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Good Evening,

 

My Layout room now has a carpet in the form of some reclaimed carpet tiles and I have spent the last few days laying them, there is a small area around the door still to do as I need to change the threshold and of course with our current situation the nearby B&Q is click and collect only - and door thresholds are not available to click and collect!

 

This evening I have started the process of dismantling the old layout starting with the never used exhibition expansion boards and the garage door lift-out piece.

 

I've also been able to get a more accurate picture of the floor space I'll be able to use with the apex roof coming down at the front of the house, with a piece of the old layout stood up to ascertain the height I figured I had a length of 6 metres and a width of approximately 2.5m to play with.

 

On 01/03/2020 at 21:46, 5BarVT said:

Even though you don’t intend to exhibit, I suggest you make it portable, or at least separable.  I’ve done that for the past 30 years and it sure beats soldering upside down underneath a fixed board.

Paul.

 

I thought about this and I agree that building the layout in sections will make it easier to work on - once while working under a layout at the local club (Layout did actually come apart but wasn't worth it for the job i was doing) sat cross legged on the floor like a schoolboy soldering above my head when there was suddenly a burning sensation above my left ankle, the blob of solder had actually landed on my sock where it cooled down and solidified, the following day I tried to melt the solder out with my own iron but it wouldn't budge so I just ended up cutting it out!

 

Anyway, my new plan is as follows

856184977_2020LayoutPlan.jpg.acdb6b83f7a7a248bb9f94ccde3ed9cd.jpg

Some new boards slightly longer at 1400mm, same width at 600mm (bits of old layout to be reused on the ends of these and the legs) 200 x 270mm area top left is the air vent from the bathroom below so this board will have a piece cut out around that. I propose to build a 'drawbridge' across the door hinged at its left hand end on the diagram and likely made of 2 inch timber to keep its weight down. The tricky part will be the corners, I've yet to come up with a plan on how I'll build these, I intend to make them wide enough to accommodate 4 tracks all the way around so their dimensions are still a little bit fluid.

 

Dale

 

 

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Good Evening.

 

Just a quick post to say that in the last 10 days I made a start pulling the old layout apart which has freed up some space for me to make a start on the new one. I am on annual leave for a fortnight and then I'm not back at work until the Friday of the week I return so that's 20 days off!

 

00001.jpg.f27dfe9dceaa295dd8dfd39a2a4bb3c3.jpg

Here's the first of the new 1400 mm long boards - the ends, outer pair of cross-members, legs, corner blocks and even the screws all reused, only the sides and short centre cross-member are new wood that were already to hand, this being built around the toilet air vent will prevent the entire layout from walking like the previous one did and I am also using a different technique to mount the leg support blocks to make them a tighter fit which will also reduce movement.

 

Seeing as B&Q has now reopened with similar measures to supermarkets I will be out for some more wood tomorrow morning.

 

Here's something else I made last week - again from bits of wood lying around - which has certainly proved worthwhile after its first usage today

1498778108_SawCradle1.jpg.b31bf73fa4a4fae10a391fbcc0f5dd5f.jpg

41678723_SawCradle2.jpg.e5b6aa06f9b04b5581e4f1525c41b729.jpg

A cradle to attach my circular saw to my workmate.

 

More progress reports later in the week - I'm not going to great detail on the other main boards as they are essentially the same as before just being made longer.

 

Dale

 

 

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Good Evening

 

First there was 1.............

 

00002.jpg.7b2b88460eba3384ed39fdac694c4ce1.jpg

00003.jpg.b7181c51dd6e7f70ae508532c1001532.jpg

00004.jpg.2d1e2ccc54b49cb8981646b924d4e24a.jpg

00005.jpg.bb663891a9d582f802466cac5ee2b17a.jpg

 

.............And then there were 5

 

00006.jpg.2b964d457a49e7c02d3992b1bdc71127.jpg

Oh and a quarter

 

00007.jpg.c9bb2735a5e69f08d4756299656cd91a.jpg

 

And the door bridge.

 

Corners next where the fun starts!

 

Dale

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Good Evening

 

Corners....

 

00008.jpg.e8a40afcf80b0b5fecb6448078d1a4fe.jpg

00009.jpg.4cf889e2bc8d37c619f5cc738028a0ea.jpg

These 2 are a mirror image of one another so I decided to make them simultaneously

 

00010.jpg.3ac8b2198abbff321cab2bf1b6a3ef70.jpg

This one has a back on it as I have decided to use the space above the stairwell behind for a small fan of sidings. I have modified the remaining 4 pairs of legs for the corner boards.

