A micro military layout in the 50s

[Guest Jack Benson]

On 17/02/2021 at 21:24, ianb3174 said:

I built a small baseboard from foamboard. It was 297x840mm (two A3 sheets). The frame was assembled from 60mm deep strips of foamboard and glued with regular pva. I used some triangular fillets in the corners to helped keep it square. 

It was very successful, and very light. It was a bit to small when my plans changed,  to be superceded by 50mm Celotex with plywood edging. Much more robust and not very much heavier. 

I make use of foamboard as a base for all my handbuilt track, and for a lot of other scenic elements. 

Sorry to wait so long,

 

May I ask about track laying, normally flexi track involves pinning down the track and then pva/ballast to hold the track in place, what do you recommend?
 

Did you add any reinforcement at the baseboard edges for securing the vulnerable track joints?
 

Finally, did you add any reinforcement underneath the turnouts for motors?

 

Thanks for your guidance, I will take your advice and add some slabs of insulation foam for added stiffness without too much weight penalty.

 

StaySafe

 

 

 

[ianb3174]

The foamboard idea was primarily for a micro layout with handbuilt track and wire in tube point operation, so all the mechanics were on the surface of the board. Mounting a point motor shouldn't be an issue but you'd have to glue a piece of ply to the underside to support it then drill through. That would help fixing it to the underside. It might need deeper section sides and bracing than the 60mm I used. I always handbuild my track onto Templot printouts glued to a separate piece of foamboard. Sleepers glued and ballasted then rails added, TOU added then I glue onto the baseboard itself. I don't use any pins or flexi. 

In terms of track at the edges, there was only one exit road onto a fiddle board. This was done in the same way, reinforced with ply. 9mm as I recall, on both sides with washers and wingbolts to secure. The whole thing was still very rigid but probably wouldn't stand up to much moving. It felt twice as heavy with a loco on it. 

The Celotex efforts were much more robust. That can be cut through for point motors etc and bigger panels (450x1200) don't sag when edged with ply. 

It depends on how you're going to store and use the layout really. Those laser cut ply ones are very robust and I'd probably use one on my next layout. I only have room for a cameo atm, on an IKEA shelf 1200x300. 

[SteveyDee68]

Just to say that I built a small (2'9" long) baseboard out of Hobbycraft 5mm foamboard. It was very quick to put together (possibly too quick) using Gorilla pva glue (other brands are available). I punctured surfaces to be glued to allow the glue to bond through to the inner foam core (in the hope that this would also lessen any tendency to warp) and put plenty of cross bracing underneath.

 

I think my error was in getting carried away and fixing backscene and side panels onto the baseboard instead of letting it properly dry under heavy weights first - I think the backboards pulked the end in (and up) slightly, resulting in a slight banana shape to the baseboard.

 

I've managed a solution by gluing and screwing a stripwood plinth around the base, heavily weighting it to ensure the baseboard is flat. The board is strong and still light enough at this stage to pick up from the end with one hand.

 

Good luck with your build. I think that bracing, patience and plenty of weight applied whilst gluing are the secrets to building out of foam board.

 

Pictures show my own board to date...

 

[Guest Jack Benson]

Update

 

The baseboards are on their way, one of the group has made them in plywood…..oh well.
 

Not to worry, the foamboard will be used in place of cork for a track bed (very quiet) and it makes a very light method of subtlety varying the ground without all the bothersome beads of polystyrene associated with white insulation board.

 

Another use for the foamboard will be the backscene support, we have a continuous photo collage and it will be held in place by micro magnets strategically placed with strips of old tin can stuck to the back of the foamboard.

 

StaySafe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

[Thunderforge]

I’ve used a chunk of wall insulation board for my O gauge layout, it’s the four inch thick stuff with silver on each side! I gorilla glued a hardboard back and sides to brace it. It’s surprisingly sturdy!

[Guest Jack Benson]

 Finally, the baseboards for the layout are finished, unfortunately, due to a change of automobile, only one board was collected.

 

I am using two RUB 77ltr Christmas Tree which has an internal dimension of 1135 long x 232 wide x 340 deep, rather than using the SMS baseboard kit which uses the 232mm as the width, instead my board will slide in sideways in order to take full advantage of the 340mm. 

 

 

 

 

The baseboard is a very snug fit in the container.

 

As soon as possible, the track plan will be agreed. This is an AnyRail rendition and shows exactly what is possible using Peco turnouts. 

 

Not absolutely sure where this is going, there has been a serious investment in both time and money that needs to be completed.

 

This is a link to our blog for this project, it contains more info plus the germ of an idea.  Our micro layout blog

 

StaySafe

 

Edited October 18, 2021 by Jack Benson
Added link

[Guest Jack Benson]

A bit of a rethink away from an inglenook design to something that uses more of the available space, rather vital when using such narrow boards.

It needs adjustment, the loop is too long and the hidden siding (upper left) should be long enough for a Peco loco lift. However it has potential for movement and this is vital on a layout intended for exhibitions.
No idea of a theme, tying to avoid the more obvious cliches, maybe military depot sidings in the ‘50s, this link to an army camp in Dorset might be of interest with just a Ruston and a couple of wagons moving about?

 

 

StaySafe

Edited October 21, 2021 by Jack Benson

[Ruston 48DS]

You just can't beat having a little ruston running around a micro layout. 

[Guest Jack Benson]

Army Camp

 

The ‘50s military theme seems to less plagiarised than yet another Purbeck ng feeder, moreover there are a few memories that need to be exorcised.

