plug sockets so we have decided to leave the space empty, maybe put a shelf in there but it’s a handy cubby hole (maybe for one of the gaming chairs to be stored in)

 

On top of those cabinets I’m going to fix plywood and lay the fiddle yards, the layout will then be somewhere around 10-12 inch above that i recon

 

i had to pop to jewson to get some panel pins (closest builders merchants) I don’t normally like going there as they aren’t the cheapest around but I managed to pick up a nice little bargain from the reduced section

 

A solid oak internal door for £20 +vat, also in the bargain bin I got the hinges, multi point lock and handles etc, the whole lot coming to £39 inc vat!

 

 

Just arranged for a joiner to come round Sunday to fit it for me, busy every day next week though so will probably be slow progress for a week after this weeks big push 

[big jim]

Door fitted today by a joiner, just need to add a door jam to the top myself as I’ve lost it in the build!

 

 

got a nice heavy duty mortice lock in it too for a bit of extra security 

 

 

now it’s extra secure in there put my stock onto the cupboard shelves out the way of being knocked around the floor

 

[big jim]

Enjoyable 1/2 hour sorting out my stock, while I did it I put an old BRM mag DVD in the Xbox and watched that too! 

 

Simon paley’s ‘Norwood road’ on the screen

 

shockingly I’ve just discovered I’ve got 20 class 66’s (of which 12 are GBRf!) amongst other items, no major surprises other than an arriva 153 I didn’t know I had! 

 

Edit: whoops, found another 66 a thumper unit and 3 silver bullets under the bed and I’ve just remembered I’ve got a 37 and 7 more silver bullets in the boot of the car! 

Edited March 17, 2019 by big jim
Just remembered I’m like mr trebus!

[big jim]

Another big push today with my dad, doors on the cabinets and wall units built and the 2 biggest ones put in place, still 2 x 300 wide ones to put up, one in the layout room and the other in the utility bit

 

Wall unit, same type is on the opposite wall in the utility room 

 

And of course no ‘man cave’ would be complete without a nice leather recliner when watching films or trains go by!

 

The real final push is going to be fitting the cabinet plinths and wood laminate beading around the edge of the room, worktop in the utility area, finish the internal door architrave, then it’s plywood to the cabinet tops for the fiddle yards and make a start on the layout! 

 

Oh and wire up the surround sound speakers that I’ve already attached to the walls 

 

[ess1uk]

Looks great Jim

[big jim]

Did a bit more yesterday afternoon

 

worktop in the utility room

 

Properly wired up the surround sound speakers

 

and got the ply for the storage yard area, just placed on the top of the cabinets for now as I have some battening to go under it to raise it slightly over the doors

 

2 more cabinets to fit to the walls and one more floor unit to secure 

 

Hopefully we may be able to get a bit more done Friday if my booked job is changed 

 

and what man cave wouldnt be complete without a pinball machine!

[big jim]

Busy day Friday, plinths in place and fixed the ply down to Battons on top of the cabinets for the storage/fiddle yards to sit on 

 

and the final couple of cupboards up above the freezer, might look at some shelves in between them 

 

 

other than that it’s practically ready to start thinking about the remaining boards and incline up to the main layout 

[ess1uk]

That’s coming on really nicely Jim.

looking forward to seeing how the layout progresses next 

[big jim]

ive been having a think about the layout and the hidden storage area

 

originally i planned to have loads of sidings hidden on the ply below the layout on top of all the cabinets  but now im thinking of just having them along one side/wall under a high level bit and have the other sidings "out in the open" but still on the lower level, effectively making the layout multi level again on a scenic scale but on the same hand i want to avoid merely making a larger version of the old shed layout!

 

 

[Brinkly]

Very useful documentation of your man cave conversion Jim! This is what, in an ideal world, I'd like to have one day.

 

Best wishes,

 

Nick

[big jim]

Had a play about with some track earlier, first up had a look at the hidden sidings, I was going to put them across both both boards but it looks like I may well just put them along one wall

 

2 fans of 3 sidings

 

And with 5 log wagons parked up 

 

those sidings will be below a high level board, just use them to stage full trains instead of having to put them away into boxes when I fancy a change of stock as I had to do in the shed, if I can make them longer I will, my longest freight train is 10 megaboxes which I’ve not measured up yet 

 

The line at the front of the board is going to be a single line ‘heritage line’ that I was planning on having as an end to end set up but I can get it as a full circuit 

 

connecting line from the storage sidings/heritage line to the high level area which will only be 2’ higher at the inner end as opposed to 3 1/2’ above the hidden sidings

 

 

im hoping to put a hinged board across the door then once past that the mainline will hopefully rise from 2’ back to 3 1/2 high then across a 1m or so long viaduct past the window, and rejoin the higher level board the heritage line will pass under the mainline to take the outer track then pass back under the mainline viaduct to regain the inner track 

 

im then hoping to put a small part of a Hilly town on the left hand side of the High level board before the line heads into the open countryside across the back wall (the only reason being I can’t put anything high etc on the back wall is its also the projector screen area!

 

im going to do the heritage line using peco bullhead track and points, the bit in front of the connecting line is most going to be a small shed and carriage sidings 

 

The next thing I need to do is extent the baseboard towards the door on both sides  then have a look at the high level board 

 

 

[big jim]

Forgot to take pics yesterday (well more to the point small child took my phone to play games!) but I’ve extended the baseboards round the rest of the room 

 

Only pic I managed 

 

the left hand side is a gap for a riverbed, I’m going to add another board lower down between that board and the one I’ve fitted in the corner, I will then put a viaduct across the river to the high level line embankment my inspiration being ‘the worlds end’ 

 

ill get some some more pics later when I get home from work but basically I have a complete circuit of boards around the room now 

[big jim]

Grabbed a few pics of the other bits I did yesterday 

 

Corner piece

 

This is the riverbed I mentioned in the previous post, a board will go in the gap on the underside of the cross member battens 

 

Back wall shelf with the thumper on the ‘heritage line’

 

The doorway bit is going to be removable, no fancy hinged sections etc, the wooden blocks are where the higher line will enter the removable bit and cross from left to right, the heritage line will sweep under the high level bit to end up behind the embankment (it will cross the river behind the high level viaduct and cross back to the outside once back on the baseboard)

 

 

that’s it for now, need to finish the removable section so it’s nice and secure then think about the back wall section,’I was going to have minimal trackwork but I’m now thinking I need something visual and operational on that side such as a ballast yard, quarry, etc? X

Edited May 14, 2019 by big jim

[chris p bacon]

8 minutes ago, big jim said:

X

 

Signing off with a kiss......something you need to tell us ?