 

00011.jpg.f5fcc5f296d44b2d316e5b595b3bf182.jpg

This one is still a little flimsy as it doesn't touch the wall anywhere, and I didn't have a suitable piece of timber to make a pair of legs for the end right of shot - only 1 leg! The end is also narrower than the others at 400 mm to match the bridge.

 

00012.jpg.77500dd5f464b39e5d47874ba739bbb6.jpg

With drawbridge clamped roughly in place. I think I will screw the legs of the boards either side of the drawbridge down to the floor to ensure good alignment.

 

 

Dale.

 

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Good Evening.

 

Last bit of framework

 

00013.jpg.3f12711e95f0f46afc049352bd7b83e7.jpg

 

00014.jpg.bdb1f8f8f46580c0eff8a258f62a3c2f.jpg

 

I need a few bits of timber for legs for this board and one other and then we're on to MDF surfaces, quite a shopping list.

 

Dale

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Another long time between posts!

 

I had been hoping to use lockdown to really get cracking but it has stalled a bit.

 

All of the straight boards had their surfaces put on many months ago leaving just the 4 corners to do. My plan for these was to enlist the help of the local clubs professional carpenter to cut the curved corners from sheets of 8x4 but he has been shielding during lockdown so has only been able to do the job last weekend,

 

00015.jpg.36915120453099fece529fdfc9553f42.jpg00016.jpg.79ace6a8b904f85c7c302b4d77bbb56d.jpg00017.jpg.9e2c170310ed211670d86b55297736c3.jpg00018.jpg.3968d76559750dd527d440208c78aa41.jpg

In another slight change to the plan I elected not to cut the outside corner off this last board to give a little more siding space, the two that have had the outside corner this was reduced from a 900mm radius down to 750mm

 

00019.jpg.e065d7197be6be07a2ef36bc14ef6bd5.jpg

3 of the 4 corners can now have the remainder of their frames built up (all 4 will receive a diagonal brace across the inside corner and some sort of curved MDF frontage - the inside timber was cut back by 6mm during the build process to allow for this.

 

I have now used all of the screws recycled from the previous layout (1 or 2 were only fit for the bin) and unfortunately on my last 2 visits to B&Q they have been out of stock of the 2 sizes of screw I've used, there also seems to be an ongoing shortage of 4x1 timber required to complete the framework again having reused most of the biggest bits reclaimed form the old layout.

 

Dale

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Couple of bits and bobs from the last week. Both B&Q and Wickes still out of stock of the required timber which is getting a bit annoying.

 

00020.jpg.d40490fa4dff6a429e04b65a75010fc8.jpg00021.jpg.ef4fbbfd3f51a312463e084be71494f5.jpg

Backs of the 2 curved outer corners completed - left one above still needs inside corner brace.

 

00022.jpg.e363766c83efa4c46004460da03133a1.jpg

Manage to do a bit more framework on this board enough to be able to put it in its final position and see how the piece across the door fitted.

 

00023.jpg.3b8f1344c5dcce975aa1aa008f49bf16.jpg

Not very well........... 

 

00024.jpg.0f9dd70a30a3ce2b60d2f7dcdea224db.jpg

I came to the conclusion the problem lay here, originally I had envisaged that the corner of this board would sit right in the corner by the door frame but I went with the measurements 2x1400mm and 350mm + 1050mm. Slight rebuild in order.

 

00026.jpg.6eff9cc9773fae1adde6619bd6fac42b.jpg

That's better (still held in place with clamps at this point) I decided I wasn't happy with the hinge situation either flipping right over and impeding fiddle yard space or being stowed vertically and risk smashing down onto the fiddle yard or worse still dropping down into position pinning the door shut! So I looked at alternatives.

 

And here's what I came up with 

00027.jpg.d7802629e18bb924c0eb12ac0fcc4116.jpg

00028.jpg.1176976d3d21da39c7bd9fbe65dabd8a.jpg

Like such - same both sides of course. 00029.jpg.27eada87152308f7bfeddb7e114c09f8.jpg

The centre piece then screws to the underside of liftout piece

 

00030.jpg.05f6e7dbed50986b7b9e83ae7fec85c5.jpg

Was a bit of a tight fit had to slacken the screws a bit to make it go in smoothly.

 

2 more pictures have hit 10mb upload limit!..............