RAF Longparish Camp unloading area

 

Looking at Thursday's trackplan above, the large(ish) open area in the centre will be a concrete hardstanding accessible from a road on the rhs, this was a fairly common practice at military depots in WW2, similar to the example (above and below) at RAF Longparish that was used by both the US Army and RAF. The odd lines are expansion joints that have become overgrown due to neglect.
 

 

Other features will be a quonset or nissen hut, these are still extant having spent a summer deployment in one, a winter would have been less enjoyable. Essential features are a fire point, security lights, a weapons discharge bench and, of course, numerous large white painted stones, lots of white painted stone.

 

 

StaySafe

Edited October 27, 2021 by Jack Benson
Image added

[Guest Jack Benson]

Research results in rabbit holes - this thread started with baseboards for a clay pit and has morphed by default into a railhead at a small army camp. This needed research and is soon ran into a brick wall however I remembered my few slim booklets by Peter Harding of which the Longparish Branch, was rather interesting.
 

 
 

In the early ‘40s the branch was considered a potential asset as Harewood Forest was adjacent to Longparish station. The forest provided both ample space and cover to conceal ordnance for the RAF, the transformation and installation of a gantry crane was completed in haste. Features of Longparish could be utilised on the layout, the loading area needs some to catch the attention, the loading gantry at Longparish seems interesting.

 

T9 30730 Longparish

 

 

 

 

The gantry shares more than a passing resemblance to a Faller kit and only slight modification is needed. There would be no need or space for storage, as all ordnance was quickly dispersed under cover in the forest. A neat early forklift from the ‘50s is one of our few details. 

More to follow
 

StaySafe

 

Edited October 27, 2021 by Jack Benson
Formatting failure

[Guest Jack Benson]

The project hit the rocks when my carer suggested that I reduce the size of layout so that it can be stored away when not in use. It seems two boxes is too much but I can have one……
 

So, back to square one - it is essential to  reduce the size of the loop and place a fiddleyard outside the baseboard on a cantilever storage stick (I have no idea) but I do have a new Peco LocoLift that is just big enough for a 48Ds and two 10t vans. The revised trackplan uses a combo of code 75 Peco small radius turnouts, these were used to make as much use of the available space as possible. 

 

Does anyone know what a cantilever storage stick is, a photo would be useful? Thanks.

 

StaySafe

Edited November 14, 2021 by Jack Benson
Revised trackplan

[sleepyrider]

Not a cantilever,  but the late Jack Trollope's "Fiddlestick Switch Job" used a plug in support for a stretched loco lift - picture 4 shows the end, then there are constructional details on page 2 of the thread

 

[Guest Jack Benson]

Hi,

 

A few more images of the actual location have recently pitched up, it seems that Longparish was extensively rebuilt for the purpose of being a railhead for the RAF storage facility in Harewood Forest. The line to the north via Whitchurch had been severed in the early '30s and the goods yard was inadequate and had to be relaid to accessed from the south. The redundant up platform was completely demolished and a large hardstanding was created. Unsurprisignly, I have yet to locate any images of RAF Longparish in use, both images were captured just prior to closure although the facility was still being cleared into the early '50s.

 

Courtesy of Anthony Burgess

 

In addition, an account from an RAF serviceman posted during WW2.

 

R.A.F. Station Longparish, Hampshire, situated in the middle of Harefield (sic) Forest, near Andover. The area was owned by the Wills Tobacco family, or so we were told. Longparish was one of the largest Bomb Dumps in the Country at that time. Thousands of tons of deadly bombs lay alongside the roads that the R.A.F. had built all through the forest, hidden from enemy eyes under the trees.

Our living area comprised of wooden huts under a mass of Silver Birch trees. There was a little Railway Station at Longparish and in the Goods Yard we had situated our Transportation Office. We sent many trainloads of bombs away from that little Goods Yard and our cranes, trucks and men always made it a hive of industry. Each day the railway engine would pull in, hitch up and take our wagons with the bombs away to far off destinations.

 

Rather than slavishly copy, I have merely adapted the idea to become an army siding 'somewhere' in West Dorset.

 

StaySafe

[Guest Jack Benson]

On 23/10/2021 at 14:56, Ruston 48DS said:

You just can't beat having a little ruston running around a micro layout. 

The lovely S1169 as previously shown, started as R3706, ironically an army 48DS. Now the wheel has turned full circle and the micro layout has a military theme another R3706 has been sourced.

 

 

It will be lightly weathered as befits an army vehicle, fitted with canvas rain curtains, Kadees and an appropriate unit insignia above the ARMY on the cabside. 
 

StaySafe

[Guest Jack Benson]

Just a few words of reassurance, the project is still progressing, track laying and electrics are being progressed in Neil's workshop, not sure when it will return but it will be functioning and a fiddlestick added.

 

 

As a quick check for viability, the small Peco turnouts were laid against a 42" line, there is just enough room for a small 0-4-0 shunter but no bufferstops.

 

We took the precaution of placing the turnouts in the space, it was very revealing. This is a subtle variation to avoid tracks that run parallel to the edge.

 

The concept of the 'fiddlestick' courtesy of PMP, who very kindly,  suggested that a loop was essential. Our fiddlestick will be used in conjunction with a Peco LocoLift, perfect for a Ruston + two 10t vans. Meanwhile, the little Ruston is being carefully weathered consistent with the normal appearance of a very well cared for Army loco.

 

StaySafe

Edited November 23, 2021 by Jack Benson
Images added