Helix Part 5

Second level is up and so are all the supports 

To get the spacing right I made a jig out of a block of wood to get the angle of the supports right.

I hold the brace in place with a clamp and drill the holes for the screws.

 I pushed the helix back in place to test that the levels are correct and make the top level junction to the staging yard.

 The support where the last section is going through is where the helix reaches the top level.

 

 Guess what some wanker put the support bench 65mm too low so I will have to put the helix on some blocks so the levels are ok.

The staging junction is made from 12mm ply and cut to allow trains on the helix to clear the top level and I used a router to cut a slot for the helix spiral.

Helix Part 4

The photo below shows the helix base pulled away from the layout to provide all round access to build the helix and lay the track

 The two pieces that make up the helix road bed being laminated together, the track on the right leads from the top down to the lower deck and had to have enough clearance for tall rolling stock. The left side track is from the lower level up to the top deck.

 Once the first loop was finished I decided to start installing the supports for the rest of the decks, you can see the flat car with the tank on it to test the clearances because it is the widest piece of rolling stock I have.

                                   

 To save a bit of time and difficulty I paint the sections first before gluing them together, the construction usually goes in this order.
Paint some sections, then lay track on the last completed section on the helix then glue the next section.

 Like a nong I was hooking up a controller up to the track to test the alignment and joints with a loco, I saw a bloke on youtube testing his track with a 9V battery to run the loco, goes to show you learn something every day.

The time and effort to get the base right was worth it because all I have to do is place some spacer blocks to get the correct height for the next level.

                                   

Helix Part 3 and First Track

G'day all, I have been busy painting the bench work for the helix and working out track placement for the lower level. I have also taken my time to get the start of the helix just right to make it a lot easier to construct once the first level is complete.

The photo above shows the base board for the inside track on the helix to exit and access the lower level as you can see I have also cut the slots for the helix support.

I have just finished painting the road bed for the helix and in the process of working out the heights for the incline in the shots above and below. You can see the start of the incline at the gap near the blue screw driver.

To make sure the helix has a rock solid base and makes it easy to build the next layers I cut a 1800mm length of timber on an angle to match the grade of the helix. I then marked the level of rise on the timber and placed them at the corresponding locations under the helix then checked the slope with another piece of timber from the same cut.

The first track on the Boyne River Subdivision is the inside loop leading to the lower level I had to do this first because the the helix will spiral over it preventing easy access. The out of sight track will be Atlas code 80.

Here is a tip for you, If you are cutting track with a Dremel tool get the larger cutting wheels as this will allow you to make clean straight cuts unlike the smaller wheels that you have to angle because of the Dremel body.

Helix Pt2

Found this on youtube when I was looking at some N Scale layout videos, I think it's funny but I am sure there are some out there who get really really excited about it, the kato track stands up pretty well. LOL


On to less exciting stuff and I have been busy cutting and building the base and supports for the helix as well as determining the final placement by doing a more detailed plan for the helix.
The picture below shows the plan for the helix support from the top down it will be 1200 x1400 mm the track will come from the bottom of the other side of the layout and climb the helix to the upper level, then it will go back across the gap to the helix and down to the lower level. The helix will also have access to the staging tracks. I did a plan at work to find out how many loops I will need to get to the second level but I lost it but from memory it is about 5.5 loops.

You may have seen in the previous post marking out the curves to cut for the helix and then I realised I have a router so I just made a jig with two screws to alter the diameter of the cut.

To get the most out of the boards I made a jig on an old table to cut curves from the off cuts, I just screw the board to the table and cut them with the router.

The benchwork for the helix is nearly finished as well just needs some paint.

The photo below shows the gap leading to the staging yard.

Test fittting the helix sections.

Start the Helix

G'day all I have been busy over the summer with a wedding in Thailand and some house maintenance to do but I am back in the layout room and starting the helix planning and construction. While my wife and daughter were in Thailand for an extra month I took the opportunity to chase some trains.

 The helix will be double track with an outside diameter of 120cm and will rise about 75mm per turn which will give it a grade of just over 2.1% or so the web sites that have grade calculators tell me. I would like to thank all the people who have posted helix charts and designs online you don't have to do it but I has helped me a lot and I am sure that many other modelers have applied what they have studied on your posts. I have been a member of a club where the most common skill was the keeping of knowledge lest somebody do it better than you.

I drilled some holes in a stick of timber to draw the right diameter helix pieces on 6mm MDF board and will
glue the sections together over lapping so there is no need to add joints. Why MDF ?, only one reason it is cheap $20 for a 2400 x 1200 sheet. I will paint it to keep out the moisture to prevent sagging.

To use most of the MDF board I will cut two types of pieces a 45 and a 90 degree section I made a template from some scrap for the 45 degree section to place over the off cuts.

A mock up of the helix location, it helped me to decide to make the base then slip in the helix for ease of construction. I was quite surprised about the size of it, looked smaller on the plan.

I will support the helix decks with some brackets because they are easy to adjust to where I want them and there are no joints to support.

More Bench Work

In a slight change of plan I have decided to put some timber up between the supports  so the background will only have to be flush with it and not have slots cut in it to go around the supports.

I got some angle strips and masonry screws to secure the supports to the wall to make it more stable.

Because it is tall and narrow I have also bolted the east side of the bench work to the floor.

The layout bench work 95% complete and painted, in the foreground is the location of the Helix.

East side bench work.

Lighting The Layout

I have finished painting the supports for the west section of the layout and I am in the process of fiddling with the final placement.

I decided to play around with the lighting for the layout just to check that I made the right choice and because I am sick of wood working at the moment. The photo above is the just the room lighting on some test wagons on the second level.

I was thinking for a while about how I was going to light the layout and for while I was focused on single tube fluro lights but the cheapest one that came with its own plug was about thirty five dollars. Then I had a brain wave when I was in bunnings and came across a string of party lights with incandesant bulbs for twenty bucks. What if I replaced the bulbs with 23W compact fluro bulbs which would be 2w under the max rating for each light socket and I didn't have to wire them up just plug them in. The lights are spaced 700mm apart and have a three meter cord from the socket to the first light. I have tried a few styles of CF bulbs and have settled on Cool White 2700K for the effect I want.

Test wagons in the middle of the deck.


Test wagons on the edge.

Test wagons about two inches from the back.

Test wagon in the middle.

Test wagons about two inches from the edge.

Test wagons on the edge.