 

 

Edited by dale159
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00031.jpeg.a9a28060dbd14568ccb6f55c552646b7.jpeg00032.jpeg.7391e79256ce5915bfd36af3f5b941dc.jpeg

Once I was happy with the positioning of the lift out piece, I screwed the legs either side of it down to the floor.

 

Need to have a bit of a clear up now and then I might think about track design again!

 

Hopefully more later in the week.

 

Dale

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Some very neat woodwork there Dale, well done. For the lift-out section on my home carbuncle I went with alignment dowels which I soldered the power feeds to. Lines up every time and means there are no hanging cables for my children to swing on. Photos below if any help. Good luck finding more wood, by local B&Q seems to have sold out of pretty much every type of wood

Rich

 

CA204.JPG.ac24720058afec33ed68de29c6f818e9.JPG

 

CA205.JPG.5610021026e0d9cdc173d050322d681e.JPG

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7 hours ago, Rich Papper said:

Some very neat woodwork there Dale,

 

Thanks Rich!

 

5 hours ago, Crisis Rail said:

Looking forward to seeing your scenics complementing your woodworking and electrical skills.

Hopefully see some more Traction?

 

Ian

 

Thanks Ian, I am a complete scenery novice, but then I was a complete carpentry novice when I started this 7 years ago! Would anyone be interested in a bit of rolling stock workbench content? Lots of projects started and then forgotten about when it get difficult, started refurbishing a 4CEP into NSE, also got the bits for a 442 powered by a Bachmann 158 and a Silver Fox 119 to be built on a Lima 117 with Hornby running gear amongst a few other things.

 

Dale

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Workbench time!

 

I've never really had a proper workbench before, Before I bought my own place any project on the go was undertaken on a couple of off-cut pieces of white Conti-board and an old wooden breadboard to which I bolted a small vice!

 

All change now as now though

W00001.jpeg.58719a1b91f38d715e8801c7dc33b8e0.jpeg Yesterday I picked up this desk at a reasonable price from a Charity shop, the drawers will come in useful for any modelling tools and part finished projects, It fits perfectly under the layout, I think a light of some sort might be required though as its a bit dark under the layout!

 

W00002.jpg.237438724bf6c98a782b10df2f7463a0.jpgHere is the basis of my 119. A Lima 117 but has a chassis transplant with a Hornby 121 as well as Hornby wheels on the trailer cars, I also have Peters Spares exhausts and Black Cat Technology Head and Tail lights to go in same as my Blue Grey and NSE 117s featured previously.

This picture taken on my phone doesn't show how shiny it is! A trip to some paint stripper can't come soon enough then I will need to sand down all the 117 door handles and hinges, modify the headcode boxes, test fit the 119 sides and then I can mark up where I'm going to need to cut away for the 119 windows. The 119 overlays come with clear acetate foe glazing although I might retain the Lima glazing inside for a bit of extra strength, Cab side windows and Windscreens will be flush glazed.

 

The first actual item on my workbench is a spot of backwards engineering sort of.

 

W00003.jpg.5b2d5318078903b52e197d2a7962e693.jpg

Almost a reversal of reality converting a pair of Hornby 153s back into a 155 using the older style Hornby ex-Dapol bodyshells which need about 4-5mm* cutting off the bottom to marry up with the newer chassis which has far better solebar detail. One of the chassis is unpowered made up of spare bits.

 

*3rd unit lucky, 2 others where sacrificed while I got this right with an alpha cutter.

 

W00004.jpg.590c54152171ce12ae3f9c02d50338fb.jpg

The motorised car retains all the original circuitry and I am currently trying to get the lights to operate by jumping a plug and socket across to the trailer car making use of the redundant contacts at the no.2 cab end although this doesn't seem to be working I wonder if I have broken wire somewhere.

 

Going back to the 119 a moment, Paint stripping a complete model is something else completely new to me, I think i will use IPA from looking at various other peoples threads and obviously I need a suitable vessel to put it in while in use.

 

Dale

 

 

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I use one of these for stripping body shells in IPA: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lock-Rectangular-Storage-Container-Clear/dp/B0000AN4CL?pf_rd_r=BBKTAJTHBZG5C16FVB79&pf_rd_p=15b60bc4-354f-4e4b-9ad1-7f12f925a65d&pd_rd_r=a2252132-6699-447a-ab55-4214702a77d1&pd_rd_w=n2TDt&pd_rd_wg=DfZvy&ref_=pd_gw_ci_mcx_mr_hp_d

Fits everything I've put in it so far and clips securely tight to avoid leaks. Remember to put a little water in with the IPA - no idea of the chemistry, but neat IPA doesn't seem to work, add about 5% water and it does.

