how to get complex baseboards level

[ecgtheow]

Like many others on this thread I am not a very competent modeller: building wagon kits & the occasional simple coach kit are the most difficult things that I have attempted. However, with the extra time now available I have completed all 13 baseboards for my new D-shaped layout in a 5.3m by 4.4m room. Somewhat miraculously they more or less fit together. The joints aren't perfect, but the final board joins up well with the boards on either side to complete the "D". My problem now is to ensure that they are all level with each other. So far it's not going well despite using a long spirit level & a laser level indicator. Every board has 4 legs & each leg has adjustable feet but I am beginning to wonder if it would be better to have just one board with 4 feet & after ensuring that is as level as I can make it just hang the next board on it & focus on getting it level using just the 2 feet on its other end? There has been a lot on this thread about the importance of achieving an absolutely level baseboard surface & that's what I am trying to do. I would be most grateful for advice on how best to go about it. I am sure that would help may others in a similar predicament to me.

 

William

[BoD]

I’m not sure how you have constructed your boards but do they run along the walls?  Is it possible to put a levelled batten along the walls to rest the back edge of your boards on leaving you only the front to level?

[ecgtheow]

Thanks for your response. Although the fiddle yard is next to a wall but as the layout is a "D" shape it means most of the others aren't. I didn't have too much difficulty levelling the rectangular boards which make up the fiddle yard, but I am having a lot of difficulty with the others.

 

William

[Joseph_Pestell]

William,

Your woodwork can't be that bad if you have managed a D-shaped layout and the boards match up.

I agree with BoD that a batten (or better still L-section metal such as Dexion) fixed to the wall will help - but not, of course, for the curved part of the D.

I agree with you that you will find it much easier with only one set of legs per board.

Are you using a long enough spirit level?

[ecgtheow]

Thanks. I suspected that just using the 2 legs at the outer end of each board may be easier. I will try that & report progress tomorrow.

 

William

[gordon s]

I had similar problems in the early days and tried spirit levels and a good quality laser level with reasonable results. The biggest problem was going around corners and maintaining a level. Even walking across the floor to adjust a laser level on a tripod can cause fluctuations.

 

The simplest way would be a length of flexible plastic pipe filled with water. OK it will probably take a couple of you to cover each end, but it could be a good starting point. 

 

 

 

[DCB]

Best of luck getting it level.    We managed to get one side almost 2" higher than the other over 24 feet.

You need a good datum. In a wooden floored shed the shed floor can rise or fall by several millimeters depending on who is standing where.   I expect some house floors are similar.  Certainly some house floors are steeper than 1 in 100.  so you can't assume the floor is a good datum. 

Water levels work for buildings where +- 1% is Ok but water wont flow down much less than 1 in 100.

I use the longest most sensitive spirit level I can, a 3ft inside and a longer one outside, then I take a reading and turn the level around 180 degrees and check again, often they are out by a coupe of mm over 1000mm enough to cause problems.   Its not easy.  Two legs is less adjustment than four, Ours was hung on the shed wall one side with legs one side and its been adjusted quite a few times as the shed has settled.  The flat bit is still 100 though.  Best of luck.

 

[peterfgf]

Good spirit levels are accurate to 0.3mm per 1000mm which is pretty good.  You need long ones, say 1m to 2m long to get reasonable repeatability.  Screwfix have a digital read-out one which claims 0.1mm/1000mm but is commensurately costly (~£85),  I've been using a 2 meter long aluminium  plaster's lath with a spirit level placed on top.  The only trouble with levelling one board and tehn the next is that you can build up a cumulative error from start to finish.

I got round this by making up a water level with silicone tubing of the necessary length and found it pretty good,  I reckon the repeatability is +/-0.50mm after testing it by putting both ends adjacent to each other on the same surface.  You have to give it time to settle, say 5 minutes, to settle if using narrow bore tubing (~2mm ID).

Peterfgf

[gordon s]

A wetting agent will always help with a water level. Not seen the problems suggested by David.

