More Benchwork

I have cut out some mounts for the lights from excess 12mm plywood and put them in a clamp to paint  all the edges  in one go.

With a bit of effort I managed to bend the 6mm MDF and screwed a block of wood to the deck to maintain the shape while the glue dried.

Test fitting the panels for the bottom level before painting them.

All the panels are glued and joints sanded, I am now painting the 3mm MDF panels (on the table)  for the roof of the top level, I will fir the lights before I fix down the ceiling.

Top Deck

To save some time I painted the back wall with a undercoat to seal it.

First back drop in place.

Turd helping in her P.J's

Top deck is in place just needs painting.

Helix Pt6

The junction for the staging yard at the top of the helix is in place and there is enough clearance for the tallest rolling stock.

I have also started the section around to the top level of the layout from the helix but will not complete it until the bench work for the rest of the layout is completed. So at this point the helix is about 95% complete.

I have started on the bench work on the layout again using 12mm ply for the decks and 7mm MDF for the staging yard. The decks will be ply due to the risk of the MDF absorbing water and swelling when the scenery is added. I was also playing around with the lights to test the gloss white paint on the bottom of the top deck.

The staging yard build is 95% complete I will finish it when the track is put down, I put down some track and tested the length of train I could put there. Twenty eight atlas coal wagons and two locos was the count which has made me consider bringing the staging around onto the layout proper to lengthen the trains, it always looks bigger on paper!

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.