Rich

 

 

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20 hours ago, Rich Papper said:

I use one of these for stripping body shells in IPA: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lock-Rectangular-Storage-Container-Clear/dp/B0000AN4CL?pf_rd_r=BBKTAJTHBZG5C16FVB79&pf_rd_p=15b60bc4-354f-4e4b-9ad1-7f12f925a65d&pd_rd_r=a2252132-6699-447a-ab55-4214702a77d1&pd_rd_w=n2TDt&pd_rd_wg=DfZvy&ref_=pd_gw_ci_mcx_mr_hp_d

Fits everything I've put in it so far and clips securely tight to avoid leaks. Remember to put a little water in with the IPA - no idea of the chemistry, but neat IPA doesn't seem to work, add about 5% water and it does.

Rich

 

That's Excellent Rich, I'll get myself something like that when the time comes.

 

While working at my new workbench on my 153/155 yesterday sat on a chair with the layout pretty much at eye level

00033.jpg.1306495afd117aaebc46290f4cc6b7ed.jpg

I noticed there was a considerable dip at the rear of the board that I have built around the air vent. I think part of the problem has been in the way i built this board further compounded when I put the top surface on in situ to avoid having to take half the layout down (as it is one of the two with 4 legs) well my laziness has resulted in substandard job so this morning I set about putting it right.

 

00034.jpg.fa47d905af2db97e35705906af2b00c2.jpg

I took the board right back to its frame and where I had previously used a pair of 90 degree angle brackets on the bottom corners I have replaced them with a pair of wooden blocks same as used to strengthen all 90 degree corners and I also did the same on the inside edge where previously I just relied on the screws being tight to do the job, I then nailed the top surface back on while it was on the flat(ish) floor, result much much better.

 

Dale

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I’m not sure that will be sufficient in the long term.  If your support is one leg in each corner, then there is no continuous beam along the back.  Where ever you have joints there is opportunity for twist.  If you can bear the pain now, I would make that short piece across the centre of the photo run the full length of the board (below the cross pieces if you don’t want to touch them.  Then I would be confident of long term stability.

I'm not a structural engineer so I may be wrong, perhaps one such could comment.

Sorry to be the bearer of potential bad news, but much easier to put right now than when covered with layout.

Paul.

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11 hours ago, 5BarVT said:

I’m not sure that will be sufficient in the long term.  If your support is one leg in each corner, then there is no continuous beam along the back. Where ever you have joints there is opportunity for twist.  If you can bear the pain now, I would make that short piece across the centre of the photo run the full length of the board (below the cross pieces if you don’t want to touch them.  Then I would be confident of long term stability.

I'm not a structural engineer so I may be wrong, perhaps one such could comment.

Sorry to be the bearer of potential bad news, but much easier to put right now than when covered with layout.

Paul.

 

8 hours ago, John ks said:

I tend to agree with 5BarVT

The added beam should provide some added strength & rigidity

John

 

Admittedly that would be the ideal solution but having just been up and looked at it again, if I were to do that the ends of it would be right in the middle of the large holes I pass the electrical connections through (I also don't have a suitable piece of timber to hand - see previous complaints about lack of stock in local hardware stores and nothing leftover from the old layout is long enough).

 

Another thought that has just occurred to me is to fit a piece between the two top cross-members of the legs which the board could then rest upon, I do have a suitable piece of 2x2 timber to do that.

 

Dale

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12 hours ago, dale159 said:

Another thought that has just occurred to me is to fit a piece between the two top cross-members of the legs which the board could then rest upon, I do have a suitable piece of 2x2 timber to do that.

That would help: it would keep the main part of the board from sagging.  And! It’s a lot easier to do than rebuild the board again.

It wouldn’t be as good right in the corners beside the vent, but I’m assuming that you won’t have track right in there (at least, not track that matters).

Paul.

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Good Evening.

 

Baton fitted between the legs with the board just resting on the top

00035.jpg.99c3ec2c3eb7ff9afadc77b42d53ae1c.jpg

00036.jpg.6d0bc9d0951934f80e4bef370c1c839f.jpg

Also an ideal place to mount an LED strip light for my Workbench, I've also fitted a 6 way extension lead underneath useful for soldering iron, controller and such.