[chris p bacon]

William, part of the problem is too many points of adjustment.  An easy fix is to use a very long level or your shorter one on a straight edge, Ideally if you can stretch it over 2-3 boards (or joints) then you're not levelling each individual board but a collection.

 

If all boards have adjusters at each corner I would be tempted to level one corner board and then wind up the adjusters on the adjacent leg(s) so only the furthest leg on the next board is adjusted. when you've got all the way around you can then drop the remaining ones so they just touch the floor.

 

Here are some boards I made a for a friend a couple of weeks ago, very simple to erect and level. Only the furthest board has 4 legs.

[ecgtheow]

Many thanks for all the suggestions. The spirit level I have been using is 1metre long so good for checking the level along & across each board as well as across the joints between boards. The laser level is very good for getting the fronts of every board to the same level (I would recommend anyone trying to level a series of boards to borrow or buy one) & the rectangular boards were relatively easy to level.. It was the rhomboid boards that make up the "D" layout shape that were the real problem especially when I was making adjustments at opposite corners. Happily I have managed to get it all level now that I have hung each board on to its already level neighbouring board & only had to deal with its 2 legs at the free end. Fortunately also there are 2 are boards 10cm lower than the others to allow me to build an embankment & bridge across a small river, so if there is any remaining discrepancy in height it can be dealt with there. I will post a photo tomorrow to show the result.

 

William

[Il Grifone]

Check your sprit level is actually level. I find they usually aren't! Always reverse it and take the mean.

[GWR-fan]

As others have suggested I have used the water level method when setting up my large outdoor railway.  I used a length of garden hose to which clear silicon tube was inserted each end.  On one end on the exposed clear tube place a level line in black marker ink and attach to the board with the black line level with the top of the board.  With sufficient water in the hose and holding the opposite end,  raise and lower the non-fixed end so that the water level at the fixed end aligns with the black line.  The water level in the clear tube at the movable end will give you the required level.   A string line can then be used between the two extreme ends to ensure that the boards are aligned.

 

In my opinion a spirit level is only good for basically the length of the level as any inaccuracy in the level is amplified the further you move away from the centre of the level gauge.

[ecgtheow]

Thanks again for some really good ideas & comments. As promised yesterday please see 2 photos attached. The first shows the baseboards more or less in their entirety with what will be the fiddle yard at the back & the visible part of the layout at most of the sides & the front.

Using a "D" shape for the layout allows one to get a visible run of 7.85m (25.8') in a room only 5.3m (17.4') long & (4.4m (14.4') wide with a continuous curve for the main running lines average radius 2.5m (8.2') & minimum radius 1.77m (5.8'). I will be able to sit in the middle & watch the trains run around me from one side to the other. There will be no corners in the back scene & by using Peco Code 83 5foot/3foot curved points for entry to the fiddle yard one can get 2 quite long trains on each fiddle yard track. Of course that's all in the future with much to do before that happens.

 

What allowed me to get all the baseboards level (with the exception of the 2 lower boards on the right on which an embankment & bridge over a river will be built) was; using the 1m spirit level only for the front to back across the width of the boards; adjusting only the 2 legs on the free end of each board as they were joined together; & most importantly using the laser level to get the front edges of all boards level (photo 2).

in case there are queries for the the sharp eyed, who may notice the laser level on the tripod & also see that the red line denoting level that it projects is lower on the fiddle yard boards than on the ones on what will be the visible part of the layout, it's because there will be no underlay below the track in the fiddle yard, but there will be elsewhere so those boards are the depth of the underlay (3mm) lower.

 

William

[Mick38]

Similarly to your situation, I have a layout in eight sections in the form of a large hollow oval, sitting on an uneven concrete floor.  I levelled up the baseboards as best I could with a level and long straightedge. I found it difficult to get even gradients; (half of the total trackage is on a grade of 1 in 50),- so I did a careful survey with a laser level and was appalled at the humps and dips it revealed. The laser level enabled me to obtain the correct vertical alignments, and I can recommend it’s use. Not too expensive these days. Hope this helps.