 

In other news Wickes have come good on the timber front so I can finally finish off the corner boards and rebuild my stock box rack to take 21 boxes (previously 18) and the boxes will slide on aluminium angle runners rather than the angle brackets and bits of steel wire.

 

Dale

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Good Evening

 

A couple of bits and bobs from the last fortnight.

 

The Stock box rack rebuild has been completed and I am much happier with it.

00037.jpg.736486500660542b65095a3b20b7e02a.jpg

00038.jpg.7fdcd5f06912fcc0f4b6fa751ed4495d.jpg

 

And onto something new, backscenes.

 

I wouldn't be lying by saying the backscenes on the old layout were a bit of an afterthought compounded by making them out of the last couple of warped sheets of ply in stock at Trago Mills. Not so this time.

 

00039.jpg.3db754b8659d25e4a1d734109da8b8f1.jpg

This time they will be mounted to a lightweight frame screwed to the top of the board, the backscenes themselves will be made of 6mm MDF.

 

I have started to work on a track plan (Lining paper in above picture) but its not finished yet although the basic principle remains the same as the old layout.

 

Dale 

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On 29/09/2020 at 20:02, dale159 said:

Good Evening

 

A couple of bits and bobs from the last fortnight.

 

The Stock box rack rebuild has been completed and I am much happier with it.

00037.jpg.736486500660542b65095a3b20b7e02a.jpg

00038.jpg.7fdcd5f06912fcc0f4b6fa751ed4495d.jpg

 

And onto something new, backscenes.

 

I wouldn't be lying by saying the backscenes on the old layout were a bit of an afterthought compounded by making them out of the last couple of warped sheets of ply in stock at Trago Mills. Not so this time.

 

00039.jpg.3db754b8659d25e4a1d734109da8b8f1.jpg

This time they will be mounted to a lightweight frame screwed to the top of the board, the backscenes themselves will be made of 6mm MDF.

 

I have started to work on a track plan (Lining paper in above picture) but its not finished yet although the basic principle remains the same as the old layout.

 

Dale 

That's a brilliant storage rack you have made. Is there any chance you can share the plans? I'd be interested in making something similar.

 

I may also steal your idea for the back scene. I never thought about a back scene when I put my boards and it would be a tad difficult to put it in now as an after thought.

 

It's looking great :D

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4 hours ago, crossforth said:

That's a brilliant storage rack you have made. Is there any chance you can share the plans? I'd be interested in making something similar.

 

Hi.

 

I didn't draw up any plans I just made it to fit around one of the boxes.

 

Boxes are of the 10l size which are marketed for A3 paper size. I have allowed 510mm depth, 350mm width (could probably have got away with 345mm) and 90mm in height. The aluminium angle used is 7/8 inch square.

 

Total dimensions including framework are 550mm deep, 1150mm wide and 950mm high, having expanded it to take the 3 extra boxes I have cut 90mm off the legs so it is still the same overall height it was beforehand.

 

Hope this helps

 

Dale

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1 hour ago, dale159 said:

 

Hi.

 

I didn't draw up any plans I just made it to fit around one of the boxes.

 

Boxes are of the 10l size which are marketed for A3 paper size. I have allowed 510mm depth, 350mm width (could probably have got away with 345mm) and 90mm in height. The aluminium angle used is 7/8 inch square.

 

Total dimensions including framework are 550mm deep, 1150mm wide and 950mm high, having expanded it to take the 3 extra boxes I have cut 90mm off the legs so it is still the same overall height it was beforehand.

 

Hope this helps

 

Dale

Absolutely brilliant.

 

As I say, it all looks like superb craftsmanship so far :)

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Good Afternoon.

 

Backscene framework is complete.

 

00040.jpg.c4463611d4734a2cb2892b8c2186fd69.jpg

 

 

And clad in MDF.

00041.jpg.5dea9282798a391402437446dc4b47f4.jpg

00042.jpg.6c390ef272bdcbba23624a18664a5c15.jpg

00043.jpg.6ec29352a5bfabc3bfff699992155af4.jpg

 

I wasn't planning to have anything joining the backscenes between boards but as is the way with wood one backscene leans forwards and the adjacent one leans backwards so I have fitted a pair of small wooden dowels at the joins much better while not 100%.

00044.jpg.7d98ef90cd86cfba394d6ca62b0550aa.jpg

 

More track planning this evening and over the next few days.

 

Dale

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